• In addition to being a musician and actor, Miley Cyrus is also a style icon.
• Many of her looks are extremely daring and involve everything from cutouts to plunging necklines.
• Cyrus also often wears see-through outfits, quirky leotards, and bold accessories.

No one embraces daring fashion quite like Miley Cyrus.

The 32-year-old superstar has been wearing bold outfits since the start of her entertainment career. She's performed in latex leotards, attended awards shows in sheer gowns, and more.

Here's a look at those outfits and some of the other daring ensembles she's sported so far.

Miley Cyrus wore a blazer as a dress to the 2012 Billboard Music Awards.

Her white, double-breasted blazer with a plunging neckline was designed by Jean Paul Gaultier. With this daring look, Cyrus proved she was way ahead of the "no-pants trend," which was most popular between 2016 and 2018. 

Equally bold were her accessories and hair, which included layered necklaces, black-and-white heels, and a short, volumized lob.

About seven months later, Cyrus attended a "VH1 Divas" event wearing a long-sleeved dress covered in cutouts.

The form-fitting dress had a high neckline, long sleeves, and a straight, calf-length skirt. The garment was especially unique thanks to diamond-shaped cutouts on each side that extended from her chest to her legs.

Cyrus completed the look with black pumps, matching nail polish, and short, spiked hair.

At the 2013 Met Gala, the musician paired an optical-illusion dress with one of her boldest hairstyles to date.

Though her Marc Jacobs dress appeared to be see-through at first glance, it actually had a long-sleeved, fishnet overlay atop a nude, sleeveless piece. The outer fabric was also coated with sparkles.

To keep the emphasis on her standout dress, Cyrus opted for a classic beauty look that included black eyeliner, red lipstick, and neutral face products. Her hair, on the other hand, was styled in wispy blonde spikes that showed her brown roots.

Cyrus even found a way to wear sweatpants on the red carpet that year.

She attended a Myspace event in a black bralette-style top, leather jacket, and white pumps. Cyrus also accessorized with a black handbag, layered necklaces, vibrant lipstick, and short blonde hair that was shaved on each side. 

It was her pants, however, that stole the show. The left leg of her pants was made from denim, and the right was made from gray sweatpants. 

She then wore numerous wild outfits during the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards.

First, she wore a strapless, fuzzy leotard designed to look like a gray mouse. Underneath was a nude, two-piece set made from latex, which she wore for her infamous performance with Robin Thicke.

She also wore white Creeper shoes from TUK Footwear, a choker necklace, and tiny space buns atop her head.

Toward the end of 2013, Cyrus wore cat-print swimwear and matching platform heels for an awards show.

The bathing suit — which had a sleeveless crop top and high-cut bottoms — was designed by Markus Lupfer. 

Though she performed in just the two-piece set, heels, and clear accessories, Cyrus later added a white jacket backstage.

She wore dozens of unique looks during her 2014 Bangerz Tour — including this leotard made from fake money.

The suit — which had long sleeves, a deep, V-shaped neckline, and a high-cut bottom — was covered in fake bills with Cyrus' face on them.

In addition to her outfit, the musician also wore oversize gold chains, a cannabis-leaf charm, and a green choker.

She also took her daring style offstage and wore skin-baring outfits for red carpets.

One such look was a black Tom Ford design that showed almost her entire torso. It had see-through long sleeves made from mesh and thick black straps that strategically crisscrossed over her chest.

Cyrus completed the look with a sleek blonde bob and dark eye makeup.

The following year, Cyrus put a daring twist on red-carpet elegance for the 2015 Met Gala.

Her black dress, designed by Alexander Wang, had a high neckline, long sleeves, and a floor-length skirt.

It was also covered in gold studs from top to bottom and had four cutouts — two teardrop-shaped ones near the neckline, and larger, half-moon-shaped cutouts across her waist.

She then paired a strapless Moschino gown with red gloves and black boots.

In true Moschino style, the quirky dress had a sweetheart neckline and a giant bow that extended into a train. The red, satin gown was also covered in black-and-red hearts made from sequins.

Cyrus also wore black Doc Martens boots decorated with the same heart pattern.

Months later, Cyrus hit the red carpet in a sparkling suit and white boots.

Her sparkling pink outfit included a long-sleeved jacket cropped at the waist, straight-legged pants, and a matching belt with a silver buckle.

Cyrus' boots, on the other hand, were white, though the stars on them were a metallic pink shade.

While campaigning for Hillary Clinton in 2016, Cyrus wore a giant bow in place of a shirt.

The blue bow, which she wore as a bralette, had a red heart directly in the middle. She also showed her patriotic side in a red-and-white striped skirt, silver heels, and a pink feather headpiece.

And though she wasn't photographed wearing it, Cyrus also carried a sparkling red, white, and blue top hat.

Cyrus once again showed her love for see-through clothes and heart prints in 2017.

On the red carpet, she wore a heart-print crop top underneath a sheer, calf-length jacket covered in the same print. She also wore matching lace tights that were entirely see-through over a red pair of underwear.

To complete the look, the musician wore red satin sandals, matching lipstick, and heart-shaped earrings.

In 2018, the "Midnight Sky" musician put a modern twist on old Hollywood glamour.

She attended an event held by Elton John in an asymmetrical gown partially covered in sparkles and partially made from satin. The latter side was bright pink and resembled Marilyn Monroe's famous gown.

The other side, however, was silver and textured. The long-sleeved gown was also unique thanks to its cutout underneath the neckline and its zig-zag pattern that split the two fabrics.

At the Met Gala that year, Cyrus looked sophisticated in a black gown with a plunging neckline.

The halter-style Stella McCartney design also had a mermaid-style skirt and an open back that showed off her tattoos. Cyrus paired the garment with gold necklaces and a short blonde hairstyle.

Cyrus let her shoes do the talking at the 2019 Grammy Awards.

She arrived on the red carpet in a black Mugler pantsuit, which included pants that flared at the ankles, and an oversize jacket worn without a shirt underneath.

But it was her shoes that really stood out. Cyrus wore vegan heels designed by Bradley Kenneth Eyewear and made by Mink Shoes. They were black sandals with gold-chain straps and two heels in the shapes of her initials: "M" and "C."

She continued to wear wild accessories later that year.

For a Tom Ford fashion show, Cyrus wore black satin pants, a black top with a plunging neckline, and a long velvet jacket.

The rest of her look was even bolder. She donned platform boots with sparkling heels, oversize sunglasses, and a big, fuzzy hat.

At the 2020 MTV Video Music Awards, Cyrus wore a see-through dress covered in tiny mirrors.

Her strapless gown, designed by Mugler, was worn over two black undergarments.

Cyrus also wore sheer gloves covered in black beads, strappy sandals, red lipstick, and her new signature mullet.

She wore platforms again in October 2020, but this time with a larger-than-life hat.

While leaving a New York City hotel with her mom, Cyrus was photographed in a red calf-length coat, a white scoop-neck shirt, and wide-legged leather pants with silver zippers across each shin.

Of course, a face mask was part of her ensemble, as were oversize sunglasses, layers of necklaces, and a towering top hat with a wide brim. Cyrus also wore black, alligator-print platform boots and carried a handbag with what appears to be a cat-shaped handle.

Cyrus walked around New York City in 2021 while wearing a rock-inspired outfit.

Her DIY-looking T-shirt read "Let It Rock," and she tucked it into a plaid miniskirt. To complete the look, Cyrus also wore velvet heels with gray bows, fishnet tights, a white garter, and messy buns.

In July 2021, Cyrus performed in Las Vegas for Independence Day while wearing a flag-themed outfit.

Her sleeveless top was made from black leather with silver sequin stars embroidered on it, while her miniskirt was covered in red-and-white sequined stripes from top to bottom.

Cyrus also wore silver jewelry, black knee-high boots with the same star pattern, and a spiked mullet.

She hit the stage again two months later in a daring blouse.

While performing in Atlanta for the Music Midtown festival, Cyrus was photographed onstage wearing a halter shirt with a black collar and two shining hoops of fabric that draped across her chest.

She didn't wear anything else under the shirt, which showed many of her tattoos.

Cyrus wore a sparkling fringe dress to a Gucci fashion show in November 2021.

Her burgundy Gucci dress was covered in a sparkling blue fringe from top to bottom. It also had a thigh-high slit up its skirt, and a yellow feather belt across her hips.

Cyrus also carried a gold purse and wore metallic sandal heels.

The musician also wore her boldest pantsuit to date that month.

Designed by Gucci and Balenciaga, her cream-colored suit was covered in a vibrant, floral print and the Balenciaga logo.

Cyrus wore it with a high-neck blouse underneath, a matching purse, and an oversize emerald ring.

To kick off 2022, Cyrus hosted a New Year's Eve party with Pete Davidson and wore a colorful, three-piece set.

The outfit included a sparkling blue bralette worn underneath a short coat crafted from rainbow-colored feathers. 

She also wore bedazzled platform sandals and a miniskirt made from pink lace, purple beads, and silver sequins.

She later changed into a silver set and experienced a major wardrobe malfunction.

The two-piece set had a backless halter top with rips in the front and a matching miniskirt with asymmetrical pleats.

She was performing "Party in the USA" when the top part of her outfit broke, forcing her to hold it up and quickly make her way backstage. Cyrus then threw on a red blazer and seamlessly carried out the rest of her performance.

"Everybody's definitely looking at me now," she then jokingly sang before adding: "I'm still in the most clothes I've ever worn onstage."

Early in 2022, Cyrus performed in Colombia while wearing a cutout catsuit.

Her long-sleeved outfit was black and covered in tiny cutouts. The small circular ones extended from the garment's neckline to its pant legs, and a giant cutout with crisscross straps sat across its bodice.

In 2023, she was photographed wearing a body-hugging corset dress.

Her Versace dress was strapless with a sharp, plunging neckline, cone top, and leather skirt.

Cyrus wore the bold garment with pointed pumps, black leather gloves, and her hair styled in loose waves.

Cyrus couldn't get enough of daring fashion at the 2024 Grammys.

She first hit the red carpet in a custom ensemble designed by Maison Margiela. The golden chain-link dress was entirely see-through and intricately designed with different patterns from top to bottom.

The metallic piece also showed off her many tattoos and paired perfectly with her blown-out hairstyle.

Later that night, she changed into a brown dress with a slit that reached her waist.

