AI can teach students to be curiousBy Nigel P. Daly Chang Yung-Chun 張詠淳We might not realize it, but we rely on artificial intelligence (AI) for our pleasures and distractions. In recent months, educators have been mulling three ways to deal with this AI threat: Ban AI chatbots, do nothing or incorporate AI usage. Although some schools have proactively banned ChatGPT, there are many ways students can use AI chatbots and evade detection. AI chatbots can already outperform most humans in writing essays, solving math problems, summarizing texts and even writing code. Students can ask AI chatbots to help them understand the problem by asking for as many explanations and examples as needed.

Traders eye best gold week since March on bank fearsBloombergGold headed for its biggest weekly advance since the middle of March as renewed worries about the US banking sector fueled bets that the US Federal Reserve might have to cut rates sooner than anticipated. Bullion was steady yesterday, and was up about 3 percent this week. It has surged since early March on falling US Treasury yields, and nervousness over banks and a debt ceiling standoff in the US Congress. A woman checks gold bangles at a jewelry showroom in Kochi, India, on April 21, 2015. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index yesterday fell 0.2 percent and was down 0.6 percent over the week.

Adidas takes small step forward, mulls Yeezy optionsBloombergAdidas AG has yet to decide on what to do with its mountain of unsold Yeezy sneakers, but new CEO Bjorn Gulden said its turnaround is nonetheless off to a good start. Adidas reported sales of 5.3 billion euros in the first quarter of this year, about in line with a year earlier and ahead of analysts’ estimates. Yeezy shoes are pictured at a second-hand sneaker store in Paramus, New Jersey, on Oct. 25 last year. That would require more markdowns to reduce the 5.7 billion euros inventory of unsold sneakers and apparel. Adidas is still reviewing its options for the 1.2 billion euro pile of unsold Yeezy merchandise stemming from the canceled collaboration with rapper and designer Ye, formerly known as Kanye West.

Strong earthquake hits Japan, killing one, injuring 22AP, TOKYOA strong, shallow earthquake hit central Japan on Friday afternoon, killing at least one person and injuring 22, but no tsunami warning was issued. The magnitude 6.2 quake struck Ishikawa Prefecture at 2:42pm on the west coast of Japan’s main island of Honshu, the US Geological Survey said. The Japan Meteorological Agency measured the quake at magnitude 6.5 and at a depth of about 12km, 300km northwest of Tokyo. A car is crushed by a collapsed house in Suzu, Ishikawa Prefecture, after a strong earthquake struck central Japan yesterday. East Japan Railway Co said the super-express Shinkansen connecting Tokyo and Kanazawa in Ishikawa Prefecture was temporarily suspended for safety checks, but had resumed normal operations with delays.

India infrastructure drive counters ChinaAFP, ZEMITHANG, IndiaFreshly laid roads, bridges, upgraded military camps and new civilian infrastructure dot the winding high Himalayan route to the Indian frontier village of Zemithang — which China last month renamed to press its claim to the area. Indian army soldiers display arms at a camp near Pankang Teng Tso Lake in the Tawang District of India’s Arunachal Pradesh state on April 3. Photo: AFPCulturally largely Tibetan, Arunachal Pradesh is savage territory for battle, with mountain passes as high as 4,750m still covered in snowdrifts as late as May, and thickly forested slopes lower down. The Indian army officer charged with preventing a repetition is Brigadier N.M. Bendigeri, who commands thousands of troops in Tawang. “India wants peace with everyone,” Shah said at Kibithoo, one of the first Arunachal Pradesh villages overrun in 1962.

Xi’s ‘pro-Russia’ envoy to EurasiaBy Sheng Yi-che 冼義哲The long-awaited telephone call between Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy finally took place on Wednesday last week. Li was until 2019 the Chinese ambassador to Moscow, and has decades of experience serving in the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Soviet Union before its collapse. In 2019, Russian President Vladimir Putin presented Li with the Order of Friendship at a ceremony in the Kremlin — that is enough to betray Li’s pro-Russia stance and ideology. What is Xi playing at, tasking a blatantly pro-Russia “wolf warrior” diplomat to bring Moscow and Kyiv to the negotiating table? Li’s visit as an ambassador serves no real purpose, as he is merely doing Xi’s bidding to buy Moscow time.

India’s exports likely to reach US$900bn this yearReuters, NEW DELHIIndia’s exports of goods and services could reach US$900 billion in the current financial year, up from US$770 billion the previous year, remaining resilient despite global headwinds, Federation of Indian Export Organisations director general Ajay Sahai said. India’s exports have increased by more than US$200 billion in the past two years, led by a surge in software, mobile technology, agricultural and petroleum exports. Exports of agricultural, petroleum and electronic goods remained strong in Western markets due to pricing factors, while exports to Asian and Middle East countries have grown substantially, exporters said. “Indian exporters are hopeful that both countries would soon work out a mechanism allowing payments in local currencies that would facilitate the shipments of Indian goods to Russia,” Sahai said. However, Indian officials have said Russia was reluctant to accept payments in rupees for its oil exports.

India’s overall birthrate has fallen in tandem with its rising economy, but poverty and a deep-rooted bias for male heirs have kept Bihar an engine room of national population growth. Gita Devi poses with her five children at her village house in Darbhanga District, Bihar, India. Village women Kavita Devi, left, and Savita Devi pose with their children at their house in Darbhanga District, Bihar, India. Pregnant women and mothers stand in a queue as they wait for their turn to see an Auxiliary Nurse Midwife health worker at a state-run rural health centre in a village in the Darbhanga district of India’s Bihar state. “Our people say that a woman is useless if she can’t produce kids after marriage,” she said.

