AI Trading Surge Drives China's Stock Stamp Duty to $32.3B in 8 Months

China's stock stamp duty surges to $32.3 billion in the first eight months of 2026, marking an 82% year-over-year increase, as a frenzy of AI-driven trading lifts volumes by 72%. The South China Morning Post reports that this significant uptick is fueled by the growing adoption of artificial intelligence in financial markets.

AI-Driven Trading Fuels Market Activity

The rapid rise in AI trading is transforming the landscape of the Chinese stock market. According to the latest data, the volume of trades has increased by 72% compared to the same period last year. This surge is attributed to the increasing use of AI algorithms and machine learning models that can execute trades at speeds and efficiencies unattainable by human traders.

OpenAI Ad Pixel Ties Web Browsing to ChatGPT Accounts

In related news, a reverse-engineering analysis reveals that OpenAI operates an ad-measurement pixel at bzr.openai.com. This pixel mints a JWT-bound __obi cookie with a one-year time-to-live (TTL) and SameSite=None attribute. Any website embedding this pixel automatically pings OpenAI, linking the visitor's web browsing activity to their ChatGPT account. This development raises questions about privacy and data tracking in the AI ecosystem.

Alibaba Releases Qwen-Image-2.1 with Enhanced Features

Alibaba's Qwen team introduces Qwen-Image-2.1, a significant update to their AI model. The new version features a 7 billion parameter DiT, a 32-layer single-stream diffusion transformer, and a Qwen3-VL 8B text encoder. The model outputs high-resolution images at 2048x2048 pixels in just 40 steps. Additionally, the release includes two 9 billion parameter prompt-rewriter checkpoints, enhancing the model's capabilities for image generation and editing.

US and China Agree on AI Incident Alert System

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announces that the US and China have agreed to establish a national-security AI incident notification mechanism. During recent talks in New York City, both sides committed to setting up a new AI dialogue working group. Bessent describes this as a step towards 'moving from opacity to transparency' in AI-related security matters, aiming to enhance cooperation and mutual understanding between the two nations.

SoftBank Plans $11B Bond Raise for OpenAI Investment

SoftBank is planning to raise $11 billion through a junk bond issuance to fund its next tranche of investment in OpenAI. The company is issuing $10 billion in USD notes across three tenors and €1 billion ($1.1 billion) in euro notes across two tranches. The funds will be used to support a $10 billion third tranche of SoftBank's follow-on investment in OpenAI, expected to price on September 24 and settle on September 29. Major underwriters include Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, and Morgan Stanley.

References

• AI News Today, September 20: Top Stories | AI Weekly