The custom Gucci gown had a thin bodice with a single strap, which barely covered her chest across one side of her body.

The revealing top design mirrored the gown's showstopping skirt, which was slit down the side starting at her waist.

Cyrus wore the dress with pointed pumps, a feather shawl, and a leather purse.

This year, Cyrus stepped out in mesh while promoting her latest album.

She was visiting New York City when she was photographed wearing a black, sleeveless gown that was see-through.

Designed by Ludovic de Saint Sernin, the dress had a mermaid-style skirt, a plunging neckline, and a piece of fabric tied across the collarbone.

She then took fringe to another level.

Also in New York City, Cyrus wore a Schiaparelli couture design. It included a sleeveless, fishnet dress embellished with crystals and a fringe skirt, as well as a massive, fringe-covered coat.

She also carried a Schiaparelli purse with the brand's signature gold anatomy charms.

• The US Army secretary and a top general told BI about the service's plans for what it flies.
• In the coming years, the Army wants to operate far more unmanned aircraft than manned.
• US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wants the Army to reduce its crewed attack helicopter force and replace it with drones.

US Army leadership told Business Insider it wants to be flying a lot more uncrewed aircraft than crewed ones in the coming years. We are talking about a tremendous increase in the number of drones.

Its ambitions, which align with goals outlined by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's recent directive, come from a vision for what Army officials and the Trump administration have described as a more lethal force ready for future warfare.

In an interview with Business Insider, US Secretary of the Army Daniel Driscoll and Gen. James Rainey, the commanding general of Army Futures Command, said that unprecedented changes in warfare are fueling plans to overhaul what the Army flies.

"We believe there's a role for some manned aircraft," Rainey explained, "Big picture-wise, right now, about 90% of the things we're flying have humans in them and 10% don't. And I believe over the next several years, we would like to invert that."

The plans to give every division 1,000 drones within the next two years, he added, speak to the "aggressiveness" with which the Army is going after the new uncrewed objectives.

Earlier this year, Hegseth sent out a memo on strategic transformations within the Army, laying out goals and timelines for the service, including force restructuring and cuts to certain programs and systems that altogether represent one of the largest Army revamps since the end of the Cold War. The push is estimated to cost around $36 billion over the next five years.

In the memo, Hegseth indicated that crewed attack helicopter formations would be reduced, restructured, and augmented with drone swarms capable of overwhelming adversaries.

War-winning Army capabilities and the ones that aren't

Driscoll said this big change, along with others identified in the DoD memo, is already underway and largely focused on examining what systems no longer make sense in the context of the Army's vision for its future and what systems will replace them.

He mentioned the AH-64D Apache attack helicopter as one platform that no longer aligns with plans for the transformation of the force. "The flying costs on that were $10,000 an hour," the secretary said of the older Deltas, pointing out that the figure is about twice the cost of the newer Echo variant of the aircraft.

"Those are the kinds of decisions that I think we had let linger and fester for too long as an Army for all sorts of reasons," Driscoll said. "What we are trying to do is take a hard look at these things," he explained, and decide whether they align with what the warfighter needs.

Last month, Lt. Gen. Joseph Ryan, the Army's deputy chief of staff for operations, plans, and training, said that the Deltas are no longer "a war-winning capability that we can fight with and win today." Even the more advanced Echos, he said, are "on the cusp of being capabilities where we don't necessarily see them contributing to the fight the way they have done perhaps in the past."

The Army plans to shelve the Delta variant and further examine other crewed aircraft that may no longer be sufficiently effective. It is also reviewing other helicopter models and plans to reduce the number of helos operated.

The future of war is robotic

More broadly, uncrewed aircraft are being seen as alternatives that soldiers can send forward on the battlefield to do missions that crewed aircraft have traditionally done.

There's still a place for crewed aircraft in the Army. Some helicopters, for example, still boast value for landing troops behind or around enemy positions to surprise and surround them. But future operations are expected to be a whole lot more robotic, with an Army aviation portfolio that more heavily relies on unmanned systems integrated with manned ones.

The Army sees itself at a turning point. Senior defense officials appointed by President Donald Trump have called out what they see as excessive spending, outdated systems and weapons, and a need to expedite changes to be prepared to deter or fight a future conflict. It's part of efforts to maximize readiness, increase lethality, and get soldiers what they need most.

Such aims aren't entirely new, though, and execution will be key. During the previous administration, for instance, the Army was already discussing the need for more uncrewed systems and changes to its aircraft fleet, especially with the cancellation of the Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft program.

Last year, Rainey told lawmakers that for scouting and recon missions "the right thing to do is to use unmanned systems and not put humans in harm's way."

A major motivator for many of the ongoing transformation efforts is China, which the Pentagon has referred to as a pacing challenge. Officials and lawmakers in Washington see China's meteoric military growth and modernization and are pursuing capabilities that will allow the US military to deter aggression and, if necessary, overcome that rapidly evolving fighting force in armed combat.

Drones, from pocket-sized aircraft to quadcopters to bigger warfighting assets, are a key part of these efforts, providing a range of combat capabilities en masse for a relatively low cost compared to some other US weapons programs.

The Pentagon has been working to expedite the development and deployment of uncrewed aerial systems across the services, recognizing their value as this technology sprints onto the scene in big ways. Army soldiers have been testing different types of reconnaissance and strike drones are being tested in areas like the Indo-Pacific region, learning how to adapt unmanned systems to the challenges of different missions and environments.

That's a key aspect of an ongoing "transformation in contact" initiative, which focuses on Army units being given free rein to use different capabilities during training and exercises to see how the systems might work best.

The value of drones, particularly the smaller systems, has been especially visible in the war in Ukraine, which Army leaders continue to study. Ukrainian operators fly drones for intelligence-gathering and strike missions, among others.

Due to extensive electronic warfare countermeasures on the battlefield, both sides are heavily relying on fiber-optic drones to maintain a stable connection between the operator and system while also exploring new technology, like AI-enabled drones that can resist jamming. The US is not in a similar situation, but it is looking to innovate as if it were.

• Quick-service and fast-food restaurants typically collect data on customers' purchasing behaviors.
• With the help of AI, they can now leverage their data to better manage inventory and operations.
• This article is part of "How AI Is Changing Everything: Supply Chain," a series on innovations in logistics.

Fast-food chain Juici Patties, which operates more than 70 locations in Florida, New York, and Jamaica, started on the island nation as a family kitchen in 1978. When the chain expanded into the US last year, it experienced stockouts.

Executives knew they needed a different strategy — one with advanced technology to scale their business, manage franchises, and sell thousands of patties each day, Stuart Levy, the company's chief technology officer, told Business Insider.

Today, Juici Patties uses AI's predictive and proactive features to prevent disruptions before they occur.

"AI is helping to keep our distribution centers stocked with enough of our branded packaging to meet demand," Levy said.

Indeed, AI technology is making its way into quick-service and fast-casual restaurant operations. AI can use data to form predictions about customer orders, then generate insights for leaders on how to manage inventory and operations.

Domino's Pizza and Microsoft teamed up to create a generative-AI assistant that saves managers time on inventory management and ingredient ordering. Starbucks also inked a deal with Microsoft to use genAI in its product development. And Yum Brands, the parent company of KFC, Taco Bell, and others, partnered with Nvidia on AI for internal tasks such as labor management and analytics processing.

For many quick-service restaurants, "their entire brand is built on speed and efficiency," said Spencer Michiel, the restaurant technology advisor at Back of House, a resource for restaurant tech solutions. "If there's anything that can help them with speed, efficiency, and lower cost, they're going to jump all over it."

Data-rich restaurants layer on AI

Restaurants are "extremely data-rich," Michiel said, which makes them well-suited to adopt AI. Major fast-food chains already have standard operating procedures to purchase based on demand, but AI takes that to the next level with forecasting abilities that more accurately predict demand and inform supply.

With AI's forecasting capabilities, restaurants can predict what customers might order and use this data to buy ingredients, a notoriously tricky part of restaurant supply chain management.

"The biggest thing that restaurants do badly is purchase," said Stephen Zagor, a consultant focused on restaurants and food businesses and an adjunct assistant professor of business at Columbia Business School.

AI draws from quick-service restaurants' internal point-of-sale data, such as sales trends and which products customers tend to buy at the same time. Then, an AI algorithm combines this data with external factors like the weather or local events.

"The beauty of AI is it's taking forecasted demand and turning that into a reaction all the way through the supply chain," Zagor said.

For example, AI can deliver granular data by location. For a restaurant right off an interstate, AI could predict that travel will slow down on certain days. Seeing that prediction, restaurant managers could decide to drop their inventory levels and purchase fewer items, Zagor said.

He named McDonald's as one quick-service restaurant that uses AI to maximize everything from its point-of-sale to its supply chain. The fast-food giant has partnered with Google Cloud and IBM on various AI solutions.

When it comes to data and AI, the level of standardization across major chains puts them at an advantage over smaller franchises and independent restaurants.

A mom-and-pop restaurant may not have "the time, the bandwidth, the skills, the knowledge" to gather data and create an action plan, Michiel said. Subscribing to software can cost hundreds of dollars each month, presenting financial barriers to small businesses. Any new back-of-house or supply chain software would need to integrate with existing point-of-sale systems. If done incorrectly, the result could be data loss or lag, "and it's going to be frustrating," Michiel said.

Serving up efficiency and financial gains

AI's predictive power can also help minimize waste in restaurant supply chains. If a restaurant orders too much, it could have to discard unused or expired food. This could require the business to increase meal costs to compensate for the loss, according to Michiel.

"Food waste is just a killer," Michiel said. "Over-ordering is straight loss. There's no way you're going to recover that cost."

Controlling costs is especially critical for fast-food chains, which order at scale and sell low-priced products. Making just 5 cents more on an item, or making 5 cents fewer, "is a big deal," Zagor said.

AI can also promote cost savings by flagging if a particular ingredient swap could result in higher profits without sacrificing taste or quality. The technology "smooths out" a restaurant's ability to purchase inventory while still keeping customer satisfaction top of mind, Zagor said.

"You can get good profit, and the customer is going to be happy," Zagor said. "It's win-win."

Levy said Juici Patties' AI implementation into its point-of-sale system and supply chain was time-consuming, involved some growing pains, and sparked fears about replacing the workforce with AI. He acknowledged that "AI isn't flawless."

