WEBVTT - Musk, Twitter Bots, and the Future of Air Mobility 0:00:02.200 --> 0:00:05.520 From the heart of where innovation, money and power colli 0:00:06.320 --> 0:00:10.880 in Silicon Valley and beyond. This is Bloomberg Technology with 0:00:10.920 --> 0:00:27.000 Emily Jay I'm Emily Tank in San Francisco, and this 0:00:27.080 --> 0:00:29.800 is Bloomberg Technology coming up in the next hour. Musk's 0:00:29.920 --> 0:00:33.560 skepticism about bots on Twitter has one investor now suing 0:00:33.600 --> 0:00:37.519 the company for more information. More on the threats to 0:00:37.600 --> 0:00:42.840 blow up billion dollar buyout this hour, plus the future 0:00:42.880 --> 0:00:45.320 flying cars are own ed Ludlow on the ground at 0:00:45.400 --> 0:00:49.239 UP Summit in Bentonville, Arkansas, where mobility tech leaders and 0:00:49.280 --> 0:00:52.199 investors have gathered. He will bring us an exclusive interview 0:00:52.560 --> 0:00:56.440 with Joe b Aviation CEO later this hour, and my 0:00:56.480 --> 0:00:59.400 exclusive conversation with a firm CEO, Max Lection on the 0:00:59.480 --> 0:01:02.680 heels of Apple announcing it is offering a competing version 0:01:03.000 --> 0:01:06.840 of buy now, Pay later and update now on Twitter. 0:01:07.080 --> 0:01:10.600 And this Elon Musk saga Twitter shareholder has sued the 0:01:10.640 --> 0:01:14.720 company in Delaware. John so Locke, who owns five shares 0:01:14.880 --> 0:01:17.080 of Twitter, wants to judge to force the social media 0:01:17.080 --> 0:01:21.640 platform to hand over internal files about spam and fake accounts. 0:01:21.680 --> 0:01:24.160 This has become a hot button issue in the Elon 0:01:24.240 --> 0:01:28.760 Musks four billion dollar potential buyout. Max Chafskin joins us 0:01:28.800 --> 0:01:31.160 now with more so this on the back of the 0:01:31.200 --> 0:01:37.240 Texas Attorney General also opening investigation into this spot issue. Max, 0:01:37.440 --> 0:01:39.920 how are these going to potentially impact the deal? You know, 0:01:40.000 --> 0:01:43.400 when when this deal first started back in March and 0:01:43.520 --> 0:01:45.960 the Twitter executive team was so excited to have Elon 0:01:46.040 --> 0:01:48.520 Musk and all of his meme stock, you know, followers 0:01:48.560 --> 0:01:50.800 on board. Um, you know, we're seeing the flip side 0:01:50.800 --> 0:01:53.360 of that, which is these lawsuits, which of course are 0:01:53.360 --> 0:01:56.440 about real issues the bots, but also feel very much 0:01:56.520 --> 0:02:00.440 like follow on bandwagon, um, basically trying to find ways 0:02:00.760 --> 0:02:03.480 to back up the claims that Elon Musk has been 0:02:03.520 --> 0:02:05.560 trying to put forward. And and it's probably important to 0:02:05.600 --> 0:02:07.560 say that these are claims that there's not a lot 0:02:07.600 --> 0:02:09.760 of basis for. In fact, there's there's not a lot 0:02:09.760 --> 0:02:12.160 of reason beyond you know, kind of Elon Musk's personal 0:02:12.160 --> 0:02:15.280 experience to think that Twitter's bought numbers are higher than 0:02:15.320 --> 0:02:17.520 that you know, five percent figure that they've been disclosing 0:02:17.560 --> 0:02:21.160 all along. Twitter says it's cooperating. Have they handed over 0:02:21.200 --> 0:02:23.799 the information that they have or not? I mean, the 0:02:24.080 --> 0:02:27.000 the perception here is that they're trying to hide something, right, Well, 0:02:27.000 --> 0:02:29.840 and that's what that's kind of where Elon Musk's lawsuit 0:02:29.919 --> 0:02:32.200 has has or or his claims that are that he 0:02:32.280 --> 0:02:34.200 might be using to to to wheedle his way out 0:02:34.200 --> 0:02:36.320 of this deal. Where where he's landed, which is not 0:02:36.440 --> 0:02:38.440 that there are too many bots, but it's that Twitter 0:02:38.560 --> 0:02:41.080 is not, you know, disclosing properly. And this is going 0:02:41.120 --> 0:02:44.200 to be you know, a long, you know, a long dispute. 