TheChek News Flow

OpenAI announced it is rolling out Advanced Voice Mode (AVM) to an expanded set of ChatGPT’s paying customers on Tuesday. The audio feature, which makes ChatGPT more natural to speak with, will initially roll out to customers in ChatGPT’s Plus and Teams tiers. Enterprise and Edu customers will start receiving access next week.

As part of the rollout, AVM is getting a revamped design. The feature is now represented by a blue animated sphere, instead of the animated black dots that OpenAI presented during its showcase of the technology in May.

Users will receive a pop-up in the ChatGPT app, next to the voice icon, when AVM has been made available to them.

ChatGPT is also getting five new voices that users can try out: Arbor, Maple, Sol, Spruce, and Vale. This brings ChatGPT’s total number of voices to nine (almost as many as Google’s Gemini Live), alongside Breeze, Juniper, Cove, and Ember. You might notice all of these names are inspired by nature, which could be because the whole point of AVM is to make using ChatGPT feel more natural.

One voice missing from this lineup is Sky, the voice OpenAI showcased during its spring update, which led to a legal threat from Scarlett Johansson. The actress, who played an AI system in the feature film “Her,” claimed that Sky’s voice sounded a little too similar to her own. OpenAI promptly took Sky’s voice down, saying it never intended to resemble Johansson’s voice, despite several staff members making references to the movie in tweets at the time.

Another feature missing from this rollout: ChatGPT’s video and screen sharing that OpenAI debuted during its spring update four months ago. That feature is supposed to let GPT-4o simultaneously process visual and audible information. During the demo, an OpenAI staff member showed how you could ask ChatGPT real-time questions about math on a piece of paper in front of you, or code on your computer screen. At this time, OpenAI is not offering a timeline for when it will launch these multimodal capabilities.

That said, OpenAI says it has made some improvements since releasing its limited alpha test of AVM. ChatGPT’s voice feature is allegedly better at understanding accents now, and the company says its conversations are smoother and faster as well. During our tests with AVM, we found that glitches were not uncommon, but the company claims that’s now improved.

OpenAI is also expanding some of ChatGPT’s customization features to AVM: Custom Instructions, which allows users to personalize how ChatGPT responds to them, and Memory, which allows ChatGPT to remember conversations to reference later on.

An OpenAI spokesperson says AVM is not yet available in several regions, including the EU, the U.K., Switzerland, Iceland, Norway, and Liechtenstein.

Thames Water’s accelerating cash burn exacerbates debt woes

Utility must extend £530mn credit facility due in two weeks to have enough cash to last into 2025

Thames Water is burning cash at a faster rate than it earlier expected, piling pressure on the troubled utility to extend the term of £530mn of debt due to expire next month as the company seeks to avoid a renationalisation.

The UK’s largest water supplier has spent more money than it budgeted for in liquidity forecasts made in July, according to two people familiar with its finances. Those forecasts projected that it had enough cash to last until May 2025.

Thames has to extend a £530mn credit facility from banks that falls due on October 7, if it is to stay within an updated forecast made last week of having enough cash to last into the new year.

This loan was previously rolled over in April, but Thames has not yet agreed a new extension with its lending banks, according to people familiar with the matter. The utility has another £530mn loan that is due to expire in December, having previously been extended in June.

Thames Water is locked in negotiations with lenders over this and is “confident” that they will extend the facility in October, according to one person familiar with the utility’s thinking. Another person close to the discussions said that not extending the loan “blows the whole thing up”, so they expect the banks to ultimately acquiesce.

Thames Water, which supplies water and sewerage services to roughly a quarter of the population in England, is struggling under the weight of its nearly £19bn of debt — including borrowing at its parent company — and is seeking to avoid the government’s special administration regime, a form of nationalisation.

It is trying to raise potentially billions of pounds of equity to bolster its finances but the process, which is being run by investment bank Rothschild & Co, has been met with widespread investor scepticism.

Any equity will also be conditional on agreements over bill increases with watchdog Ofwat as well as a deal on regulatory fines; investors are concerned that these could wipe out any cash injection.