Now that the technology is in place, though, Juici Patties has seen a boost in operational efficiency, Levy said. In one instance, the AI revealed that customers wanted to purchase food earlier in the day, before Juici Patties locations were open.

"We were missing potential sales during earlier hours of the day," Levy said. The restaurant chain acted upon that information and adjusted its opening times. The result: "a consistent increase in daily sales," Levy said.

• Nvidia's stock has been on a tear lately — but some people still don't know how to pronounce the company's name.
• While some pronounce it "NUH-vid-ee-uh," the correct pronunciation is "en-VID-ee-uh."
• Nvidia's name, inspired by the Latin word "invidia," reflects its founders' hope to evoke envy.

You might hear people mentioning Nvidia more this week. The stock is trading at an all-time high. It's officially the most valuable company in the world. But are people pronouncing it correctly?

Despite the company dominating headlines and being at the forefront of many conversations around AI, some people still don't know how to pronounce its name.

Luckily, Nvidia cleared the confusion on its website and explained the proper pronunciation. We're sorry to tell you, but if you're one of the people calling the tech giant "NUH-vid-ee-uh," you've been saying it wrong.

The proper pronunciation of Nvidia is "en-VID-ee-uh," according to the company.

Founded by CEO Jensen Huang, Chris Malachowsky, and Curtis Priem in 1993, the chipmaker's name actually came from its lack of a name, Fortune previously reported. While the trio focused on developing the company, they put its title on the back burner and named files "NV" as an abbreviation for the "next version."

The three eventually decided on NVision before realizing the name was taken by a toilet-paper manufacturing company, The New Yorker reported. Finally, Huang suggested the chipmaker's current name, a spinoff of the word "invidia," which means envy in Latin, the report said.

Huang and the founders had dreams of creating a product that would make rivals "green with envy," Nvidia cofounder Priem said. Given Nvidia has a nearly $3.9 trillion market cap and a long line of tech giants and startups angling for its latest AI chips, it seems as if that vision has come to fruition.

To celebrate Nvidia's stock price hitting $100 years ago, Huang got the company's logo tattooed on his arm — an experience he later said "hurts way more than anybody tells you."

Check out the video below to hear Huang pronounce the name at Nvidia's 2024 keynote.

• NYC's mayoral frontrunner has a plan to overhaul the city's property tax system.
• It involves an analysis of billionaire Ken Griffin's 220 Central Park South apartment.
• Here's what it could mean for NYC homeowners from Staten Island to the Bronx.

When Ken Griffin purchased the most expensive home in America in 2019, it came with a hidden discount.

The palatial four-floor apartment at 220 Central Park South, which cost the billionaire founder of the hedge fund Citadel nearly $240 million, is taxed at about half the rate of the average condo in the city, data shows.

Now, Zohran Mamdani, the 33-year-old self-described socialist who won the Democratic primary for New York City mayor, wants Griffin — and scores of other wealthy homeowners in the city — to pay more. His plan, if instituted, could upend tax bills from Staten Island to Billionaire's Row in Manhattan.

In a policy memo published by his campaign, Mamdani pointed to Griffin's Central Park South apartment as an example of why he thinks an overhaul of the city's byzantine system is necessary.

Without mentioning Griffin by name, the memo called out the taxes charged for an apartment at 220 Central Park South that cost $228 million, what the memo described as "the most expensive home ever sold in the United States." (News reports at the time of the sale said Griffin bought the apartment for $238 million.)

The memo proposed taxing the apartment, and others like it across the city, closer to their actual sales values versus the complex formulas currently used by the city's Department of Finance, which valued Griffin's apartment at just $15 million on his most recent tax bill. Mamdani's memo said this change would lead to an annual property tax bill on Griffin's Central Park pad of $3 million — more than three times what it currently pays. Other New Yorkers could also see their costs rise — or fall — depending on where they live and the sales value of their homes.

A spokesperson for Griffin declined to comment. Records from the city's Department of Finance show Griffin's Central Park property was charged $841,000 in property taxes for 2025/26.

The $841,000 bill means that Griffin pays 35 cents of taxes per hundred dollars of the apartment's sales value. That's less than half the tax burden paid by condo owners across the city on average, according to a 2021 report by a tax reform commission tapped by the previous NYC mayor, Bill de Blasio. The average condo in the city pays 74 cents of taxes per $100 of sales value, according to the report.

Raising taxes on Brooklyn brownstones

Mamdani said the city's current method, which calculates values for condos and coops by comparing them with rentals, "heavily favors luxury and super-luxury apartments."

He said he would embrace reforms recommended by the 2021 tax commission, which suggested NYC use a "sales-based methodology to value all properties." That methodology, he said, would lower tax payments for homeowners in neighborhoods like Jamaica in Queens and Brownsville in Brooklyn "while raising the amount paid in the most expensive Brooklyn brownstones."

Tax experts agreed that the current tax system tends to favor tony neighborhoods like the Upper East Side, Greenwich Village, and Park Slope. Poorer and working-class communities in the Bronx and Staten Island have historically paid more as a percentage of the sales value of their real estate, they said.

Sebastian Hallum Clarke, a product manager at Google Maps who has studied the city's property tax system in his free time, highlighted that dichotomy in a blog post. Clarke detailed how a 96-unit rental apartment building in the Queens neighborhood of Jackson Heights paid nearly six times as much in annual property taxes as a single-family Upper East Side mansion, even though the city's Department of Finance estimates similar values — $6.6 million versus $5.5 million — for the two.

"Every dollar in cost for a rental gets passed on ultimately to the renters themselves," Clarke said. It's "a broken system that is just completely unfair in terms of how much tax different classes of property are paying."

Part of the disparity is attributable to state-mandated caps that prevent the city from raising the assessed value on one- to three-family homes by more than 6% per year and 20% over five years.

It remains to be seen whether Mamdani, if he wins the mayoralty, prioritizes property tax reform in an agenda packed with bold promises, including free bus service, a rent freeze, and affordable housing development. Other mayors have pledged to fix the system only to punt on the complex and politically fraught issue.

"The Dinkins administration did a property tax reform commission," said Martha Stark, a former commissioner of the Department of Finance during Michael Bloomberg's mayoralty, noting how long the system has been under scrutiny.

"I just can't imagine that Mamdani would elevate that to the top of his priority list in the first term," said James Parrott, an economist who was on the 2021 tax advisory commission.

• The CEO of Ford warned that AI could eliminate half of white-collar jobs.
• He emphasized the importance of skilled trades amid a slowdown in tech hiring.
• Some CEOs have sounded the AI alarm, while others are more skeptical of mass job displacement.

Jim Farley, the CEO of Ford, pumped the brakes on opting for an office job in the AI era.

Speaking at the Aspen Ideas Festival on June 27 about what he coined the "essential economy," Farley reflected on his own family's journey. His grandfather, he said, was an orphan in Michigan and built a career at Ford from his early days as an hourly employee.

"Look around the room," he said in his opening remarks. "At some point, almost all of your families came from these kinds of jobs."

Farley warned, though, that the American education system focuses on four-year degrees instead of the trades, while hiring at tech firms is falling rapidly.

"Artificial intelligence is going to replace literally half of all white-collar workers in the US," Farley said. That's why, he said, more people are looking to the skilled trades. Representatives for Ford did not immediately respond to BI's request for comment.

Farley isn't the only executive sounding the alarm.

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said in May that AI could eliminate half of entry-level office jobs within five years. Companies and governments, Amodei said, should stop "sugarcoating" the risks of widespread job replacement in fields including technology, finance, law, and consulting.

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy told employees in June to expect corporate job cuts because of generative AI (people weren't thrilled about the memo). Jassy didn't offer many specifics, but said in a later interview that the new technology will create jobs in robotics and AI.

Other leaders have a different view. Cognizant CEO Ravi Kumar told BI that he thinks AI will create more jobs for college graduates, particularly when it comes to human labor. Jensen Huang, the CEO of Nvidia, also disagreed with Amodei's warning, and said AI will change everyone's job but could also crate creative opportunities.

White-collar job postings dropped 12.7% over the year in the first quarter, compared to a 11.6% dip for blue-collar jobs. The tech industry in particular has slowed down hiring. Big Tech firms' hiring of new grads fell around 50% from before the pandemic, according to venture capital firm SignalFire. Some of that has to do with AI, the report said.

GenZ is turning increasingly to blue-collar jobs, which some AI whisperers think is the safest spot in the labor market, at least for now.

• We've lived in our house for 30 years and have no plans of moving out any time soon.
• Our friends are downsizing, but emotions play a big part in our not leaving our 3,500 square foot house.
• There are memories in every corner of this place.

After 30 years, we're not ready to leave our 1970s home, even though it has stairs and no walk-in shower.

Among my friends my age — I'm 67 — downsizing is a major topic at social gatherings. The focus is always on finances and logistics, not the deep feelings that the decision reveals.

Emotions play a big part in why, for now, we're staying in this too-big, too-out-of-date, difficult-to-manage two-level 3,500-square-foot home despite many reasons to go and fewer to stay.

We've put so much work into it

My husband of 40 years and I have upgraded and replaced many things. Our upper level has oak plank floors, and we ripped the kitchen to the studs, put in a long peninsula, and increased cabinet space. We upgraded all the interior doors, replaced the concrete driveway, and improved the drainage. We've added a new roof and refurbished a concrete patio. We've added tiles to the bathroom floors and repainted multiple times. And except for the ubiquitous ancient refrigerator in the basement, we've upgraded with good appliances as needed.

But we don't necessarily love everything we've done throughout the years. The oak planks throughout the upper level are narrow, having been put in years ago, and the trend is wider planks. The remodeled kitchen, chic in 2011, has dark cabinets that are not in vogue.

It's an expensive house

At our price point and on our retirement income, it doesn't make sense to replace wooden floors or upgrade a kitchen that costs more than we'll ever get back.

A costly team cares for our lawn. A landscaper cares for the garden beds, and early every Monday, a team of mowers wakes us up. Another person hauls away branches after our frequent Midwestern storms. A man with a lift and a crew takes down the big trees, about 15 in 30 years. A company fertilizes the acre-sized lot and treats it for moles.

One Mother's Day, my husband looked out the kitchen window and said, "You are not the only mother on the property today," spotting Mr. and Mrs. Ground Hog and their four babies. We hired "The Critter Roper," who gently removed them from our property.

