What’s Sam Altman’s Game?
Enough with the handwringing, it’s time to shut down public access to AI
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Inventory Quagmire: From JIT to JIC and now Just-too-Much
By Bolaji Ojo
What’s at stake?
Companies in the electronics supply chain piled on record inventory-related risks during the last semiconductor shortages. Even normally cautious component distributors joined in a race to meet clients’ needs. But inventories have since ballooned. And now, having tried just-in-time and just-in-case parts management systems, the industry must decide which of the two is optimal now that it has too much inventory.
It was time for bold supply chain actions. Huge profits and market share gains were at stake, so Arrow Electronics Inc., the world’s largest distributor, tossed out its conservative inventory acquisition rule book and racked up billions of dollars in non-cancellable components orders.
It was the new normal for an industry hard pressed to meet surging demand for components. But was it the most efficient solution?
Read More »Inventory Quagmire: From JIT to JIC and now Just-too-Much
Regressive AI
By David Benjamin
“Sgt. Schulz: How do you expect to win the war with an army of clowns?
“Lt. Dunbar: We sort of hope you’d laugh yourselves to death.”
—Sig Ruman and Don Taylor in Stalag 17
I can’t help but sympathize with the writers’ strike in Hollywood. The news is that the script writers and screenplay authors in the movie biz, as well as those who write copy and compose jingles for commercials, are spooked about the adoption — by the film, television and streaming industries — of “generative artificial intelligence (AI),” the clever technology that powers ChatGPT and its brethren.
AI apps that mimic human speech and writing and devise deceptively realistic photos and video are, by their nature and function, an affront to those of us who have put in years of miserably remunerative labor over notebooks and keyboards as we evolve into good writers.
On the other hand, we’re talking Hollywood, where the vast bulk of the writing, by order of the powers that be, is only sporadically — often accidentally — “good,” and might not even be anthropomorphically “generative.” How many sincere and gifted “content providers” are allowed, in the risk-averse, copycat culture of film and TV production, to be actually and palpably inventive?
Read More »Regressive AI
Podcast: Let’s Talk About AV Liability
William Widen, a professor of law, and Phil Koopman, an engineering professor, are proposing a new legal framework that rescues automated-vehicle (AV) accidents from the Black Hole of Liability.
Nauto Driven to Fuse Data from ADAS and DMS
What’s at stake?
With broader adoption of Driver Monitoring Systems imminent, Nauto, a late-stage startup focused on safer commercial fleets and drivers, sees an opportunity to sell OEMs on its AI algorithms by fusing data derived from outward and inward cameras. Is Nauto hitting the market with the right technology (ADAS + DMS) at the right time?
Many automotive companies have embraced Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS), whose outward cameras monitors the street. Meanwhile, carmakers are adding Driver Monitoring Systems (DMS), with cameras watching human drivers’ behavior inside vehicles.
Neither system is designed to work together. ADAS and DMS are developed and supplied by disparate technology companies, forestalling the design of vehicles that can correlate data coming from outward and inward cameras.
Read More »Nauto Driven to Fuse Data from ADAS and DMS
China EV Inc. Preps for Global Market as Western Rivals Wilt
What’s at stake:
Western automotive OEMs have been steadily retreating from a Chinese domestic market heavily dominated by local hybrid and battery electric vehicle manufacturers. Now, the Chinese auto OEMs are venturing out, poised to sweep into Europe, and then the rest of the world. How should lawmakers and carmakers in the U.S. and Europe respond to China EV Inc.?
Infineon and ST Buck Chip Downturn but for How Long?
By Bolaji Ojo
What’s at stake:
Infineon and STMicroelectronics will defy the projected 2023 semiconductor market downturn on continued strength in the auto, energy and industrial sectors. Eventually, though, there will be a supply chain reckoning even in these hot markets. The European chip market leaders must prepare now for the days when orders precipitously drop as customers focus on depleting inventories.
The semiconductor market downturn is still raw but it’s party time in Munich and Geneva.
Read More »Infineon and ST Buck Chip Downturn but for How Long?
Podcast: What’s China EV Inc.’s Next Move?
Tu Le believes that Western automakers, too busy making money hand over fist in China for too long, underestimated Chinese consumers and Chinese automotive market as a whole.
Robo-Driving Handover Time: Pick a Number
What’s at stake?
Highly automated vehicles present a frightening conundrum when a Computer Driver shares the steering wheel with a Human Driver. Which party is responsible for driving? How and when do the robot and the person switch roles? At stake is the Human Driver’s liability. Automakers prefer the human as the fall guy, leaving jurors to decide without clear legal standards if a Computer Driver, when it bails out, imposed an unreasonable demand on the Human.
Podcast: First the Gorging, Now the Hangover, plus other Problems
Yesterday’s supply chain challenges are becoming history just as new ones are cropping up.