Thames Water announced on Friday that it had begun negotiations with its lenders to release £380mn of cash, which it has had to hold in reserve under the terms of its debt agreements. If it cannot access this reserve cash, and a further £420mn of credit lines, it will run out of cash shortly after Christmas, according to the statement.

In this scenario, the regional monopoly said it would have to “enter standstill under our financing”, giving it access to the £380mn of cash reserves and a further £550mn of “reserve liquidity facilities” that would take it through to May next year.

Accessing these facilities by entering into a so-called “standstill” would trigger restrictive covenants across its debt structure and is classed as a form of default in its bond documentation.

While the company can remain operational during that process, it would face new restrictions such as a “cessation of capital expenditure other than for essential maintenance”, according to its latest accounts.  

While lasting until May 2025 is in line with a forecast Thames Water gave in its annual report published in July, the pressures on its cash position have pushed it to change how it calculates this so-called “liquidity runway” to May.

Thames Water earlier excluded the £550mn of reserve facilities from these forecasts, but in its Friday announcement said they were now included in this analysis.

“We’ve always been very clear that Thames Water’s liquidity runway comprises both cash and undrawn facilities, and our statement on Friday was consistent with this position,” Thames Water said. “We remain focused on extending this liquidity runway further through discussions with our creditors.”

Thames Water is also in negotiations with a group of 90 creditors holding £9bn of debt at the utility’s operating company to provide a new loan that could be in the region of £1bn to further ease pressure on its finances before year-end, according to people familiar with the negotiations.

Any financing from this group — which includes US hedge funds such as Elliott Management and UK asset managers such as Abrdn — would rank ahead of the utility’s existing senior debt, they added.

UniCredit chief faces stiff opposition from German government and irritation within the ECB

When UniCredit bought 9 per cent of Commerzbank this month, the Italian bank’s chief executive Andrea Orcel sought to reassure Berlin of his intentions by saying cross-border deals in the industry could not happen against the will of governments.

Outside its home market, any bank needed the “support from local institutions”, he said, noting UniCredit “always entertained a dialogue with regulators, institutions and counterparts in Germany”. 

That dialogue appears to have broken down. On Monday, UniCredit said it was about to overtake the German government as Commerzbank’s biggest shareholder with a 21 per cent stake after taking a position — pending regulatory approval — on a further 11.5 per cent of the German lender’s stock.

In New York that day, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said: “Unfriendly attacks [and] hostile takeovers are not a good thing for banks and that is why the German government has clearly positioned itself.”

What, if anything, can the German government, regulators and rival banks do to thwart Orcel’s ambitions to take over Commerzbank?

German politicians across the political spectrum have been united in their condemnation of what they perceive as Orcel’s aggressive tactics. But the government has few tools to block a takeover bid.

Berlin had already said on Friday that it would no longer put its remaining 12 per cent stake up for sale. Instead, Orcel found another way to increase UniCredit’s stake, through derivative instruments.

The German government’s powers to shoot down takeovers were strengthened after robotics maker Kuka was acquired in 2016 by Chinese group Midea in an acrimonious takeover that fostered fears of a sellout of engineering expertise. But outside of the defence industry, the rules apply only to buyers from non-EU members. 

UniCredit needs permission to lift its stake in Commerzbank above 10 per cent, but from its regulator, the European Central Bank, not Berlin.

Mechthilde Wittmann, an MP for the opposition CSU party, said Scholz should “take the next plane to Rome and tell [Italian prime minister Giorgia] Meloni that this takeover can’t happen. We won’t agree to it”.

Others, however, disagree. “I don’t see that the German authorities have any leverage,” said Hans-Peter Burghof, a banking expert at Hohenheim university.

“UniCredit is a European bank and so European rules on competition, bank supervision and capital markets apply. And the German authorities don’t really have any say in the matter.”

Ministers were within their rights to express their opinion on a possible takeover, as Scholz did on Monday, “but it’s just a description”, said Burghof. “Yes, it’s a hostile takeover . . . and they can express their annoyance, but little more than that.”