We hired the varmint guy to build a structure to protect our foundation, one of those expenses that cost a pretty penny and are not as exciting as a new car or TV. Our foundation has been safe from varmints ever since.

But we have reasons to stay

All that said, we are comfortable in our home. While the decorative style might be called Eclectic Grammy, each room has relics of past travel, copies of famous paintings, and originals by artist friends. We are surrounded by books everywhere (my husband is a retired librarian), and I can't bear to part with one book yet.

We each have an office, and my husband, who runs an online antiques business, keeps inventory in our basement and yard barn.

I love my yellow-and-white striped wallpapered office and large L-shaped desk. Diverse items hang on the walls — a huge picture of Eleanore Roosevelt, an "I Love Lucy" Vitameatavegamin clock, posters of Baryshnikov, my mother's 1955 Indiana University diploma, a picture my son drew in first grade of "The Cat in the Hat," and a poster of El Greco's "Toledo," the exact spot where my husband and I stood.

My most precious books are on a rough-hewn bookshelf my Dad built when I moved into my first apartment, arm's length away from my comfortable office chair.

From my office, I see West Lake, the canopy of trees in our yard, and lilac bushes that recently bloomed. Three bird feeders hang off the deck rail, awaiting the imminent arrival of the Rose-breasted grosbeaks on their way back to Canada.

I'm not ready to give these things up. My husband, who couldn't run his business from a smaller space, isn't ready to stop his business.

I hear kids in my mind, despite it being empty now

The house is quiet now, but I still love being here despite its too-small rooms and the lack of a linen closet.

In my mind, I hear the noise of children's pool parties and the clatter of my son's quick, child footsteps on the stairs, although he left for college in 2008 and lives on the East Coast.

My maternal grandfather was a real estate agent and always told me, that owning a home is an emotional investment. That statement sticks with me now as my husband and I contemplate when to downsize.

For now, I'm happy to stay in our home on its lovely tree-filled lot, which offers comfort and familiarity, rich memories, and seasonal beauty.

• Charlize Theron added a dramatic scene to "The Old Guard 2" during reshoots.
• The scene highlights the complex relationship between her character, Andy, and Quỳnh, played by Veronica Ngô.
• "The Old Guard 2" is currently available on Netflix.

Though "The Old Guard" franchise is filled with exciting action sequences, it also has some serious moments, and one of the most dramatic in "The Old Guard 2" was imagined by its star, Charlize Theron.

When immortal warrior Andy (Theron) learns that her friend from centuries ago, Quỳnh (Veronica Ngô), is actually alive, Andy is beside herself. She has felt guilty all this time that she could never locate her friend. And, to make things worse, Quỳnh has teamed up with the evil immortal, Discourse (Uma Thurman).

In one scene, soon after learning Quỳnh is alive, Andy has a memory from back in medieval times. In one of her darkest moments, she almost strangles to death a man who seems to have done nothing wrong to her until Quỳnh tells her, "This is not who you are."

This dramatic moment is relevant towards the end of the movie when Quỳnh has her own dark moment. After an all-out battle between Andy's team and Discourse at a nuclear plant, Andy comes across Quỳnh as she's about to blow up the facility. In that moment, Quỳnh says to Andy, "Is this when you tell me that this isn't who I am?"

"That was all Charlize," "The Old Guard 2" director Victoria Mahoney told Business Insider, revealing that Theron came up with the sequences when they did reshoots on the movie.

"It was to give the audience another view of who these two were in time and what they've meant to each other," she continued. "It wasn't just fighting side by side but pulling each other from the dark side."

Mahoney said they were able to build out the Andy/Quỳnh relationship thanks to the groundwork laid out in the first movie.

"My job was to grow all these wonderful aspects of what had already been planted," she said. "How to honor them, celebrate them, and then expand."

She also hopes that delving deeper into their relationship will make the audience think about the Andy and Quỳnh in their own lives.

"Going to your darkest self, many people can relate to that," Mahoney said. "And that makes them think of the person in their lives who says, 'That's not you.'"

• After seeing a stunning aerial shot of Lake Bled on "The Amazing Race," I booked a trip to Slovenia.
• I spent 2 weeks driving through Slovenia, visiting beautiful towns, hiking alpine gorges, and more.
• The country's kind locals, diverse landscapes, and peaceful charm made it my top travel destination.

My husband and I were halfway through an episode of CBS's "The Amazing Race" when a brief aerial shot of a glittering alpine lake stopped us cold.

The water shimmered in a perfect shade of blue, a tiny island church sat at its center, and towering green mountains framed the scene like a painting. We looked at each other and said, "Let's go there."

The destination? Lake Bled in Slovenia, a country I couldn't have placed on a map at the time. Within weeks, we'd booked the trip.

I thought this would be a one-off adventure to a pretty spot we'd seen on TV. I had no idea Slovenia would become my favorite travel destination.

We based parts of our trip on 'The Amazing Race' episode

Although there's an airport in Slovenia's capital city, Ljubljana, we opted to fly into Vienna instead, then take the train into Ljubljana, just like competitors did on "The Amazing Race."

The ride through the countryside was cinematic, with rolling hills, dense forests, and snowy mountains in the distance.

We then rented a car and spent two weeks tracing the show's route, filling in the gaps with places that caught our attention along the way.

Ljubljana felt like a fairytale come to life, with pastel buildings, pedestrian promenades, and a calm river that split the city center. We searched for the famous locks and dragon statues we'd seen on TV, ate pizza, and enjoyed local beers at cafés lining the water.

From there, we drove to Lake Bled, where the island church and emerald water looked just as magical in person as they did on our screens.

The nearby Lake Bohinj, quieter and more rugged, felt like a local secret.

We hiked through Vintgar Gorge, where wooden walkways hugged the cliffs over rushing water, and explored the medieval clifftop Predjama Castle, which looks like it was carved straight into the rock.

In the Soča Valley, we based ourselves in the mountain town of Bovec.

The Soča River shimmered in surreal shades of blue, and we spent hours walking along its banks, dipping our toes in, and soaking up the mountain air.

We hiked through Tolmin Gorge, crossed hanging bridges, and attempted to paraglide, though the weather didn't cooperate.

Before heading home, we detoured to explore the Škocjan Caves, a jaw-dropping underground world with echoing caverns and waterfalls thundering in the dark.

We then ended our trip on the coast in Piran, a tiny seaside town where cars aren't allowed in the historic center.

We wandered narrow alleyways, climbed to the city walls, and watched the sun dip into the Adriatic while church bells echoed in the distance.

The locals we encountered were so friendly, too

As beautiful as Slovenia is, the people left the most profound impression.

When I got sick mid-trip, my husband drove to a nearby village to find a pharmacy. The pharmacist didn't speak much English, and my husband spoke no Slovenian aside from "hello" and "thank you," but she still managed to get him everything I needed — and even sent him off with well wishes for me.

Later, we hired a boat captain for a sunset cruise, and he went so far above and beyond that he offered to drive us to the train station the next morning. He still checks in with us to this day.

That level of kindness wasn't the exception — it was the norm. People we encountered everywhere we went in Slovenia seemed patient, welcoming, and eager to help us enjoy their country.

They helped us learn small bits of Slovenian, provided us with suggestions and ideas on how to spend our afternoons, took the time to chat with us, and never made us feel like unwanted tourists.

Now, Slovenia is my favorite travel destination

Slovenia wasn't on my radar before that random episode of "The Amazing Race," but now it's the first place I recommend to anyone looking for something special.

It gave us adventure, peace, stunning scenery, and meaningful connections, all without the crowds or chaos of more popular European spots.

But more than anything, it just felt good to be there. Slovenia reminded me that sometimes the best trips aren't the ones we plan for months, they're the ones that start with a single, unexpected moment that makes you say, "Let's go."

• This post originally appeared in the Business Insider Today newsletter.
• You can sign up for Business Insider's daily newsletter here.

Good morning. President Donald Trump's "big beautiful bill" is heading for a final vote in the US House of Representatives. BI has broken down how it could affect your wallet, if it passes, from an increase in the child tax credit to a repeal of student loan forgiveness.

In today's big story, Sean "Diddy" Combs may have dodged a possible sentence of life in prison, but he's not a free man yet.

What's on deck

Markets: A new report attempts to answer one question hanging over everyone on Wall Street.

Tech: Amazon's performance review process is getting a new key metric.

Business: What media and politics insiders are saying about Paramount's settlement with Trump.

But first, the jury has reached a verdict.

If this was forwarded to you, sign up here.

The big story

Diddy's empire on the line

Cheers erupted in the courtroom as the verdicts were announced.

Sean "Diddy" Combs was found guilty on two felony counts of transporting people for prostitution. He avoided convictions on steeper charges: two counts of sex trafficking and one of racketeering.

"Love you!" Combs shouted to his family with a beaming smile after the verdict was read. "I'm gonna be home soon!"

Not as soon as he'd like. Combs was denied bail and ordered to remain in jail until his sentencing, with the judge citing his history of violence.

The verdict came after 14 hours of jury deliberations and more than six weeks of testimony from 34 government witnesses, including the R&B singer Cassie Ventura, who dated Combs for 11 years.

What does the verdict mean for the hip-hop mogul's business empire and his fortune?

Well — what's left of them, anyway.

As a result of the criminal indictment, emotionally-charged courtroom testimony, and the wave of civil sex abuse lawsuits against Combs, he's become persona non grata in the industries that once made him very wealthy, BI's Madeline Berg and Natalie Musumeci write.

His income streams and reputation have been dealt a blow.

For example, Diageo, Combs' partner in Cîroc vodka and DeLeón tequila, cut ties with him in 2023. The move officially ended a relationship that, according to the company, netted the music tycoon nearly $1 billion since he was named the face of Cîroc in 2007.

"Mr. Combs is well-aware that these lawsuits make it impossible for him to continue to be the 'face' of anything," Diageo lawyers wrote in 2023.

Beyond his criminal case, Combs is still facing more than 50 civil lawsuits accusing him of sexual assault, rape, drugging, and other forms of violence. And if any of the plaintiffs win, the financial impact could be steep.

