Le Journal

Vinod Khosla says stock prices aren't the way to evaluate AI bubbles.Mert Alper Dervis/Anadolu via Getty ImagesVinod Khosla said he measures AI industry health by API calls, not stock prices or Wall Street trends.Debate over an AI bubble grows as investment surges and leaders like Bill Gates and Michael Burry weigh in.Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang argues AI is driving a major shift in computing, not just market speculation.Vinod Khosla has his eye on one AI metric, and it's not stock prices.On an episode of OpenAI's podcast released on Monday, the famed venture capitalist shared how he's gauging whether we're in an AI bubble — or not."People equate bubble to stock prices, which has nothing to do with anything other than fear and greed among investors," he said. "So I always look at, bubbles should be measured by the number of API calls."API, or Application Programming Interface calls, refer to the process in which one software application sends a message to another application to request data or to trigger an action. They are a common indicator of digital tools' use, especially with the rise of AI agents. High API calls can also be a mark of a poor or inefficient product.Khosla said the bubble shouldn't be called "by what happened to stock prices because somebody got overexcited or underexcited and in one day they can go from loving Nvidia to hating Nvidia because it's overvalued."The 70-year-old VC, whose notable investments include OpenAI, DoorDash, and Block, compared the AI bubble to the dot-com bubble. He said he looked out for internet traffic as a metric during the 1990s, and with AI bubble concerns, that benchmark is now API calls."If that's your fundamental metric of what's the real use of your AI, usefulness of AI, demand for AI, you're not going to see a bubble in API calls," he said. "What Wall Street tends to do with it, I don't really care. I think it's mostly irrelevant."Concerns that the AI industry is overvalued because of massive investments became one of the buzziest themes in the second half of 2025. The phrase "AI bubble" appeared in 42 earnings calls and investor conference transcripts between October and December — a 740% increase from the previous quarter, according to an AlphaSense analysis.Top business leaders remain split about whether the bubble is about to burst.Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates said AI has extremely high value, but it's still in a bubble."But you have a frenzy," Gates told CNBC in late October. "And some of these companies will be glad they spent all this money. Some of them, you know, they'll commit to data centers whose electricity is too expensive."Earlier this month, "Big Short" investor Michael Burry raised the alarm on an AI bubble in a Substack exchange.Burry wrote that companies, including Microsoft and Alphabet, are wasting trillions on microchips and data centers that will quickly become obsolete. He added that their spending has "no clear path to utilization by the real economy."Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has dismissed concerns of a bubble. His company became the world's first $5 trillion market cap company in October on the back of the AI boom.In an October Bloomberg TV appearance, Huang said that instead of overspeculation, AI is part of a transition from an old way of computing."We also know that AI has become good enough because of reasoning capability, and research capability, its ability to think — it's now generating tokens and intelligence that is worth paying for," Huang said. Read the original article on Business Insider