The idea of a UniCredit merger with Commerzbank was initially welcomed within the ECB, which has long called for more cross-border consolidation in the sector.

But some at Europe’s top banking regulator are annoyed about what they regard as Orcel’s “aggressive” tactics, according to people familiar with their views.

European rules on bank ownership — designed to prevent criminals and shady funds from getting control of a bank — are complex and bureaucratic.

Joachim Kaetzler, banking partner at law firm CMS Hasche Sigle, described them as “an avalanche of documents”.

However, “reasons to reject the application [by UniCredit to take its stake above 10 per cent] are highly unlikely to arise”, said Kaetzler, because the Italian bank was one of Europe’s largest and most profitable lenders and its top-ranking officials had been approved by the ECB.

Under the application rules, the ECB is required to make a decision within 60 days but can add another 30 days in complicated cases.

With BaFin, Germany’s financial regulator, responsible for assembling the application to be submitted to the ECB, German bureaucrats in theory have scope to take a particularly rigorous approach — by requesting additional documents, for instance.

“An ownership-control procedure can easily take six to 12 months,” said Kaetzler.

Any bidder deemed preferable to UniCredit would have to secure support from the government.

The most obvious candidate is Deutsche Bank, which has discussed a move for Commerzbank several times before.

Such a deal would mean Commerzbank — a crucial lender to the Mittelstand, the small and medium companies that form the backbone of the German economy — remained in domestic hands.

However, it would result in a large number of job cuts and branch closures, which may be unpalatable to German voters and unions.

Deutsche is also not in the best position to buy Commerzbank, as it would have to pay in cash for shares owned by the government or in the open market.

Doing so would disrupt plans to return €8bn to shareholders by 2025, which Germany’s largest lender paused earlier this year after taking a €1.3bn hit from a long-running lawsuit.

Deutsche Bank boss Christian Sewing said this month he was unfazed about a potential takeover of Commerzbank by UniCredit. “Competition is good for business”, he added.

Other banks such as France’s BNP Paribas, Spain’s Santander and ING of the Netherlands could also be encouraged to make a bid. 

These banks do not have German operations of the size of UniCredit’s HypoVereinsbank, so such a combination would not benefit from the same synergies.

Entering a bidding war with a rival holding a 21 per cent stake is another complication.

Orcel unveiled his initial move on Commerzbank hours after the German bank said its chief executive Manfred Knof would leave by the end of 2025.

Commerzbank on Tuesday evening appointed chief financial officer Bettina Orlopp as its new chief executive to champion the lender’s standalone strategy and rally investor support.

But even Commerzbank insiders who are sceptical about a deal acknowledge that it will be almost impossible to present a standalone strategy that is financially as attractive as a merger.

A combination with HypoVereinsbank would result in billions of euros of cost savings and economies of scale.

Commerzbank could come up with a poison pill to scupper the deal — for example by agreeing to sell its corporate bank to Deutsche Bank in exchange for a stake in the rival.

But people close to Commerzbank told the Financial Times that management “won’t do anything crazy” to derail a UniCredit bid if it came at the expense of the German lender’s franchise. 

The alternative may be to try to squeeze a generous takeover premium from Orcel, as well as guarantees to keep decision-making and a listing of the German operations in Frankfurt.

Commodity prices rallied after China’s central bank unveiled a package of stimulus measures

Shares in Kazatomprom have surged this week after a trio of events increased investor focus on uranium, underlining improved market sentiment regarding nuclear energy.

Shares in the world’s top uranium producer traded 9% higher at $38.98 in afternoon trading in Europe, paring the year-to-date loss to 7.7%.

Commodity prices rallied Tuesday after China’s central bank unveiled a package of measures to energize its ailing economy. This drove shares in European mining companies markedly higher, with majors such as Glencore, Anglo American, Rio Tinto and Antofagasta dominating the FTSE 100-index in London.

The China stimulus package followed Monday’s news that 14 major global banks and financial institutions pledged support to triple global nuclear energy capacity by 2050—a goal endorsed by 22 countries at the COP28 climate summit last December.

