Firms Emerge

• A new field called "tokenomics" is emerging as companies struggle to accurately measure the return on investment (ROI) for their AI spending. • The Linux Foundation's Tokenomics Foundation is working to establish industry-wide standards to help firms evaluate the financial impact of AI investments. • In the absence of standards, some firms are creating internal metrics, such as cybersecurity company Elisity's "bionic head count," which compares AI and human output against revenue.

• Contrary to expectations that AI would primarily benefit new model-builders, recent earnings indicate that established European technology groups are emerging as key winners. • Airbus is leading this trend by integrating AI tools from Mistral and utilizing Scaleway, a subsidiary of the French telecoms group Iliad, for sensitive industrial and defense applications. • This shift matters because it demonstrates how legacy industrial giants can leverage AI to enhance specialized operations rather than being disrupted by new startups.

• Established European tech firms, including SAP, Capgemini, Sopra Steria, and OVHcloud, are seeing a surge in demand and faster growth. • This trend is driven by a market shift as businesses transition from merely experimenting with artificial intelligence to deploying it across their core operations. • The growth is significant enough that several of these companies have upgraded their financial outlooks, positioning them as unexpected winners in the AI race.

• Two former Constitutional Court research officers have joined major law firms, sparking concerns over a "Jaepanso-won insider market" where former officials leverage specialized knowledge for private gain. • In a separate domestic issue, the National Election Commission reported that 67 polling stations experienced ballot shortages, with 15 of those incidents concentrated in the Songpa District. • On the international front, Chinese President Xi Jinping is traveling to Pyongyang for the first time in seven years to reassert China's influence amid strengthening ties between North Korea and Russia.