The Daily Digest

Goldman Sachs just dropped a bombshell on the AI hype cycle: despite hundreds of billions in investment, AI contributed "basically zero" to US economic growth last year — and the market is starting to price in the reckoning, with the NASDAQ down nearly 4% and crypto absolutely copping it.

What Matters Today

• AI's productivity promise remains MIA. Goldman Sachs says AI added virtually nothing to US GDP in 2024, pouring cold water on years of breathless hype. Meanwhile Sam Altman is out comparing AI energy use to raising a child and calling water-usage concerns "fake" — which is doing him no favours in the comments section. r/technology
• Trump's tariff threats stall EU trade talks. The EU has hit the brakes on a US trade deal after Trump threatened 15% global tariffs — and the Supreme Court already ruled last week he overstepped his authority on the existing tariff regime. The administration is playing legal whack-a-mole on trade. r/worldnews
• Mexico descending into chaos after cartel kingpin "El Mencho" killed. Dozens dead, thousands of soldiers deployed, and Australia has issued fresh travel warnings. The killing of CJNG's top boss may have removed one man but unleashed a power vacuum that's ugly in real time. SBS News
• UK ambassador Peter Mandelson arrested. The former British envoy to the US — and current UK ambassador to Washington — has been arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office, reportedly connected to his ties with Jeffrey Epstein. This one's going to get messier. SBS News
• SpaceX rockets are leaving lithium plumes in the upper atmosphere. New research has traced metal pollution in the pristine upper atmosphere back to SpaceX rockets burning up on re-entry. As launch cadence accelerates, the cumulative atmospheric impact is a genuinely open question. r/space
• Australia's aged care algorithm is failing vulnerable people. Calls for help surged 50% after the rollout of a new algorithm-based aged-care assessment tool — and assessors reportedly can't override it, leaving elderly Australians being pushed toward residential care before they're ready. Guardian AU
• Netherlands gets its youngest — and first openly gay — PM. Rob Jetten, 38, sworn in as Dutch PM after a narrow October election win. A genuinely notable moment in European politics, especially given the continent's current political drift. BBC World

Markets

It's a tale of two hemispheres today. The ASX 200 pushed above 9,000 (+1.6%) and the Nikkei surged an extraordinary 6.3%, riding a weaker USD and renewed risk appetite in Asia — but Wall Street told a very different story, with the NASDAQ cratering 3.7% as AI growth scepticism and tariff uncertainty hit tech hard. The AUD is flying at 0.706 (+3.2%), its best level in months, boosted by broad USD weakness following the Supreme Court's tariff ruling. Gold is on a tear at $5,190 (+4.3%), screaming safe-haven demand. Crypto is getting absolutely demolished — Bitcoin down 28% to $64k and Ethereum off nearly 38% — suggesting a serious deleveraging event, not just a dip.

Worth a Read

• A 15-year-old documents the misogyny she faces on social media daily — Nearly 20,000 upvotes and 5,500 comments. Timely given Australia's ongoing age verification debate and the Federal Government's social media ban for under-16s. The discussion thread is as illuminating as the article. r/technology
• IBM stock tumbles 10% after Anthropic launches a COBOL AI tool — Anthropic quietly eating IBM's lunch on legacy mainframe modernisation is not a headline anyone had on their 2026 bingo card. Worth watching for what it signals about enterprise AI disruption moving downstream. r/technology
• The Age Verification Trap — A sharp piece on how age-gating platforms creates data collection honeypots and undermines the privacy of everyone, not just minors. Directly relevant to where Australian tech policy is heading right now. r/Futurology
• Australia's housing wealth gap putting nation on track for "neo-feudalism" — A tax expert arguing that whether you'll be prosperous in Australia now largely depends on whether your parents own assets. Bleak, but hard to argue with the numbers. Guardian AU