On Friday, Constellation Energy and Microsoft said they plan to restart Pennsylvania’s Three Mile Island, the site of the worst nuclear power accident in the U.S., to help power the tech giant’s growing artificial intelligence ambitions.

“The Constellation/Microsoft announcement on Friday clearly set things off, with a main focus on Western equities,” Per Jander, director of nuclear fuel and investor services at WMC, said.

Shares in Cameco, Canada’s top producer and the second-largest producer globally, and other Western uranium equities reacted well on the news, with the Saskatonian company closing Friday up 8.1%. Kazakh state-owned Kazatomprom ended Friday 0.5% down.

However, the China stimulus announcement seems to have spread the excitement to Asian equities, Jander said.

“After several months of soft investor sentiment in the sector, the uranium market is shaking off macro-related noise and refocusing on the very strong industry fundamentals,” John Ciampaglia, chief executive of metals-investment manager Sprott Asset Management, said.

For decades, nuclear energy was considered problematic by investors and regulators due to its spotted history of accidents, waste disposal concerns and construction delays.

However, it has recently emerged as a twin solution to both energy security concerns and decarbonization ambitions. In January, prices hit a 16-year high on supply concerns following production cuts from both Kazatomprom and Cameco.

“Generalist investors are starting to take notice of the important role of nuclear energy to meet the growing electricity demands from AI data centers, reshoring of manufacturing, EVs and defense industries,” Ciampaglia said.

In a June note, UBS analysts said a combination of strong, coordinated government backing—like that seen in China and India—and the accelerated construction of AI and data centers could rapidly accelerate nuclear energy expansion.

Near-term uranium near term prices were up 0.8% at $80.00 a pound on the New York Metal Exchange in afternoon trading in Europe.

Investment in the oil sector needs to reach an estimated $17.4 trillion between now and 2050, the cartel said

Global demand for oil is set to climb over the next two decades, with the fossil fuel expected to hold a nearly 30% share of the energy mix even as the world ramps up efforts to reduce emissions, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries said.

In its annual report on long-term energy trends, the cartel said oil demand is forecast to reach 120.1 million barrels a day in 2050 from 102.2 million barrels a day last year. Demand from non-OECD countries is projected to rise by 28 million barrels a day in the period, while OECD nations are expected to witness a 10% growth decline.

“There is no peak oil demand on the horizon,” OPEC said.

Rising consumption would be a boost for the group’s 12 members, whose income is heavily dependent on oil. The organization, which publishes closely-watched oil supply and demand forecasts, has been typically more optimistic than others about the continued use of oil.

Earlier this year, the International Energy Agency—which represents a group of oil consumer countries including the U.S.—said global oil markets are headed toward a major glut this decade due to surging supplies and slowing demand, with oil demand growth set to peak by 2029.

According to OPEC’s forecast, oil demand is estimated to reach 112.3 million barrels a day in 2029, a 10.1 million barrels a day increase compared with last year. Non-OECD oil demand is projected to rise by 9.6 million barrels a day between 2023 and 2029, reaching more than 66 million barrels a day, while OECD demand is expected to fall by 500,000 barrels a day.

In order to meet demand growth, investment in the oil sector needs to be significant in the coming years, OPEC said, reaching an estimated total of $17.4 trillion between now and 2050, or around $640 billion per year on average.

Oil and gas are expected to remain crucial for energy supply through the middle of the century, with their combined share in the energy mix expected to stay above 53%, according to OPEC. Oil is set to account for 29.3% of it, with the bulk of demand growth coming from the petrochemicals, road transport and aviation sectors.

Tuesday’s report comes as oil prices have found short-term support from elevated tensions in the Middle East, new hurricane threats in the U.S. and a fresh round of fiscal measures in China. Brent crude, the international oil benchmark, was recently trading around $75 a barrel, while the U.S. oil gauge West Texas Intermediate was around $72 a barrel.

