WEBVTT - What You Need to Know About the Delta Variant 0:00:01.800 --> 0:00:04.440 This is Bloomberg Business Week. I'm Carol Masser and I'm 0:00:04.480 --> 0:00:07.280 Bloomberg Quick Takes Tim Stanovik. We're here every day bringing 0:00:07.320 --> 0:00:09.840 you the latest news from the world to business and finance, 0:00:09.840 --> 0:00:13.680 plus technology, politics, economics, all partnising the power of Business 0:00:13.680 --> 0:00:17.160 Week reporters and editors, not to mention our journalists and 0:00:17.160 --> 0:00:20.000 analyst in more than one twenty countries. You can download 0:00:20.000 --> 0:00:23.239 Bloomberg Business Week and iTunes, SoundCloud, or Bloomberg dot Com. 0:00:23.400 --> 0:00:25.160 You can also listen to our radio show at two 0:00:25.200 --> 0:00:27.880 pm Eastern Time on Bloomberg Radio or watch us on 0:00:27.920 --> 0:00:31.560 YouTube search Bloomberg Global News. All Right, Well, among the 0:00:31.760 --> 0:00:34.680 COVID headlines that we're watching on this Wednesday, concerns about 0:00:34.720 --> 0:00:38.240 when it comes to the delta variant, it's trajectory, it's impact, 0:00:38.320 --> 0:00:41.199 it's spread. We're trying to understand it, even for those 0:00:41.240 --> 0:00:43.880 of us who have been vaccinated. We've also heard from 0:00:43.880 --> 0:00:47.080 a dornaust chairman vowing to keep testing the drugmaker's COVID 0:00:47.159 --> 0:00:50.360 vaccine against variants and advised against putting our guard down 0:00:50.400 --> 0:00:54.120 as new mutations continue to emerge. That coming from our 0:00:54.160 --> 0:00:57.280 Bloomberg New Economy Catalyst event. Well, back with US and 0:00:57.440 --> 0:01:01.480 form voice Dr Dave Westerner, he's professed or biology, david'son college. 0:01:01.640 --> 0:01:04.080 He's with us once again on the phone from David's 0:01:04.080 --> 0:01:06.200 in North Carolina. Dr west are good to have you 0:01:06.240 --> 0:01:09.480 here with us. When you hear delta variant, what do 0:01:09.560 --> 0:01:13.520 you say? I calts like to be back. Yeah, it 0:01:13.640 --> 0:01:17.080 is worrisome. Um. I think this variant, there's clear evidence 0:01:17.160 --> 0:01:20.440 that it's much more transmissible than the the alpha variant, 0:01:20.440 --> 0:01:23.600 which had been the predominant variant. UM. As we saw 0:01:23.720 --> 0:01:27.600 in the UK, it spread rapidly and quickly became the 0:01:27.640 --> 0:01:30.800 major variant in that country. Um. And right now I 0:01:30.840 --> 0:01:34.080 think about new infections in the US are caused by 0:01:34.160 --> 0:01:36.280 by delta and that number certainly is going to do 0:01:36.319 --> 0:01:39.080 that proportion certainly has going to increase in the near future. 0:01:39.840 --> 0:01:41.760 What does that mean for those of us who are 0:01:41.800 --> 0:01:46.039 starting to love the world reopening. We're vaccinated check check check, 0:01:46.080 --> 0:01:49.880 our families vaccinated check check check, and we're going to restaurants. 0:01:49.920 --> 0:01:52.680 We're living again. That's how it feels. Yet with a 0:01:52.720 --> 0:01:56.440 cautious eye on what might happen, I don't know in 0:01:56.440 --> 0:01:58.760 a month, in two months, in six months. How do 0:01:58.840 --> 0:02:01.480 we need to look at this. Yeah, I'm with you there, 0:02:01.640 --> 0:02:05.200 completely carroling. When the CDC change their mask sidelines, I 0:02:05.280 --> 0:02:07.080 was all too happy to leave my own home when 0:02:07.080 --> 0:02:10.200 I went to the coffee shop, are or the grocery store. Um. 0:02:10.280 --> 0:02:12.720 You know, I think we can't let our guards down 0:02:12.760 --> 0:02:15.840 completely just yet. I think that's what this this variant 0:02:15.919 --> 0:02:20.840 is is showing us UM for fully vaccinated people, the 0:02:20.919 --> 0:02:24.280 vaccine is still highly effective against this variant. It's probably 0:02:24.560 --> 0:02:28.320 less effective against this variants than the original strain, but 0:02:28.480 --> 0:02:32.359 still really effective. UM. One of the questions that's still 0:02:32.400 --> 0:02:36.640 out there though, is you know, if you are vaccinated, 0:02:36.919 --> 