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2025-07-24 17:45:00| Fast Company

UnitedHealth Group says it is cooperating with federal criminal and civil investigations involving its market-leading Medicare business. The health care giant said Thursday that it had contacted the Department of Justice after reviewing media reports about investigations into certain elements of its business. (UnitedHealth) has a long record of responsible conduct and effective compliance, the company said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. Earlier this year, The Wall Street Journal said federal officials had launched a civil fraud investigation into how the company records diagnoses that lead to extra payments for its Medicare Advantage, or MA, plans. Those are privately run versions of the governments Medicare coverage program mostly for people ages 65 and over. The companys UnitedHealthcare business covers more than 8 million people as the nations largest provider of Medicare Advantage plans. The business has been under pressure in recent quarters due to rising care use and rate cuts. The Journal said in February, citing anonymous sources, that the probe focused on billing practices in recent months. The paper has since said that a federal criminal health care-fraud unit was investigating how the company used doctors and nurses to gather diagnoses that bolster payments. UnitedHealth said in the filing Thursday that it “has full confidence in its practices and is committed to working cooperatively with the Department throughout this process.” UnitedHealth Group Inc. runs one of the nation’s largest health insurance and pharmacy benefits management businesses. It also operates a growing Optum business that provides care and technology support. UnitedHealth raked in more than $400 billion in revenue last year as the third-largest company in the Fortune 500. Its share price topped $630 last fall to reach a new all-time high. But the stock has mostly shed value since December, when UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was fatally shot in midtown Manhattan on his way to the companys annual investor meeting. A suspect, Luigi Mangione, has been charged in connection with the shooting. In April, shares plunged some more after the company cut its forecast due to a spike in health care use. A month later, former CEO Andrew Witty resigned, and the company withdrew its forecast entirely, saying that medical costs from new Medicare Advantage members were higher than expected. The stock price slipped another 3%, or $10.35, to $282.16 in midday trading Thursday. That represents a 55% drop from its all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, of which UnitedHealth is a component, also fell slightly. Meanwhile, the broader S&P 500 rose. UnitedHealth will report its second-quarter results next Tuesday. Tom Murphy, AP health writer

Category: E-Commerce
 

2025-07-24 17:30:00| Fast Company

President Donald Trump took to social media Thursday morning to support Elon Musk’s car company, a startling development given their bitter public feud. I want Elon, and all businesses within our Country, to THRIVE, Trump wrote on Truth Social. The post wasn’t enough to help Tesla’s stock, which fell sharply after the company reported another quarter of lackluster financial results and Musk warned of some potentially rough quarters into next year. At midday, the stock was down around 9%. Late Wednesday, Tesla said revenue fell 12% and profit dropped 16% in the April-June quarter. Many prospective buyers have been turned off by Musks foray into right-wing politics, and the competition has ramped up in key markets such as Europe and China. Investors have been unnerved by Musk’s social media spat with the president because Trump has threatened to retaliate by ending government contracts and breaks for Musk’s various businesses, including Tesla. But Trump struck a starkly different tone Thursday morning. Everyone is stating that I will destroy Elons companies by taking away some, if not all, of the large scale subsidies he receives from the U.S. Government. This is not so!” Trump wrote. The better they do, the better the USA does, and thats good for all of us. After Trump’s massive budget bill passed earlier this month, Tesla faces the loss of the $7,500 EV tax credit and stands to make much less money from selling regulatory credits to other automakers. Trumps tariffs on countries including China and Mexico will also cost Tesla hundreds of millions of dollars, the company said on its earnings call. Musk has blasted the budget bill on his own social media platform X for adding to U.S. debt at a time when it is already too large. The Tesla CEO has called the budget pushed by the president a disgusting abomination and has threatened to form a new political party. On Wednesday’s call, Musk said the electric vehicle maker will face a few rough quarters as it moves into a future focused less on selling cars and more on offering people rides in self-driving cars. He also talked up the company’s business making humanoid robotics. But he acknowledged those businesses are a ways off from contributing to Teslas bottom line. Tesla began a rollout in June of its paid robotaxi service in Austin, Texas, and hopes to introduce the driverless cabs in several other cities soon. Musk told analysts that the service will be available to probably half of the population of the U.S. by the end of the year thats at least our goal, subject to regulatory approvals. Were in this weird transition period where well lose a lot of incentives in the U.S., Musk said, adding that Tesla probably could have a few rough quarters ahead. He added, though, Once you get to autonomy at scale in the second half of next year, certainly by the end of next year, I would be surprised if Teslas economics are not very compelling.”

