Welcome to Bloomberg’s Texas Edition — covering all the industries and people driving America’s second-largest economy, from finance and oil to tech and sports. Join us each week for an inside look at Texas through a Bloomberg lens. Sign up here if you’re not already on the list. Texas Bureau Chief Julie Fine is on assignment this week, so we’ll start by talking about a whale, not Buffalo (sports)...
Welcome to Bloomberg’s Texas Edition — covering all the industries and people driving America’s second-largest economy, from finance and oil to tech and sports. Join us each week for an inside look at Texas through a Bloomberg lens. Sign up here if you’re not already on the list. Texas Bureau Chief Julie Fine is on assignment this week, so we’ll start by talking about a whale, not Buffalo (sports). The Texas Permanent School Fund is a $60 billion behemoth with a portfolio that includes 13 million acres of public lands and mineral rights. It’s also the mystery buyer of more than 29 million shares of the State Street IG Public & Private Credit ETF, a stake totaling about $740 million, Bloomberg’s Emily Graffeo and Laura Benitez reported . The fund helps finance K-12 public schools in Texas and distributed $4.8 billion for the 2026 and 2027 academic years. Big institutional buyers like the PSF haven’t historically been the target audience for these types of ETFs, which are usually more popular among individual investors and advisers who want some exposure to private credit. The State Street ETF, which trades under the ticker PRIV, debuted last year to a lukewarm response from investors. The PSF turned that around, boosting the fund’s assets more than eightfold. Until the PSF disclosed its holdings in a filing last week, State Street had identified the buyer only as a “large client.” The PSF, which is based in Austin, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The Texas investment makes up 87% of the State Street ETF, according to Bloomberg Intelligence analyst James Seyffart. “It’s not unheard of for a large fund to have what we refer to as an ‘anchor tenant’ investor, but this is particularly large,” he said. “As a fund company you have to worry about them exiting as quickly as they entered.” The Fine Line President Donald Trump finally weighed in on the bruising and costly Republican Senate primary, endorsing Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton over incumbent...
Presented by Veriff Americans can’t reliably distinguish real from AI-generated content, and that’s not just a media literacy problem; it’s a direct threat to how businesses verify identity online. New research finds that while many people are aware of deepfakes, their ability to distinguish them from reality is barely better than a coin flip. A 2026 survey conducted by Veriff and Kantar among 3,0...
Presented by Veriff Americans can’t reliably distinguish real from AI-generated content, and that’s not just a media literacy problem; it’s a direct threat to how businesses verify identity online. New research finds that while many people are aware of deepfakes, their ability to distinguish them from reality is barely better than a coin flip. A 2026 survey conducted by Veriff and Kantar among 3,000 respondents in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Brazil shows Americans scoring just 0.07 on a scale where 0 represents random guessing. If people can’t distinguish authentic visual content, they can’t reliably distinguish authentic identities. In practice, that means the same users interacting with digital services are often unable to tell whether the person on the other side of a screen is real. That ineffectiveness has direct consequences for every digital business that relies on image- and video-based identity verification to confirm who is on the other side of a screen. That includes everything from customer bank onboarding and account recovery to marketplace seller verification, high-value ecommerce transactions, social platform authentication, and enterprise access control. In the U.S., those consequences are already material — synthetic identity fraud now accounts for billions in annual losses, and the tools to generate convincing fakes are now widely accessible. The report also identifies a small but high-risk cohort: the roughly 7% of users who perform poorly at detecting deepfakes, yet remain confident in their ability and rarely verify what they see. While this is small as a percentage, at scale it represents millions of accounts that are highly exploitable targets for fraud. If users can’t reliably distinguish real from synthetic identities, then any system that depends on visual verification is fundamentally exposed. Identity verification can no longer be treated as a compliance function; instead, it has to be built as core digital infrastructure. ...
