Opinion

• Apple’s AI Reboot Is Making It Dependent on Google
  Tim Cook’s last annual showcase of new software as Apple Inc.’s chief executive officer also marked the start of a deepening relationship with one of his biggest competitors: Alphabet Inc.
• Corporate America Is No Meritocracy. Just Ask Women
  Back in 2008, there were 12 women running Fortune 500 companies. Even though that equaled a measly 2.4%, it was still progress. A decade earlier, that number was 0.4%, or just two women (Jill Barad at Mattel Inc. and Marion Sandler at Golden West Financial Corp.).
• Let’s Count the Ways Kevin Warsh Will Disappoint Trump
  New Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh’s biggest problem, beyond a doubt, is the president who chose him. Donald Trump wants much lower interest rates — “1% or lower” — regardless of economic conditions, and he isn’t shy about saying so. Warsh’s stated views will constantly be judged not by whether they make sense on the merits but whether they comply with what he might or might not have told the president to get the position.
• Arctic Oil Drilling and the Art of the Troll
  The Department of the Interior adopted a style best described as delusional triumphalism when it announced the results of its latest auction of drilling rights in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
• AI Will Rip Off Consumers Unless They Fight Back
  My great uncle Fred, a former World War II prisoner living in the Cascade Mountains of Oregon, had little to his name but a four-wheel-drive truck. When the treacherous winter storms came, he would drive around, offering to help poor souls who had gotten stuck in the snow. But he was no good Samaritan: He charged exorbitant prices, sussing them out to determine the maximum he could extract. He had all the power and he knew how to use it. Call it siege pricing.
• The GOP’s YOLO Caucus Is Peak Government
  The fact that a pair of Republican senators are being heralded for doing their jobs reveals just how much Congress has atrophied, especially during President Donald Trump’s second term.
• National Security Is a Job for Professionals, Not Partisans
  For all the consternation surrounding the choice of Bill Pulte to oversee US intelligence agencies, it’s hardly the first time the White House has elevated a partisan with few evident qualifications to fill a top national-security post. Congress should insist on a more serious approach to the task of protecting Americans.
• Inflation Is Hair Raising for the Beauty Industry
  The beauty industry is experiencing a new wave of demand for affordable treats, from mini-sized cosmetics to cheaper body mists, and salon-grade hair treatments used at home are emerging as a key part of the trend. Men and women are fashioning glossier barnets as the antidote to tough times, with a healthy scalp and stylish tresses becoming the new perfect pout or mood-boosting scent.
• In Selling Arms, China Is Still No Superpower
  Two military conflicts less than a year apart have renewed attention on China’s prospects as an arms exporter. But even with a compelling commercial pitch built on advanced technology, low prices and no questions asked, the country will struggle to find a mainstream market beyond a highly concentrated group of existing clients.
• Ford’s AI Rally Recalls the Excesses of the Dot-Com Bubble
  Ford Motor Co. is now worth $11.4 billion more than it was on May 12. Is it, though? Its stock market value has certainly expanded by that much and was up by almost $22 billion at the recent peak. The reason is fairly straightforward: Morgan Stanley published an analyst note that day alerting investors of the potential for Ford’s new grid-battery business to tap into the artificial intelligence boom. Voila: The 122-year-old car company was now an AI stock.
• Maine Democrats’ Platner Mess Has an Escape Hatch
  Tuesday’s primary in Maine will likely compound the concern among many Democrats that they are poised to nominate a fatally flawed candidate in the state’s must-win US Senate race. But the voting will also illuminate the one thin path that could allow them to avoid that fate.
• Britain's New Political Stars Just Don’t Do Regret
  According to her housekeeper’s testimony, the New York hotel magnate Leona Helmsley’s policy on tax in the 1980s was “only the little people pay.” The courts found the so-called “Queen of Mean” guilty of federal tax evasion and the authorities ordered her sentence to begin on April 15 — for filing purposes, US Tax Day.
• The US and Israel Can't Hide Their Differences on Iran
  No wonder Donald Trump swore at his supposed friend and ally Benjamin Netanyahu last week. Within days of that June 1 phone call, Israel and Iran were back on track for the kind of military escalation that can no longer be explained away as a ceasefire breach, presenting a potentially fatal threat to the US president’s attempts to end the war.
• AI Leaders Are Cosplaying James Bond Villains
  Shark Tank impresario Kevin O’Leary wanted to build data centers on 40,000 acres in rural Box Elder County, Utah, a parcel of land more than twice the size of Manhattan. A Deseret News-Hinckley Institute of Politics poll found most Utah voters opposed the plan, with almost 85% of Democrats, a majority of independents and fewer than half of Republicans in favor. They have deluged Utah’s Republican governor, Spencer Cox, with letters, rallied at the state Capitol with signs reminding him that shar
• India Has Brokered a Rupee Truce, Not Won Peace
  India has announced a raft of measures to revive global confidence in the sagging rupee. The best thing about the package announced Friday is what’s not in it: capital controls.
• Jensen Huang Is Talking Up His Suppliers. It’s Worrying
  A charismatic salesman, Nvidia Corp.’s Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang is visiting his suppliers in Taiwan and South Korea, hanging out at local eateries and drawing large crowds. He has also given some dangerously rosy investment advice.