Category: E-Commerce
 

2025-07-24 17:00:00| Fast Company

After closing for five months due to smoke damage from the Palisades Fire, the Eames House (Case Study House #8) in Los Angeles has reopened to visitorsnow with a more determined mission to serve as a place of community. [Photo: Chris Mottalini, 2025/ 2025 Eames Office, LLC.] Nearly 7,000 buildings were destroyed in the Palisades Fire, and though the Eames House was spared, cleanup efforts have been intensive. A crew took about a week to wipe away flame retardant that had been dropped to slow the fire from advancing from the outside of the home. They also dug up the property’s plantings beds so the soil could be replaced due to concerns about toxic materials. Eames Demetrios, Lucia Dewey Atwood, and Adrienne Luce outside the studio. [Photo: Chris Mottalini, 2025/ 2025 Eames Office, LLC.] “We were very fortunate,” says Lucia Atwood, the granddaughter of architects Charles and Ray Eames who built the Pacific Palisades home in 1949. The home is a model of resilience, but its stewards were also proactive. Atwood tells Fast Company interventions began in 2011 to better fire- and drought-proof the home, which is a National Historic Landmark and on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. Those efforts that took on greater urgency after the Getty Fire in 2019. Charles and Ray balancing on the steel framing of the Eames House in Pacific Palisades, California, 1949. [Photo: 2025 Eames Office, LLC.] “At that point it became very clear that there were going to be an increasing number of of extremely damaging fires,” says Atwood, the former executive director of the Eames Foundation. The foundation has worked to harden the landscape, a process that included clearing brush and removing some of the more than 250 trees that were on the property. [Photo: Chris Mottalini, 2025/ 2025 Eames Office, LLC.] Reopening events this month with local leaders, neighbors, and fire survivors have turned the Eames House into an Eames home for the community, as is the case for patrons of the Palisades Library, which was destroyed in the fires. After offering the library the use of the property, including the home’s studio, which is open to the public for the first time, for events like book clubs and sales, the head of the library got emotional, says Adrienne Luce, who was announced the Eames Foundation’s first non-family member executive director in April.  “This place is for you,” Luce recalls telling the library’s head, and she says she started to choke up. “Being so close to the devastation actually is a wonderful opportunity to serve and support the local community and long-term community rebuilding efforts.” Reopening means “really engaging and serving the local community,” Luce says.

