• Students protesting Israel's war on Gaza may be ruining their career prospects, says Kevin O'Leary.
• The "Shark Tank" host said employers could identify applicants who joined in the protests using AI.
• "I can't believe the stuff I find in background checks now. These people are screwed," he said.

"Shark Tank" host and investor Kevin O'Leary says pro-Palestinian student protesters will be "screwed" when they start job hunting.

This, O'Leary says, is because employers can now use AI technology to screen applicants and filter out those who have taken part in protests. Advancements in technology have made it much easier to identify people on camera, the businessman added.

"Here's your resume with a picture of you burning a flag. See that one. That goes in this pile over here, cause I can get the same person's talent in this pile that's not burning anything," O'Leary told Fox News' The Five on Wednesday.

"There's plenty of consequences for all those people. Even an image that far away, AI can generate who they are by the way the body moves. I can't believe the stuff I find in background checks now. These people are screwed," he said.

O'Leary told CNN in an interview on the same day that protesters could still be identified even if they tried to mask their identity by donning a mask. This is because they can be identified via retinal scanning, he claimed.

"This is what's happening with AI. So if you're burning down something, or taking a flag down, or fighting with police, I'm sorry, you're trashing your personal brand," O'Leary told CNN's Laura Coates.

Representatives for O'Leary did not immediately respond to a request for comment from BI sent outside regular business hours.

O'Leary isn't the only business executive who has weighed in on the pro-Palestinian student protests taking place at various campuses, such as Columbia University and UCLA.

Darren Woods, the CEO of Exxon Mobil, told CNBC in an interview last month that the oil giant "wouldn't be interested" in hiring students from universities that have been embroiled in pro-Palestinian protests.

"Harassment and intimidation, there's no place for that, frankly at those universities, and certainly no place for that at a company like Exxon Mobil," Woods told the outlet. "If that action or those protests reflect the values of the campuses where they're doing it, we wouldn't be interested in recruiting students from those campuses."

Comments from executives like O'Leary and Woods underscore the damage students might be inflicting on their own careers through their political activism.

In October, law firm Winston & Strawn said it revoked a job offer for a New York University law student who publicly condemned Israel for Hamas' terrorist attacks. The announcement came on October 10, just three days after Hamas had attacked Israel.

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• NATO is accusing Russia of "malign activities" in its member states, including Germany and the UK.
• The alliance said this includes sabotage, acts of violence, and disinformation campaigns.
• The North Atlantic Council said it "will act individually and collectively to address these actions."

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization on Thursday singled out Russia in a statement condemning "recent malign activities" in its member states.

"This includes sabotage, acts of violence, cyber and electronic interference, disinformation campaigns, and other hybrid operations," the North Atlantic Council statement said.

The council said it made its statement amid investigations and charges against people accused of hostile state activity in Czechia, Estonia, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and the UK.

The treaty organization said these individuals' actions were part of an "intensifying campaign of activities" carried out by Russia.

"We will act individually and collectively to address these actions, and will continue to coordinate closely," the statement added.

It further condemned Russia for its accused behavior and called on Moscow to uphold international obligations.

"Russia's actions will not deter Allies from continuing to support Ukraine," the statement read.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 — which the Kremlin has billed as a response to NATO aggression — has widened the rift between Moscow and its Western rivals.

The US-led alliance has provided Ukraine with some $168 billion in aid, now bolstered by a new tranche of $61 billion from the US. About $125 billion of this total includes advanced weaponry and ammunition, with NATO states saying Ukraine's defeat would be devastating for Europe's overall security.

The divide has also long been clear in NATO's rhetoric toward Russia. French President Emmanuel Macron, for example, has for months said that he would not rule out sending troops to Ukraine should Russia make significant advances on the battlefield.

Meanwhile, Russia says the alliance has effectively waged war against Moscow by sending aid to Kyiv.

Amid the heightened tensions, NATO members have increasingly highlighted what they say are Russian clandestine activities in their own governments and institutions.

The European Parliament in March said it was investigating lawmakers accused of being on the payroll of a Russian propaganda network busted in Czechia.

In late April, two British men in their early 20s were charged by UK authorities and accused of helping Russian intelligence services in a suspected arson attack in London.

Meanwhile, Germany has arrested six people accused of spying for Russia and China.

Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent outside regular business hours by Business Insider.