0:02:44.480 --> 0:02:46.640 There's lots of room for interpretation here because of course, 0:02:46.639 --> 0:02:49.760 the way that Twitter could you know, prove that it 0:02:49.800 --> 0:02:52.120 doesn't have as many bots as Ellen thinks that it 0:02:52.160 --> 0:02:54.320 has would be to turnover it's user data. But of 0:02:54.320 --> 0:02:56.200 course you don't necessarily want to turn over all your 0:02:56.280 --> 0:02:58.960 user data, especially not to somebody who's been kind of 0:02:58.960 --> 0:03:02.880 continuously like tweet about the deal, uh since it was announced. 0:03:02.919 --> 0:03:05.400 So so you could definitely see reasons why Twitter we 0:03:05.520 --> 0:03:07.840 want to hold back to some extent. What are you 0:03:08.280 --> 0:03:10.119 what do you think the odds are that this deal 0:03:10.160 --> 0:03:12.480 goes through? I mean, it doesn't feel likely, does it. 0:03:12.639 --> 0:03:15.520 And you know we're seeing, uh with that chart showing 0:03:15.520 --> 0:03:18.600 the big gap between the offer and Twitter's current share price. 0:03:18.880 --> 0:03:22.280 I mean it really feels like Elon Musk is doing 0:03:22.280 --> 0:03:25.160 whatever he can uh to either get out of this 0:03:25.280 --> 0:03:27.359 or at least at least get through it at a 0:03:27.360 --> 0:03:28.880 lower price. On the other hand, of course, we're seeing 0:03:28.919 --> 0:03:31.040 Twitter saying, you know, we had a deal. You know, 0:03:31.040 --> 0:03:33.920 we're we're moving forward. So so I supposed it's possible 0:03:33.960 --> 0:03:36.320 that this could, this could close, although it doesn't feel 0:03:36.360 --> 0:03:39.240 likely at the moment. All right, now, you are also 0:03:39.280 --> 0:03:43.680 in the meantime covering Cheryl Sandberg's resignation from METTA. You 0:03:43.760 --> 0:03:46.680 still got a lot of people out there wondering why 0:03:46.760 --> 0:03:50.160 and why Now you're looking at her legacy not just 0:03:50.280 --> 0:03:53.840 at Facebook and Google, but on the Internet, saying that 0:03:53.880 --> 0:03:57.480 she has left us with a future of targeted ads. 0:03:57.560 --> 0:04:00.320 Talk to us about her influence on the inter net 0:04:00.520 --> 0:04:02.680 at large. Yeah, and I think this has sort of 0:04:02.680 --> 0:04:05.160 been lost to some extent with her announcement that she 0:04:05.280 --> 0:04:07.520 was leaving. I think in part because of the way 0:04:07.680 --> 0:04:09.880 that Cheryl Sandberg chose to make that announcement. In her 0:04:10.080 --> 0:04:12.520 big farewell blog post, she talked about, you know, in 0:04:12.560 --> 0:04:15.240 two thousand seven, when she first met Mark Zuckerberg, she 0:04:15.280 --> 0:04:17.440 thought of the Internet as being this, you know, funny 0:04:17.480 --> 0:04:21.240 little place for searching for you know, images, which of 0:04:21.240 --> 0:04:25.240 course is totally crazy considering that Cheryl Sandberg for years 0:04:25.320 --> 0:04:28.960 had built Google into this advertising monolith. I mean, she 0:04:29.080 --> 0:04:33.880 was already a well known, very influential executive who had 0:04:33.880 --> 0:04:36.640 been known for basically building the entire ad words and 0:04:36.720 --> 0:04:40.360 ad sense business at Google, which are these personalized data 0:04:40.440 --> 0:04:42.280 driven ads. It's sort of like what we think of 0:04:42.279 --> 0:04:46.000 when we think of internet advertising. And Cheryl Sandberg was 0:04:46.040 --> 0:04:48.080 the one who was out there in front talking about 0:04:48.080 --> 0:04:50.520 how every business owner you know, in the country needed 0:04:50.560 --> 0:04:52.200 to to adopt this, and we saw a kind of 0:04:52.440 --> 0:04:55.360 do the same thing at Facebook. And now as she 0:04:55.560 --> 0:04:58.000 kind of moves forward to her next act, I think 0:04:58.040 --> 0:05:00.599 this this kind of creates a complication because as her 0:05:00.800 --> 0:05:04.000 sort of biggest accomplishments, which was creating this kind of 0:05:04.200 --> 0:05:07.520 scaffolding of personalized ads that have generated you know, billions 0:05:07.560 --> 0:05:10.080 of dollars across two companies, you know, that's suddenly much 0:05:10.120 --> 0:05:13.000 more controversial than it was before. It's it's both kind 0:05:13.040 --> 0:05:16.000 of a feature her her greatest achievement, but also maybe 0:05:16.000 --> 0:05:18.680 a vulnerability as she you know, moves to another job 0:05:18.720 --> 0:05:21.039 in you know, in business or politics wherever she lands 0:05:21.040 --> 0:05:24.680 in the future. Now, Apple has been adding more privacy 0:05:24.720 --> 0:05:28.479 focused features. We saw more at ww d C yesterday. 