How can businesses plan for a world in which threats like erratic hurricane seasons, brutal heat waves, devastating floods, and wildfires are increasingly becoming the norm?

That’s the question that Steve Bochanski, US climate risk modeling leader at PwC, is trying to help the consulting firm’s clients tackle. As an actuary by training, Bochanski oversees a platform that takes the same type of risk modeling used by the insurance industry and applies it to questions of how the climate crisis will affect the business operations of multinational companies.

These types of long-term planning services are attracting more interest as investors and regulators alike demand greater transparency from companies in terms of how they are preparing for a changing environment, Bochanski said.

“We’re making a big bet on this because we think we’re providing a valuable service,” Bochanski said.

Keep reading here.—PK

We’ve all set out on an overly optimistic road trip. Freedom and adventure, what could be better? But once the initial thrill of hittin’ the road wears off, you’re stuck spending endless hours staring out the window, listening to someone else’s music, and watching the miles slowly tick by.

But road trips don’t have to be this way.

For this Memorial Day weekend, AT&T has changed the way you road trip: They’re letting you try AT&T In-car Wi-Fi for free. That’s right—they’ll turn your vehicle into an entertainment machine for FREE, so you can quit asking, “Are we there yet?”

Whether you’re traveling to the lake or making a cross-country journey, AT&T will help you stay connected and stream videos, music, and games no matter where the road takes you.

Become the star of the road trip with In-car WiFi.

At Tesla’s 2023 shareholder meeting, CEO Elon Musk forecast a rollercoaster of a year: A gloomy economy resulting in mass bankruptcies, the much-anticipated delivery of the Cybertruck, another delay in Roadster production, Tesla’s first ads, and an Optimus podcast. Oh, and Musk won’t be stepping down: “It ain’t so,” he said.

While much of the meeting, the third held at the company’s Texas headquarters, focused on Tesla’s successes over the last year, shareholders heard a few predictions about new Tesla products, business model changes, and Musk’s commitment to the company. Here are Tech Brew’s top takeaways.

Keep reading here.—MA

The debate over how to regulate AI development is alive and well, everywhere from Washington and boardrooms to the front page of the New York Times.

But when it comes to who will ultimately handle the internal oversight once policies are in place, the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP) said it sees a wide-open lane. The not-for-profit professional organization then called on experts from the tech world, academia, and the public sector to help fill it.

Privacy executives from Microsoft, IBM, and Google are stepping up to advise the IAPP’s newly formed AI Governance Center. The goal? To upskill privacy professionals from the private, public, and nonprofit sectors into AI governance leaders.

Keep reading here.—MA

Stat: -7%. The yearly internal rate of return for venture funds in the third quarter of 2022, according to data from PitchBook reported by the Wall Street Journal, was the “lowest value for those three months since 2009.”

Quote: “The ‘Sparks of AGI’ is an example of some of these big companies co-opting the research paper format into PR pitches…They literally acknowledge in their paper’s introduction that their approach is subjective and informal and may not satisfy the rigorous standards of scientific evaluation.”—Maarten Sap, a researcher and professor at Carnegie Mellon University, to the New York Times in a story about a Microsoft paper claiming a new AI showed inklings of the ability to reason like a human.

Read: A photographer embraces the alien logic of AI (the New Yorker)

Links we love: Bird’s the word—but tech is the future. Get a jump-start with the basics of business and lay the foundation to get ahead of the curve with The Brew’s Business Essentials Accelerator. Apply now and join us for our upcoming cohort that kicks off in June.

Usually, we write about the business of tech. Here, we highlight the *tech* of tech.

Twitter in bad decline: The microblogging platform has seen a “noticeable posting decline” among its most active users since Elon Musk acquired the platform, according to the Pew Research Center. It defined the “most active users” as “the top 20% by tweet volume.”

Generative grift: In a surprise to absolutely no one, the hype around ChatGPT has spawned schemes. Wired reported that Sophos, a security firm, cautioned that “scammy apps are pretending to offer access to OpenAI’s chatbot service ChatGPT through free trials that eventually start charging subscription fees.” (Access to ChatGPT is free!)

Catch up on the top Tech Brew stories from the past few editions:

• OpenAI CEO to Congress: Regulate me
• Survey says claims around metaverse workplaces are often exaggerated
• Even amid a funding downturn, investors find money to back AI startups