• TPG is the latest private equity firm to bow out of early recruiting for junior talent.
• The firm sent a letter to potential candidates on Monday saying it won't hire until 2026.
• It joins Apollo and General Atlantic in toppling an annual recruiting tradition amid criticisms.

Another private equity firm pulled the plug on recruiting for 2027 associates this year, Business Insider has learned.

TPG, a buyout firm with $251 billion in assets, emailed recent graduates — many of whom are about to begin their first year as investment bankers — after 4:20 p.m. on Monday to say that they will not hire for 2027 until "sometime in 2026."

This is the third firm to withdraw from "on-cycle recruiting," a frenetic recruiting process focused on getting incoming junior investment bankers to agree to jobs that won't start for two years, usually after their investment banking analyst training has ended.

The domino effect began when Apollo announced a similar decision on June 11, as BI reported. It was followed by General Atlantic, which also canceled plans for early recruiting on June 12. Those announcements came days after JPMorgan told its incoming first-year bankers that they'd fire anyone who accepted one of these pre-dated jobs.

The industry has been criticized for starting on-cycle recruiting earlier and earlier each year. Last year, the process kicked off at the end of June, before many incoming junior bankers had even started Day 1 of their new Wall Street jobs. This year, there were signs it might start even earlier, with some firms reaching out for informal "coffee chats" during college graduation ceremonies.

TPG's memo, a copy of which was obtained by Business Insider, was sent by Anna Edwin, an HR executive at TPG. Here's the email:

Congratulations on your recent graduation!

This is an exciting moment as you transition to your professional life, and we want to emphasize how important and foundational this time can be. We are confident that these learnings and experiences will help inform the decisions you make about future steps in your career, and we hope that you will be thoughtful and engaged during this time.

We believe that our people are our most important asset, and our goal is that the Associates who join us each year will build meaningful, long-term careers at TPG. We aim to be thoughtful and intentional in our recruiting and hiring process and are committed to enabling recent graduates like you to focus on your learning and development.

With this in mind, TPG will not begin to hire for the Associate Class of 2027 until sometime in 2026. We will continue to approach our hiring process in the way that we think is best for our talented candidates, our teams, and our industry more broadly. We look forward to continuing our dialogue with you as you embark on your careers.

Best of luck in this new chapter and please stay in touch.

• Elon Musk is threatening to defeat politicians who vote for Trump's megabill.
• "They will lose their primary next year if it is the last thing I do on this Earth," he wrote.
• Musk previously said he would scale back his political spending.

Elon Musk is back on a tear against President Donald Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill" — and is threatening to defeat politicians who vote for it in future primaries.

"Every member of Congress who campaigned on reducing government spending and then immediately voted for the biggest debt increase in history should hang their head in shame," Musk wrote on X on Monday afternoon. "And they will lose their primary next year if it is the last thing I do on this Earth."

Musk, who previously said he would scale back his political spending, could theoretically use his immense wealth to fund primary challengers in districts across the country.

A spokesman for America PAC, the tech titan's main super PAC, declined to comment. Musk routed roughly $240 million through the PAC last year, the vast majority of it in support of Trump's presidential bid.

Musk also revived his call for a new political party, writing in an earlier post that because the bill increases the debt ceiling, "we live in a one-party country — the PORKY PIG PARTY!!"

Since his public feud with Trump earlier this month, Musk has been relatively quiet on the bill. That changed over the weekend, when Musk called the bill "utterly insane" in a post on X.

The tech titan has opposed the bill because it would add trillions of dollars to the deficit and eliminate federal subsidies for renewable energy projects.

Musk's missive on Monday — issued just hours before the Senate was set to vote on final passage of the bill — was his starkest political threat yet against Republicans who support it.

A version of the bill passed the House in May, but it will have to clear the lower chamber once again. Lawmakers hope to get the bill to Trump's desk by July 4.

• Apple's "F1" movie with Brad Pitt captured the checkered flag in its opening weekend.
• The action film was boosted by a historically high revenue share from Imax screens.
• Although Apple will celebrate this win, its next films might not get the same Imax lift.

Apple's flashy "F1" movie took first place at the box office this weekend, and it had a secret weapon: Imax.

The much-hyped racing film starring Brad Pitt exceeded expectations with a $144 million global debut, including a $55.6 million showing in the US. That's well beyond the $115 million it was forecast to rake in, per The Hollywood Reporter.

"F1" was boosted by Imax, which said on Monday that its premium screens generated $28 million for the film, or 19% of its worldwide box-office total. That's the fourth-highest share of global sales ever in a debut, behind only "Dune," "Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol," and "Oppenheimer," an Imax spokesperson told Business Insider.

US movie-goers were especially likely to pay up for the premium Imax experience. Twenty-three percent of the domestic box office for "F1" was from those who paid to see Pitt in Imax's expanded aspect ratio. That's a similar share to what "Sinners" and "Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning" made from Imax earlier this year.

Imax tickets cost significantly more than the typical stub. The going rate for an Imax ticket in early 2025 was $19.51, according to data from research firm EntTelligence cited by The Hollywood Reporter, which also found that the average US movie ticket was $13.82.

Those figures align with the 40% ticket price premium that Imax CEO Richard Gelfond referenced last fall at Bank of America's media conference. He called the difference an "affordable luxury."

Apple is surely thrilled to see such a strong start for "F1" — its first major theatrical hit — no matter how it happened.

But it may be too soon to say the Silicon Valley titan has figured out Hollywood. Its strategy of big-budget films with A-list talent hasn't exactly been a resounding success at the box office, as bets like "Argylle," "Fly Me to the Moon," and "Killers of the Flower Moon" underwhelmed.

If Apple needs a legendary Imax run for its theatrical movie strategy to make sense, it may be hard to build on.

• Tech mogul Elon Musk has an estimated net worth of $367 billion.
• His estimated fortune peaked at around $439 billion in December 2024 as Tesla shares soared.
• Musk often trades places with businesspeople like Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg for the title of world's richest person.

Elon Musk has a net worth of around $367 billion, according to Bloomberg's Billionaires Index.

His net worth, which is closely tied to Tesla's share price, received a huge boost following the news that Donald Trump had won reelection in November, as Tesla shares soared to an all-time high in December.

But the tech mogul's wealth comes from a number of sources and it isn't stable. Musk is currently the world's richest person and other billionaires are close on his heels, too: Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is around $109 billion below Musk, while Jeff Bezos is $14 billion behind Zuckerberg.

How has Musk's net worth changed over time?

Musk, who was born in South Africa, moved to Canada and dropped out of a Ph.D. at Stanford, became a millionaire before he hit 30. Musk started Zip2, a website that provided city travel guides to newspapers, with his brother Kimbal Musk, and sold it to Compaq for more than $300 million in 1999. Musk, then aged 27, is believed to have got $22 million from the deal.

He went on to cofound online bank X.com in 1999. It soon merged with Peter Thiel's Confinity to become PayPal, and the company was bought for $1.5 billion by eBay in 2002. Despite having been ousted as CEO, Musk walked away with around $165 million. 

Musk cofounded space-exploration company SpaceX in 2002. In 2004, he became an investor in and the chairman of EV company Tesla.

During the financial crisis in 2008, he saved Tesla from bankruptcy with a $40 million investment and a $40 million loan. That same year, he was named Tesla's CEO.

Musk said 2008 was "the worst year of my life." Alongside problems in his personal life, Tesla kept losing money and SpaceX was having trouble launching the first version of its Falcon rocket. By 2009, Musk was living off personal loans.

Tesla went public in 2010, though, and Musk's estimated net worth steadily climbed. In 2012, he debuted on Forbes' Billionaires List with an estimated wealth of $2 billion. 

In 2016, Musk set up the tunnel-digging business, the Boring Company.

The next year, he founded the neurotechnology startup Neuralink.

Musk's net worth began a rapid ascent at the start of the pandemic as Tesla stock prices soared. Musk started 2020 with an estimated net worth of just under $30 billion and was worth around $170 billion just a year later – a more than five-fold increase in just a year. His estimated fortune peaked at around $340 billion in November 2021.

Musk also bought Twitter for $44 billion in October 2022, serving as its CEO until he stepped down in early June 2023.

The stock is known to be volatile and it's had its ups and downs since then.

