Breaking news – theirs and ours

It may not have escaped your attention that a lot is happening around the world. It was bound to. You do not re-elect Donald J Trump to the most powerful office in the world and expect nothing. While the American media rolls its eyes, throws temper tantrums, and bickers about every single detail, you can feel how deeply satisfied it is to have a new lease on life. Old ratings are back, and so are the revenues. After four years of nearly catatonic media coverage, you see a lot erupting simultaneously. Everything, everywhere, all at once. In fact, the viewership and readership bump is so real that, had the American media not been pretending to fight Mr Trump just like a Bollywood heroine struggling against the grip of a dark protagonist (feisty but futile), it might have seriously considered paying him adequate royalties.

But it is not just the political change of guard in Washington that is remarkable. We are on the cusp of a great transformation. As AI disruptions keep reminding us, the true upheaval has not even started. With the cost of innovation collapsing rapidly, more disruptions will follow, making news on the way to perfecting agentic AI. We have already seen what DeepSeek has done to Silicon Valley, Nvidia, and tech stocks. Wait until you see what Elon Musk is trying to do to OpenAI through his hostile takeover bid. Mr Musk first tried to tank the 500-billion-dollar AI infrastructure related to Project Stargate - a collaboration between SoftBank, Oracle, OpenAI, and the US government - by questioning the financial state of the parties involved immediately after President Trump announced it. The POTUS had to come to the project's rescue in a press talk by casually dismissing the Tesla CEO's criticism as a product of personal rivalry between Elon Musk and Sam Altman of OpenAI. Then came the 97-billion-dollar hostile bid to take over OpenAI. Now, he says he will drop the bid if the company stops its forays into the profit-making sector and remains a non-profit. It is the Twitter story all over again. Join in or get out of the way. Remember, there are too many well-endowed companies working on AI. Their mutual competition and onslaught will create too much friction and treat tech stocks like yo-yos. I assure you, you will not see a single slow news day.

Once agentic AI is perfected, and we explore the possibilities of Artificial Super Intelligence (ASI - yes, the kind you encounter in Hollywood movies), the focus will shift to creating an economy of scale for robotics. Robots are already being manufactured, but they are too expensive and only peripherally usable. That will change. The first shift - automating cars - has already begun. With automation and some clever use of small-scale robotics, users will feel they are travelling in the belly of a robotic beast. Then will come gradual improvements in household appliances, where minor robotic incursions, such as Roomba vacuum cleaners and similar appliances, have already been normalised. You can call AI – and Internet-of-Things-driven robotic household appliances "Roomba on acid".

But do not be fooled by the order of developments. They will materialise at lightning speed. From autonomous household appliances to humanoids and even better forms, the journey is not very long. Initially, the flashier humanoid models will be a bit expensive but never mind that. The rich are only getting richer, so you may find them soon at an upscale party you attend. But who will normalise them and create demand, leading this technology to an economy of scale? Social media influencers. With the kind of wealth they have - bless them - they leave no ostentatious opportunity to go to waste.

However, bear in mind that it is not all unicorns and rainbows. The dystopian elements of human experience are just beginning to unfold. AI and other cutting-edge technologies require a lot of energy. This energy is not generated in a vacuum. Microsoft recently entered a deal to reopen the Three Mile Island nuclear facility for its AI and data centre power needs. Yes, the very same facility known for its 1979 accident. What could go wrong? But that is not all. Nuclear energy is clean energy. Outside the possibility of an accident, it is safe. But elsewhere, technology's energy needs are not being met by clean energy alone. Cryptocurrency mining consumes around 0.6 to 2.3 per cent of US energy use. When you look at tech enthusiasm around the world, you can see the climatic cost. No wonder the temperature at the North Pole broke records this weekend. Earth is changing, and disasters are coming. And amidst all this, America has just walked out of the Paris Agreement again.

Tech displacements and layoffs have also begun. Meta recently announced it is laying off 3,600 employees - five per cent of its workforce. Musk's SpaceX and Blue Origin, owned by Bezos, are letting ten per cent of their workforce go. So far, 46 tech companies have announced job cuts, with over eleven thousand now unemployed. While President Trump's repeated claims about rapid job creation due to increased investment in the US are most welcome, Elon Musk's DOGE efforts at federal cost-cutting are making working for the public sector very difficult. What happens when people lose jobs in both the public and private sectors? Bedlam. If a large chunk of the population is unemployed and has no purchasing power, who will you sell your goods and services to? As long as Larry Summers is alive, he will never let the idea of universal basic income become a reality and will keep frightening you with inflation and recession simultaneously.

You can deduce two things from this discussion. Journalists will have their hands full for many years, and, apart from President Trump's charisma and ability to stoke controversies, technology will be the primary driver of news cycles.

So much is happening in the world. Pakistan is also a populous place. A lot must be happening here, too. But not according to our media managers and pundits. What keeps us occupied? PTI, protocol news, PTI, judges, PTI, terrorism, PTI, economic crisis, PTI, cricket, PTI. No wonder the legacy media is declining. Surely, social media and YouTube must be doing better. But a casual look at YouTube thumbnails robs you of this delusion. There, everything is about Imran Khan. Even those who oppose him vehemently start their headlines with his name.

With this kind of imagination deficit, why are you surprised to find Pakistan frozen at 71st position in the Global Innovation Index?