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• Jan Sramek, CEO of California Forever, wants to build a new city in Solano County, California.
• He said he hopes to provide more affordable housing with the new city.
• The recent "AI boom" will only make the housing crisis worse, Sramek told Kara Swisher.

The leader behind the grand plans to build a new city in Northern California believes his project will address the state's ongoing housing crisis — a matter he says will only get worse with the recent demand for artificial intelligence.

Jan Sramek, CEO of California Forever, which is a company backed by Silicon Valley's wealthiest, made his case for the new Solano County city during an episode of the podcast "On With Kara Swisher" on Tuesday.

Sramek said in the interview that his vision for the city, which would be about 60 miles away from San Francisco, is simple: to build a more walkable, dense city that is also affordable.

Previously published information from California Forever revealed that the city will be about 18,600 acres with a capacity to welcome 400,000 residents.

Sramek said on the podcast that the city could have homes or apartments starting at $400,000. The average home value in Solano County is about $590,000, according to Zillow.

The ex-Goldman Sachs trader-turned-City Founder said he has no interest in building a smart city or a libertarian utopia, but instead wants to address a persistent problem in the Golden State that is quality, affordable housing.

More than 800,00 people left California between 2021 and 2022, according to Census Bureau data. The high cost of living was one factor former California residents cited to Business Insider last year for their exodus.

A 49-unit apartment complex that is taking 17 years to build has become one recent example of the housing issue in the state.

"These walkable communities today — working families can't afford them," Sramek said.

The CEO later added that the housing problem will only get worse with the advancement of artificial intelligence, arguing that this problem makes his project more necessary.

"If the AI boom continues and the salaries continue in the Bay Area — that's going to just increase the pressure on the housing market," he said. "And it's going to be harder and harder and harder for working families to stay in San Francisco or in Palo Alto."

Sramek didn't elaborate on what role artificial intelligence will play in the housing crisis. A California Forever spokesperson didn't address the question in an emailed response to Business Insider.

One investigation by The Lever revealed that landlords could use AI to screen potential tenants, potentially opening the door for discrimination against people even with minor convictions such as littering.

But Sramek appeared to be suggesting that AI will have an impact on wages — higher salaries to attract top talent, for example — and, as a result, on people's ability to afford housing.

A blog from the International Monetary Fund stated that AI could result create a split between workers who can take advantage of AI and those who cannot.

"We may see polarization within income brackets, with workers who can harness AI seeing an increase in their productivity and wages—and those who cannot, falling behind," the IMF forum said. "Research shows that AI can help less experienced workers enhance their productivity more quickly. Younger workers may find it easier to exploit opportunities, while older workers could struggle to adapt."

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• Apple reported better-than-expected sales in China in its latest earnings, including the iPhone.
• Still, CEO Tim Cook believes there's still "work to do" in bolstering sales to its major market.
• "I think it has been and is the most competitive market in the world," Cook said regarding China.

Apple CEO Tim Cook says there's still more work to do on the China front.

Apple reported in its second-quarter earnings that the company saw better-than-expected sales in China, a major market, which has been a source of concern for investors worried about a slowdown.

While overall iPhone sales were down 10% year-over-year, CEO Cook noted that Apple "still saw some growth" on iPhone in China, specifying that "two best-selling smartphones in urban China" are the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro Max. That growth may come as a surprise to investors, as Counterpoint Research reported earlier this year that iPhone sales to China fell by 24% in the first six weeks of 2024 amid competition from local rivals like Huawei.

Still, Cook noted that there's "clearly work there to do" in bolstering sales of other products like the iPad to one of Apple's biggest markets.

"I think it has been and is the most competitive market in the world," Cook said on Apple's latest earnings call. "I believe it was last quarter as well."

Nevertheless, the CEO told investors that he continues to feel "very optimistic" about the China market, citing better economic conditions in the region as a driving factor for greater consumer spending.

"If you step back from the 90-day cycle, what I see is a lot of people moving into the middle class," Cook said on the call. He added that Apple has "a lot of happy customers" in China, pointing to the tech giant's recent store opening in Shanghai as indicative of consumer interest in its products.

"I feel good about China, I think more about long term than to the next week or so," Cook told CNBC in an interview before earnings.

Apple didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider before publication.