Israel’s latest airstrikes on Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon have raised fears of a wider war that could seriously disrupt supply, while a major hurricane looms over the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, threatening production. Meanwhile, China injected fresh support for the economy on Tuesday, boosting the wider commodities complex as lackluster demand in the top crude importer has been a major drag on prices over the last few months.

Still, oil prices are down around 4% on the month, capped by persistent concerns over Chinese consumption trends and the prospect of increased supplies from OPEC and its allies.

Global demand for all forms of energy is set to expand by 24% in the period to 2050, reaching 374 million barrels of oil equivalent a day in 2050 from 301 million barrels of oil equivalent a day in 2023, OPEC said. Demand will be driven by developing countries, which are projected to see an increase of 73.5 million barrels of oil equivalent a day, with around 30% of non-OECD growth coming from India alone.

The cartel said its forecast of global oil demand stems from its expectation of strong population and economic growth through the middle of the century. The cartel forecasts the global population will grow to 9.7 billion by 2050 from just over 8 billion currently, mainly driven by a substantial demographic surge in non-OECD regions.

Global economic growth is also set to grow robustly, with an average annual increase of 2.9% a year between 2023 and 2050. Non-OECD countries are set to expand at an annual rate of 3.7%, while OECD nations are expected to experience a more modest annual growth of 1.6%.

With the exception of coal, demand for all primary fuels is set to grow through 2050. The largest increase is expected to come from renewables—mainly wind and solar—followed by natural gas, while coal demand is forecast to fall due to stricter regulations.

OPEC said the world still needs to ramp up efforts to reduce emissions, improve efficiencies, and introduce low-carbon solutions through investment in technology such as carbon capture and clean hydrogen.

Yet, climate action shouldn’t come at the expense of global energy security, OPEC said. “While energy policy ambitions remain high, the outlook expects greater scrutiny and pushback on some overly ambitious policy targets.”

OPEC said supply from countries not participating in the Declaration of Cooperation—the formal name for OPEC+—is projected to increase by 7.1 million barrels a day between 2023 and 2029, reaching 58.8 million barrels a day by the end of the decade. Supply growth is then expected to slow in the long-term, to 57.3 million barrels a day in 2050 from 51.7 million barrels a day in 2023.

Supply from the OPEC+ alliance is, instead, projected to grow to 53.8 million barrels a day in 2029 from 50.3 million barrels a day last year, and reach 62.9 million barrels a day by 2050. According to the cartel, that means the group’s share in global liquids supply will rise to 52% in the middle of the century from 49% in 2023.

Germany does not see legal means to prevent UniCredit takeover, sources say

BERLIN, Sept 24 (Reuters) - The German government does not see legal powers it could use to prevent the takeover of Commerzbank CBKG.DE by Italy's UniCredit CRDI.MI, two government sources told Reuters on Tuesday.

The Foreign Trade and Payments Ordinance - which in certain cases can be used to prevent takeovers from non-EU countries - doesn't apply because banks are under the supervision of the European Central Bank, the sources said.

Categorising the German bank as "critical infrastructure" - which could also give the government more sway - is not a realistic option either, one of the sources added.

Asked on Tuesday how a UniCredit takeover of Commerzbank might be prevented, Finance Minister Christian Lindner said: "This is a matter for the board of managing directors and the supervisory board of Commerzbank."

The decision will now be for the two banks, the sources said.

A l’occasion de l’Assemblée générale des Nations unies du 24 au 30 septembre à New York, la journaliste iranienne a écrit de sa prison une lettre aux principaux dirigeants, que « Le Monde » publie, pour qu’ils demandent la libération des prisonniers politiques et la fin de la répression des femmes et de la société civile en Iran.

Monsieur le secrétaire général des Nations unies, Antonio Guterres, mesdames et messieurs les membres respectés de l’Assemblée générale des Nations unies, deux ans se sont écoulés depuis le début du mouvement Femme, vie, liberté. Un mouvement de la société civile qui s’est répandu dans tout l’Iran. Ce mouvement démocratique a exprimé ses revendications à travers le slogan « Femme, vie, liberté » et a porté une exigence claire pour la démocratie et l’égalité en Iran.