3 things in markets

1. Tough times for Tesla. The EV maker's delivery numbers came in just as bad as Wall Street predicted, representing a 13.5% year-over-year decrease from Q2 2024. Early Tesla investor-turned-bear Ross Gerber called Elon Musk's latest spat with President Trump another "nail in the coffin" that could tank the stock as much as 50% if the market reevaluates it.

2. Why the economy is doing worse than we thought. The job market is tough, real GDP dropped more than initially thought, and consumer spending fell. These warning signs indicate there's trouble in the US economy, but that doesn't mean a recession is guaranteed.

3. A new report measures exactly how much AI will reshape banking. Unsurprisingly, the report found tech, engineering, and infrastructure would change the most, with a projection of 55% of the work being redefined by 2030. Front office functions are projected to see huge changes, too.

3 things in tech

1. Behind Microsoft's new AI-focused sales strategy. Microsoft's chief commercial officer Judson Althoff is revamping the sales unit to become "the frontier AI Firm," according to an internal memo viewed by BI. The memo was sent out a day before Microsoft cut less than 4% of its workforce, which affected many salespeople.

2. Amazon's performance reviews are getting stricter. Employee evaluations will now formally include the company's long-standing "Leadership Principles." Managers will use a new three-tiered system to evaluate how well employees reflect the company's values, according to an internal document BI obtained.

3. How much Meta pays top talent across its broader workforce. Software engineers at Meta can make up to $480,000, and even product designers and researchers can make $200,000, according to federal filings. Here's what Meta pays employees across various key roles.

3 things in business

1. More layoffs at TikTok. The company notified some e-commerce workers that their roles were being cut as part of "organizational and personnel changes," according to two employees and an internal email viewed by BI. US e-commerce sales performance has been mixed this year amid new tariffs on China.

2. Paramount's settlement with Trump sets a new media precedent. The media giant is paying $16 million to settle a lawsuit Trump brought over a "60 Minutes" segment that aired last fall. Here's what top people in media and politics, from Sen. Bernie Sanders to veteran White House reporter John Harwood, are saying about the agreement.

3. Corona beer is losing a key group of drinkers. Constellation Brands, the parent company, said first-quarter spending was soft in areas with "larger Hispanic populations." CEO Bill Newlands said this demographic makes up about 50% of the beer's consumer base.

In other news

• How Meta is training its chatbots to message you first, remember your chats, and keep you talking, according to internal documents obtained by BI.
• Citadel hires a chief medical officer as Ken Griffin's empire adds investment bank-like benefits.
• Tesla competitor BYD axes Mexico factory plans.
• KPMG partners share how to turn your Big Four summer internship into a job offer.
• National security-focused VC firm America's Frontier Fund is raising $315 million for its debut fund.
• Over 900 ETFs were launched in the last year. Here are nine of the most innovative.
• Four reasons forecasters are bullish on the market's smallest stocks after years of underperformance.
• What Babbel's new CEO has learned about leadership from his previous roles.
• Why a famed financial advisor thinks crypto should be up to 40% of your portfolio.
• Elon Musk is threatening their political careers. Republicans say they aren't sweating it.

What's happening today

• Bureau of Labor Statistics releases monthly employment report.

• US financial markets close early ahead of Independence Day.

  ---

  Hallam Bullock, senior editor, in London. Meghan Morris, deputy bureau chief, in Singapore. Akin Oyedele, deputy editor, in New York. Grace Lett, editor, in New York. Amanda Yen, associate editor, in New York. Lisa Ryan, executive editor, in New York. Ella Hopkins, associate editor, in London. Dan DeFrancesco, deputy editor and anchor, in New York (on parental leave).

• Trivago CEO Johannes Thomas tries to keep his mornings free from meetings.
• Thomas's routine involves blocks of 90 minutes to two hours to enhance focus and efficiency.
• Trivago tells workers to limit morning meetings so there can be "shared flow time."

Johannes Thomas, CEO of the hotel-search company Trivago, tries to keep his mornings free so he has time to chew on big ideas.

Thomas wakes early and tries not to take meetings before 11 a.m. so that he can structure the start of his workdays around blocks of time lasting 90 minutes to two hours.

The idea, he said, is to create time for "undivided attention" that can lead to high levels of productivity. It's what Thomas and others often refer to as "flow."

"I just focus on a problem, think it through, and really go into deep thinking," he told Business Insider.

That way, Thomas said, by lunch he's already accomplished a good deal of work. After that, he makes time for meetings. Thomas said the afternoon is generally more structured because that's the part of the day when "cognitive function goes down for most people."

Finding ways to squeeze more productivity out of workdays overrun by calendar reminders, email pings, and DMs can be a challenge for many workers. Yet, corralling meetings to certain days or times can boost productivity.

'Shared flow time'

Thomas said the 30-minute meetings that often punctuate corporate calendars can make things worse, "taking you out of these deep thinking modes that are extremely important for productivity."

That's why Trivago recommends that employees at the company, based in Düsseldorf, Germany, rely on the morning-afternoon split by trying to keep their calendars free from meetings before 11 a.m.

"We call it shared flow time," Thomas said, who returned in 2023 to the company where he'd started as an intern in 2011.

Thomas, 38, said having the routine also helps prime his brain for how he'll use those blocks of time when he starts his day. He tends to reserve one block for learning, which might involve getting his head around some aspect of artificial intelligence. Other times, it's going in-depth on some aspect of the company.

"Everything that demands cognitive function — it comes into these sessions," Thomas said.

In the afternoon, he'll make time to respond to emails "because that's usually not hard cognitive function," he said. If an email requires more dedicated attention, Thomas said, he'll slot it into his focus time.

Learning from the boss

Employees often take cues from leadership, so when those in charge model ways of working that might limit distractions, that can benefit organizations broadly, Kate Walker, a human resources consultant and executive coach in California, told BI.

The reverse can also be true, she said, if workers observe constant fire drills.

"If you see a leader at the top who's scattered and running around and reactive, then maybe you're more inclined to be operating in that way," Walker said.

She often recommends to her clients that they block time on their calendars for focusing and taking breaks. Walker also said workers can ask their bosses which meetings they might not need to attend.

Having too many meetings on the books can be a sign of cultural dysfunction within an organization, Nir Eyal, author of the book "Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life," previously told BI. In essence, he said, it can indicate that leaders and others don't value workers' time properly.

Ultimately, Trivago's Thomas said, having a good time management strategy gives him peace of mind. While he has a plan and strong intentions, Thomas estimates that his morning setup works about 70% of the time. So, he tries to be flexible when necessary.

"I have three kids," he said. "The world is a bit chaotic. Things happen."

• Utilities are using AI to modernize the aging grid with tools to manage growing energy demands.
• Predictive maintenance and genAI assistants are predicting grid risk and reducing repair time.
• This article is part of "How AI Is Changing Everything," a series on AI adoption across industries.

After decades of wear and tear, the US energy grid is starting to reach its breaking point.

The traditional grid system was designed for a time when electricity demand was steady and less intense. Today, the grid faces a mountain of unprecedented stressors. Accelerating electrification, a surge in energy-hungry AI infrastructure like data centers, and the intensifying impacts of extreme weather fueled by climate change are pushing grid infrastructure to its limits, destabilizing the already vulnerable energy system.

These disruptions could result in blackouts that could cost American businesses up to $150 billion each year, according to the US Department of Energy, potentially leaving millions of consumers without reliable electricity.

In response, utilities are cautiously starting to embrace artificial intelligence as a tool to help stabilize grid operations. Once seen as just a budding technology, AI is emerging as one part of utilities' strategies to anticipate disruptions, protect the grid's equipment, and better serve a rapidly changing energy landscape.

AI is enhancing predictive maintenance

AI is sharpening the tried-and-tested tools utilities have been using to prevent failures across the energy grid.

One is predictive maintenance, where sensors and software are used to monitor the condition of grid equipment, like transformers and power lines, and spot issues to fix before they cause outages.

Predictive maintenance isn't new. But integrating machine learning into the process has made detecting faulty equipment faster and more precise, according to Somjyoti Mukherjee, a consulting partner at Cognizant, an IT consulting firm.

Sensors embedded in circuit breakers, switch gears, and transmission lines feed real-time data into AI systems, which then analyze patterns to forecast when components are likely to fail.

"Predictive maintenance is delivering the fastest returns," Mukherjee, who leads grid modernization efforts for North America's utilities sector, told Business Insider.

Murkherjee pointed to one utility client with outdated systems that left field-technician crews wasting hours daily because they couldn't catch issues in time. After switching to an AI-driven maintenance system, the software recommended tools, suggested equipment replacements, and located defects in real time, allowing crews to work "smarter and faster," Murkherjee said.

Duke Energy, an American energy provider, is also tapping into AI to identify grid vulnerabilities. The Fortune 500 utility provider developed a hybrid AI system that blends machine learning with expert diagnostics to flag high-risk equipment. The tool is designed to monitor the health of Duke's transformer fleet, a connected web of circuits that transmit electricity from one board to another.

Duke's hybrid approach combining human expertise with AI-powered insights has led to "more consistent identification of problematic equipment" and "improved planning decisions," said Matt Carrara, the president of Doble Engineering.

Some startups are pushing AI's capabilities even further.

Rhizome is working with Seattle City Light, Vermont Electric Power Company, and other US grid operators to map out climate-driven risks before they strike. Co-founded by CEO Mishal Thadani, the platform uses AI to analyze historical grid data, outage causes, and environmental threats, such as wildfires, storms, and vegetation growth, down to the level of individual poles and wires.

The result is a digital risk map that guides where to invest in upgrades and maintenance for the biggest impact per dollar. One utility in Texas, for example, used Rhizome's predictive model to identify which circuits in its energy system were at high risk of impact by storm activity so the utility could invest capital into improving vulnerable equipment. In doing so, the Texas utility reduced storm-induced outages by 72%, according to Rhizome.

As utilities face tighter budgets, rising insurance costs, and increasing pressure from climate change and power-hungry data centers, Thadani said platforms like Rhizome can help them make more strategic investments into grid improvements.

"More utilities need to be very conscious about the investments they're making," Thadani told BI, adding that big capital decisions must be "justified with data and evidence to show that ratepayer value."

Energy providers are exploring new AI tools

Beyond maintenance, utilities are adopting new AI tools to better understand and manage physical equipment in the field.

