Nonrival

May 27, 2026

Human experts + AI summaries - on public policy, economics, and technology.

AI Pricing Algorithms Often Lower Prices Instead of Enabling Collusion, New Research Shows

wharton

• New Wharton research analyzing Amazon data finds that AI pricing algorithms often push prices down rather than enabling the price-fixing that regulators fear
• The algorithms learn to reduce advertising spending on platform search results, cutting merchants' costs and leading to lower consumer prices
• The effect varies by shopping behavior: prices fall when consumers compare fewer products, but rise when they shop around more extensively

Should AI Companies Be Required to Warn Police When Users Discuss Violence?

the_conversation

• Recent tragedies involving AI chatbots and violent users have raised questions about whether tech companies should be legally required to report threatening behavior to authorities
• Legal scholars are exploring whether the "Tarasoff duty" - which requires therapists to warn potential victims when patients make credible threats - should apply to AI companies that detect concerning user conversations
• While such a requirement could prevent harm, it faces major challenges including the difficulty of accurately predicting violence, the massive scale of AI platforms, and concerns about privacy and false positives

ASEAN Countries Are Becoming the Middleman in US-China Tech Trade

itif

• U.S. trade policy changes have pushed tech companies like Apple, Dell, and HP to move manufacturing from China to Southeast Asian countries, particularly Vietnam, to avoid tariffs.
• While U.S. imports from China declined, imports from ASEAN surged, especially in high-tech goods, with only 1% of tech products from ASEAN facing tariffs compared to 90% from China.
• China remains deeply embedded in global supply chains by supplying upstream components to ASEAN-based manufacturers, meaning the trade war has rerouted rather than eliminated Chinese involvement in U.S. tech imports.

In the News

Gulf States Face New Reality After Iran Deal: Relief Mixed with Fear of Future Attacks

csis

• Arab Gulf states are relieved that a U.S.-Iran ceasefire deal will end immediate conflict, but remain deeply worried about Iran's retained ability to disrupt the Strait of Hormuz and attack their energy infrastructure.
• The three-month war devastated Gulf economies, with Iranian strikes destroying nearly 20% of Qatar's LNG production and forcing the country to freeze production for the first time in history.
• Gulf states are now pursuing a multi-pronged strategy: strengthening domestic defenses through new partnerships with Europe and Asia, deepening military cooperation among themselves, and paradoxically seeking economic integration with Iran as a form of deterrence.

Analysis

AI Economy Grew Over 2,000 Percent in 2024 as Computing Power and Algorithms Advanced

peterson

• Researchers created the first comprehensive measure of AI economic output, finding that quality-adjusted AI production grew over 2,000 percent annually in 2024 and 2025
• Three factors drove this explosive growth: massive expansion of data center capacity, more efficient computer chips, and rapid improvements in AI algorithms
• The study proposes tracking "AI GDP" as a separate economic metric since traditional statistics can't capture how fast this sector is moving

Also Worth a Look

• Companies Are Rewriting Executive Pay Plans to Account for Trump's New Tariffs (harvard_corpgov)
• Libya's Oil Boom Can't Fix an Economy Broken by Political Corruption and Parallel Spending (atlantic_council)
• The Pentagon Wants to Use Africa as a Testing Ground for Drone Warfare and Multi-Domain Military Operations (csis)
• The FAA Cut Its Air Traffic Controller Hiring Target by 2,000, But There's More to the Story (politifact)
• How China's Economic Coercion Campaign Against Australia Backfired (atlantic_council)
• AI's Economic Impact Is Massive but Invisible in Official GDP Statistics (peterson)
• The Biden Administration Is Reviving a Depression-Era Law That Could Make Shopping More Expensive (promarket)