0:02:39.799 can you have an asymptomatic infection and potentially spread it 0:02:39.800 --> 0:02:42.400 to other people who are not vaccinated? You know, I 0:02:42.400 --> 0:02:47.120 think that question has not been completely addressed yet. Um. 0:02:47.200 --> 0:02:49.440 And then we have a whole cohort of people who 0:02:49.840 --> 0:02:54.680 are unvaccinated, especially the younger kids. Vaccines are only available 0:02:54.720 --> 0:02:58.280 to people who are twelve and and up. UM, so 0:02:58.400 --> 0:03:02.040 the the younger younger people, people under twelve. UM. I mean, 0:03:02.120 --> 0:03:05.240 I I'm worried about a big spike in cases among 0:03:05.400 --> 0:03:08.520 younger people. Well, and I do want to have some 0:03:08.520 --> 0:03:12.240 family members with some underlying health issues, and the question 0:03:12.360 --> 0:03:14.799 is well, wait, should I go back and start wearing 0:03:14.840 --> 0:03:18.160 my mask, because maybe I'm a little bit more vulnerable 0:03:18.240 --> 0:03:21.440 even if I get even though I'm vaccinated, if I 0:03:21.480 --> 0:03:25.960 get this stronger variant, could I be at risk? Right? 0:03:26.080 --> 0:03:28.000 I think that's a reasonable concern to have. You know, 0:03:28.040 --> 0:03:33.560 there's there's conflicting data so far about whether this variant 0:03:33.760 --> 0:03:37.160 is more severe than the other variants. UM. There's a 0:03:37.160 --> 0:03:40.320 report from Scotland UM publishing The Landsa just a few 0:03:40.400 --> 0:03:44.920 days ago in which the researchers concluded that people infected 0:03:44.920 --> 0:03:47.960 with Delta were twice as likely to be hospitalized as 0:03:48.000 --> 0:03:52.800 people infected with the previous variant Alpha UM. And that's 0:03:53.640 --> 0:03:56.040 really troubling UM. But but I think the jury is 0:03:56.040 --> 0:03:57.760 still out on that. I mean, that was one study 0:03:57.880 --> 0:04:01.040 of relatively small number of number of people. UM. But yeah, 0:04:01.120 --> 0:04:04.200 I think for for all of us, whether you're UM 0:04:04.400 --> 0:04:09.280 have underlying conditions or not, it's worth being concerned about 0:04:09.280 --> 0:04:12.040 the transmission this variant. Do we also need to think 0:04:12.040 --> 0:04:15.920 about and even more potent variants still emerging. That's the possibility. 0:04:16.000 --> 0:04:17.839 I mean, virus is mutate all the time. You know, 0:04:17.880 --> 0:04:21.760 I think we've talked about that before, and you know, 0:04:21.800 --> 0:04:23.960 in the United States, we have a fair amount of 0:04:24.000 --> 0:04:28.520 vaccination somewhere in there. UM. Other parts of the world 0:04:28.560 --> 0:04:32.320 you have really really low vaccination rates, and we see 0:04:32.320 --> 0:04:37.719 the virus um spread occurring dramatically. UM. Anytime the virus 0:04:37.920 --> 0:04:41.560 is spreading and being transmitted from person in person, the 0:04:41.600 --> 0:04:44.800 emergence of a new variant is a very real possibility. So, yes, 0:04:44.960 --> 0:04:47.359 Delta is not the last variant we're going to see. 0:04:47.880 --> 0:04:50.640 How much are you also thinking about booster shots? A 0:04:50.720 --> 0:04:53.760 s Having conversation with some colleagues earlier, who again we're 0:04:53.760 --> 0:04:57.200 embracing Wow, I'm going out. I'm really enjoying this UM. 0:04:57.240 --> 0:04:58.840 But do I need to think about when it gets 0:04:58.839 --> 0:05:01.400 colder again here, certainly on the eastern portion of the 0:05:01.480 --> 0:05:05.680 United States. Is something going to happen again in the fall? Potentially? Right? 