The mood in Detroit is gloomy on the eve of next week's North American International Auto Show, and — for once — it has (almost) nothing to do with Michigan weather.
The big picture: Automakers are bracing for a cyclical downturn, exacerbated by the Trump administration's trade policies, rising interest rates and consumer rejection of 4-door sedans. While tightening their belts, they're still trying to fund massive investments in electric and self-driving cars they say are needed to secure their long-term survival.
Multiple major wireless providers have said they won't continue to engage in the sort of location data sharing portrayed in a Motherboard investigation earlier this week that saw reporter Joseph Cox pay a bounty hunter to track a cellphone.
Why it matters: Privacy scandals aren't limited to the major web companies.
A local sales director for the Chinese company Huawei Technologies, identified by people familiar as Weijing Wang, has been charged with high-level espionage on China's behalf in Poland, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Why it matters: The charge bolsters U.S. and other Western nations' suspicions that Huawei's technology could be used by China to spy on other nations. Last month, the company's chief financial officer was detained in Canada for allegedly violating U.S. sanctions on Iran.
There are currently no performance standards against which manufacturers can self-certify autonomous vehicles, as they do for conventional cars and trucks. Until the adoption of such standards, one way to assess the safety of AVs would be a certification program that includes objective safety criteria, simulations, road tests, and third-party review.
Why it matters: As more AVs are tested on public roads, a third-party certification program could improve public trust, reduce the risks of injury or death, and deliver on industry safety promises — ultimately advancing the technology and its adoption.
For several years it has made sense, in some quarters, to lump together the tech giants — chiefly Google, Facebook, Apple, and Amazon, sometimes also including Netflix or Microsoft. But talking about "big tech" is beginning to offer diminishing returns.
The big picture: Industry insiders have always known that differences among these companies are as pronounced as their shared traits. The rest of the world is catching on.
Overall, 41% of American adults support the development of artificial intelligence, according to a new survey.
Adapted from a Center for the Governance of AI report; Chart: Axios Visuals
Yes, but: That leaves a lot of other peopleopposing it — a lot of women, low-wage earners, people without a college education and people without coding experience. The same goes for Republicans and people 73 or older. Essentially, those unsupportive of AI are those least likely to be involved in designing it — and the most likely to be adversely affected.
Applicants usually don't know when a startup has used artificial intelligence to triage their resume. When Big Tech deploys AI to tweak a social feed and maximize scrolling time, users often can't tell, either. The same goes when the government relies on AI to dole out benefits — citizens have little say in the matter.
What's happening: As companies and the government take up AI at a delirious pace, it's increasingly difficult to know what they're automating — or hold them accountable when they make mistakes. If something goes wrong, those harmed have had no chance to vet their own fate.
An Alphabet shareholder has sued the company's leadership over its approval of multi-million dollar exit packages for executives who'd been credibly accused of sexual misconduct.
Big picture: An October report by the New York Times detailed a history of covering up sexual harassment at Alphabet, Google's parent company, including the board's approval of an exit package worth $90 million for Android co-founder Andy Rubin after credible allegations that he had coerced an employee into a sexual act.
Chariot, the commuter bus service Ford acquired in 2016 for a reported $65 million, is shutting down over the next month, the automaker announced in a blog post.
Why it matters: Chariot's acquisition was hailed as part of Ford's expansion beyond making and selling cars to keep up with consumer appetite for private transportation services. However, operating Chariot "is not going to be a sustainable business moving forward," the company told the SF Examiner.
The European Court of Justice's advocate general said Thursday that Google should not be required to remove links under the EU's "right to be forgotten" policy in searches outside of the bloc. A French regulator has been pushing the search giant to remove links to EU citizens in results on its U.S. domain.
Why it matters: The opinion from the court adviser, which is different from an official ruling on the matter, is a boon to Google's effort not to expand one of Europe's most sweeping internet rules to searches in other jurisdictions.
Kim Hart gives you this bonus edition of "Pro Rata" as she looks at how Amazon could be under scrutiny for its own private-label products with Axios tech reporter David McCabe. Plus, in the "Final Two," another casualty in the government shutdown and a self-driving car startup is getting quite the cash infusion.
40% of the world’s jobs could be done by machines as soon as 15 years from now, one of the world’s foremost experts on artificial intelligence, venture capitalist Kai-Fu Lee, tells Scott Pelley on the upcoming Jan. 13 edition of "60 Minutes."
What he's saying: "AI will increasingly replace repetitive jobs, not just for blue collar work, but a lot of white collar work. ... Chauffeurs, truck drivers — anyone who does driving for a living — their jobs will be disrupted ... in the 15- to 25-year time frame."
By selling more of its own products, Amazon is becoming a competitor to the outside manufacturers it hosts on its platform — and that's worrying regulators around the world.
Why it matters: Governments have rarely tried to rein in Amazon's ambitions, allowing it to avoid most of the recent scrutiny directed at other large tech platforms. But the increased focus on Amazon's house-brand offerings suggests it may now be Amazon's turn.
