• Reid Hoffman said every leader should be using and integrating AI at work.
• The LinkedIn cofounder highlighted Shopify CEO's recent internal memo as a model.
• One tip: Hold regular AI check-ins with your team.

Tech billionaire Reid Hoffman highlighted Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke's recent internal memo as a model for how leaders should think about AI.

The LinkedIn cofounder said on Wednesday's "Possible" podcast episode that the memo is an "open-source management technique."

In an internal memo Lütke shared last week, the e-commerce CEO wrote that AI usage is "now a fundamental expectation of everyone at Shopify."

"Before asking for more Headcount and resources, teams must demonstrate why they cannot get what they want done using AI," Lütke wrote in the memo, which he posted on X. "What would this area look like if autonomous AI agents were already part of the team? This question can lead to really fun discussions and projects."

Lütke added that AI usage questions would also be added to Shopify's "performance and peer review questionnaire."

"This applies to all of us, including me and the executive team," he wrote.

On "Possible," Hoffman said that every leader, whether they're running a five-person startup or a giant company, should be baking AI into their teams' work.

To ensure AI integration happens, Hoffman recommended a simple management approach. Hold weekly or monthly meetings for everyone to share something new they've learned about using AI — whether it's helping them do their job better or helping the whole company run more smoothly, he said.

Even OpenAI's chief people officer is vibe coding

Hoffman and other leaders agree that AI is no longer just for technical staff.

In an episode of Lenny's Podcast published last week, OpenAI's chief product officer, Kevin Weil, shared how the company's chief people officer "vibe coded" an internal tool. The executive used AI to rebuild a system she missed from a previous job.

"If our chief people officer is doing it, we have no excuse," Weil said.

Vibe coding, a term coined in February by OpenAI cofounder Andrej Karpathy, describes giving AI prompts to write code. As he puts it, developers can "fully give in to the vibes" and "forget the code even exists."

The rise of vibe coding has shaken up the way people think about software development, and some engineers wonder if AI could put them out of a job. It has also sparked debate among investors over whether technical skills are still a must-have for startup founders.

People should be "vibe coding" everything instead of using static design files, Weil said.

"That's totally possible today, and we're not doing it enough," the product chief added.

• Vladimir Putin praised Elon Musk for his accomplishments in space travel.
• Musk is the founder and CEO of his own rocket company, SpaceX.
• Putin compared Musk to the late Soviet rocket pioneer, Sergei Korolev.

Russian President Vladimir Putin praised Elon Musk as an outstanding individual for his work in space travel on Thursday.

Putin was speaking to university students about space policy when he mentioned Musk's ambitions and accomplishments in the field. Musk founded his own rocket company, SpaceX, in 2002 with the goal of colonizing Mars.

"You know, there's a man — he lives in the States — Musk, who, one might say, raves about Mars. It is not often that such people, charged with a certain idea, appear in the human population," Putin said, per a translation from the state-owned news agency TASS.

Putin went on to compare Musk to the late Soviet rocket pioneer, Sergei Korolev. Korolev, who died in 1966, was the lead rocket engineer and designer for the Soviet Union's satellites and rockets. He was also responsible for the first human spaceflight when the Soviet Union sent cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin into space in 1961.

"Just like in their time the ideas of Korolev, our other pioneers, got to materialize. They seemed incredible, some of the plans they made. But they all materialized," Putin said on Thursday, per TASS.

"A mission to Mars would be very hard. It now seems very difficult to implement," Putin said. "If you take an interest in this, you probably know."

Putin's compliments put Musk in a unique position of being held in high regard by leaders in Russia and the US. Musk is a prominent supporter of President Donald Trump and is currently leading the administration's efforts to cut government spending.

"Elon has done a fantastic job. Look, he's sitting here, and I don't care. I don't need Elon for anything other than I happen to like him," Trump told reporters during a Cabinet meeting on April 10.

Musk has been criticized for his position on the Ukraine war. Last month, Poland's foreign minister, Radosław Sikorski, said his country "will be forced to look for other suppliers" of satellite internet services if SpaceX "proves to be an unreliable provider."

"To be extremely clear, no matter how much I disagree with the Ukraine policy, Starlink will never turn off its terminals," Musk wrote on X on March 9, referencing SpaceX's satellite internet service.

"We would never do such a thing or use it as a bargaining chip," Musk continued.

The Tesla and SpaceX CEO initially supported Ukraine when the war started in 2022. In addition to delivering Starlink terminals to Ukraine, Musk also challenged Putin to single combat and suggested Putin could "bring his bear" to their fight.

But Musk later changed his position on the war. In October 2022, Musk posted a peace plan on X proposing that Ukraine recognize Russia's annexation of Crimea. The Kremlin praised Musk's plan.

Last year, Musk said in an X Spaces event with GOP senators that the US should stop funding Ukraine. Musk said he thought there was "no way in hell" Putin would lose the war.

Russia's foreign ministry and Musk did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

• TikTok is creating community notes for written context for its short videos.
• The platform plans to add Footnotes alongside its existing fact-checking network.
• Meta's shift to community notes raised concerns over brand safety and content moderation.

TikTok is joining X and Meta in adding a community notes feature to its platform, but it's not eliminating professional fact-checkers.

The company said on Wednesday that the new feature, called Footnotes, aims to add more context to videos on the platform. It will first be trialed in the US and will be used for short-form videos.

"The more footnotes get written and rated on different topics, the smarter and more effective the system becomes," Adam Presser, the head of operations at TikTok's trust and safety department, wrote in a company blog post.

Presser wrote that users over 18 who have spent at least six months on the platform and have no recent history of violating TikTok's community guidelines will be allowed to contribute.

The blog post said that TikTok will continue to work with 20 International Fact-Checking Network-accredited organizations to judge the accuracy of content on its platform.

Fact-checking on large social media platforms is seen as a way to curb the spread of fake news and disinformation that can harm people or entire social groups.

TikTok's parent company faces a summer deadline to divest its US operations. President Donald Trump has twice pushed back the deadline. As its fate hangs in limbo, the company has been on a mission to convince the US public and lawmakers that content on its platform and how user data is handled does not pose a national security or social threat to the country.

In 2023, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew testified in Congress. He acknowledged some shortfalls in TikTok's data protection strategy and explained how the company was separating data generated by 150 million US users from Chinese oversight. In 2022, TikTok created an organization to secure US data.

