Europe's New AI Weather Model Delivers High-Speed Intel for Traders
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A major European forecaster recently released a new AI-powered weather model, and it's a significant upgrade in terms of both accuracy and speed.
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Fast Company
19 minutes ago
- Fast Company
How to outsmart AI-driven pricing
Recently, Delta Air Lines announced it would expand its use of artificial intelligence to provide individualized prices to customers. This move sparked concern among flyers and politicians. But Delta isn't the only business interested in using AI this way. Personalized pricing has already spread across a range of industries, from finance to online gaming. Customized pricing —where each customer receives a different price for the same product—is a holy grail for businesses because it boosts profits. With customized pricing, free-spending people pay more while the price-sensitive pay less. Just as clothes can be tailored to each person, custom pricing fits each person's ability and desire to pay. I am a professor who teaches business school students how to set prices. My latest book, The Power of Cash: Why Using Paper Money is Good for You and Society, highlights problems with custom pricing. Specifically, I'm worried that AI pricing models lack transparency and could unfairly take advantage of financially unsophisticated people. The history of custom pricing For much of history, customized pricing was the normal way things happened. In the past, business owners sized up each customer and then bargained face-to-face. The price paid depended on the buyer's and seller's bargaining skills—and desperation. An old joke illustrates this process. Once, a very rich man was riding in his carriage at breakfast time. Hungry, he told his driver to stop at the next restaurant. He went inside, ordered some eggs, and asked for the bill. When the owner handed him the check, the rich man was shocked at the price. 'Are eggs rare in this neighborhood?' he asked. 'No,' the owner said. 'Eggs are plentiful, but very rich men are quite rare.' Custom pricing through bargaining still exists in some industries. For example, car dealerships often negotiate a different price for each vehicle they sell. Economists refer to this as 'first-degree' or 'perfect' price discrimination, which is 'perfect' from the seller's perspective because it allows them to charge each customer the maximum amount they're willing to pay. Currently, most American shoppers don't bargain but instead see set prices. Many scholars trace the rise of set prices to John Wanamaker's Philadelphia department store, which opened in 1876. In his store, each item had a nonnegotiable price tag. These set prices made it simpler for customers to shop and became very popular. Why uniform pricing caught on Set prices have several advantages for businesses. For one thing, they allow stores to hire low-paid retail workers instead of employees who are experts in negotiation. Historically, they also made it easier for stores to decide how much to charge. Before the advent of AI pricing, many companies determined prices using a 'cost-plus' rule. Cost-plus means a business adds a fixed percentage or markup to an item's cost. The markup is the percentage added to a product's cost that covers a company's profits and overhead. The big-box retailer Costco still uses this rule. It determines prices by adding a roughly 15% maximum markup to each item on the warehouse floor. If something costs Costco $100, they sell it for about $115. The problem with cost-plus is that it treats all items the same. For example, Costco sells wine in many stores. People buying expensive Champagne typically are willing to pay a much higher markup than customers purchasing inexpensive boxed wine. Using AI gets around this problem by letting a computer determine the optimal markup item by item. What personalized pricing means for shoppers AI needs a lot of data to operate effectively. The shift from cash to electronic payments has enabled businesses to collect what's been called a 'gold mine' of information. For example, Mastercard says its data lets companies 'determine optimal pricing strategies.' So much information is collected when you pay electronically that in 2024 the Federal Trade Commission issued civil subpoenas to Mastercard, JPMorgan Chase, and other financial companies demanding to know 'how artificial intelligence and other technological tools may allow companies to vary prices using data they collect about individual consumers' finances and shopping habits.' Experiments at the FTC show that AI programs can even collude among themselves to raise prices without human intervention. To prevent customized pricing, some states have laws requiring retailers to display a single price for each product for sale. Even with these laws, it's simple to do custom pricing by using targeted digital coupons, which vary each shopper's discount. How you can outsmart AI pricing There are ways to get around customized pricing. All depend on denying AI programs data on past purchases and knowledge of who you are. First, when shopping in brick-and-mortar stores, use paper money. Yes, good old-fashioned cash is private and leaves no data trail that follows you online. Second, once online, clear your cache. Your search history and cookies provide algorithms with extensive amounts of information. Many articles say the protective power of clearing your cache is an urban myth. However, this information was based on how airlines used to price tickets. Recent analysis by the FTC shows the newest AI algorithms are changing prices based on this cached information. Third, many computer pricing algorithms look at your location, since location is a good proxy for income. I was once in Botswana and needed to buy a plane ticket. The price on my computer was about $200. Unfortunately, before booking I was called away to dinner. After dinner my computer showed the cost was $1,000—five times higher. It turned out after dinner I used my university's VPN, which told the airline I was located in a rich American neighborhood. Before dinner I was located in a poor African town. Shutting off the VPN reduced the price. Last, often to get a better price in face-to-face negotiations, you need to walk away. To do this online, put something in your basket and then wait before hitting purchase. I recently bought eyeglasses online. As a cash payer, I didn't have my credit card handy. It took five minutes to find it, and the delay caused the site to offer a large discount to complete the purchase. The computer revolution has created the ability to create custom products cheaply. The cashless society combined with AI is setting us up for customized prices. In a custom-pricing situation, seeing a high price doesn't mean something is higher quality. Instead, a high price simply means a business views the customer as willing to part with more money.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
When Will Ebusco Holding N.V. (AMS:EBUS) Breakeven?