GUR has uploaded a model of the Geran-5 and its foreign parts. The drone's warhead is shown mounted near the aircraft's nose.Screenshot via the Ukrainian government "War & Sanctions" websiteUkraine says it's found at least nine American parts in Russia's new Geran-5 attack drone.GUR listed over a dozen foreign components, including some from China and Germany, found in the drone.It was found in early January during an attack, and is believed to fly far faster than its predecessors.Ukraine's defense intelligence agency, GUR, has identified over a dozen American and Chinese electronics parts that it says were found in a new Russian jet-powered attack drone.GUR published its new analysis of the drone, dubbed the Geran-5, on Monday, as part of its ongoing directory of key foreign components used in Russia's weapons or defense industry.The intelligence directorate published images of what it said was the drone's wreckage last week, saying that the Geran-5 was newly discovered after being used in an attack in early January.Shaped like a traditional fixed-wing aircraft, the Geran-5 differs from past Gerans, which are delta-wing aircraft modeled after the Iranian Shahed drone.GUR said last week that the Geran-5 closely resembles Iran's Karrar uncrewed aerial vehicle, which in turn is believed to be modeled after the much older American MQM-107 Streaker attack drone.At least nine of the Geran-5's parts were produced by American companies, including digital signal processors, clock generators, and a transceiver, GUR said.GUR said the drone also features a more powerful Chinese turbojet engine, allowing the Geran-5 to fly at up to 373 mph — much faster than the jet-powered Geran-3's estimated 230 mph.Three other parts, including a mesh network radio modem that retails for $8,100, were also sourced from China, GUR added.One part on the list — the Geran-5's transistor — is German.GUR published an image of what appears to be gathered debris from a downed Geran-5.Ukrainian Defense Intelligence Directorate (GUR)Ukraine often warns that Russia's military production base has been successfully evading international sanctions at a scale that allows it to manufacture a deep arsenal with foreign parts. Kyiv has long sought to compel international firms to introduce stringent due diligence programs to prevent their products from entering the black market.GUR said in its initial report that the Geran-5 likely has a range of 600 miles and can carry a 200-pound warhead. The agency also said it had information indicating that Russia may seek to deploy the Geran-5 from Sukhoi Su-25 fighter jets, rather than from typical ground-based launchers, to extend its reach."Separately, the possibility of equipping the aircraft with R-73 air-to-air missiles to counter Ukrainian aviation is being considered," the agency said.The Geran drone family has come to describe loitering munitions that were based on Iranian designs but tweaked to be manufactured within Russia. Previous Gerans have taken inspiration from Tehran's Shahed, and they're so similar that they are often colloquially seen as synonymous.The earlier Gerans are now one of Russia's staple weapons against Ukraine, with the Kremlin manufacturing so many that it can afford to launch thousands of attack drones a month at Ukrainian cities.Jet-powered versions of the Geran have been used more sparsely, though Ukrainian reports of the Geran-3's use have grown increasingly common over the last year.Read the original article on Business Insider

Au Hui Her and Liu Yi Wen run The Weirdoughs, a bakery in Singapore.Aditi BharadeAu Hui Har and Liu Yi Wen opened a cozy neighborhood bakery in Singapore this year.Before becoming business owners, they worked in the fine dining and pharmaceutical industries.Running a bakery means rising well before the sun and baking hundreds of loaves daily.Ten minutes before The Weirdoughs opened its doors on a Friday morning, a queue of pastry-hungry customers had formed under its bright yellow awning.The small bakery, located in a quiet residential neighborhood of Serangoon in Singapore, had fewer than 10 tables. But it was quickly packed with regulars buying coffees, sourdough bread, croissants, and brownies.I sat in a corner and people-watched, savoring the smell of espresso and The Weirdoughs' caramelized onion and leek pastry. It was the brainchild of cofounder Liu Yi Wen, a Taiwanese fine dining chef trained in French cuisine.A queue had formed outside The Weirdough's storefront before opening time.Aditi BharadeLiu and her business partner, Au Hui Har, opened The Weirdoughs in July. The pair met while working at a local pastry business and decided to pool their savings to pursue a shared dream of starting something of their own.About five months on, business is booming, but baking close to a hundred loaves daily is not easy.Leaving behind jobs in pharmaceuticals and fine diningAu scored sourdough loaves before putting them in the oven.Aditi BharadeLiu studied materials science in college."Studying materials science, that was the trend then. So I followed the trend, but I realized after I joined the course that I was not interested in it at all," Liu said.After graduating, she cut her culinary teeth at several upscale restaurants in Singapore, Paris, and Taiwan, including the three-Michelin-starred restaurant Joël Robuchon.She described work in fine dining as akin to being in the army."The hours were very long, 14 to 16 hours daily. It was very normal for us to stay over," she said. "And there was a strict hierarchy."She returned to Singapore in 2022 to be with her partner, where she started working at Tarte by Cheryl Koh, a local pastry business.Au's pivot into baking, meanwhile, could not have been more drastic. She studied bioengineering in college and joined a management trainee program at the pharmaceutical company Novartis, completing rotations in Germany and Switzerland.Like Liu, Au also realized her day job wasn't what she wanted to do."Regulations in the industry take years to be implemented. I felt disconnected from the patients, and corporate life felt very tedious," Au said.When COVID-19 struck, Au returned to Singapore, seeking a job in the food and beverage industry. She joined Tarte, where she met Liu.Liu had a vision of opening a warm and homely café, similar to those she frequented in Taiwan and France.The duo pooled about 100,000 Singapore dollars, or about $77,300, from their savings to purchase kitchen equipment, including large ovens and industrial mixers.Their bakery, The Weirdoughs, opened its doors in July.A creative, fusion-heavy menuThe Weirdoughs' baked goods selection includes matcha croissants and cinnamon brown sugar knots.Aditi BharadeAu and Liu brought their A-game to menu development."We wanted to incorporate Yi Wen's Taiwanese influence and techniques into our menu," Au said.Their selection includes a tea egg sandwich, madeleines flavored with maqaw — a spice indigenous to Taiwan, and corn and miso sourdough.I was about to order a plain butter croissant when Au asked me if I was in the mood for something more adventurous. She recommended the caramelized onion and leek pastry. It was the perfect combination of sweet and savory — I still dream of it.I also tried their sourdough loaf with garam masala butter and a matcha cream-filled croissant.Patrons in the bakery told me it had quickly become their neighborhood go-to.I spoke to Foo Yong Howe, a public servant and a sourdough fan, who was sharing a…

