UK Ethanol Plant Starts Winding Down Ahead of US Supply Wave
Associated British Food Plc 's Vivergo ethanol plant, one of only two major sites in the nation, has begun closing-down procedures as the flood of US duty-free products looks set to wipe out production in the UK.
A consultation with employees to enact a wind-down of operations of the site in northern England has begun, the company said in a statement. The plant plans to close on Sept. 13 if a solution is not found by the British government to support the industry.
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Forbes
18 minutes ago
- Forbes
Why Companies Need To Institute Stricter AI Policies
As the hype grows around AI and more people try it out, many are using it at work to see how it can help them become more efficient. But there's a real problem: Some employees are using public instances of chatbots, putting proprietary company data at risk by giving an open LLM access. Others use the company's access to AI, but input highly sensitive and personal data, like Social Security numbers and financial data. A new study from technology security company Kiteworks found that 27% of companies reported that nearly a third of all of the data sent to AI systems is the type of information that should be kept private, like company records, employee information and trade secrets. (It could be more; 17% of companies don't know how much private data ends up getting sent to AI.) It's a problem that's growing. A Stanford University report on AI found a 56.4% increase in security incidents with the technology last year. While it may seem obvious to the tech savvy, many employees might not know the risks of this kind of AI sharing, and 83% of companies only rely on training or warning emails to let them know. Kiteworks found that just 17% have automatic controls that keep employees from uploading sensitive information to public AI tools. Further, most companies don't have much of an AI governance structure—only 9%, according to Deloitte research cited by Kiteworks. The study results show that companies need to add policies and infrastructure to control employee use of AI and protect their own data. This kind of use can cause real damage to companies—not to mention their employees and clients. The study concludes that companies need to acknowledge the threat, deploy controls that can be verified, and ensure that they can stand up to regulatory scrutiny. 'With incidents surging, zero-day attacks targeting the security infrastructure itself, and the vast majority lacking real visibility or control, the window for implementing meaningful protections is rapidly closing,' Kiteworks CMO Tim Freestone said in a statement. Many people still haven't grasped how to truly use AI to benefit their company—we all know its practical business functions go beyond asking a chatbot for advice. I talked to Lindsay Phillips, cofounder and COO of tech change coaching firm SkyPhi Studios, about how to bring AI to your company and get people using it. An excerpt from our conversation is later in this newsletter. This is the published version of Forbes' CIO newsletter, which offers the latest news for chief innovation officers and other technology-focused leaders. Click here to get it delivered to your inbox every Thursday. STOCK MARKET NEWS Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang speaks at the VivaTech technology startup and innovation fair in Paris earlier this month. Mustafa Yalcin/Anadolu via Getty Images Nvidia is back on top, pulling ahead of Microsoft as the world's most valuable company. A research note on Wednesday from Loop Capital analyst Ananda Baruah raised his price target for Nvidia's stock from $175 to $250. Baruah wrote that Nvidia will lead the next 'Golden Wave' for generative AI, and will see 'stronger-than-anticipated demand.' The research note—as well as Nvidia's annual shareholder meeting, where CEO Jensen Huang laid out an optimistic view of the company's future—drove the company's stock to hit a record high of $154.43. While share prices dropped somewhat before markets closed, it was a banner day for the chips company. Chips and robotics company, that is. At the annual meeting, Nvidia positioned itself squarely in the robotics and physical industrial AI spaces. In the company's annual report, Huang wrote that so far this year, Nvidia has fundamentally transformed itself from a chip maker to a builder of infrastructure. While AI data centers will continue to be important, AI-powered robots in factories, hospitals, farms and cities will be what moves society forward in the not-so-distant future. 'We stopped thinking of ourselves as a chip company long ago,' Huang said at the meeting, according to CNBC. CYBERSECURITY An Iranian man stands in his apartment in Tehran, which was destroyed by Israeli attacks. Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images While it seems for now that the physical conflict between Iran and Israel—which the U.S. inserted itself into by bombing Iranian nuclear facilities—is on hold, the war will likely still be bitterly fought online. Forbes' Thomas Brewster writes that Iran, which has a 'robust cyber apparatus' according to Middle East cybersecurity experts, is likely to launch disruptive attacks on U.S. and Israeli interests. For the U.S. government, this could be especially challenging. Since the start of President Donald Trump's second term, the Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency has lost many experienced employees and does not even have a permanent director. Insiders told Forbes that CISA already is stretched thin, but coordinated attacks from Iran could make it much worse. The PR war over how the attacks are seen is also riddled with conflicting imagery. AI-generated Iranian propaganda showing a rocket launch and a convoy of tanks and missiles have racked up millions of views, writes Forbes' Emily Baker-White. These videos, which were seen throughout social media, abruptly disappeared. None of the platforms have any policies against releasing propaganda, and the videos didn't appear to be labeled as AI-generated. NOTABLE NEWS getty AI can be a force for good, but it can also be nefarious. New research from Barracuda, Columbia University and the University of Chicago found that AI writes more than half of all spam email now, writes Forbes senior contributor Davey Winder. This includes the vast majority of messages in your personal account's spam folder—but it's also getting prevalent in business emails as well. About 14% of business inbox attacks, in which often senior people in organizations are targeted with requests for financial transactions, are written by AI. Winder writes that it makes sense to use AI for spam. It tends to do a passable job of writing with proper grammar and spelling across a variety of languages. It can also write in a convincing way to provoke a recipient to respond. The study found that attackers seem to be using AI to draft different versions of spam and hacking emails, searching for the best way to get a recipient's attention. BITS + BYTES How To Get Your Company To Use AI To Its Full Potential SkyPhi Studios cofounder and COO Lindsay Phillips. SkyPhi Studios AI truly can transform the way we do business, but in order for it to make a difference, employees actually need to use it. AI is unlike any other tech shift in recent years, and it can be difficult for everyone at a company to embrace it. I talked to Lindsay Phillips, cofounder and COO of tech change coaching firm SkyPhi Studios, about the best way to get your employees through these challenges. This conversation has been edited for length, clarity and continuity. What is the biggest hurdle that you see to widespread AI adoption in companies? Phillips: The biggest hurdle is companies approaching AI as a software shift, and AI is really a mindset shift. It's not just about teaching people how to do the same work in a different tool. They have to completely change how they think about work, how they think about the value that they're bringing to the workplace, how they approach their workflows. Companies that are just trying to make tools available and don't help people understand how to use it, how to adopt it successfully and how to integrate it, are running into adoption challenges. How do you get past that roadblock? Understanding how you want people to change to use the tool. Understanding how roles and responsibilities need to change, the RACI [responsibility matrix] that's required so that folks adopt this tool and integrate it into their workflows. You want to also make sure that leadership across the org understands that strategy. Most folks want to get guidance from their manager, so you want to leverage leadership cascades and really make sure they're carrying that message forward and reinforcing it. The other thing that we're seeing with companies that are successful is a community of practice: Creating ambassadors throughout the org, at the ground level, boots on the street, that are supporting their team members and adopting these tools and helping them make that mindset shift. How does the move toward AI compare to other technology shifts in the past, like moving to the cloud and increasing cybersecurity? It definitely feels like we're driving the car while we're building the car, so we need our team members to be very collaborative in helping us figure out how to use these tools. Experts are going to be able to tell you how AI is going to be able to make their jobs more productive and be able to help them do their work better. Leadership's not necessarily going to know that, so it really does need to be a lot more collaborative and agile than it needed to be in the past. In the past, you find requirements, you help people adopt those new ways of working, you meet those requirements. This we're figuring it out as we go, and it's much more experimental. What sets the companies that are most successfully integrating AI apart? A comfort with experimentation and a certain amount of comfort with uncertainty of saying, 'We're going to give it a try. We're going to see how it goes, and we'll pivot as we need to.' Companies that are very attached to clarity and certainty and always having the right answer are going to struggle with AI adoption. It's not a linear straight path. It is going to be something you have to figure out as you go. What advice would you give to executives that are trying to get their employees to use AI? The more accessible we can make it, the better. There's