Good morning and welcome to the dog days. In the U.S., the Senate has gone out on its August recess. New novels by Ocean Vuong and Isabel Allende are topping the beach reads. And the world is waking up to a new era of global trade reshaped by American tariffs. A deal between Washington and Indonesia adds more uncertainty for young workers already struggling to start meaningful careers.

We’ll get you started with two stories about how the world is being reshaped in another way. Sophie Hills explores how AI may be shifting practices of faith, raising deep questions about what it means to consider spirituality with the aid of a machine that does not have a conscience. Ali Martin, meanwhile, looks at the growing impact of AI on one critical sector of global trade - the longshore operations that move goods from ship to shop.