2026-09-29
6 分钟Hello, Mike Bird here, co-host of Money Talks, our weekly podcast on markets, the economy and business.
Welcome to Editor's Picks.
We've chosen an article from the latest edition of The Economist, which we very much hope you'll enjoy.
More than ever, the big questions about artificial intelligence drive the ups and downs of financial markets.
The bulls, who think AI will be both transformative and lucrative, stand against the sceptics,
who believe the promised returns will never arrive.
But a third sentiment is now coming to the fore for investors.
What if AI systems are immensely capable, as the bulls predict, but deeply dangerous?
Fears about misaligned AI that hacks other systems, enables fraud or misleads human engineers are growing.
Researchers in frontier AI labs worry that their tools could help rogue states
or terrorist groups build their own bioweapons.
Some think the models could result in human extinction, which would take the shine off any future listing.
It's hard to celebrate an initial public offering that leads to a terminal public offing.
Tyler Cowen, an economist, wishes the alarmists would put their money where their mouth is.
Many place high odds on a catastrophe.
If they are right, then intimations of doom should start affecting the markets before the cataclysm actually arrives.
The technophobes could therefore test their theories by making financial trades.
If they were successful, it would add credibility to their prophecies well in advance of the disaster
that would ultimately vindicate them.
This call for intellectual accountability is understandable.