Category: E-Commerce
 

2025-07-24 16:52:31| Fast Company

Singapore-based solar panel manufacturer Bila Solar is suspending plans to double capacity at its new factory in Indianapolis. Canadian rival Helienes plans for a solar cell facility in Minnesota are under review. Norwegian solar wafer maker NorSun is evaluating whether to move forward with a planned factory in Tulsa, Oklahoma. And two fully permitted offshore wind farms in the U.S. Northeast may never get built. These are among the major clean energy investments now in question after Republicans agreed earlier this month to quickly end U.S. subsidies for solar and wind power as part of their budget megabill, and as the White House directed agencies to tighten the rules on who can claim the incentives that remain. This marks a policy U-turn since President Donald Trumps return to office that project developers, manufacturers and analysts say will slash installations of renewable energy over the coming decade, kill investment and jobs in the clean energy manufacturing sector supporting them, and worsen a looming U.S. power supply crunch as energy-hungry AI infrastructure expands. Solar and wind installations could be 17% and 20% lower than previously forecast over the next decade because of the moves, according to research firm Wood Mackenzie, which warned that a dearth of new supplies could slow the expansion of data centers needed to support AI technology. Energy researcher Rhodium, meanwhile, said the law puts at risk $263 billion of wind, solar, and storage facilities and $110 billion of announced manufacturing investment supporting them. It will also increase industrial energy costs by up to $11 billion in 2035, it said. “One of the administrations stated goals was to bring costs down, and as we demonstrated, this bill doesn’t do that,” said Ben King, a director in Rhodium’s energy and climate practice. He added the policy “is not a recipe for continued dominance of the U.S. AI industry.” The White House did not respond to a request for comment. The Trump administration has defended its moves to end support for clean energy by arguing the rapid adoption of solar and wind power has created instability in the grid and raised consumer prices assertions that are contested by the industry and which do not bear out in renewables-heavy power grids, like Texas’ ERCOT. Power industry representatives, however, have said all new generation projects need to be encouraged to meet rising U.S. demand, including both those driven by renewables and fossil fuels. Consulting firm ICF projects that U.S. electricity demand will grow by 25% by 2030, driven by increased AI and cloud computing a major challenge for the power industry after decades of stagnation. The REPEAT Project, a collaboration between Princeton University and Evolved Energy Research, projects a 2% annual increase in electricity demand. With a restricted pipeline of renewables, tighter electricity supplies stemming from the policy shift could increase household electricity costs by $280 a year in 2035, according to the REPEAT Project. The key provision in the new law is the accelerated phase-out of 30% tax credits for wind and solar projects: it requires projects to begin construction within a year or enter service by the end of 2027 to qualify for the credits. Previously the credits were available through 2032. Now some project developers are scrambling to get projects done while the U.S. incentives are still accessible. But even that strategy has become risky, developers said. Days after signing the law, Trump directed the Treasury Department to review the definition of beginning of construction. A revision to those rules could overturn a long-standing practice giving developers four years to claim tax credits after spending just 5% of project costs. Treasury was given 45 days to draft new rules. “With so many moving parts, financing of projects, financing of manufacturing is difficult, if not impossible,” said Martin Pochtaruk, CEO of Heliene. “You are looking to see what is the next baseball bat that’s going to hit you on the head.” About face Heliene’s planned cell factory, which could cost as much as $350 million, depending on the capacity, and employ more than 600 workers, is also in limbo, Pochtaruk said in an interview earlier this month. The company needs more clarity on both what the new law will mean for U.S. demand, and how Trump’s trade policy will impact the solar industry. “We have a building that is anxiously waiting for us to make a decision,” Pochtaruk said. Similarly, Mick McDaniel, general manager of Bila Solar, said “a troubling level of uncertainty” has put on hold its $20 million expansion at an Indianapolis factory it opened this year that would create an additional 75 jobs. “NorSun is still digesting the new legislation and recent executive order to determine the impact to the overall domestic solar manufacturing landscape,” said Todd Templeton, director of the company’s U.S. division that is reviewing plans for its $620 million solar wafer facility in Tulsa. Five solar manufacturing companies – T1 Energy, Imperial Star Solar, SEG Solar, Solx and ES Foundry – said they are also concerned about the new law’s impact on future demand, but that they have not changed their investment plans. The policy changes have also injected fresh doubt about the fate of the nation’s pipeline of offshore wind projects, which depend heavily on tax credits to bring down costs. According to Wood Mackenzie, projects that have yet to start construction or make final investment decisions are unlikely to proceed. Two such projects, which are fully permitted, include a 300-megawatt project by developer US Wind off the coast of Maryland and Iberdrolas 791 MW New England Wind off the coast of Massachusetts. Neither company responded to requests for comment. “They are effectively ready to begin construction and are now trapped in a timeline that will make it that much harder to be able to take advantage of the remaining days of the tax credits,” said Hillary Bright, executive director of offshore wind advocacy group Turn Forward. Nichola Groom, Reuters

Category: E-Commerce
 

2025-07-24 16:45:00| Fast Company

IBM announced strong second quarter 2025 earnings that beat expectations on many points, helped in part by response to its new AI-focused mainframe computer. So why is the stock sliding today? First, a look at the results. IBM Q2 2025 earnings results Shares in the stock (NYSE: IBM) were down over 8% on Thursday in midday trading, after the tech giant beat expectations for “revenue, profit, and free cash flow” this quarter. The company reported revenue of $16.98 billion, topping expectations of $16.59 billion, with earnings-per-share (EPS) of $2.80, beating expectations of $2.64. It also raised its full year forecast. “With our strong first-half performance, we are raising our full-year outlook for free cash flow, which we expect to exceed $13.5 billion,” IBM chief executive Arvind Krishna said in a statement. “IBM remains highly differentiated in the market because of our deep innovation and domain expertise, both crucial in helping clients deploy and scale AI. Our generative AI book of business continues to accelerate and now stands at more than $7.5 billion.” That’s all good news for investors. In fact, IBMs revenue increased nearly 8% year-over-year in the quarter, according to its earnings statement. So why the stock dive? IBM stock price slides as earnings miss on software revenue The answer: software revenue. While revenue from software rose about 10% to $7.39 billion, it fell short of analyst expectations of $7.43 billion, CNBC reported. “You’re seeing the stock pull back, because there’s just not a lot of room to miss,” Dan Morgan, senior portfolio manager at Synovus Trust, told Reuters. “This would be more evidence that software is not growing at the pace that the Street was expecting.” At the time of this writing, the company had a market capitalization of $239.39 billion.

