Good morning. After nearly three decades of retailers trying to make online shopping easier, it can still be overwhelming—unless you know the specific brand, style, and color of whatever you want.
At Fortune’s Brainstorm AI conference in London, which wraps up today, executives from eBay and Wayfair pitched artificial intelligence as the answer. New AI-infused search tools can help find the fuzzy slippers or plaid couch that you desire.
Nitzan Mekel, eBay chief AI officer, showed off the company’s first shopping agent, or companion, that’s supposed to guide users through his site’s vast listings. It gives shoppers conversational prompts and uses iterative reasoning to suss out what they’re looking for.
A similar effort is underway at Wayfair, according to Fiona Tan, the home retailer’s chief technology officer. “Sometimes, shoppers don’t know exactly what they want until they see it,” she said on stage. “We use generative AI to create imagery and inspiration.”
As the quintessential lost shopper, I hope both executives succeed. —Verne Kopytoff
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Elon Musk gets more grief over pollution in Memphis
Critics are piling on Elon Musk over pollution from 35 methane gas turbines used to power a data center in Memphis for xAI, the company behind his Grok AI service.
The broad details of the allegations have been detailed previously, including by Fortune. But the latest article from Politico sheds new light on the topic, such as the facility’s status as one of the surrounding county’s biggest polluters with up to 2,000 tons of nitrogen oxide emissions annually.
Environmentalists and local residents question why local officials have let Musk’s company operate the gas turbines without pollution controls or permits, while letting emissions waft across the neighborhood. Local officials responded that the turbines are temporary and therefore aren’t required to be permitted until after being used for a year.
Critics are dubious about that decision. Meanwhile, xAI says it has submitted permit applications for 15 of the turbines, but will wait until they are approved to install pollution controls.
The easiest solution would be connecting the data center to electrical grid, eliminating the need for the gas turbines. But that's months away, at best.
Oops at Zoox
Amazon’s self-driving car unit has recalled its vehicles after one of them crashed in Las Vegas on April 8.
Zoox, the online retailing giant’s robotaxi division, temporarily took 270 of its cars off the road for a software update following the accident, CNBC reported. The crash involved an unoccupied Zoox car and a passenger vehicle that left minor damage to both. There were no injuries, Zoox said.
“The recall surrounds a defect with the vehicle’s automated driving system that could cause it to inaccurately predict the movement of another car, increasing ‘the risk of a crash,’” CNBC said, citing a report submitted to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
After getting their software updates, all of Zoox’s cars have returned to service.
Food delivery fight ramps up overseas
After taking over huge chunks of the domestic food delivery market, DoorDash and Uber are quickly expanding their international footprints. On Tuesday, both companies made major acquisitions to accelare their ambitions.
DoorDash will pay $3.9 billion for U.K.-based Deliveroo, giving it a larger presence across Europe and in the Middle East. In 2022, it had paid $8.1 billion for Wolt, a Finnish food delivery service that also has a large foothold in Europe.
Also on Tuesday, though unrelated to food, DoorDash paid $1.2 billion for U.S.-based SevenRooms, a U.S.-based developer of marketing and operations software for restaurants and hotels. The agreement sets up DoorDash to further expand beyond food delivery.
Meanwhile, Uber added an 85% stake in Turkey-based food delivery service Trendoyl Go for $700 million. The deal instantly gives Uber Eats a place in the Turkish market, where previously, it only operated its ride-hailing business.
More tech
—Microsoft’s new devices. Two new Surface laptops are coming with slightly smaller screens and lower prices.
—Google’s antitrust remedy. Federal prosecutors said the company, after losing its recent antitrust case, should sell two of its online ad products.
—Instagram’s child predator problem. The social network’s automated recommendation system frequently suggested that potential child predators connect with minors, FTC says.
—Elon vs. OpenAI. An attorney for Elon Musk said OpenAI abandoning its restructuring plan Monday “changes nothing,” suggesting the billionaire will continue his legal fight against OpenAI.
—AMD earnings. Q1 revenue grew 36% to $7.4 billion, beating Wall Street estimates despite China tariffs. Meanwhile, the company’s Q2 revenue exceeded projections.
