US, Iran Open First Talks Three Days After Truce as Hormuz Reclosed

※[Global Morning Briefing] summarizes global news delivered by Seoul Economic Daily. **$300 Billion vs. Hormuz Blockade: US-Iran 'Money War' Begins** The United States and Iran began their first working-level talks in Switzerland just three days after signing a ceasefire memorandum of understanding. As Israel's airstrikes on Lebanon continued, Iran again declared a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, abruptly shifting the negotiation agenda toward the Lebanon ceasefire. According to foreign media reports on Saturday, delegations led by US Vice President J.D. Vance and Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf began talks at the Bürgenstock Resort in Switzerland. Delegations from Pakistan and Qatar are also participating as mediators, with separate meetings scheduled in the morning and four-party talks in the afternoon. Before departing, Vance said, "I hope to stay for a day or two and make progress on Iran's nuclear issue and the Lebanon ceasefire." The Central Military Headquarters of Iran's armed forces announced the previous day that it would close the Strait of Hormuz to shipping traffic, saying Israel had repeatedly violated the agreement in Lebanon. While the ceasefire document explicitly stipulates an immediate halt to military operations on all fronts, including Lebanon, Israel continued its airstrikes, saying they were a response to a preemptive attack by Hezbollah. Iran again set the implementation of a ceasefire on all fronts as a precondition for a final agreement in these follow-up talks. Iran plans to demand the normalization of oil exports, the release of frozen assets, and support for a reconstruction fund of up to $300 billion. Its negotiating team includes Central Bank Governor Abdolnaser Hemmati and Oil Ministry Deputy Hamid Bord. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Iran has no intention of developing nuclear weapons but will not give up its right to enrich uranium. US President Donald Trump again warned that if an agreement is not finalized, he would charge Middle Eastern countries protection costs. **65% of Korean CEOs Say They Already Have a CAIO; Era of All-Staff AI Begins in Earnest** As the era of AI assistants, or AI agents, begins in earnest, the chief AI officer (CAIO)—who spreads AI across the entire organization and links it to results—is drawing attention. The CAIO is a position that leads not only developers but all employees to skillfully use AI, and global companies are creating it one after another. Toby Walsh, chief scientist at the AI Institute of the University of New South Wales in Australia, described the CAIO in an interview with Seoul Economic Daily on Saturday as a kind of interpreter connecting the technology department and the business department. An analysis of 21 CAIOs at companies in the Dow Jones, S&P 500, and Nasdaq 100 found that those with startup experience and Google DeepMind backgrounds stood out. DeepMind alumni Mustafa Suleyman and Karen Simonyan co-founded Inflection AI before moving to Microsoft's AI division, and Meta brought in founder Alexandr Wang as its first CAIO along with its acquisition of Scale AI. Conor Grennan, CEO of AI Mindset, said the CAIO's role is to redesign employees' way of thinking about their work. Seth Dobrin, CEO of Aria Labs, also said that during his time as IBM's first CAIO, he found an imbalance in AI capabilities within the organization, explaining that the know-how of high-performing units must be shared company-wide. In a survey by IBM Korea, all 40 CEOs of Korean companies agreed on the importance of the CAIO, and 65% were found to already have the position. However, while executive recruitment is increasing, hiring of new employees is decreasing, raising concerns that future AI oversight personnel could run dry. In an Oliver Wyman survey, the share of global CEOs saying they would reduce new hires within one to two years rose from 17% last year to 43% this year. **Three Weeks After China's Challenge: Why Amazon Set Its First 'Quantum D-Day'** Amazon countered three weeks after China announced the world's first implementation of quantum random access memory (QRAM), specifically presenting a timeline for the commercialization of commercial quantum computers. The competition between the US and China over next-generation core technologies appears to be heating up further. According to CNBC on Friday, Peter DeSantis, Amazon's chief artificial intelligence officer and senior vice president, said that small quantum computers capable of full commercial use will emerge within the next five to seven years. This is the first time Amazon has specifically presented a timeline for the emergence of commercial quantum computers. DeSantis predicted that quantum computing will grow like the semiconductor industry, with performance increasing each year at a pace similar to Moore's Law. Quantum computers use qubits, which represent not only 0 and 1 but also intermediate states, to quickly calculate in parallel problems that conventional computers cannot solve. Big tech firms including Microsoft, Google, and IBM, as well as startups, are competing fiercely over this market. Google forecast practical use within five years, and Microsoft by 2029. By contrast, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang predicted it would take at least 15 years until commercialization. China is catching up through government-led concentrated investment. The University of Science and Technology of China has secured its superconducting Zuchongzhi series, compared to Google's Sycamore, and is assessed to have reached world-class levels in areas such as the satellite-based quantum communication Micius. The startup Origin Quantum is also showcasing its technological prowess, following its superconducting quantum computer with its own brand system, Wukong. **Trump: 'Anthropic Responded Responsibly'; Mythos Suspension Crisis Enters De-Escalation Phase** With US President Donald Trump showing a favorable attitude toward Anthropic, attention is focused on whether the suspension of operations of its latest model, "Mythos," will be resolved. In an Axios interview released on Wednesday, Trump, when asked whether Anthropic and CEO Dario Amodei pose a threat to national security, answered, "Not now, but a week ago they might have." Anthropic released Claude Fable 5 and Claude Mythos 5 on the 9th of this month, but suspended their operations three days later in compliance with a US Commerce Department demand to block use by foreigners. This was because concerns were raised that the two models allowed jailbreaks bypassing safety mechanisms, which could threaten security if they fell into the hands of hostile nations. Trump positively assessed Anthropic's subsequent response, saying it "acted very responsibly and quickly." He also described Amodei, whom he met at the Group of Seven summit held in France on the 17th, as "kind and smart." That meeting drew attention as it took place right after Amodei visited the White House to resolve the model suspension crisis, and Trump explained that consultations with Anthropic were proceeding smoothly during the G7 period. Asked about the possibility of a full shutdown of Anthropic, he answered, "It's possible, but I'm not sure we need to go that far. We are ahead in the AI competition with China." Anthropic said, "We are grateful to the government for cooperating to resolve the issue as quickly as possible," and pledged to continue cooperating to protect critical infrastructure and maintain US leadership in AI....