Category: E-Commerce
 

2025-07-24 16:34:10| Fast Company

China and the European Union have issued a joint call to action on climate change during an otherwise tense bilateral summit in Beijing on Thursday riven with major disagreements over trade and the war in Ukraine. The two economic juggernauts issued a joint statement on climate change, urging more emission cuts and greater use of green technology and affirming their support for the Paris Climate Agreement as well as calling for strong action at the upcoming COP30 climate summit in Brazil. In the fluid and turbulent international situation today, it is crucial that all countries, notably the major economies, maintain policy continuity and stability and step up efforts to address climate change, the joint statement said. Their climate agreement was a silver lining on a stormy day where European leaders demanded a more balanced relationship with China in talks with President Xi Jinping. They highlighted trade in their opening remarks, calling for concrete progress to address Europe’s yawning trade deficit with China. As our cooperation has deepened, so have the imbalances, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said. We have reached an inflection point. Rebalancing our bilateral relation is essential. Because to be sustainable, relations need to be mutually beneficial. Little movement expected Expectations were low ahead of the talks, initially supposed to last two days but scaled back to one. They come amid financial uncertainty around the world, wars in the Middle East and Ukraine, and the threat of U.S. tariffs. Neither the EU nor China is likely to budge on key issues. European Council President António Costa called on China to use its influence over Russia to bring an end to the war in Ukraine  a long-running plea from European leaders that is likely to fall again on deaf ears. Xi called for deeper cooperation between China and Europe to provide stability in an increasingly complex world. Both sides should set aside differences and seek common ground, he said, a phrase he often uses in relationships like the one with the EU. China is willing to strengthen coordination on climate and make greater contributions to addressing climate change, he said, but he pushed back against EU restrictions on Chinese exports. We hope the EU will keep its trade and investment markets open, refrain from using restrictive economic and trade tools and provide a good business environment for Chinese companies to invest and develop in Europe, he said, according to a readout posted online by state broadcaster CCTV. US tariff threats weigh on EU-China cooperation Besides trade and the Ukraine war, von der Leyen and Costa were expected to raise concerns about Chinese cyberattacks and espionage, its restrictions on the export of rare earth minerals and its human rights record in Tibet, Hong Kong and Xinjiang. The EU, meanwhile, has concerns about a looming trade battle with the United States. Europe is being very careful not to antagonize President Trump even further by looking maybe too close to China, so all of that doesnt make this summit easier, said Fabian Zuleeg, chief economist of the European Policy Center. “It will be very hard to achieve something concrete. China’s stance has hardened on the EU, despite a few olive branches, like the suspension of sanctions on European lawmakers who criticized Beijing’s human rights record in Xinjiang province, where it is accused of a widespread campaign of repression against the Uyghurs. The summit ended with almost no movement on the major issues of trade, electric vehicles, or Russia, said Noah Barkin, an analyst at the Rhodium Group think tank. Rather, frustration from the EU was glaringly obvious after years in which its concerns have been largely ignored by Beijing. He said the Europeans will likely use more “trade defense tools in the months ahead, including a debate over expanding safeguards and new cases under the blocs foreign subsidies regulation. Trade disputes range from rare earths to EVs Like the U.S., the 27-nation EU bloc runs a massive trade deficit with China around 300 billion euros ($350 billion) last year. It relies heavily on China for critical minerals and the magnets made from them for cars and appliances. When China curtailed the export of those products in response to Trump’s tariffs, European automakers cried foul. China agreed during the summit to to start an upgraded export supply mechanism to fast-track exports of critical minerals, von der Leyen said. Details of the arrangement were not immediately made public. Barkin said he doubted the mechanism would be a miracle solution for what may become a go-to coercion tool for Beijing in the years ahead. The EU has imposed tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles to support its carmakers by balancing out Beijing’s heavy auto subsidies. China would like those tariffs revoked. The rapid growth in Chinas market share in Europe has sparked concern that Chinese cars will eventually threaten the EUs ability to produce its own green technology to combat climate change. Business groups and unions also fear that the jobs of 2.5 million auto industry workers could be put in jeopardy, as well those of 10.3 million more people whose employment depends indirectly on EV production. China has launched investigations into European pork and dairy products, and placed tariffs on French cognac and armagnac. It has criticized new EU regulations of medical equipment sales and fears upcoming legislation that could further target Chinese industries, said Alicia García-Herrero, a China analyst at the Bruegel think tank. The EU has leverage because China needs to sell goods to the bloc, García-Herrero said. The EU remains Chinas largest export market, so China has every intention to keep it this way, especially given the pressure coming from the U.S., she said. China bristles at EU sanctions over Russia’s war against Ukraine. The latest package included two Chinese banks that the EU accused of links to Russias war industry. Chinas Commerce Ministry protested the listing and vowed to respond with necessary measures to resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises and financial institutions. The EU looks beyond Beijing and Washington Buffeted between a combative Washington and a hardline Beijing, the EU has more publicly sought new alliances elsewhere, inking a trade pact with Indonesia and drafting trade deals with South America and Mexico. Costa and von der Leyen visited Tokyo the day before their meetings in Beijing, launching an alliance with Japan to boost economic cooperation, defend free trade and counter unfair trade practices. Both Europe and Japan see a world around us where protectionist instincts grow, weaknesses get weaponized, and every dependency exploited,” von der Leyen said. So it is normal that two like-minded partners come together to make each other stronger. Sam McNeil and Ken Moritsugu, Associated Press Mark Carlson contributed to this report.

