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The Customs and Border Protection agency aims to establish a framework for the strategic use of artificial intelligence and outline rules for ensuring safe and secure use of the tech, according to an internal document viewed by Fast Company. The directive, obtained through a public records request, spells out CBPs internal procedures for sensitive deployments of the technology. Agency officials are banned from using AI for unlawful surveillance, according to the document, which also says that AI cannot be used as a sole basis for a law enforcement action, or to target or discriminate against individuals. The document includes myriad procedures for introducing all sorts of artificial intelligence tools, and indicates that CBP has a detailed approach to deploying AI. Yet those rules also include several workarounds, raising concerns that the technology could still be misused, particularly amid the militarization of the border and an increasingly violent deportation regime, sources tell Fast Company. And then theres the matter of whether and how the directive is actually enforced. According to the directive, the agency is required to use AI in a responsible manner and maintain a rigorous review and approval process. The document spells out various procedures, including steps for sanctioning use of the technology and the agencys approach to inventorying a list of its AI applications. It also discusses special approvals needed for deploying high-risk AI and how the agency internally handles reports that officials are using the tech for a prohibited application. The document has a warning for CBP staff that work with generative AI, too. All CBP personnel using AI in the performance of their official duties should review and verify any AI-generated content before it is shared, implemented, or acted upon, the directive states. CBP personnel are accountable for the outputs of their work and are responsible for using these tools judiciously, ensuring that accuracy, appropriateness, and context are always considered. CBP, which is housed under the Department of Homeland Security, is already exploring or using AI for a range of activities, including screening travelers, translating conversations, assisting with drone navigation, and detecting potential radioactive materials crossing the border. The agency is also interested in or using it to locate items of interest in video feeds, generate testable synthetic trade data, run automated surveillance towers, and mine the internet for potential threats. AI is even integrated into the CBPs internal fitness app, according to a long list of use cases published online. The directive, which is titled U.S. Customs and Border Protection Artificial Intelligence and Reporting and assembled by the agencys AI and operations and governance office, sheds light on how CBP says its monitoring the use of these tools, both within its own ranks and among its contractors. Fast Company reached out to CBP for comment but did not hear back by publication time. The full directive appears fairly reasonable, a former DHS IT official tells Fast Company, and seems like a straightforward implementation of White House guidance. It looks like civil servants doing their job and following policy, while clarifying roles in the context of their own organizations reporting structure, they say. An ex-Biden administration official who worked on AI policy says the White Houses Office of Science and Technology Policy pressured parts of DHS, including CBP, to better organize its approach to AI. The directive, they say, shows that CBP, under the Trump administration, seems to be advancing on that front.But the ex-official still has a host of concerns, including what they call a flick of the wrist waiver process for getting around the minimum procedures for high-risk AI applications. The document states that using high-risk AI, without following these procedures, requires written approval from DHSs chief information officer, the agencys top tech official. The directive also lacks a protocol for explaining what should count as high-impact AI, creating another obvious loophole for skirting procedures, the person argues. That responsibility is left to another group called the AI inventory team and is supposed to factor in guidance from the White House, according to the directive. The former official also believes applications of AI should be deemed more sensitive when they’re closer to the border, particularly in places where CBP officers might have an expanded authoritya concern raised under the Biden administration, the person says. These procedures are an empty process, and only a half promise at that. These rules give us lots of red tape and record keep requirements, but no substantive protections against biased, error prone, and destructive AI, Albert Fox Cahn, the founder of S.T.O.P. and a fellow at Cambridge University, argues. In a space where AI errors can literally be a matter of life and death, where machine learning mistakes can mean being locked in a cage or threatened with deportation to a country you’ve never seen, it’s shameful that CBP would enable wholesale deployment of such tech. The directive comes as DHS expands its internal use of artificial intelligence. In recent years, the agency began several pilots with generative AI, including ChatGPT. The department also developed its own chatbot, called DHSChat. Upon taking office, the Trump administrations DHS banned the use of commercial AI tools like ChatGPT, and directed employees to only use internal tools, FedScoop reported earlier this year. Notably, this directive, signed by CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott, was published just a day before DHS released a new AI strategy for the department and a plan for complying with Trump administration guidance for boosting the use of the technology for all sorts of applications through government. CBP has been using artificial intelligence for more than a decade, but the directive notes that its use of natural language processing technology, along with other new AI methodologies, have grown.
