A senior advisor at a US practice recently got back four to six hours of her week. Not through a restructuring or thanks to a new hire, but through automation that now handles what used to be meeting preparation. She spent those hours with clients. Her book grew. That story is quietly repeating itself across the industry, and it is just the beginning of what becomes possible.

This June, SpaceX is expected to list on Nasdaq at a valuation of $1.75 trillion, surpassing Saudi Aramco's 2019 debut as the largest IPO on record. Welcome to the most audacious IPO ever attempted.

Why markets are shrugging off the Iran war — and whether it can last

The country America tried to contain through tariffs and chip export bans has become the world’s fastest-growing AI market, largest EV exporter, and a formidable rival in the very technologies the West sought to keep out of reach. As Donald Trump landed in Beijing on May 13th for his high-stakes summit with Xi Jinping, the symbolism mattered as much as the outcome.

Why the world's most indebted country is also one of its largest equity investors

The AI story has been one of relentless momentum. ChatGPT marked the first chapter, transforming OpenAI into the central force behind the industry’s expansion. The company now faces the challenge of supporting the scale of investment behind it.

Major infrastructure trades often look obvious only after the fact. Railroads created fortunes not just through transport, but through the land and networks built around them. Undersea fibre cables were once seen as overcapacity before becoming the backbone of the internet. Investors who identify the infrastructure layer before the applications fully emerge tend to be early to the real value creation. Leopold Aschenbrenner, a former OpenAI safety researcher with no traditional finance background, appears to have identified such an opportunity.

Somewhere right now, an employee is producing what once required an entire team. The difference comes from the tools and systems now embedded in the workflow. As processes become faster and simpler, fewer layers are needed within the company. This evolution is quietly becoming one of the most significant organisational changes of the decade. Many companies are only starting to realise it.

April AAI

One by one, quietly and without announcement, the world's central banks are pulling their gold home. From New Delhi to Belgrade, from Frankfurt to Paris, the same strategic decision is being reached independently. The trust that underpinned the postwar reserve system for decades is showing its first serious fractures.