0:05:05.760 --> 0:05:09.480 I think? Sorry to be such a bummer. I'm an 0:05:09.480 --> 0:05:14.919 optimistic I have that concern, especially as it gets colder, 0:05:15.080 --> 0:05:17.160 we get into the fall, the early winter, and people 0:05:17.160 --> 0:05:21.000 are indoors more, UM, in more crowded indoor settings. Are 0:05:21.040 --> 0:05:23.240 we going to see a resurgence in in cases when 0:05:23.279 --> 0:05:26.880 kids are back in school, et cetera. UM. In terms 0:05:26.920 --> 0:05:30.960 of boosters, the information so far suggests that the vaccines 0:05:31.520 --> 0:05:36.000 um provide fairly long lasting protection. What's long, but it's long. 0:05:36.200 --> 0:05:38.480 But yeah, we only have six months a year's worth 0:05:38.520 --> 0:05:41.680 of data so far. We can't say these vaccines protect 0:05:41.720 --> 0:05:45.279 for two years because the vaccines haven't been deployed for 0:05:45.279 --> 0:05:48.520 for that long. Um, and I think it will get 0:05:48.560 --> 0:05:52.279 that data as time goes by. A booster shot very 0:05:52.320 --> 0:05:54.760 well maybe, Um I think that champ to get a 0:05:54.880 --> 0:05:58.039 yearly booster for instance. Um. Dr western just real quickly 0:05:58.080 --> 0:06:01.159 about seconds. I mean, how will we know when and 0:06:01.200 --> 0:06:02.800 if we need a booster? Are we just gonna start 0:06:02.800 --> 0:06:04.799 seeing cases pop up and we'll and we'll just figure 0:06:04.800 --> 0:06:06.239 it out that way. It's gonna be kind of random, 0:06:06.320 --> 0:06:09.800 just quickly hopefully not random, but you know what I mean, like, 0:06:09.880 --> 0:06:11.760 how do how does how do you guys assess that 0:06:11.800 --> 0:06:14.040 we're gonna need it? And just quick? Yeah, their studies 0:06:14.080 --> 0:06:17.680 ongoing where the researchers are measuring the antibody level and 0:06:17.720 --> 0:06:20.159 people who had been vaccinated and they're looking for a 0:06:20.200 --> 0:06:23.719 decline in that antibody level. Okay, you always cover so much, 0:06:23.800 --> 0:06:26.320 Thank you so much and clarify so much. Dr Dave Westerner, 0:06:26.400 --> 0:06:29.880 Professor of Biology at Davidson College. You're listening to Bloomberg 0:06:29.880 --> 0:06:33.599 Business Week with Carol Masser and Bloomberg Quick Takes Tim 0:06:33.640 --> 0:06:37.760 Stinovic on Bloomberg Radio. Well the fourth annual highst issue 0:06:37.760 --> 0:06:40.839 of Bloomberg Business Week magazine. It is at this week, 0:06:40.920 --> 0:06:44.120 hitting news stands tomorrow, online and on the Bloomberg. One 0:06:44.160 --> 0:06:46.560 of the stories is also among our most right on 0:06:46.560 --> 0:06:49.520 the Bloomberg Today. It's about the fall of the billionaire 0:06:49.520 --> 0:06:52.480 Gucci Master. You know you want to know more. Here 0:06:52.520 --> 0:06:56.440 with more is Business Week freelance writer Evan Ratliffe. He 0:06:56.640 --> 0:06:59.360 is on the phone in Delaware. Evan, it is an 0:06:59.360 --> 0:07:04.120 incredible read, an incredible individual. First of all, tell us 0:07:04.160 --> 0:07:09.720 about who is the billionaire Gucci Master? Thanks the bill. 0:07:10.240 --> 0:07:13.840 The Billionaire Gucci Master is a guy named Ramona A 0:07:13.960 --> 0:07:17.080 Boss is his real name. He went by Ray Hush 0:07:17.080 --> 0:07:21.080 Puppy online or his handle was hush Puppy Um. He 0:07:21.320 --> 0:07:26.480 was an Instagram influencer. He had a couple of million followers. 0:07:26.520 --> 0:07:30.480 He was known for his portrayals of luxury. He was 0:07:30.480 --> 0:07:35.280 always photographed in designer clothes, standing in front of rolls 0:07:35.360 --> 0:07:39.720 Royces Ferrari's that he had bought. Living a very opulent lifestyle. 0:07:39.840 --> 0:07:42.760 He lived in Dubai. He had been born in Nigeria, 0:07:42.800 --> 0:07:45.680 that he had moved to Dubai and Uh, that was 0:07:45.720 --> 0:07:48.320 who he was for the world. He was kind of 0:07:48.320 --> 0:07:51.920 a small, small celebrity. He hung out with other celebrities. UM. 0:07:52.000 --> 0:07:54.680 But as it turned out, he is alleged to be 0:07:54.960 --> 0:07:57.960 also involved in in some of the big cyber scans 0:07:57.960 --> 0:07:59.240 of the last few years. I have to say for 0:07:59.280 --> 0:08:01.200 those of us have to Ron Bloomberg Radio, but we're 0:08:01.240 --> 0:08:04.000 also on YouTube, and those who are on YouTube can 0:08:04.200 --> 0:08:06.560 can see. We're just showing some video of him running 0:08:06.560 --> 0:08:08.840 into a helicopter, sitting down. I think it was a helicopter, 0:08:08.920 --> 0:08:11.160 maybe it was a plane. I think, wearing a lot 0:08:11.200 --> 0:08:13.720 of Louis Vuitton, a little Louis Vuitton next to him, 0:08:13.760 --> 0:08:16.280 and eating something on what looked like a private plane. 