Different approach from other platforms

Meanwhile, Meta and X have replaced professional content moderators with user-led flagging.

Meta made the change in January, starting in the US. The company said the hands-off approach was "less prone to bias."

Meta's move worried some advertisers who told BI they felt uncomfortable being linked to a platform that was deprioritizing brand safety and responsibility.

Democrats criticized the decision, too. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York said Zuckerberg was "kissing Trump's ass" in making the change.

"Mark Zuckerberg is trying to follow in Elon's footsteps, which means that actually, they're going to use this guise of free speech to actually suppress critics of Trump and critics of themselves," Ocasio-Cortez said.

Since 2016, Meta has been the subject of a string of controversies over lapses in content moderation. It has also been criticized for, among other issues, its role in illicit drug sales. Last year, founder Mark Zuckerberg joined tech CEOs for a congressional grilling about safety measures for children online.

Internationally, Meta's lack of content moderation and reliance on third-party civil society groups to report misinformation have been found to play a role in proliferating violence in Myanmar, Iraq, and Ethiopia.

The company says it removes millions of posts a day that violate its policies.

• Shein and Temu said they would raise prices for their products from April 25.
• The retailers said the price hikes were due to "recent changes in global trade rules and tariffs."
• They promised their US customers eight final days of low-price shopping.

Bad news for discount-loving fans of Shein and Temu — both announced on Wednesday that they plan to hike prices.

The two Chinese retailers released almost identical notices on Wednesday, which both read: "Due to recent changes in global trade rules and tariffs, our operating expenses have gone up."

"To keep offering the products you love without compromising on quality, we will be making price adjustments starting April 25, 2025," Shein's statement said.

President Donald Trump last week imposed a 145% tariff on goods from China. Beijing retaliated with its own 125% tariff on US-made goods.

Both Shein and Temu promised their US customers eight final days of low-price shopping.

"Until April 25, prices will stay the same, so you can shop now at today's rates. We've stocked up and stand ready to make sure your orders arrive smoothly during this time," Temu's statement read.

Shein, a budget fashion retailer known for its massive garment production, and Temu, a low-cost marketplace selling everything from home goods to electronics, have been in Trump's direct line of fire since he entered office.

The president has cracked down on the de minimis trade loophole that allowed small parcels under $800 to enter the US tax-free. Shein and Temu were large beneficiaries of this loophole.

On April 9, he issued an executive order imposing a 120% tax on small parcels under $800 from China, Hong Kong, and Macau.

The order added that per-item postal fees for these parcels would increase to $100 between May 2 and June 1 and to $200 after June 1.

On Wednesday, Hong Kong's postal service announced that it would temporarily halt the delivery of goods from the US, as well as goods from Hong Kong destined for the US.

In a Tuesday press release, Hongkong Post said the suspension was triggered by the US being "unreasonable, bullying, and imposing tariffs abusively."

Representatives for Shein and Temu did not respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.

• A new internal memo from the CFPB told employees to "deprioritize" student loans and medical debt.
• It said that the focus of the CFPB will shift from supervision of companies to giving money back to consumers.
• This memo comes as millions of student-loan borrowers are expected to default this year.

The nation's top consumer watchdog is getting a major reshaping under President Donald Trump.

On Wednesday, Mark Paoletta, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's chief legal officer, sent a memo to all employees outlining the agency's new priorities for 2025.

The memo, a copy of which was obtained by Business Insider, stated that the "Bureau will focus on its enforcement and supervision resources on pressing threats to consumers, particularly service members and their families, and veterans."

"To focus on tangible harms to consumers, the Bureau will shift resources from enforcement and supervision that can be done by the States," Paoletta wrote.

Paoletta said that moving forward, the CFPB will "deprioritize" areas including oversight over student loans, medical debt, consumer data, and digital payments.

Under former President Joe Biden, the CPFB returned billions of dollars to student-loan borrowers after the agency found that some student-loan servicers engaged in predatory behavior. For example, the CFPB reached a settlement with lender Navient in September over claims the company mishandled payments, giving back $100 million to affected borrowers.

A CFPB employee told BI that these new priorities come at a financially precarious time for student-loan borrowers, especially with the New York Federal Reserve estimating that millions of borrowers are set to default this year due to some protections expiring.

"In the face of this unprecedented financial catastrophe, CFPB has given the student loan industry advanced notice that it will not be watching out for borrowers and it will not hold companies accountable when they break the law," Mike Pierce, executive director of the advocacy group Student Borrower Protection Center, said in a statement.

Paoletta's memo also said that the CFPB will focus on getting money back to consumers rather than "imposing penalties on companies in order to simply fill the Bureau's penalty fund." The CFPB employee said that supervising companies "is literally the reason the agency was created" and is not something states can do themselves.

This is the latest move in the Trump administration's efforts to restructure the government and slash the federal workforce. In February, BI reported that CFPB employees were told to "not perform any work tasks," and the agency has since dropped major lawsuits against companies, including Capital One.

Wednesday's memo confirmed that supervision — a core part of the agency's responsibilities over the past decade — will decrease.

The CFPB did not immediately respond to a request for comment from BI.

Have a tip or story to share? Contact this reporter via email at [email protected] or Signal at asheffey.97. Use a personal email address and a nonwork device; here's our guide to sharing information securely.

• Markets dropped as Nvidia and the Federal Reserve headlines shook investor confidence.
• Nvidia is anticipating a $5.5 billion hit due to export rules on H20 AI chips to China.
• Tech giants like Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft saw their stock value decline.

Markets sank sharply on Wednesday after back-to-back tariff-related headlines from Nvidia and the Federal Reserve rattled investor confidence.

The sell-off started after a disclosure on Tuesday evening after markets closed from Nvidia, which warned of a $5.5 billion hit due to export rules on H20 AI chips developed for the Chinese market.

Nvidia appears to be caught in the increasing tension over tariffs between the US and China.

Stock losses deepened after Federal Reserve President Jerome Powell cautioned that renewed tariffs under the Trump administration could create a "challenging scenario" for the economy. He warned that the Fed's dual mandate — low unemployment and price stability— could be tested if tariffs drive up consumer prices while slowing growth.

Here is how much each of the Magnificent 7 lost on Wednesday — and since Trump's inauguration — at market closing at 4 p.m. ET, according to Yahoo Finance.