Category: E-Commerce
 

2025-07-24 16:12:00| Fast Company

General Motors, the largest automaker in the U.S., announced its second-quarter financial results on July 22. The report was, overall, a gloomy tale of the impact of President Trumps tariffs, which, the company said, cost it more than a billion dollars this past quarter. But while GMs total profits fell by more than a third in Q2, the company did point out one bright spot: a major spike in EV sales, launching it closer to true competition with Tesla. In its investor relations call, GMwhich operates the subsidiary brands Buick, GMC, Chevrolet, and Cadillacsaid its EV sales more than doubled from April to June. Meanwhile, early this month, Tesla reported a 13% decline in vehicle deliveries for its second quarter, one of the largest quarterly declines in the companys history and its second quarterly decline in a row. In its earnings call on July 24, the company reported its revenue was down more than $3 billion year-over-year (though the company also claimed a newer, cheaper version of the Model Y would soon be available). An analysis by the data collection firm Cox Automotive published on July 14 found that while Tesla still solidly holds the title of the U.S. EV markets largest mover, GM has charged past Ford and Hyundai to snag the No. 2 spot. With models like the Chevy Blazer and Chevy Equinox, the automaker is quietly encroaching on Teslas dominant market spot. 2025 Blazer EV [Photo: Chevrolet] A tale of Teslas (declining) dominance Tesla has long outpaced its competitors in the American EV market, but the gulf that once separated the brand from all others has been slowly closing over the past several years. In 2020, Tesla controlled nearly 80% of the U.S. market, based on data from Experian. By 2022, that was down to 65.4%, followed by 55% in 2023. This year, per Cox Automotive, that share continues to decline, hovering around 45% as of July 11.  In a press release, Cox Automotive stated, Teslas many issues do not require a full rehashing here: Suffice it to say, the hyper-competitive EV market is providing the troubled automaker no relief. Part of Teslas market share decline can certainly be attributed to the brands laundry list of reputational blows this year, namely concerning CEO Elon Musks ongoing feud with Trump. But as Cox Automotive hints, another factor is broadening competition: Since 2020, Ford, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Lexus, and other automakers have introduced countless new EV models.  GM, in particular, has been dedicating greater resources to its fleet of electric vehicles. The company now sells 12 different EV models across its four brands, which accounted for about 15% of the U.S. EV market in the second quarter of 2025triple the share of both Ford and Hyundai. Of GMs EVs, its top-selling models were the Chevy Equinox and Chevy Blazer, which sold 17,420 units and 6,549 units, respectively. The Equinox has gained significant traction for its relatively low cost, which starts at around $35,000. These numbers are far behind those of Teslas ultra-popular Model Y, which shipped 86,120 units in the second quarter. Still, Chevrolets EV sales alone have shown 130%-plus year-over-year growthsignaling that GM may be on an upward trajectory compared to Teslas current slump. GM CEO Mary Barra reinforced that trajectory on a July 22 earnings call, sharing that profitable EV sales are now the companys North Star. We are growing in EVs because we have a strategic portfolio of vehicles that people love for their design, performance, range, and value, she said. [Photo: Chevrolet] An uncertain path ahead Despite GMs major EV success of late, the new EV market saw an overall year-over-year decline. Stephanie Valdez Streaty, senior analyst at Cox Automotive, said in its press release that the lower sales underscore the markets ongoing challenges, as growth in the auto business ebbs and flows on consumer demand, and are a sign of a more mature EV market.  Used EV sales, on the other hand, quietly flourished, surpassing a record-breaking 100,000 units in the second quarter. With availability growing and incentives for new EVs expected to fall, the used EV market maygrow faster in the quarters ahead, Cox Automotive reported. For market analysts, the elephant in the room is Congresss recent approval of new spending legislation that will end tax credits on new or used EVs beginning September 30. In light of this change, several experts have predicted that EV sales are likely to see a spike in the interim, followed by a noticeable decline starting in October.  Cox Automotive takes a slightly more conservative stance, predicting that new EV sales will continue to expand in the U.S. compared to last year, but at a much reduced pace. With government-backed incentives set to end in September and economic pressures mounting, the second half of the year will be a critical test of EV demand, Valdez Streaty said. Q3 will likely be a record, followed by a collapse in Q4, as the electric vehicle market adjusts to its new reality.