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• Trump's hush-money trial went full National Enquirer during a heated cross-examination on Thursday.
• Stormy Daniels rep Keith Davidson was grilled by Trump's lawyer on his salacious previous cases. 
• Charlie Sheen, Hulk Hogan, Lindsay Lohan, and Tila Tequila were all name-dropped.

Donald Trump's hush-money trial has always had the National Enquirer as its flashy backdrop.

But Thursday's testimony was so chock-a-block with talk of C-list celebrity sex tapes and rehab scoops, it was as if the supermarket tabloid had somehow engulfed the proceeding.

Charlie Sheen, Hulk Hogan, Lindsay Lohan, Floyd Mayweather, Tila Tequila — all were name-dropped in morning testimony.

What explains their cameo appearances on week two of testimony in the only-ever criminal trial of a current or former president?

Turns out each has had a run-in with attorney Keith Davidson, a key prosecution witness who repped both former Playboy Bunny Karen McDougal and porn star Stormy Daniels.

Manhattan prosecutors say that Trump falsified 34 business records in order to hide an illegal, election-influencing, 2016 hush-money payment to Daniels.

On direct, Davidson told jurors how both women pursued catch-and-kill cash from the Enquirer for their tales of sex with Trump.

On Thursday, Trump attorney Emil Bove went on the attack.

Bove appeared to have one main mission in cross-examining Davidson — to create distance between Trump and his campaign on one side, and the lawyer's wheeling and dealing on the other.

"You've never met President Trump, correct?" Bove asked Davidson, as his very first question.

"Never," Davidson answered.

"And Tuesday was the first time that you've been in the same room as him, right?" Bove asked.

"That's true," the witness answered.

"You've never spoken to President Trump?"

"Never," he answered.

Scandals and money

Then Bove amped up his attack, with a series of questions suggesting that Davidson, who was a top source of stories for the Enquirer's editor, had made a career of shakedowns and scandal-mongering,

Trump was a victim, not an instigator, in any hush-money schemes, the line of questioning implied.

"What does the word 'extortion' mean to you?" Bove asked Davidson.

"Extortion is the —" Davidson fumbled. "It's the obtaining of property by threat of fear or force," he said.

"When you were negotiating on behalf of Ms. McDougal and behalf of Stormy Daniels, one of your concerns was on staying on the right side of the line with respect to extortion, correct?" Bove asked.

"I suppose," Davidson answered, hesitantly.

At another point, Bove asked, "In 2016, you were well-versed in getting right up to the line, without committing extortion, right?"

"I don't understand the question," Davidson answered after a pause.

And in this context came Thursday's onslaught of C-lister cameos.

First, Hulk Hogan

"Isn't it a fact that in connection with events in 2012, you were investigated by state and federal authorities for committing extortion against Terry Bollea — Hulk Hogan," Bove asked.

Bollea was Hogan's given name.

"That's true," Davidson answered.

Davidson was asked about the infamous Hogan sex tape. It was Davidson who asked Hogan for cash to purchase, and bury, the tape, the witness conceded.

"At some point in 2012, you reached out to Hulk Hogan's representatives, right?"

"Yes," answered Davidson .

"You made a monetary demand to Hulk Hogan's representative in order to not publish these tapes, correct?" Bove asked.

"No," Davidson answered.

Moments later, as Bove's cross-examination continued, Davidson backpedaled.

"Did you ask for money?" Bove asked.

"There was a monetary demand made," Davidson answered, vaguely.

"Was it for purchase, so that Hulk Hogan could purchase the tapes? The rights to the tapes?" Bove asked.

"Yes," Davidson admitted.

Then, Lindsay Lohan

Davidson said he also represented an employee at the Betty Ford rehab clinic in 2010.

And she "leaked information about the treatment of Lindsay Lohan at a rehab facility, correct?" Bove asked.

Davidson took a very long pause, during which he took a sip of water.

"It was reported that that's what she did," the witness answered cautiously.

Bove noted that the story ran in TMZ, and asked "and you had connections at TMZ at the time, right?"

"True," Davidson answered.

"You still do, right?"

"No. Well, perhaps," Davidson answered.

"Perhaps," Bove responded, skeptically.

"You helped Ms. Holland get paid in connection with what I just described, didn't you?" Bove then demanded.

"I don't recall," Davidson answered.

"You don't recall that TMZ paid Ms. Holland $10,000 around this time?

"I don't recall," Davidson answered again.

Next up: Tila Tequila

"Do you know who Tila Tequila is?" Bove then asked suddenly of the reality TV personality.