0:08:16.680 --> 0:08:20.240 What did he do that put him uh and gave 0:08:20.320 --> 0:08:24.760 him a place in the heist issue? Well? His his 0:08:24.840 --> 0:08:26.760 reason for being in the heist issue is that he 0:08:26.880 --> 0:08:30.720 is alleged by the US government UH to have participated 0:08:30.760 --> 0:08:33.880 in some of the largest cyber scams of the last 0:08:33.880 --> 0:08:37.839 few years under the name business email compromise scams. That's 0:08:37.880 --> 0:08:40.640 what they're called. UM. And he's alleged to be a 0:08:40.720 --> 0:08:44.200 person who moved large sums of money as part of 0:08:44.200 --> 0:08:46.400 these scams. And some of the targets of the scams 0:08:46.160 --> 0:08:50.360 were enormous, including they were trying to steal a hundred 0:08:50.440 --> 0:08:54.040 million over hundred million dollars from a Premier League soccer team. Uh, 0:08:54.080 --> 0:08:57.280 they were stealing from businesses in the US, law firms, 0:08:57.360 --> 0:09:01.920 other businesses, and they were tracking him. They eventually arrested 0:09:01.960 --> 0:09:05.000 him in Dubai, and he's facing trial in Los Angeles. 0:09:05.120 --> 0:09:07.000 And I want to bring in the editor of Bloomberg 0:09:07.040 --> 0:09:10.440 business Week, Joel Webberg. This is just a fascinating tale. 0:09:10.440 --> 0:09:12.520 But it's not a tale, it's true. Yeah. I mean 0:09:12.520 --> 0:09:14.600 that's the best part of the about the heist issue. 0:09:15.360 --> 0:09:18.840 And you know, Evan um this, as I've tweeted earlier, 0:09:18.880 --> 0:09:20.840 you know, in the history of the HIGHST issue, this 0:09:20.920 --> 0:09:23.480 goes down is like maybe one of the very best 0:09:23.520 --> 0:09:26.920 HIGHST stories. One of the things that captivated me about 0:09:26.960 --> 0:09:30.480 it is this idea that you know, b EC scams, 0:09:30.480 --> 0:09:33.240 which I know you you you just briefly hit on here. 0:09:33.640 --> 0:09:36.160 They're bigger than ransomware, and like no one wants to 0:09:36.200 --> 0:09:39.320 talk about them because there's such a big problem. Like like, 0:09:39.600 --> 0:09:41.720 put put that in perspective. I mean, to think about 0:09:41.760 --> 0:09:44.400 this being bigger than ransomware is a little bit of 0:09:44.440 --> 0:09:47.920 a mind blower, right, yeah, yeah, I mean it really 0:09:47.920 --> 0:09:51.760 flies under the radar a bit because it's just it's 0:09:51.760 --> 0:09:54.000 it doesn't hit the news for one reason. You know, 0:09:54.120 --> 0:09:57.000 ransomware is very dramatic. You know someone's being held office 0:09:57.040 --> 0:09:59.360 or behalf for money, and b EC scam is a 0:09:59.440 --> 0:10:02.040 more it's a or technical scam. We can go into 0:10:02.120 --> 0:10:04.720 how it works exactly, but part of the problem is 0:10:04.760 --> 0:10:08.160 that if you just transfer money to a scammer and 0:10:08.240 --> 0:10:11.360 you've been tricked into doing it, no, no company wants 0:10:11.360 --> 0:10:13.280 to talk about that. If you're a public company, you 0:10:13.360 --> 0:10:15.160 might have to disclose it them if the number is 0:10:15.280 --> 0:10:17.040 large enough, but no one else is going to talk 0:10:17.080 --> 0:10:19.440 about that because then you lose the trust of your customers, 0:10:19.480 --> 0:10:23.319 of your suppliers, of your clients, like you're completely incompetent 0:10:23.360 --> 0:10:25.400 if you're doing this, when in fact it's a very 0:10:25.480 --> 0:10:27.760 very clever way to extract money for company. Okay, so 0:10:27.840 --> 0:10:29.680 let's just talk about it a little bit more because 0:10:29.800 --> 0:10:33.080 it is so simple, right, that's the problem with it. 0:10:33.080 --> 0:10:36.560 It's like you to defend against this. I mean, it's 0:10:36.600 --> 0:10:40.440 incredibly difficult because all it takes is somebody changing a digit. 