When someone counts their change at the bakery, they are using mathematics. Nobody would put it that way, and for that particular task, a reasonable intuition for numbers does the job perfectly well. Something similar happens when you ask for a pay rise, decide how much to reveal in a negotiation, or try to persuade […]

In my last article I argued that AI is good news for game theory and game theory is good news for AI. Part of the reason was that as AI takes more decisions on our behalf, more strategic interactions will have an AI on both sides of the table. In procurement that has stopped being […]

At our 25-year anniversary at TWS Partners, AI was, unsurprisingly, one of the dominant topics. One point from those discussions has stayed with me: AI and game theory are complementary, and together they will make things possible that neither achieves alone. This article is my attempt to work out what that means, in both directions […]

How machines that see, decide, and act are reshaping the factory floor – and why Europe’s reindustrialization moment may hinge on getting this right. Industry & Technology Part 1 of 2 – March 2026 At CES in Las Vegas in January 2026, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang made a declaration that resonated far beyond the convention […]

Global trade has been disrupted significantly over the past year, driven by ongoing trade disputes between the United States and China. One of the most outstanding disputes has been the so-called “fentanyl tariffs”, disrupting markets in pharmaceuticals, agriculture, and chemicals. When tariffs were raised on chemicals linked to the illicit production of fentanyl, a synthetic […]

Same game, new moves In my last piece, I argued that Beijing’s export controls were never simple retaliation. They were the opening act of a negotiation. By creating a problem it could later solve, China built leverage. Now Trump has made his countermove. His 100% tariff on Chinese goods looks like retaliation, but it’s part […]