0:05:28.520 --> 0:05:33.599 This has negatively impacted hurt Meta and Facebook's business model. 0:05:33.960 --> 0:05:37.800 Do you think targeted ads are eventually going away or 0:05:37.839 --> 0:05:40.760 really never or not anytime soon? Well, I mean, you 0:05:40.760 --> 0:05:44.440 know that's hard to say. Clearly, Mark Zuckerberg thinks that 0:05:44.400 --> 0:05:46.200 that this is not the future. And I think if 0:05:46.200 --> 0:05:48.240 you look at you know, why are Cheryl Sandberg and 0:05:48.240 --> 0:05:51.640 Mark Zuckerberg this you know, wonderful partnership for fourteen years, 0:05:51.640 --> 0:05:54.200 extremely lucrative for both parties. You know, why are they 0:05:54.279 --> 0:05:56.680 parting ways now? I think part of the reason is 0:05:56.720 --> 0:05:59.880 that Zuckerberg, you know, is obviously focused on this metaverse thing, 0:06:00.200 --> 0:06:03.280 which is going to be less dependent on advertising. And 0:06:03.480 --> 0:06:06.359 as you said, we have seen Apple um create, you know, 0:06:06.360 --> 0:06:09.760 basically throw up barriers for for companies like Meta to 0:06:10.279 --> 0:06:13.919 you know, to to track people across different websites. That's said, 0:06:14.360 --> 0:06:16.839 just because Apple creates these privacy rules, it's not going 0:06:16.880 --> 0:06:19.960 to stomp um websites and companies from collecting what's known 0:06:19.960 --> 0:06:22.600 as first party data. So that's data inside of Apple, 0:06:22.839 --> 0:06:26.039 data inside of Facebook and and these companies, these these 0:06:26.080 --> 0:06:29.680 big tech giants Apple, Meta, Google and so on. They 0:06:29.720 --> 0:06:32.200 have tons of data that is never going away, and 0:06:32.279 --> 0:06:34.200 this and target advertising is always going to be a 0:06:34.279 --> 0:06:37.000 huge business. The question is, you know, is it the 0:06:37.040 --> 0:06:39.120 growth business that it once was? And I think that 0:06:39.279 --> 0:06:43.960 is to be determined alright bloombox, Max Chafkin, thank you. 0:06:53.920 --> 0:06:56.839 This first six months have been the weakest first half 0:06:57.200 --> 0:06:59.680 for I P O s in years? How long will 0:06:59.680 --> 0:07:02.880 the slow down enlistings way on Wall Street and Silicon 0:07:03.000 --> 0:07:04.840 Valley and venture capital. I want to talk about all 0:07:04.839 --> 0:07:08.160 this in more with Initialized Capital General partner Alda lu 0:07:08.200 --> 0:07:10.160 Dennis Alda. Great to have you here in the studio. 0:07:10.360 --> 0:07:12.600 Great to be here, thank you. So we've seen Sequoia, 0:07:12.760 --> 0:07:16.160 hy Combinator, multiple firms come out with their version of 0:07:16.320 --> 0:07:20.200 R I P good times. What is Initialized take? Well, 0:07:20.240 --> 0:07:22.760 you know, I think what we saw was the news 0:07:22.760 --> 0:07:26.360 sort of trickling down slowly to founders, and I would 0:07:26.400 --> 0:07:28.160 say about a month and a half ago, I was 0:07:28.200 --> 0:07:31.000 hearing from one of LPs about the slowdown and they 0:07:31.000 --> 0:07:32.960 were seeing it in their public markets and their books, 0:07:33.520 --> 0:07:36.360 their public books, and VC sort of got the memo 0:07:36.520 --> 0:07:39.040 from their own LPs. And right now I'm having the 0:07:39.080 --> 0:07:43.600 conversation with our founders about how it really is looking 0:07:43.640 --> 0:07:46.280 like this as a downturn. There's still some denial in 0:07:46.320 --> 0:07:50.000 those ranks and um some defenses about how particular businesses 0:07:50.000 --> 0:07:53.040 may be able to withstand that. But initial initialized take 0:07:53.200 --> 0:07:56.280 is that yes, we are looking at a downturn, and 0:07:56.520 --> 0:08:00.680 we shouldn't panic. We're seed stage investors, so we're in 0:08:00.720 --> 0:08:04.000 the business of taking chances on founders and hoping that 0:08:04.040 --> 0:08:07.240 they'll figure out their business models and uh to conserve 0:08:07.280 --> 0:08:10.440 a little bit of capital for the longer term. The 0:08:10.520 --> 0:08:12.680 big question is how the biggest the downturn going to 0:08:12.760 --> 0:08:15.760 be sure, and I don't think anyone has the crystal ball, 0:08:15.800 --> 0:08:18.880 but at least at the early stage, at scenes stage investing, 0:08:19.120 --> 0:08:20.920 what we're really hoping is that they can find a 0:08:20.920 --> 0:08:23.160 product that people want and that people will want to 0:08:23.200 --> 0:08:26.440 grab out of their hands. And at that stage we're 0:08:26.480 --> 0:08:28.800 always going to be in the business of taking those 0:08:28.880 --> 0:08:31.440 chances and pivoting quickly and trying to find something that 0:08:31.480 --> 0:08:34.400 people watch. What are you seeing are fewer rounds closing 0:08:34.480 --> 0:08:37.439 right now or our founders saying I'm not even gonna 0:08:37.440 --> 0:08:40.920 try to fundraise at this moment. Absolutely, I've been advising 0:08:40.960 --> 0:08:43.679 companies to delay uh, you know, not to go out 0:08:43.679 --> 0:08:46.040 and rush and do a panic fundraise, because I think 0:08:46.040 --> 0:08:49.200 that vcs are exhausted from the last two years of 0:08:49.320 --> 0:08:52.920 really really bullish markets, and I know so many that 0:08:52.960 --> 0:08:55.719 are looking forward myself included to taking some time off 0:08:55.720 --> 0:08:57.920 this summer. And so it's not a great time unless 0:08:57.920 --> 0:09:00.520 you were already planning on fundraising anyway, to sort of 0:09:00.559 --> 0:09:02.600 go out there and shake the trees for some more capital. 0:09:02.679 --> 0:09:05.640 So what should founders do if they need to extend 0:09:05.640 --> 0:09:08.160 their runway? Well, there's plenty of ways to cut costs 0:09:08.160 --> 0:09:12.000 that don't involve raising capital. Uh and certainly um there 0:09:12.000 --> 0:09:15.200 are leases that they may have that they could sublet. 0:09:15.679 --> 0:09:17.720 We actually just put out a blog post about how 0:09:17.920 --> 0:09:23.160 it's possible to um uh even cut maybe say a 0:09:23.200 --> 0:09:26.000 small percentage of your staff or cut everyone back by 0:09:26.040 --> 0:09:28.600 one day a week and that would reduce t of 0:09:29.200 --> 0:09:31.480 uh of your labor expenses, which tend to be you know, 0:09:31.600 --> 0:09:34.719 seven seventy of the overall budget. That's and so you're 0:09:34.840 --> 0:09:38.520 advising layoffs. Well, I wouldn't say we're advising layoffs. I 0:09:38.559 --> 0:09:41.880 think we were are advising to not panic, take time 0:09:41.920 --> 0:09:44.400 to prepare if you actually need to raise capital and 0:09:44.440 --> 0:09:47.680 prepare your story and think about some cost cutting measures 0:09:47.679 --> 0:09:51.560 that may not involve laying off, including UM cutting back 0:09:51.800 --> 0:09:56.040 on expenses like snacks, or cutting back on UH retreats 0:09:56.040 --> 0:09:58.079 for those companies that have gone remote, or cutting back 0:09:58.080 --> 0:10:03.560 on offices. But suggest saying that employee employers cut employee 0:10:03.600 --> 0:10:05.400 from five to four days a week. That's interesting. I 0:10:05.400 --> 0:10:08.000 haven't heard of that before and it's certainly something should 0:10:08.040 --> 0:10:10.840 tell me more about that idea. Yeah, Avery, talking employees 0:10:10.840 --> 0:10:13.320 across the board? Are you talking about contractors? I think 0:10:13.320 --> 0:10:17.040 it depends on the teams that are involved, But certainly, UM, 0:10:17.080 --> 0:10:21.240 I think that we could afford to cut a certain 0:10:21.280 --> 0:10:24.480 amount of days or cut everyone's salary proportionally, and the 0:10:24.520 --> 0:10:26.920 most employees would be happy to accept that because if 0:10:26.920 --> 0:10:28.959 it was looking them looking at the face of getting 0:10:29.000 --> 0:10:32.880 cut entirely, or of their workforce getting cut versus taking 0:10:33.080 --> 0:10:36.480 across the board pay cut, which my husband's company did 0:10:36.559 --> 0:10:39.920 during the start of covid