Musk's net worth declined by $15 billion after Tesla's "We, Robot" day on October 10 when it unveiled its highly anticipated robotaxi lineup. While the event turned heads with dancing robots and sleek autonomous vehicles offering rides to guests, it left investors with question marks surrounding the economics of the ride-hailing service. 

Following a big earnings beat later that month, Tesla's stock surged by 22%, leading Musk's net worth to increase by about $30 billion. The morning of Trump's reelection on November 6, which Musk heavily campaigned for, Tesla's stock was up about 15% to $289.37 per share after the market opened. In late November, Musk broke his net worth record of about $340 billion, which had stood for over three years.

Following an insider share sale at SpaceX, which boosted the startup to a $350 billion valuation, Musk's wealth surged again in December by about $50 million in one day, making Musk the first billionaire to reach the $400 billion mark.

His net worth has fallen by over $70 billion since then, although it's still up from pre-election. In the months after its election highs, Tesla's stock dropped by over 50% following a number of factors, including a vehicle sales slump, a rising Tesla boycott movement, and Musk's stint in the US government, which some investors felt took him away from his day-in-day-out Tesla CEO duties.

Tesla's stock rose back up following the CEO taking a step back from his role in the Department of Government Efficiency. However, it continues to have big swings. Musk had one of his single-day highest net worth losses in early June following a public spat on social media with the President, in which Trump floated the idea of having his government contracts revoked, and Musk repeatedly criticized Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill."

The automaker has since met its promised June deadline for the robotaxi, and shares rose more than 6.5% the following Monday after the limited launch in Austin.

Where does Musk's fortune come from?

Musk's wealth is largely dependent on Tesla shares. Though he takes no salary from Tesla, he's awarded stock options when the company hits challenging performance metrics.

"Elon will receive no guaranteed compensation of any kind — no salary, no cash bonuses, and no equity that vests simply by the passage of time," Tesla said in 2018 when the company announced a 10-year performance award for Musk. "Instead, Elon's only compensation will be a 100% at-risk performance award, which ensures that he will be compensated only if Tesla and all of its shareholders do extraordinarily well."

Investors had initially approved the $55 billion compensation plan in 2018, but a Delaware judge voided it last January on the grounds that Musk had undue influence over the package and its approval due to close ties with several board members.

At its annual shareholder meeting last June, investors voted to approve Musk's pay package. However, the judge upheld the original ruling, and the company has since said it plans to appeal that decision.

A large part of Musk's net worth comes from Tesla shares, while roughly over 20% comes from SpaceX stock.

The rest of his wealth comes from shares in Twitter and The Boring Company, as well as other miscellaneous liabilities.

• I tried every kind of McFlurry at McDonald's to determine which one was the best.
• McDonald's offers three kinds of McFlurries: Oreo, Hershey's S'Mores, and M&M.
• I thought the chain's Oreo-flavored McFlurry was the most satisfying.

With heat waves sweeping the country, you might want to keep it cool the next time you pass by a McDonald's drive-thru.

McDonald's has been selling the McFlurry, its version of an ice-cream sundae, since 1995, when they were introduced in Canada for the first time. McFlurries have since come out in a variety of flavors, including Oreo, M&M, Shamrock Shake, and the new Hershey's S'mores McFlurry.

The McFlurry recently got a bit of a makeover when McDonald's replaced its classic plastic cup with a paper one and swapped the signature hollow-handled spoon for a smaller standard plastic spoon, in an effort to make its packaging more sustainable.

The chain launched its newest flavor option, Hershey's S'mores, on June 10 as an ode to nostalgic summer campfire cravings. Nostalgia is a major trend at fast-food chains, but the actual flavor doesn't always match up to people's childhood memories.

I tried all three McFlurries on offer at McDonald's to determine which was the best use of your $3, and I was surprised by the results.

Here's every kind of McFlurry at McDonald's, ranked from worst to best.

I ordered all three kinds of McFlurries in the mini size.

Each mini-sized, 4-ounce McFlurry cost $2.99, excluding tax, at my local McDonald's in Brooklyn, New York. A McFlurry is also available in a regular 12-ounce size for $5.39, excluding tax.

Based on weight, it's more cost-effective to order the regular-sized McFlurry, but for the sake of trying each flavor, I ordered the smaller size.

McDonald's M&M McFlurry landed last in my ranking.

It came topped with a rainbow of M&M's that, after sitting in the ice cream for a few minutes on my walk home, had partially melted and created a swirl of color in the vanilla ice cream.

The M&Ms added a slight crunchy texture to the ice cream, but I didn't get a ton of flavor from it.

I wanted more notes of chocolate, and overall, didn't find this McFlurry to be the most flavorful of the bunch.

The vanilla soft-serve ice cream was creamy and sweet, but I simply preferred the toppings on the other two sundaes.

Up next was the newest addition to McDonald's McFlurry lineup: the Hershey's S'mores McFlurry.

It's made with vanilla soft-serve ice cream, Hershey's milk chocolate, graham cracker pieces, and mini marshmallows. As a limited-time offer, it's only available at McDonald's through August 11.

The toppings added a lot of flavor and delicious crunch to the ice cream.

Of the three McFlurries I tried, this one packed the most flavor and variety. The graham crackers added a satisfying crunch and a molasses-like sweetness, the chocolate was rich, and the marshmallows brought that classic s'mores taste that reminded me of camping in the summer as a kid.

But all the toppings were concentrated on the top, so once I got through that layer, I was left with plain vanilla ice cream, which made the overall experience feel a bit underwhelming.

The chain's classic Oreo McFlurry impressed me the most.

Oreo was the first flavor introduced in the McFlurry menu, and it's a classic for a reason.

It's made with a base of vanilla soft-serve ice cream mixed with Oreo cookie pieces, which is then topped with additional Oreo pieces.

The mixed-in Oreos ensured that every bite was loaded with chocolatey flavor.

The soft-serve ice cream was exceptionally creamy and blended well with the pieces of crushed Oreos.

I got a strong chocolatey flavor throughout the ice cream, unlike the other two sundaes, where the toppings were mostly concentrated on top.

This is the only McFlurry I'd order again to keep me cool this summer.

From the flavor to the low cost — just under $3 — I could see myself adding an Oreo McFlurry to my next McDonald's order as an affordable sweet treat.

While both the other flavors were tasty in their own right, the Oreo version simply packed the most flavor.

• President Trump restarted collections for student-loan borrowers in default after a 5-year pause.
• A new TransUnion analysis found that nearly 2 million borrowers could default in July.
• They'll be at risk of wage garnishment, and the options to avoid default are complicated and time-consuming.

The student debt collection machine has been turned back on, and it could mean bad news for millions of borrowers later this summer.

President Donald Trump's announcement that collections on defaulted student loans would restart on May 5 left borrowers behind on payments facing a scramble: make payments to avoid entering default, or find a way to get out of default to avoid wage and federal benefits garnishment.

A new analysis from TransUnion, a credit reporting firm, showed an uptick in borrowers at risk of facing those consequences this summer. It found that 31% of borrowers have a payment of more than 90 days past due as of April — up from 20.5% in February — and it estimates that of the 5.8 million newly delinquent borrowers, 1.8 million of them could default in July.

The analysis said an additional 1 million borrowers could default in August, followed by another 2 million in September.

"That begs the question, why is that number so high right now?" Joshua Turnbull, senior vice president and head of consumer lending at TransUnion, told BI. "That number is either high because people cannot afford to pay their student loans, or don't think they can afford to pay their student loans, or people can afford to pay their student loans and they're just either choosing not to, or don't know they need to."

A federal student-loan borrower typically enters default after not making payments for over 270 days. Over the course of the pandemic, borrowers behind on payments were spared from garnishment and negative credit reporting due to a pause put in place by Trump and continued under former President Joe Biden.

Negative credit reporting resumed in October 2024, and while the Department of Education said in early June it would be pausing Social Security garnishment, wage garnishment will resume later this summer. The department did not respond to a request for comment from BI on a specific date that wage garnishment will begin.

The Department of Education said in April that restarting collections will "move the federal student loan portfolio back into repayment, which benefits borrowers and taxpayers alike."

Turnbull said the economic implications of delinquency and default — including hits to credit scores and losing part of a paycheck — could be severe.

"Those are things that, I'm not only behind in paying on my student loan, but now my income stream is impacted as well," Turnbull said. "So, it's kind of a compounding effect that consumers would see."

