Nan Nelson, Envision Board Member and Economic Transformation Signals Team
A new startup is using AI to make non-English call center employees, who are often located in India, Pakistan or the Philippines, sound American. Founded in 2020, Sanas now provides companies with a proprietary AI software that works in real-time to alter users’ voices to sound more “Western.” Its aim is to “improve human-to-human relationships,” but critics argue the plan is fraught with ethical and psychological implications. Some say it puts the onus on non-Westerners to cater to Western interests. Read more here.
Judy Nagel, Envision Board and Upward Mobility Signals Team
When you think of a drone, how high do you imagine it going, and how long do you imagine it staying in the air? Did you realize that the new “pseudo-satellite” drones can soar to heights of more than 60,000 feet and stay up there for months? That’s the report from Alistair MacDonald in The Wall Street Journal, which labeled such drones the “innovation of the week” recently.
By Noel Halvorsen, Envision Board Member and Housing & Safety Signals Team
Park Hotels and Resorts, the owner of two of San Francisco’s largest (Hilton operated) hotels, has stopped making mortgage payments in the “best interest’ of shareholders. Slow recovery from the pandemic, a weak convention calendar, lagging return to office numbers, and concerns over “street conditions” (the neighborhood has seen some high-end retailers pull out due to concerns about homelessness, street crime, and drugs).
While one might be tempted to point to the street conditions as a primary driver, it looks to this foresight analyst that the damage is more related to high market costs, and a slow return to normal in terms of room bookings. Choosing to default on a $725 million loan at two of the three largest hotels in a major city can’t be an easy decision. This could be a signal of central city real estate problems across the country as offices sit vacant, conventions continue to sputter in hybrid formats, and homeless numbers swell in the face of inflation and unreachable housing expenses. Read about it here.
