Samsung Electronics\' wage talks with its union broke down in a government-led post-mediation process, bringing a planned May 21 general strike closer. The National Labor Relations Commission said a second round of post-mediation ended without agreement after the union accepted a proposal and management withheld its position and did not sign. The union said it would proceed with the strike. The government is considering invoking emergency arbitration powers to prevent broader damage.

A warning has emerged that agent-based artificial intelligence is rapidly replacing highly skilled, PhD-level work in finance. Citadel CEO Ken Griffin said at a Stanford University talk that tasks once taking master’s and PhD staff weeks or months now finish in hours or days. The remarks drew more attention after Elon Musk shared a related video clip. Griffin said AI is targeting specialist roles, not general office jobs, while others say it is too early to conclude AI has already driven broad job losses.