UH, they accepted it and 0:10:39.960 --> 0:10:42.480 they were happy that the cuts weren't deeper. What what 0:10:42.520 --> 0:10:45.280 company was that, I don't know if I can disclose 0:10:46.240 --> 0:10:49.600 on TV and but but they've they've come out of 0:10:49.640 --> 0:10:52.080 the they've come out of COVID just fine, as as 0:10:52.080 --> 0:10:56.840 many companies saying, So let's talk about what initializes looking 0:10:56.880 --> 0:10:58.920 for on the road ahead. I mean, are you still 0:11:00.200 --> 0:11:03.160 looking at are you are you still putting money out 0:11:03.200 --> 0:11:06.560 now or not? Have you also paused your investing? No, 0:11:06.760 --> 0:11:09.400 I mean we're in the business of being optimists. Were 0:11:09.400 --> 0:11:11.719 in the business of looking company looking for companies, and 0:11:11.840 --> 0:11:15.280 I've had the benefit of being an investor and being 0:11:15.320 --> 0:11:18.000 in this market through a couple of downturns, and so 0:11:18.120 --> 0:11:21.280 absolutely we're still looking at pitches, We're still talking to founders. 0:11:21.520 --> 0:11:24.800 But I do think it's true that uh, I personally 0:11:25.000 --> 0:11:27.280 was very very busy over the last couple of years 0:11:27.320 --> 0:11:29.520 and looking forward to taking some time off as my 0:11:29.559 --> 0:11:34.400 kids school ends on Friday. UM. So, when you look ahead, 0:11:34.760 --> 0:11:38.320 what are the sectors, the bets, the trends that you 0:11:38.360 --> 0:11:40.840 think are actually going to flourish in this market? Like, 0:11:41.360 --> 0:11:43.800 what are you most excited about? There's a lot of 0:11:43.840 --> 0:11:46.640 different sectors that I'm excited about. UM. I think that 0:11:46.920 --> 0:11:49.960 for one, I'm interested in the markets that appeal to 0:11:50.559 --> 0:11:53.839 UM you know, consumers that may not have received m 0:11:54.400 --> 0:11:59.160 software transformations in their businesses. Another industry that I'm interested 0:11:59.160 --> 0:12:01.199 in is sort of beauty. I think that's the one 0:12:01.240 --> 0:12:04.920 that has stoed up well in historical downturns UM and 0:12:05.559 --> 0:12:09.840 generally appeals to more female or underrepresented groups of the 0:12:09.880 --> 0:12:13.240 population as far as consumer investments go. And UM, you know, 0:12:13.320 --> 0:12:15.719 I can't. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention our 0:12:15.760 --> 0:12:18.800 funds focus on sort of crypto and with free technologies, 0:12:19.080 --> 0:12:21.439 which is one that we're still actively pursuing. Well, we've 0:12:21.440 --> 0:12:25.040 talked to Gary tan had Nauseam, your partner about those. Um, 0:12:25.200 --> 0:12:28.360 thank you for sharing your view on all that's happening 0:12:28.440 --> 0:12:33.640 with US initialized Capital General partner Paul to luke Gannist. Well, 0:12:33.800 --> 0:12:36.480 they were once bitter rivals, but now Weymo and Uber 0:12:36.520 --> 0:12:39.160 are teaming up. The companies have just announced what they 0:12:39.200 --> 0:12:42.559 are calling a deep, long term partnership. Weymo will connect 0:12:42.720 --> 0:12:46.240 its autonomous trucking operation to Uber Freight. This comes just 0:12:46.360 --> 0:12:48.760 a few months after the companies ended a drawn out 0:12:48.880 --> 0:12:53.319 legal battle over self driving technology. Weymo's trucking service, weymo Via, 0:12:53.480 --> 0:12:56.839 is expected to be running on Uber Freights network within 0:12:56.880 --> 0:13:00.800 the year and what timing. Both ubers EO Dark Casrashah 0:13:01.080 --> 0:13:04.440 and Waymo COO CEO to Quedral Mama Kana. We'll be 0:13:04.520 --> 0:13:07.320 joining us at the Bloomberg Tech Summit tomorrow. Mama Kana 0:13:07.360 --> 0:13:10.440 will be sitting down right here with me on the 0:13:10.440 --> 0:13:13.880 show as well. Coming up, we're gonna get a status 0:13:13.920 --> 0:13:16.600 update on air taxis and exclusive interview with Joe by 0:13:16.720 --> 0:13:20.040 Aviation and our own ed Ludlow joining us from a 0:13:20.080 --> 0:13:24.600 summit on the future of transportation. ED. That's right, and 0:13:24.720 --> 0:13:26.760 we're on