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How to rescue climate change from the culture wars
What if the resistance to climate science is not really about science at all? Household appliances used to be a safe conversation topic, if a boring one. But these days, many Republican politicians see gas stoves, refrigerators, dishwashers, and laundry machines as symbols of the government meddling in people’s lives. Earlier this year, lawmakers in the House passed the “Hands Off Our Home Appliances Act” to make it harder for the Department of Energy to create new energy-saving standards, though it stalled in the Senate. Other appliance-related bills proposed this year included the “Refrigerator Freedom Act” and “Liberty in Laundry Act.”
Published: 2024-11-27 16:35:56
How Biden’s AI tech could play a role in Trump’s immigration crackdown
Trump has yet to reveal how he plans to execute his promised deportation of millions of illegal immigrants. President-elect Donald Trump will return to power next year with a raft of technological tools at his disposal that would help deliver his campaign promise of cracking down on immigration—among them, surveillance and artificial intelligence technology that the Biden administration already uses to help make crucial decisions in tracking, detaining and ultimately deporting immigrants lacking permanent legal status.While immigration officials have used the tech for years, an October letter from the Department of Homeland Security obtained exclusively by The Associated Press details how those tools—some of them powered by AI—help make decisions over whether an immigrant should be detained or surveilled.One algorithm, for example, ranks immigrants with a “Hurricane Score,” ranging from 1-5, to assess whether someone will “abscond” from the agency’s supervision.The letter, sent by DHS Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer Eric Hysen to the immigrant rights group Just Futures Law, revealed that the score calculates the potential risk that an immigrant—with a pending case—will fail to check in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. The algorithm relies on several factors, he said, including an immigrant’s number of violations and length of time in the program, and whether the person has a travel document. Hysen wrote that ICE officers consider the score, among other information, when making decisions about an immigrant’s case.“The Hurricane Score does not make decisions on detention, deportation, or surveillance; instead, it is used to inform human decision-making,” Hysen wrote.Also included in the government’s tool kit is a mobile app called SmartLINK that uses facial matching and can track an immigrant’s specific location.Nearly 200,000 people without legal status who are in removal proceedings are enrolled in the Alternatives to Detention program, under which certain immigrants can live in the U.S. while their immigration cases are pending.In exchange, SmartLINK and GPS trackers used by ICE rigorously surveil them and their movements. The phone application draws on facial matching technology and geolocation data, which has been used before to find and arrest those using the app.Just Futures Law wrote to Hysen earlier this year, questioning the fairness of using an algorithm to assess whether someone is a flight risk and raising concerns over how much data SmartLINK collects. Such AI systems, which score or screen people, are used widely but remain largely unregulated even though some have been found to discriminate on race, gender, or other protected traits.DHS said in an email that it is committed to ensuring that its use of AI is transparent and safeguards privacy and civil rights while avoiding biases. The agency said it is working to implement the Biden administration’s requirements on using AI, but Hysen said in his letter that security officials may waive those requirements for certain uses. Trump has publicly vowed to repeal Biden’s AI policy when he returns to the White House in January.“DHS uses AI to assist our personnel in their work, but DHS does not use the outputs of AI systems as the sole basis for any law enforcement action or denial of benefits,” a spokesperson for DHS told the AP.Trump has not revealed how he plans to carry out his promised deportation of an estimated 11 million people living in the country illegally. Although he has proposed invoking wartime powers, as well as military involvement, the plan would face major logistical challenges—such as where to keep those who have been detained and how to find people spread across the country—that AI-powered surveillance tools could potentially address.Karoline Leavitt, a spokesperson for Trump, did not answer questions about how the incoming administration plans to use DHS’ tech, but said in a statement that “President Trump will marshal every federal and state power necessary to institute the largest deportation operation” in American history.Over 100 civil society groups sent a letter on Friday urging the Office of Management and Budget to