Category: E-Commerce
 

2025-07-24 16:00:00| Fast Company

Welcome to AI Decoded, Fast Companys weekly newsletter that breaks down the most important news in the world of AI. You can sign up to receive this newsletter every week here. With the AI Action Plan Trump pays back his Silicon Valley allies  The Trump administration on Wednesday released its AI Action Plana 28-page blueprint designed to accelerate Americas AI industry and extend its global influence. Authored by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, AI Czar David Sacks, and science and technology adviser Michael Kratsios, the document outlines a suite of tech-friendly directives, ranging from discouraging state-level AI regulation to opening public lands for new data center construction. That hands-off approach reflects the Trump administrations broader stance toward tech: minimal regulation in exchange for political support. To that end, the action plan directs all federal agencies to delete regulations from earlier administrations that could unnecessarily hinder AI development or deployment. Fighting state AI laws The plan doesnt reprise the ban on state AI regulation that was struck from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act as some had feared. But it tries to frustrate state AI regulation by instructing federal agencies to condition funding on how friendly the states regulatory environment is to AI R&D. The plan also issues a vague threat against states by asking the FCC to look at how state AI regulations might interfere with the agencys ability to carry out its obligations and authorities under the Communications Act of 1934. (That Act established the FCC and gave it control of broadcast licenses, wireless spectrum, and compliance enforcement.)  The Trump administration also wants to shrink the role of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in protecting consumers from the excesses of the tech industry. The AI plan asks the FTC to modify or set-aside any final orders, consent decrees, and injunctions against tech companies  that might unduly burden AI innovation. Further, it asks the FTC to review all investigations begun during the Biden years to ensure that they do not advance theories of liability that unduly burden AI innovation.  Readying the grid for AI Anthropic estimates the U.S. power grid will need an additional 50 gigawattsroughly the output of 50 Hoover Dams, or enough to power 40 million homesby 2027 to meet the energy demands of new data centers. The Trump administration appears keenly aware of this challenge. The new plan renews a Biden-era initiative asking agencies that manage federal lands to identify sites suited to large-scale development of data centers. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has been promoting this idea for months, noting that his agency controls around 500 million acres of public lands and estimates $8 trillion in coal reserves beneath them.   Could the U.S. decide to expand production of dirty fuels like coal in the interest of powering new AI data centers? The plan doesnt specify, saying only that the U.S. must prevent the premature decommissioning of critical power generation resources and explore innovative ways to harness existing capacity. It also advocates for investment in alternative power sources like geothermal, nuclear fission, and nuclear fusion. It wasnt too long ago that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was urging the Senate to regulate AI. Now, most in the AI space warn that any binding regulations on how companies develop AI are premature and likely to nip innovation in the bud. Some even argue that it would be immoral to slow down AI R&D because the technology might soon help cure cancer or eliminate poverty. Trumps AI plan is clearly an expression of that world view, and the fulfillment of a promise he made to the tech industry when campaigning for a second term.  The GOPs One Big Beautiful Bill Act will make big tech companies flush with cash Analysts from Morgan Stanley predicted on Monday that the GOPs One Big Beautiful Bill Act could have some magical effects on the balance sheets of the biggest tech (read: AI) companies. The bill, which was signed into law by the president on July 4, contains a number of tax breaks that will considerably increase the free cash flow of tech companies, the analysts say, especially those that spend heavily on R&D and new infrastructure. For many tech companies, that means AI research and building data centers.  