We feel now is a pretty good time to analyse Ebusco Holding N.V.'s () business as it appears the company may be on the cusp of a considerable accomplishment. Ebusco Holding N.V., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the development, manufacture, and distribution of zero emission buses and charging systems. The €28m market-cap company announced a latest loss of €201m on 31 December 2024 for its most recent financial year result. Many investors are wondering about the rate at which Ebusco Holding will turn a profit, with the big question being 'when will the company breakeven?' We've put together a brief outline of industry analyst expectations for the company, its year of breakeven and its implied growth rate. This technology could replace computers: discover the 20 stocks are working to make quantum computing a reality. Ebusco Holding is bordering on breakeven, according to some Dutch Machinery analysts. They expect the company to post a final loss in 2025, before turning a profit of €12m in 2026. The company is therefore projected to breakeven just over a year from now. In order to meet this breakeven date, we calculated the rate at which the company must grow year-on-year. It turns out an average annual growth rate of 126% is expected, which is rather optimistic! Should the business grow at a slower rate, it will become profitable at a later date than expected. We're not going to go through company-specific developments for Ebusco Holding given that this is a high-level summary, but, keep in mind that by and large a high growth rate is not out of the ordinary, particularly when a company is in a period of investment. View our latest analysis for Ebusco Holding Before we wrap up, there's one issue worth mentioning. Ebusco Holding currently has a relatively high level of debt. Typically, debt shouldn't exceed 40% of your equity, which in Ebusco Holding's case is 71%. A higher level of debt requires more stringent capital management which increases the risk around investing in the loss-making company. Next Steps: There are too many aspects of Ebusco Holding to cover in one brief article, but the key fundamentals for the company can all be found in one place – Ebusco Holding's company page on Simply Wall St. We've also compiled a list of key aspects you should further research: Historical Track Record: What has Ebusco Holding's performance been like over the past? Go into more detail in the past track record analysis and take a look at the free visual representations of our analysis for more clarity. Management Team: An experienced management team on the helm increases our confidence in the business – take a look at who sits on Ebusco Holding's board and the CEO's background. Other High-Performing Stocks: Are there other stocks that provide better prospects with proven track records? Explore our free list of these great stocks here. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Associated Press
an hour ago
- Associated Press
Pope Leo XIV urges over 1 million Catholic young people to spread faith and enthusiasm
ROME (AP) — Pope Leo XIV on Sunday urged more than a million Catholic youths to 'spread your enthusiasm and the witness of your faith' when they return home to some 150 countries, during a Mass closing a weeklong encounter with the next generation of faithful. 'Aspire to great things, to holiness, wherever you are,'' Leo urged the young faithful. 'Do not settle for less. You will then see the light of the Gospel growing every day, in you and around you.' The young people camped out in sprawling fields southeast of Rome overnight after attending a vigil service for the Jubilee of Youth on Saturday, also presided by Leo who has been ferried to and from Vatican City by helicopter. The Vatican said more than 1 million young people were present, along with 7,000 priests and 450 bishops. The special Jubilee celebration is part of the Holy Year that is expected to draw 32 million people to the Vatican for the centuries-old pilgrimage to the seat of Catholicism. The week has been a joyous gathering marked by bands of youths singing hymns as they move down cobblestoned streets, praying rosaries in piazzas and standing for hours at the Circus Maximus to confess their sins to priests offering the sacrament in a dozen languages. Leo also shared tragic news on Saturday. Two young people who had made the pilgrimage to Rome had died, one reportedly of cardiac arrest, while a third was hospitalized. Rain overnight awakened the faithful but didn't dampen their spirits. 'At least we were a little covered, but we still got a bit wet. We lost our voices a little. It was cold, but we woke up to a beautiful sun and view,'' said Soemil Rios, 20, from Puerto Rico. 'Despite the difficulties, it was very nice and very special to have been part of this historic moment.' Sister Giulia De Luca of Rome acknowledge that 'waking up was a bit tough,' but that she was looking forward to seeing the pope again. 'It will be very nice to conclude a very intense week together. Definitely a lot of fun, but also very challenging in many ways,' she said. ___ Barry reported from Milan