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E-Commerce
PepsiCo, the food and bev giant behind childhood favorites like 7UP, Mountain Dew, Lays, and Doritos, just got new branding, and it looks nothing like its namesake product. The new PepsiCo brand identity, which includes a fresh wordmark, logo, and tagline, is the companys first rebrand since 2001. The company has had three different corporate identities since its inception in 1965, and all of them have taken their most prominent design cues from Pepsi, the soda brand that started it alluntil now. [Image: PepsiCo] When PepsiCo designed its last identity in 2001, it owned 13 consumer brands. Today, it owns more than 500. And, over the past several months, PepsiCo has signaled that it intends to focus on more price-conscious serving sizes and a healthier product line-up amidst low consumer spending and an increased cultural focus on wellness. Now, PepsiCo wants customers to know that its more than just one sugary cola, and its signaling that shift by ditching the former blue and red color palette and Pepsi-coded fonts in favor of a totally new look. Inside PepsiCo’s colorful new brand At first glance, PepsiCos new brand mostly looks like a few different abstract colorful shapes stitched together. But, according to a blog post on the rebrand, each visual element is intended as a nod to a different part of PepsiCos business, from its salty drinks to its growing focus on health and nutrition. The new PepsiCo logo is a white lowercase p surrounded by several different forms. On the left is a burnt yellow motif, which, according to PepsiCos description, represents food and grains, a concept rooted in agriculture. To the right is a light blue blob, signifying drinks and water, as well as a light green leaf, denoting “positive impact for people and planet. [Image: PepsiCo] And on the bottom of the p is a forest green smile, which stands for consumer-centricity. Paired with the logo is a new, all-lowercase font with modern, curvy letterforms and the tagline, Food. Drinks. Smile. Our color palette draws from the real worldthe rich soils that nourish our foods, our refreshing drinks, and the vibrant hues that reflect our commitment to people and the planet, the blog post reads. The new custom typeface, featuring lowercase letters, conveys a sense of approachability that mirrors the bold, consumer-centric spirit of our brands. [Image: PepsiCo] From a branding standpoint, the new identity is nothing groundbreaking. Its amalgamation of different symbolswhich, on first look, dont resemble much of anythingfeels like an inevitable result of the near-impossible effort to encapsulate 500 brands in one identity. Still, the rebrand is a good barometer for where PepsiCo sees itself in the future. This update is designed to establish PepsiCo as a company thats not defined by just one brand, but rather the sum of them. As the blog post explains, its a significant opportunity to highlight the depth and diversity of our portfolio, considering that just 21% of consumers are able to name a PepsiCo brand aside from Pepsi. Why PepsiCo might be distancing itself from Pepsi For PepsiCo, expanding consumer awareness beyond just Pepsi is clearly a key goal. Since 2001, PepsiCo has acquired big names including SodaStream, Quaker foods, and Rockstar, while also pouring major investments into its own brands like < href="https://www.fastcompany.com/91276977/gatorade-future-brand-stratgy" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Gatorade and Lays. More recently, the company has also begun to focus on bringing in more health-conscious brands with lower sodium, saturated fat, and sugar contents. In January, it acquired the grain-free, healthy tortilla chip brand Siete Foods for $1.2 billion, and in March, it shelled out $1.65 billion to acquire the prebiotic soda brand Poppi. PepsiCo is also preparing to launch its own prebiotic cola brand this fall, as well as introducing Lays and Tostitos with no artificial colors or flavors by the end of the year. During PepsiCos Q4 2024 earnings call in February 2025, CEO Ramon Laguarta explained that the company has seen a higher level of awareness in general of American consumers toward health and wellness, which he said was driving shifts in how consumers approach snacking. He shared that the company plans to focus more on building out its healthy options (including by pursuing protein beverages with a sense of urgency), as well as on developing products and packages that are more budget-friendly for customers with limited discretionary spending. In a letter posted to LinkedIn on October 28, Laguarta wrote of the new branding, This new identity boldly reflects who we are in 2025: a company with expansive reach, aiming for positive impact across the globe, and an unmatched family of beloved food and drink brands, made with high-quality ingredients and including functional benefits like protein and superior hydration. PepsiCos new identity looks less like a bottle of soda and more like a health foods brand, and thats very much by design. The company wants to be known not only for its bevy of salty chips and sugary drinks, but also for its expanding category of better-for-you options.