Options for student-loan borrowers to avoid default

Turnbull said that problems start for borrowers behind on payments once their delinquent status is reported. At that point, their credit scores will decline, and it could immediately impact their abilities to get mortgages, competitive auto loan rates, and more.

"I would just encourage anyone who has a student loan, is not paying on that now, and is confused or worried about where they're going to come up with the funds, don't wait," Turnbull said. "Don't wait until you get that 90-day delinquency to figure out what your plan is, or to figure out where you're supposed to send your payment."

Some borrowers who took the initiative to start a repayment plan are still struggling. Michael George, 31, is in default on his student loans. He said he contacted Federal Student Aid's debt resolution group to begin loan rehabilitation, which requires a borrower to make nine payments within 20 days of the due date over a period of 10 consecutive months.

While Federal Student Aid's website said that wage garnishment will continue until a borrower makes at least five rehabilitation payments, George said his servicer gave him conflicting information regarding the repayment schedule requirements, and he made payments that ended up not counting toward his rehabilitation plan.

"There's no proper information, there's no consistency, there's no one streamlined black or white conciseness," George said. "It literally feels like a dumpster fire of how rapid the announcement was."

Along with loan rehabilitation, borrowers can also consolidate their defaulted student loan into a federal direct consolidation loan. While this option is quicker than loan rehabilitation, a key difference is that the record of the default will remain on the borrower's credit history. Borrowers can also file for bankruptcy using a process that was streamlined under Biden.

Some borrowers who voted for Trump previously told BI that while they support efforts to collect student loans, the abrupt nature of the collections restart has sparked confusion and alarm among those in default, or at risk of defaulting.

Linda McMahon, Trump's education secretary, said in an opinion piece that the collections restart is not intended to "be unkind to student borrowers."

"Borrowing money and failing to pay it back isn't a victimless offense," she said. "Debt doesn't go away; it gets transferred to others."

• Kevin O'Leary says young entrepreneurs should spend 24 months working before starting their business.
• Gaining industry knowledge and connections, he said, increases the probability of success.
• A few years of failure early on "matters," O'Leary said.

Mr. Wonderful's key to success for young entrepreneurs may not be the answer that aspiring startup founders want to hear.

"Shark Tank"'s Kevin O'Leary, who goes by the nickname, appeared on a Monday episode of the podcast "Diary of a CEO," where he shared his advice to 21-year-old entrepreneurs who are wondering where to start.

"Go work for 24 months in a sector you love, that you're passionate about. Even if they don't pay you, go in there and be an apprentice," he said. "Do that first."

To those who don't want to work for someone else, he says it's necessary to do so if you want to understand "how all the cogs work." It could also lead to recognition from someone at the company that could be useful down the line, he added.

After two years, it's time to launch, O' Leary said. With a $10,000 loan from friends and family, start your business with the "baseline knowledge of your industry."

Assuming that's possible, O'Leary said that even with knowledge and financial backing from your parents, don't expect success right away because "the first one will probably fail."

However, a background in the industry — knowing who's who and "how it works" — increases your chances of flourishing. Regardless of how your first launch goes, the key is to do it in your mid-to-early 20s, O'Leary said.

"You need to burn a few years failing, and that matters," he told the podcast's host, Steven Bartlett.

It helps, O'Leary added, if you have an "aura of confidence," which is often projected through your body language. Your eye contact and stance can show if you have what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur "before a word is spoken," the investor said.

"It's in the way you're standing. It's in the way you're dressed," he said.

"You have to learn how to project yourself in front of your peers," O'Leary said. "If you don't have it, you're going to fail."

The "Shark Tank" judge did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

His company, O'Leary Ventures, is a venture capital platform that invests in early-stage companies. In his "Shark Tank" gig, he and his fellow Sharks hear out business owners looking for financial backing.

• Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the creation of Meta Superintelligence Labs (MSL) internally.
• The new division will be co-led by Alexandr Wang and Nat Friedman.
• The launch comes as Meta ramps up its focus on AI and competition with companies like OpenAI and Google.

Mark Zuckerberg on Monday unveiled his company's "superintelligence" ambitions as he takes on AI rivals OpenAI and Google in what he called "the beginning of a new era for humanity," according to an internal memo obtained by Business Insider.

The new lab will be led by Alexandr Wang, the former Scale AI CEO who joined Meta earlier this month after the company invested $14.3 billion in his data-labeling startup. Nat Friedman, former GitHub CEO and a prominent AI investor, will partner with Wang to co-lead MSL's research and product initiatives.

"As the pace of AI progress accelerates, developing superintelligence is coming into sight," Zuckerberg wrote in the memo, which Bloomberg first reported on. "I believe this will be the beginning of a new era for humanity, and I am fully committed to doing what it takes for Meta to lead the way."

Zuckerberg emphasized that Meta's AI efforts aim to build systems that are not only as capable as humans, but "personal", deeply integrated into how people interact with technology.

The announcement comes amid a broader and increasingly aggressive push by Meta to compete with OpenAI and Google in the race to build the most advanced AI systems. AI has become Zuckerberg's top priority this year, fueling massive investments in infrastructure like chips and data centers, and a hiring spree targeting researchers from rival labs.

In addition to the Scale AI investment, Meta has reportedly held acquisition talks with Perplexity and Runway. The company is also reportedly expected to acquire PlayAI, a voice replication startup, as part of its push into AI personal assistants.

Read Zuckerberg's full memo below:

As the pace of AI progress accelerates, developing superintelligence is coming into sight. I believe this will be the beginning of a new era for humanity, and I am fully committed to doing what it takes for Meta to lead the way. Today I want to share some details about how we're organizing our AI efforts to build towards our vision: personal superintelligence for everyone.

We're going to call our overall organization Meta Superintelligence Labs (MSL). This includes all of our foundations, product, and FAIR teams, as well as a new lab focused on developing the next generation of models.

Alexandr Wang has joined Meta to serve as our Chief AI Officer and lead MSL. Alex and I have worked together for several years, and I consider him to be the most impressive founder of his generation. He has a clear sense of the historic importance of superintelligence, and as co-founder and CEO he built ScaleAI into a fast-growing company involved in the development of almost all leading models across the industry.

Nat Friedman has also joined Meta to partner with Alex to lead MSL, heading our work on AI products and applied research. Nat will work with Connor to define his role going forward. He ran GitHub at Microsoft, and most recently has run one of the leading AI investment firms. Nat has served on our Meta Advisory Group for the last year, so he already has a good sense of our roadmap and what we need to do.

We also have several strong new team members joining today or who have joined in the past few weeks that I'm excited to share as well:

• Trapit Bansal — pioneered RL on chain of thought and co-creator of o-series models at OpenAI.
• Shuchao Bi — co-creator of GPT-4o voice mode and o4-mini. Previously led multimodal post-training at OpenAI.
• Huiwen Chang — co-creator of GPT-4o's image generation, and previously invented MaskGIT and Muse text-to-image architectures at Google Research.
• Ji Lin — helped build o3/o4-mini, GPT-4o, GPT-4.1, GPT-4.5, o4-imagegen, and Operator reasoning stack.
• Joel Pobar — inference at Anthropic. Previously at Meta for 11 years on HHVM, Hack, Flow, React, performance tooling, and machine learning.
• Hongyu Ren — co-creator of GPT-4o, 4o-mini, o1-mini, o3-mini, o3 and o4-mini. Previously leading a group for post-training at OpenAI.
• Johan Schalkwyk — former Google Fellow, early contributor to Sesame, and technical lead for Maya.
• Pei Sun — post-training, coding, and reasoning for Gemini at Google DeepMind. Previously created the last two generations of Waymo's perception models.
• Jiahui Yu — co-creator of o3, o4-mini, GPT-4.1 and GPT-4o. Previously led the perception team at OpenAI and co-led multimodal at Gemini.
• Shengjia Zhao — co-creator of ChatGPT, GPT-4, all mini models, 4.1 and o3. Previously led synthetic data at OpenAI.

I'm excited about the progress we have planned for Llama 4.1 and 4.2. These models power Meta AI, which is used by more than 1 billion monthly actives across our apps and an increasing number of agents across Meta that help improve our products and technology. We're committed to continuing to build out these models.

In parallel, we're going to start research on our next generation of models to get to the frontier in the next year or so. I've spent the past few months meeting top folks across Meta, other AI labs, and promising startups to put together the founding group for this small talent-dense effort. We're still forming this group and we'll ask several people across the AI org to join this lab as well.

