🌍 Two more years

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Here’s what you need to know

The best person for Bob Iger’s job is still Bob Iger. Disney’s boomerang CEO got a two-year extension on what was meant to be a two-year stint.

Elon Musk hired only men to lead his new AI company. The little that’s known about xAI indicated that a lack of gender diversity will be an issue.

Prime Energy’s caffeine content is too high for Canada. The country issued a recall of the beverages, which are also facing regulatory scrutiny in the US.

Amazon Prime Day customers are buying now and paying later. The BNPL option saw a 20% surge in use compared to last year’s sale event.

America’s oldest craft brewer has poured its last drink. Anchor Brewing employees suspect the blame lies with Japanese owner Sapporo’s mismanagement.

Quotable: Time for a moratorium on deep-sea mining

“It is both logical and responsible to implement the precautionary approach vis-a-vis this new extractive industry that could drastically alter the marine environment we depend on with unknown and unintended consequences.” —A letter penned by the Global Tuna Alliance (GTA) and the Sustainable Seafood Coalition (SSC) on July 11.

Major players in the seafood industry have added their voices to a growing chorus demanding a halt in deep-sea mining. Julia Malleck looks at what’s at stake as the International Seabed Authority (ISA) convenes this week to discuss regulation of the practice.

Slow down AI

The authors of a new model about how to regulate technologies like AI sketch out a few assumptions about what they call transformative technology:

• It can increase productivity in any sector in which it is used…
• … But it can also be misused (intentionally or otherwise) to create a disaster. Think of the internal combustion engine, or transistors.

Their tentative conclusion: slow it all way down. Tim Fernholz explains why and how.

Pop quiz: How is Shopify making meetings more meaningful?

1. A cost calculator that puts a meeting’s dollar value directly onto the invite
2. A “skip intro” button for the throat-clearing at the start of a meeting
3. A punctuality score that predicts who will show up late

Let’s not waste your valuable non-meeting time—it’s A., a cost calculator that’s less about the actual dollars than it is a reminder that perhaps your meeting might not be necessary.

We rounded up our own ideas for software developers out there who are as annoyed as the rest of us about excessive meeting culture. But we’d love to hear your suggestions for how you’d throw technology at the problem, if you could.

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Surprising discoveries

France is subsidizing clothing repairs. Down with fast fashion, up with creative mending.

Ex-OpenAI engineers have created a “safer” AI. Claude 2 involves humans, feels more human, and constantly reminds you it should not be mistaken for a human.

Johannesburg saw snow for the first time since 2012. Don’t think it means climate change is solved, though.

Burger King’s new burger has no burger—just 20 pieces of cheese. It’s only available in Thailand, and reviews aren’t mixed.

The North Atlantic ocean is the warmest it’s ever been. A combination of factors pushed water temperatures way above average.

Our best wishes for a productive day. Send any news, comments, best mending attempts, and a burger that’s all bun to talk@qz.com. Reader support makes Quartz available to all—become a member. Today’s Daily Brief was brought to you by Sofia Lotto Persio and Susan Howson.