Alphabet

Loss in stock value since January 21: 20.51%

Loss in stock value on April 16: 2%

Alphabet, Google's parent company, took a comparatively smaller loss on Wednesday but still saw about one-fifth of its stock value wiped out since Trump became president. In February, Nvidia replaced Alphabet as Wall Street's third most valuable company.

Alphabet donated $1 million to Trump's inauguration.

Amazon

Loss in stock value since January 21: 22.16%

Loss in stock value on April 16: 2.93%

Amazon, the global e-commerce giant, has lost about one-fifth of its share value since Trump's inauguration and could be hit further by tariffs, especially the up to 245% in duties imposed on China.

Amazon donated $1 million to Trump's inauguration fund, and founder and executive chairman Jeff Bezos attended.

Small businesses selling on Amazon told Business Insider they are struggling to keep their doors open as their already razor-thin margins shrink further under tariffs.

Apple

Loss in stock value since January 21: 9.21%

Loss in stock value on April 16: 3.89%

Apple shares briefly rallied on Monday on a surprise tariff exemption on key tech products, but the reprieve was short-lived.

The tech giant is also planning to spend and invest more than $500 billion in the US over the next four years.

Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, personally donated $1 million to Trump's inaugural committee and attended the ceremony.

Meta

Loss in stock value since January 21: 15.40%

Loss in stock value on April 16: 3.68%

Meta, parent company of Facebook and Instagram, is currently facing a blockbuster antitrust trial with the Federal Trade Commission that opened on Monday and is expected to run up to eight weeks.

The tech giant had donated $1 million to Trump's inauguration, and CEO Mark Zuckerberg attended the ceremony.

Microsoft

Loss in stock value since January 21: 9.98%

Loss in stock value on April 16: 3.66%

Microsoft has been rethinking its performance reviews and is mulling another round of job cuts that could come as soon as May, after already having fired "low-performers" in January.

Nvidia

Loss in stock value since January 21: 20.33%

Loss in stock value on April 16: 6.87%

A main character of Wednesday's stock market woes, Nvidia, the chipmaking giant, took a heavy loss in shares and at one point neared a 10% loss before bouncing back toward market close.

The semiconductor maker developed H20 AI chips for China but disclosed Tuesday that new US export restrictions have effectively blocked Nvidia from selling the inventory, which weighed down share values of the broader tech sector.

Tesla

Loss in stock value since January 21: 40.08%

Loss in stock value on April 16: 4.94%

Tesla, the EV giant, had an especially difficult year in terms of sales and share value for reasons that go beyond tariffs or generally low consumer sentiments.

Public backlash over Musk's political involvement and ties to the White House's DOGE office resulted in mass protests and boycotts of Tesla vehicles, and his focus on DOGE made investors question his commitment to the company.

Elon Musk has donated over $260 million to support Trump's return to the White House, along with $12 million toward a failed conservative bid in Wisconsin's Supreme Court race.

• US lawmakers are looking into how DeepSeek may have gotten Nvidia chips despite export controls.
• They also accused DeepSeek of funneling American user data to the Chinese government.
• The lawmakers urged stricter export controls to limit China's AI advancements and data access.

US lawmakers are looking into how advanced Nvidia chips may have gotten into the hands of the Chinese AI company DeepSeek, which they also accused of spying on Americans on behalf of China.

House Representatives released a report on Wednesday that they said "reveals that DeepSeek covertly funnels American user data to the Chinese Communist Party, manipulates information to align with CCP propaganda, and was trained using material unlawfully obtained from US AI models."

The lawmakers — Reps. John Moolenaar, a Republican from Michigan, and Raja Krishnamoorthi, a Democrat from Illinois — said it appeared DeepSeek, which released a powerful AI model that made headlines in January, had used 60,000 chips from Nvidia despite US sanctions limiting the ability of the company to sell some of its hardware to China.

Nvidia is already having a tough week. Its stock fell nearly 7% on Wednesday after the company announced that it had been informed that the Trump administration would require a new license for all accelerated chips shipping to China. The company said it expected a $5.5 billion decrease in earnings due to the Trump administration's tariffs.

DeepSeek and a representative for Moolenaar did not respond to requests for comment from Business Insider about the report.

"DeepSeek isn't just another AI app — it's a weapon in the Chinese Communist Party's arsenal, designed to spy on Americans, steal our technology, and subvert US law," Moolenaar said in a statement, which called DeepSeek a "serious national security threat" to the US.

The lawmakers said Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang directed the design of chips to get around US export controls.

They also sent a letter to Huang requesting lists of customers located in China and Southeast Asia and any communications between Nvidia and DeepSeek.

Nvidia said in a statement to Business Insider that "the US government instructs American business on what they can sell and where — we follow the government's directions to the letter."

The company also said it sells its products to companies worldwide, adding that its reported Singapore revenue indicates the billing addresses of its clients, many of which the company said are subsidiaries of US companies.

"The associated products are shipped to other locations, including the United States and Taiwan, not to China," the statement said.

The lawmakers' report also found it was likely DeepSeek had deployed methods to copy leading AI models from US companies, violating those companies' terms of service.

OpenAI told lawmakers "DeepSeek employees circumvented guardrails in OpenAI's models" to accelerate the development of its own models at a lower cost, according to the report.

OpenAI said in January it was investigating if DeepSeek used the outputs of its AI models to "inappropriately" train its own models.

The report also found that 85% of responses from DeepSeek models purposefully suppress content related to democracy, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and human rights, the statement said.

The recommendations in the report include increasing the effectiveness of US export control policy and further restricting China's ability to develop and deploy advanced AI models by expanding export controls on chips.

They also encourage Congress to consider requiring that chips companies track the eventual user of their products, not just the purchaser.

• My wife and I have both struggled with weight loss over the years.
• We decided to put $5,000 on the line. The money going to the person who lost the most in 3 months.
• One of us dropped 21 pounds and was able to buy the car they always wanted.

Weight loss is one of those things that has put me on a constant rollercoaster throughout my life. I've gained weight, lost it, and regained it again. Keeping the weight off completely has been daunting.

I've listened to experts saying a high-protein breakfast is the most important meal of the day, others who advocate for intermittent fasting or calorie counting, and even purchased healthy curated ready-to-eat meals. Like anyone else, I've struggled to find what works for me and what doesn't. But no matter what I've done through the years, I've never been able to maintain a healthy weight.

A friendly bet with my wife changed everything though, and now I'm down 21 pounds.