companies doing weekly challenges. Just start to encourage your folks to incorporate it into their daily lives. Encourage folks to share wins. You want to hear about how other people are using these tools so that it can give you ideas of how you can also use it in your day-to-day. It is a massive mindset shift. Approach it with little tiny bites that you can take to start to shift habits daily. COMINGS + GOINGS Defense contractor Lockheed Martin appointed Dr. Craig Martell as its new vice president and chief technology officer, effective June 23. Martell previously worked as chief AI officer for Cohesity, and as the first chief digital and AI officer for the U.S. Department of Defense prior to that. appointed as its new vice president and chief technology officer, effective June 23. Martell previously worked as chief AI officer for Cohesity, and as the first chief digital and AI officer for the U.S. Department of Defense prior to that. Convenience store chain Love's Travel Stops hired Tim Langley-Hawthorne as chief technology officer, effective June 23. Langley-Hawthorne steps into the role after working as Hertz's executive vice president and chief information officer. hired as chief technology officer, effective June 23. Langley-Hawthorne steps into the role after working as Hertz's executive vice president and chief information officer. Newspaper chain Gannett selected Joe Miranda for its chief technology and data officer role, effective June 23. Miranda joins the firm after working as executive vice president and chief digital and technology officer of Herbalife, and has also held leadership roles at Thomson Reuters and Voya Financial. STRATEGIES + ADVICE As more companies adopt enterprise AI packages, several trends in what they are using and how are coming to the surface. Here are 10 trends that are shaping enterprise LLM use today. While part of business advancement today is all about personal branding and showing the world your expertise and strategic viewpoint, you may feel more comfortable quietly sitting in front of a screen. The good news is that you don't have to be an extrovert. Here are some tips for shy people who want to build personal brands. QUIZ After Meta's deal to take a 49% stake in data-labeling company Scale AI, another company with a very different main business stepped up as a potential giant in data labeling. Which company is it? A. Priceline B. Uber C. Instacart D. Electronic Arts See if you got the answer right here.
Bloomberg
an hour ago
- Bloomberg
Julian Harris: Starmer Faces Business Chiefs as Tax Rise Bites
The British Chambers of Commerce told us a few weeks ago that a 'senior cabinet minister' would be addressing its annual conference, leading me to assume this was code for Rachel Reeves. Instead, it was the Prime Minister himself who rocked up at the QEII Centre in Westminster this morning to face a crowd of not-entirely-impressed business leaders. Reeves, meanwhile, made sure she was 130 miles away in Tutbury, which Google Maps tells me is a place in Staffordshire.
Forbes
an hour ago
- Forbes
Yonder Credit Card Review
Especially for city-dwellers who travel frequently and habitually clear their monthly credit card balance, Yonder could be a good fit for day-to-day spending. The provider also offers a choice between a free and pay-monthly option depending on the level benefits you want to access. rewards tend to centre around major cities £15 monthly fee to access top rewards high interest rate on card balances Yonder is a Mastercard travel and rewards credit card that offers benefits including yonderpoints, which are redeemable against restaurant bills and lifestyle experiences. There are no foreign exchange (FX) fees when using the card abroad. There are also no cash withdrawal fees both abroad and in the UK. However, limits apply*. There are two versions of the card: one with free membership, and another that charges a monthly fee but offers additional perks such as boosted points earning, cashback on spending and worldwide travel insurance . The full membership credit card also offers Yonder Flights, which allows customers to redeem points to pay towards the cost of tickets with any airline. Who is Yonder? Yonder is a fintech start-up company that launched its first app-based rewards credit card in 2022. The card was primarily targeted at Millennial and Gen Z professionals living in and around London, but it has since broadened its reach to other cities including Birmingham, Bristol, Manchester and Bath. In April 2025, NatWest became a minority investor in Yonder. Here are the key points of both the Free and Full Membership Yonder credit cards: no monthly or annual fee reward points scheme with selected partners no FX when you spend overseas. £15 per month fee (or £160 if paid annually) 0.5% cashback on spending enhanced rewards scheme and welcome bonus free worldwide travel insurance redeem points against any flight with any airline no FX fees when you spend overseas. Cardholders earn yonderpoints on spending on their Yonder credit card at a rate of one point per £1 spent with the free membership account, and five points per £1 spent with the full membership card. Points can then be redeemed against a range of dining and lifestyle benefits with Yonder partners. These