Meta is uniquely positioned to deliver superintelligence to the world. We have a strong business that supports building out significantly more compute than smaller labs. We have deeper experience building and growing products that reach billions of people. We are pioneering and leading the AI glasses and wearables category that is growing very quickly. And our company structure allows us to move with vastly greater conviction and boldness. I'm optimistic that this new influx of talent and parallel approach to model development will set us up to deliver on the promise of personal superintelligence for everyone.

We have even more great people at all levels joining this effort in the coming weeks, so stay tuned. I'm excited to dive in and get to work.

Are you a current or former Meta employee with more insight to share? Got a tip? You can contact Hugh Langley securely on Signal at hughlangley.01 or email at [email protected], or Pranav Dixit on Signal at +1408-905-9124 or email at [email protected]. Use a non work device.

• President Donald Trump continues to blister Fed Chairman Jerome Powell.
• On Monday, the White House released a personal note Trump sent to Powell.
• Trump continues to express frustration over the Fed's refusal to cut interest rates.

President Donald Trump has found a new way to criticize Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.

On Monday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump sent a handwritten personal note to Powell, the latest in a string of complaints about the Federal Reserve's refusal to cut the benchmark interest rate.

"Jerome — You are as, usual, 'Too Late.' You have cost the USA A Fortune — and continue to do so — You should lower the rate — By A Lot!" Trump wrote.

Powell has repeatedly said that the Fed is waiting to see the effect of Trump's trade policies before making interest rate decisions.

"We expect a meaningful amount of inflation to arrive in the coming months," Powell said earlier this month, adding, "Someone has to pay for the tariffs."

The Eurozone has cut its rates seven times in the last year, but central bankers there aren't facing the same trade concerns. Europe has also seen inflation come down quickly this year, with a headline rate in the Eurozone falling from a 2.5% annual rate in January to just 1.9% in May. Meanwhile, US inflation has been stickier, and has been hovering around 2.3% since March.

Trump posted the letter on Truth Social, where he added, "Jerome 'Too Late' Powell, and his entire Board, should be ashamed of themselves for allowing this to happen to the United States."

Trump appointed Powell to the central bank during his first term but has since soured on the investment banker. The president has flirted with firing Powell, a power he might not even have to begin with, but so far, he has settled on replacing Powell when his term as chairman ends next year.

Powell alone does not have the power to cut rates. Instead, the Fed's Open Market Committee makes rate decisions. The committee has 12 members, of whom the chairman is just one. Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller, who also serves on the FOMC, told CNBC last week the central bank could look at cutting rates as soon as next month.

Trump's criticism continues to add to his unprecedented efforts to challenge the central bank's independence. A spokesperson for the Fed did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

You can see the note for yourself here:

• My family moved from Columbus, Ohio, to a quiet mountain town in Southern Italy over 10 years ago.
• Although living here is affordable and we're saving money on healthcare, I feel isolated and bored.
• I miss our community in Ohio, and I'm worried my kids will forget their American roots.

I was five months pregnant when my husband and I boarded a plane from Columbus, Ohio, to Rome with two young kids and a third on the way.

It was March 2014, and I was feeling nervous but excited. I was fully convinced we were chasing a beautiful, slower-paced life abroad.

We had just finished our university degrees and wanted something different — something quieter, more affordable, and full of cultural richness.

With the large population, abundance of things to do, and a lot of English-speaking areas, Rome seemed like the perfect place to begin again.

However, living there was trickier and more expensive than we expected. As we scrambled to get settled with a growing family, we realized living in Rome wasn't sustainable for us.

That's how we ended up in Mormanno — a small mountain town in the Calabria region with a population of about 2,000. It was quiet, affordable, and safe, with hardly any crime.

On paper, it looked like everything we needed. And yet, over a decade and three more kids later, I still don't love living in a small town in Southern Italy. In fact, I kind of hate it.

Raising kids here has been emotionally isolating

One of the things I miss the most about living in the US is the community I had. Back in Ohio, family and friends were just minutes away. There were frequent birthday parties and backyard barbecues, and so many people to call when we needed help.

Here, we're on our own. We've made friends over the years, but nothing replaces family and the strong network we left behind.

Raising kids without that support system is hard, especially in a foreign country where so much feels unfamiliar to me.

Teaching my children both English and Italian has been a priority, but it's made things complicated. They have to learn Italian to succeed in school, but I want them to remain tied to their American roots. This means I'm constantly translating homework and trying to reteach subjects in English.

Although I've become fluent in Italian over the years, some of the curriculum still doesn't make sense to me, which makes helping them learn at home even harder.

I want them to appreciate their Italian surroundings, but I'd also like them to know where they come from — and that's a balancing act I still haven't quite figured out.

It's been tough to watch my kids lose touch with aspects of the culture I grew up in.

In many ways, small-town life just isn't for me

Mormanno is quiet and peaceful, which sounds lovely, until you realize that "quiet" can also mean "boring."

In Columbus, there was always something affordable to do nearby, whether that was heading to a zoo, bowling alley, conservatory, local theme park, or just the food court at the mall.

Although our new town is beautiful and we've got some historic sites and a handful of restaurants, there's not much to do here. It's not the kind of place where kids can sign up for sports or go to a science center on a weekend.

When we want those kinds of opportunities, we have to leave. Most summers, we spend a few weeks in Rome so we can enjoy activities, food, and events we don't have at home. For now, it's a way for us to give the kids exposure to things they miss out on during the rest of the year.

Navigating healthcare has been one of the hardest parts of living here

Coming from a large city in the US, I was used to being able to find a pediatrician, specialist, or urgent-care clinic relatively easily.

In Mormanno, that kind of access doesn't exist, especially not when it comes to serious health concerns. Over the past several years, our family has faced multiple medical emergencies that made this painfully clear.

When my daughter needed surgery for severe scoliosis, we had to travel all the way to Milan. When I needed specialized prenatal care during my high-risk pregnancy, I went back to Rome.

And when my newborn son needed open-heart surgery just days after birth, we had to be transferred north again to a hospital equipped to handle it.

Compared to the healthcare system in the northern part of Italy, the southern part is notoriously underfunded and understaffed.

It's common for people to travel long distances for care, and in our case, that meant going wherever the best specialists were — even if that meant temporarily uprooting our lives.

There is a silver lining, though, and that's the cost. In the US, the kind of care my children received would have likely bankrupted us. One surgery back home can cost thousands, even with insurance.

Here, it's not even close — we've mostly just had to pay out of pocket for a few medications.

I'm grateful for the life we've built here, but I'd happily leave in a heartbeat

Although Mormanno is clearly not my hometown of choice, living here really isn't all bad.

I don't take for granted just how much money we're saving on our housing and healthcare costs by living here. Since Mormanno has many cheap houses, my husband and I were also able to become homeowners, a dream that felt out of reach in Columbus or Rome.

Our family of four lives comfortably on what my husband and I make from our copywriting business. We're also able to put money into our savings each month.

In many ways, being in a small town has shifted my view of success and encouraged me to live a more laid-back life. But after 11 years, I've stopped pretending that I love it here. I don't.

My kids have gotten used to small-town life, but if I had my way (and more money), we'd be living in a bigger city, like Rome, tomorrow.

It wouldn't fix all of our problems — but, at the rate we're saving, maybe one day we will.

• The Sean "Diddy" Combs racketeering and sex-trafficking jury began deliberations late Monday morning.
• A jury note informed the judge that one juror "cannot follow your honor's instructions."
• As deliberations began, Combs was allowed a private moment of prayer with family in the courtroom.

Just 70 minutes into deliberations in the Sean "Diddy" Combs sex-trafficking trial, the jury sent the judge a note complaining that one juror may not be playing well with others.

"We have a juror," read the note, "who we are concerned cannot follow your honor's instructions."

The cryptic note identified the potentially problem juror as the one sitting in seat number three, a 51-year-old Manhattan man and self-described scientist who sits in the third seat in the jury.

The judge, defense, and prosecution agreed they want the jury to continue. The judge said the jury will be given a printed letter in which he reminds them of their duty to follow his instructions and continue deliberating.

The letter may have done the trick.

The jury continued weighing the charges, sending out a note at around 4 p.m. asking for a clarification of the law surrounding narcotics distribution, the last of eight elements of the Combs racketeering charge.

