The auto industry has historically operated under long development cycles.

But amid rapid technological advancements and growing competition from Chinese manufacturers that are bringing new products to market at a lightning pace, automakers are under more pressure than ever to speed things up—without sacrificing quality or cost.

Enter the go-to solution for seemingly every modern-day conundrum: artificial intelligence.

JP Clausen, EVP of global manufacturing at General Motors, recently shared with Tech Brew some of the automaker’s strategies for making the best use of AI tools in manufacturing—and he was quick to caution that AI isn’t a silver bullet.

“Not every problem in this world can be solved by AI. There are some problems that AI and machine learning are good at, but it’s not everything,” said Clausen, an alum of Google, Tesla, and Lego who stepped into the lead manufacturing role at GM last year. “Understanding the problem you’re going to solve first is probably the most important thing of the whole equation.

“Knowing your parameters…is the key point for making an AI system that is successful,” he added. “Because otherwise you’ll just boil the ocean.”

Keep reading here.—JG

A red pigment used in cosmetics, food, and beverages, usually created by crushing up beetles, can now be made vegan by using sugar.

Biotech company Debut announced it can make carmine, a red dye derived from the Cochineal beetle, by creating a microbe that can “turn sugar into carmine.” Previously, the only way to achieve the pigment was by smashing beetles, which caused allergic reactions in some consumers and backlash toward companies that used it. Josh Britton, Debut’s CEO, told Tech Brew that the microbe that creates cruelty-free carmine is similar to the alcohol fermentation process.

Britton also said that Debut’s carmine doesn’t just replace its predecessor, it outperforms it: Debut’s product is a more “vibrant, stable, and formulatable” version of the pigment. Plus, he said it can create more carmine than that derived from beetles.

“The bug gives about 10% pure material. With biotech, because there is no bug, you’re pushing purities above 75% to 90%,” Britton told Tech Brew. “So that’s a [more] consistent supply chain.”

Keep reading here.—TC

Solar providers Renewable America and Clearloop are bringing their infrastructure to states where there’s no shortage of sunshine, aiming to benefit disadvantaged communities.

Last month, Renewable America announced that its nearly 3 megawatt solar project in Livingston, California, is operating commercially. And at the end of February, Clearloop shared that it would partner with Microsoft to build “up to 100 megawatts of renewable energy projects over the next three years in historically underinvested communities” in Arkansas and Louisiana.

“We applaud Microsoft for using its purchasing power to pilot and scale innovative structures that accelerate grid decarbonization in a way that ensures all American communities can see themselves represented as we transform our economy with clean, innovative technologies,” Clearloop CEO Laura Zapata said in a press release.

The upcoming Arkansas and Louisiana project with Microsoft is the two companies’ second collaboration. Microsoft funded a Clearloop solar farm in Panola County, Mississippi, which Clearloop says has prevented the addition of more than 4.5 million pounds of carbon in total to the atmosphere. The incoming solar farms in Arkansas and Louisiana have the potential to block 5 million metric tons of carbon from entering the atmosphere “over the next four decades.”

Keep reading here.—TC