"I do," Davidson answered.

"And in 2010, you took steps to broker a deal of a sex tape involving her, correct?"

"I believe so," Davidson answered.

Davidson was asked if he worked on that "engagement" with someone named Kevin Blatt— "sort of known as a sex tape broker, is that right?"

"I think that's fair," Davidson answered cautiously.

Bove asked Davidson if he recalled that "Ms. Tequila" was threatened by a man who said if she didn't pay $75,000 the sex tape would be published.

"I don't recall that," Davidson answered.

"You don't recall at the time of that transaction, you were on a 90-day bar suspension?" Bove pressed.

"I don't recall that," came Davidson's answer, once again.

And finally … Charlie Sheen

The topic of the cross-examination then veered without warning to Charlie Sheen.

"You know who Charlie Sheen is, right?" Bove asked.

"I do," Davidson answered.

"And you've represented some clients who you helped get paid by Charlie Sheen, right?" Bove asked.

"I've represented several clients who had claims against Charlie Sheen," Davidson answered carefully.

"And who you extracted sums of money from Charlie Sheen on behalf of, correct?" the Trump lawyer pushed.

Davidson smiled.

"There was no extraction," he answered, adding, "we asserted that there was tortious activity committed and valid settlements that were executed."

Bove asked Davidson to talk about his representation of one Sheen accuser he said "was under the influence of methamphetamine at the time," in 2011.

"You don't recall she was barely completing sentences when you got her to sign the letter" agreeing to Davidson's representation, Bove asked.

"No, I don't recall that," Davidson answered.

Davidson testified he did remember that the woman had been referred to him by Blatt, the so-called sex-tape broker. But he didn't remember if Sheen paid the woman $2 million.

"Is it fair to say that your memory seems a little fuzzy around some of these issues?" Bove asked.

"I've had 1,500 clients in my career," Davidson protested. "You're asking me about events that took place many, many years ago."

"A $2 million payment is a typical payment for you on one of these cases? So much so that you don't remember it? Is that your testimony?" Bove asked, his voice rising in pitch.

"I don't remember a settlement from 13 years ago," Davidson answered.

At another point in the Sheen portion of Thursday's testimony, Bove asked Davidson if he remembered "extracting another settlement from Mr. Sheen" while representing Capri Anderson.

"Again, it was no extraction," Davidson responded.

"You got Mr. Sheen to pay, correct?" Bove asked.

"Assuming arguendo that he did pay and that there was a settlement agreement, that settlement would be confidential," Davidson snapped. "And I would not discuss it here."

"Look," Bove shot back. "We're both lawyers. I'm not here to play lawyer games with you. I'm just here to ask questions and get straight answers."

The judge sustained an objection to this non-question from the prosecution.

Davidson then invoked attorney-client privilege in declining to say if there was a settlement between Anderson and Sheen.

Testimony continues Friday.

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• Tesla is revoking summer internship offers as the automaker grapples with layoffs.
• One college senior said she was disappointed to lose her internship just weeks before she was set to start. 
• Brook Gura said she turned down offers at other companies in favor of working at Tesla. 

A college senior who scored a prestigious Tesla internship is scrambling to make new professional plans after the automaker revoked her offer less than three weeks before she was supposed to start.

Brook Gura, 21, was looking forward to spending her summer as a recruiting intern in Tesla's human resources department, she told Business Insider this week. The senior at the University of Texas at Austin said she spent about three weeks interviewing with the company earlier this year before signing a contract with Tesla on February 29. Business Insider viewed part of Gura's offer letter from Tesla.

"It was exciting. I was looking for a big corporate internship," Gura said. "And it was close by. I wouldn't have had to relocate."

Gura, who said she turned down internship offers at other companies in favor of Tesla, was particularly stoked about the compensation — $26 an hour, she told BI.

The 12-week internship was scheduled to start on May 20. Gura said she was told she would get more information about picking up a company laptop the first week of May.

When Tesla announced layoffs last month affecting 10% of the company's workforce, Gura said she wasn't initially worried.

"Interns are relatively cheap compared to full-time employees," she said. "I figured if they were trying to cut down, I might even be working more."

But as Gura was studying for finals on Tuesday, she said she got a call from an unknown phone number. A couple of hours later, she received an email from a Tesla recruiter asking her to call back.