They were dismissed for the day at 5 p.m., with the first five hours of deliberations under their collective belts.

They are due to return to the deliberation room at 9 a.m. Tuesday.

During voir dire, the juror who was being complained about, juror number three, had described himself as having a Ph.D. in molecular biology and neuroscience.

He said, in broken English, "I'm a veterinary."

He listed his hobbies as art, science, cooking, the outdoors, and hiking, and described the trial as "a good break for me. I haven't taken a vacation in a very long time."

Earlier Monday, court officials let the hip-hop mogul share a brief courtroom prayer as jury deliberations began.

For two minutes, some 20 supporters — including Combs' mother Janice and his six adult children — held each other's hands with bowed heads in a pair of front rows behind the defense table.

Combs faced them from the other side of a wooden railing, head bowed but without touching them.

At the end of the prayer session, those in the gathering, including Combs, began clapping, according to a silent video feed of the gathering.

Deliberations follow more than six weeks of prosecution testimony.

Five alternate jurors were sent home, but are available to be called back in if needed.

Jurors began their day Monday listening with apparent care to two hours of instructions on the relevant law by US District Judge Arun Subramanian.

The jury was sent to the deliberations room with a double-sided, 40-page copy of those instructions. They were each also given copies of a three-page verdict sheet that lists the five counts that Combs faces, charges that could send him to prison for life.

Federal prosecutors allege that Combs ran Bad Boy Entertainment and his collection of lifestyle brands as an illegal enterprise.

They say he used his multimillion-dollar company's cash and personnel to support drug distribution, forced labor, kidnapping, and other crimes. The most serious racketeering crime, prosecutors say. is the sex trafficking of his two girlfriends, R&B singer Cassie Ventura from 2009 through 2018, and a girlfriend who testified under the pseudonym of "Jane" from 2021 to 2024.

Combs' lawyers argue that the sex was consensual, and showed the jury texts they say prove the women enjoyed these encounters. The women have told jurors that they only told Combs what he wanted to hear, because only when he was happy could they feel safe and financially secure.

Combs has pleaded not guilty to five charges: Racketeering conspiracy, separate sex trafficking counts for Ventura and Jane, and separate charges of transporting the two women for purposes of engaging in acts of prostitution.

This story was updated to reflect developments from the end of the day on Monday.

• Lisa Jean-Francois is shifting careers after being an influencer and content creator for 13 years.
• Her switch from fashion to parenting content led to a loss of audience and income.
• The influencer industry has become oversaturated, making it harder to maintain engagement.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Lisa Jean-Francois, a mom and content creator in her 40s from Boston, MA, about leaving the influencer industry. It's been edited for length and clarity.

When I started posting content in 2012, it was drugstore makeup and inexpensive fashion. I thought, "I can show people how to style themselves without breaking the bank."

I didn't start making money right away, but after I had my first child, I knew I wanted to take content creating a bit more seriously. Within a year of dedicating my time to my personal blog and content, my traffic grew and just kept growing.

Almost three years later, I took a chance and started creating content full-time. Over the course of my career, there were times I made a good amount of money on brand deals in the fashion and beauty space. Once I switched my content from fashion and lifestyle to parenting, my audience and income disappeared.

The industry has really changed. It has shifted.

I spent so much time and money building my brand

When I started posting online 13 years ago, I had just gotten married and moved from New York to Massachusetts. I hadn't started a family or a job yet, and so I started watching YouTube tutorials to learn how to do my makeup.

I spent thousands of dollars building my network. I remember flying to LA, New York, and beauty conferences. I would do desk-side chats with editors of different magazines and brands. I put in a lot of work offline with the networking and the community.

I then joined an ad network called Mediavine and was making thousands of dollars a month.

Then the real money came between 2018 and 2022.

I started getting a lot more brand deals in the beauty and fashion space, and some in the lifestyle space. I did deals with Walmart, Lee Jeans, Dunkin Donuts, Cantu, and more.

There were periods where I was just a full-time creator, and then I added consulting and in-house gigs, and then I went back to being a full-time creator until 2023.

Once I switched to parenting content, it was like starting over

When I switched my handle from @Lisaalamode to @Consciouslylisa_, in 2022, I lost my brand equity.

I changed my content because I didn't feel in alignment with who my online persona was anymore. I was really burned out, and I didn't want to pretend to live a life that I wasn't living.

In hindsight, I was always the mom, and I always took that role very seriously. But truly, I spent a lot more time building this brand and business than I did being a mom to my son. I started sharing about conscious parenting, and even though my followers transferred to my new name, my old handle was deactivated.

People unfollowed me, which I didn't take issue with, but I lost a lot of my brand deals.

Between 2020 to 2023 were some peak years for people to come in and take over the influencer industry

After the branding transition, I had a few contracts with Babyganics in 2023. I also tried getting into travel content, and I got some deals with a tourism board in 2023. Last year, I did some partnerships with Aura, but that was basically it.

Changing my content played a big role in the demise of my brand and career, but this industry also exploded during the pandemic.

A lot of these kids who had been watching people like me for years have now come of age, and they've learned how to do it all better and faster. They're not encumbered with households and children. They can put in the time that I did in my earlier years.

I may have aged out of the industry, although there are plenty of older creators who are doing well.

The industry is oversaturated, and the money dried up

What brands want from partnerships seems to have changed as well. When I was coming up, these campaigns were predominantly brand awareness campaigns. Your engagement wasn't a huge factor in the way it is now.

Engagement is definitely harder to get because the industry is oversaturated with creators now.

Mediavine kicked me out in 2023 because I wasn't bringing in the traffic anymore. I had to convince myself that I still have value. I spent a lot of time, energy, money, and resources. Now I feel I have nothing to show for it.

The money I make now does not compare to what I made as a beauty and fashion creator

At this point, I have two content pillars: fashion and travel, and sensory-friendly activities for autistic families.

My kids are autistic, my husband's autistic, and I'm also neurodivergent. It's important for us to find spaces that are inclusive, and I want to continue to share more of that on social media.

It's not that it hasn't been well received, but in some ways, it feels like I'm talking to myself.

I also launched my jewelry brand, The Consciously Lisa Collection, last November. Any income that I make is solely from that business.

There's no comparison to what I made as a creator. I was about to buy a house with the money I was making. I cannot live on the money I make now with my jewelry brand.

I'm trying to find a new job, but it's tough

There are girls in the industry that I came up with who are millionaires and still doing well. I'm sure I've made a lot of mistakes along the way that have contributed to things being the way they are for me.

I'm now going back into the workforce older. Do I have experience? Absolutely. Am I capable? Of course, but I feel I'm not desired in the workforce. They don't want to hire 40-year-old moms. It's just not what it is.

Right now, I homeschool, but we can't afford after-school care. So if I can somehow find a work-from-home job that allows me to pick up and drop off the kids, then it'll work.

I don't want to go back to work full-time because I like having my autonomy, my schedule, and my ability to really be there for my kids. But I also look forward to a time when my feelings of worthiness aren't tied to something that's so completely out of my control, like algorithms.

If you are making a career pivot and would like to share your story, please email the reporter, Agnes Applegate, at [email protected].

• Former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati founded Thinking Machines Lab earlier this year.
• BI obtained federal data showing how much hires on H-1B visas are being paid at startups.
• TML paid two members of its technical staff $450,000, while another got $500,000, according to the data.

Thinking Machines Lab, the much-talked-about, secretive AI startup founded earlier this year by former OpenAI chief technology officer Mira Murati, has been shelling out top dollar for technical talent ahead of launching any products.

TML is paying two members of its technical staff $450,000 in salary, while another is getting $500,000, according to hiring data obtained by Business Insider. A fourth staffer, listed as a "co-founder/machine learning specialist," receives $450,000 per year.

The data comes from federal filings that companies are required to make when they hire a non-US resident on an H-1B visa, which allows them to hire 85,000 specialized workers through an annual lottery.

Since companies rarely disclose salary data, the data offers a rare snapshot of what candidates are fetching in this job market. The figures only include base salaries, not the lucrative sign-on bonuses and equity awards that are often where the real money is made when someone goes to work for a startup.

A spokesperson for TML declined to comment. OpenAI and Anthropic did not respond to requests for comment.