Every MFA check passed. Every login was legitimate. The compliance dashboard was green across every identity control. And the attacker was already inside, moving laterally through Active Directory with a valid session token, escalating privileges on a trajectory toward the domain controller. This is the scenario playing out inside enterprises that invested heavily in authentication and assumed the...
Every MFA check passed. Every login was legitimate. The compliance dashboard was green across every identity control. And the attacker was already inside, moving laterally through Active Directory with a valid session token, escalating privileges on a trajectory toward the domain controller. This is the scenario playing out inside enterprises that invested heavily in authentication and assumed the job was done. The credential was real. The multi-factor challenge was answered correctly. The system performed exactly as designed. It authenticated the user at the front door and never looked again. The breach didn't bypass MFA. It started after MFA succeeded. Authentication proves identity at a single point in time. Then it goes blind. Everything that follows, the lateral movement, the privilege escalation, the quiet exfiltration through Active Directory, falls outside what MFA was ever designed to see. A CIO found the gap in production Alex Philips, CIO at NOV, identified the gap through operational testing . "We found a gap in our ability to revoke legitimate identity session tokens at the resource level. Resetting a password isn't enough anymore. You have to revoke session tokens instantly to stop lateral movement," he told VentureBeat. What Philips found wasn't a misconfiguration. It was an architectural blind spot that exists in nearly every enterprise identity stack. Once a user authenticates successfully, the resulting session token carries that trust forward without reassessment. The token becomes a bearer credential. Whoever holds it, attacker or employee, inherits every permission associated with the session. NOV's investigation confirmed that identity session token theft is the vector behind the most advanced attacks they track, driving the team to tighten identity policies, enforce conditional access, and build rapid token revocation from the ground up. Average e-crime breakout time dropped to 29 minutes in 202 5, with the fastest recorded breakout clocked at...
"People think that somehow being anti-business is going to help the city, it’s not." JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon criticized plans by New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani to place more taxes on the rich. (Source: Bloomberg)
"People think that somehow being anti-business is going to help the city, it’s not." JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon criticized plans by New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani to place more taxes on the rich. (Source: Bloomberg)
Jonathan Ferro, Lisa Abramowicz and Annmarie Hordern speak daily with leaders and decision makers from Wall Street to Washington and beyond. No other program better positions investors and executives for the trading day. (Source: Bloomberg)
Jonathan Ferro, Lisa Abramowicz and Annmarie Hordern speak daily with leaders and decision makers from Wall Street to Washington and beyond. No other program better positions investors and executives for the trading day. (Source: Bloomberg)
308 pages of rockets, brain chips, $60 billion in liabilities, and a CEO who the company admits doesn't actually work there full time. Welcome to the most Elon IPO ever.
308 pages of rockets, brain chips, $60 billion in liabilities, and a CEO who the company admits doesn't actually work there full time. Welcome to the most Elon IPO ever.
Turkish state lenders sold about $6 billion to defend the lira on Thursday, about half shortly after a court decision that removed the main opposition party’s leadership, according to traders familiar with the transactions. The foreign-exchange sales slowed later in the session after an initial heavy bout of selling, the traders added, asking not to be identified. State banks in Turkey routinely s...
Turkish state lenders sold about $6 billion to defend the lira on Thursday, about half shortly after a court decision that removed the main opposition party’s leadership, according to traders familiar with the transactions. The foreign-exchange sales slowed later in the session after an initial heavy bout of selling, the traders added, asking not to be identified. State banks in Turkey routinely step in to defend the currency during periods of market volatility on behalf of the central bank. The latest interventions mark the biggest such step since Turkey’s foreign reserves declined by $43.4 billion in March — the largest monthly drop on record — as the Iran war triggered global selloffs in emerging-market assets and piled pressure on the lira. The central bank typically does not announce the interventions and did not respond to a request for comment on Thursday’s sales. Read More: Turkey Court Unseats Opposition Head, Triggering Market Rout Turkish equities slumped as well, with the benchmark Borsa Istanbul 100 Index tumbling 6.1% at the close. The selloff was severe enough to trigger a market-wide circuit breaker. Risk indicators deteriorated, with Turkey’s five-year credit default swaps climbing 12 basis points to 253 basis points, signaling rising investor concern over the country’s outlook. The lira was little changed at 45.6133 per dollar as of 7:25 p.m. in Istanbul. The arrest last year of opposition Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu , seen as the biggest political rival to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan , forced authorities to spend more than $50 billion of reserves to stem the fallout.
