Four years ago today, Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine—a “special military operation” that was supposed to last mere days. And for what? Our modelling suggests 230,000-400,000 Russian soldiers have died, far more than the Ukrainian toll, for almost no territorial gain since the earliest days of the war.

In other news, a blog post by Citrini Research, a firm of analysts, has caused a stir. It imagines a future in which artificial intelligence triggers widespread lay-offs without lifting productivity. Investors are scrambling to assess what AI will do to business models. The S&P 500 has barely budged this year. Beneath the surface, though, markets are churning.

And Elon Musk wants to put data centres into orbit. Can AI really be run from space? Tom Standage and Alex Hern weigh the evidence on the latest episode of Inside Tech— available on our app or Insider hub.