Loading summary
Transcript25 lines
- [00:00]
A
So there's a lot of noise about AI, but time's too tight for more promises. So let's talk about results. At IBM, we work with our employees to integrate technology right into the systems they need. Now a global workforce of 300,000 can use AI to fill their HR questions, resolving 94% of common questions, not noise. Proof of how we can help companies get smarter by putting AI where it actually pays off, deep in the work that moves the business. Let's create smarter business. IBM
- [00:34]
B
President Trump says the U.S. must respond after Iran downed a U.S. apache helicopter near the Strait of Hormuz. Plus, the fund that helps pay for Social Security benefits is now expected to run out even earlier. And Anthropic releases its latest AI model, giving the public access to a tool that has spooked companies and the White House.
- [00:53]
C
Anthropic announced this new technology and then they said it's too dangerous to be released publicly. Naturally, that's going to get everybody's attention.
- [01:01]
B
The company says this model protects against those dangerous capabilities. Capabilities. It's Tuesday, June 9th. I'm Alex Osola for the Wall Street Journal. This is the PM edition of what's news, the top headlines and business stories that move the world today. President Trump has accused Iran of shooting down a US Apache helicopter near the Strait of Hormuz and says the US Must respond. The development threatens to shatter a fragile cease fire between Iran and the US the downing of the helicopter late yesterday set off a race to find the two American crew members before Iranian forces could close in on them. The military says that in a first of its kind, operation at sea, a drone boat rescued the crew who had spent two hours in the water off the coast of Oman. Iran didn't deny that it shot down the helicopter, but the country's foreign minister suggested that taking it down had been an accident. And NASA has chosen four astronauts for its next Artemis mission as it prepares for a moon landing in 2028. There is mission commander Randy Bresnik, a retired Marine Corps colonel who became a NASA astronaut in 2004. Also coming on the mission are Andre Douglas, who served in the Coast Guard as a naval architect Frank Rubio, who once spent more than a year aboard the International Space Station and Luca Parmitano, who's representing the European Space Agency. Artemis 3 won't take them to the moon or around it, as the previous flight did. Instead, it will test hardware and vehicles that NASA intends to use for the eventual moon landing. Their flight is expected to launch next year. It will spend about two weeks in low Earth orbit. If you're American, you may already know that the fund that pays out Social Security is expected to be depleted within the next decade. Social Security's trustees said today that the deadline is actually coming a few months earlier than they had previously projected. Now it'll be in late 2032. Ann Tergeson, who covers retirement and personal finance for the Journal, says there are a few reasons why the shortfall is coming earlier.
- [03:01]
D
The tax cuts that Congress passed last year means that a lot of Social Security beneficiaries are not paying as much tax on their Social Security benefits. And so that tax revenue is declining and both fertility rates are declining and also immigration. Those declines mean that they're projecting fewer numbers of workers who are going to be paying into the system in the future, and that means less revenue for the Social Security trust funds.
- [03:33]
B
But Ann says there's no need to panic quite yet that the fund only pays for a portion of the overall Social Security benefits.
- [03:40]
D
The payroll taxes that come in don't cover 100% of the benefits that have been promised. So we have to draw down on the trust fund, which is like a savings account that Social Security has amassed. That trust fund will be depleted at some point in 2032. People who are receiving benefits are still going to get their benefits. In a worst case scenario, they're going to get about 78% of their promised benefits because that's what the payroll tax will cover. There will be no Social Security trust fund to make up the difference. That is one source of serious alarm for people is that when they hear that the trust fund's going to be depleted, they think that all of their benefits are going to go away and that that's not the case. I think Congress is likely to come up with some kind of funding system to avert a situation in which 22% of Social Security benefits just disappear overnight. It's important for people to try to take a long run perspective and try not to panic about this.
- [04:45]
B
Turning to the US Economy, new data from the Commerce Department show that the trade deficit was almost unchanged in April, coming in at about $56 billion. One big change was U.S. crude oil exports, which rose by more than $6 billion as the Iran conflict rippled through global energy. But overall, it's the latest indication that the Trump administration's tariffs have done little to rebalance the US Trade position with the rest of the world. Home sales last month posted the biggest increase this year. They rose 3.2% in May from the month before, beating Wall Street's expectations. Journal reporter Nicole Friedman says this is a sign of life for the housing market, but the trend might not last.
- [05:24]
E
Mortgage rates did come down somewhat in April, and so that probably lured some buyers off the sidelines. But the big obstacle is that mortgage rates have started rising again and now there's increased expectations that the Federal Reserve could actually raise short term rates. That would really push mortgage rates higher and could stall some of this momentum in the housing market. Mortgage rates are really the big determiner here and so this could be just a one month increase and not necessarily a more sustained improvement.
- [05:56]
B
Coming up, what's weighing down tech stocks today? That and more after the break.
- [06:08]
F
When you need to build up your team to handle the growing chaos at work, use Indeed Sponsored jobs. It gives your job post the boost it needs to be seen and helps reach people with the right skills, certifications and more. Spend less time searching and more time actually interviewing candidates who check all your boxes. Listeners of this show will get a $75 sponsored job credit@ Indeed.com podcast. That's Indeed.com podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Need a hiring hero? This is a job for Indeed Sponsored Jobs.