require DHS to comply with the Biden administration’s guidelines. A spokesperson for OMB said that agencies must align their AI tools with the guidelines by December 1, and that any extensions or waivers of that deadline will be publicly disclosed next month.Just Futures Law’s executive director, Paromita Shah, said if immigrants are scored as flight risks, they are more likely to remain in detention, “limiting their ability to prepare a defense in their case in immigration court, which is already difficult enough as it is.”SmartLINK, part of the Intensive Supervision Appearance Program, is run by BI Inc., a subsidiary of the private prison company The GEO Group. The GEO Group also contracts with ICE to run detention centers.ICE is tight-lipped about how it uses SmartLINK’s location feature to find and arrest immigrants. Still, public records show that during Trump’s first term in 2018, Manassas, Virginia-based employees of BI Inc. relayed immigrants’ GPS locations to federal authorities, who then arrested over 40 people.In a report last year to address privacy issues and concerns, DHS said that the mobile app includes security features that “prohibit access to information on the participant’s mobile device, with the exception of location data points when the app is open.”But the report notes that there remains a risk that data collected from people “may be misused for unauthorized persistent monitoring.”Such information could also be stored in other ICE and DHS databases and used for other DHS mission purposes, the report said.On investor calls earlier this month, private prison companies were clear-eyed about the opportunities ahead.The GEO Group’s executive chairman George Christopher Zoley said that he expects the incoming Trump administration to “take a much more aggressive approach regarding border security as well as interior enforcement and to request additional funding from Congress to achieve these goals.”“In GEO’s ISAP program, we can scale up from the present 182,500 participants to several hundreds of thousands, or even millions of participants,” Zoley said.That same day, the head of another private prison company told investors he would be watching closely to see how the new administration may change immigrant monitoring programs.“It’s an opportunity for multiple vendors to engage ICE about the program going forward and think about creative and innovative solutions to not only get better outcomes, but also scale up the program as necessary,” Damon Hininger, CEO of the private prison company CoreCivic Inc. said on an earnings call.GEO did not respond to requests for comment. In a statement, CoreCivic said that it has played “a valued but limited role in America’s immigration system” for both Democrats and Republicans for over 40 years.
Published: 2024-11-27 16:33:44
Canada blasts Trump’s tariff threat
Trump is promising to impose a 25% tax on all Canadian and Mexican goods on his first day in office. Canadian officials on Tuesday blasted President-elect Donald’s Trump’s threat to impose sweeping tariffs, as the leader of the country’s most populous province called Trump’s comparison of Canada to Mexico “the most insulting thing I’ve ever heard.”Trump has threatened to impose tariffs on products from Canada, Mexico and China as soon as he takes office in January as part of efforts to crack down on illegal immigration and drugs. He said he would impose a 25% tax on all products entering the U.S. from Canada and Mexico as one of his first executive orders.“To compare us to Mexico is the most insulting thing I’ve ever heard from our friends and closest allies, the United States of America,” Ontario Premier Doug Ford said. “I found his comments unfair. I found them insulting. It’s like a family member stabbing you right in the heart.”Ford said Canada will have no choice but to retaliate.Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will convene an emergency meeting with provincial leaders on Wednesday. The Canadian dollar weakened sharply in foreign exchange markets.Trudeau said he spoke with Trump after his threat of tariffs. “We talked about the intense and effective connections between our countries that flow back and forth. We talked about some of the challenges that we can work on together. It was a good call,” Trudeau said.Trump made the threat Monday while railing against an influx of illegal migrants, even though apprehensions at the southern U.S. border have been near four-year lows.Apprehension numbers at the Canadian border pale in comparison.“We shouldn’t confuse the Mexican border with the Canadian border,” Canadian Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne said.The U.S. Border Patrol made 56,530 arrests at the Mexican border in October—and 23,721 arrests at the Canadian one between October 2023 and September 2024, up from 10,021 the previous 12 months.