FirstFT: Mark Zuckerberg says Meta has reached AI ‘frontier’

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Good morning and welcome to FirstFT. In today’s newsletter:

• An interview with Mark Zuckerberg
• Musk injects $275mn into Republicans’ fight to retain Congress
• Modi faces ‘bitter pill’ as Cockroach protests mount

An interview with Mark Zuckerberg

Musk injects $275mn into Republicans’ fight to retain Congress

Modi faces ‘bitter pill’ as Cockroach protests mount

Mark Zuckerberg says Meta has caught up with rivals at the “frontier” of AI, committing to further vast spending to challenge Anthropic and OpenAI and rejecting calls to slow down development of the powerful technology.

Speaking with the FT as Meta released its Muse Wonder AI model yesterday, the billionaire chief executive claimed the new system was “going to allow much more sophisticated behaviours that are at the frontier of what is being done in the AI field”.

The Silicon Valley group claims Muse Wonder performs better than comparable models released by Anthropic and OpenAI in some tasks, according to technical benchmarks.

The release marks a major milestone for Zuckerberg, who since last year has committed billions of dollars to shake up Meta’s AI leadership, build vast data centres and hire star AI researchers on multimillion-dollar salaries — all in an attempt to keep pace with OpenAI, Anthropic and Google.

The AI push initially unnerved investors, but the company’s share price has risen almost 10 per cent since early September when Meta launched the Muse personal AI assistant, which uses autonomous bots to carry out everyday tasks, such as ordering groceries and booking travel.

Zuckerberg also shrugged off mounting fears that the technology was advancing at a rate that will soon surpass human control. He argued that responsibility should fall on the individual lab to ensure model safety.

“I’m much closer to the belief that AI is a technology that can be engineered with normal guardrails and built responsibly than the anthropomorphic vision of AI, which is that it is just going to go do its own thing,” he said. Read the full interview.

Here’s what else we’re keeping tabs on today:

• Global economy: The IMF publishes its latest World Economic Outlook, a twice-yearly analysis and projection of economic developments.
• Australia: The Reserve Bank of Australia publishes minutes from its latest monetary policy meeting, where it raised rates to the highest level in 15 years.
• Wall Street earnings: Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo report third-quarter results.

Global economy: The IMF publishes its latest World Economic Outlook, a twice-yearly analysis and projection of economic developments.

Australia: The Reserve Bank of Australia publishes minutes from its latest monetary policy meeting, where it raised rates to the highest level in 15 years.

Wall Street earnings: Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo report third-quarter results.

Who’s doing better in their trade battles with China — the EU or the US? Senior trade writer Alan Beattie and economics columnist Soumaya Keynes will answer reader questions in a live Q&A on October 15 at 1pm BST. Submit a question here.

Five more top stories

1. Elon Musk has become the largest donor to efforts by Republicans to retain control of Congress in November’s midterm elections, spending more than $275mn on crucial races across the US. The donations by the world’s richest man were made over the past few months, a spokesperson said, as the Republican Party seeks to shore up several struggling Senate and House campaigns.

• More US news: Federal agents raided the home of congresswoman Ilhan Omar, one of the Democratic Party’s most outspoken progressive critics of Trump.

More US news: Federal agents raided the home of congresswoman Ilhan Omar, one of the Democratic Party’s most outspoken progressive critics of Trump.

2. Saudi Arabia’s energy minister struck a defiant tone as he opened a major energy conference in Riyadh hours after missiles struck the city’s main airport for the fourth time in a week. The wave of strikes by Iranian-backed Houthi militants on Riyadh’s airport in the days leading up to the event made it impossible for many international executives to attend.

• Go deeper: The Houthi assault on Riyadh’s airport threatens Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s plans to transform Saudi Arabia into a regional finance and events hub.

Go deeper: The Houthi assault on Riyadh’s airport threatens Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s plans to transform Saudi Arabia into a regional finance and events hub.

3. The American economists whose work underpinned central banks’ responses to the 2008 financial crisis have won this year’s Nobel Prize for economics — just as the US Federal Reserve takes a new tack under its chair Kevin Warsh. Robert E Hall and Michael Woodford won recognition for developing the New Keynesian models that are now used by central banks and finance ministries around the world.

4. France and Germany are set to announce a grand bargain that would push back Europe’s phaseout of combustion engines and boost car production on the continent. The expected agreement comes as the EU’s leading economies aim to bolster their embattled car industries from Chinese competition.

5. Sales in LVMH’s fashion and leather goods business fell 5 per cent in the third quarter of the year, with the luxury group hit by a slowdown in demand in China where early hopes for a turnaround have disappointed.

Trump’s midterm peril

A decade after Trump exploded on to the US political scene, voters in Republican heartlands are now expressing disappointment with the president. Unexpectedly close races in deeply conservative parts of the country, such as rural Iowa, are turning the battle for the Senate into a political brawl that could tip either way.

We’re also reading . . .

• Indian politics: Widening protests have taken aim at election integrity and threaten Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s legitimacy.
• A smarter way to tax the rich: Increasing US corporate tax raises government revenues without harming the tax base, argues Kimberly Clausing.
• Manchester City: As the Abu Dhabi-owned club awaits sanctions, the UK government is trying to limit the damage to bilateral relations from the cheating scandal.

Indian politics: Widening protests have taken aim at election integrity and threaten Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s legitimacy.

A smarter way to tax the rich: Increasing US corporate tax raises government revenues without harming the tax base, argues Kimberly Clausing.

Manchester City: As the Abu Dhabi-owned club awaits sanctions, the UK government is trying to limit the damage to bilateral relations from the cheating scandal.

Chart of the day

Wall Street banks are set to report their worst trading results of the year this week, raising concerns that a record-breaking streak for the business is coming to an end.

Take a break from the news . . .

Will El Niño lead to a “Godzilla” ski season? Tom Robbins and Patrick Temple-West ponder this frivolous question in the 2026 edition of Pink Snow from HTSI. The special report also explores where pro skiers are going to avoid the crowds and highlights the cool kit to buy this winter.

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