Gura said she immediately panicked and went online to see if the company had done more layoffs. That's when she saw a LinkedIn post from another intern who had lost their offer.

By the time she called the recruiter back, Gura said she was fairly certain she knew what was coming. The "pretty short" conversation, however, still took her by surprise.

"They just explained the company was making cuts that were going to start impacting interns, and that meant me," Gura said. "There wasn't any room for negotiating."

Gura said she initially started panicking over how she'd spend her last summer before she graduates in December.

"I was upset. This was not the only internship offer I had. I picked Tesla out of other organizations," she said.

Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

Gura made her own LinkedIn post on Wednesday, asking her professional network for support and opportunities. Other would-be interns have posted about losing their Tesla internships, as well. Gura said several interns have connected in the aftermath of the cuts and are offering support to one another. She feels lucky compared to other interns who had already paid for flights and housing.

Gura said she's trying to stay positive and look to the future.

"Taking the time to think about this, I have learned that rejection is redirection," she wrote on LinkedIn. "While I am incredibly disappointed that I will not have the summer I intended to have, I know that this moment will only help me grow stronger as a professional."

But she can't help but feel disappointed by the whole experience.

"What bummed me out the most is I didn't even have the chance to showcase my skills," Gura said.

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• Donald Trump dismissed the notion that he should debate RFK Jr.
• The former president said Kennedy "not a serious candidate."
• Trump claimed to know little about Kennedy, despite stepping up his attacks on the long-shot rival.

Donald Trump on Thursday scoffed at the notion that he would debate long shot presidential hopeful Robert F. Kennedy Jr. even as the former president's allies show more concern about Kennedy's campaign.

"I don't know anything about him," Trump told reporters as he left his criminal trial in Manhattan. "Look, RFK is falling very low."

Trump repeatedly attacked Kennedy over social media this past weekend, despite the former president's claim that he knows little about Kennedy.

"He's, uh, not a serious candidate," Trump said on Thursday. "They say he hurts Biden. I don't know who he hurts, he might hurt me. I don't know. He has very low numbers, certainly not numbers that he can debate with. He's got to get his numbers a lot higher before he's credible."

Early polling has also shown that Kennedy's inclusion hurts Trump.

An NBC News national poll found that Trump led Biden by two points, but when Kennedy and other third-party hopefuls were added, Biden ended up with a two-point lead. It should be noted both outcomes are within the margin of error and illustrate the extremely close margin of the race entering the summer. According to FiveThirtyEight's weighted national polling average, Kennedy is polling at 10% while Trump and Biden are at 41.4% and 40.8% respectively.

The former president's barrage of criticism comes after Kennedy showed genuine efforts to appeal to Trump voters.

The noted vaccine skeptic has refused to rule out recalling the Moderna COVID-19 shot, a position held by his running mate, Nicole Shanahan. Kennedy has also expressed sympathy for some Americans convicted of charges related to the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot.

As Politico reported, Kennedy has repeatedly appeared on more MAGA-aligned podcasts and shows. Kennedy rose to initial fame as an environmentalist in line with his family's well-known liberal views, but in recent years, he has found much more in common with the right-wing. He abandoned his primary challenge to President Joe Biden in favor of an independent run.

Trump's refusal to debate Kennedy may not be entirely in his hands.

The nonprofit Commission on Presidential Debates, created by both major US parties, has hosted every presidential debate since 1988. The commission has faced intense criticism over its treatment of third-party candidates. It allowed Texas businessman Ross Perot to participate in all three debates in 1992 but blocked him four years later. No third-party candidate has come close to surpassing Perot's mark of nearly 19% of the popular vote he received in 1992. Since 2000, the commission has imposed a 15% threshold in major national polls, which no third-party challenger has met.

But Trump and his allies have been harshly critical of the debate commission. The Republican National Committee voted in 2022 to leave the commission. On Wednesday, Trump's campaign managers threatened to hold a debate without the commission if they refused the former president's request to move up the first debate, which is set for September 16 at Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas.

Biden recently told radio host Howard Stern that he would like to debate Trump, but there is rampant speculation such a debate will never occur. The pair's first debate in 2020 was an objective disaster. The second debate was canceled after Trump refused to accept a virtual format after the then-president tested positive for COVID-19.

While millions of Americans vote before Election Day, the debates hold a powerful place in the political calendar. In an era where Americans watch little live TV besides sports and the Oscars, the debates are frequently one of the highest-rated telecasts of an election year.