Peter Nearing, a principal advisor at Stantec, an engineering consulting group, pointed to one of his firm's utility clients that deployed cameras with image recognition to automatically capture, identify, and digitize equipment data. Doing so improved the quality and speed of data collection, leading to less time spent gathering intel, better decision-making on equipment fleets, and, in turn, fewer manual site visits.

Implementing computer vision technology into the grid is part of a larger shift toward using AI for pattern recognition and data-heavy tasks, such as forecasting demand, mapping outages, and streamlining upgrades.

"This is where AI shines," Nearing told BI regarding the technology's data-handling capabilities.

Some utilities are now turning to generative AI to make fieldwork easier, too. In March, Avangrid, a US renewable energy supplier, launched "First Time Right Autopilot," a genAI tool trained on the company's internal manuals, troubleshooting guides, and other internal documents. Accessible on mobile devices through voice or text, the chatbot can answer technicians' repair questions in real time.

For instance, if a wind turbine goes offline, a technician can ask the AI assistant how to fix it. The tool analyzes the issue using contextual data on the turbine's equipment and provides step-by-step instructions.

Since implementing the AI tool, Avangrid has seen faster repairs and reduced downtime, according to Avangrid's chief information officer Nelly Jefferson.

"It empowers our workforce by providing field technicians with real-time access to expert-level support," Jefferson told BI.

Still, managing energy demand — especially during peak hours — remains a tough feat for AI to address, given the grid's outdated infrastructure. It's why most utilities are still in pilot mode when it comes to AI-driven load management, according to Vivian Lee, a Boston Consulting Group managing director with expertise in the energy sector.

Lee says that some are experimenting with short-term load forecasting, using real-time data like weather, usage trends, and local events to predict electricity demand hours or days in advance. Others are testing AI to control distributed energy resources like smart thermostats, EV chargers, and home batteries to slightly reduce or shift energy use during high-demand periods, easing strain on the grid.

These tools remain largely rule-based, where they only work when given instructions for specific use cases, limiting their widespread applications. But Lee sees long-term potential in AI to manage energy loads.

"Broad adoption of AI in load management is still in its early days," Lee told BI.

Roadblocks stand in the way of AI adoption

Despite rising optimism, the energy experts who spoke to BI said utilities companies are still finding it tough to adopt AI.

Many are still working with legacy IT and operational systems that don't integrate easily, making it hard to pull together clean, usable data for AI to draw insights.

"Data quality and availability remain major hurdles," said Lee.

Talent shortages add more friction. A lack of AI literacy across the workforce could make an organization more resistant to embracing new technologies, according to Nearing.

Regulatory bottlenecks make that transition even harder. The absence of clear guidelines on AI deployment in the energy sector creates hesitation among utilities, and utilities are required to navigate legal frameworks to ensure AI applications comply with data protection laws.

The Trump administration's tariffs on imported components like transformers and metals have also spiked costs, further complicating project timelines, Carrara said.

Utilities turn to AI with caution

Still, many of these obstacles are no longer deal-breakers. Mukherjee says that utilities are making progress by migrating to the cloud, training employees how to use AI, and engaging with regulators to encourage technological change.

"Regulators are responding," Mukherjee said, pointing to agencies like the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission that are hiring technical experts and "leaning into innovation."

Building trust is also key. Mukherjee, Nearing, and Lee emphasized starting small, focusing on low-risk, explainable use cases to build internal momentum, and involving frontline workers from day one.

Looking ahead, utility experts say energy providers are eager to continue exploring AI's potential to modernize the grid to reduce strain.

But they have a long way to go before they can fully embrace AI with open arms.

"AI won't replace core grid functions," Lee said. "But it will increasingly act as an accelerant."

• Less than a year after we got married, my husband and I moved in with my parents.
• We spent five months there and enjoyed quality time watching TV and playing games.
• I'm grateful for our time together and the opportunity to see my hometown in a new light.

Six years after I moved out, I never imagined I'd be back in my hometown, watching "Golden Girls" reruns with my mom and my new husband, but that was my reality at the start of 2024.

Just eight months after we tied the knot, my husband and I moved more than six hours across Texas to Midland. My parents agreed to let us stay with them while my husband completed an internship at a local art gallery to fulfill a degree requirement for Texas A&M University.

We weren't exactly thrilled at first — I mean, who wants to move back in with their parents right after getting married? But it ended up being one of the sweetest seasons of our lives.

My family and I spent valuable quality time together

As an adult returning to my childhood home, I realized I hadn't experienced day-to-day life with my parents in more than six years.

It was refreshing — meditative even — to watch my mom come home from work, set her purse on the kitchen counter, and take off her shoes every day.

Being with my family for an extended stay also meant creating a new routine with them.

My husband and I played a nightly round of dominoes with my dad, spent quality time with my grandparents nearby, and yes, watched many "Golden Girls" reruns with my mom.

My husband is naturally introverted, so it was great to watch him and my parents grow their relationship. By the end of the semester, my dad and my husband were exchanging their favorite books and frequenting their now shared favorite bookstore.

Meanwhile, I appreciated having time with my parents so they could bond with me as an adult, instead of as a child living under their roof.

Moving home strengthened my marriage, too

To say this move was out of our comfort zone would be a severe understatement, and there were definitely challenging times mixed in with all the good moments.

For one, sharing a space with parents is difficult. My husband needed alone time but often didn't have much of an opportunity to get it. I also missed my independence and longed to have control over my environment.

When it's not your living space, and you don't have a dedicated space for remote work, it's easy to feel like you're just floating in the in-between.

But my husband and I came out of this experience as a stronger couple. He caught a glimpse of how I grew up and was able to get to know me on an even deeper level.

Plus, after living in the same college town for years, it was so fun for us to explore a "new" place together. It turns out my hometown wasn't as boring as I thought it was as a high school senior in 2018.

Sure, some things stayed the same, but we discovered lots of fun things to do, such as visiting my hometown's drive-in movie theater and going on reading dates at the local coffee shop.

I never thought I'd return to my hometown, but I'm so grateful for that time in my life

After about five months at home, my husband and I moved out of my parents' house on our first wedding anniversary.

Now, just over a year later, my parents are selling my childhood home. We visited again a few weeks ago to take care of their dog while they were on vacation.

As I walked the street I grew up on, a few tears filled my eyes at the thought of never returning to the home that watched me grow up and return as a new version of myself: married, in love, and optimistic for the future.

• Steve Jobs was "one of the most disagreeable people in the history of humankind," Marc Andreessen said.
• But he added this was part of why Jobs was a "genius" because he took nothing for granted.
• Andreessen got to know Jobs in the 1990s as a young founder.

Steve Jobs was "one of the most disagreeable people in the history of humankind," and that was part of his genius, billionaire venture capitalist Marc Andreessen said.

Speaking on the "A16z" podcast produced by his investment firm, Andreessen Horowitz, Andreessen said the late Apple CEO would "disagree with you over the shape of a glass on the table in front of you, he was going to argue about everything."

"It was where a lot of the genius came from," Andreessen added. "He was just not going to take the status quo for granted under any circumstances."

Andreessen got to know Jobs in the 1990s when he was a young entrepreneur in Silicon Valley, having cofounded Mosaic Communications Corporation, which later became Netscape.

Andreessen said Jobs and Elon Musk shared an approach to "first principles thinking," where difficult problems are broken down into their most basic elements and then rebuilt.

The Tesla CEO previously told workers to employ a first principles philosophy to improve performance.

Andreessen said there seemed to be two types of stories about Jobs in the books about him: that he was a "saint," and that he was a "screaming lunatic," who would yell and fire staff in meetings.

Andreessen said that, from what he saw and speaking to people who worked with Jobs, "I think the reality was in the middle."

"If you brought him first-class work, and if you were topping your field and super diligent, and on top of everything, and had all the details figured out, and knew what you were doing, and really good, he was like the best manager you were ever going to work with, and the best CEO you were ever going to work with" Andreessen said.

He said many people who worked with Jobs said they did their best work under him.

"His approach to performance management was 'everybody is going to be doing top-end work, if not, they're not going to be here. As a consequence, the best people in the world are going to love being here because they're surrounded by the best people in the world,'" Andreessen said.

• "The Social Network Part II" is going forward at Sony.
• It will be written and directed by Aaron Sorkin, who wrote the original movie.
• Here's our dream cast for the film.

Whether Mark Zuckerberg likes it or not, the story of Facebook is heading back to the big screen.

After years of speculation, in June, it was officially announced that Aaron Sorkin, the screenwriter of David Fincher's 2010 Oscar-winning hit "The Social Network," will write and direct a sequel for Sony titled "The Social Network Part II."

The original found huge acclaim upon its release and has since become a classic thanks to its intimate examination of how Zuckerberg, played by Jesse Eisenberg, created Facebook and changed the tech landscape.

The sequel will touch on just how impactful Facebook and its parent company, Meta, have been on society.

For years, Sorkin has said he wanted to write a sequel. In a 2020 interview for the "Happy Sad Confused" podcast, he noted that what fascinated him was "the dark side of Facebook."

A year later, The Wall Street Journal released its expansive investigative series The Facebook Files, which delved into the social network's impact on youth mental health, misinformation, and the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack.

Sorkin will use this reporting as inspiration for developing the sequel.

Meta did not respond to BI's request for comment about the sequel.

Zuckerberg has not commented on the sequel, but he has previously spoken out against the first movie.

"They got all these very specific details of what I was wearing, or these specific things correct, but then the whole narrative arc around my motivations and all this stuff were like, completely wrong," Zuckerberg said on the podcast "The Colin and Samir Show" in March, noting that the Zuckerberg character in the movie being "motivated by trying to find a girlfriend" was inaccurate as he was dating his now-wife Priscilla Chan before he started the company.

Outside of using The Facebook Files as a guide, there's little else known about the sequel, including if Eisenberg will return to play Zuckerberg (it's likely stars of the first movie like Andrew Garfield, who played Eduardo Saverin, Armie Hammer, who played the Winklevoss twins, and Justin Timberlake, who played Sean Parker, will not return as the story being told no longer involves them).

So we thought it was the perfect time to come up with our dream cast for "The Social Network Part II."

Jesse Eisenberg needs to return as Mark Zuckerberg.

Don't be shocked if Sorkin puts the focus on others in the Facebook/Meta world in the sequel. Sorkin is likely looking to show Facebook's evolution, which means introducing players who found their way into Zuckerberg's orbit after the early days of the company.