the ground, but we're also up in the air. 0:13:26.840 --> 0:13:29.600 We're talking all things that fly, all things that electric, 0:13:29.640 --> 0:13:46.400 all things that our mobility. This is Bloomberg. Let's go 0:13:46.480 --> 0:13:49.760 live now to the up summit in Bentonville, Arkansas. Our 0:13:49.800 --> 0:13:52.680 own at Ludlow live on the ground at this invite 0:13:52.720 --> 0:13:56.600 only gathering of mobility tech CEOs, investors and startups. That 0:13:56.720 --> 0:14:00.280 is over one trillion dollars of assets in the room. 0:14:00.320 --> 0:14:04.000 He's joined out by a special guest. ED. Yeah, and 0:14:04.040 --> 0:14:06.439 it's one guy that everyone wants to speak to, Joe 0:14:06.440 --> 0:14:10.480 ben Vett, CEO of Joe Aviation. We're rubbing shoulders with 0:14:10.520 --> 0:14:12.560 all kinds of people here, right. We have investors, we 0:14:12.600 --> 0:14:15.959 have other CEOs, we have corporates that want to collaborate 0:14:16.000 --> 0:14:18.520 with CEOs, what are you trunting people about? What's your 0:14:18.559 --> 0:14:21.920 message right now? So what's really exciting right now? This 0:14:21.960 --> 0:14:26.800 is an amazing event. It's a convergence of amazing CEOs 0:14:26.840 --> 0:14:29.360 and leaders from around the world were really focused on 0:14:29.520 --> 0:14:33.920 sustainable aviation and how do we reduce the impact on 0:14:33.960 --> 0:14:38.880 our environment from aviation. We're talking electrical vertical takeoff and 0:14:38.960 --> 0:14:42.680 landing flying. I call it flying taxi. Right, let's call 0:14:42.720 --> 0:14:45.480 it what it is, flying taxi. Where are you in 0:14:45.560 --> 0:14:48.480 your cycle at job aviation for making this real? Because 0:14:48.480 --> 0:14:50.880 that's the other conversation that's happening here in the corridors right. 0:14:50.960 --> 0:14:53.920 A lot of this seems a long way in the future. Yeah, 0:14:53.960 --> 0:14:56.800 So we've been working on this for more than a decade. Uh, 0:14:56.840 --> 0:15:01.480 this is a really fantastic future and it's coming true today. 0:15:01.680 --> 0:15:05.920 We've we've been flying full scale aircraft since we've been 0:15:05.920 --> 0:15:09.400 certifying them with the f A since We've had really 0:15:09.440 --> 0:15:12.920 exciting news just today on additional progress with the FA 0:15:13.040 --> 0:15:16.480 on our certification program. So the momentum is really building. 0:15:16.560 --> 0:15:18.640 So it sounds like you have a pretty high opinion 0:15:18.680 --> 0:15:20.560 of f a A and the work, the pace that 0:15:20.560 --> 0:15:22.320 they're doing. Things I've heard from others that are kind 0:15:22.360 --> 0:15:25.200 of frustrated with the FAA because of how restricted they are. 0:15:25.240 --> 0:15:27.440 But but you're happy we wear things stand from our 0:15:27.480 --> 0:15:30.640 regulatory standpoint, the f A has done an incredible job 0:15:30.880 --> 0:15:35.040 in with the industry over decades to make aviation the 0:15:35.080 --> 0:15:37.840 safest mode of transportation that we have. It's orders of 0:15:37.920 --> 0:15:41.480 magnitude safer than any other mode we have. And that's 0:15:41.560 --> 0:15:44.160 really really exciting, and that's what d f a's mission is. 0:15:44.440 --> 0:15:46.960 So asking me about the aircraft themselves, where are we 0:15:47.120 --> 0:15:50.880 in production? What is the target for production over say 0:15:50.920 --> 0:15:53.600 the next few months and next year. So we've we've 0:15:53.640 --> 0:15:57.000 just completed our pilot production facility. This gives us the 0:15:57.480 --> 0:16:00.880 ability to bruise tens of aircraft per year. Um, we 0:16:01.000 --> 0:16:03.880 are we have a close partnership with Toyota and right 0:16:04.560 --> 0:16:08.040 we are uh working with them on the plans for 0:16:08.040 --> 0:16:10.400 our Phase one production facility, which will be able to 0:16:10.400 --> 0:16:12.960 produce hundreds of aircraft per year. So what is the 0:16:12.960 --> 0:16:16.080 idea that you you work with Toyota to learn from 0:16:16.120 --> 0:16:19.880 their experience in manufacturing or you use their facilities. How 0:16:19.920 --> 0:16:22.600 