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• Apple is boasting about its "services" revenue in Q2. It didn't boast about iPhone sales, which declined.
• Which is why Apple has been telling Wall Street that "services" are an important growth category for some time.
• The problem: Apple's two primary growth drivers for services are at risk from antitrust suits and rules.

Apple had a great second quarter, Apple says: The company hit an "all-time revenue record in Services," the company reports.

But … what about the thing that actually drives Apple — the iPhone?

There's no mention of that in Apple's press release. And if you head over to the company's financials, you can see why: iPhone sales dropped by 10% in the last three months.

That drop isn't a surprise to Wall Street, though the cause of the decline is up for debate. Prior to Thursday's earnings, analysts had fretted that Chinese iPhone sales were soft, but on Thursday afternoon, Cook told CNBC that iPhone sales in China were up. "That may come as a surprise to some people," he deadpanned.

Step back, though, and Apple's earnings confirm a story we've been telling you about for some time: Sales of the iPhone, which have been powering the company for a decade-plus, just aren't going to grow like they used to.

If you want an iPhone, you have an iPhone. And iPhones are now so good that there's less reason to replace them every couple years, despite Apple's efforts to convince you that new features like a better camera or talking poop emoji are worth the upgrade. I've got an iPhone 13 Max, and it's great. So I've got no interest in moving up to the iPhone 16 Apple will show off this fall.

Why Apple is so focused on "services"

All of which is why Apple has increasingly been stressing its "services" business, which many people think is about sexy stuff like Apple Music and Apple TV+. But the main driver for services is really two things: the money Google pays Apple to be the default search engine on iPhones, and the money that Apple makes from in-app purchases in its App Store.

But both of those revenue streams are facing some degree of risk. The US Department of Justice's antitrust suit against Google focuses on moves the company makes to maintain its monopoly on search — like paying Apple $20 billion for its search deal in 2022.

And, as we've been pointing out repeatedly, Apple's App Store rules are under increasing pressure from regulators around the world — and in the EU in particular. You can debate whether those rules are built to protect customers, as Apple argues, or whether they are anti-competitive strictures meant to protect Apple, as the company's critics allege.

Regardless, the App Store revenues are a major contributor to "services." And Apple has made it clear that it's only going to change the way it runs its App Store when it's compelled to by regulators. And that even when that happens, it's only going to do so kicking and screaming. Thursday's earnings report helps underline why.

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• The power grid is too old and simple for the growth of extreme weather, EVs, and renewable energy.
• Chattanooga's utility built a $280 million smart grid, creating $2.7 billion in economic value.
• This article is part of "Transforming Business: Infrastructure," a series exploring the advancements reshaping US infrastructure.

It pays to be smart and Chattanooga, Tennessee, has put a whole new meaning to the phrase. The city is home to one of the nation's most advanced power grids.

The local utility, called EPB of Chattanooga, spent $280 million to refurbish its power system with smart technologies to make a "smart grid."

In its first 10 years, the project generated $2.7 billion worth of economic value, according to an EPB-funded study. That's not a bad return on investment.

The US grid needs its own internet

Smart grids like this offer a cleaner, safer, and more efficient future with lower electric bills and fewer blackouts — which is great because the way our energy system has operated for the past century isn't going to cut it for the next one.

In most places, energy starts with a giant coal-fired power plant. From there, transmission lines zip the electricity to a substation, which lowers the voltage and pumps it into distribution lines to homes and businesses.

Electricity flows one way, from the power plant to your home, and it doesn't do much else. It's simple — and that was fine for a long time. But it's becoming a problem as the climate crisis complicates our energy supply.

Increasingly extreme weather events are battering our electrical infrastructure and causing outages that cost American businesses an estimated $150 billion a year, according to the US Department of Energy.

Meanwhile, climate solutions put their own pressure on the grid. Wind farms and solar panels feed energy into the system inconsistently, making it harder to pace supply with the day-to-day fluxes of electricity use.

Renewables also complicate things by sheer numbers — rather than from 12,000 power plants, in just a few decades, the US could be drawing its power from 1 million dispersed sources, from hydropower dams to rooftop solar panels.

At the same time, electrification, including the rise of electric vehicles, is increasing demand.

To cope, experts say, the grid needs its own internet, stat. They're calling for a digitized "smart grid."

