Looking towards Chinese AI

On January 20th 2025, DeepSeek was an obscure hedge-fund-turned-tech-startup from Hangzhou. Within a week, it had become the byword for a new wave of Chinese innovation, after launching an artificial intelligence model as capable as Silicon Valley’s bleeding edge but much cheaper to build and run. Having slugged it out in China’s cut-throat domestic market over the past year, DeepSeek and its homespun rivals are looking abroad for profits. They will not find the largest ones in America, increasingly out of geopolitical bounds, or the poorer global south. That leaves Europe as the likely recipient of their attention. To the old continent, Chinese technology may seem like a curse. No one wants to rely on a geopolitical adversary for what is fast becoming critical infrastructure. While worries about Chinese software are reasonable, the bigger danger may be spurning it, especially now that America is becoming a less reliable partner.

(Adapted from “Chinese AI Is A Risk For Europe. So Is Shunning It,” published on January 22, 2026, by The Economist)

Influencer lobbyists

Trump’s return to the White House has transformed the federal government and upended the business of lobbying, creating a new class of Washington operatives that blur the lines between consulting, advocacy, and journalism. Corporate and foreign interests are now pouring money into promoting their causes through a group of Gen Z, conservative influencers — many of whom were too young to vote when Trump announced his first run for office. They don’t work for traditional news outlets and are thus unshackled from newsroom ethics, such as the typical ban on accepting gifts worth over $25. The solar energy and health industries have paid thousands of dollars to influencers to support their interests, as per people who have been offered or participated in such deals.

(Adapted from “Washington’s New Lobbyists: Paid Online Influencers With Few Rules,” by Maggie Severns, Natalie Andrews, Josh Dawsey, and Eliza Collins, published on January 11, 2026, by the Wall Street Journal)

Disney’s imagineers

Imagineers design every Disney princess castle, roller coaster, and restaurant, and are responsible for the highest-stakes bets in entertainment. Theme parks and cruises have overtaken television as Disney’s biggest source of profits. Disney is investing $60 billion in theme parks and cruise ships through 2033 — nearly double what it spent in the prior decade. Imagineers are currently expanding or improving all six of the company’s global resorts. The roughly 3,000 artists, engineers, and project managers have long operated largely in secret, so that theme park visitors would feel they were entering a magical alternate world. Disney is also fending off increased competition from rival Universal Studios, which is aggressively expanding its theme parks and hiring some former Imagineers.

(Adapted from “The 3,000-Person Team Working in Secret to Create Disney Magic,” by Ben Fritz, published on January 9, 2026, by the Wall Street Journal)

ICE in Minneapolis

With the cold so fierce that ice can cover the Mississippi River, this is the slow season for the hospitality trade in Minneapolis. So Donald Trump’s decision to swarm the city with some 3,000 federal immigration officers would seem a boon for the hotels and restaurants. But some of the people who clean the agents’ rooms or pour them drinks are vulnerable to being scooped up themselves. The population of undocumented immigrants in Minnesota, estimated at 100,000, is small, particularly when compared with states such as Texas (2m) and Florida (1.2m). So why target Minneapolis? Throughout the city, masked ICE agents demand identification from people on the sidewalks, turn pepper spray on protesters, and break down doors in pursuit of people they claim are criminals. Yet, a dense network of activists has assembled to support migrants — delivering food, tracking ICE, and confronting agents.

(Adapted from “Why Minneapolis Is At The Centre Of Donald Trump’s Immigration Crackdown,” published on January 21, 2026, by The Economist)

Published in Dawn, The Business and Finance Weekly, January 25th, 2026