Also, going on Sorkin's past work (creator of "The West Wing," screenwriter of "A Few Good Men," director of "The Trial of the Chicago 7"), he loves a good ensemble cast.

But it would be a mistake for Zuckerberg to never make an appearance. And if Zuck does show up, it has to be Eisenberg playing him. He captivated us in the role, for which he was Oscar-nominated, so Sorkin trying to go another way would be disastrous.

Eisenberg did say in an interview with the BBC in February that he no longer wants to be "associated" with Zuckerberg. But feelings can change … especially when Sorkin wants you to do something.

"Past Lives" star Greta Lee would be perfect casting as Zuckerberg's wife, Priscilla Chan.

Chan never shows up in "The Social Network," but if Sorkin wants to continue the theme from the first movie of Zuckerberg's desire to find a special someone — however much the real Zuck says that's inaccurate — this would be the way to close that loop.

Regardless of how much of a role Chan actually plays in the movie, casting Greta Lee in the part would make a lot of sense.

After being lauded with attention for her work in the 2023 movie "Past Lives" and her continued Emmy-nominated work on the Apple TV+ series "The Morning Show" (not to mention her fantastic cameo in "The Studio"), this would be a part that could further heighten her exposure. And she certainly can handle Sorkin's heavy dialogue roles.

"The Bear" star Abby Elliott taking the role of whistleblower Frances Haugen could be a breakthrough.

The Facebook Files is heavily based on the thousands of pages of internal documents leaked by whistleblower Frances Haugen, who was a product manager at Facebook.

If Sorkin is going to heavily lean into The Facebook Files, Haugen could be a major character in the sequel. After it was revealed she was the whistleblower, Haugen did a "60 Minutes" interview and testified at a Senate hearing that Facebook knew it could be harmful to young people. (Shortly after, Zuckerberg announced on an earnings call that Meta was hiring 40,000 people to work in safety and security because, he said, "we care about getting this right." Facebook has long said it endorses establishing rules for online platforms.)

These are all elements that Sorkin can lean in on to create a meaty role. We see Abby Elliott as a perfect candidate to take it on.

The star of "The Bear" is on the cusp of major stardom, and under Sorkin's care, this has all the makings of an awards-bait leading lady performance.

Veteran actor Hugh Laurie could play Meta's former president of global affairs, Nick Clegg, in his sleep.

If Sorkin keeps Zuckerberg in the background, he may pull his focus to Nick Clegg as the face of the Facebook/Meta hierarchy in the movie.

When The Facebook Files were released, Clegg, who was Meta's president of global affairs until resigning this year, was front and center doing damage control. He even penned a memo titled "What the Wall Street Journal Got Wrong."

You need someone with a sense of authority to play this role (Clegg was the UK's deputy prime minister from 2010 to 2015). We can't think of anyone better than Hugh Laurie.

The veteran English actor has done everything from playing a sarcastic doctor in the long-running Fox series "House" to playing a senator trying to become vice president on HBO's "Veep."

Justin Theroux already has the look down to play Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri.

The Facebook Files reported that there was knowledge internally at Facebook/Meta that Instagram, which Meta owns, can be toxic to youth.

We're betting Sorkin will address that topic in some form. And one way to tackle it is to feature Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri getting heat for it.

Months after The Facebook Files were released, Mosseri was grilled at a Senate hearing investigating Instagram's harmful effects. Mosseri took the criticisms and told the lawmakers, "It is critical that we address youth online safety as an industry challenge and develop industry-wide solutions and standards."

We believe Justin Theroux has the perfect talents and look to turn the Instagram CEO part into a scene-stealing role.

Robert Redford has the gravitas to play Senator Richard Blumenthal, who chaired the subcommittee that investigated Facebook.

The Democratic senator chaired the United States Senate Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Data Security in 2021 and brought in Haugen, Mosseri, and others to testify following the release of The Facebook Files.

We're not implying that Sorkin should do a courtroom drama, but using the subcommittee would be a way to address misinformation and youth mental health. If he does go down that road, you'd need a recognizable face playing Blumenthal, and we've got the guy.

Legendary actor Robert Redford would bring not just the authority needed for the role but name recognition as well.

"The Life of Chuck" star Benjamin Pajak would be perfect for a key role.

Sorkin could choose to develop a fictional character to represent the toxicity that teens can experience on social media.

Teenage actor Benjamin Pajak, who recently wowed audiences in the movie "The Life of Chuck," would be our choice for that role.

He has the talent to showcase the struggles that teens go through.

Donald Trump should be featured in archival footage.

Sorkin also has to address the misinformation on Facebook and its connection to recent elections and the January 6 attacks.

The best way to do this is to feature Donald Trump in some way.

We suggest not casting him but using archival footage. Attempting to cast such a polarizing figure could become the story and distract from the movie — we saw what happened with the release of "The Apprentice" (though it earned Sebastian Stan, who portrayed Trump, an Oscar nomination).

• After going through a tough breakup, I quit my job to travel the world.
• At first, I loved spending time in places such as Spain, Italy, Thailand, and Taiwan.
• But the lifestyle became tough, and after 18 months, I returned home to find stability.

At the end of 2022, after a year of living together, my boyfriend broke up with me. I'd built my life around him, even taking a marketing job in Colorado to move in together. I was shattered.

I was stuck at a job I wasn't excited about and found myself with nowhere to go. I knew I needed a change, but I wasn't sure what that could look like.

Shortly after the breakup, I called my best friend, Megan, an English teacher in Madrid. We'd always dreamed of backpacking together, but the timing had never worked out — until now.

She had the summer off, and I was suddenly untethered. So, I saved every penny, quit my job, and set off for Madrid in June 2023.

At first, the trip was everything I could have dreamed of

The first few months were magical, as my "Eat, Pray, Love" fantasy came to life.

We spent our days savoring tapas in Madrid, biking through Copenhagen, and hiking the Path of the Gods on the Amalfi Coast.

I rarely thought about the breakup, but when I did, the pain was buried beneath the next breathtaking view or plate of paella.

After Europe, we headed to Asia — meditating with monks in Thailand, riding mopeds through Vietnam's mountains, and dancing with strangers in Japanese nightclubs.

Eventually, though, Megan returned to Europe, and I stayed behind in Taiwan to live with relatives.

I ended up staying another six months to take care of my sick grandma. She was in need of constant attention, and I was determined to help support my family and soak in what could be our last moments together.

Though I was grateful to be of service, caretaking was emotionally draining. It was clear I was no longer on summer vacation — I was drowning in diapers and desperation.

In February 2024, I left Taiwan, ready to end my journey abroad, and bought a plane ticket from Bangkok to Chicago. I wanted to make one final stop at Koh Phangan, a small Thai island, to visit a friend. From there, I'd fly back home.

Arriving on the island was a whirlwind. Every day, I met backpackers on the beach, swam in the sea, and wrote in coffee shops. For the first time in a while, I felt free, confident, and joyful.

Daily activities included singing with friends, savoring mango sticky rice, and dancing in the jungle. I ended up falling in love with the lifestyle. I flew back home only to pack up my stuff and move back to Koh Phangan.

But money quickly became tight. I picked up odd jobs — verifying votes for the Associated Press and even acting as an extra on "The White Lotus."

I tried to become a freelance travel writer as a means to support myself, but I had no idea where to start. Soon, I felt burned out and was spending more time on Netflix than at the beach.

As my income dwindled, so did my mental health. I felt like a failure, unable to accomplish my big dreams of living abroad. By fall, I sank into a depression, worsened by watching tourists relaxing on their dream getaways. I was a ghost of the person I was when I first arrived.

By winter, I finally accepted that the adventure had run its course. On Christmas Eve 2024, I landed at O'Hare International Airport, where my parents picked me up for a cozy night of board games and karaoke.

Coming back home was healing for me

What began as an escape from heartache became a transformative 18-month journey.

I reconnected with family, made friends around the world, and found a new sense of independence. Moving back home was a culture shock — but it gave me space to process everything I'd been through.

At times, I felt embarrassed for coming back, but as my mental health improved, I realized it was for the best.

I found a stable job, rebuilt a support network — from old and new connections — and developed a routine that integrates everything I learned: meditating, writing, dancing, and practicing yoga.

At home, I've found joy in the comfort of everyday life — in quiet walks with my parents, picnics with my best friends, and working on my writing every day. I thrive when I have a stable routine filled with moments of creativity.

I'll never stop traveling, but instead of constantly moving, I now take shorter trips. It's nice to enjoy each destination without the stress of a daily grind.

Now, after a few months of being settled, I'm in a much better place for growth than I ever was on the road. And little by little, I'm facing the grief I once tried to outrun.

• The US added 147,000 jobs in June, surpassing the expected 111,000.
• Economists expected an uptick in unemployment, but it dropped to 4.1%.
• Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said in June that job market conditions have been solid.

The US added 147,000 jobs in June, exceeding expectations, and unemployment unexpectedly cooled to 4.1%.

Economists expected job growth of 111,000 and for unemployment to increase from 4.2%, which it had been for three consecutive months, to 4.3%.

May's job growth was revised from 139,000 to 144,000, and April's job growth was revised from 147,000 to 158,000. That means there were 16,000 more jobs created than previously thought.

Wage growth was still fairly strong, but has cooled down. Average earnings increased from $35.00 an hour in June 2024 to $36.30 an hour a year later, a 3.7% rise following recent 3.8% and 3.9% increases. Average earnings rose by 0.2% over the month, from $36.22 an hour.

"Even if jobs growth has remained solid overall, the fact that we are seeing slower wage growth may point to the fact that workers have less power and less leverage in negotiating a raise, whether internally or when they're switching jobs," Daniel Zhao, the lead economist at Glassdoor, said.

Labor force participation edged down from 62.4% in May to 62.3% in June. Employment increased in government, with a 63,500 increase in state and local government education. Employment dropped in private educational services but increased in healthcare and social assistance. Employment fell in manufacturing and the professional and business services sector.

Cory Stahle, an economist at the Indeed Hiring Lab, said while the job market is resilient, it's not providing equal opportunities because hiring is concentrated in just a few industries.

"If you're in one of the industries that's hiring right now and adding jobs, you're feeling, probably, pretty good," Stahle said. "If you're outside of that, you're going to have a lot fewer opportunities. It's going to be much more discouraging."