"It's imperative," Kevin Schneider, the chief engineer studying power systems at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, told Business Insider.

Without smart technologies, the grid will be inefficient, leading to economic losses and slowing the transition to clean energy. An outdated grid could also fall victim to more and more blackouts.

"If people are really asleep at the wheel, and we keep pushing further, eventually you can get to the hyperbole of a third-world power system," Schneider said.

The American Society of Civil Engineers gave US energy infrastructure a C-minus grade in 2021, citing poor reliability and increasing threats from severe weather.

But a Chattanooga-like transformation nationwide could save us all money, reduce carbon emissions, and prevent blackouts.

What is a smart grid?

A key job of any power grid is to balance electricity supply and demand. Too much power could damage the system. Not enough could leave some people in the dark.

A smart grid automates this balancing act using a system of meters, sensors, controllers, and computers.

Smart grids can also help businesses, factory operators, or homeowners make better-informed decisions about when and how to use energy, whether they want to save money, reduce emissions, or both.

"It can send information along with electricity," Joshua Rhodes, a research scientist studying smart grids at the University of Texas at Austin, told BI.

For example, "it can control a fleet of air conditioners and maybe can turn them off for 15 minutes at a time" to optimize energy costs, he said.

How Chattanooga made its grid smart

EPB of Chattanooga first needed a system to communicate with all the smart devices it would install. It couldn't make significant upgrades to its system without it.

"Everything that you looked to do, the limitation was communications," David Wade, the CEO of EPB of Chattanooga, told BI.

Fiber optics would do the trick — and allow EPB to start offering TV, internet, and phone services.

With the prospect of revenue and a mission as a public utility to improve quality of life, the EPB board of directors approved a plan in 2008.

With $169 million from a municipal bond issue for the project, workers started digging trenches and climbing poles to lay new fiber optic cables across Hamilton County.

The project was supposed to take 10 years, but a $111.5 million grant from the Department of Energy accelerated the process, basically cutting time to completion in half. The utility finished building its smart grid in 2012.

In just four years, EPB had laid its fiber-optic network and linked it to more than 180,000 smart meters in customers' homes and businesses. It also installed about 1,200 automated smart switches, which open or close the flow of power in response to automated software or remote commands from human operators.

The smart switches can rapidly reroute energy around fallen power lines that would otherwise cause a blackout. That means the system self-heals, restoring power in seconds.

As a result, EPB has reported a 55% annual decrease in outage minutes, or about 19 million outage minutes a year.

Previously, dispatchers had to drive to each switch to manually open or close it.

"It's making the same decisions that we were making as dispatchers and humans, only probably making them a multitude of times faster," Wade said.

In the following decade, EPB spent another $115.5 million expanding its smart grid to new housing and commercial developments.

Smart grids are more efficient

Because the smart grid automates the balance of supply and demand — helping ensure there's no more energy in the system than people are using at different times of the day — it's more efficient.

That reduces energy waste and emissions.

In the EPB-funded study period, 2014 to 2020, the EPB grid emitted 8,300 fewer tons of CO2 than it would have if it weren't smart. That's almost as much as Taylor Swift's private jet emitted in the first half of 2022.

Those carbon savings came partly from reduced energy use and partly because of reduced truck miles since dispatchers no longer had to drive to every switch for every outage.

It's not just blackouts. On a larger scale, a smarter grid could adapt better to the surge of renewables.

For example, take the Pacific Intertie — a highway of transmission lines that carry hydropower from the Columbia River all the way down to Southern California. The system may need to send power in the other direction more often as solar energy proliferates in the state's south.

"We had a cold snap up north. It was relatively sunny down south, and suddenly power was flowing the other direction," Schneider said.

Having software and automated equipment to handle that process could make it much more efficient and help the system quickly adapt to unforeseen changes.

In other words, a smart grid is designed to do more than one thing.

"We're going to start to see more things like that, where the system was designed to do X, and we're seeing ABCDEFG," Schneider said.

Smart grids can bring huge economic benefits

Even Congress knows the nation needs a smart grid. In 2007, it directed the Department of Energy to start doling out grants to make it happen.

That's the program that gave EPB a boost, and it has spent billions on smart-grid infrastructure nationwide.

It seems like the kick start worked. In 2020, the department estimated that smart-grid investments would rise to $16.4 billion annually by 2026 — compared with about $6.4 billion in 2018.