does that clay out in practice? Yeah? So to it 0:16:22.680 --> 0:16:25.960 is amazing. They're they're known around the world for being 0:16:26.000 --> 0:16:30.680 able to build very complex machines UH an incredibly affordable 0:16:30.720 --> 0:16:35.760 price with spectacular reliability. Right. And so when we looked 0:16:35.800 --> 0:16:38.840 at who we wanted to partner with to take this 0:16:39.080 --> 0:16:41.880 to the scale that it needs to go, beyond the 0:16:41.920 --> 0:16:46.800 scale that aviation has ever been done before, we selected 0:16:46.800 --> 0:16:48.840 to it as there's really an ideal partner. I was 0:16:48.920 --> 0:16:52.640 chatting with Alaska Air CEO Ben Minoicucci earlier, and you know, 0:16:52.680 --> 0:16:55.400 he's an engineer just like you, and you know he 0:16:55.440 --> 0:16:59.160 has some skepticism about the use case for battery electric 0:16:59.440 --> 0:17:03.480 in long distance flying in you know, larger aircraft. What's 0:17:03.480 --> 0:17:06.639 your take on that, because you believe it's essential from 0:17:07.080 --> 0:17:11.119 a cobbon standpoint, from an environmental standpoint, absolutely right. And 0:17:11.200 --> 0:17:17.119 he's absolutely right. I've been working on electric aircraft since okay, 0:17:17.320 --> 0:17:20.760 uh We've we've had an order of magnitude improvement in 0:17:20.960 --> 0:17:24.200 the specific energy of batteries over that period of time. 0:17:24.840 --> 0:17:27.879 But we have a real urgent problem that we need 0:17:27.920 --> 0:17:33.639 to solve today. Aviation is one of the highest climate 0:17:33.640 --> 0:17:35.919 impact things we do on a daily basis, right, and 0:17:35.960 --> 0:17:39.639 it's imperative that we reduce that environmental footprint and electric 0:17:39.680 --> 0:17:43.480 propulsion is the solution, but battery electric only moves you. 0:17:43.720 --> 0:17:45.880 It's very valuable when you want to move across town 0:17:46.240 --> 0:17:49.400 or between cities that are close together. When we want 0:17:49.400 --> 0:17:52.760 to move around the planet, the solution is hygrogeneer electric 0:17:53.240 --> 0:17:56.760 hydrogen is three times higher specific energy than jet fuel. 0:17:56.800 --> 0:17:58.879 But that's why we talk about flying taxi. We have 0:17:58.960 --> 0:18:01.199 put emphasis on that. There's also the use case. I 0:18:01.240 --> 0:18:04.199 know that you're focused on the flying taxi, but the 0:18:04.240 --> 0:18:07.400 big name in town is Walmart. You know, they're interesting 0:18:07.720 --> 0:18:11.320 towards me about other use cases. Delivery, it's a possible avenue, 0:18:11.400 --> 0:18:15.080 right yeah, so, uh, we're very excited about moving people 0:18:15.080 --> 0:18:18.160 across town. But there's also a really valuable use case 0:18:18.359 --> 0:18:22.320 in moving goods. And we have an amazing partnership with 0:18:22.359 --> 0:18:27.560 the DoD UH where we are significantly reducing their operating 0:18:27.560 --> 0:18:34.920 costs okay uh significantly uh, improving reliability and making it 0:18:35.359 --> 0:18:39.480 possible for them to move goods around on basis around 0:18:39.520 --> 0:18:42.600 the US people around basis in the US in a 0:18:42.640 --> 0:18:44.600 in a much more efficient case. So that's that's a 0:18:44.640 --> 0:18:48.440 government relationship. That's that's could be lucrative for you. When 0:18:48.440 --> 0:18:51.040 are you going to be meaningfully revenue generating. You know, 0:18:51.080 --> 0:18:53.320 give me a real timeline for when this is a 0:18:53.320 --> 0:18:57.960 substantive business. So we are going to build this slowly. Okay, 0:18:58.000 --> 0:18:59.840 this doesn't We're not going to be able to turn 0:18:59.880 --> 0:19:05.800 it on in UH cities around the world on day one. Again. Today, 0:19:05.840 --> 0:19:09.600 we're building tens of aircraft. Uh in the next few years, right, 0:19:09.600 --> 0:19:11.359 you able to have the capacity to build hundreds of 0:19:11.400 --> 0:19:15.479 aircraft over the arc. We need orders of magnitude more 0:19:15.520 --> 0:19:18.119 aircraft than that, all right, Uh in order to really 0:19:18.240 --> 0:19:20.800 bring this vision to life