Tightening AI safety measures, falling Japanese stocks, and rising energy bills in Britain

The American artificial intelligence application company Open. any. I", the developer of the "ChatG" application. with me. T » tightened safety measures in artificial intelligence tests after an artificial intelligence program carried out a high-profile hacking operation during the tests, according to what the company said in an online post.

“Open” reported. any. AI »The procedures include automated systems monitoring the activities of artificial intelligence models during tests more strictly and informing human officials of any suspicious behavior that can be monitored every 30 minutes. If humans do not detect that the alarm is false, the AI ​​model will be deactivated.

What is worrying is that the AI ​​acted entirely on its own initiative, and Open did not detect it. any. That is, the attack only after it has occurred. This has led to calls for enhanced security surrounding tests of new AI systems.

It later emerged that models were developed by Anthropic, a competitor to Open. any. i and Meta, the company that owns Facebook, also hacked other companies' systems during the test.

Some tests of new AI models have been suspended until the new procedures are fully implemented.

Japanese government bonds caught their breath, Wednesday, after a global sell-off that pushed yields to levels not seen in decades, but the relative calm in the debt market did not extend to stocks. The Tokyo Stock Exchange was subjected to a sharp selling wave led by technology companies, amid rising oil prices, continued inflation fears, and tightening monetary policy. The Nikkei index fell by 3.16 percent to 65,326.42 points, recording the largest daily loss since July 27, while the Topix index fell by 3.09 percent to 4,012.31 points.

The losses came as an extension of a selling wave on Wall Street. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fell 5 percent, with growth and technology stocks under strong pressure. This coincided with declining hopes for reaching a settlement to the conflict in the Middle East, which boosted oil prices and brought inflation risks back to the forefront of investors’ accounts. The rise in energy represents a double challenge for Japan, as a major importer of fuel. Especially with the weakness of the yen and the possibility that increased import costs will be passed on to consumers and companies.

Maki Sawada, equity strategist at Nomura Securities, said that continued caution regarding oil remaining high, in conjunction with fears of increasing interest rates, is pushing investors to sell high-growth companies, noting that the same trend witnessed in the American market is moving to Japan.

The breadth of losses was remarkable. Only 45 Nikkei component stocks rose compared to a decline of 179 stocks, and one stock remained stable. Furukawa Electric led the losers, down 13.69 percent, and Kioxia Holdings fell 12.60 percent. The shares of SoftBank Group, which has broad exposure to artificial intelligence investments, also fell 6.47 percent.

Pan Pacific International, the operator of Don Quixote stores, suffered a larger hit of 11.08 percent after disappointing business results, with the company citing the impact of the weak yen and high energy costs.

In the opposite direction, “Mercari” shares rose 6.19 percent, “Shift” shares rose 3.43 percent, and “M3” shares rose 2.18 percent.

In the debt market, buying operations emerged after the sharp selling wave. The 10-year government bond yield fell two basis points to 2.915 percent, after reaching 2.945 percent in the previous session, the highest level since September 1996. The two-year bond yield, the most sensitive to the movements of the Bank of Japan, fell one basis point to 1.675 percent, after reaching its highest levels in 31 years on Tuesday. The five-year yield also decreased by one basis point to 2.140 percent, after hitting a record level in the previous session. The slight decline extended to long terms, with the 40-year yield falling 2.5 basis points to 4.180 percent, and the 30-year yield falling 1.5 points to 4.120 percent.

But this recovery does not mean the end of pressures. Rising oil and inflation, coupled with expectations of the Bank of Japan raising interest rates next month, have fueled the repricing of the Japanese bond market, at a time when the 10-year yield is approaching the psychological barrier of 3 percent. Attention now turns to the Ministry of Finance's auction of 20-year bonds on Thursday, after the five-year auction on Tuesday recorded the strongest demand since June 2025. Ataru Okumura, chief interest rate strategist at SMBC Nikko Securities, said that the ability of the 20-year auction to attract sufficient demand is still uncertain due to inflation fears, adding that the ten-year yield's approaching 3 percent has begun to fuel speculation that the government can take measures to curb rising borrowing costs. Thus, Japanese markets appear to be stuck between three interconnected pressures: They are oil, inflation and interest.

While the purchases gave the bond market a temporary truce, the sharp losses for stocks show that investors are still reevaluating Japanese asset prices based on a new era of higher borrowing costs.

The ceiling for household energy prices in Britain is set to rise by about 4 percent in October, reaching its highest level in three years, according to estimates by Cornwall Insight, with expectations that rising wholesale energy costs will cancel out the effect of the tax cut on electricity bills.

The expectations come after data showed, on Wednesday, that rising energy bills contributed to the rise in British inflation to 2.9 percent in July, recording its highest level in four months.

New British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said that the government will cancel a 5 percent tax on electricity bills starting from October 1, as part of its efforts to ease the pressures on the cost of living, but the reduction does not include gas, which is also included in the price ceiling.

Cornwall Insight said that the expected increase in October is “driven by the ongoing uncertainty regarding the conflict between the United States and Iran,” noting that wholesale energy prices for next winter have risen to their highest levels in about four years.

Shipping disruptions in the Middle East and disruption of liquefied natural gas exports from Qatar, one of the world's largest gas exporters, along with increased demand for electricity in Europe due to heat waves, led to a rise in global gas prices.

The company expects the price ceiling set by the British Energy Regulatory Authority (Ofgem) to rise to 1,729 pounds (about 2,344 dollars) annually for typical consumption in October, an increase of 66 pounds from the July level of 1,663 pounds.

Wholesale energy prices are the largest factor in determining the ceiling for home energy prices, which Ofgem sets every three months according to a formula that also includes distribution network costs and environmental and social fees.

Ofgem is scheduled to announce the new price ceiling level no later than August 26.