Generative AI generates tricky choices for managers | Is America’s EV revolution stalling? | A national milk-carton shortage sours America’s dairy industry | What to do about an uptick in Americans unjustly held abroad

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� � � � � � You Might Like � � � � � � � � � Generative AI generates tricky choices for managers - The Economist    The remarkable capabilities of generative artificial intelligence (AI) are clear the moment you try it. But remarkableness is also a problem for managers. Working out what to do with a new technology is harder when it can affect so many activities; when its adoption depends not just on the abilities of machines but also on pesky humans; and when it has some surprising flaws. Study after study rams home the potential of large language models (LLMs), which power AIs like ChatGPT, to improve all manner of things. LLMs can save time, by generating meeting summaries, analysing data or drafting press releases. They can sharpen up customer service. They cannot put up IKEA bookshelves—but nor can humans. AI can even boost innovation. Karan Girotra of Cornell University and his co-authors compared the idea-generating abilities of the latest version of ChatGPT with those of students at an elite university. A lone human can come up with about five ideas in 15 minutes; arm the human with the AI and the number goes up to 200. Crucially, the quality of these ideas is better, at least judged by purchase-intent surveys for new product ideas. Such possibilities can paralyse bosses; when you can do everything, it’s easy to do nothing. Continued here � � � � � � You Might Like � � � � � � � � � Is America's EV revolution stalling? - The Economist    AMERICANS LOVE their automobiles. So long, it seems, as they don’t run on batteries. A poll published in July by the Pew Research Centre found that less than two-fifths of them would consider buying an electric vehicle (EV). Despite expanding charging networks and more EV models to choose from, that is a slightly lower share than the year before. Those words are backed up by relative inaction. In the third quarter of 2023 battery-powered vehicles made up 8% of all car sales. So far this year fewer than 1m EVs (not counting hybrids) were sold in America, a little more than half the number in less car-mad Europe (see chart). Chinese drivers bought almost four times as many. Between July and September General Motors (GM) shifted a piddling 20,000 in its home market, compared with more than 600,000 fossil-fuelled vehicles. Fully 92 days’ worth of EVs languish on dealership forecourts, compared with 54 days of gas-guzzler inventory. Outside California, Florida and Texas, which together account for over half of American EV registrations, electric cars mostly remain a curiosity. Disappointing demand is now prompting carmakers to reassess some of their ambitious electrification plans. In October Ford said it would delay $12bn of EV investments. GM has ditched some EV targets and put off by a year a $4bn scheme to turn an existing factory into one for e-pickups, among other EV-related savings; it will instead pay out a record $10bn in share buy-backs in 2024. Carmakers’ battery-making partners are turning cautious, too. In September SK Battery laid off more than 100 employees and reduced output at a plant in Georgia. In November LG Energy Solution, a fellow South Korean firm, said it was laying off 170 workers in Michigan. Continued here � � � � � � You Might Like � � � � � � � � � Don't like ads? Go ad-free with TradeBriefs Premium A national milk-carton shortage sours America's dairy industry - The Economist    “THEY KEPT saying, ‘oh, it’s going to be coming’,” remembers Scott Stoner of Cream-O-Land, a dairy supplier. It was early September, just as many schools in America’s north-east were reopening after the summer break. He had not received deliveries of milk cartons. He quickly used up all his stock. Cream-O-Land and many other dairy processors have run out of, or have a severe shortage of, half-pint (237ml) and 4oz cartons. Milk itself is not lacking. The problem is with the size of cartons used by care homes, hospitals, prisons, cruise ships and schools. School districts are scrambling. Federal regulations created by the Department of Agriculture (USDA) require milk to be offered at school during breakfast and lunch. Programmes that go back to the 1950s were designed to improve children’s nutrition. For some pupils, school is the only place they receive dairy food. Districts are reimbursed for each half-pint of milk offered to pupils at low or no cost. They also provide a handy outlet for agricultural surpluses. Milk can arrive in schools as quickly as 72 hours after leaving the farm. Continued here � � � � � � You Might Like � � � � � � � � � What to do about an uptick in Americans unjustly held abroad - The Economist    “My husband Ryan has been wrongfully detained by the Taliban in deplorable and inhumane conditions for 461 days,” Anna Corbett told a congressional committee in November. “His crime: being a US citizen in Afghanistan.” For years Mr Corbett had run a microfinance and consulting firm to help Afghan businesses, but his family fled the country amid the withdrawal of Western forces in 2021. He hoped his work could continue under Taliban rule, but authorities detained him during a visit in August 2022. Only Mrs Corbett has spoken publicly, but at least six Americans have been detained in Afghanistan, according to a Republican congressional aide. Other hostile nations hold dozens of Americans hostage, though exact numbers are hard to come by. It can be difficult to define a wrongful detention, and some cases are kept quiet to help facilitate a potential release. The James W. Foley Legacy Foundation, which works on behalf of Americans unjustly held abroad, estimates there are 64 publicly disclosed hostage and wrongful-detention cases. Twenty-one Americans were released in 2022, but recently some of those who watch the issue closely have noticed an uptick in detainees. No wonder: they can be lucrative bargaining chips. Continued here

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