A partner with the same struggles

When my wife and I met eight years ago, we were going through similar weight struggles. She spent a lot of time at the gym and complained that she saw little to no results. With her, I felt like I could always be myself, even show my body insecurities without fear of judgment. She understood my constant weight struggles, as I did hers.

Together, we followed the Keto diet to try to eat more healthfully. For the 6 months we committed to it, we didn't enjoy the food combinations that the diet offered and we ended up giving up.

Between trying to maintain a work-life balance and caring for our three kids, it felt like we had minimal time left for self-development. It got to a point where life was so busy that getting even an hour or two to spend at the gym felt luxurious. We knew the only way weight loss would work is if we incorporated it into our 9 to 5 routines.

A $5,000 bet changed everything

I noticed my wife frequently watching what has become known as "SkinnyTok" videos on TikTok. According to her, this content is how some creators give tips on losing weight and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. They also share recipes that are allegedly "nutritious yet delicious." Another creator particularly emphasized the power of walking 10,000 steps a day. I was curious.

My wife, being the most competitive person I know, suggested that we take three months, cook some of the recipes she had been saving, walk 10,000 steps every day, and add in some cardio workouts. As an extra incentive, the person who lost the most weight would receive $5,000 from our joint account to use it however they pleased. I was in!

The shared challenge was fun

Going into this, I knew two things: my wife would do everything she could to beat me and I would enjoy kicking her booty every step of the way. The significant amount of money on the line provided a lot of incentive, and thoughts of how my body would change for the better was what I needed for any extra push.

To prep, we wrote down ten healthy recipes we wanted to try and synced our devices to track each other's health activities. We started the challenge at the beginning of November and set an end date for February 1. Then it was time to let the best man, or woman, win.

Meeting my daily step count meant that I spent most of my time walking to work and running errands, rather than driving. I kept my energy up by drinking a lot of electrolyte-infused water, eating high-protein food that made me full throughout the day, and doubled down on my walking. I set aside an hour in the evenings for workouts I found on YouTube and stayed focused. Before I knew it, I was ahead of the game. I lost 6 pounds the first month

As I expected, my wife was a bit of a sore loser throughout the process. While she mostly stayed on track, she didn't reach her step counts on some days, or had "cheat days" with her meals. She kept me on my toes but I managed to beat her in the challenge and win the cash, $2,500 of which I used to purchase a car I always wanted, the 1994 Ford Taurus SHO, while the rest of the amount remains in a fixed savings account.

Finding accountability

Money provided an added incentive for my wife and I, but I know there's no price tag on how alive you feel when getting your body in shape. A weight loss journey with my partner meant more accountability on both our parts, increased motivation, and better communication.

Although I won the challenge, my wife is equally enjoying numerous health benefits as she continues to track her steps and maintain a cleaner diet while shedding pounds. I've also noticed that she seems more confident in her body. Some days are harder than others but we continue holding each other accountable by setting small, attainable goals.

• UPPAbaby brand strollers and car seats are going to cost parents more because of tariffs, one store owner tells me.
• Elizabeth Mahon, the owner of a baby goods store in Washington, DC, is raising prices on one stroller by $300.
• UPPAbaby says it's trying to absorb increased costs of production, but calls price hikes "unavoidable."

Parents, get ready: It looks like it's going to get a lot more expensive to raise a family — and some places are already raising prices, like one baby and toy store in Washington, DC.

I talked to Elizabeth Mahon, the owner of Three Littles, which she's run since 2019. She told me price hikes are on the way, and she said they're because of Donald Trump's tariffs.

She said she'd have to raise prices on items that are manufactured mostly in China, like the popular UPPAbaby Vista stroller, which will now cost $1,199 — up from $899.

Massachusetts-based UPPAbaby has said it's passing the increased costs of production onto customers. "Please know that we've made every effort behind the scenes to absorb as much of the cost as possible," the company said in a statement on its Instagram, "but some price increases are unfortunately unavoidable."

Mahon told me how tariffs are already affecting her store and her customers. And about her biggest worry: that some families won't be able to afford necessities like car seats at all.

(This interview has been edited for length and clarity).

Business Insider: So what's going on with the price hikes with strollers and car seats?

Elizabeth Mahon: Nuna and UPPAbaby both reached out about a week ago and said, "Hey, this is going to be a new price list moving forward."

Then, on Monday, we got another email from UPPAbaby with an amended price list. When they first emailed, it was when tariffs were at 54% and now tariffs are 145% — they had to fix the prices to better reflect the current tariffs.

Is this across the whole range of things? Strollers, car seats, accessories?

Yes, pretty much everything is going up in price. Initially, a lot fewer items were included in these price increases. There were still price increases, but they weren't as drastic or far-reaching. And now, the prices of just about everything that they manufacture have to go up.

So the UPPABaby Vista stroller, which is about $900 for the base model — that's going up about $300. It's basically like a 33% increase. Is that about what you're seeing across the board? 33%?

It depends. Some things are going up 20%, some things are going up 40%. It just depends. But 30% is, I would say, the average.

Have you heard from other manufacturers about tariff increases in other categories? Clothing, toys, books?

A ton. I've been getting a phone call or an email a day from our vendors letting us know that the prices are increasing. We've received a couple of emails from vendors telling us that they will no longer even be able to entertain a wholesale program.

I do know that some other stroller and car seat brands are chatting about what it would look like to sell exclusively online. This would be a huge detriment to families because they won't be able to test them out in person.

What are you hearing from your customers?

I think there's a lot of panic buying. People are hurrying up to buy car seats that maybe they don't need yet because they are worried about these price increases. We've been talking to a lot of customers who are considering buying for children they don't even have yet so that they can get these prices.

I would be remiss not to acknowledge that we have a shop in a community where there's a lot of privilege.

I've heard a lot on social media that these price hikes aren't going to deter people who are shopping for these more expensive brands. But I absolutely disagree. I've heard daily from people who have said, "This stroller at $899 was already a huge splurge for me, and $1,200 is just too far out of my price range."

Beyond that, the bigger conversation I think is that there are going to be many families who just cannot afford a stroller for their kids or a car seat for their child, period. Even the lower-end products — there is no option to just buy exclusively American.

There is no option to just not use a car seat. You have to have it, but we're going to see price increases across every brand no matter what if they're manufactured in China.

With car seats, that's the kind of item that — unlike strollers — it's really recommended you don't get one used, right?