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E-Commerce
It looks and feels like any other luxurious cashmere sweater. But a new oversized crew from Reformation is made entirely from recycled fiber, a milestone three years in the making. The brand now makes a cardigan, crew, V-neck, and five other styles from a carefully developed blend of 95% recycled cashmere and 5% recycled woolthe unexpected material that made 100% recycled fiber feasible. Some other pieces in its lineup still use a small amount of virgin cashmere, but Reformation is aiming to eliminate it completely. “It really does have an outsized and shockingly large footprint compared to other fiber, says Kathleen Talbot, Reformation’s chief sustainability officer. In 2023, the company calculated that even though virgin cashmere made up less than 1% of the materials it sourced, it was responsible for nearly 40% of the brands carbon footprint. Most cashmere comes from Mongolia and China, where cashmere goats are combed once a year for their fine, soft fleece; a single sweater can use cashmere from four or five goats. As the demand has grown, there are now more than 90 million of the goats in China, and around 25 million more in Mongolia. Overgrazing is turning grasslands into desert. The goats also produce methane, a potent greenhouse gas. [Photo: Reformation] Making recycled fiber work Using recycled cashmere helps avoid those environmental challenges, but it’s historically been difficult to do. Recycling shortens the fiber, which risks making it weaker and more likely to pill. “We don’t want to be introducing a recycled product that doesn’t perform the same way or is a lower quality or less durable good,” Talbot says. “That, to us, is not a sustainability play.” The company worked with suppliers to develop a proprietary method to twist the yarn and wash and finish it for the right hand feel and durability. First they achieved a blend of 70% recycled cashmere and 30% virgin fiber, then 90% recycled, and then 95% recycled. “At each of these milestones, to be really honest, we thought that was going to be our upper limit based on the yarn performance and the product performance,” says Talbot. [Photo: Reformation] When they hit 95%, they asked suppliers why they couldn’t reach 100%. Technically, suppliers said, it was possible. But because the shorter recycled fibers are more prone to breakage, the yarn would have to be spun incredibly slowly. It would make producing the material so much more expensive that it wasn’t commercially viable. That’s why the design team turned to wool to make the 100% recycled product. Even after recycling, wool was “slightly longer and thicker than the cashmere fibers,” Talbot says. “Our suppliers felt confident that it would give it the right stability and really hold up in the spinning and knitting process.” The blend’s carbon footprint is 96% smaller than virgin cashmere, and uses nearly 90% less water to produce. After dozens of tests, they moved forward with it, and then spent months testing garments made from it. Internally, the company’s “Better Materials Task Force,” made up of around 20 leaders, wore the new recycled sweaters around the office and at home, washed them, and monitored whether they held up as well as sweaters made from virgin material. “We never really want to be promoting something just for impact that doesn’t have a really compelling product value proposition at the same time,” Talbot says. [Photo: Reformation] Scaling up When the company first started incorporating more recycled cashmere, sourcing the recycled yarn was a challenge. Now, because of higher demand for recycled fiber, the supply chain has responded. “Supply of the recycled fibers is not the same limiter as it was five years ago or 10 years ago,” she says. Right now, most of it comes from cashmere waste at factories. But as Reformation and other brands collect more used clothing for recycling, post-consumer cashmere can eventually become a bigger source as well. Moving forward, the company may make some products out of a mix of recycled and “regenerative” cashmereproduced with sustainable grazing methodsbecause a small percentage of customers have wool allergies. But it also plans to continue roling out the 100% recycled material in more products. “Not every problem is going to have a technological solve,” Talbot says. “But these are the sorts of problems that we can solve. And we have seen tremendous progress in the last three years.”
Category:
E-Commerce
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