Every day, Wall Street Journal reporters talk with the most powerful, influential and interesting people. Now, we’re bringing some of those conversations directly to you. Introducing Bold Names, a new interview series where we hear directly from the leaders behind bold name companies. Hosted by WSJ columnists Tim Higgins and Christopher Mims. The new season starts Friday, February 14.

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Cloud storage used to be a sleepy part of the computing world but, with artificial intelligence becoming cheaper than ever, the companies collecting and protecting that data are now a hot investment. That includes cloud storage company Box, which has seen its stock climb nearly 40% this year. Its customers include most of the Fortune 500, including movie studios, automakers, consumer electronics giants, marketing firms and the Pentagon. Box CEO Aaron Levie says AI is getting better at piecing through 90% of companies’ data that previously was an intractable mess, and is doing some tasks better than humans – from processing invoices and parsing contracts to building marketing campaigns. So why does he think that could actually lead to more jobs for humans? Plus, why his company plans to stay “model agnostic” and continue to work with all the major artificial intelligence models, including OpenAI ’s ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude. He speaks to WSJ’s Christopher Mims and Tim Higgins in episode four of our interview series Bold Names.

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Further Reading

Amazon Invests an Additional $4 Billion in Anthropic, an OpenAI Rival 

How to Make AI Less of a Power Guzzler  

What Is AI Best at Now? Improving Products You Already Own  

Elon Musk vs. Everyone: The New Fight in AI 

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JB Straubel was Elon Musk’s battery guy. Now he’s trying to turn what some see as trash into power for the electric vehicle revolution. Straubel was there at the earliest days of Tesla, and in his 15 years with the electric vehicle company, he played an integral role: he developed the battery pack used in the first Tesla vehicle, was the company’s Chief Technology Officer, and now sits on the board of directors. But his day job is running the battery-recycling startup Redwood Materials, and he envisions a future where recycled batteries power our cars, cell phones and power tools. So could companies like his one day replace the oil giants who fueled the last century? Why does he think humans have room to work harder? And can the Tesla board manage Musk as he takes on a growing role in U.S. politics, including advising the Trump administration? Straubel speaks to WSJ’s Tim Higgins and Christopher Mims in episode three of our interview series Bold Names.

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Further Reading

In the Desert With an EV Entrepreneur Who Insists Trump Will Be Good for Business 

The Boom in Battery Metals for EVs Is Turning to Bust 

Cost-Cutting Lessons From Musk World for DOGE 

What Americans Get Wrong About Electric Cars 

One of the Brains Behind Tesla May Have a New Way to Make Electric Cars Cheaper  

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Marc Benioff is one of the most outspoken names in tech. The billionaire co-founder of customer relationship software company Salesforce has been pivoting the company’s focus to artificial intelligence agents to help its clients manage customer service and other needs. But he has some strong opinions about how others are promoting AI, from how Microsoft is selling its Copilot feature to companies like Amazon buying up nuclear power contracts for their data centers. And yet he says he’s as excited about AI as he was the day that Apple’s Steve Jobs sent him one of the first iPhones. So what can AI actually do, and what’s a ‘fantasy’? Benioff speaks to WSJ’s Christopher Mims and Tim Higgins in episode two of our interview series Bold Names.

Further Reading

The Secret Weapon Helping Businesses Get Results From AI: Humans

Salesforce Darkens the Skies for Cloud Software as AI Threat Looms 

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff Makes $150 Million Donation to Hawaii Hospitals 

At Marc Benioff’s Salesforce, It’s One Big Family—Until Trouble Hits 

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Tesla, and its CEO Elon Musk, are the big names in electric vehicles, but a lot of competitors are nipping at their heels, including one led by a former top Tesla engineer. Peter Rawlinson is the CEO of Lucid, a billion-dollar auto startup he says has better technology than its rivals. The company recently completed a $1.75 billion stock offering, and has backing from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. Now, as major automakers such as Volkswagen, General Motors and Ford pull back on their EV ambitions, find out why Rawlinson says Lucid’s all-in on luxury vehicles with a high price tag and, eventually, smaller batteries. Plus, why he says he won’t be building a $20,000 EV any time soon. He speaks to WSJ’s Tim Higgins and Christopher Mims in episode one of our interview series Bold Names.

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Further Reading

The Withering Dream of a Cheap American Electric Car

Elon Musk Plays a Familiar Song: Robot Cars Are Coming 

Ultralong-Range Electric Cars Are Arriving. Say Goodbye to Charging Stops. 

Used EVs Sell for Bargain Prices Now, Putting Owners and Dealers in a Bind 

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A brief message about some changes coming to The Future of Everything.

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A few months ago, AI supercomputer Gefion was plugged in for the first time in a ceremony featuring the Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, the King of Denmark and Nadia Carlsten, the CEO of the Danish Centre for AI Innovation. Carlsten and Mads Krogsgaard Thomsen, CEO of the Novo Nordisk Foundation, join WSJ’s Ben Cohen to discuss what they hope to achieve with 1,500 of the most powerful graphics processing units on the planet, including innovations in drug discovery, protein design and digital biology. 

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The future of addiction treatment could be in treating the brain itself. A new trial at West Virginia University’s Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute is exploring whether using ultrasound waves on parts of the brain associated with addiction could disrupt connections that contribute to cravings. WSJ health reporter Julie Wernau explains how it works and how it could change the science of treating addiction.  

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Further reading:

Can Zapping the Brain Help Treat Addiction? 

Ultrasound Isn’t Just for Pregnancy. How It’s Helping Treat the Brain. 

A Generation of Drug-Addiction Survivors Is Entering Old Age 

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Do you have trouble falling asleep? If meditation apps and sleep trackers aren’t cutting it, now there’s technology designed to help users not only nod off more quickly but improve their slumber. WSJ’s Charlotte Gartenberg speaks with Science Bureau Chief Jo Craven McGinty about the latest wearable sleep tech that targets brain waves with sound and light to help you get a good night’s rest.

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Further reading: 

New Wearable Devices Target the Brain to Bring Better Sleep 

To Get a Better Night’s Sleep, First Fix Your Day 

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Colossal Biosciences wants to create new animals that resemble extinct creatures like the woolly mammoth, thanks to advancements in genetic engineering and synthetic biology. In this conversation from the WSJ’s Future of Everything Festival in May 2024, Colossal Biosciences co-founder and CEO Ben Lamm discusses how the de-extinction of species could help address the loss of biodiversity and benefit ecosystems. He tells Future of Everything editorial director Stefanie Ilgenfritz about his plans for monetizing the technology, and how it could be used for human health.

What do you think about the show? Let us know on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or email us: [email protected] 

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Further reading:

Return of the Woolly Mammoth? 

Doctors Can Now Edit the Genes Inside Your Body 

How Ancient Hunters Felled Massive Mammoths and Hungry Predators 

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