It starts with a few messages here and there. Next thing you know you’re waking up next to them every day. No, I’m not talking about cuffing season. I’m talking about OpenAI, which could be making your next phone. Could be great, could be scary, but no chance it’s as bad as the Facebook phone.

The lowdown

• 🇨🇳 HSBC is set to acquire Citigroup’s China consumer wealth management business.

• 🎈 The 10-year Treasury yield hits its highest level for 15 years, amid fears inflation will remain high.

• 🤖 Meta launches AI chatbots across Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp.

Flex your finance muscle 💪

Peak oil

Peak oil is near, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). But what does that mean, and should you be worried?

Countries around the world are busy drilling for oil, pulling it out of the ground, and selling it. This is all great, but the problem is there’s only so much oil to find. At some point, we’re going to hit “peak oil”, the moment where we’re producing the most petroleum we ever will. After that, production will only fall.

There are many things that could contribute to us reaching peak oil. Explorers have found most of the easily accessible supplies, so now they’re drilling offshore which is much more expensive. Technological limitations put a cap on how much we can extract from each reserve. Worldwide oil demand is rising, as economies like China and India grow.

Is peak oil a problem? It depends how quickly we transition to other energy sources. The other metric the IEA wants you to think about is peak oil demand – the point where most oil will be needed. Let’s just hope that happens first.

Featured story

OpenAI and Jony Ive are reportedly in talks about building “the iPhone of AI”

When the iPhone launched in 2007, it transformed what we think of as a mobile phone. Could that be about to happen again?

OpenAI has reportedly tapped former Apple designer Johny Ive to launch a venture to build the “iPhone of artificial intelligence”. It’s also speaking to Softbank about securing $1 billion in funding.

Ive and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman have held brainstorming sessions about what a new consumer device based on OpenAI’s technology would look like. They want to create a more natural user experience for interacting with AI. Discussions are reportedly “serious”, but nothing has been agreed.

It’s an interesting time to be launching a smartphone. The market has plateaued, leaving many asking what comes next. But in reality, it’ll be years before we see OpenAI’s attempt to unseat the mighty iPhone.

The content we're consuming today

• Economist: What happens if America’s government shuts down this weekend? ($)

• FT: Can Linda Yaccarino survive working for Elon Musk? ($)

• Bloomberg: Google user data has become a favorite police shortcut ($)

Off-balance sheet items

• Take a moment to step out of the real world and look at the most expensive home in every US state.

The bottom line