In case you missed it, Elon Musk’s latest obsession is mind-blowing. People didn’t believe him when he said he would launch an EV revolution, send private aircraft to space, or equip Ukraine with WIFI. Why should we stop believing him how?

In this video (at around 4:55 in the recording), there is an illustration of the fully autonomous vehicle. There was also a live demonstration at the event. They will cost $30,000 and can be rented out to ridesharing services as a recurring income stream.

According to Gartner, IT spending will be up 7.5% this year. Mid-market companies (over $50 million in revenue) will spend 3% of revenue on information technology. But priorities are changing.

Now that most companies have implemented more stringent cyber controls, spending is moving toward APIs and other tools that enable AI. But they’ll need to invest heavily if they want to participate in artificial intelligence—AI professionals are the most valuable employees in our economy.

IT investment as a percentage of spending

We recently reported that the state became the insurer of last resort for fire coverage in California. Insurers leave markets that aren’t economically viable—what are the ramifications of this?

News is breaking about the catastrophic cost of Hurricanes Helene and Milton, beyond the death rate and human suffering. Thousands of victims were unable to buy adequate coverage for flooding and other types of insurance. States will have to step in and supplement markets as the insurers of last resort. While real estate markets are still strong throughout the U.S., there may be portions of Florida where residents choose not to rebuild.