“It’s the equivalent to a significant weekend at the Mexico border,” Canadian Immigration Minister Marc Miller said, adding that Canada is considering a number of border measures including additional resources.Quebec Premier François Legault acknowledged that the issue along the Mexican border is far worse but called Trump’s concerns legitimate, citing the recent increase in illegal immigrants entering the U.S. from Canada.“A 25% tariff would mean tens of thousands of jobs lost,” Legault said. “We cannot start a war. We have to do everything we can to not have these tariffs.”Canada is one of the most trade-dependent countries in the world, and 77% of Canada’s exports go to the U.S. Nearly $3.6 billion Canadian (US$2.7 billion) worth of goods and services cross the border each day. About 60% of U.S. crude oil imports are from Canada, and 85% of U.S. electricity imports are from Canada. Canada is also the largest foreign supplier of steel, aluminum and uranium to the U.S. and has 34 critical minerals and metals that the Pentagon is investing in for national security.“The fact is, we need them and they also need us,” Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said. “Canada is the largest market for the U.S in the world, larger than China, Japan, the U.K. and France combined. It is also the case that the things we sell to the United States are the things they really need.”When Trump imposed higher tariffs during his first term, countries responded with retaliatory tariffs. Canada announced billions of dollars in new duties in 2018 in response to new U.S. taxes on Canadian steel and aluminum.Many of the U.S. products were chosen for their political rather than economic impact. For example, Canada imports $3 million worth of yogurt from the U.S. annually and most comes from one plant in Wisconsin, home state of then-House Speaker Paul Ryan. That product was hit with a 10% duty.Now, again, Canadians are particularly worried about auto tariffs. The North American auto industry is highly integrated, and parts made in Canada often go to cars manufactured in the U.S. and sold back to Canadians.“To try and undo it with a tariff would be like trying to separate the yolks from the whites in a omelet. You cannot,” said Flavio Volpe, president of Canada’s Automotive Parts Manufacturers Association. “You cannot hurt Canadian automotive without immediately hurting American automotive.”The tariffs would also throw into doubt the reliability of the 2020 trade deal brokered in large part by Trump with Canada and Mexico that replaced NAFTA. It is up for review in 2026.
Published: 2024-11-27 15:57:32
Pony AI stock price: Chinese autonomous car company’s Nasdaq IPO will be closely watched today
The firm, which has headquarters in Silicon Valley and Guangzhou, China, makes tech that can turn cars into self-driving vehicles. Pony AI is having its initial public offering today. The firm, which is based in Silicon Valley but also has a headquarters in Guangzhou, China, makes autonomous mobility tech that can turn cars into self-driving vehicles. Here’s what you need to know about Pony AI and its IPO.
Published: 2024-11-27 15:45:00
U.S. trade tensions escalate as Mexico’s Sheinbaum suggests retaliatory tariffs
Responding to Trump’s tariff threats, President Sheinbaum also said Mexico was open to talks. President Claudia Sheinbaum suggested Tuesday that Mexico could retaliate with tariffs of its own, after U.S. President-elect Donald Trump threatened to impose 25% import duties on Mexican goods if the country doesn’t stop the flow of drugs and migrants across the border.Sheinbaum said she was willing to engage in talks on the issues, but said drugs were a U.S. problem.“One tariff would be followed by another in response, and so on until we put at risk common businesses,” Sheinbaum said, referring to U.S. automakers that have plants on both sides of the border.She said Tuesday that Mexico had done a lot to stem the flow of migrants, noting “caravans of migrants no longer reach the border.” However, Mexico’s efforts to fight drugs like the deadly synthetic opioid fentanyl—which is manufactured by Mexican cartels using chemicals imported from China—have weakened in the last year.Sheinbaum said Mexico suffered from an influx of weapons smuggled in from the United States, and said the flow of drugs “is a problem of public health and consumption in your country’s society.”Sheinbaum also criticized U.S. spending on weapons, saying the money should instead be spent regionally to address the problem of migration. “If a percentage of what the United States spends on war were dedicated to peace and development, that would address the underlying causes of migration,” she said.Sheinbaum’s bristly response suggests that Trump faces a much different Mexican president than he did in his first term.Back in late 2018, former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador was a charismatic, old-school politician who developed a chummy relationship with Trump. The two were eventually able to strike a bargain in which Mexico helped keep migrants away from the border—and received other countries’ deported migrants—and Trump backed down on the threats.But Sheinbaum, who took office Oct. 1, is a stern leftist ideologue trained in radical student protest movements, and appears less willing to pacify or mollify Trump.