Intersections is published by Junction House - the home for today’s leading thinkers working across business, government, and technology. We explore the myriad ways in which these spheres overlap and impact society. If you’re interested in learning more about Junction House and how to join, subscribe to stay in the know.
Tech x Society
😠 People aren't happy about an op-ed Sundar Pichai, newly appointed Alphabet CEO, recently wrote on a call for AI regulation. TechCrunch interprets it as Pichai encouraging lawmakers towards a dilute enabling framework that does not put any hard limits on what can be done with AI technologies. Read the op-ed here (FT $).
👉Pichai seems to be getting more brownie points at Davos right now, asserting the tech giant’s products should be privacy-enhancing and that “privacy is not a luxury good”
👩⚕️ Also in the world of Alphabet, Google’s secret Project Nightingale has been collecting and analyzing the health data of millions of people per WSJ. Google signed an agreement with Ascension, a St. Louis-based healthcare system with 2,600 facilities, to train machine learning models for individualized healthcare. The data shared “amounts to a complete health history, including patient names and dates of birth .” Neither patients nor doctors were aware their data was being used by Google.
Government x Tech
🕵️♂️ ClearView AI was just profiled by the New York Times to be the company “that may end privacy as we know it” (NYT $). The company uses facial recognition to connect photos of individuals with publically available information, such as social media profiles, name, and address. Or as our friends at Popular Mechanics put it: “Let's say a random stranger approaches you on the street, snaps a quick photo of you in a public place (which is perfectly legal), uploads the photo to an app, and soon finds your social media profiles. And your Venmo account. And your full name. And your address.” Oh, and one of their customers is the FBI.
👉Although their client list is coming under question since the NYPD have said they did not, in fact, work with Clearview.
🌐 As Russia follows China’s lead in building its own internet, sovereign internets may become a reality. German Chancellor Angela Merkel recently called for a European “digital sovereignty” to take its citizens data back from US tech companies. In this well-written paper, two CIGI scholars argue the emergence of four internets.
📱 Jeff Bezos’s phone may have been hacked by the Saudi crown prince SMB. The hack is tied back to software downloaded via a video file sent directly from the crown prince to Bezos via WhatsApp. Why? Theories abound, but several make connections between Bezos owned Washington Post, murdered Washington Post reported Jamal Khashoggi, and, of course, the relationship between the crown prince and President Trump. The UN is now calling on the US to investigate. Read more from The Guardian.
Business x Society
“I believe we are on the edge of a fundamental reshaping of finance” - Larry Fink’s 2019 Chairman’s letter to shareholders
💵 Citi recently announced a new $150m impact fund. The fund will focus on workforce development, financial inclusion, infrastructure, and sustainability. Meanwhile, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink’s recent annual Chariman’s letter sent to shareholders emphasized the importance of climate considerations in investments - “Climate change has become a defining factor in companies’ long-term prospects.” Man-made or not, Fink argues climate risks are increasingly intertwined with financial risk, and because capital markets pull future risk forward, we will see changes in capital allocation more quickly than we see changes in climate itself. This is not Fink’s first call for climate considerations, but the BlackRock leader’s consistency is gaining notice.
👉 Combine BlackRock’s focus with this Financial Times article ($) on passive investments to dig in to the power that BlackRock has. The FT points out that the rising amount of money invested into passive index funds and the corresponding shareholder votes they control mean these funds could soon wield significant power on the capital markets - “The Big Three [of which BlackRock is the largest] are on course to control 40 per cent of the votes in American corporations in a couple of decades.” BlackRock currently has $7 trillion under management.
Goldman Sachs also jumping in here saying it will no longer offer IPO services to companies with all-male boards.
♻️ Microsoft pledges to become net carbon negative by 2030, establishing a $1bn fund dedicated to “carbon reduction, capture, and removal technologies.” The company says it will offset all the emissions it’s produced since 1975.
The dinner table: We welcome discourse and feedback. The nature of the intersections we explore means friction and disagreement exist. The only way forward is through constructive conversation, and we want to facilitate that.
Have thoughts on any of the topics or articles in our publication? Let us know! Working on an interesting intersection? Drop us a line!
We’re happy to engage in a conversation, facilitate connections, or publish your opinions and work if that’s what you’d like. Our community doesn’t have soap boxes, only dinner tables.
What else we’re reading
The Atlantic covers how technology is barricading us in our own homes and makes the case for getting out more. Maybe to Junction House!
Edelman Trust Barometer shows declining trust in America and calls for partnership across sectors and industries. Enter Junction House.
Watch out DC! Uber’s self-driving cars are coming to streets near you.
The Senate impeachment trial is underway. Catch up with this from ABC to figure out how it works and this from FiveThirtyEight for predictions on which way each senator is leaning.
McKinsey just released an in-depth report on how the changing climate will force socioeconomic shifts over the next decades.
We leave you with this (from @huckberry)