The data is from the first quarter of this year, before Murati raised $2 billion in seed funding at a $10 billion valuation, as BI previously reported. It is also before Meta hired Scale CEO Alexandr Wang as part of a $14.3 billion deal to take a 49% stake in his company, ratcheting up the AI talent wars to a new level of feverish intensity. Earlier this month, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said Meta was trying to poach AI talent with signing bonuses of $100 million.

The $462,500 average salary TML offered four technical hires is considerably higher than more established large language model competitors Murati is aiming to compete with.

OpenAI is paying an average of $292,115 to the 29 technical staffers listed in the filings, with the highest-paid position earning $530,000 and the lowest earning $200,000. Anthropic pays an average of $387,500 to 14 technical hires, with the highest-paid position earning $690,000 and the lowest receiving $300,000.

TML went on a hiring spree earlier this year, hiring Bob McGrew, OpenAI's former chief research officer; researcher Alec Radford; John Schulman, who co-led the creation of ChatGPT; Jonathan Lachman, formerly the head of special projects at OpenAI; Barret Zoph, a cocreator of ChatGPT; and Alexander Kirillov, who worked closely with Murati on ChatGPT's voice mode.

The company has paused accepting new applications, according to its website.

Murati spent 6 ½ years at OpenAI, where she worked on the development of ChatGPT and other AI research initiatives. She was briefly appointed interim CEO in November 2023 after OpenAI's board abruptly fired Sam Altman, a move that sparked turmoil within the company. After Altman's reinstatement as CEO, Murati resumed her role as CTO.

• "F1" is Apple's biggest box office hit since it started producing original films.
• The director, Joseph Kosinski, said the film would only have a sequel if audiences liked the first movie.
• Kosinski told GQ about his idea for a crossover sequel involving Tom Cruise.

Warning: spoilers ahead for "F1."

"F1" could be on the road to getting a sequel after it broke box office records in its opening weekend.

Joseph Kosinski, the film's director, said in interviews published by GQ and Entertainment Weekly last weekend that it's up to the audience to decide if a sequel should be made.

So far, things are looking good.

The racing drama is already being dubbed a hit after it topped box office charts in its opening weekend, grossing $144 million worldwide. In the US, "F1" beat the record for the best domestic debut for an original movie held since 2020, which was broken earlier this year by "Sinners."

"F1" is also Apple's most successful theatrical debut. The movie was produced by the tech company's original film branch, which has until now struggled to make box office hits.

F1 has grown in popularity in recent years thanks to shows like Netflix's documentary series "Drive to Survive" and social media platforms like TikTok, Twitch, and podcasts.

Capitalizing on the trend, "F1" follows APXGP, an underdog Formula 1 racing team as it tries to win its first race and establish itself.

Damson Idris plays Joshua Pearce, a rookie for APXGP who represents the modern F1 driver. JP is forced to act like a celebrity by attending influencer parties, modeling, and constantly smiling for the camera.

Sonny Hayes (Brad Pitt), a veteran racer whose F1 career was ruined by a near-fatal crash, is the opposite. He's a rulebreaker who refuses to engage with the press, but APXGP is desperate, since the board plans to sell the team if they do not win their next competition.

"I think we leave it on a really open-ended moment for Sonny, for Kate, and for Joshua," Kosinski told GQ, referring to Kerry Condon's character Kate, who was APXGP's technical director. "So yeah, I think there's certainly more to tell of the APXGP team, and where Sonny Hayes goes from here. But that's not my decision."

The 'F1' director proposed a 'Days of Thunder' crossover starring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt

In the interview with GQ, Kosinski was asked to pitch a film idea starring Tom Cruise and Pitt, as he worked with them in his last two films, "F1" and "Top Gun: Maverick."

Kosinski suggested the film could be a crossover with the 1990s racing drama "Days of Thunder," which starred Tom Cruise as a rookie NASCAR driver trying to win the Daytona 500.

Kosinski's pitch was: "Well, right now, it'd be Cole Trickle, who was [Cruise's] 'Days of Thunder' character, we find out that he and Sonny Hayes have a past. They were rivals at some point, maybe crossed paths.

"I heard about this epic go-kart battle on 'Interview with a Vampire' that Brad and Tom had, and who wouldn't pay to see those two go head-to-head on the track?" he added, referring to the 1994 movie, which starred both actors.

While the crossover movie is only an idea, Cruise did show up at the "F1" premiere.

Cruise and Pitt almost starred together in the Oscar-winning racing drama "Ford v. Ferrari." When Kosinski was chosen as the movie's director, they were going to play the rival lead characters, Shelby and Miles.

Kosinski told GQ that he, Pitt, and Cruise left the movie when the studio couldn't meet his proposed budget, and James Mangold decided on a different cast.

• I've never considered myself a baker, but I was intrigued when I found a no-knead focaccia recipe.
• I decided to try it and was surprised by the straightforward instructions and delicious results.
• Now, it's one of my go-to dishes — even my picky 4-year-old regularly asks me to make it.

As a mom of six kids, I've heard all the clichés about stay-at-home parents. The biggest one, arguably, is that we stay-at-home moms know how to bake, and we know how to do it well.

I've always been lost when it comes to baking, though … until I stumbled upon a no-knead focaccia recipe on Bon Appétit.

I was more than a little bread-curious, and the recipe looked simple enough, so I decided to give it a try. The results blew me away.

My notoriously picky kids — even my 4-year-old, who usually lives on chicken nuggets — scarfed down an entire loaf in two days. My husband raved about it, and my mother-in-law asked me for the recipe. I couldn't believe it.

This focaccia has become my go-to recipe, and now, I make it all the time.

The recipe just requires seven simple ingredients.

The ingredients are as straightforward as the recipe itself: flour, salt, water, yeast, honey, olive oil, and garlic.

I begin by combining yeast with lukewarm water and a little bit of honey. Then, I wait until tiny bubbles appear on the surface of the liquid — that's the yeast fermenting! It's incredibly cool to watch.

Once the liquid is foamy, add flour and a bit of flaky sea salt. Mix until your dough is shaggy (that is, the ingredients are still lumpy, but well-mixed).

Next, grab a new, large bowl and coat it with olive oil. Turn your dough in the new bowl until it's completely coated in the oil, too.

Up next, it's time for the proofing stage.

Loosely cover the dough and wait for it to rise in the bowl.

You can let your dough rise overnight in the fridge, or find a warm spot in your kitchen. I like to use the "proof" setting on my oven, and I prefer to start in the morning so the bread is ready for dinnertime. Typically, this first proof takes about three hours.

Once the dough has doubled in size, it's time to uncover the bowl.

Take two forks and use them to pull the edges of your dough toward the center of the bowl. Turn your bowl, and repeat this fork-folding technique two more times.

This takes me about 10 seconds and completely replaces the "knead" step in most bread recipes.

After I've folded my dough, I spray or generously butter a baking dish, then drizzle more olive oil in the bottom. Then, I place the dough in the center of the dish.

Let the dough proof once more, uncovered, for about two hours.

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Then, using your fingertips, dimple your dough all over, pushing all the way to the bottom of the pan like you're playing the piano.

Once the bread looks evenly dimpled, drizzle the top with olive oil and dust with more sea salt. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes — my bread is typically done around the 23-minute mark.

While your bread bakes, melt half a stick of butter with two cloves of garlic. When the warm bread comes out of the oven, drizzle the loaf with your homemade garlic butter.

Be prepared for everyone to flock to the kitchen! The smell is amazing.

I make this focaccia monthly and keep leftovers frozen for quick dinners.

Lately, I've been making one loaf a month and freezing individual portions for easy weeknight dinners.

I'll typically slice the bread, wrap each piece in foil, and store the pieces altogether in one big Ziploc bag. In my experience, this keeps the bread fresh for up to six weeks.

When I'm ready to thaw some slices, I place the frozen pieces on a baking sheet in a 250-degree oven until they're warmed through. I love serving the bread with soup, pasta, or salad — but it's also a great snack, especially when I pair it with a quick olive oil-and-Parmesan dip.

I'm so glad that venturing outside my culinary comfort zone led me to this incredible recipe.

• The "Big Beautiful Bill" has a provision to discourage states from regulating AI.
• It's been watered down. It was originally for 10 years, now it's just five years.
• It also includes some carveouts to allow some state-level AI regulations to continue.

Amid Republican opposition, the controversial AI provision in Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill" is being watered down again.

The House-passed version of the bill included an all-out ban on states regulating AI for 10 years. Then, Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas rewrote it to comply with Senate rules, allowing states to theoretically continue regulating AI — but lose access to a $500 million pot of federal funding for AI deployment if they did so.

