There's new evidence that instead of bringing on a job apocalypse, AI is creating more work and jobs, Axios' Emily Peck writes.

• Why it matters: We're still in the early stages of the AI transition, and the technology is moving faster than anyone predicted.

An intriguing analysis from Vanguard found that both wage and job growth increased over the past two years in the occupations most exposed to AI, compared with those with less exposure.

• A separate survey found that most institutional investors and CEOs expect AI to drive an increase in hiring across all levels in 2026.

🔎 Zoom in: Real wages increased 3.8% in the occupations with the highest AI exposure from the second quarter of 2023 to the second quarter of 2025, compared with 0.7% in all other occupations, Vanguard found.

• Job growth was up 1.7%, compared with a 0.8% gain.
• AI is making work more productive and letting people focus on higher-value activities, the analysis concludes.

🖼️ The big picture: There's no question the job market has slowed this year. New federal data out yesterday showed the unemployment rate at its highest level in four years.

• The tech sector and professional occupations, such as consulting, are seeing job losses and fewer job openings.
• But the explanations are less about AI and more about other macroeconomic factors. For example, higher interest rates made borrowing more expensive than it was just a few years ago.

Between the lines: Improvements in tech creating more demand and work is not a new trend. Think back to the iPhone's early days: The device enabled an entirely new app-based economy and jobs we'd never seen before.

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President Trump designated Venezuela a "foreign terrorist organization" last night and formally ordered a blockade of all U.S.-sanctioned oil tankers servicing the country, Axios' Marc Caputo writes.

• Why it matters: Trump's newest escalation, backed by a giant U.S. armada, exerts unprecedented pressure on Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro's regime, threatening to bankrupt the country's already struggling economy.

The big picture: The designation of the Venezuelan government as a "foreign terrorist organization" bears two major implications:

1. It creates more of a pretext for direct military action in Venezuela,
2. It smooths the way for U.S. personnel to sanction, stop or seize any vessel carrying Venezuelan oil.

🔭 Zoom in: About 18 tankers under U.S. sanctions that are fully loaded with oil currently sit within Venezuelan waters.

• The U.S. is monitoring those vessels and plans to seize them as soon as they move into international waters.
• "Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America. It will only get bigger, and the shock to them will be like nothing they have ever seen before," Trump said on Truth Social last night.

The intrigue: At least two oil companies that once had business in Venezuela have asked the U.S. government about the fate of the nearly 1.9 million barrels of crude seized last week on the vessel Skipper, a source told Axios, declining to name names.

• The Skipper's oil is valued by experts at about $95 million.

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ChatGPT's improved image tool — released yesterday — opens another front in OpenAI and Google's battle to dominate AI, Megan Morrone writes in Axios AI+.

• Why it matters: Users have been marveling at the image advances in Google's Nano Banana, putting the pressure on OpenAI to show real progress to keep up.

🎨 The big picture: The AI race appears to be narrowing into a binary competition between OpenAI and Google, with the fronts they compete on widening.

• The back-and-forth competition is shaping up to be a trend that will continue into 2026, according to industry insiders.
• The dynamic benefits customers using the latest models, but could prove costly for AI companies keeping up with an unrelenting pace.

🔬 Zoom in: The advanced image generation and editing model behind Nano Banana launched in late November 2025 and has the industry buzzing about studio-quality outputs and precise text rendering.

• OpenAI says its new ChatGPT Images tool generates images up to four times faster than previous models and offers more precise edits while keeping details intact.

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Among executives and investors, confidence in the economy is at four-year highs, Axios' Emily Peck writes from two new surveys.

• Why it matters: It's a sign companies are ready to spend and hire, but it's also the kind of optimism that has preceded past economic slowdowns.

Zoom in: Chief financial officers' confidence in the final quarter of 2025 hit its highest point since 2021, according to Deloitte's CFO Signals survey out today.

• Confidence rose to 6.6 from 5.7 in the previous quarter and 5.8 a year ago.
• Nearly six in 10 CFOs surveyed said now is a good time to take a risk.

Investors feel it, too. Optimism among fund managers hit its highest level since August 2021, says a Bank of America survey also out this week.

• Yes, but: The comparison to 2021 is a bit worrying. Confidence was high then, and the next year, stocks tanked and inflation soared.

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The Financial Services Forum, a trade association of the country's largest eight banks, is creating a new nonprofit to spend "tens of millions" of dollars to shape public opinion about the banking industry, Axios' Hans Nichols writes.

• Why it matters: Chastened by the 2008 financial crisis, America's biggest banks have mostly avoided the limelight in Washington and have tried to work behind the scenes.

But the forum, under new leadership, wants to re-engage the public on the role banks play in driving economic growth — and it doesn't plan to be shy about it. It's launching the American Growth Alliance, which will be organized as a 501(c)(4) group with "tens of millions of dollars."

• Amanda Eversole, the president and CEO of the forum, tells Axios: "We're going to be much more affirmative in saying, 'We have a lot of positive benefits to the economy' ... We want to make sure that champions in both parties, Republicans and Democrats, understand that."

The bottom line: Eversole has the resources — and the ambition — to find new ways to influence policy about banking both inside and outside Washington.

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Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said yesterday he's pushing for a moratorium on the construction of data centers powering the AI boom:

This moratorium will give democracy a chance to catch up with the transformative changes that we are witnessing and make sure that the benefits of these technologies work for all of us, not just the wealthiest people on Earth.

Why it matters: Sanders is tapping into fears that AI could erase jobs and consolidate wealth — a potentially potent message for the midterms and beyond.

• Sanders said "very few members of Congress are seriously thinking about this," adding that the technology is "moving very, very quickly, and we need to slow it down."

An OpenAI spokesperson told Axios in response to Sanders' vow: "We see it quite differently and have been working collaboratively with governments around the world to ensure AI is a force for good, including the foundational infrastructure."

• Context: Voters' anger at high electricity bills and data centers looms over 2026 midterms.

The conservative Salem Radio Network is tapping CNN commentator Scott Jennings and Breitbart News' Alex Marlow to fill its national midday slot formerly held by slain activist Charlie Kirk, Axios' Tal Axelrod writes.

• Why it matters: The noon to 3 p.m. ET block — once commanded by Rush Limbaugh — is a staple of conservative talk radio. Stepping into that window will elevate both men to central players in the MAGA media ecosystem.

Salem's announcement, shared first with Axios, said Marlow will anchor the noon to 1 p.m. hour and Jennings will host from 1 to 3 p.m. beginning Jan. 5.

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Fans of made-for-TV Christmas movies are flocking to Connecticut — now the unofficial backlot of Hallmark-style romances, AP reports.

• Why it matters: Holiday films are big business, with networks and streamers releasing about 100 new titles a year.

Connecticut — the location for at least 22 holiday films by Hallmark, Lifetime and others — is leaning in with a "Christmas Movie Trail" that launched last year.

• Bus tours of filming locations are selling out, including one that drew 53 superfans to Wethersfield, a town near Hartford where shops sell "I Live in a Christmas Movie" merch.

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