Absolutely. I am a child passenger safety technician, and we just would never recommend getting a secondhand car seat because there is no way to prove that that car seat has not been in a crash, which makes it no longer safe to use.

As a small-business owner, how will these price increases affect your bottom line?

I've just had to make some really big decisions already and spend money that we didn't really have to spend on extra inventory because these tariff hikes and the hysteria surrounding these new inflated prices are causing a lot of people to buy.

There are going to be a lot of gaps where people aren't going to be able to buy things when they need them. That's because people are buying convertible car seats today for kids who won't fit in it for a year. The people who need that car seat now might not be able to get it because it's sold out. The manufacturing facilities can't produce at a faster rate than they had already planned on, or they don't have the materials, or they don't have the money, or they're trying to navigate the tariffs.

Are you worried about what will happen having to pass on the prices to customers if that will turn customers away from your store?

Absolutely. We already have customers who will come into the shop and demo the products we have and then come back in and tell us they bought them secondhand. And that's everyone's prerogative. I totally understand why people do that. The baby industry is expensive and the products we sell are on the higher-end. But I think that we'll be starting to see a lot more of that.

I do think we'll see the resale market inching up higher, which will make some of these products that people used to be able to buy secondhand unaffordable, too.

Even more than business, I'm worried that there are going to be families that aren't able to get seats for their children at all because they can't afford them.

• Increases in homeowner's insurance are a national trend, not just isolated to a few states.
• Natural disasters like hail in the Midwest and tornadoes in the South are putting a strain on insurers.
• Louisiana and California are expected to see average increases of over 20%.

Home insurance rates are expected to rise across the country by the end of the year, according to a new study released by the digital insurance platform Insurify.

The annual cost of homeowner's insurance is projected to increase 8%, to a national average of $3,520.

However, some states like Louisiana, Iowa, and Hawaii are expected to see increases greater than 17%.

"This is a group of states that insurers are catching up to the perceived risk that has accumulated," Insurify data expert Matt Brannon told Business Insider.

Insurance companies have incurred massive losses in recent years, as natural disasters have increased in frequency and severity, Brannon explained.

In 2024, there were 27 billion-dollar disasters in the US, which is topped only by a record-breaking 28 disasters in 2023.

Hurricanes, wildfires, and tornadoes are common culprits but there are other growing threats, like hail.

"Insurance commissioners in multiple states in the Midwest are saying that hail is becoming an increasing problem for home insurers," Brannon said. "Hail can inflict a lot of damage on roofs, and we know that roofs are very expensive to get replaced."

Below are the nine states where homeowner's insurance rates are expected to rise the most by the end of the year.

9. Colorado

Hail is an increasing concern in Colorado and is a primary reason for recent premium hikes in the state.

Denver roofer Said Ahmad told BI this year that the storms—and the damage they cause—have gotten significantly worse over his 18-year career.

"When I first got into the business, if you had a $10,000 claim, that was considered big. Now, all of them are almost at least that," Ahmad said.

Projected increase in 2025: 11%

Average annual premium in 2024: $6,630

Projected annual premium for 2025: $5,984

8. Oregon

Though California, its neighbor to the south, may be better known for its wildfire risk, significant disasters have also struck Oregon. Last year, a record-breaking 1.9 million acres burned in the state, destroying 40 homes and 132 other structures, state officials said.

Projected increase in 2025: 12%

Average annual premium in 2024: $1,617

Projected annual premium for 2025: $1,807

7. South Dakota

Like other Midwestern states, hail is a significant risk for South Dakota homes. The world-record for the largest hailstone was in Vivian, South Dakota, a small town, where an 8-inch diameter hailstone was recorded in 2010.

Projected increase in 2025: 13%

Average annual premium in 2024: $3,596

Projected annual premium for 2025: $4,061

6. Arkansas

Some research shows that the traditional Tornado Alley, including parts of Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas, is shifting eastward into states like Arkansas. In May 2024, Arkansas experienced a state record of 17 tornadoes in one day, according to the National Weather Service.

The state is also considered at high risk for ice storms, the Insurify report noted.

Projected increase in 2025: 13%

Average annual premium in 2024: $4,490

Projected annual premium for 2025: $5,077

5. Minnesota

Worsening hail storms in Minnesota are directly tied to increasing insurance rates.

"We're having bigger storms. We're having these hailstorms that just cause a lot of claims damage," Minnesota insurance official Grace Arnold told local news outlet NBC 11.

In August 2024, a 6-inch diameter hailstone found in Chokio, Minnesota tied the state record.

Projected increase in 2025: 15%

Average annual premium in 2024: $3,524

Projected annual premium for 2025: $4,058

4. Hawaii

"Hawaii's increase is mainly driven by the 2023 Maui fires," Brannon said. The deadly fires claimed over 111 lives and were partially driven by a sudden, intense drought on the island.

The estimated cost of recovery is expected to exceed $12 billion, the local newspaper, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, reported.

Projected increase in 2025: 17%

Average annual premium in 2024: $1,548

Projected annual premium for 2025: $1,808

3. Iowa

Iowa has seen an 80% increase in major hail events between 2022 and 2024, according to Insurify.

In 2021, a hail storm in Larchwood, Iowa, located about 4 hours north of Des Moines, caused damages around $20,000 in claims for many homes, according to local newspaper The Des Moines Register.

Projected increase in 2025: 19%

Average annual premium in 2024: $3,201

Projected annual premium for 2025: $3,825

2. California

The impacts of the Los Angeles fires this past January, estimated to cost at least $250 billion in damages, are already being felt. Insurance company State Farm has asked California officials for emergency permission to raise rates by an average of 22%.

"Insurance will cost more for customers in California going forward because the risk is greater in California," State Farm said in a letter.

Projected increase in 2025: 21%

Average annual premium in 2024: $2,424

Projected annual premium for 2025: $2,930

1. Louisiana

Hurricanes are the major risk factor for Louisiana and four cities in the state rank in the top 10 most expensive cities for homeowner's insurance, according to Insurify.

Marrero, Thibodaux, New Orleans, and Kenner are all expected to see average premiums totaling more than $17,000 by the end of the year.

Projected increase in 2025: 27%

Average annual premium in 2024: $10,964

Projected annual premium for 2025: $13,937

TikTok has been close to getting banned in the US for months because of a law that requires it to find a new owner outside of China. But employees say Chinese leadership is actually taking over more control of the US business — not less.