Now, under language reportedly negotiated by fellow Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn, the provision would only last for five years. And it also includes new carve-outs allowing states to continue to enact laws aimed at child safety and protecting individuals' names and likenesses, according to bill text obtained by BI.

Blackburn had previously opposed the provision, in part because Tennessee has a law that bans the use of AI to mimic musical artists's voices and likeness without permission.

"To ensure we do not decimate the progress states like Tennessee have made to stand in the gap, I am pleased Chairman Cruz has agreed to update the AI provision to exempt state laws that protect kids, creators, and other vulnerable individuals from the unintended consequences of AI," Blackburn said in a statement provided to several news outlets.

In a statement to BI, Cruz said the rewritten provision "preserves the rights of states to protect consumers and content creators without giving the Left a backdoor to push their woke social agenda through AI regulation."

It's not yet clear if other GOP opponents of the provision, including Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, will be satisfied by the new changes.

Greene had pledged to vote against the bill when it comes back to the House unless the provision was stripped out, casting it as a violation of states' rights.

Seventeen GOP governors sent a letter to Senate Republicans on Friday asking them to strip the provision from the bill, saying it's "the antithesis of what our Founders envisioned."

The tech industry largely supports the provision, though Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei criticized it as "far too blunt an instrument" in a recent New York Times op-ed.

Proponents of the provision generally argue that it will ensure the US wins the AI race against China, and that companies don't have to contend with a variety of state-level regulations.

"The country that leads in AI innovation will shape the future, and the way to secure American leadership in the AI race is to out-innovate our competitors," Cruz said in the statement. "This pause on heavy-handed regulations can be a victory for American entrepreneurs, Little Tech, small businesses, and states like Texas."

• Melania Trump is a famously private first lady.
• Her wardrobe choices can act as a way for her to send subtle messages without saying anything.
• She has chosen symbolic colors, designers, and silhouettes throughout her time in politics.

As a former model, Melania Trump is well-versed in using clothing to make a statement.

The role of first lady has long been a highly scrutinized one, especially when it comes to fashion. Melania Trump has rarely vocalized the reasoning behind her outfit choices, but from the early days of President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign to her second non-consecutive term as first lady, her styles may offer rare insights into the famously private figure.

Here are times Melania Trump appeared to send subtle messages with her outfits.

The Office of the First Lady did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A pink blouse offered an uncanny connection to one of then-candidate Donald Trump's biggest scandals.

The October 2016 presidential debate came two days after the "Access Hollywood" tape leaked showing Donald Trump using an explicit term in 2005, saying he could "grab" women "by the p——" because "when you're a star they let you do it." At the event, Melania Trump wore a $1,100 pink Gucci shirt whose large bow shared a name with the word Trump was recorded using, smiling beside her husband.

In "Free, Melania: The Unauthorized Biography," author Kate Bennett wrote that the blouse was a peak example of no coincidences in Melania Trump's wardrobe choices.

She made an elegant and monochromatic entrance to her life in the White House.

Melania's powder-blue Ralph Lauren ensemble immediately drew comparisons to former first lady and American fashion icon Jackie Kennedy.

Bennett wrote that this was one of the outfits the first lady worked on the most, and that it came straight from her own vision of how she would like to be officially introduced to the world.

She flipped the script for the 2018 and 2019 State of the Union speeches.

The first lady raised eyebrows with outfits that were stark opposites of purpose-driven color schemes.

In 2018, she wore a white pantsuit that stood out in a sea of Democrats, who were clad in black in honor of the Time's Up and #MeToo movements.

At the 2019 State of the Union, Melania Trump wore a black Burberry coatdress, the opposite of the white outfits worn on the other side of the aisle to celebrate women's suffrage.

Though her exact intention in selecting the outfits is still unclear, the pictures show a first lady who is unafraid to stand out.

When playing host, some of the first lady's dresses contain possible nods to her guests.

One such possible hint lay in the Hervé Pierre green dress that Bennett wrote could have been in honor of the Jordanian flag while she greeted Queen Rania in Washington.

Despite an apparently obvious connection, Bennett wrote that, per usual, "everyone would have to settle with the gray area because Melania stayed typically mum on her outfit choices."

Bennett theorized that the massive gold belt and necklace Melania Trump wore in Saudi Arabia were nods to the Kingdom.

The Saint Laurent python belt later sold out after enjoying the spotlight on the Trumps' May 2017 trip.

Bennett wrote that the statement touches were "as if to say, 'Hey, Saudi Arabia, friend. We like gold, you like gold, we get you. Everything is cool.'"

Anytime the first lady wears a coat that's propped up on her shoulders, Bennett writes, it can be seen as a "rich person move."

Bennett wrote that Melania Trump upped the ante on styling at the 2017 G7 Summit by perching her coat on her shoulders, which limits her range of motion and highlights that she is able to get doors opened and things carried for her.

The Dolce & Gabbana jacket was also one of the most expensive looks the first lady has worn with a price of $51,500.

Melania Trump combines being first lady with a travel wardrobe in a unique way.

Bennett wrote that, unlike Melania Trump's first predecessor Michelle Obama, the first lady hasn't gone to lengths to highlight regionally specific designers based on the destination, but rather picks an outfit based on the nature of the appearance.

One of the first lady's favorite location-specific choices is wearing Dior in its native Paris. On her first trip to France as first lady, she wore a suit jacket and skirt in the luxury house's signature silhouette and a head-to-toe red that could be taken as a nod to the Republican Party or to one-third of the French flag.

Dressing down, despite the price tag, for her first appearance alongside children in the White House garden made waves.

In her first term, Melania Trump took up Michelle Obama's cause of hosting events emphasizing healthy food and active childhoods. For one event in the White House Garden in 2017, she wore Converse sneakers and a casual plaid shirt.

However, the first lady became a target for critics who tracked down the shirt, which was made by French fashion house Balmain and retailed for $1,380.

The casual-but-luxe shirt appeared to stay true to the high-end wardrobe she was used to, but with the new consciousness of being officially on display.

In 2018, she made one of her boldest fashion choices to date with a jacket printed with the words "I really don't care, do u?"

Melania Trump wore the green Zara jacket while departing to visit children held in an immigration facility in Texas.

The jacket sparked fierce backlash when it was spotted on the first lady's trip to the border amid controversy over the administration's "zero tolerance" immigration policy.

Months after the jacket's debut, the first lady said in a candid interview with ABC News that she thought it was "obvious" the jacket's message was not "for the children," but instead was intended for the left-wing media.

After remaining out of the public eye during much of her husband's 2024 presidential campaign, Melania Trump appeared at the Republican National Convention in Republican red.

Melania Trump attended the fourth night of the Republican National Convention after skipping the first three.

The red skirt suit, designed by Christian Dior, appeared to signal Melania Trump's return to the national stage and readiness to fill the role of first lady once again.

Lauren A. Rothman, a style strategist and image coach, previously told Business Insider that Melania Trump "understood the assignment" with her look.

The designer of Melania Trump's statement hat at the 2025 inauguration said it reflected "a turning point to more conservative values."

Melania Trump accessorized her navy-blue coat by Adam Lippes with a wide-brimmed hat designed by Eric Javits at Donald Trump's second inauguration.

"It's a time of some restraint, and it's really sort of a turning point to more conservative values," Javits told ABC News of the context for his hat design.

Rothman previously told BI that the hat "bridges her worlds together" with a summery shape reminiscent of Mar-a-Lago and the use of dark wool fabric suited to the more solemn role of first lady.

Melania Trump has leaned into menswear during Donald Trump's second term, including a Dolce & Gabbana tuxedo for her official portrait.

Photographer Régine Mahaux previously told BI that her portrait of Melania Trump shows the first lady as "an active, hardworking woman" who is "ready to embrace her position."

Menswear-inspired looks have become a signature style during Melania Trump's second tenure as first lady as a form of "power dressing," BI's Amanda Krause wrote.

In a patriotic move, she wore an American designer for the US Army's 250th anniversary parade in June.

Melania Trump's pinstriped, double-breasted skirt suit evoked the historical military uniforms featured in the US Army's 250th anniversary parade in June. The outfit was created by Adam Lippes, an American designer, in a likely nod to American history and the US Army's milestone.