Education sector is too top-heavyBy Dino Wei 魏世昌The number of senior high-school students fell from 350,000 in 2012 to 290,000 in 2021, while the number of vocational high-school students fell from 460,000 to 260,000, Ministry of Education data showed. The percentage of high-school students attending vocational high schools fell from 56.99 percent to 47.3 percent, so that they were outnumbered by high-school students. Alliance Cultural Foundation International chairman Stanley Yen (嚴長壽) said that the structure of Taiwan’s education system has become imbalanced. A normal workforce structure should be a pyramid, with basic and middle-grade technical workers making up the majority. However, Taiwan’s education sector has created a top-heavy inverted pyramid by supplying fewer basic and middle-grade technical workers, but plenty of upper-management talent.

Manufacturing business monitor signals a downturnBy Crystal Hsu / Staff reporterThe business climate monitor for the manufacturing industry turned “blue” in March, from a revised “yellow-blue” in February, as demand, selling prices and operating conditions weakened, the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER, 台灣經濟研究院) said yesterday. The business composite index compiled by the Taipei-based think tank shed 0.56 points to 10.41, reflecting listless manufacturing activity, as global clients continued to adjust inventory amid poor sales. TIER uses a five-color spectrum to capture the industry’s movements, with “red” indicating a boom, “green” suggesting steady growth and “blue” signifying a downturn. Plastic and rubber product makers saw business shrinking by a similar amount, despite the peak season starting, the institute said. Vehicle sales picked up after chip shortages came to an end, enabling local suppliers of auto parts to report steady business growth, it said.

US special forces simulate defense of Taiwan in firstBy Yang Fu-yi and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writerThe US Army Special Operations Command (USASOC) for the first time simulated the defense of Taiwan against an invasion by China, the Military.com Web site reported on Sunday. The report, titled “Defending a Mock Invasion of Taiwan Signals Shift for Army Special Operations After Years of Counterinsurgency,” said that during its annual combat exercise last week, the USASOC landed Chinook helicopters on a concrete structure representing Taiwan, at the Range 68 training site in Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Members of the US’ 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment take part in an exercise in an undated photograph. During the exercise, soldiers also demonstrated intermediate to advanced command of Mandarin or Russian, the report said. The exercise included the firing of Carl Gustaf recoilless rifles, sabotaging of tunnels and use of AeroVironment Switchblade drones.

Prosecutors deny politics involved in ex-lawmaker’s caseBy Jason Pan / Staff reporterProsecutors yesterday rejected accusations of political persecution by former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator Yen Kuan-heng (顏寬恒) following his indictment. The matter is now in the hands of the court,” Taichung District Prosecutors’ Office Deputy Chief Prosecutor Chan Chang-hui (詹常輝) said. Former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator Yen Kuan-heng speaks to reporters in Taichung yesterday. They have been accused of fabricating documents and receipts to pocket the wages of an office assistant when Yen served as KMT legislator from 2016 to 2020. Yen told the news conference in Taichung that he was facing “trumped-up charges” and was targeted by the prosecutors for political persecution.

Tech, AI driving job changes for nearly 1/4 of all workersLABOR SHIFT: About 75 percent of firms said they expect to adopt new tech that would cut up to 26 million record-keeping and administrative jobsBloombergGlobal labor markets are poised for a new era of turbulence as technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) accelerate the decline of clerical work, while simultaneously increasing demand for technology and cybersecurity specialists. About 69 million jobs would be created and 83 million eliminated by 2027, resulting in a net decrease of 2 percent of current employment, the Future of Jobs report said. Photo: BloombergThe survey is based on input from about 800 companies employing more than 11 million workers across 45 economies and uses a dataset of 673 million jobs. About 75 percent of surveyed companies said they expect to adopt AI technologies over the next five years, which they predict would eliminate up to 26 million jobs in record-keeping and administrative positions — such as cashiers, ticket clerks, data entry and accounting. For now, AI remains a smaller threat to labor prospects than other macroeconomic factors such as slower economic growth, supply shortages and inflation, the report said.

From left, Taiwan People’s Party Taipei City Councilor Chang Chih-hao, and lawmakers Jang Chyi-lu and Lai Hsiang-ling attend a news conference at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday. Photo: Lo Pei-de, Taipei TimesTPP caucus director-general Jang Chyi-lu (張其祿) told a news conference in Taipei yesterday that national fire regulations are insufficient to keep people safe. The TPP caucus supports amending the act through public-private collaboration to bolster fire prevention management, improve safety standards, encourage public reporting and increase penalties, he said. Meanwhile, a separate firefighting equipment bill has languished in procedural process for 24 years, TPP caucus deputy convener Lai Hsiang-ling (賴香伶) said. A stalemate has formed on their intended roles, and the two main parties have yet to reach a consensus, she added.

Bolton lauds expanding US-Taiwan relationsBy Liu Tzu-hsuan / Staff reporterTaiwan’s friendly relationship with members of the US Congress provides a good foundation for expanding cooperation between the two sides, former US national security adviser John Bolton said yesterday. President Tsai Ing-wen, rights, meets former US national security adviser John Bolton at the Presidential Office in Taipei yesterday. Taiwan’s active diplomatic engagement in the US and friendly relations with US lawmakers have opened up more opportunities for cooperation, he said. Tsai thanked Bolton for showing his support for Taiwan through the visit and for his long-term contributions to deepening Taiwan-US ties. While serving as the White House national security adviser, Bolton supported US arms sales to Taiwan and Taiwan’s international participation, he said.