Though a smart grid requires a big up-front investment, it can save a lot of money down the line.

The study of EPB's smart grid, for instance, valued the benefits to each Hamilton County resident at about $646 a year in the project's first 10 years.

That's because the project created more than 9,500 jobs, helped attract new businesses with cost-efficient energy and high-speed internet, and kept customers' electric bills lower than they would have been without the smart grid, the study found. Each household saved about $93 a year on electricity bills.

Add it all up, and the smart grid with its fiber-optic internet provided $2.7 billion worth of economic value in its first 10 years, the study found.

The future of our power system

In an ideal future, each new wave of grid technology could integrate seamlessly into the smart system. Large-scale energy storage could provide backup to power communities when the sun isn't shining or the wind isn't blowing enough.

Someday, smart appliances in your home could weigh your personal schedule against peak electricity demand and pricing, as well as timing for minimal carbon emissions, to calculate the perfect time to wash your dishes or heat your house. That could translate into major savings on your electricity bill and your carbon footprint.

"I think tomorrow's grid really becomes: How do you take that massive proliferation of devices and optimize those for the good of the whole?" Wade said.

We're still far from that world, but some utilities are rising to the occasion. Nationwide, there are hundreds of microgrids — small, local areas that can operate independently of the larger grid if needed.

In the case of a major blackout, they can lock themselves out of the larger grid and rely on their own solar panels or backup batteries. Microgrids are key to a larger smart grid and unprecedented energy resilience.

Chattanooga is testing a microgrid around its police- and fire-department headquarters.

"Today, we are much better positioned than any utility I know of in adding distributed assets to the grid and creating microgrids," Wade said.

He added: "It'll get smarter."

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• Top Gear recently tested the Tesla Cybertruck's camping accessories.
• There's a software update for sensors that will hopefully prevent smashed fingers, as well as a sleek new cooler.
• The "Cybertent," which is integrated into the truck bed, sells for about $3,000.

The Top Gear crew took the Cybertruck camping and got an early look at some upcoming features, as well as a glimpse at a new, stainless steel place for owners of the electric pickup to store their ice-cold drinks.

The video shows Top Gear editor in chief Jack Rix testing out the "frunk," the front storage space under the Cybertruck's hood.

The frunk's sharp edges have been cause for concern, especially with some viral videos showing that the closing hood was capable of slicing through carrots — and possibly, misplaced fingers.

Cybertruck owners can breathe a little easier, though, since the vehicle is apparently getting a software update to improve the sensor, Rix said.

Using a banana as a test, Rix showed the automatic sensors quickly sensed the foreign object and swung up without any injury to the finger-shaped fruit.

Rix also showed off the "Cybercooler," which is exactly what it sounds like: a portable cooler "that looks a little bit like a Cybertruck."

Don't feel bad if you've never heard of the Cybercooler. It hasn't been released — or even mentioned before — by Tesla. (Promotional images for the Cybertruck show nondescript, regular coolers).

As Rix noted, the cooler shown in the video is a "one-of-one" prototype.

"Please excuse some of the slightly scruffy edges," he said; though, if the prototype was chipped or dented in any way, it wasn't visible to the camera.

The video showed Rix and another person carrying the cooler out of the frunk. It looks slightly wider than the average camping cooler, though it's unclear how spacious it is inside.

In the video, Rix said the Cybercooler would be "very useful" for offroading and "smashing around in the desert."

"Full of ice and full of beers — I mean, water," he joked.

Though designed for the "frunk," there doesn't seem to be any reason the cooler can't be carried in the bed of the Cybertruck. That may be helpful for drivers who need flexible storage arrangements, especially given some concerns about the lack of space in the frunk.

The cooler was included in the video as part of Cybertruck's "Basecamp" line of camping accessories.

It's not clear how much the Cybercooler will end up costing; the Cybertent, which extends out from the bed of the electric pickup, is currently on sale for approximately $3,000.

"It is, let's face it, an obscene amount of money," Rix said in the video, though he acknowledged its "high-end design."

Unlike other vehicular camping accessories, which are typically mounted and exposed, the Cybertent is designed to fit under the tonneau cover. Rix noted that "tent mode" will level out the suspension and open up the cover and can be activated remotely.

"It's a really clever piece of integration," he said. "And if you've got money to burn, well, I'll be ticking that box."

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