A l’instar des soulèvements populaires et des mouvements sociaux précédents, le prix à payer pour cette mobilisation de toutes les franges de la population iranienne, qui s’est dressée, solidaire, a été une répression brutale, qui se poursuit encore aujourd’hui.

Le monde est témoin des massacres, des exécutions, des emprisonnements et de la répression violente et impitoyable des femmes dans les rues iraniennes, les centres de détention et les prisons.

Ces derniers jours, nous sommes inquiets et de la condamnation à mort de plusieurs femmes militantes (Pakhshan Azizi [militante kurde des droits des femmes] et Sharifeh Mohammadi [militante syndicaliste]).

Lire aussi la chronique : Article réservé à nos abonnés « Femme, vie, liberté », un slogan qui vient de loin

Mesdames et messieurs les représentants des Etats, les représentants du gouvernement iranien seront parmi vous lors de la réunion de l’Assemblée générale des Nations unies.

Je vous demande instamment d’exiger le respect des droits humains, comme condition préalable à toute négociation, à tout niveau, ce qui constitue le seul chemin possible pour la réalisation de la démocratie et de la paix au Moyen-Orient et en Iran.

L’heure est à l’action et je vous demande, plus que des paroles, des mesures concrètes et efficaces.

Je vous exhorte à prendre toutes actions utiles et immédiates afin :

– d’arrêter les exécutions massives, cruelles et inhumaines des prisonniers condamnés à mort en Iran ;

– de libérer tous les prisonniers politiques et d’opinion arbitrairement arrêtés détenus et condamnés ;

Lire aussi | Article réservé à nos abonnés Narges Mohammadi : « Le peuple iranien a tourné la page du régime islamique »

– de mettre fin à la répression systématique et ciblée des femmes iraniennes et de criminaliser l’apartheid de genre au niveau international ;

– de mettre fin à la répression des organisations de la société civile indépendante.

A co-head of KKR’s global private-equity business wants to change federal law governing employee stock-ownership plans

A new coalition is pushing to expand employees’ stock ownership of U.S. companies, saying it would help ease the country’s wealth inequality.

The group was assembled by KKR KKR -0.19%decrease; red down pointing triangle executive Pete Stavros and will advocate to update a 1974 federal law to make it easier for workers to own a part of their public or private company. Stavros, the son of a construction worker who unsuccessfully sought profit-sharing, said the goal is to achieve Congress’s original intent for the law.

“The vision was: How much better would our economy be if workers owned a piece of every company in America?” said Stavros, co-head of KKR’s global private-equity business.

Stavros formed a separate group two years ago to encourage private-equity firms to give more ownership to lower-level employees at the companies they own. The latest effort would encourage other types of businesses to share stock with workers under an employee stock-ownership plan, or ESOP, a structure that offers companies tax incentives in exchange.

The new group, Expanding ESOPs, is made up of more than 50 foundations, academics and service providers such as law firms and banks. The Rutgers Institute for the Study of Employee Ownership and Profit Sharing, the Ford Foundation and the National Center for Employee Ownership have been involved.

Among other things, the group wants lawmakers to make sure workers get their stock at a fair valuation, that the plans benefit front-line workers over top executives and that the benefits from any tax breaks flow to workers. The group has hired political advisers, and Stavros has met with dozens of members of Congress.

Stock ownership is a big driver of wealth disparity. The richest 10% of Americans held $34.7 trillion in stocks in 2023, compared with $410 billion for the bottom 50%.

Some companies that have given employees ownership stakes have tied it to improved morale, less turnover and greater productivity.

Most employee stock-ownership plans formed each year are small businesses where workers take full ownership. Such deals can be hard to execute at big corporations, however, and the coalition is focusing on a version of the plan that gives workers partial ownership for different tax benefits.

Adoption of the plans boomed after the law’s passage, but now only about 6,000 companies have them, according to the coalition. Growth of the plans stalled after the government sued some individuals who had formed them, alleging that they had kept the tax benefits for themselves and given little to workers.