EVS

Shoot for the Moon

On Wednesday, Polestar put its 10-year plan into overdrive. 

The electric automaker, controlled by Volvo, announced its “moonshot goal” to create the first carbon-neutral car by 2030. By 2040, both Polestar and Volvo plan to make all of their operations carbon-neutral. 

The kicker? Polestar has no intention of donning yard gloves and planting trees, or pursuing other offsetting measures. Instead, the company will attempt to overhaul its entire supply chain and manufacturing processes. 

We chatted with Fredrika Klarén, Polestar’s head of sustainability, and Lisa Bolin, the company’s climate lead, about how it plans to pull this off. 

To the moon? 

The big question: whether this is a "moonshot" in the sense that it’s unlikely to pan out, or whether Polestar’s timeline is genuinely achievable. 

Klarén didn’t give us a step-by-step plan when we asked, but she did reference an oft-cited climate change deadline: net-zero emissions worldwide by 2050. 

• She says: “The world as a whole is facing a moonshot goal, and so are we. To be honest, the time when you could set climate goals based on what you thought you could achieve without too much investment is gone.” 

Bumps in the road

“A car consists of some 30,000 components and relies on complex layers of supplier and sub manufacturers,” says Klarén. 

That scale and complexity are why the manufacturing materials’ carbon footprints are the biggest challenge, especially the “big three” for EVs and environmental costs: aluminum, steel, and battery components. 

One key step: Creating climate-neutral aluminum and steel. For the latter, Polestar’s plan is to pursue alternative methods of production instead of the go-to “blast furnace route.”

• Klarén says the team is also “working closely with battery suppliers to transition to renewable energy” and setting up battery collection centers to create more of a closed-loop operation. 

But, but, but 

Polestar already set its goal and its timeline, but it doesn’t have a surefire plan yet for how, exactly, this will work. From manufacturing location to the question of which software systems to use, it’s all TBD. 

One certainty: Polestar is not counting the carbon footprints of “auxiliary systems” like computer servers or road/electrical infrastructure in its carbon-neutral criteria, says Bolin. 

“We have an impact on all those things,” Bolin told us, “but the line has to be drawn somewhere.” —HF

AI

Autonomous Beehives and AI for Fish

The Billboard Hot 100...but for the top AI startups. 

That’s the idea behind the “AI 100” list compiled by CB Insights. The market intelligence firm's ranking for 2020, out this week, spans 12 countries and 18 industries. 

Trends to know

Healthcare AI: Surprise, surprise—this year, companies working in drug R&D, surgical intelligence, dental imaging, and more made the list. 

• “With strong investment activity last year, this sector of AI is here to stay,” Deepashri Varadharajan, who led the project at CB Insights, told us.

Niche AI R&D: The team was intrigued by the growth of niche applications like “improving efficiency and sustainability in fish farms, using AI to inform where to buy land to mine for minerals, building autonomous beehives, and developing digital twin technology for control arms in clinical trials.” 

Natural language processing: Varadharajan singled out NLP as the biggest overlap between the AI 100 and FAMGA’s 2020 AI acquisitions. Last year, Big Tech scooped up startups focused on processing human speech—Apple was especially focused on advancing Siri.

• “NLP is finally gaining the same traction computer vision did several years ago,” says Varadharajan.

Looking ahead: Next year, Varadharajan expects major growth in no-code AI and data science automation. —HF

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EXPLORATIONS

You Had Questions (About Our Virtual Event), We Have Answers

Last week, we held a virtual event on a topic that elicits many opinions: whether AI actually knows anything. Thanks to those who tuned, or wrote, in—we received 200+ questions. 

Here’s a grab bag of As for a few of your Qs: 

Where is a good place for a beginner to start learning about AI?

Allow us to shamelessly plug our AI guide.

What’s the difference between machine learning and deep learning?

Machine learning is a subset of AI that allows systems to identify patterns, predict outcomes, and make large-scale conclusions—all without explicit programming. Deep learning is a subfield of ML that relies on scale, both in terms of processing power and datasets. We’ve written a lot about large language models recently, which are one application. 

What controls and ethical guidelines are followed when the algorithms are written and approved? 

In 2019, federal lawmakers proposed a bill requiring audits for AI systems with high potential for harm, but it didn’t pass. So by and large, controls are left up to a company’s discretion. Some regularly audit their algorithms; others (ahem, HireVue) do so only when criticized.

AI? Really?

Yes? Or maybe...no? Honestly, this one stumped me. —DM

BITS & BYTES

Stat: Three years from now, China’s carbon footprint for Bitcoin mining alone could reach 286.6 billion pounds—exceeding the total annual carbon emissions of countries like Italy and the Czech Republic.

Quote: “Banks are playing an increasingly smaller role in the financial system.”—JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon. In a letter to shareholders, he cites growing competition from a booming fintech sector and Big Tech: Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, and Walmart.  

Read: Though she called off her wedding in 2019, a WIRED tech reporter recounts how, “To the algorithms that drive Facebook, Pinterest, and a million other apps, I'm forever getting married.” 

SOC 2 compliance, uncomplicated: Secureframe helps companies get SOC 2 compliant within weeks (rather than months). They monitor 40+ services—including AWS, GCP, and Azure—and save customers 50% on their audit costs. Schedule a demo today.*

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WHAT ELSE IS BREWING

• Toshiba received a $20 billion buyout offer from CVC Capital Partners. 
• Amazon workers in Alabama have voted on whether to form the company's first unionized US warehouse, and results are coming in. Currently, the nays have it, but votes are still being counted. 
• SoftBank is investing $2.8 billion in AutoStore, a Norwegian warehouse robotics developer. 
• Huawei is shuttering its cloud and AI business group, per Caixin.
• Samy Bengio, who oversaw Google Brain and hundreds of researchers, resigned. The news comes after the company ousted two AI ethics leaders. 

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GOING PHISHING

Three of the following news stories are true, and one...we made up. Can you spot the odd one out?

1. Apple is exploring a drone delivery pilot for Mac accessories.
2. Microsoft is submerging servers in liquid baths. 
3. A robot can now perform eyelash extensions.
4. Sony AI recruited a Michelin-starred chef for its gastronomy project. 

LEADERBOARD

Together, the 2,755 billionaires that make up Forbes’s new World Billionaires List are worth more than $13 trillion. That's higher than the GDP of every country except the US and China. 

Out of the rich list’s top 10 spots, seven are household names in emerging tech. In descending $$$ order: Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Ellison, Larry Page, and Sergey Brin. 

A significant portion of the list’s newly minted billionaires are in tech, too: David Baszucki of Roblox, Chamath Palihapitiya of SPAC fame, and a handful of leaders in crypto.

ICYMI

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

• Alternatives to a fiercely debated AI technique 
• A post-password world: Q&A with Okta
• Bakkt and PayPal roll out new crypto features

GOING PHISHING ANSWER

Apple isn’t exploring drone delivery for Mac accessories...as far as we know.