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The Big Picture
AI leaders call for industry-wide slowdown. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has called for the industry to slow the pace of AI development, with Sam Altman and Elon Musk both backing the statement. The push follows a former Anthropic researcher warning "there is a strong chance that we could all die in the immediate future", following an incident where OpenAI agents went rogue. (FT | BBC)
BRICS leaders meet in New Delhi. Leaders from the 11-member group including Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa and others gathered in New Dehli, calling for restraint in the Middle East and criticising unilateral tariffs, notably without naming the United States. China's Xi Jinping used the summit to reinforce Beijing's role as the Global South's economic partner ahead of his meeting with Trump in Washington this week. (ABC)
600 jobs axed as Whyalla's blast furnace declared beyond saving. KordaMentha and the South Australian government have given up on restarting the ageing furnace. The site will keep operating a rolling mill using imported steel while the sale process continues, with M Resources and India's Jindal Steel the final two bidders. (AFR)
One Nation unveils plan to slash immigration by 750,000 places over three years. International student places would be cut by 270,000, post-study work visas by 230,000, and family visas for students and skilled migrants reduced to zero under the proposal. Labor's Murray Watt warned the policy would "destroy regional economies" and likely drive Australia into recession, while Opposition Leader Angus Taylor called it "half-baked." (ABC)
World's largest battery-electric ferry built in Tasmanian arrives in South America. The 130-metre vessel arrived in Uruguay after journeying from Hobart, powered by more than 5,000 battery modules and capable of carrying 2,100 passengers and 225 vehicles. The design has attracted international interest, with Danish company Molslinjen ordering three seperate vessels that will become Europe's largest electric ferries. (ABC)
Carney attempts to woo $72trn in global capital as Canada pivots away from the US. More than 100 global investment companies including BlackRock and Blackstone are gathering in Toronto this week, as Prime Minister Mark Carney pitches Canada's energy, defence and AI sectors to reduce reliance on the US. The current challenge is significant for Carney given US exports account for 20% of Canada's GDP. (BBC)
Companies in the news
Telix Pharmaceuticals secures approval for first brain cancer imaging drug. The company's drug Pixclara will help doctors distinguish whether a patient's brain tumour has returned or whether scans are simply showing scarring from previous treatment — a distinction standard MRI struggles to make. While the approach is already recommended in international guidelines, no FDA-approved product had been available in the US until now. (Capital Brief)
Amazon suspends work with cargo operator after fatal Miami crash. The company has paused operations with 21 Air, which operated the Boeing 767 that missed a Miami runway earlier this month, killing five people on the ground. Early findings reveal one pilot repeatedly warned the other about the aircraft's "excessive speed" before the crash. (BBC)
Anthropic flags profitability for a second straight quarter ahead of IPO.
The Claude AI maker has told shareholders its adjusted operating income will be positive again this quarter, with gross margins above 80% and annualised revenue hitting $65 billion at the end of July, up from $9 billion at the end of last year. Anthropic has chosen Nasdaq for a listing that could value it at $2 trillion or more. (FT)REA Group forced to scrap restrictive contracts after ACCC investigation. The real estate listing platform group has agreed to remove clauses locking real estate agencies into listing all their properties on its platform, with the court-enforceable undertaking binding for three years. ACCC chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb said the restrictions had limited customer choice and hindered rival listing services from competing. (ACCC)
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Former Anthropic employee says AI staff are frightened for humanity
Jacob Coxon recently quit his job at Anthropic, after releasing a paper on X about his own and his former colleagues concern regarding the pace of AI progress. He even said that some people at Anthropic are buying large plots of land to prepare for instability in the world.
Coxon warns that without a slowdown in progress "there is a strong chance that we could all die in the immediate future." His comments follow Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei's essay calling for industry-wide deceleration, a position publicly backed by OpenAI's Sam Altman and Elon Musk. (BBC)
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The Numbers Behind the Super Debate
Bryce and Ren dig into a Superannuation debate that has been making the rounds in Canberra in a recent episode of Equity Mates Investing. (Spotify | Apple | YouTube)
There is a lot of chat happening in Canberra right now about whether Australians should be able to divert a portion of their superannuation contributions into their take home pay to help with the cost of living.
The proposal works out to roughly $44 a week, or around $6,800 over three years, which sounds modest at first glance. Part of the argument for being able to dip into your superannuation is that it is small enough not to meaningfully dent your retirement savings.
Ren ran the numbers using AustralianSuper's high growth option returns of 9.64% per year over the past decade. If that $6,800 stays in super and compounds at that rate for 35 years, it becomes $170,000.
For context, some politicians modelling the impact of this proposal have suggested the retirement difference is around $18,000. The actual compounding math puts it at nearly 10 times that.
To put the mortgage argument to rest as well, Bryce ran a separate calculation. Put that same $6,800 into your mortgage offset on a $730,000 loan and you save $36,000 in interest and shave eight months off your loan. Keep it in super and it becomes $107,000 over 30 years. Super wins by roughly triple.
The lesson again here is that small amounts, left to compound over long periods, can become very large amounts.
