Greetings from London, As an experiment, I asked an AI to help me to write this introduction. I suggested it serve up a paragraph on Emmanuel Macron’s looming trip to eastern Europe. In moments it spat out the following lines: “The President of France is set to visit Moldova and Romania in order to strengthen ties with the two countries. This is seen as an important visit as both Moldova and Romania are members of the European Union and France is seen as a key player in the EU. The French president will hold talks in the Moldovan capital Chisinau with his counterpart Igor Dodon, who has close ties to the Kremlin.” Impressive? At first glance, yes. France is weighty in the EU; Romania is a member. AI correctly named the Moldovan capital (many pub-quiz teams would not). No doubt Mr Macron favours stronger ties, though does anyone really travel hoping to establish weaker ones? But the eagle-eyed among you probably noticed flaws. Moldova would love to be a member of the EU, but it is not even close to becoming one. As for the Russophile Mr Dodon, he left office in 2020. AI remains reassuringly fallible. We flesh-and-blood writers can keep our jobs, for now. But for a deeper investigation into the ways AI is being harnessed by creative types—and the rapid progress it is making—take a look at our cover story and briefing. (The cover image, the accompanying illustrations and parts of the text were all created by AI.) As for Mr Macron, he faces a busy week. Look out for our take on the first round of France’s parliamentary elections published after preliminary results are announced. I wonder, too, if the president might drop in on Ukraine as part of his eastern European tour. The war there has reached a difficult, attritional phase. If Ukraine does not receive more Western weapons, especially artillery and ammunition, Russia will grind out some territorial gains in the east. But the front lines are moving only slowly. For an insight into the fighting, our correspondent had an exclusive interview with Ukraine’s defence minister, Oleksii Reznikov, which we published today. Otherwise I’ll be watching a couple of stories this week. One concerns the ever more prominent figure of Elon Musk. The drama of his costly purchase of Twitter rolls along. Perhaps more significant, however, is the ripple effect of his success on other carmakers. Our new story looks at what lessons other companies struggling with supply-chain woes can learn from Mr Musk’s businesses. Staying in America, there is political drama aplenty. The January 6th hearings began last week in Congress, with assorted testimony—including from Ivanka Trump and former colleagues of the ex-president—about the role played by Donald Trump as a violent mob stormed the US Capitol in January 2021. Three more hearings are set for this week, and more will follow. What will they amount to? The hearings won’t expose much that is new. But they serve as a historical record of a shameful day in recent American politics, and they might just fire up Democrats ahead of the mid-terms in November. Thanks for all of your imaginative suggestions for authors for our “ By Invitation” section (where we invite outsiders to pen a guest essay for us). Noting the likelihood that Republicans will win control of Congress in November, Leslie Brothers asks for someone who “has a handle on” the party’s evolving position on the war in Ukraine. Philippe Debels would like to read Angela Merkel explain her views on the same war (we’d love to read that, too, Philippe, though the ex-chancellor spoke rather defensively about her record in Berlin last week). And Daniel Furnad suggests Mikhail Gorbachev, among others, on the same topic. We’ll try, on all scores. Meanwhile, I urge you to check out our “Summer reads” hub, where in the coming sun-spangled months we will be highlighting the best beach-friendly articles for you. And please continue to write to me at [email protected]. I like to know who welcomes, and who dreads, the rise of AI in a variety of new professions. You’re also welcome to follow me at @ARobertsjourno. |