0:10:40.559 --> 0:10:42.680 If you're doing this as a day job, that all 0:10:42.720 --> 0:10:46.000 of these orders are flying around all the time, how 0:10:46.040 --> 0:10:49.400 how does it? How do they pull it off? So 0:10:49.440 --> 0:10:51.480 the way it works, and it's sort of most simplest 0:10:51.520 --> 0:10:55.040 form is it's business email compromise. Obviously, they compromise an email, 0:10:55.080 --> 0:10:57.720 and that's usually going to be they're breaking into a 0:10:57.840 --> 0:11:02.760 corporate email account at some decently sized company. They want 0:11:02.760 --> 0:11:06.040 to hit someone mid level above, hopefully someone who's interacting 0:11:06.160 --> 0:11:08.880 with big payments, and they'll research the companies trying to 0:11:08.880 --> 0:11:11.640 figure out who that is. Once they're inside the email, 0:11:12.160 --> 0:11:14.960 they're just gonna wait. They're just gonna sit there, watch 0:11:15.000 --> 0:11:17.040 the traffic, watch what comes in and out, try to 0:11:17.160 --> 0:11:20.559 learn how the payments work. And then when a large 0:11:20.600 --> 0:11:23.240 invoice hits, let's say a law firm has an invoice 0:11:23.280 --> 0:11:26.599 for a million dollars, then that's when they insert themselves. 0:11:26.760 --> 0:11:29.319 So they know exactly how to create a fake in 0:11:29.400 --> 0:11:32.280 voice that's gonna look real. They'll immediately send it as 0:11:32.320 --> 0:11:35.040 a follow up. They'll change the bank details to their 0:11:35.080 --> 0:11:38.079 own and say here's a new invoice, sorry, that one 0:11:38.120 --> 0:11:40.440 had the wrong bank details on it. And because they're 0:11:40.480 --> 0:11:42.920 coming from inside an email account, they have all the 0:11:42.960 --> 0:11:46.160 details right, they have the language right. Oftentimes, people who 0:11:46.160 --> 0:11:49.120 are doing these payments just they just overlook it. Uh, 0:11:49.160 --> 0:11:51.720 they just they're doing many of these a day potentially 0:11:51.800 --> 0:11:54.800 or at least a week, and so they hit yes 0:11:54.880 --> 0:11:57.480 on the payment, they authorize it to the bank, and 0:11:57.520 --> 0:12:01.160 then it's immediately gone from the scammer bank account to 0:12:01.400 --> 0:12:04.079 another one overseas, to another one overseas, and the money 0:12:04.080 --> 0:12:07.600 becomes impossible to trace. So hush puppy, let's bring it 0:12:07.640 --> 0:12:11.040 back to Uh, can I just say that again, hush puppy. 0:12:11.120 --> 0:12:14.560 Let's bring it back to hush puppy. Evan, what is 0:12:14.600 --> 0:12:16.560 your name? Your code name? Did you have a code 0:12:16.600 --> 0:12:19.760 name for the story? I didn't use a code name. 0:12:19.800 --> 0:12:23.320 I love Ray hush Puppy. It is just it's so enticing. 0:12:23.320 --> 0:12:27.079 I mean, it's a brilliant Instagram name because it just 0:12:27.200 --> 0:12:30.280 it conveys something that you just want to learn more 0:12:30.320 --> 0:12:33.240 about Ray hush Puppy. And there are these robes that 0:12:33.280 --> 0:12:34.959 he wears and some of the photos that we have 0:12:35.080 --> 0:12:36.959 and it says hush Puppy on the back for the record, 0:12:37.040 --> 0:12:38.440 I was like, I want a road that says the 0:12:38.480 --> 0:12:41.640 heist issue, Like I want I want that road. Um so. 0:12:41.640 --> 0:12:43.800 So Evan, let's talk more about him because one of 0:12:43.800 --> 0:12:46.839 the most fascinating elements of this story is that um 0:12:47.520 --> 0:12:51.880 Hush Puppy came from Nigeria and Legos, which has this 0:12:52.600 --> 0:12:56.800 history of being a place where you know, Nigerian princes operated. 0:12:57.160 --> 0:12:59.800 So so how did he, how did he come up 0:12:59.800 --> 0:13:03.160 and how did he break out of all of that? Yeah, 0:13:03.240 --> 0:13:05.840 he grew up in Legos. I mean he was, you know, 0:13:05.880 --> 0:13:09.880 by his own account, he was poor growing up. He struggled. 0:13:09.960 --> 0:13:13.040 He actually had a sister who died of typhoid, you 0:13:13.040 --> 0:13:16.760 know by his recollection, because they couldn't pay the medical bills. 