“We negotiate as equals, there is no subordination here, because we are a great nation,” Sheinbaum said, while adding, “I think we are going to reach an agreement.”But Gabriela Siller, director of economic analysis of the financial group Banco Base, fears the personality clash could escalate things into brinkmanship; Trump clearly hates to lose.“Trump may have just tossed the threat out there, as he does,” Siller said. “But Mexico’s response, that we’re going to respond to you with tariffs, that will make Trump really impose them.”It’s not clear how serious Trump’s threat is. The U.S.-Mexico-Canada free trade agreement forbids just imposing tariffs on other member countries. And it’s not clear whether the economy could even tolerate sudden levies on imports: Auto plants on both sides of the border rely on each other for parts and components, and some production lines could screech to a halt.“It is unacceptable and would cause inflation and job losses in Mexico and the United States,” Sheinbaum said, while offering to talk about the issues. “If tariffs go up, who will it hurt? General Motors,” she said.“Dialogue is the best path to achieve understanding, peace and prosperity for our two countries,” Sheinbaum said. “I hope our teams can meet soon.”Late Monday, Trump said he would impose a 25% tax on all products entering the country from Canada and Mexico, and an additional 10% tariff on goods from China, as one of his first executive orders.The tariffs, if implemented, could dramatically raise prices for American consumers on everything from gas to automobiles to agricultural products. The U.S. is the largest importer of goods in the world, with Mexico, China and Canada its top three suppliers, according to the most recent U.S. Census data.Trump made the threats Monday in a pair of posts on his Truth Social site in which he railed against an influx of illegal migrants, even though apprehensions at the southern border have been hovering near four-year lows.“On January 20th, as one of my many first Executive Orders, I will sign all necessary documents to charge Mexico and Canada a 25% Tariff on ALL products coming into the United States, and its ridiculous Open Borders,” he wrote.He said the new tariffs would remain in place “until such time as Drugs, in particular Fentanyl, and all Illegal Aliens stop this Invasion of our Country!”“Both Mexico and Canada have the absolute right and power to easily solve this long simmering problem. We hereby demand that they use this power,” he went on, “and until such time that they do, it is time for them to pay a very big price!”
Published: 2024-11-27 15:30:24
GM, Stellantis, and Ford could bear the brunt of Trump’s planned 25% tariff hike
Detroit automakers will likely suffer if Trump executes the steep tariff hike on Canadian and Mexican imports. U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s plan to slap a 25% tax on all imports from Mexico and Canada could strike the bottom lines of U.S. automakers, especially General Motors, and raise prices of SUVs and pickup trucks for U.S. consumers.
Published: 2024-11-27 14:56:26
Trump blames Mexico border crossings for U.S. crime surge. Here’s what the numbers say
Trump has threatened to impose steep tariffs on Canada and Mexico over the issue of border crossings. In a Monday evening announcement, President-elect Donald Trump railed against Mexico and Canada, accusing them of allowing thousands of people to enter the U.S.Hitting a familiar theme from the campaign trail and his first term in office, Trump portrayed the country’s borders as insecure and immigrants as contributing to crime and the fentanyl crisis. In an announcement that could have stark repercussions, he threatened to impose 25% tariffs on everything coming into the country from those two countries.Trump’s anti-immigration rhetoric has resonated with voters concerned about immigration and crime. Yet there’s more to the story than Trump’s short statement suggested.A look at what the numbers and studies say about border crossings, fentanyl smuggling and whether there’s a connection between immigration and crime:
Published: 2024-11-27 14:32:54
Why Canva’s evangelist Guy Kawasaki believes ‘AI is God’
The marketing wizard talks ChatGPT, Tim Cook, and more on the latest episode of the ‘Rapid Response’ podcast. Apple defies gravity, and AI is divine. That’s how Guy Kawasaki, who worked closely with Steve Jobs—and is now chief evangelist at Canva and host of the podcast Remarkable People—describes the state of tech today. Guy muses about Tim Cook’s limitations, what he means when he says, “AI is God,” and explains his definition of what makes a person remarkable.
Published: 2024-11-27 14:00:00
Thom Browne wins in Adidas trademark battle over stripe pattern
The designer of the eponymous brand sees his win as a precedent that protects creatives’ ability to execute their own vision. A U.K. judge has ruled that Adidas doesn’t own stripes.