Drive north from New York City and into the Hudson valley. Take Exit 17 and follow Route 7 as it heads south along the river, past the abandoned shipyard and the aptly named Cadet Motel. Hang a left after a few miles, wind up a long driveway and you’ll arrive at New York Military Academy. It’s open, barely. Hundreds of students used to attend this place, but that number has dwindled to a few dozen...
Drive north from New York City and into the Hudson valley. Take Exit 17 and follow Route 7 as it heads south along the river, past the abandoned shipyard and the aptly named Cadet Motel. Hang a left after a few miles, wind up a long driveway and you’ll arrive at New York Military Academy. It’s open, barely. Hundreds of students used to attend this place, but that number has dwindled to a few dozen; most of the 50 or so buildings on campus have fallen into disrepair and many seem entirely abandoned. Come here after dark and you’ll start to feel a little uneasy. A bit further down the main drive, past the boarded-up houses where faculty and staff used to live, there’s a forlorn soccer field. The school hasn’t fielded a team for years, but this place holds some importance. On it, Donald Trump took some of his first steps toward becoming what some have called the United States’ first “soccer president”. It’s a title affixed to Trump in no small part because he was in office in 2018 when the US, along with Canada and Mexico, was awarded the 2026 World Cup. Somewhat unexpectedly, he’ll also be in office when the tournament kicks off this summer. He has welcomed international and domestic club teams to the White House and presented the Club World Cup trophy to Chelsea last summer before awkwardly lingering around on stage. Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and Lionel Messi have all visited with Trump; the latter was made into wallpaper while Trump went on a rant about the war in Iran. Fifa’s president Gianni Infantino at times seems glued to the US president. View image in fullscreen A photo of the New York Military Academy soccer team, featuring Donald Trump. Photograph: courtesy of Pablo Maurer It’s debatable whether Trump truly cares about the sport itself or simply likes the attention it brings him. But it’s a fact that in 1963/64, his senior year of high school at NYMA, Trump played on the school’s soccer team. Peter Ticktin, a teammate of Trump’s who sometimes describe...
hapabapa Eli Lilly ( LLY ) shares are in the green on Thursday after the Indiana-based drugmaker posted late-stage trial results indicating that retatrutide, its next-gen obesity therapy, caused up to 28% weight loss on average over 80 weeks . The once-weekly injectable belongs to an emerging class of obesity therapies developed by companies including Lilly’s ( LLY ) main rival, Novo Nordisk ( NVO...
hapabapa Eli Lilly ( LLY ) shares are in the green on Thursday after the Indiana-based drugmaker posted late-stage trial results indicating that retatrutide, its next-gen obesity therapy, caused up to 28% weight loss on average over 80 weeks . The once-weekly injectable belongs to an emerging class of obesity therapies developed by companies including Lilly’s ( LLY ) main rival, Novo Nordisk ( NVO ), targeting GIP, GLP-1, and glucagon triple hormone receptors. They are believed to cause greater weight loss compared to GLP-1 agonists such as Novo’s ( NVO ) semaglutide and Lilly’s ( LLY ) dual GIP/GLP-1 receptor co-agonist, tirzepatide, marketed as Wegovy and Zepbound for weight loss, respectively. The triple agonists gained attention after Novo ( NVO ) posted late-stage trial data in February, indicating that its next-gen weight loss therapy, CagriSema, a combination of semaglutide and amylin analog, cagrilintide, trailed LLY’s Zepbound in a Phase 3 trial. Novo’s ( NVO ) triple agonist UBT251, developed in partnership with China’s United Laboratories ( ULIHF ), has yet to reach late-stage development. However, in two Phase 2 trials for Chinese patients with type 2 diabetes and obesity or overweight, the once-weekly injectable has caused up to 10% and 20% weight loss on average over 24 weeks, respectively, according to data readouts this year. UBT251 also indicated a safety and tolerability profile consistent with findings from clinical trials for other gut-hormone-based therapies, Novo ( NVO ) and United Laboratories ( ULIHF ) said without disclosing additional data. Retatrutide showed a largely similar tolerability profile, according to Thursday's readout from Lilly's ( LLY ) TRIUMPH-1 Phase 3 study, which enrolled more than 2,000 obese or overweight adults with at least one weight-related condition, excluding diabetes. However, as many as 11% of patients who received the drug at the highest 12 mg dose discontinued due to adverse events such as nausea, vomiting, and...
