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The Fast Company Impact Council is an invitation-only membership community of leaders, experts, executives, and entrepreneurs who share their insights with our audience. Members pay annual dues for access to peer learning, thought leadership opportunities, events and more. Tariffs, trade, imports, exports, prioritization, energy, and dominance are all words that have been flooding the headlines lately. In this world of globalization, it is an equilibrium of exchanges, ensuring we have enough of something but not too much. We see this balance come to life in supply and demand graphs of critical minerals, often in the context of batteries or energy dominance. The supply and demand of materials required to support growing energy-related technology and sectors, such as energy storage needs, plays a crucial role in the critical minerals market, both in the United States and globally. Today, the U.S. imports a large number of batteries that are used in consumer devices, vehicles, military, and grid storage. And the demand for batteries is set to continue growing quickly based on current policy settings, estimated to rise by more than four times by 2030 and by at least seven-fold by 2035. This growth is a clear sign that the owner of the critical minerals source will hold more control over the supply chain. This is why a diversified approach to critical minerals is vital. Battery recycling is a key to that strategybecoming a major source of domestically manufactured critical materials. Chinas control in the lithium-ion battery manufacturing industry is expected to decline between now and 2034, which can be attributed to cell manufacturing operations coming online in other regions. To further highlight this shift in the global marketplace, the U.S. battery recycling market size was estimated at $374.28 million in 2023, and is estimated to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 38.1% from 2024 to 2030. Diversify and stabilize domestic supply chains Original equipment manufacturers and battery cell manufacturers are not slowing down their production timelines and the global demand for large-format batteries will continue to rise. The U.S. must capitalize on these opportunities to diversify and stabilize domestic supply chains, all while becoming a leading producer of critical minerals. Materials from recycled content will play an increasingly important part in meeting this demand, with predictions that battery recycling could meet 20-30% of lithium, nickel, and cobalt demand by 2050. Reuse of critical minerals is necessary to diversify and domesticate our supply chains and is work that is already being done. To further the need for increasing battery recycling capacity, the critical minerals market will begin to experience an undersupply in the form of black mass (the output of end-of-life and scrap batteries that have been recycled and processed that is put back into the supply chain), as early as 2026. For example, by 2030, lithium will see a supply and demand gap that is considered high risk, according to the International Energy Agency, due to price volatility and high geopolitical risk factors in the countries its currently sourced from. The expected growth, combined with supply gaps, is why the U.S. needs to continue its focus on enhancing our domestic critical minerals supply chains, with a heavy emphasis on recycled content. Recycling is important The U.S. has developed a large battery recycling capacity in anticipation of the large number of end-of-life batteries predicted to enter the market. Fueled by public and private investments, the United States battery recycling and critical mineral refinement sectors are fundamental to becoming a divergent player and seriously competing with those in Asia for the limited supplies of black mass. To encourage the build-out of battery recycling capacity, we must recognize that it aligns with domestic priorities related to the sourcing of critical materials. Strengthening our domestic supply chains will position the U.S. as a leading producer of critical minerals; it furthers the National Defense Stockpile sources to reduce the nations mineral reliance on foreign entities of concern; and it accelerates access to domestically sourced critical minerals, enhancing national security and global competitiveness. The largest operating mine of critical minerals is in our pockets, offices, garages, on the roads, and supplying energy to data centers and power grids.Recycling these materials at their end-of-life is a must. David Klanecky is CEO and president of Cirba Solutions.
Category:
E-Commerce
No, this article was not written with AI. You know how you can tell? Because it’s got a bit of personality (mine), and even though it’s about artificial intelligence (arguably one of the most boring topics on the planet, in my opinion), this doesn’t read like a computer generated it. (Just me, standing at my very-expensive standing desk, writing away on my laptop!) Which gets us to the reason for this article: a new study on AI. Researchers from Cornell University looked at how Western-centric AI models provide writing suggestions to users from different cultural backgrounds. The study, titled AI Suggestions Homogenize Writing Toward Western Styles and Diminish Cultural Nuances, included 118 participants from India and the United States. And it found that when Indians and Americans used AI writing assistance, it often came at the expense of the Indians in the group. Why, you ask? Even though the tools helped both groups write faster, the Indian writers had to keep correcting the AIs suggestions, resulting in a smaller productivity boost. One reason for that is because AI tools like ChatGPT are primarily developed by American tech companies, which are powered by large language models that don’t contain all the linguistic nuances of 85% of the world’s population, who live in the Global South and are using AI-writing tools. (The Global South is defined as those countries primarily in the Southern Hemisphere, often considered developing or less developed than their northern counterparts in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.) Study researchers had the two groups write about cultural topics like food and holidays. Half used an AI-writing assistant that gave autocomplete suggestions. The writing samples showed that the Indian participants kept 25% of the suggestions while Americans kept only 19%, but also found the Indian writers made significantly more modifications to those suggestions, rendering them less helpful. For example, when some of the Indians wrote about food, a common suggestion included pizza. Or when they wrote about holidays, the AI tool suggested Christmas. In short, this study shows AI isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, and benefits some users more than others. This is one of the first studies, if not the first, to show that the use of AI in writing could lead to cultural stereotyping and language homogenization, according one of the study’s authors, Aditya Vashistha, an assistant professor of information science. People start writing similarly to others, and thats not what we want. One of the beautiful things about the world is the diversity that we have. The study’s main author, Dhruv Agarwal, a doctoral student in the field of information science, said that although the technology brings a lot of value into peoples lives, “for that value to be equitable and for these products to do well in these markets, tech companies need to focus on cultural aspects, rather than just language aspects.