of being able to move people, 0:19:21.760 --> 0:19:23.680 allow people to live where they want to live, work 0:19:23.720 --> 0:19:27.280 where they want to work. And UH. This this is 0:19:27.359 --> 0:19:31.200 if you think of back back through the epochs of history, 0:19:31.760 --> 0:19:35.720 as we moved from uh walking to riding horses, to 0:19:36.160 --> 0:19:40.199 the railroad and the automobiles. They reshaped our civilization. And 0:19:40.280 --> 0:19:42.080 you think it will do this time. I'm sorry to 0:19:42.080 --> 0:19:44.640 cut you off, jo Van. We we always need more time. 0:19:44.680 --> 0:19:48.000 That's Joe Ben beven CEO j V Aviation and and 0:19:48.119 --> 0:19:50.920 fascinating conversation. He's gonna take me for a ride, he's 0:19:50.920 --> 0:19:54.760 promised me. All right, You'll have to keep us posted 0:19:54.800 --> 0:20:06.640 on how that goes. Thank you. Welcome back to Bloomer Technology. 0:20:06.640 --> 0:20:09.480 I'm Emily Chang in San Francisco. One of the biggest 0:20:09.520 --> 0:20:12.439 threats to the United States could be its lack of 0:20:12.520 --> 0:20:16.480 modern technology inside the government, in part due to bureaucracy, 0:20:16.720 --> 0:20:20.679 from expanding AI capabilities for the military to beefing up cybersecurity. 0:20:20.760 --> 0:20:23.879 There's a very real concern that the US has fallen 0:20:23.920 --> 0:20:26.960 behind in the tech race. My next guest and others 0:20:27.000 --> 0:20:29.040 working in the Biden administration are trying to fix that. 0:20:29.160 --> 0:20:31.639 Joining me now, Kirsten Todd. She's the chief of Staff 0:20:31.640 --> 0:20:35.160 at CEASE of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. It's 0:20:35.160 --> 0:20:38.480 great to see you in person after interviewing you remotely 0:20:38.640 --> 0:20:41.239 for years. Um, thank you for joining us. Thank you. 0:20:41.440 --> 0:20:44.879 So look, there's this new Pentagon AI chief who wants 0:20:44.920 --> 0:20:48.600 to crack the bureaucratic inertia when it comes to some 0:20:48.760 --> 0:20:54.280 of these issues. How would you rate how modernized US 0:20:54.320 --> 0:20:56.760 technology to fight some of these threats is at this 0:20:56.840 --> 0:20:58.920 moment and how much better do you want it to be. 0:20:59.400 --> 0:21:01.200 I think when we look at where we are, we're 0:21:01.200 --> 0:21:05.520 always assessing the legacy infrastructure, what we're working from, and 0:21:05.560 --> 0:21:08.120 where we're going. I think what's so critical about where 0:21:08.119 --> 0:21:11.080 the Biden administration is today is that you have leaders 0:21:11.119 --> 0:21:14.439 across the government, across agencies at d D the director 0:21:14.440 --> 0:21:17.480 of SISSIGE and easterly Chris Ingliss, the National Cyber Director, 0:21:17.680 --> 0:21:21.200 who all appreciate the value and the need to bring technology, 0:21:21.280 --> 0:21:24.040 modern day technology into government. And there are so many 0:21:24.200 --> 0:21:26.960 efforts that have been legislated over the last year that 0:21:27.080 --> 0:21:30.920 really enforce and encourage that's spending to bring that technology. 0:21:30.960 --> 0:21:34.400 We know that government can't secure the nation or industry 0:21:34.400 --> 0:21:37.320 by itself. We've got to be working together to identify 0:21:37.359 --> 0:21:39.280 the right technologies and bring them in. And we've seen 0:21:39.440 --> 0:21:42.520 a lot of efforts that are actually creating the resources 0:21:42.880 --> 0:21:45.680 and an enormous amount of money. Um SISSA has a 0:21:45.720 --> 0:21:48.679 budget now of over two billion with the newly appropriated 0:21:48.680 --> 0:21:51.800 funds to bring that technology into modernize government and to 0:21:51.880 --> 0:21:54.000 keep it evolving to where the threats are. Last I 0:21:54.040 --> 0:21:57.840 heard there was five hundred thousand open jobs in cyber security. 0:21:58.000 --> 0:22:01.400 Is that for real? And what are the consequences of 0:22:01.440 --> 0:22:03.840 that that all of those jobs aren't being filled? So 0:22:03.880 --> 0:22:05.919 I would even say that the numbers more because when 0:22:05.960 --> 0:22:08.240