The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, which is situated on the Ile Notre Dame in the St Lawrence Seaway alongside downtown Montreal, is a very different track from Miami. Although still a street-style circuit, the weather is much cooler and the tyres do not suffer anywhere near as much from overheating. Russell feels much more comfortable when the tyres are working in their natural temperature window, ra...
The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, which is situated on the Ile Notre Dame in the St Lawrence Seaway alongside downtown Montreal, is a very different track from Miami. Although still a street-style circuit, the weather is much cooler and the tyres do not suffer anywhere near as much from overheating. Russell feels much more comfortable when the tyres are working in their natural temperature window, rather than always on the verge of being too hot. The 28-year-old won the first race of the season in Australia, and lost out on victories in China and Japan through bad luck. Miami was the first weekend of the year on which Antonelli had had a decisive advantage. "I see my competitor as myself because I know if I take all of my boxes, I can be at the top, and in Miami that didn't happen and I know my struggles on a track like Miami I just need to focus on that and that's the approach I've had the last few years, against Lewis, against Kimi last year. At the moment, I'm just really focused on giving the most of myself and my team and the rest sorts itself out. "It's still so early days and I know how to deal with it. It's not the first time in my career that I've had a bad race or two but in this sport it does change so quickly one week you have a tough race and the next week you come back and everything goes back to normal." Mercedes have a major upgrade on their car for this race, which Russell said they expected would be a "decent" step forward for their car, which has won all four grands prix this season. Rivals McLaren, Red Bull and Ferrari all had major upgrades at the last race which brought them closer to Mercedes. "We hope (it's) as big as the upgrade was for the likes of McLaren and Ferrari in Miami," Russell said, "but as we know there are no guarantees. We know what it says on paper I don't see any reason why it shouldn't translate but stranger things have happened."
Financial software company Intuit (INTU) is looking to be the latest to trim its workforce. In an internal email circulated among employees, CEO Sasan Goodarzi has reportedly said that the move to shed about 3,000 jobs in the company is being done to operate more effectively and focus on assimilating AI across its products and services. To put it simply, AI may do the jobs of these people, and the...
Financial software company Intuit (INTU) is looking to be the latest to trim its workforce. In an internal email circulated among employees, CEO Sasan Goodarzi has reportedly said that the move to shed about 3,000 jobs in the company is being done to operate more effectively and focus on assimilating AI across its products and services. To put it simply, AI may do the jobs of these people, and the company will save costs. Consequently, the shares should have reacted positively, right? Wrong. INTU stock ended 4% lower in yesterday's trading session. About Intuit Founded in 1983, Intuit develops financial and tax software for consumers, small businesses, accountants, and self-employed workers. Its popular products include TurboTax, QuickBooks, CreditKarma, and MailChimp. Notably, across its ecosystem, there are about 100 million customers worldwide. Valued at a market cap of $106 billion, INTU is down 53% on a YTD basis. The stock also offers a dividend yield of 1.19%, and has been raising dividends consecutively over the past 14 years. Further, with a payout ratio of about 20%, dividend raises have more room to run. So, will the lightening of its employee list jolt INTU shares back toward an upward path? Let's find out. Beat & Raise Q3 Intuit's Q3 was marked by a beat and raise, with both revenue and earnings exceeding Street estimates. Total revenues went up by 10% from the previous year to $8.6 billion. All key products, except ProTax, saw their revenues increase when compared to the prior year. While TurboTax and Credit Karma revenues were up 7% and 15% to $4.4 billion and $631 million, respectively, ProTax revenue at $278 million remained flat. Earnings rose by 10% in the same period to $12.80 per share, surpassing the consensus estimate of $12.57 per share. Notably, this was the ninth consecutive quarter of earnings beat from a company that has increased its revenue and earnings at impressive CAGRs of 16.24% and 22.9%, respectively. Moreover, the company raised ...