Published: 2024-11-27 13:58:48
Biden’s land management director will lead major U.S. environmental group
Tracy Stone-Manning will be The Wilderness Society’s next president. A senior official in President Joe Biden’s administration who oversaw its contentious efforts to address climate change by curbing oil drilling and coal mining on federal lands while expanding renewable power was named Tuesday as the next president of a prominent environmental group.U.S. Bureau of Land Management Director Tracy Stone-Manning will become president of The Wilderness Society effective next February, the Washington, D.C.-based group announced.The land bureau shifted sharply away from fossil fuel extraction during her tenure, including two decisions released Tuesday that end new federal coal sales from the nation’s most productive reserves of the fuel along the Wyoming-Montana border.Stone-Manning’s 2021 nomination by Biden was bitterly opposed by Republicans who labeled her an “eco-terrorist” over her past ties with environmental extremists. Senate Democrats pushed through her confirmation on a party-line vote.The land bureau has jurisdiction over almost a quarter-billion acres (100 million hectares) of land, primarily in western states, that is used for oil exploration, mining, livestock grazing, recreation, and other purposes.Under Stone-Manning, the bureau sharply reduced oil and gas lease sales and raised royalty rates that companies must pay to extract the fuel. It also issued a rule elevating the importance of conservation, by making it a “use” of public lands on par with drilling or grazing.That marked a sharp departure from the land bureau’s longstanding reputation for favoring commercial development over environmental preservation.The moves drew pushback from the energy, mining and ranching industries and Republican in Congress. They have vowed to undo actions taken by Stone-Manning when the GOP assumes control in Washington next year as a result of its 2024 election wins.Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon said the decision to end coal leasing in the Powder River Basin area of northeast Wyoming and southeast Montana would have devastating economic effects. The Republican accused the Biden administration of a “crusade” against coal and said he would work with his state’s congressional delegation to reverse it.“This is not a balanced resource management strategy, but an anti-fossil fuel, politically-motivated action taken before the door slams on this administration,” Gordon said in a statement.The land bureau under Biden also approved new solar and wind power projects and opened more public lands to renewable energy development.It is uncertain if the changes will last.Rep. Raul Grijalva, a Democrat from Arizona, praised the work done by Stone-Manning on renewable energy, but added that it could be “completely undone” by the next administration.“Whether it’s through rock-bottom royalty rates, rigged rulemaking, or stripped environmental protections, our public lands will soon be a profit playground for the rich,” said Grijalva, the ranking Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee.President-elect Donald Trump has pledged to drop Biden’s climate and energy policies in a bid to increase oil and gas production that is already at record levels. He has nominated North Dakota Republican Gov. Doug Burgum to lead the Interior Department, which includes the Bureau of Land Management. Oil industry representatives and Republicans from energy states cheered Burgum’s nomination.Before joining the administration, Stone-Manning worked as a senior aide to Montana Democrats U.S. Sen. Jon Tester and Gov. Steve Bullock. Her nomination by Biden sparked intense Republican opposition because of Stone-Manning’s involvement in a 1989 environmental sabotage case.As a 23-year-old graduate student at the University of Montana, Stone-Manning sent a letter to federal officials in 1989 saying spikes had been inserted into trees in an Idaho national forest, a tactic sometimes used to halt timber sales.Two men were criminally charged, and Stone-Manning testified against them. She was given immunity and never charged with crimes, although an investigator later said she had stonewalled the probe.After Tester and moderate Sen. Joe Manchin defended her, Stone-Manning was confirmed on a 50-45 vote.The bureau’s headquarters were relocated to Colorado under Trump and hundreds of employees resigned or retired before it was returned to Washington, D.C., under Biden.Interior Secretary Deb Haaland’s chief of staff, Rachael Taylor, said in a statement that Stone-Manning had reshaped the bureau after it was “damaged” by the relocation. Taylor said Stone-Manning also helped restore balance to public lands decisions and made sure Native American tribes have a role in managing their homelands.Trump has not announced his nominee to lead the land bureau. During the Republican’s first-term, it went without a Senate-confirmed director. Trump instead used acting directors who did not have to go before the Senate to advance his policies.