A new study from a German think tank found that foreign exporters paid only 4% of the US tariffs, with the rest paid by American buyers.Patrick T. Fallon / AFP via Getty ImagesA Kiel Institute study found US tariffs are mostly paid by American importers and consumers.The study found foreign exporters paid only around 4% of the tariff cost.The research contradicts Trump's messaging that Americans aren't paying for tariffs.A favorite tool of President Donald Trump has been costing Americans, according to new study.The brunt of US tariffs — 96% — have been paid by US buyers, research from the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, a German think tank, found, while about 4% of the tariff burden was paid by foreign exporters."American importers and consumers bear nearly all the cost," the researchers said of the tariffs.The study, published Monday, said that the $200 billion increase in customs revenue that the US government raised in 2025 was a "tax paid almost entirely by Americans."The research contradicts Trump's messaging that tariff costs would not be paid by Americans, but by other countries and overseas exporters. The president's aggressive tariff policy launched last year placed additional duties on dozens of trade partners, including China, India, and the European Union.The Kiel Institute study examined more than 25 million shipment records, worth nearly $4 trillion, between January 2024 and November 2025. The researchers found that there was a "near-complete pass-through" of the tariffs."US import prices rise nearly one-for-one with tariffs, while trade volumes contract," the study said.The findings echo other research that has found Americans are paying for tariffs, including from Harvard Business School and The Budget Lab at Yale. Analysts at Deutsche Bank and Bank of America also said last year that Americans were the ones paying for the tariffs.The Kiel study said American importers and wholesalers are first hit by the tariff cost, followed by manufacturers and retailers, all of which must choose whether to absorb the tariff or pass it on to their customers. American consumers are then hit by increased prices, both on imported goods or American-made products that use foreign inputs. There's been more limited availability of goods in the US, the researchers found.Trump has continued to use tariffs, saying on Saturday that he would impose additional tariffs on Denmark and other European countries unless they agree to a deal that would transfer Greenland to the US.Many of Trump's tariff policies could also be undone. The Supreme Court is expected to rule soon on the legality of a host of Trump's tariffs that were instituted under an emergency national security law. Trump has said the US would be "screwed" if the tariffs are overturned.Read the original article on Business Insider

La France a déclaré qu’elle n’entendait « pas donner de suite favorable » à ce stade à la proposition du président américain.