ITK Daily | May 1
US-China, Rust Belt, 3D Printer, Taylor Swift, NFL, plus 1,000 more actionable insights.
ITK Daily is geopolitical business news + intelligence for comms pros.
Always Be Communicating.
Happy Wednesday.
Here’s today’s ITK Daily:
*** Globalization + Geopolitics ***
Coal: G7 energy ministers reached a tentative agreement to shut down all of their coal-powered plants by 2035. The deal made in Turin during climate talks on Monday marks a significant step for wealthier nations to transition away from fossil fuels: Among the coalition, Italy leads the fossil fuel phaseout, producing about 5% of its electricity from coal, while Japan and Germany use around 25%.
Israel prepares to send delegation to Cairo for last-chance Gaza cease-fire talks: WSJ reports Arab mediators are pushing Hamas to accept deal before an impending Israeli military operation in Rafah.
Xi Jinping is visiting the European Union for the first time in five years. He will begin his five-day trip to France, Serbia, and Hungary on May 5.
Bloomberg: Xi is on a mission to drive a wedge between US and Europe
+ Chinese leader to visit France, Serbia, Hungary seeking allies
+ EU has grown tougher on China and closer to the US recently
Why China is so bad at disinformation: China’s state-sponsored disinformation campaign has been running at a massive scale for seven years—but no one is looking at it. Wired
TikTok, Tesla show US-China battle over data is just beginning Bloomberg
+ Data fight threatens to reshape US-China trade relations
+ Electric vehicles, healthcare, drones all facing scrutiny
Self-driving Teslas can’t duck the US-China silicon curtain: Elon Musk’s decision to tie up with search giant Baidu makes sense. It’s an admission that he needs to pool expertise with rivals in order to keep pace. David Fickling
Why Musk now needs China more than it needs him: China used Elon Musk’s trip to promote its message that it is open to American businesses, despite rising tensions with the US. WSJ
Second global AI safety summit faces tough questions, lower turnout: Reuters reports Last year, a who’s who of world leaders, corporate executives, and academic experts gathered at Britain’s Bletchley Park for the world’s first global AI Safety Summit, hoping to reach consensus on the regulation of a technology some warned posed a threat to humanity. Six months later, the second AI Safety Summit, a primarily virtual event co-hosted by Britain and South Korea, will take place as hype around artificial intelligence’s potential gives way to questions over its limitations.
Microsoft to invest $1.7 billion in AI infrastructure in Indonesia: WSJ reports Microsoft said the investment would help its goal of training 2.5 million people across the region in AI skills.
EU to probe Meta over handling of Russian disinformation: FT reports European Union regulators are expected to open a probe into Meta Platforms over concerns that the company is failing to do enough to counter disinformation from Russia and other countries.
Bloomberg: Apple’s iPad hit by EU’s digital dominance crackdown
+ Company has six months to comply with raft of new rules
+ Apple’s mobile iOS, App Store and Safari already targeted
UK sends first asylum seeker to Rwanda: Le Monde reports according to British media reports, a man left the United Kingdom on Monday, agreeing to be deported to Rwanda after his asylum request was rejected at the end of last year.
Rishi Sunak + Keir Starmer will face off in the Commons today for the final time before Thursday’s local elections, with PMQs providing a chance for both leaders to sharpen their polling day attack lines.
Labour set to unveil weakened package of workers’ rights: FT reports shadow ministers have been discussing how to tone down some of pledges in ‘New Deal’ to ease employer misgivings.
Is the dream of Scottish independence over? How the seemingly inexorable journey to an independent Scotland ground to a halt. Politico
650,000: The number of Ukrainian men of fighting age who have left the country.
Ozempic maker Novo Nordisk has Denmark’s economy hooked: The blockbuster drug producer is Europe’s most valuable company — and its home country is feeling the effects. Bloomberg
Mexico's manufacturing sector is surging amid US supply chains' move away from China, with nearshoring gaining traction by relocating production facilities closer to domestic markets. The US-Mexico-Canada (USMCA) agreement further bolsters Mexico's appeal for manufacturing, though worries persist about Chinese goods potentially entering the US via Mexico to circumvent tariffs.
