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Ford’s EV “Model T” moment starts with a $30,000 midsize truck

Max Knoblauch

Ford on Monday touted a new vision for producing low-cost electric vehicles in the US, drawing parallels between the announcement and its iconic Model T.

According to CEO Jim Farley, Ford will build multiple low-cost EVs at its Louisville assembly plant through a new production process. The first vehicle produced through the new platform is planned for 2027 and will be a midsize EV truck starting at $30,000.

Created as a result of a three-year “skunkworks” project helmed by ex-Tesla engineer Alan Clarke, the new production system leaves the single assembly line behind, instead shifting to three concurrent assembly lines that will join together at the end of the production process.

Automation will be central to the new system, which will require 2,200 workers (600 fewer than currently work at the Louisville plant). Ford has said it doesn’t expect layoffs as a result of the new model.

The plans will see Ford invest more than $2 billion into Kentucky.

The announcement comes as Ford has struggled to maintain momentum in its EV business. A new low-cost rival, the Amazon-backed Slate Auto, has garnered significant attention from price-weary customers. Ford’s electric division has already lost more than $2 billion this year through June.

“I don’t think that the new EV startups will be able to keep up with the kind of innovation that you’re seeing in manufacturing, and how they can actually turn this into a reality,” Ford EV chief Doug Field said, seemingly casting some shade at Slate and other EV rivals. “New ideas are easy. Innovation is actually delivering ideas, and delivering those ideas in a way that millions can access them.”

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Demis Hassabis, Google DeepMind’s CEO and founder, was also an early Anthropic investor

A chess prodigy and an actual a knight of the realm in the UK, it’s perhaps no surprise that Demis Hassabis has made some strategic moves about his exposure to AI upside. According to people familiar with the matter, the influential AI architect became an angel investor in Anthropic, currently behind many of the leading AI models, per Arena AI leaderboards.

The Nobel Prize winner’s position in the Claude creator was previously undisclosed and, per the Financial Times, highlights Hassabis’ “growing influence across the AI industry.”

Google, which bought DeepMind, the company that Hassabis cofounded and heads to this day, for a reported ~$400 million in 2014, is also a key Anthropic investor. The tech giant reportedly plans to invest up to $40 billion in the AI company as part of the mutually beneficial relationship the pair have forged, with reports that Anthropic has committed to spending $200 billion in the other direction on Google’s cloud services over the next five years.

I’m playing all sides, so I always come out on top

In addition to his financial support for Anthropic, Hassabis has also invested in a range of AI startups launched by colleagues, such as Inflection AI, a company set up by DeepMind cofounder Mustafa Suleyman (who is now CEO of Microsoft AI), as well as efforts from other collaborators, like David Silver’s Ineffable Intelligence.

Hassabis also emerged as a recurring figure on the fringes of the recent Elon Musk v. Sam Altman trial, cropping up repeatedly in testimonies and court documents and appearing to live, as The Verge put it, “rent-free” in Musk’s head.

Founded in 2021, Anthropic has recently raised funding at a reported $900 billion valuation, sending it soaring ahead of competitor OpenAI.

Google DeepMind’s Demis Hassabis emerges as early Anthropic investor

Google DeepMind’s Demis Hassabis emerges as early Anthropic investor

The Nobel Prize winner’s position in the Claude creator was previously undisclosed and, per the Financial Times, highlights Hassabis’ “growing influence across the AI industry.”

Google, which bought DeepMind, the company that Hassabis cofounded and heads to this day, for a reported ~$400 million in 2014, is also a key Anthropic investor. The tech giant reportedly plans to invest up to $40 billion in the AI company as part of the mutually beneficial relationship the pair have forged, with reports that Anthropic has committed to spending $200 billion in the other direction on Google’s cloud services over the next five years.

I’m playing all sides, so I always come out on top

In addition to his financial support for Anthropic, Hassabis has also invested in a range of AI startups launched by colleagues, such as Inflection AI, a company set up by DeepMind cofounder Mustafa Suleyman (who is now CEO of Microsoft AI), as well as efforts from other collaborators, like David Silver’s Ineffable Intelligence.

Hassabis also emerged as a recurring figure on the fringes of the recent Elon Musk v. Sam Altman trial, cropping up repeatedly in testimonies and court documents and appearing to live, as The Verge put it, “rent-free” in Musk’s head.

Founded in 2021, Anthropic has recently raised funding at a reported $900 billion valuation, sending it soaring ahead of competitor OpenAI.

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