Harry Maguire has announced he has been overlooked by Thomas Tuchel for the England World Cup squad. The Manchester United centre-half had hoped to be included in the 26-man party for the tournament this summer, which Tuchel will name at Wembley on Friday morning. Maguire has excelled for United since Michael Carrick took over as the head coach in mid-January and was called up by Tuchel for the Ma...
Harry Maguire has announced he has been overlooked by Thomas Tuchel for the England World Cup squad. The Manchester United centre-half had hoped to be included in the 26-man party for the tournament this summer, which Tuchel will name at Wembley on Friday morning. Maguire has excelled for United since Michael Carrick took over as the head coach in mid-January and was called up by Tuchel for the March international programme. The 33-year-old started against Uruguay and came on as a late substitute against Japan, when he brought a threat on set pieces. But Tuchel has decided to prioritise other players in the position. He is expected to select Ezri Konsa, Marc Guéhi and John Stones, despite the latter’s lack of football for Manchester City; he has made only four appearances since 2 December. Also in the frame are Trevoh Chalobah, Jarell Quansah, Dan Burn and Levi Colwill, who has impressed for Chelsea since his return at the beginning of the month from a season-wrecking anterior cruciate ligament rupture. Quick Guide How do I sign up for sport breaking news alerts? Show In the Guardian app, tap the Profile settings button at the top right, then select Notifications. Turn on sport notifications. If you already have the Guardian app, make sure you’re on the most recent version. If you don't have the Guardian app, download it from the iOS App Store on iPhone or the Google Play store on Android by searching for 'The Guardian'. Was this helpful? Thank you for your feedback. “I was confident I could have played a major part this summer for my country after the season I’ve had,” Maguire posted on social media. “I’ve been left shocked and gutted by the decision. I’ve loved nothing more than putting that shirt on and representing my country over the years. I wish the players all the best this summer.” Tuchel’s comments about Maguire after the Uruguay game bear a reprint. “I got exactly what I thought: solid central defender play,” Tuchel said. “Very good on the ball, very calm...
Broadcom Inc. remains in the spotlight as investors digest its latest AI networking momentum and a renewed multi?year deal with Apple, while the Nvidia?driven rally reshapes expectations for the semiconductor leader. Broadcom Inc. has stayed at the center of the semiconductor rally in recent weeks, as investors focus on the group’s growing role in AI data centers and a renewed multi?year supply ag...
