May 10, 2024 - 6:00pm

→ Even behind bars, SBF shows no remorse

Back when Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison, the judge criticised the fraudster for his “apparent lack of any remorse”. “He knew it was wrong. He knew it was criminal,” argued Judge Lewis Kaplan.

So have the last few months behind bars given the former crypto king time to reflect on his actions? Not really, according to a new report in Puck. In his first interview since his imprisonment, SBF was asked about whether his views on the trial had changed. “I got the distinct impression that Sam still doesn’t believe he committed any crimes,” writes reporter William Cohan. “Only that he was the one responsible for putting FTX in a position where it was vulnerable to a bank run and the devious actions of its competitors, not unlike how both Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers failed in 2008.”

SBF goes on to wonder why no one at either Bear or Lehman faced criminal prosecution when he did. Fair point: lock them up too!

→ The Economist forecasts end of Western world order

If The Economist says it, it must be true. Or so goes the saying for many in the foreign-policy sphere. This week, the magazine published a surprising lead article claiming: “The liberal international order is slowly coming apart.” The cover story argues that due to a mix of sanctions, subsidy wars and fragmenting global capital flows, the world’s hard-fought international institutions are crumbling away. What’s worse, write the authors, outright war could be on the cards between the West and either China or Russia.

The article ends on a dour note, suggesting the reader shouldn’t be encouraged by the mirage of strong American economic growth. The postwar order built by Washington may not be able to survive the impending doom it is facing. Atlanticists, look away now.

→ Meet your new AI boyfriend

Who says romance was dead? Whoever it was, AI may now actually kill it. According to the founder and former CEO of declining matchmaking app Bumble, the future of dating will involve one person’s online avatar dating someone else’s avatar before they meet in order to find the perfect match. Speaking to Bloomberg, Whitney Wolfe Herd described the experience as a “dating concierge” that would be able to “teach you how to date”, helping the user sort out various relationship issues.

Embedded within this was arguably a last-ditch effort for the dating app to claim some relevance. Bumble, Tinder and Hinge are all facing the problem of maintaining a user base, having experienced a rapid decline in numbers. Bumble even rolled back on its key feature recently, allowing men to send the first message rather than women. Will swiping become obsolete?