Military is the missing word in AI safety discussions: Government attempts to regulate the technology must look at its use on the battlefield. Marietje Schaake
+ Marietje Schaake is the international policy director at Stanford University’s Cyber Policy Center and special adviser to the European Commission
AI supercharges intelligence analysis, but mitigating bias is key Val Dockrell
*** US Politics + Elections ***
Democratic leadership vows to rescue GOP Speaker Mike Johnson as intrigue grows in Capitol: WP reports on Tuesday, speculation rose about whether Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and her chief ally, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), were ready to act on a motion to oust Johnson.
Why Biden’s reelection runs through the Rust Belt: Biden’s loss of support with younger voters and voters of color has helped make the Sun Belt swing states less competitive — and the “Blue Wall” Rust Belt states key to his reelection. Politico
WSJ: Biden administration aims to reclassify marijuana as less dangerous drug
Trump to attend Las Vegas fundraiser with $844,600 ticket.
DJT's veep pick: The Bulwark’s Marc Caputo has a dishy new story this morning reporting that Sens. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and JD Vance (R-OH) are considered top VP contenders for Trump.
+ Vance will hold a big-ticket fundraiser with Trump in Cincinnati next month
HR McMaster writes about his time in Trump administration in upcoming ‘At War with Ourselves’ AP
AI on the Hill: Senators are now working toward holding a markup on “a number” of AI bills in May.
Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) joined Punchbowl News on Tuesday for a wide-ranging conversation on the top issues dominating Washington and the future of artificial intelligence. You can watch the full video here.
NIST launches a new platform to assess generative AI: NIST GenAI will release benchmarks, help create “content authenticity” detection (i.e. deepfake-checking) systems and encourage the development of software to spot the source of fake or misleading AI-generated information. TC
+ Department of Commerce announces new actions to implement President Biden’s executive order on AI
+ DOE announces new actions to enhance America’s global leadership in artificial intelligence
There’s an AI lobbying frenzy in Washington. Big Tech is dominating Time
+ From 2022 to 2023, the number of groups lobbying the US government on AI skyrocketed from 158 to 451, according to OpenSecrets data.
8 major newspapers join legal backlash against OpenAI, Microsoft: The Chicago Tribune, New York Daily News and six other dailies accused the tech companies of taking their work to train AI algorithms. WP
8 daily newspapers sue OpenAI and Microsoft over AI: The suit, which accuses the tech companies of copyright infringement, adds to the fight over the online data used to power artificial intelligence. NYT
+ @OpenAI: We’ve partnered with FT to enhance news content in ChatGPT and collaborate on new AI experiences for FT readers.
*** Disruption + Innovation ***
Eric Schmidt and Yoshua Bengio debate how much AI should scare us: Two top artificial intelligence experts—one an optimist and the other more alarmist about the technology’s future—engaged in a spirited debate at the TIME100 Summit. YouTube
‘Eugenics on steroids’: The toxic and contested legacy of Oxford’s Future of Humanity Institute: Founded in 2005 and lauded by Silicon Valley, the Nick Bostrom’s centre for studying existential risk warned about AI but also gave rise to cultish ideas such as effective altruism. Guardian
Recruiters are going analog to fight the AI application overload: Indeed and LinkedIn are incorporating more generative AI to improve the recruiting and job-hunting processes. Some recruiters are still unconvinced. Wired
Sam’s Club says its AI tech allowing customers to exit without receipts is in 20% of its stores, with plans to expand to all locations by year-end.
Apple targets Google staff to build artificial intelligence team: FT reports the iPhone maker has also created a secretive Zurich lab as it prepares fightback against rivals.
Apple is expected to unveil an iPad Pro with an M4 chip at an event on May 7. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman believes Apple will market the new iPad Pro as "its first truly AI-powered device."