Broadcom Inc. remains in the spotlight as investors digest its latest AI networking momentum and a renewed multi?year deal with Apple, while the Nvidia?driven rally reshapes expectations for the semiconductor leader. Broadcom Inc. has stayed at the center of the semiconductor rally in recent weeks, as investors focus on the group’s growing role in AI data centers and a renewed multi?year supply agreement with Apple that underscores its position in wireless and connectivity chips, according to reporting from outlets including Reuters as of 04/25/2026 and company disclosures cited by Bloomberg as of 04/25/2026. As of: 21.05.2026 By the editorial team – specialized in equity coverage. At a glance Name: Broadcom Broadcom Sector/industry: Semiconductors and infrastructure software Semiconductors and infrastructure software Headquarters/country: San Jose, United States San Jose, United States Core markets: Data center, networking, broadband, wireless, enterprise software Data center, networking, broadband, wireless, enterprise software Key revenue drivers: Custom and merchant chips for cloud and AI data centers, networking switches, wireless connectivity, enterprise software subscriptions Custom and merchant chips for cloud and AI data centers, networking switches, wireless connectivity, enterprise software subscriptions Home exchange/listing venue: Nasdaq Global Select Market (ticker: AVGO) Nasdaq Global Select Market (ticker: AVGO) Trading currency: USD Broadcom Inc.: core business model Broadcom Inc. is a diversified semiconductor and infrastructure software company whose strategy centers on providing high?value, application?specific solutions to large enterprise and cloud customers. The group designs chips for networking, broadband, wireless connectivity and storage, and complements that hardware portfolio with mainframe, cybersecurity and infrastructure software aimed at mission?critical workloads. The hardware side of Broadcom Inc. focuses on complex, often custom c...
The founders of StraightPath Venture Partners LLC were sentenced to years in prison for defrauding investors who gave them $386 million to supposedly invest cheaply in hot companies about to go public. Michael Castillero, Francine Lanaia and Brian Martinsen were convicted last year of grossly inflating the value of the shares they acquired in private firms and charging investors other hidden fees,...
The founders of StraightPath Venture Partners LLC were sentenced to years in prison for defrauding investors who gave them $386 million to supposedly invest cheaply in hot companies about to go public. Michael Castillero, Francine Lanaia and Brian Martinsen were convicted last year of grossly inflating the value of the shares they acquired in private firms and charging investors other hidden fees, ultimately skimming $75 million for themselves. Castillero, 48, was sentenced Wednesday to 11 years in prison. Martinsen, 49, and Lanaia, 61, were respectively given 10 years and eight years behind bars. Manhattan US Attorney Jay Clayton announced the sentences in a statement. “The federal prison sentences imposed today send a message that private market frauds will be met with vigorous criminal prosecution,” Clayton said Wednesday. Between 2017 and 2022, the three used boiler-room-style call centers to sign up more than 2,000 investors who thought they were investing at a favorable rate in companies that appeared poised for successful initial public offerings at the time. Federal prosecutors didn’t identify the companies in their indictment, but a parallel Securities and Exchange Commission suit said they included Impossible Foods Inc. and Kraken . Castillero and Lanaia also concealed from investors that they had previously been barred from the securities industry by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority . Straightpath and its funds are being administered by a court-appointed receiver who is seeking to return remaining assets to the investors. As part of their sentences, the three were ordered to pay $115 million in restitution. The case is US v. Castillero, 23-cr-00622, US District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).
Image source: The Motley Fool. Thursday, May 21, 2026 at 11 a.m. ET CALL PARTICIPANTS Co-Chief Executive Officer — Erik R. Hirsch Chief Financial Officer — Jeffrey Armbrister TAKEAWAYS Total Asset Footprint -- $1 trillion, marking a 9% increase year over year, with primary drivers including both specialized funds and customized separate accounts. -- $1 trillion, marking a 9% increase year over yea...