Under the revised tax code, tech companies can now apply retroactive write-offs for past R&D spending, recovering billions in taxes. The bill also allows for full, upfront deductions on infrastructure investmentsprovisions clearly designed with big tech in mind. Meanwhile, the corporate tax rate remains steady at 21%. These incentives could be worth tens of billions to leading firms, Morgan Stanley estimates. Analysts expect Google, Microsoft, and Apple to benefit most in the short term by accelerating R&D deductions. For Meta and Amazon, the gains may be more evenly distributed over the next two to three years. Pew: Googles AI search results yield far fewer click-throughs, ad views New research from the Pew Research Center suggests trouble ahead for Googles core business. After tracking real-time user behavior, Pew found that users shown an AI-generated AI Overview were less likely to click links to external websites than users shown traditional search results. That finding supports concerns among publishers that AI-enhanced search results are reducing site traffic. It could spell bad news for Google, too. The company earns the bulk of its ad revenue from search, especially when users are looking to buy products like shoes or cars. Google profits most when it drives users to merchant websites. But when users enter more complex queriessuch as what are the best noise cancelling headphones for less than $100they often receive an AI-generated summary. If Pews findings hold, they may be less likely to click a link to a specific brand. During its research (conducted in March), Pew found that one in five Gogle searches displayed an AI Overview. It also revealed that users were more likely to end their session entirely after seeing such a summary: that happened on 26% of AI-result pages, compared to just 16% of pages with standard results. More AI coverage from Fast Company:  Douglas Rushkoff wants us to use AI to ask better questions The ex-Waymo engineers building AI-powered robots to solve Americas labor crisis Replit CEO: What really happened when our AI agent wiped Jason Lemkins database Protons new Lumo AI is all about privacy Want exclusive reporting and trend analysis on technology, business innovation, future of work, and design? Sign up for Fast Company Premium.

Category: E-Commerce
 

2025-07-24 15:41:11| Fast Company

Tens of thousands of fans many in costumes will descend Thursday on Comic-Con International, the four day pop culture spectacle that will feature updates on the new “Predator” movie, “Alien” series and a special appearance by George Lucas.Just don’t expect major news about the future of Marvel’s movie slate or what’s next for the hit relaunch of DC’s high-flying “Superman” franchise. Both studios are sitting out Comic-Con 2025, as far as their film slates go.An estimated 135,000 people will attend the convention, which will greet Lucas on Sunday for his first Comic-Con appearance. The “Star Wars” creator will discuss his new Lucas Museum of Narrative Art that will open next year in Los Angeles.Fans of the “Alien” and “Predator” franchises will have plenty to cheer. Elle Fanning, star of “Predator: Badlands,” will discuss the film at Comic-Con’s massive Hall H this week. FX will also bring the stars and creators of “Alien: Earth,” a series that will unleash the Xenomorph species on Earth next month.“Alien: Earth” will be one of the projects that brings a massive interactive experience to San Diego, with a replica of spacecraft from the series. The attraction will feature what’s described as a terrifying mission at night.Marvel may not be presenting new movies, but it will have a “Fantastic Four: First Steps” attraction near the convention, a tie-in to Friday’s release of the latest attempt to successfully launch its “first family” in theaters.Thousands of fans got a sneak peek at the convention’s 460,000 square foot (42,700 square meter) exhibitor section, which features exclusive merchandise, comic book art and exhibits from brands like Star Wars, Lego, Nickelodeon, Paramount and more. Associated Press