While the unemployment rate fell, long-term unemployment, or people who have been unemployed for at least 27 weeks, increased.

The Fed decided about two weeks ago to hold interest rates steady again. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said on June 18, after the rate announcement, that the job market is solid, with low unemployment and moderating wage growth that exceeds inflation.

The next rate decision will be toward the end of July. New inflation data and other measures will be released before the members determine what to do next with interest rates. CME FedWatch, which shows the chance of a rate outcome based on market moves, indicated after Thursday's release a 95% chance that rates will be held steady again, up from a 75% chance before the report. Powell has repeatedly said President Donald Trump's tariffs have been one reason rates haven't come down yet.

"We went on hold when we saw the size of the tariffs, and essentially all inflation forecasts for the United States went up materially as a consequence of the tariffs," Powell said at a European Central Bank panel earlier this week.

He added that the "prudent thing to do is to wait and learn more and see what those effects might be" before reacting, as long as the economy is solid.

While the job market has shown some strength, it has been unfavorable for job seekers, and it can be tough for recent college graduates to get hired easily. Just 29% of consumers surveyed by The Conference Board said jobs were "plentiful" in June.

"So far, layoffs have not surged wildly, but hiring has cooled," Mark Hamrick, senior economic analyst for Bankrate, told Business Insider toward the end of June. "The outlook is for more of this in the coming months."

Softer spending and a worse-than-expected real GDP reading show there are economic headwinds, but the US isn't officially in a recession.

• Tech leaders and some economists have warned that AI could trigger mass unemployment.
• Economist David Autor believes AI won't kill jobs and could instead create a "Mad Max" scenario.
• It could make your skills less valuable and your paycheck smaller, the MIT professor said.

As AI reshapes the labor market, the real threat may not be unemployment — it could be something subtler and more corrosive: the collapse in what skills are worth.

That's according to MIT economist David Autor, who made the comments in an interview released Wednesday on the "Possible" podcast, hosted by LinkedIn cofounder Reed Hoffman.

Autor warned that rapid automation could usher in what he calls a "Mad Max" scenario — a world where jobs still exist, but the skills that once generated wages become cheap and commoditized.

"The more likely scenario to me looks much more like Mad Max: Fury Road, where everybody is competing over a few remaining resources that aren't controlled by some warlord somewhere," he said.

The reference, drawn from the dystopian film series set in a post-collapse world of scarcity and inequality, captures Autor's fear that AI could concentrate wealth and power at the top while leaving most workers to fight over what's left.

While several economists and some tech CEOs worry AI could displace millions of workers, Autor argued that the damage may play out differently, through the devaluation of once-valuable skills.

"The threat that rapid automation poses — to the degree it poses as a threat — is not running out of work, but making the valuable skills that people have highly abundant so they're no longer valuable," he said.

He pointed to roles like touch typists, factory technicians, and even taxi drivers as examples — all skilled, well-paying jobs that technology has downgraded or, in some cases, replaced.

"It used to be that touch typing was a very valuable skill. Not so much anymore," he said.

This doesn't mean people will be unemployed, he added. Instead, many are likely to shift into lower-paid service jobs — in food service, cleaning, security — that require little training and offer minimal pay.

"Automation can either increase the expertise of your work by eliminating the supporting tasks and allowing you to focus on what you're really good at," he said.

"Or, it can descale your work by automating the expert parts and just leaving you with a sort of last mile."

Autor's concern is increasingly reflected in the corporate world.

A May Salesforce study projected that 23% of workers will be redeployed over the next two years as AI adoption surges, and even employees who stay in their current roles will see them evolve.

Tech executives, meanwhile, are placing a growing premium on adaptability, creativity, and the ability to work with AI tools, not just technical specialization.

To avoid a future where technology widens inequality, Autor said we must intentionally design AI to support workers.

"As my friend Josh Cohen, a philosopher, likes to say, 'The future is not a forecasting exercise — it's a design exercise, you're building it.'"

"And so, breaking our way is not just a matter of luck. It's a matter of making good collective choices, and that's extremely hard to do."

For Autor, the best place to start is by focusing AI where it can do the most good: expanding access to healthcare, education, and meaningful work.

"Healthcare and education — two activities that in the United States has 20% GDP, a lot of it public money, actually — this is where there's such a great opportunity where AI could be a tool that could be so helpful to us in a way that other tools have not been."

"Many of these things are feasible," he continued. "If we think we're not going to do them, it's not because we couldn't do them. It's because we're somehow not delivering on what is feasible."

• Microsoft's latest round of layoffs takes place as the company revises its strategy for selling AI tools.
• The layoffs target traditional sales roles, some of which will be replaced by technical salespeople.
• Microsoft faces competition from OpenAI and Google, prompting the sales strategy overhaul.

Microsoft's latest round of layoffs come as the company revises its strategy for selling artificial intelligence tools amid increasing competition from OpenAI and Google, according to sources familiar with the plans and internal documents.

The company's recent job cuts included thousands of salespeople, the people said, and largely targeted traditional salespeople that the company intends to replace with more technical salespeople to better sell AI tools.

Microsoft on July 2 said it plans to lay off less than 4% of its workforce, which would be around 9,000 people. The company typically makes changes to its workforce around this time of year as July 1 marks a new fiscal year, but this year's layoffs are significant as the company cuts costs to make up for massive spending on AI.

Microsoft plans to replace many traditional salespeople, often called "specialists" internally, with "solutions engineers" who can show customers actual demos earlier on in the sales process, the people said.

Microsoft confirmed the company is replacing some specialist roles with solutions engineers to increase the technical and industry understanding among its salesforce, and plans to hire more salespeople outside its headquarters to get more sellers out in the field.

The company has received feedback from customers that they had to engage with too many salespeople before getting down to the technical details and demos. "The customer wants Microsoft to bring their technical people in front of them quickly," one of the people said. "We need someone who is more technical, much earlier in the cycle."

The changes come as Microsoft faces increasing competition for enterprise customers in AI. Microsoft has an advantage in that many large companies already use its other tools, but many of those companies' employees want the more well-known ChatGPT.

The sales cuts are tied to a plan to simplify how Microsoft sells AI, detailed internally earlier this year.

In a memo to the sales organization the day before the layoffs were announced, Microsoft sales chief Judson Althoff laid out a vision to revamp the organization.

Althoff called for "continued agility" and "reinventing Microsoft and MCAPS" to become "the Frontier AI Firm," and outlined the five priorities of the sales organization, including to "establish a Copilot on every device and across every role."

Althoff also internally unveiled plans in April to slash the number of the sales team's "solutions areas" by half during the next fiscal year, which starts July 1. BI obtained copies of slides from his presentation.

Microsoft previously had six solutions areas: Modern work, Business Applications, Digital & App Innovation, Data & AI, Azure Infrastructure, and Security. Beginning July 1, these areas were set to be combined into three: AI Business Solutions, Cloud & AI Platforms, and Security, according to those slides.

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• I'm an avid traveler, but I always used to avoid cruises — until I went on one with 12 relatives.
• The cruise helped us travel at varying paces, spend time together, and easily eat meals as a family.
• Even though I was a skeptic, I'll probably book another cruise again.

When the Royal Princess pulled away from the port in Seattle with me, my husband, and my extended family on board, I wondered what the next week would hold.

My mother and my sister had conspired to plan a family trip in honor of my dad's 80th birthday, deciding on an Alaskan cruise as the setting for our first group vacation.

I'm an avid traveler, but I'd previously had reservations about cruises. I typically prefer to navigate a new place myself for more than just a handful of hours in port.

Not to mention my extended family of 13 hadn't spent more than a day together … well, ever. We generally get along, but eight days traveling together is a different story than eight hours together in someone's living room on Christmas.

This cruise from Seattle to Alaska's Inside Passage, however, turned out to be an ideal vacation for a multigenerational group of people with different abilities, travel styles, and interests.

On a cruise, we could stray but easily find one another again.

It was established pretty early on that no one expected us to roll as a group of 13 at all times.

Upon boarding, we split up based on our various priorities: checking out the pool, finding drinks, or securing premium dining reservations. This helped set the tone for the rest of the trip.

But because we were all effectively in the same place and had cabins in the same corridor, we never had to worry that anyone would be lost or left behind.

We each got to choose our own adventure — literally.

The variety of activities offered on off-shore excursions meant that everyone got to spend time experiencing Alaska's port towns in a way that most appealed to them.

We quickly learned how important this was on a trip with so many family members, including people of varying ages. With so many activity options, older relatives with more limited mobility were spared from having to keep pace with the younger ones.

My husband and I chose a foodie walking tour and whale-watching excursions, and we also checked out some local distilleries in each port. Others went kayaking, hiking, or dog-sledding.

I got to connect with different relatives over different activities.

Even on board, we could all choose our preferred activities, whether line dancing, playing games, or tasting wine.

Some of my favorite moments on the trip happened when nuclear family units got reshuffled for various activities. For example, my husband and I loved to go for an early-morning swim before breakfast when the deck was empty, and various family members joined us throughout the week.

This isn't to say we didn't spend time together as a group, though.

The activities we chose to do together were appropriate for everyone's interests and abilities: a scenic train ride, for instance, or an after-dinner show on board. We also ate dinner together as a family.

Cruising made it easy to plan dinner with such a large group.

Having a standing reservation at the same time and table every night meant we never wasted time or energy trying to figure out where we could go as a large group.

I also appreciated that our cruise's menu was clearly designed to fit many diets and palates.

I'm a food writer with a fine-dining background, but my youngest relatives? Not so much. Fortunately, dining room menus on cruise ships tend to have options for everyone.

Because we'd often spent at least part of the day doing different activities, dinner was a nice opportunity to share stories and catch up. We were split between two tables next to each other, but made an effort to shuffle seating arrangements each night.

The leaders and planners in our family got to relax with the rest of us.

Every family has members who tend to take charge when it comes to meals and activities. Among friends, I am typically that person; in my family, however, I am usually outplanned by other members.

I could appreciate, though, that those in my family who typically took on these responsibilities were relieved of the pressure to plan and keep everyone entertained, and could lean into the organized activities that cruising offered.

Despite my prior cruise skepticism, I'd do it again. It may not be my first choice for certain destinations, but the ease of travel and variety of activities were appealing — and it turned out to be a great option for a large group trip.

Before long, I may even end up taking a cruise with just my husband.