Published: 2024-11-27 13:40:23
Trump announces Jamieson Greer as his pick to lead U.S. trade
Greer will be in charge of executing Trump’s bold tariff plans. President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday chose trade lawyer Jamieson Greer as his new U.S. trade representative, elevating a key veteran of his first-term trade war against China to execute a sweeping tariff agenda that promises to upend global trade.
Published: 2024-11-27 13:25:18
The man who gave us the web is building a better digital wallet
Imagine a world in which you have complete control over your online data. Tim Berners-Lee is working to make that real. In a way, Tim Berners-Lee’s current project is more ambitious than the one that changed history. When he conceived the World Wide Web in 1989, it didn’t compete with any other deeply-entrenched system for sharing information across the internet, which was still limited to government and academic users at the time. Indeed, without the web, the internet might never have had mass appeal in the first place.
Published: 2024-11-27 12:30:00
‘I wanted to do something different’: Why Danny McBride treats his tequila startup like a movie
‘There were no ad agencies involved, there was no marketing department,’ says McBride, founder of Don Gato tequila. Danny McBride knows the question is coming before the interview gets underway. Yes, he acknowledges, the celebrity tequila field is a crowded one, but he wasn’t going to let that stop him from entering Don Gato, his recently-launched tequila line, into the fray.
Published: 2024-11-27 11:30:00
Want to upgrade someone’s daily routine? These bed and bath gifts have you covered
Our experts have your gift-giving needs covered, from items to cozy up a bedroom or level up a skincare routine. For its annual gift guide, Fast Company asked business leaders who know the home—and some of our staff members—for space-specific recommendations.
Published: 2024-11-27 11:00:00
How ‘quiet hiring’ is hurting your diversity efforts
It might be a short-term solution, but it can lead to bigger issues in the long run. Quiet hiring has been a norm in companies in recent years and is shaping workforces across the corporate world. Some employers see it as a way to relieve hiring burdens, and some employees see it as a skill improvement move. However, the overwhelming consensus is that it can potentially cause more trouble than create benefits for the company and business—particularly when it comes to diversity, equity, and inclusivity (DEI).
Published: 2024-11-27 11:00:00
Why 2025 will be the year of the K-drama
As ‘Squid Game’ returns to Netflix, K-dramas have never been hotter. And global streaming service Rakuten Viki is seeing huge growth. Next month will see the return of Netflix’s Squid Game, the Korean class-war allegory that racked up 1.65 billion viewing hours within weeks of its 2021 debut—and drew the world’s attention toward the fast-growing field of Korean dramas, or “K-dramas.” And interest has only continued to grow. Netflix and Disney are both ramping up investment in K-dramas for the foreseeable future. Meanwhile, the continued popularity of K-pop—Rosé and Bruno Mars’s “Apt” is currently No. 1 on Billboard’s Global charts—keeps fueling enthusiasm for all things Korean.
Published: 2024-11-27 11:00:00
Zoom just rebranded itself to Zoom
Zoom just dropped the ‘video’ from its name, and is going all-in on AI. Zoom just announced that it’s changing its name. But its users will still call it Zoom.
Published: 2024-11-27 11:00:00
Cameo introduces new gen AI search to help you find the perfect celeb for your message
With 50,000-plus celebrities on the platform, Cameo’s new beta AI search shows how services are using generative AI to solve UX pain points—even if the tech doesn’t live up to its promise. Cameo—the hire-a-celebrity-to-talk-to-my-friend service—has a new way to search for the perfect person to record a clip. And, yes, it involves natural language search courtesy of generative AI.
Published: 2024-11-27 10:30:00
Swipe right on data privacy: What tech companies can learn about consent from dating apps
Privacy leader Ron De Jesus suggests swipe-to-consent controls are intuitive and scalable and align with consent best practices that reduce business risk. I’ve been in the data privacy field for over 15 years, but nothing could prepare me for the complications and complexities that AI has created for companies since it hit the mainstream in 2022.
Published: 2024-11-27 10:30:00
These are the best garden gifts for the green thumb in your life
Whether the person you’re shopping for is a patio dinner host or someone who isn’t afraid to get dirty, these gifts will elevate their outdoor space. For its annual gift guide, Fast Company asked business leaders who know the home—and some of our staff members—for space-specific recommendations.
Published: 2024-11-27 10:00:00
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