Perspectives: Episode 109 - May your algorithms be true and your AI agent benevolent

This week Escala Partners CIO, Tracey McNaughton, reflects on what has been a blistering start to the year. President Trump is setting records with the number of executive orders he creates; tariffs are creating uncertainty and DeepSeek is disrupting. It’s enough to make your AI Agent’s head spin.

(1:03) Tracey, we're 18 days into the new US administration and no fewer than 48 executive orders have been issued. That has to be a record, doesn't it?

(1:46) Tracey, occupying a lot of the market's attention at the moment is tariffs, and so far few of the threats have actually been implemented with tariffs on Mexico and Canada delayed for a month. Although the 10% tariff on China came into effect on Tuesday this week. But how are you thinking about this, and how impactful will it be?

(3:56) Tracey, is it physically possible for all this manufacturing to come back on shore in the US?

(6:03) Tracey, still a lot of unknowns with regards to tariffs. So let's move on to something slightly more certain. It's AI – and why is this Chinese company ‘DeepSeek’ in the news so much?

(7:56) Tracey, what does this mean for investors?

(11:23) So, Tracey, we've spoken about this on our morning meetings. But what kind of AI applications are we talking about, and how will they make money for the user?

(15:27) Tracey, you mentioned earlier Agentic AI? Now, what is that? And is it the next big thing?