The Indicator from Planet Money Babies v climate change; AI v IP; bonds v world
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Jun 27, 2025 Is a rising birth rate a solution to climate change? Discover how population growth might shape our planet's future. Legal battles are heating up in AI, with a judge ruling on copyright issues tied to training models. Meanwhile, the bond market is surprisingly relaxed, with companies still landing big loans despite economic jitters. Explore how tariffs and inflation are impacting consumer spending and why many are holding back as they await clearer financial forecasts. It's a dynamic look at how various factors are influencing the economy.
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Minimal Climate Impact from Babies
- Having more babies increases carbon emissions only marginally in the long term, less than 0.1 degrees Celsius by 2200.
- The main climate impact depends more on how carbon intensive our economy is over the coming decades than population growth.
Population Change Delays Emissions Impact
- Population changes take decades to affect total emissions strongly because current population size remains large despite birth rate changes.
- Future carbon intensity depends heavily on energy sources and technology, which can reduce emissions even with population growth.
AI Training on Books Done Fairly
- Training AI models on large datasets of copyrighted books can qualify as fair use if it is transformative and creates something new.
- Recent U.S. court rulings favored AI companies Anthropic and Meta on fair use, setting legal precedents that permit AI training on copyrighted texts under certain conditions.