• Netflix will stop sharing quarterly subscription figures, starting with its first-quarter report Thursday.
• So, what will Wall Street be looking for?
• Analysts are interested in Netflix's ad progress, as well as its creator and sports strategies.

Netflix is set to report its first-quarter earnings on Thursday, but there's a big twist. It will no longer break out subscription figures, which had been a central barometer that many on Wall Street used to gauge the health of its business.

Why the change? Netflix has said it wants to shift the conversation to other metrics like user engagement and revenue, which it contends are more indicative of its success as it matures.

After a blockbuster fourth quarter — when it had its biggest-ever haul of new subscribers, helped by live sports events — several analysts expect Netflix to have a more modest first quarter based on a softer content lineup.

So, in the absence of subscriber numbers, what will Wall Street be looking at?

"Frankly, I think all of us are going into this with a blindfold, not knowing what they'll disclose," Bernstein analyst Laurent Yoon told Business Insider. "But at the end of the day, it's about the health of their financials and the margin expansion trajectory versus the last several quarters."

Here are some other topics Wall Street will be focused on.

Its ads rollout: Analysts will be listening for any details on Netflix's ad rollout, which it's relying on to show substantial growth in the years to come. Netflix has said it expected to double its ad revenue haul this year after it increased its ad commitments by 150% during last year's TV upfronts season, and analysts are holding them to it.

"The most important thing is to see if they are growing revenue because of advertising," Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter said. "I know they are, but would like some color on that. They should get lots of operating leverage from holding costs in check, so I expect big profits."

Yoon also said he'll be listening closely for intel on the health of the ad market.

Economic uncertainty: The big question hanging over Wall Street's otherwise bullish stance on Netflix is how the on-and-off tariffs could impact its burgeoning ad business.

Netflix significantly dropped its ad rates after Amazon flooded the market by introducing ads to Prime Video last year. The company could face pressure to lower prices even more to keep advertisers spending amid a trade war. Morgan Stanley trimmed its advertising forecast slightly for Netflix in an April 8 note, while remaining bullish on the company.

Analysts will also be looking for co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters to discuss how economic jitters might dampen new user interest.

Netflix has been able to raise prices in line with the popularity of its entertainment, but analysts wonder if the macroeconomic environment could hurt its ability to keep raising prices around the world.

Ad tech: Netflix has built its own in-house tech to facilitate ad buying and rolled out new sports programming that's popular with advertisers. Bringing adtech in-house can be complicated, though, and analysts will be looking for detail on Netflix's progress as it's weaned itself off Microsoft's Xandr to sell ads using partners such as The Trade Desk and Google's DV360. One question is whether Netflix has attracted any new advertisers this way, Raymond James analysts wrote in a recent note.

A related question is how much room is left to grow in the ad tier. Since launching in 2022, it has ramped up quickly by offering people a lower-priced option as it raised the price on ad-free versions and cracked down on password sharing. By November, the company said, it had reached 70 million global users. In January, it said that the ad plan made up over 55% of new sign-ups in countries where it's available.

Creator content and sports: Analysts want to hear more about Netflix's plans for sports programming, with its associated ad appeal. They're also interested in what execs have to say about plans to build out a creator-driven content strategy, as YouTube increasingly dominates TV viewership.

"This increases the opportunity and necessity around advertising monetization success at Netflix, as YouTube has already built a big subscription revenue business," Morgan Stanley analysts wrote. "It also increases our interest in Netflix pushing into creator-led content over time while also leveraging AI tools to drive monetization, personalization, and production efficiencies."

Password sharing: Inquiring minds want to know: When will Netflix's password sharing crackdown stop bearing fruit? "While the paid sharing benefit should slow in 2025, the company is still seeing incrementality from ad-supported users joining the service, and we see the potential for improving ad CPMs as the supply increase starts to slow," Raymond James analysts wrote.

North Korea is building what appears to be its biggest warship ever. New satellite images of the Nampo Shipyard show what analysts say is a guided-missile frigate.

• Subaru's new 2026 Outback will be a midsize SUV instead of a station wagon.
• The Outback was the best-selling wagon in the US last year.
• The Legacy sedan, on which the Outback was based, will be discontinued at the end of the year.

Subaru's much-beloved Outback wagon is no more.

Its famous name will live on as a midsize SUV, but the do-it-all off-road wagon that was synonymous with the Subaru brand in the US will cease to exist at the end of the year, the company said Wednesday.

The new seventh-generation Outback will compete directly against a host of recently refreshed midsize SUVs, including the Hyundai Santa Fe, Honda Passport, and Nissan Murano.

The Outback wagon was a brilliant Hail Mary for Subaru

Subaru introduced the Outback wagon in 1995 as an off-road-focused variant of its Legacy family sedan. There was also an Outback sedan until 2008.

Named for the unforgiving wilderness of Australia's interior, the Outback featured bulky body cladding, a more aggressive front bumper with rally-inspired driving lamps, and extra ground clearance. The automaker even brought in Aussie actor Paul Hogan to resurrect his lovable Crocodile Dundee persona for its ads to really go all in on the naming scheme.

It was a gamble to help the struggling Japanese brand, which suffered from half a decade of declining sales, remain relevant in the face of growing demand for SUVs without actually offering one.

The Outback was a modern embodiment of the classic family station wagon. It served as a bridge between the ubiquitous family sedan and the truck-based SUVs of its time.

It worked. Subaru reported that its US sales increased by 31% in two years following the introduction of the Outback and went on to sell more than 3 million over the past three decades. It faced some competition from Volvo and others, but they never quite hit the mainstream.

Despite all of its successes, the Outback could not escape the struggles faced by the Legacy sedan in the marketplace. Sales dwindled to just 19,600 units last year.

Subaru announced a few months ago that production of the Legacy will cease at the end of 2025, leaving the automaker without a sedan to serve as the foundation for the Outback.

There's actually a lot to like about the new Outback

The new Outback might look drastically different from its predecessor, but many core elements remain.

The Outback's engine options remain the 2.5-liter naturally aspirated and optional 2.4-liter turbocharged boxer four-cylinder motors. The revised 2.5-liter produces 180 horsepower and 178 lb-ft of torque, losing two ponies but gaining two lb-ft of torque compared to the outgoing model. The optional 260-horsepower turbo motor shared with the three-row Ascent SUV carries over unchanged.