include theatre tickets, restaurants and bars, meal prep companies, fitness brands, car rental and – for full membership card holders – flights. Yonder's team of specialists select between 15 and 20 tailored offers and experiences at which cardholders can opt to redeem their yonderpoints. Partner brands include the likes of Bao and Fallow restaurants, Frive meal kits, Sucre, Grind, Padella, Hoppers and Soma cocktail bars. Full membership cardholders will have access to the full range of yonderpoint rewards partners. Yonderpoints have no expiry date. How to use yonderpoints You can redeem yonderpoints by simply selecting 'use points' in the Yonder app. When using your Yonder card, if you have enough points, they will be used automatically to pay – up to Yonder's fair use limit. You can check the fair use limits for each offer or experience in the Yonder app. Yonder also offers a top-up feature, which means customers can pay money onto their card to effectively increase their credit limit. This can make monthly card bill payments more manageable, while the extra can be used for purchases to earn points without using credit. Rewards and benefits With the Free Membership, cardholders earn one yonderpoint for every £1 spent on the card, plus up to five points on spending at selected partners. On the Full Membership plan, points are earned at a rate of five per £1 spent or up to 25 per £1 with selected partners. In addition, you'll get 10,000 yonderpoints as a welcome bonus when you sign up. The yonderpoints you earn are rounded down to the nearest pound on card spend. So if you're a free member and you spend £1.99 on the card, for example, you would earn one yonderpoint. Referring a friend can earn you up to 10,000 yonderpoints if they take a Full Membership card or 2,000 for the Free Membership card. Points have different values depending on where you choose to redeem them. As a benchmark however, one yonderpoint under the Free Membership plan is worth around 0.5 pence and one point under the Full Membership plan is worth up to 2.5p at redemption. Full members can also earn cashback in addition to their yonderpoints, where one point earned will be worth 0.5p in cashback. Other benefits of both types of Yonder card include fee-free overseas use. The Full Membership account offers additional perks, including worldwide travel insurance and cashback on purchases. Interest rates and fees The purchase rates on the Yonder credit card are relatively high at 32.26% APR variable for the free card, and 29.32% APR variable for Full Membership. The monthly fee applied on the full membership card means that the overall representative APR – which includes the interest rate and fees – is high at 66.0% (variable). There are no late fees if you don't pay your credit card bill but you'll accrue interest on any unpaid bills and interest charges. Are my purchases protected with the Yonder card? Yonder is a credit card, which means cardholders can benefit from payment protection under section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act . This means purchases of more than £100 and up to £30,000 – even if just the deposit is put on the card – are protected. You'll need to be aged between 18 and 65 and a UK resident to be eligible for a Yonder card. You're also likely to need a regular income and a relatively strong credit score. There's an eligibility checker tool on Yonder's website so you can find out your chances of being accepted first using a soft credit check that won't show up on your credit report. This can be a prudent step before making a formal application, because you could harm your credit score if you're rejected. Yonder customer service The Yonder card must be both applied for and managed in the app. Yonder has a support hub on its website with a broad range of FAQs – such as about redeeming points or setting up automatic payments to clear your card balance. You can email with questions too – but customers are encouraged to use the live chat facility offered in the app. While this is marketed as 24/7, it may use AI chatbots at certain times and you may have to wait for the on-call human assistant. Yonder has a 4.5 Trustpilot rating (out of 5) from more than 1,200 customer reviews. Among the comments, users talk about Yonder being 'a card I can use abroad without it costing me a fortune in fees' and 'great rewards, and customer service has consistently been fantastic'. What are the alternatives to the Yonder card? If you're looking for a rewards credit card , there's a wide range to consider. These deals tend to come with perks, such as cashback or airmiles on spending, and various other lifestyle and travel rewards. Again, however, the standard purchase interest rates can be high, so you'll get the best value if you can pay off your balance every month to avoid interest charges. There is also a range of travel credit cards on the market that can save considerable money in charges. *Up to £150 per day (spread across three transactions) and up to five withdrawals every seven days to a total maximum of £600 per week. Note also that cash withdrawals are reported to credit reference agencies. Frequent or large withdrawals may affect your credit score, so Yonder advises to use cash withdrawals responsibly.
