Axios

Uber wants to make it easier for people to brag about their low carbon footprint, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said at the APEC CEO Summit.

• The company is rolling out an Emissions Savings feature that shows riders the emissions they've saved by choosing Green and Comfort Electric rides.

Why it matters: "We have seen that most customers aren't willing to pay more [for rides in EVs] even though they want to do good," he said, referring to Uber's policy of paying out EV drivers more than those who drive gas-powered vehicles.

Drinking a beer in the shower is one thing. Drinking a beer made from a shower is quite another, Hope writes (and tried herself).

Details: Epic OneWater Brew is a Kölsch-style ale made with recycled shower and laundry water from a San Francisco residential building.

• The beer isn't for sale; it's a project from water reuse startup Epic Cleantec meant to show how greywater can be repurposed.

The verdict: Having never tried Kölsch-style beer, I couldn't tell if I didn't like OneWater because of the brew or because I couldn't stop picturing my glass as a sink drain as I sipped. Nevertheless, I'd try it again.

Exxon CEO Darren Woods will likely make Mobil Lithium a key part of his address at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) CEO summit on Wednesday, Hope writes from San Francisco, where the conference is taking place.

Why it matters: Sustainability is the dominant theme for this year's gathering, which draws thousands of private and public sector leaders from nearly two dozen member countries to align on trade and other economic priorities.

Walmart, Home Depot, Macy's and Target are among the big retailers issuing earnings this week, Hope writes.

Why it matters: Analysts and economists are watching for signs of growing consumer weakness entering the sector's most important quarter of the year — the holiday season.

• A new monthly Retail Monitor from CNBC and the National Retail Federation launched today shows that consumers took a break on spending in October, based on credit and debit card transactions.

The intrigue: In an interview at Axios' New York offices last week, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis president Neel Kashkari downplayed the argument that excess pandemic savings — now dwindling — have been driving consumption over the past year and a half.

No one should be surprised, Hope writes.

• Walter Isaacson's recently published authorized biography of Musk will serve as the basis for the screenplay of a new biopic from production powerhouse A24, Variety reports.

Musk seems on board: "Glad Darren [Aronofsky] is doing it. He is one of the best," he posted on X.

💭 Hope's biased thought bubble: If I've got to stare at a screen for a few hours it might as well be for Vince Vaughn as Musk — an actor who can switch from serious to silly quite easily.

• My other pick would be Matthew Macfadyen. He won hearts and minds as Tom Wambsgans in HBO's "Succession" and was one of my first interviews as a young journalist.

The advent of AI doesn't mean today's AI leaders will dominate the next generation of tech, veteran entrepreneur Tom Siebel said at Axios' AI+ Summit in San Francisco Wednesday.

What they're saying: "It's generally assumed that Open AI or Microsoft or Facebook or Google is gonna win this battle. I don't think there's any reason to believe that at all," Siebel, who is now the CEO of C3.ai, told Axios' Ryan Heath.

Relentless chatter about artificial intelligence is more than mere hype, two top Silicon Valley investors told Axios' AI+ Summit in San Francisco Wednesday, insisting that this time really is different.

Driving the news: Anjney Midha, a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, and Sonya Huang, a general partner at Sequoia Capital, explained to Axios' Kia Kokalitcheva that a confluence of factors have made generative AI's current moment possible — and there's a "big difference" between now and the false dawns of the past.

There's "nothing artificial" about artificial intelligence, AI pioneer and Stanford professor Fei-Fei Li told Axios' Ryan Heath at Axios' AI+ Summit in San Francisco Wednesday.

Why it matters: Li says the "artificial" label is "unfortunate" because the technology is made by humans for human use.

News/Media Alliance president and CEO Danielle Coffey sounded an alarm against using news content to train AI models without compensation or permission at Axios' AI+ Summit in San Francisco Wednesday.

Driving the news: Coffey told Axios' Sara Fischer that her organization's AI work is an extension of its effort to help smaller news outlets compete in the digital era.

Justine Bateman — the actor, filmmaker and author who is adviser on AI to SAG-AFTRA, the motion picture performers' union — told Axios' Ina Fried that AI is "not about solving problems for people. It's about money. It's about greed."

Driving the news: Speaking at Axios' AI+ Summit in San Francisco, Bateman drew a clear line on the use of generative AI in Hollywood, where SAG-AFTRA has been on strike since July, in part over disputes over AI-related rights.