In this week’s #TechAways: Eating-order disorder in 🇲🇽, EU AI brain drain, Bitcoin’s appetite & more

When your food order becomes a death ride [The Verge] 

In Mexico, five Uber-eats delivery bikers died in the last six months. With Mexico City having one of the highest accidents rates per capita, it is no surprise that accidents happen to those most frequently and most vulnerable on the road. Delivery bikers have a tough job in developing countries, as it is often a last resort for uneducated or minority citizens. Uber Eats and other delivery services have been booming in countries like Mexico, but the infrastructure has not always grown with it. As their statutes are unclear and work mostly independent, they depend on luck, the other driver helping out and their own delivery community when an accident occurs. Worker protection is a difficult subject, and not just in the EU.  

Europe’s AI brain drain [Bloomberg]  

Silicon Valley giants have long gobbled up promising European startups in order to get some of the smartest AI engineers in the world. But with the AI talent pool only 205,000 people deep worldwide and 44% of EU startups being bought by US firms – it might be time for national leaders to act to end the AI brain drain. Traditionally, the EU has regarded industry as critical technology. But now that sensitive data sets are becoming critical technology too, it’s time to figure out to how to keep the startups who control that data from leaving for greener pastures in the US or China. Otherwise Europe, who is already behind on the global AI race, stands no chance of reaching the finish line. 

It’s all about fulfillment [TechCrunch] 

Paris-based Cubyn has raised €12 million in new funding as the logistics startup launches “Cubyn  Fulfillment,” moving beyond pickup and delivery. The new service covers the entire logistical process, including keeping stock in Cubyn’s warehouses. Their typical customer is an e-merchant who sells across several sales channels and are completely dependent on e-commerce platforms. Cubyn’s ambition? Make affordable world-class logistics accessible to every single e-merchant, big and small. What would help? A real, fulfilling single market – but, as you all know, we’re not nearly there yet. 

Bitcoin consumes as much energy as Switzerland [BBC] 

The University of Cambridge launched this week an online tool that estimates Bitcoin uses as much energy as Switzerland over the course of a year. Several analysts have already called out Bitcoin’s energy consumption problem: it processes fewer than 100 million transactions per year compared to the 500 billion payments processed by the traditional financial industry. Bitcoin appears to use far more energy per transaction than all the world’s banks put together. Even though those figures should be taken with a pinch of salt, one can no longer ignore Bitcoin’s gluttonous energy appetite. 

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In case you haven’t had enough… 

The Struggle to Turn Your Face Into Secure Travel ID [Bloomberg] 

Endless AI-generated spam risks clogging up Google’s search results [The Verge] 

Facebook Doesn’t Know If You’re Psychotic [Bloomberg] 

UK universities trial app to tackle mental health crisis on campus [Financial Times] 

Breaking Up Facebook Would Make Things Worse [Bloomberg] 

Blockchain is no silver bullet against the black market [Financial Times] 

Why AI can’t fix content moderation [The Verge] 

Face-Reading AI Will Tell Police When Suspects Are Hiding Truth [Bloomberg] 

Lawyers warn of Facebook’s Libra tax risks in Europe [Financial Times]