Category:
E-Commerce
Consumers are only just starting to feel pain from Trumps Liberation Day tariff spree. Amazon founder and chairman Jeff Bezos, however, may be starting to feel something else from the tariffs: regret. When a report emerged overnight claiming that Amazon would start displaying tariff costs on its main page, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt responded by torching Amazon in a Tuesday morning press briefing. (According to CNN, Trump had already personally chewed Bezos out by then.) Despite everything that Bezos has done to support Trump in his second term, the administration just made it crystal-clear that presidential support under Trump only flows in one direction. Evidently, no amount of fealty was ever going to save Amazon from Trumps wrath if throwing Bezos under the bus ever proved advantageous in the slightest. Although Amazon strongly disputes the initial report about displaying tariff costs (“This was never approved and is not going to happen.”), such a move would not be unheard of. Other businesses, including Fabletics and Temu, have been introducing tariff surcharges, alerting customers in letters, and adding tariff prices to websites and bills. Meanwhile, Amazon has reportedly been hurting more than most under Trumps 145% tariffs on China. Leavitt did not seem to think Amazon was justified in potentially joining those other companies, though. Speaking on behalf of Trump, she described it as a hostile and political act by Amazon. REPORTER: Amazon will soon display a number next to the price of each product that shows how much the Trump tariffs are adding. Isn't that a perfect demonstration that it's the American consumer who is paying for these policies? LEAVITT: This is a hostile and political act by Amazon.[image or embed]— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) April 29, 2025 at 9:03 AM Its not a surprise, Leavitt continued, because, as Reuters recently wrote, Amazon is partnered with a Chinese propaganda arm. She held up a printout of the article, about an Amazon project known as China Books, to prove it was realthough recent is a bit of a stretch, considering the article came out in 2021. This broadside seems designed to provide a handy talking point about why Amazon is, in this administrations apparent view, in cahoots with China against Trump. Surely, Amazons reported stab at pricing transparency is an act of political hostility and sabotage, Leavitts comments suggest, not an accurate temperature-read of a climate in which consumer confidence has already plunged to its lowest levels since peak pandemic 2020. Its obvious why the administration would want to paint Amazon as the villain in this situation. An April survey of 400 U.S. company leaders by the research firm Zilliant found 44% of businesses plan to pass tariff costs onto consumers. A company of Amazons size and stature leading the charge would give any companies who remain on the fence permission to go for it. If Amazon is displaying tariff costs, showing customers who to blame, it becomes standard procedure. What is far less obvious, though, is why Bezos ever worked so hard to get on Trumps good side in the first place. During Trumps first term, Bezos had a contentious relationship with the president. Trump would frequently affix Amazon to the title of the newspaper Bezos owns, The Washington Post, when speaking about the paper after he received unfavorable coverage. The implication was that the paper was little more than a lobbying arm for Bezoss personal business interests. Bezos even argued in a 2019 court case that Trumps bias against Amazon had cost it a chance to win a $10 billion Pentagon contract. In Trumps second term, though, past has not been prologue. Bezoss sharp pivot toward MAGA began last October with his out-of-nowhere announcement that the Post would not be endorsing a candidate in the November election. Though he cited the move as a way to avoid a perception of bias at a time when many Americans dont believe the media, the last-minute announcement only fostered a perception of biasat the Post, specifically. The non-endorsement reportedly cost the paper over 250,000 subscribers. At the time, Bezos could have plausibly still maintained a sheen of neutrality. He has only since further positioned himself firmly in Trumps corner, though. In the past few months, hes drastically scaled back DEI policies at Amazon, donated a million dollars to Trumps inauguration fund (and prominently attended it), dined at Mar-a-Lago, and overhauled the Posts op-ed section in support of two Trump-friendly pillars: personal liberties and free marketsa move that reportedly cost the paper another 75,000 subscribers. In Bezoss most sycophantic-seeming gesture of all, Amazon even shelled out $40 million for a documentary on Melania Trump. The ostensible reason for this red carpet rollout is that Bezos is a businessman, frst and foremost. In a December interview at The New York Timess DealBook Summit, he explained why he was more optimistic about Trumps second term: He seems to have a lot of energy around reducing regulation. If I can help do that, Im going to help him. But if an interest in deregulation was all that animated Bezoss enthusiasm, he probably wouldnt have been so ostentatious in his support of the president and his policies. Whats more likely is that he made a cold calculation that an if-you-cant-beat-em-join-em ethos and some financial support could neutralize the threat of Trumps antagonism. If so, it was a critical miscalculation. Even if it werent obvious from Trumps entire political life that loyalty is a one-way street, it should have been clear that hed only view with contempt those who have suddenly decided to butter him up (Everybody wants to be my friend, Trump crowed in December, as business leaders including Bezos began to kiss the ring.) What is the hypothetical difference between where Bezos finds himself todaywith the administration smearing Amazon as Chinese propagandists over a story that the company thoroughly denieshad he either opposed Trump or maintained an air of neutrality? Theres no way of knowing. Whatever it is, though, its probably a better position than Trump continuing to antagonize him while the anti-Trump crowd occasionally boycotts his company. Best of luck with the Melania doc, though.
Category:
E-Commerce
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