0:13:17.320 --> 0:13:20.440 Um So, he was someone who very explicitly was trying 0:13:20.440 --> 0:13:22.719 to get out and he saw the wealthier parts of 0:13:22.800 --> 0:13:25.560 Legos and he aspired for that. He dreamed of that. 0:13:25.960 --> 0:13:30.000 He was always interested in designer brands and so he 0:13:30.200 --> 0:13:33.320 did escape him eventually went to Malaysia and that's when 0:13:33.320 --> 0:13:37.640 he started building you know, his his influencing and you 0:13:37.679 --> 0:13:41.120 know the crimes that he's alleged to commit these business 0:13:41.120 --> 0:13:43.360 and compromise scams. You know, a lot of them do 0:13:43.480 --> 0:13:45.240 come from Nigeria, but it's a bit of a double 0:13:45.320 --> 0:13:48.880 edged sword because you know, Nigerians have been accused of 0:13:48.920 --> 0:13:51.480 these scams for many years, when in fact they come 0:13:51.559 --> 0:13:53.840 from all over the world. So there's a sort of 0:13:53.880 --> 0:13:58.839 stereotype that precedes Nigerians that then you know, he reinforces 0:13:58.880 --> 0:14:01.160 and it becomes this sort of his circle would in fact, 0:14:01.400 --> 0:14:04.600 you know, obviously there's a Nigerian texting and there's all 0:14:04.640 --> 0:14:08.840 these people who are very upset that he is in 0:14:08.920 --> 0:14:12.600 factually importing that idea. Well, to get every juicy tidbit, 0:14:12.760 --> 0:14:15.199 check out the story in Bloomberg Business Week magazine. It's 0:14:15.240 --> 0:14:23.160 online and at Bloomberg dot com. You're listening to Bloomberg 0:14:23.160 --> 0:14:26.800 Business Week with Carol Masser and Bloomberg Quick Takes Tim 0:14:26.840 --> 0:14:30.560 Stinovic on Bloomberg Radio. I am Carol Master. Tim is 0:14:30.600 --> 0:14:34.040 off this week. Well today virtually was the Bloomberg New 0:14:34.040 --> 0:14:38.640 Economy Catalyst event. It highlighted innovators, visionary scientists, policy makers, 0:14:38.920 --> 0:14:43.760 and entrepreneurs accelerating solutions to today's great problems. One of 0:14:43.800 --> 0:14:46.680 them is Sarah Manker. She's a former commodities trader who 0:14:46.680 --> 0:14:49.080 worked for Morgan Stanley. She took what she saw, she 0:14:49.280 --> 0:14:52.200 learned from it, and she founded grow Intelligence, which gathers 0:14:52.240 --> 0:14:54.800 tons of data and then uses AI and machine learning 0:14:55.000 --> 0:14:57.680 to tackle lots of things, including some really big problems, 0:14:58.000 --> 0:15:00.520 one of them food and security. And I caught up 0:15:00.520 --> 0:15:02.880 with her and talked about it specifically what our company 0:15:02.920 --> 0:15:05.800 does in using AI to look at data and solve 0:15:05.880 --> 0:15:10.000 that problem. Grow Intelligence is a company I founded UM 0:15:10.040 --> 0:15:13.240 in two thousand fourteen, and it really is a story 0:15:13.320 --> 0:15:15.160 at the end of the day that tells the story 0:15:15.160 --> 0:15:17.440 of what on Earth is going on UM. And I 0:15:17.480 --> 0:15:21.480 say that because, you know, oftentimes we use data to 0:15:21.480 --> 0:15:24.920 to tell stories UM, and oftentimes when we think of 0:15:25.040 --> 0:15:28.280 Earth it you know, we think of satellite images just 0:15:28.280 --> 0:15:31.280 showing us pictures of our Earth, whereas Earth is sort 0:15:31.280 --> 0:15:35.080 of this interplay between our Earth's actual ecology and our 0:15:35.160 --> 0:15:38.840 human economy and the inter relationships between the two. And 0:15:38.880 --> 0:15:41.960 what we've done is we've built a data platform using 0:15:42.360 --> 0:15:47.520 artificial intelligence to capture sort of data around the world 0:15:48.080 --> 0:15:51.520 about our Earth as well as our human economy, connect 0:15:51.520 --> 0:15:54.880 the dots and start to tell stories about things like, 0:15:55.440 --> 0:15:58.400 you know, where the trajectory of food security is going, 0:15:58.680 --> 0:16:03.680 or how to UM become better resilient to climate change 0:16:04.120 --> 0:16:06.800 UM and and really it's a company focused on tackling 0:16:06.840 --> 0:16:10.320 these two major problems, which is essentially around food security 0:16:10.320 --> 0:16:12.600 and climate change at global scale. You just use right 0:16:12.640 --> 0:16:16.120 that obviously impact everybody. Data collection can be good, it 0:16:16.120 --> 0:16:18.480 can be bad, right, it can be biased, So tell 0:16:18.520 --> 0:16:22.920 me how you go about it. It's garbage and garbage exactly. 