Both motors will continue to be paired with the brand's Lineartronic continuously variable transmission.

There are also significant improvements.

The new Outback will still come standard with Subaru's outstanding Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive, which now locks its center differential quicker to reduce wheel spin, and an updated version of its EyeSight driver assistance tech, which includes a third front-facing camera and newly added radar sensors.

The Outback will benefit from extra passenger and cargo space thanks to its taller SUV body.

Inside, Subaru says the cabin will see a 10% reduction in wind noise due to improved aerodynamics. There will also be an all-new standard 12.3-inch digital instrument display in front of the driver and a new 12.1-inch infotainment touchscreen with a more powerful processor for greater responsiveness and customizability.

The new Outback is expected to hit dealerships later this year, while the Wildnerness edition will arrive in early 2026.

Subaru has not announced pricing for the new Outback, which will continue to be built in Indiana, but the current 2025 Outback starts at just under $29,000.

• Trump has said the US is collecting $2 billion in daily tariff revenue, but the data shows otherwise.
• US Customs and Border Protection says its collected $500 million in reciprocal tariffs since April 5.
• The Treasury Department has also reported numbers significantly lower than Trump's claims.

President Donald Trump has said repeatedly that the US is collecting massive amounts of money in tariffs, but the numbers aren't adding up.

"We're making a fortune with tariffs. $2 billion a day. Do you believe it? I was told $2 billion a day. This isn't $35 million. That's peanuts," Trump said in a speech to the National Republican Congressional Committee on April 8. He again cited the $2 billion per day number at an executive order signing the same day.

But data from US Customs and Border Protections shows that the actual tariff revenue is just a small fraction of what Trump said it is.

A spokesperson for CBP told Business Insider that the agency has so far collected $500 million from Trump's broad round of tariffs that went into place on April 5.

And in total, the agency said it has brought in $21 billion in tariff-related revenue through its enforcement of 15 presidential actions since Trump took office nearly three months ago. That works out to a little under $250 million a day over the 86 days since January 20.

It's not just the CBP's data that doesn't match up with Trump's numbers.

The Treasury Department's daily deposit totals for "Customs and Certain Excise Taxes" reported over the seven weekdays since April 5 averages out to $227 million per day. The department's month-to-date total as of Tuesday is around $2.3 billion and its year-to-date total for the fiscal year that started in October is about $55.5 billion.

Trump announced on April 2 the details of his long-promised tariffs policy, which included a baseline 10% tariff on nearly all countries and significantly higher tariffs on countries he deemed "the worst offenders" of trade deficits.

After a market meltdown and repeated calls for him to find an off-ramp to his sweeping policy, Trump announced last week that he would be pausing most tariffs, with the exception of China, for 90 days while his administration works out trade deals with dozens of countries.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

• Nvidia faces new export license rules for selling chips to China and other countries.
• The Trump administration's decision could impact Nvidia's revenue. Its stock sank Wednesday.
• Analysts predict this move by the Trump administration could bring better news in the near future.

Wall Street analysts had some choice words for the latest shake-up to Nvidia's regulatory landscape — "disruptive," "surprise," and "abrupt," just to name a few. Bernstein analysts went so far as to say "The Trump rug remains in full effect."

New rules regarding Nvidia's Chinese business surprised many company stakeholders this week. On Tuesday, after market close, the company announced that it had been informed that the Trump administration would require a new license for all accelerated chips shipping to China and a small group of other countries including Russia.

Nvidia said it would take a charge of up to $5.5 billion in inventory, purchase commitments, and reserves in the first quarter, which ends on April 27.

"Based on our discussions, this is effectively a ban," wrote UBS analysts in a note to investors Tuesday.

Even those analysts unwilling to read the disclosure as a full-on ban said any licensing process is likely to be lengthy, so revenue from Nvidia's H20 chip, the one the company designed specifically to meet Biden-era export restrictions, is expected to be minimal for the foreseeable future.

"This is not a ban; it's a licensing requirement, but again, the inventory write-down suggests that the company is not optimistic about being granted licenses," Morgan Stanley analysts wrote.

At the time of writing, the regulation has not appeared in the Federal Register or the Department of Commerce website, so all analyst reactions are related to Nvidia's disclosure. The company's stock was down more than 7% from Tuesday to Wednesday market close.

A spokesperson from Nvidia declined to comment.

China chips are big money for Nvidia

Nvidia priced the charges it will likely incur in the first quarter (ending April 27) at $5.5 billion. However, there was no warning about the company's first-quarter results, which will be announced on May 28. Though China sales will almost certainly be lower than expected, several analysts expect the company may still be able to meet revenue targets for the first quarter.

"Given the strong demand for H200 chips since DeepSeek's launch, we think NVDA could offset somewhat lost China H20 revenues," BNP Paribas analysts wrote. The same analysts estimated Nvidia's China data center business constitutes 10% to 12% of Nvidia's total revenue.

UBS suggested earnings per share would fall by 20 cents, and Morgan Stanley analysts expect 8% to 9% of data center revenues to disappear in the near term.

A decrease in ongoing sales to China was already expected.

Restrictions on what the company is allowed to sell to China are not new. Hence the company has attempted to reduce its reliance on that market over the last two years. Since the H20 is only relevant to the Chinese market, oversupply won't affect Nvidia's sales of any other chips, Morgan Stanley wrote.

Bigger decisions down the road

Since Nvidia's chips are the most expensive in existence, and buyers still keep lining up, tariffs are less of a concern than export restrictions, Morgan Stanley analysts said. Beyond the Chinese market, there are bigger potential impacts looming.

The Biden administration's AI diffusion rules are set to go into effect next month — and could have an even more material impact on Nvidia if enacted as is, since they restrict exports to many more countries such as Singapore, Mexico, Malaysia, UAE, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and India.

Since the White House and Nvidia have demonstrated some cooperation this week, with the Trump administration celebrating the company's announcements around expanded US manufacturing, analysts have converged around a theory about what comes next.

"We are optimistic that the company's demonstrably good relationship with the government, as Trump tweeted yesterday, will mitigate these concerns," Morgan Stanley analysts wrote.

• I've been a dietitian for over 20 years and follow the Mediterranean diet, but I don't love cooking.
• Precooked hard-boiled eggs, vegan pesto, and frozen pizza from Trader Joe's make my life easier.
• I also pick up Envy apples, salmon, and vegan creamy dill dressing to use in a number of meals.