Amazon sales surge as company focuses on AI: Chief Executive Andy Jassy said artificial-intelligence capabilities are reaccelerating growth in the company’s cloud business. WSJ
Amazon cloud sales growth accelerates as it prepares for more AI spending: FT reports the e-commerce company’s operating income more than triples as Amazon Web Services and adverts provide a boost.
Fortune: Elon Musk says any company that isn’t spending $10 billion on AI this year like Tesla won’t be able to compete
Microsoft's motivation for investing heavily and partnering with OpenAI came from a sense of falling badly behind Google, according to an internal email released Tuesday as part of the Justice Department’s antitrust case against the search giant.
Big Tech is pouring hundreds of billions into AI. Should it also get to decide if the technology is ‘safe’? Fortune
FFX Now: Google to invest $1 billion to expand data centers in Northern Virginia
Binance founder Changpeng Zhao was ordered to spend four months in prison for failures that allowed cybercriminals and terrorist groups to freely trade on the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange.
Tesla shares jumped 15%, posting their best day in three years as investors react to Elon Musk’s quick and unannounced visit to China.
Hertz's shares hit an all-time low as it began to sell off its fleet of Tesla vehicles, with a quarterly loss of $1.28 per share, nearly three times worse than anticipated.
Travel firm Viking seeks to raise about $1.33 bln in upsized US IPO: Reuters reports travel firm Viking Holdings said on Monday it was seeking to raise up to $1.33 billion in an upsized initial public offering in the United States.
Can the fast-fashion giant Zara rebrand as luxury? WP
Coca-Cola gears up for IPO of $8 billion Africa bottling arm.
BlackRock is set to get as much as $5 billion from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund to invest in the Middle East and build an investments team.
McDonald’s to test bigger burger to meet diners’ appetite.
Walmart takes on Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods with new brand: WSJ reports the grocery giant is rolling out curry chicken empanadas and 300 other items as it seeks to capture spending by American consumers.
Sales of digital cameras in 2023 grew for the first time in 13 years: The market has shrunk every year since 2010, Nikkei Japan reported, as smartphones with increasingly powerful cameras replaced single-purpose devices for everyday snaps.
The world’s largest 3D printer was unveiled at the University of Maine: The university’s 2019 model, which was the largest before this, printed an entire family home. The new one is four times the size and could print entire neighborhoods, the Associated Press reported.
Boeing and the dark age of American manufacturing: Somewhere along the line, the plane maker lost interest in making its own planes. Can it rediscover its engineering soul? Jerry Useem
*** Culture ***
WP: Taylor Swift breaks records with ‘Tortured Poets’ release
How I filmed the dark side of Marseilles, crime capital of Europe: Led by a lookout, Ria Chatterjee was granted rare entry to the stairwells where gangs rule France’s second city — and fearful neighbours avert their eyes. The Times
How real estate became showbiz and agents became stars: Fueled by the public’s love of reality TV and desire to view luxury homes, real estate agents are chasing fame as fervently as they chase deals. NYT
*** Sport ***
Pickleball, the fastest-growing sport in the US, is expanding into India with events scheduled to start in 2025, and Major League Pickleball is set to sell franchises there.
WP: Mike Trout will have knee surgery, the latest in string of injury woes
WP: NFL owners back Roger Goodell’s vision of a remade 18-game schedule
The NFL is again pressing Congress for help dealing with drones as the problem is growing worse for teams around the country. According to the NFL, the number of such incidents rose to more than 2,845 this past year, a nearly 11% increase.
+ The NFL wants lawmakers to grant state and local law enforcement agencies the authority to stop these flights.
Sebastian Coe, president of World Athletics: 'The Olympics are too strong to be damaged by Russia': The head of the international athletics federation president goes back over the reasons for his firm stance on Russian athletes and insists the Paris 2024 Games will be 'exceptional.' Le Monde
Enjoy the ride + plan accordingly.
-Marc
ITK Daily | May 1