Category: E-Commerce
 

2025-07-24 15:15:26| Fast Company

The data nerds are fighting back.After watching data sets be altered or disappear from U.S. government websites in unprecedented ways after President Donald Trump began his second term, an army of outside statisticians, demographers and computer scientists have joined forces to capture, preserve and share data sets, sometimes clandestinely.Their goal is to make sure they are available in the future, believing that democracy suffers when policymakers don’t have reliable data and that national statistics should be above partisan politics.“There are such smart, passionate people who care deeply about not only the Census Bureau, but all the statistical agencies, and ensuring the integrity of the statistical system. And that gives me hope, even during these challenging times,” Mary Jo Mitchell, director of government and public affairs for the research nonprofit the Population Association of America, said this week during an online public data-users conference.The threats to the U.S. data infrastructure since January have come not only from the disappearance or modification of data related to gender, sexual orientation, health, climate change and diversity, among other topics, but also from job cuts of workers and contractors who had been guardians of restricted-access data at statistical agencies, the data experts said.“There are trillions of bytes of data files, and I can’t even imagine how many public dollars were spent to collect those data. But right now, they’re sitting someplace that is inaccessible because there are no staff to appropriately manage those data,” Jennifer Park, a study director for the Committee on National Statistics, National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, said during the conference hosted by the Association of Public Data Users (APDU). ‘Gender’ switched to ‘sex’ In February, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s official public portal for health data, data.cdc.gov, was taken down entirely but subsequently went back up. Around the same time, when a query was made to access certain public data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s most comprehensive survey of American life, users for several days got a response that said the area was “unavailable due to maintenance” before access was restored.Researchers Janet Freilich and Aaron Kesselheim examined 232 federal public health data sets that had been modified in the first quarter of this year and found that almost half had been “substantially altered,” with the majority having the word “gender” switched to “sex,” they wrote this month in The Lancet medical journal.One of the most difficult tasks has been figuring out what’s been changed since many of the alterations weren’t recorded in documentation.Beth Jarosz, senior program director at the Population Reference Bureau, thought she was in good shape since she had previously downloaded data she needed from the National Survey of Children’s Health for a February conference where she was speaking, even though the data had become unavailable. But then she realized she had failed to download the questionnaire and later discovered that a question about discrimination based on gender or sexual identity had been removed.“It’s the one thing my team didn’t have,” Jarosz said at this week’s APDU conference. “And they edited the questionnaire document, which should have been a historical record.”Among the groups that have formed this year to collect and preserve the federal data are the Federation of American Scientists’ dataindex.com, which monitors changes to federal data sets; the University of Chicago Library’s Data Mirror website, which backs up and hosts at-risk data sets; the Data Rescue Project, which serves as a clearinghouse for data rescue-related efforts; and the Federal Data Forum, which shares information about what federal statistics have gone missing or been modified a job also being done by the American Statistical Association.The outside data warriors also are quietly reaching out to workers at statistical agencies and urging them to back up any data that is restricted from the public.“You can’t trust that this data is going to be here tomorrow,” said Lena Bohman, a founding member of the Data Rescue Project. Experts’ committee unofficially revived Separately, a group of outside experts has unofficially revived a long-running U.S. Census Bureau advisory committee that was killed by the Trump administration in March.Census Bureau officials won’t be attending the Census Scientific Advisory Committee meeting in September, since the Commerce Department, which oversees the agency, eliminated it. But the advisory committee will forward its recommendations to the bureau, and demographer Allison Plyer said she has heard that some agency officials are excited by the committee’s re-emergence, even if it’s outside official channels.“We will send them recommendations but we don’t expect them to respond since that would be frowned upon,” said Plyer, chief demographer at The Data Center in New Orleans. “They just aren’t getting any outside expertise and they want expertise, which is understandable from nerds.” Follow Mike Schneider on the social platform Bluesky: @mikeysid.bsky.social Mike Schneider, Associated Press

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