- [06:41]
B
The Nasdaq dropped 1% today and an index that tracks chip stocks dropped almost 2%. Analysts say there's a few reasons investors may be dumping AI stocks. They could be taking profits from the big tech run up we've had. There's ongoing worries about the Fed raising interest rates and also investors may be rotating out of some of the major tech names ahead of the SpaceX IPO on Friday. After all, there's only so much money to go around. The S and P slipped 0.3% and the Dow added 0.2%. Meanwhile, oil prices closed down about 3%. We're exclusively reporting that some people making bets on prediction market Kalshi will have to disclose their employers. It's an effort to stop potential insider trading and market manipulation. The changes come after two recent high profile cases. A US Soldier who was charged with using classified information about the arrest of former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to trade on Paul polymarket and a Google employee charged with using Insider information about Google's annual search trends report to make more than $1 million. Also on Polymarket. Congress has also opened a probe into how both Kalshi and polymarket manage insider trading risk. Kalshi says it expects that betting on some sensitive issues like company performance and national security, including the Iran war, will require an employment disclosure. People making bets will submit a form saying where they work, but Kelshi says that it won't usually need to actually verify that information unless it sees suspicious activity. The changes are set to be ruled out in the coming weeks. Polymarket has a data partnership with Dow Jones, the publisher of the Wall Street Journal. Chrysler is recalling more than 1 million vehicles. The company is concerned that the wiring of the car's electric power steering pump may overheat and cause a fire even when the car is parked with the ignition off. The recall includes Jeep Wrangler and Jeep Gladiator models manufactured between 2021 and 2025. If you own one of the recalled cars until it's repaired, you should park outside and away from structures. Today, Anthropic is releasing its most recent model, called Claude Fable 5. It'll let people use the company's Mythos AI model, which anthropic previously thought was too dangerous for the general public. Mythos has spooked the White House as well as banking executives and cybersecurity professionals around the world. Bob McMillan, who covers computer security for the Journal, has been following its rollout and joins me now with more. Bob, since Mythos was announced in April, it has made a lot of waves. Specifically because it's so powerful, can you remind listeners what made people so nervous about it?
- [09:13]
C
Well, Anthropic announced this new technology, and then they said it's too dangerous to be released publicly. Naturally, that's going to get everybody's attention. But Anthropic says that there are a bunch of things that Mythos can do that are just dangerous. Right. Like, so it could provide advantage advice on how to build a bioweapon or build a bomb. But the thing that's got the most attention is its cybersecurity capabilities. Anthropic started a program called Project Glasswing, and they gave early access to the model to software companies mostly and people who were building products that could be hacked. And they basically were invited to train Mythos on their software and see how good it was at finding bugs and writing code that could be used to take advantage of these bugs and hack the systems. And by early indications, Mythos is pretty good at this. So it's created a lot of turmoil with makers of software uncovering just an unprecedented number of software bugs and rushing to patch them before other models develop the same kinds of capabilities.
- [10:19]
B
So after all of this kind of buildup, all of these concerns about the bugpocalypse, now Anthropic is giving the public access to Mythos kind of it says it's put guardrails in place. What kinds of guardrails Are we talking about?
- [10:33]
C
Well, this is the secret sauce, I guess. The new model is called Fable 5. It's not mythos, but it's like the. The essence of it is the same as Mythos. Right. And basically, they've developed a set of technologies that can ostensibly figure out what you're asking about. So if you ask about the weather, that's okay, but when you're asking about something scary, like how to build a bioweapon or how to hack a compute, they kick you back to an older model, Opus 4 8, the previous version.
- [11:05]
B
I think it's fair to say that hackers are still going to try anyway. What is Anthropic doing to prevent hackers who are still trying to get access to the full Mythos version?
- [11:15]
C
Yeah, this is what they call jailbreaking. And it's sort of an ongoing issue with trying to control these models because people have been, for years, been able to get them to do things they're not supposed to do. Anthropic has tested internally, and they've also hired these, what they call red teamers, these external consultants to come in and just kick the tires of it. So they're confident that they've done some good work here to prevent the jailbreaking. But we'll see what happens.
- [11:44]
B
That was WSJ reporter Bob McMillan. Thanks, Bob.
- [11:47]
C
My pleasure, Alex.
- [11:48]
B
And that's what's news for this Tuesday afternoon. Today's show is produced by Danny Lewis and Anthony Vancy with supervising producer Tali Arbel Alexa. I'm Alex Osola for the Wall Street Journal. We'll be back with a new show tomorrow morning. Thanks for listening.
- [12:12]
E
Hey, this is Telus Demos, and I'm Miriam Gottfried. We're reporters at the Wall Street Journal and The hosts of WSJ's take on the Week.
- [12:19]
B
It's a weekly show that gives listeners
- [12:21]
E
a leg up in the world of markets and investing.
- [12:24]
A
From the Fed's moves to market bubbles, we dive into the biggest deals, key players, and business news ahead. If you're looking for more news and tools that you can use to help navigate the markets, consider becoming a subscriber to the Wall street journal.
- [12:35]
E
Visit subscribe WSJ.comtakeontheweek to subscribe now.