0:16:23.120 --> 0:16:26.560 And so we we say curated by human intelligence, scale 0:16:26.560 --> 0:16:29.520 through artificial intelligence. And I think this is a really 0:16:29.560 --> 0:16:32.000 important part of how we do our work. But how 0:16:32.280 --> 0:16:35.920 AI should be done, which is that you need domain experts. 0:16:35.960 --> 0:16:39.240 You need humans that first actually assess the data in 0:16:39.200 --> 0:16:41.840 the very early days because as you're collecting data and 0:16:41.840 --> 0:16:44.320 you're getting data, you know, we get data from over 0:16:44.360 --> 0:16:47.480 forty different sources around the world and it comes to 0:16:47.600 --> 0:16:51.680 government language, private, public everything, governments, private companies that we 0:16:51.800 --> 0:16:56.440 license from trade organizations, you know, UM all sorts of 0:16:56.600 --> 0:16:59.000 and then they come in many different formats and languages, 0:16:59.320 --> 0:17:01.920 and you need and experts initially that sort of do 0:17:02.040 --> 0:17:05.720 the assessment of the data. UM that that that documented, 0:17:06.000 --> 0:17:08.400 that that map, the definition of it, that helped create 0:17:08.440 --> 0:17:12.200 the dictionary. And then you start to use artificial intelligence 0:17:12.560 --> 0:17:16.480 to scale the mapping of that knowledge to better understand 0:17:16.600 --> 0:17:20.320 the interconnectedness that exists through the data. But it always 0:17:20.400 --> 0:17:24.199 really starts with the human intelligence component that helps was 0:17:24.240 --> 0:17:26.840 sort of the curation in the beginning, right, and then 0:17:27.160 --> 0:17:29.400 you let the machines take over. And this makes your 0:17:29.400 --> 0:17:33.280 predictive models work better. It makes the knowledge graphs, the 0:17:33.400 --> 0:17:37.400 systems of sort of how we understand today work significantly 0:17:37.440 --> 0:17:39.800 better as well. It's a diverse group, I know, speaking 0:17:39.800 --> 0:17:44.200 many different languages. Very yes, good, right, because you're dealing 0:17:44.200 --> 0:17:48.960 with the global global issues. Yeah, I always say, um, 0:17:49.040 --> 0:17:51.880 you know, your team has to resemble the world that's 0:17:51.960 --> 0:17:55.080 attempting to Mom, I can hear your commodities background playing 0:17:55.080 --> 0:17:58.320 into this. What was it about your background in commodities 0:17:58.440 --> 0:18:02.119 and being in the Wall Street financial community that made 0:18:02.160 --> 0:18:03.879 they kind of got you to where you are today 0:18:03.920 --> 0:18:06.520 and said, all right, there are bigger issues, bigger problems, 0:18:06.640 --> 0:18:09.160 we need the tool to tackle it. Yeah, I mean 0:18:09.160 --> 0:18:12.119 it played a huge role. Um. I was an energy 0:18:12.160 --> 0:18:15.080 trader and in the early days of sort of energy trading, 0:18:15.600 --> 0:18:19.360 if you had an oil producer that UM would come 0:18:19.400 --> 0:18:22.200 to the market and say, you know, I've discovered oil 0:18:22.359 --> 0:18:24.919 and I need to now produce this oil, and I 0:18:24.960 --> 0:18:26.720 need some money for it, so therefore I need to 0:18:26.720 --> 0:18:30.040 sell it forward to you. And selling oil two years 0:18:30.080 --> 0:18:32.480 forward used to be a struggle by the time I left. 0:18:33.080 --> 0:18:36.400 You know, oil producers, gas producers, et cetera could sell 0:18:36.440 --> 0:18:39.720 oil ten twenty years forward, long before it was outside 0:18:39.760 --> 0:18:43.879 the group, outside the ground. Financial markets enabled that, and 0:18:44.359 --> 0:18:47.760 you know, for markets to develop, you need trust, you 0:18:47.800 --> 0:18:53.160 need baseline understanding, and then people have their relative competitive advantage, right, 0:18:53.200 --> 0:18:55.800 because what that does is it drives capital into markets, 0:18:55.880 --> 0:18:59.280 and capital drives innovation, and innovation drives very long term change, 0:18:59.480 --> 0:19:03.240 renewable energy, shale oil, shale gas, all of these technologies 0:19:03.240 --> 0:19:06.199 we take for granted had to be funded somewhere. And 0:19:06.240 --> 0:19:11.360 I had seen that agriculture was and still is, frankly 0:19:11.920 --> 0:19:15.720 where maybe energy markets were in if I'm being kind, 0:19:15.880 --> 0:19:21.200 like the early nineties. So they're very behind um. And 0:19:21.280 --> 0:19:23.679 so you know, when you think of what happened in 0:19:23.840 --> 0:19:27.720 COVID last year. During COVID and all of the shocks 0:19:27.920 --> 0:19:30.360 the system experienced, when you know, people were saying, are 0:19:30.359 --> 0:19:32.720 we running out of me? You know, why are you know, 0:19:32.880 --> 0:19:36.480 certain things just flying off shelves? And is there shortage. 0:19:36.960 --> 0:19:42.119 That was really a function of how short term the 0:19:42.280 --> 0:19:46.280 food markets actually behave, meaning decisions are still being made 0:19:46.480 --> 0:19:49.280 day to day, week to week by grossers um And 0:19:49.320 --> 0:19:51.840 if you take the most liquid agricultural market in the world, 0:19:51.840 --> 0:19:54.440 which is corn in the US, you're lucky if you 0:19:54.440 --> 0:19:57.280 can sell it two years forward. And that was Sarah Banker. 0:19:57.400 --> 0:20:00.359 She's founded to Eve Grow Intelligence. The This is a 0:20:00.400 --> 0:20:03.720 company that she founded after being a commodities trader at 0:20:03.760 --> 0:20:07.600 Morgan Stanley. They gathered tons of data from global sources. 0:20:07.680 --> 0:20:11.280 They use it using AI and machine learning, and they 0:20:11.320 --> 0:20:13.800 address things like you heard her talk about food in security, 0:20:13.840 --> 0:20:17.400 one of the major problems that a lot of countries 0:20:17.440 --> 0:20:19.760 are dealing already. We saw it through the pandemic where 0:20:19.760 --> 0:20:24.040 companies UH and countries specifically, if they were a producer 0:20:24.200 --> 0:20:27.240 some food item, a lot of them stopped exporting because 0:20:27.240 --> 0:20:30.239 they were trying to protect their own citizens. So she 0:20:30.359 --> 0:20:32.800 is looking at that and working with clients, and her clients, 0:20:32.800 --> 0:20:35.480 I've got to say are from all walks of life. 0:20:35.480 --> 0:20:38.439 They are food producers, their food suppliers, their governments, and 0:20:38.440 --> 0:20:41.680 they're also the financial world because increasingly we are seeing 0:20:41.680 --> 0:20:44.159 financial instruments, just like we've seen in the E s 0:20:44.200 --> 0:20:48.840 G world generally that are looking to create investment vehicles 0:20:48.840 --> 0:20:51.840 that are tackling some of these big problems like food insecurity, 0:20:52.040 --> 0:20:54.720 and of course already we see it with climate change. 0:20:54.920 --> 0:20:57.160 So again Sarah Maker found and see if grow intelligence 0:20:57.160 --> 0:20:59.560 from the Bloomberg New Economy Catalyst event. You can see 0:20:59.560 --> 0:21:02.399 that entire interview and more like it at Bloomberg dot 0:21:02.480 --> 0:21:07.159 com slash New hyphen Economy. These are thirty one people 0:21:07.200 --> 0:21:10.919 that we've identified at Bloomberg New Economy that are catalysts 0:21:10.960 --> 0:21:13.160 that are charting the global course out of the pandemic 0:21:13.440 --> 0:21:16.520 and really looking at creating a brighter, more sustainable future. 0:21:16.880 --> 0:21:20.160 Some of them are names you know, we mentioned formally 0:21:20.400 --> 0:21:24.680 um Or earlier, the chairman of Maderna, that individual also 0:21:24.800 --> 0:21:26.000 at part of this event. But a lot of them 0:21:26.040 --> 0:21:28.680 are names you don't know, but they're doing some incredible work. 0:21:28.720 --> 0:21:32.119 So I highly recommend you check it out online and 0:21:32.160 --> 0:21:36.120 look at those conversations. This is Bloomberg Business Week with 0:21:36.200 --> 0:21:41.760 Carol Masser and Bloomberg Quick Takes Tim Stenovic on Bloomberg Radio. Well, 0:21:41.880 --> 0:21:45.000 remember when traders were snapping up shares of Hurts after 0:21:45.000 --> 0:21:48.800 it filed for bankruptcy last year. Well today it actually 0:21:48.960 --> 0:21:52.560