• Many gig workers rely on customers' tips to make a profit on apps like Uber.
• Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi has advice on when to leave a tip for your ride-hailing driver.
• Riders should leave a gratuity "if you feel you got your money's worth and then some," he told CBS Sunday Morning.

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi has weighed in on one of the gig economy's most contentious issues: When customers should tip.

For gig workers driving people to the airport or delivering restaurant food, tips are sometimes the difference between trips with thin earnings margins and more profitable ones.

"Tipping is entirely optional," Khosrowshahi said in an interview on CBS Sunday Morning. "But if you feel like you got a good ride, if the service quality was terrific, then you can tip through the app."

"You should only tip if you feel you got your money's worth and then some," he added.

About 20% of Uber riders tip their drivers these days, though "that's increasing," Khosrowshahi said.

Customers often tip more frequently on food delivery orders than on rides through apps like Uber and Lyft, studies have indicated. One study released last year by data analytics company Gridwise said an estimated 90% of food delivery trips included a tip. For ride-hailing trips through Uber and Lyft, the figure was 28%.

Khosrowshahi himself has seen the ugly side of tipping culture on Uber. While making food deliveries undercover for the app, he has said that he ran into "tip baiting" — when a customer includes a tip when they place an order to make it more attractive for a gig worker to take and then revokes the tip after the worker agrees to the gig.

The option to tip has appeared in more places over the last few years. Some point-of-sale systems give customers the option to tip on takeout orders, for example.

Khosrowshahi said that ride-hailing riders, especially in the US, face a "pressure" and "expectation" to tip.

"But again, it's really a personal choice that you're making," he told CBS. "That's really up to you."

Do you have a story to share about gig work? Contact this reporter at [email protected] or 808-854-4501.

• The B-52 Stratofortress, America's oldest bomber, is celebrating another decade in service this year.
• The plane has seen action in a number of conflicts and remains a major component of long-range strike capabilities.
• The Air Force has plans to keep the B-52 active until the 2050s, but upgrades have at times been delayed and costly.

This past weekend marked another decade in service for America's oldest bomber. The B-52 Stratofortress, affectionately nicknamed the "Big Ugly Fat Fellow," has been flying for the US Air Force for 70 years.

The air service has been upgrading the strategic bomber for years, allowing it to continue to play a key role in the Air Force's long-range strike capability. Far from a relic, the plane can serve as a conventional missile truck and a nuclear deterrent.

Over the weekend, Air Force Global Strike Command Public Affairs celebrated the 70th anniversary of the delivery of the first operational B-52, which was originally delivered on June 29, 1955, to the 93rd Bomb Wing at Castle Air Force Base in California.

"For seven decades, the B-52 has stood as a symbol of American airpower," the command said in a press release. "With its unmistakable silhouette and dual-capable nature, the Stratofortress continues to serve as a visible and credible strategic deterrent for the United States and its allies."

There are 72 B-52 bombers active with the Air Force, with some in conventional roles and others still able to serve in a nuclear capacity. Others that are no longer in active service remain in long-term storage at the Air Force's "boneyard" in Arizona.

Since the 1950s, the B-52 made by Boeing Military Airplane Co. has undergone numerous upgrades that have preserved the lumbering aircraft as a formidable bomber for the Air Force.

The B-52 remains a reliable platform for long-range strategic bomber missions even though it lacks the speed of the B-1 Lancers and the stealth of the B-2 Spirits, which were used to drop bombs on three of Iran's nuclear facilities earlier this month.

The bomber boasts a lighter maintenance lift, lower operational costs, and a heavy payload.

The B-52 can carry an estimated 70,000 tons of mixed ordnance, from stand-off cruise missiles to weapons like naval mines. Emerging hypersonic weapons have also been tested on the bombers.

Though built during the Cold War to function as a high-altitude strategic bomber, it can serve a range of missions.

The B-52's airframe and durable design have kept the planes in good condition over the decades. And upgrades to their weapons capacities, communications and radars, hardware, and software have kept the planes modern, as well as capable of receiving future updates.

"Since its creation, the B-52 has anchored strategic deterrence for the nation," said Maj. Gen. Jason Armagost, Eighth Air Force and Joint Global Strike Operations Center commander, per the release. He added that the Air Force is looking "to the next model to serve as the physical embodiment of the idea of peace through strength and carry us into the 2050s."

Plans for the next version of the B-52, the J-model, include engine and radar upgrades, as well as a new long-range stand-off missile that will replace the plane's aging air-launched cruise missiles.

But these planned updates have faced challenges. A US Government Accountability Office report said last year that the engine replacement program, which seeks to substitute the B-52's older engines with new military-configured commercial ones, was delayed "in part due to funding shortfalls to complete the detailed design."

The operational capability date for these engines was delayed to three years after initially planned. The Air Force originally announced plans to update these engines back in 2021 for improved fuel usage and easier maintenance. The cost, too, jumped from $8 billion to about $9 billion.

Costs to replace the radars of the B-52s to provide greater range and resistance to electronic warfare countermeasures also saw an increase, per the GAO.

The upgrades are critical for the Air Force to follow its plan of keeping B-52s active into the 2050s, a plan that would see the plane fly for a century.

Last year, the B-52 bomber successfully conducted a first-of-its-kind test of the All-Up-Round AGM-183A Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon, a hypersonic missile, in the Western Pacific. The missile is a multi-stage, boost-glided weapon with a hypersonic glide body that can maneuver at high speeds. Such weapons are difficult to intercept, and the US military and its rivals have heavily prioritized the development of hypersonic weapons in recent years.

While the missile received mixed results throughout testing, leaving its future in the Air Force's arsenal unclear, it marked an interesting moment for the B-52, which continues to be important for long-range strategic missions.

• The US Navy said its warships shot down multiple Iranian ballistic missiles earlier this month.
• The Navy had sent five destroyers to the eastern Mediterranean to provide air defense for Israel.
• The intercepts come as Navy leadership shares its concerns about its stockpiles of top missiles.

US warships intercepted multiple Iranian ballistic missiles aimed at Israel this month, the Navy confirmed over the weekend, sharing new details from its third defense of Israel in a year and a half.

Israel launched a new military operation against Iran on June 13, prompting Tehran to retaliate with waves of missile attacks. The US Navy moved five of its Arleigh Burke-class destroyers into the Eastern Mediterranean Sea for support if needed.

The destroyers — USS Thomas Hudner, USS Arleigh Burke, USS The Sullivans, USS Oscar Austin, and USS Paul Ignatius — are equipped with high-end interceptors that are specifically designed for ballistic missile defense.

Officials had previously confirmed that the US ships were providing air defense for Israel, but it was unclear if they scored any hits. However, in a statement on Sunday, the Navy revealed the destroyers intercepted "multiple" Iranian ballistic missiles since June 14.

The Navy did not say which interceptors the destroyers used against the Iranian missiles and referred additional questions to US Central Command, which oversees Middle East operations. Business Insider reached out to CENTCOM for more information but did not receive a response.

The disclosure comes as Navy leadership raises concerns that the sea service is burning through one of its top ballistic missile interceptors, the Standard Missile-3. Just last week, Adm. James Kilby, acting chief of naval operations, told lawmakers that American warships were using the SM-3 "at an alarming rate."

Navy warships fired multiple SM-3 interceptors to defend Israel from large-scale Iranian missile attacks in April and October of last year.

The SM-3 missile is an important element of the Navy's Aegis Combat System, equipped on Arleigh Burke-class destroyers and Ticonderoga-class cruisers. It uses a kinetic kill vehicle to destroy short- to intermediate-range missiles during the midcourse phase of their flight.

The SM-3 is produced in multiple variants, which can cost as little as $10 million on the low end and nearly $30 million on the high end, according to the US Missile Defense Agency.

Analysts have argued that the Navy is depleting its SM-3 stockpile in the Middle East without sufficient plans to replace it, which could be an issue in a Pacific conflict, where these interceptors would likely be needed in large quantities. China, a leading concern, has a large arsenal of ballistic missiles.

And the SM-3 is not the only missile interceptor that the Navy is heavily expending in the Middle East. American warships have fired hundreds of SM-2s and SM-6s to defend against attacks by Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.

US military planners have said that one of the challenges of the Red Sea conflict is being forced to use expensive interceptors to defeat cheap Houthi drones. Trying to get on the right side of that cost curve — saving the higher-end missiles for more advanced threats — is an ongoing focus in training across NATO.