Cycling on - Bangkok Post

Re: "Wars pose a test as India hosts Brics summit", (World, Sept 10).

The banner photograph accompanying the commentary on expert projections of the upcoming BRICS meeting in New Delhi is striking on several counts.

The first and most glaring impact is the image of the cyclist itself, which certainly suggests a stereotyping of not just India but the staggering economies due to be represented at the meeting. The US-Iran confrontation has strained the global economy, while the US president's threat to punish the BRICS economies with punitive tariffs remains a factor to be taken seriously.

Secondly, the stereotyping image is also evocative of the threats posed by AI to BRICS economies on two fronts: the energy strain caused by powering data centres, and the imminent dangers to metropolitan settings, as has recently been the case in one of the BRICS observer countries. Bicycling might be an option that many countries adopt to mitigate potential energy threats from AI.