Image source: The Motley Fool. Thursday, May 21, 2026 at 11 a.m. ET CALL PARTICIPANTS Co-Chief Executive Officer — Erik R. Hirsch Chief Financial Officer — Jeffrey Armbrister TAKEAWAYS Total Asset Footprint -- $1 trillion, marking a 9% increase year over year, with primary drivers including both specialized funds and customized separate accounts. -- $1 trillion, marking a 9% increase year over year, with primary drivers including both specialized funds and customized separate accounts. Assets Under Management (AUM) -- $142 billion, up $4 billion or 3%; specialized funds and separate accounts fueled growth. -- $142 billion, up $4 billion or 3%; specialized funds and separate accounts fueled growth. Assets Under Advisement (AUA) -- $905 billion, up $86 billion or 10%, primarily from portfolio market value growth and new technology/back office mandates. -- $905 billion, up $86 billion or 10%, primarily from portfolio market value growth and new technology/back office mandates. Management and Advisory Fees -- $584 million, reflecting 14% growth year over year. -- $584 million, reflecting 14% growth year over year. Total Fee-Related Revenue -- $687 million, representing a 20% increase; includes both management and fee-related performance revenues. -- $687 million, representing a 20% increase; includes both management and fee-related performance revenues. Fee-Related Earnings (FRE) -- $345 million with 25% year-over-year growth; FRE margin rose to 50% from 48% prior. -- $345 million with 25% year-over-year growth; FRE margin rose to 50% from 48% prior. GAAP Net Income/EPS -- $249 million net income and $5.92 EPS; Adjusted net income was $321 million and non-GAAP EPS was $5.90. -- $249 million net income and $5.92 EPS; Adjusted net income was $321 million and non-GAAP EPS was $5.90. Dividend -- Fiscal dividend increased 11% to $2.40 per share ($0.60/quarter), marking the ninth consecutive annual double-digit hike since the IPO. -- Fiscal dividend increased 11% to $2.40 per...
For much of the past two years, Wall Street treated long-run inflation expectations as the boring part of the macro story. Short-run prints whipped around. The five-year horizon stayed anchored. That assumption broke this month. The Cleveland Fed just published its highest five-year inflation expectation in 19 years, a reading that sits above the levels ... Fed’s Long-Term Inflation Forecast Hits ...
For much of the past two years, Wall Street treated long-run inflation expectations as the boring part of the macro story. Short-run prints whipped around. The five-year horizon stayed anchored. That assumption broke this month. The Cleveland Fed just published its highest five-year inflation expectation in 19 years, a reading that sits above the levels ... Fed’s Long-Term Inflation Forecast Hits 19-Year High
OpenAI has claimed a further advance in AI reasoning after its technology successfully tackled an 80-year-old maths problem. The company behind ChatGPT said it had made a breakthrough with a challenge first posed by Hungarian mathematician Paul Erdős in 1946: the planar unit distance problem. The question posed by Erdős is simple to explain. If you take a sheet of paper and add some dots, how many...
OpenAI has claimed a further advance in AI reasoning after its technology successfully tackled an 80-year-old maths problem. The company behind ChatGPT said it had made a breakthrough with a challenge first posed by Hungarian mathematician Paul Erdős in 1946: the planar unit distance problem. The question posed by Erdős is simple to explain. If you take a sheet of paper and add some dots, how many pairs can be the same distance apart? Erdős proposed the number would rise only slightly faster than the number of dots themselves. OpenAI’s model concluded otherwise by drawing on different branches of mathematics to uncover a family of arrangements that break the limit in Erdős’s conjecture. “For nearly 80 years, mathematicians believed the best possible solutions looked roughly like square grids,” OpenAI wrote on X. “An OpenAI model has now disproved that belief, discovering an entirely new family of constructions that performs better.” While the work has excited mathematicians, the broader problem remains unsolved because the AI did not come up with a new answer for how fast the pairs of dots rise, but merely showed that the limit Erdős proposed was too low. OpenAI, which is preparing to float on the US stock market, said the calculations had been made by a general-purpose reasoning model – which breaks down problems into smaller steps – rather than a system trained specifically for mathematics. The startup has been tripped up before by its attempts to solve Erdős’s problems, having hailed a supposed breakthrough last year that was in fact based on already existing literature absorbed by the model. This time, OpenAI’s work has been validated by mathematicians, including Thomas Bloom, a mathematician who maintains the Erdős problems website and criticised OpenAI’s prior Erdős claims. Bloom co-authored a companion paper to OpenAI’s blog post flagging the Erdős achievement. Bloom wrote that the AI system had attained its results by “persevering down paths that a human may...