Brainstorm

Summer is right around the corner which means ... grilling! And this season there are more plant-based meats on the market than ever before. But startups are increasingly using other methods to develop alternative proteins too - and investors are flocking to support their efforts.

Today's Brainstorm podcast is all about these alternative meats: the case for developing them, how Silicon Valley is embracing the challenge, who is most interested in backing these companies and - perhaps most importantly - do they taste good?

Fortune senior writer Beth Kowitt wrote her first big feature on the industry in 2017 and has been following it closely ever since. She gives Brian O'Keefe and Michal Lev-Ram an industry overview.

Kowitt also interviews Lisa Dyson, the founder and CEO of Air Protein. A young company that - yes - aims to make alternative protein from the elements found in air.

Finally, hear from Sharyn Murray of The Good Food Institute. She has a slew of data about who is investing in this industry and where the money's going - plus an interesting argument that the government should be playing a larger role in encouraging the adoption of meatless meat.

AND ... don't miss Brian's first taste of a plant-based meat alternative!

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Over the course of 2020, when car trips were at a minimum due to the pandemic, Americans still spent a day of their lives, on average, sitting in traffic. Things were much worse pre-pandemic: In 2019, the average driver in Los Angeles spent almost 120 hours in traffic—nearly an entire work week. Traffic is one of the foremost inconveniences of modern life; it’s also unhealthy, inefficient and wasteful, which is why technologists are leveraging the power of data and machine learning to beat back it back.  

On today’s Brainstorm, Michal Lev-Ram and Brian O’Keefe explore the technology behind solving system-wide traffic and mobility issues.

Tiffany Chu, SVP of Remix at Via, a mobility platform, explains how COVID has forced cities to quickly rethink the best ways for people to get around.

Jibo Sanyal, a computer scientist with Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, discusses his work with the city of Chattanooga to create a “digital twin” of the city, thanks to its traffic sensors, enabling them to find solutions to traffic problems virtually, before implementing them in real life.  

Also in this episode, Karina Ricks, Director of the city of Pittsburgh’s Department of Mobility and Infrastructure explains where the city is using adaptive traffic lights, which sense the traffic demand and time the lights accordingly, and where it’s not.  

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Virtual reality (VR) is no longer futuristic fantasy: it’s a growing market across many industries, from gaming to education. In healthcare, doctors, nurses and therapists are immersing patients in computer-generated, interactive environments. And while it's no silver bullet, VR is proving to be powerful medicine. Studies show it can improve health outcomes in many situations, whether in labor and delivery, managing chronic pain, or for treating conditions like depression and anxiety.  

On today’s Brainstorm, Michal Lev-Ram and Brian O’Keefe explore how VR works is being used by doctors and therapists, and its limitations. 

Dr. Brennan Spiegel, Director of Health Services Research at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles and the author of "VRx: How Virtual Therapeutics Will Revolutionize Medicine" explains VR gives patients an alternative to traditional pain medication.  

Xavier Palomer is CEO of Psious, a company that designs VR applications for mental health treatment. He explains how the technology helps patients overcome phobias.

Also in this episode, Tom Norris, a medically retired Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Air Force, explains his decades-long struggles with chronic pain and how VR has enabled him to better manage it.  

 

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At the end of April, the European Union outlined ambitious new regulations for the use of Artificial Intelligence (A.I.). Systems that determine who gets a job, or who’s eligible for a bank loan, will have to prove their trustworthiness. While implementation is several years away, companies worldwide are already adjusting. The EU says the new rules reflect its human-centered values; skeptics say the laws intend to clip the wings of Chinese and American innovators, who are widely considered well-ahead in the global A.I. race.  

On today’s Brainstorm, Michal Lev-Ram and Brian O’Keefe explore how the regulations will impact both businesses and users in Europe and elsewhere. Fortune’s Jeremy Kahn discusses how the tech industry has responded to EU regulations in the past – and what that spells for the future.   

Anu Bradford, a law professor and Director of the Center for European Legal Studies at Columbia University, explains how Europe hopes to mitigate the risk of A.I. systems without disincentivizing innovation.  

Also in this episode, Alex Beyer, Data Protection Officer for Sweden-based Hubert A.I., an A.I. job recruiting platform, describes what compliance with the new regulations will mean for the company.

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Apple’s new iOS 14.5 contains a privacy feature that’s worrying the digital advertising industry. iPhone and iPad users will now be asked if they’d like to allow individual apps to track their activity across other apps. Digital advertisers, like Facebook, fear the answer will overwhelmingly be “no,” which is why some say Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT) feature could seriously change how much advertisers get to know about us. 

On today’s Brainstorm, Michal Lev-Ram and Brian O’Keefe examine what the ATT means for rivaling tech giants Apple and Facebook, as well as for smaller businesses and consumers. Fortune’s Aaron Pressman explains how Facebook went from running full-page ads blasting Apple’s decision to claiming it could, in fact, be good for business.  

Todd Parsons, Chief Product Officer at online advertising platform Criteo, says there are effective ways of advertising to consumers without accessing the kind of data that targeted advertising requires.  

Also in this episode, Gennie Gebhart, a privacy researcher with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, explains how advertising is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to how user data is commoditized; what we don’t know about, she says, is the vast network of data brokers we’ve never heard of, who are watching us.   

