Good morning. Today we're talking about Labour’s budget, OpenAI’s new search engine and a fintech’s boss fine.

Big Stories

Budget unveiled

The Labour government unveiled its highly anticipated first budget in 14 years with £40bn of tax hikes including a £25bn increase in employer National Insurance contributions. The government has justified the tax increases as necessary to improve services such as healthcare and education. However, critics argue that the increased tax burden could stifle business investment and job creation. Businesses have also warned of the dangers of a perfect storm of more labour laws, higher minimum wage and increases in capital gains tax hitting them. The market reaction to the budget has been mixed. Government bond yields - used to price interest rates on mortgages - have risen, indicating increased investor concerns about the UK's fiscal outlook. This suggests that the market is not fully convinced by the government's plan to balance economic growth with fiscal responsibility. The government's decision to prioritise public spending over tax cuts has led to questions about the sustainability of its fiscal policy. The Office for Budget Responsibility has warned that the UK's debt-to-GDP ratio could rise to over 100% in the coming years.

ChatGPT’s Google challenge

OpenAI has launched a new search feature for ChatGPT, allowing users to search the web for real-time information. This move positions the AI startup, which closed a new funding round at a $157bn valuation last month, as a potential competitor to Google’s search engine. The new feature, which leverages OpenAI's partnerships with news publishers like News Corp, Time and Axel Springer, aims to provide a more conversational and ad-free search experience. While ChatGPT Search is initially available to ChatGPT Plus and Team users, it will be rolled out to free and enterprise users in the coming weeks. This expansion could significantly increase the reach of OpenAI's search capabilities and challenge the dominance of traditional search engines.

Wise boss tax fine

Kristo Käärmann, the CEO and co-founder of fintech giant Wise, has been fined £350,000 by the UK financial watchdog for failing to disclose a tax liability. The fine stems from a 2017 incident where Käärmann neglected to pay capital gains tax on a £10m share sale. Wise, originally called TransferWise, was founded in 2011 to disrupt the traditional money transfer industry with lower fees. The startup quickly gained momentum, and Wise grew to be a darling of the London tech scene. Its £7.5bn listing on the London Stock Exchange in 2021 made the co-founders billionaires and marked one of the largest tech floats in the UK.

Elsewhere...

Social wealth: TikTok’s founder is now China’s richest person with a net worth of $49.3bn.

Parting ways: Adidas says it has reached an amicable agreement with rapper Kanye West to end all legal proceedings between them, without any money being exchanged.

Mega fine: Russia has fined Google more than 2 undecillion rubles — a 2 followed by 36 zeroes — after refusing to pay fines that are now accruing for blocking pro-Russian channels on YouTube.

Price war: Sainsbury’s has said it will match the price of up to 200 Aldi products in its smaller stores as it battles rivals to get more customers in its convenience stores.

Loop Likes

• 22 easy dental health tips directly from dentists

• 30 essential tips for living a longer, happier, more successful life with no regrets

• The best new books this autumn.

Number of the Day

10%

The proportion of the British public that now vape.

Not a subscriber? Sign up for free

Want to reach an audience of UK business leaders, young professionals and 2,000+ other smart, ambitious people? Reply to this email and we'll be in touch.