1 AI could double Singapore growth rate by 2035
(Straits Times) Artificial intelligence (AI) could nearly double Singapore's
annual economic growth rates by 2035, according to research by global
professional services firm Accenture.
The research also found that Singapore is at the
forefront to integrate innovation and technologies into the wider economy,
ahead of the largest economies in the world such as the US, Germany, UK and
Japan.
Accenture Research, in collaboration with Frontier
Economics, modelled the impact of AI in 33 economies that together generate
more than 80 per cent of the world's economic output. The research compared the
size of each country's economy in 2035 in a baseline scenario, which shows
expected economic growth under current assumptions, and an AI scenario which
shows expected growth once the impact of AI has been absorbed into the economy.
AI was found to yield the largest uplift in economic
growth for Singapore, potentially increasing its annual growth rate from 3.2
per cent to 5.4 per cent by 2035, translating to an additional $$215 billion in
gross value added (GVA). This is ahead of other large economies such as the US,
with AI potentially adding $$8.3 trillion in GVA by 2035, increasing its annual
growth rate from 2.6 per cent to 4.6 per cent by 2035.
The potential to significantly boost the
productivity of labour will be driven by innovative AI technologies that enable
people to make more efficient use of their time and do what humans do best -
create, imagine and innovate new things, said the report. With the adoption of
AI, Singapore would only require 13 years for its economy to double in size,
while without AI, it will take the country 22 years, it said.
2 Tight budget triggers lipstick sales (Sarah Butler
in The Guardian) With disposable income under pressure, shoppers are holding
off on buying big ticket household items like sofas, beds and washing machines.
But tough times also encourage shoppers to treat themselves, and history has
shown that sales of cheap thrills – from lipstick to takeaway coffee, expensive
perfume, skin cream and sparkling wine – can do well in a downturn.
“The backdrop is very uncertain and it was made
worse by the tragic events that happened across British cities over the last
few months,” said Paula Nickolds, managing director of the John Lewis
department stores chain, referring to the terror attacks in London and
Manchester.
She said John Lewis’s middle England customers were
now feeling “uncertain and worried about what the circumstances will mean for
their future financial prosperity” and so are beginning to change their
shopping behaviour.
Nickolds said trading in “spontaneous” categories,
was holding up robustly. Beauty product sales are up more than 7% on last year
and womenswear is up 4.4%. Sales of lipstick rose 31% in the three months to
the end of June against the same period last year with Instagram-friendly
brightly coloured summer lip shades especially highly sought after.
The link between make-up and economic times is an
old one. When an executive at Estée Lauder noted that sales of expensive
lipsticks soared in the wake of the 9/11 terror attacks, he dubbed it the
Lipstick Index – an alternative economic indicator that sees make-up sales rise
in a downturn. In the four years from 1929 to 1933, industrial production in
the US halved, but sales of cosmetics rose.
3 Netflix subscribers cross 100m (BBC) Netflix
shares surged after the video streaming firm said it had about 104 million
subscribers. The US company said the better-than-expected number was a sign
that investment in new shows and movies was paying off.
Netflix has produced shows such as 13 Reasons Why, about
teen suicide, political drama House of Cards and The Crown. Boss Reed Hastings
said it was "the rewards of doing great content". The firm said it
added about 5.2 million members during the quarter, mostly from overseas.
International members now account for about half of its subscriber total.
Netflix has cultivated those audiences with movies
such as Okja, a film made by one of South Korea's top directors about a young
girl's quest to recover a giant companion from a multi-national corporation. The
growth helped Netflix to report a 32% rise in second quarter revenues to
$2.8bn, and it expects revenues to reach nearly $3bn in the third quarter.
Profits for the three months to June were $65.6m, up
about 60% compared with the same period last year. Creating new content was
critical to competing against other online rivals such as Amazon and YouTube,
as well as broadcast television networks, Netflix said.
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