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Global carbon emissions fell in 2020 for the first time in decades, due to the pandemic and the resulting economic slowdown. Empty airports and quiet highways meant fewer planes and cars spewing carbon dioxide into the air. The decline was significant, but emissions need to fall even more - for several years in a row - in order to reach the emissions goals set by the Paris Climate Agreement. To make matters worse: emissions are rising again.  

On today’s Brainstorm, Michal Lev-Ram and Brian O’Keefe examine ways technology can help combat climate change. Andrew Beebe, a Managing Director with the early-stage venture firm Obvious Ventures, talks about the enormous business opportunity decarbonizing the global economy poses, and talks about the companies his firm is backing, from electric buses to flying cars. 

JB Straubel, CEO and Founder of Redwood Materials discusses recycling batteries for electric vehicles. The co-founder and former CTO of Tesla says battery recycling, as a relatively new field, is ripe for innovation.   

Also in the episode, Rob Niven, Founder and CEO of Carbon Cure, talks about enabling the concrete industry to improve operations while reducing its carbon footprint.  

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After months and months of staying put, people are itching to travel. According to recent Google Trends, searches in the U.S. for “resort” and “hotel” are at five and 10-year highs, respectively. While the CDC recommends delaying travel until fully vaccinated, the number of vaccinated people grows each day, as does demand for a return to normalcy.    

On today’s Brainstorm, Michal Lev-Ram and Brian O’Keefe examine how technology can help us start moving safely again, even as the pandemic continues.  

The tech raising eyebrows the most in this arena may be the digital vaccine credential, or “vaccine passport." The technology allows you to carry proof of vaccination around on your phone. Some feel this is an invasion of privacy while others simply don't trust the tech industry to protect their data.

Fortune’s David Z. Morris digs into the controversy surrounding “vaccine passports.”  

Joel White, the Executive Director of the Health Innovation Alliance, explains why not all credentials are created equal.

And Eric Piscini, IBM's VP of Emerging Business Networks, discusses the Excelsior Pass, New York’s first-in-the-nation digital vaccine credential app; he shares how blockchain helps keep user data safe.

Also in the episode, Catherine Powell, Global Head of Hosting for Airbnb, who details what travelers will likely be looking for come summer.

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Proponents of artificial intelligence say it can eliminate human bias in hiring. Critics argue the algorithms are as flawed as the people making them. Nonetheless, A.I is becoming a mainstay in how employers attract applicants and select talent. According to the Brookings Institution, 55 percent of U.S. human resource leaders use some kind of predictive algorithms: A.I. matches candidates with job openings; it analyzes facial expressions and movements during interviews; game-based tests and personality quizzes supposedly match the right people with the right role.  

On today’s Brainstorm, Michal Lev-Ram and Brian O’Keefe examine how A.I. can improve hiring, but how it can also fall dangerously short of its promises.  

Alexandra Givens is the President and CEO of the Center for Democracy and Technology. Barring any substantive A.I. regulation, she says employers are responsible for knowing the drawbacks of these powerful algorithmic tools.  

Jake Appel, Chief Strategist for ORCAA, the O’Neil Risk Consulting and Algorithmic Analysis, says that no one should be surprised algorithms make the lucky even luckier. 

And Kieran Snyder, CEO and co-founder of Textio, describes how her company’s augmented writing platform relies on machine learning as well as human editorial oversight.

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COVID-19 has pushed small businesses to the brink. A survey from the Federal Reserve Bank shows three out of every 10 small businesses in the U.S. say they won’t survive 2021 without additional government assistance. For the ones lucky—or savvy—enough to stick around, a digital presence is key.  

On today’s Brainstorm, hosts Michal Lev-Ram and Brian O’Keefe trace the path small businesses must take to digitize. Visa’s Mary Kay Bowman explains how customer demand for contactless payments has engendered new ways to buy and sell. 

April Underwood, founder and CEO of Nearby, discusses leveling the playing field between massive online retailers and small businesses by creating a local, online marketplace. 

Also in this episode, Kelsey Moriera, CEO of Doughp, talks about transforming her cookie dough company into an e-commerce business in the early days of the pandemic, and Luke Pardue, an economist with the company Gusto, talks about some surprising trends he’s seen from small businesses weathering the pandemic. 

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On March 11, the digital artist Beeple sold his “Everydays: The First 5000 Days” collage in a Christie’s online auction for $69.3 million. Its buyer didn't receive anything to display on a wall. Instead he received a NFT, a “non-fungible token.” NFTs are essentially a certificate of ownership, recorded on the blockchain, for a digital asset that is seemingly just a Google search away for the rest of us.

On today’s Brainstorm, hosts Michal Lev-Ram and Brian O’Keefe probe the profitable, perplexing world of NFTs with the help of Fortune’s Robert Hackett. He explains how NFTs create scarcity in the infinite digital environment of the internet. 

Noah Davis, a specialist in Post-War and Contemporary Art at Christie’s, recounts the beguiling auction for Beeple’s work, and describes what’s in store for the future of NFT art.  

Finally, Caty Tedman, the Head of Partnerships at Dapper Labs discusses the company’s collaboration on NBA Top Shot, a digital sports collectibles marketplace which has seen sky-rocketing growth since its launch only five months ago.   

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