When I tell people I've been a registered dietitian for more than 20 years, the assumption is that I love to eat nutritious foods and cook them myself.

I try to mostly eat balanced and nutrient-dense meals that follow the Mediterranean diet, but I don't enjoy spending time planning, cooking, and cleaning.

Thankfully, Trader Joe's has some gems that help me feed my entire family (including a picky child).

Here are 15 of my must-buys to help create healthy and easy meals without spending too much time in the kitchen.

Editor's Note: Product price and availability may vary.

Envy apples seem to stay fresh longer.

Envy apples can be added to salads, "girl dinners," or lunchboxes for an extra crunch, a boost of fiber, and balanced sweetness.

They're appealing because their insides tend to stay whiter longer, allowing for slicing or chopping without worrying too much about being stuck with discolored fruit.

I buy Norwegian farm-raised salmon for a kick of healthy fats and protein.

Salmon from Norway is known for its pure taste, beautiful color, and firm flesh. Much of that is due to its balanced fat content and firm texture.

It's also nutrient-dense, providing essentials such as omega 3; vitamins D, B12, and A; and selenium. Plus, it's incredibly easy to cook, especially if I remember to marinate it the night before.

Clif Bars are my go-to for a boost of energy.

Not loving to cook also means not loving to prep snacks. But because I live an active lifestyle, I know I need to fuel myself with nutrients such as sustainable carbs before I start a workout.

Clif Bars are crafted with a blend of plant-based protein, fat, and carbohydrates. They're my go-to pre-workout snack that requires zero effort in the kitchen.

The vegan kale, cashew, and basil pesto tastes good on almost everything.

I don't follow a vegan diet, but that doesn't stop me from purchasing Trader Joe's pesto to use on pasta dishes, sandwiches, or as a dip.

This pesto is also my secret ingredient in grilled-cheese sandwiches.

Trader Joe's fruits-and-greens smoothie blend makes morning smoothies a breeze.

The blend of frozen produce makes my smoothie-making so easy.

There's no chopping or prepping required when I'm in the mood for a breakfast smoothie — I simply toss some into a blender, add milk, and turn it on. 

Vegan creamy dill dressing elevates a slew of dishes.

If it were socially acceptable to drink Trader Joe's vegan creamy dill dressing with a straw, I'd do it. I love that it's free from fillers or emulsifiers, and the flavor is incredibly satisfying. 

The obvious way to enjoy this dressing is on top of salad. However, I also use it as a saucy addition to chicken or fish meals, an ingredient in grain-based dishes, and a condiment on sandwiches.

The organic Mediterranean-style salad kit helps us eat more veggies.

Making a salad isn't extremely labor-intensive.

However, opening a salad kit and dumping all of the contents into a bowl is so much easier than procuring and chopping ingredients and coming up with the perfect flavor combo. 

Trader Joe's Mediterranean salad kit is packed with veggies and a corresponding dressing packet. I love pairing it with protein and starch for a balanced and healthy meal.

Trader Joe's prepackaged veggie mixes come in handy.

Veggies are a must at dinnertime in my house. Having prewashed and cut veggie and produce kits, such as the Trader Joe's asparagus sauté, makes cooking dinner a breeze.

Simply open the package and sauté everything in some extra-virgin olive oil. 

The bulgur pilaf with butternut squash and feta cheese is an easy side dish.

Whole grains can be both nutritious and filling. For those who don't like spending too much time in the kitchen, cooking them can be a tedious task.

Precooked frozen grains, such as Trader Joe's bulgur pilaf, help save a ton of time because they just need to be heated through.

Plus, this one is made with butternut squash, and I like the boost of veggies in every bite.

Riced cauliflower stir-fry is a great base for a low-carb meal.

Trader Joe's precooked cauliflower rice is a perfect base for a low-carb meal. I just add a protein for a complete dish. 

For people who don't love cauliflower rice — but tolerate it because they want to include more veggies in their diet (such as my husband) — mixing this dish with some regular rice can offer the best of both worlds.

Hard-boiled eggs are a secret shortcut in my kitchen.

Precooked and shelled hard-boiled eggs make for an easy breakfast protein, salad topping, or sandwich addition.

Trader Joe's Tarte au Brie et aux Tomates is my solution for pizza night.

Yes, even dietitians want to have pizza night once in a while.

Trader Joe's frozen Tarte au Brie et aux Tomates satisfies the fiercest pizza craving. Plus, heating it up takes less time than we'd spend waiting for a pie to be delivered from the local pizzeria.

I enjoy one serving along with a side salad for a full meal. 

Click to keep reading Trader Joe's diaries like this one.

This story was originally published on September 25, 2023, and most recently updated on April 16, 2025.

• Three teens built a salt-powered fridge to help bring vaccines and medical supplies to rural areas.
• The invention uses salts that pull heat from their environments when they dissolve in water.
• They won the 2025 Earth Prize of $12,500 and plan to test 200 units in 120 hospitals.

Three teenagers designed a mini refrigerator that cools itself with salt and doesn't require an outlet. They're bringing it to hospitals to help transport medical supplies to rural areas without electricity.

Dhruv Chaudhary, Mithran Ladhania, and Mridul Jain live in Indore, India and all have parents working in medical fields. The boys decided to find a salty refrigeration technique after hearing how challenging it was to bring COVID-19 vaccines to rural areas without electricity.

Their invention, which they call Thermavault, won them the 2025 Earth Prize on Saturday. The award comes with $12,500, which they plan to use to build 200 of their refrigerators and send them to 120 hospitals for testing.

They hope their refrigerator can help transport vaccines, other medicines and supplies, and even transplant organs.

"We have been able to keep the vaccines inside the Thermavault for almost 10 to 12 hours," Dr. Pritesh Vyas, an orthopedic surgeon who tested the device at V One hospital in Indore, says in a video on the Thermavault website.

With some improvements like a built-in temperature monitor, he added, "it will be definitely helpful, definitely useful in the remote places, the villages."

Finding the right cooling salt

Some salts can have a cooling effect when they're dissolved in water.

That's because when those salts dissolve, the charged atoms, or ions, that make them up break apart. That separation requires energy, which the ions pull from the environment, thus cooling the water around them.

Chaudhary, Ladhania, and Jain searched the internet, first compiling a list of about 150 salts that might work, then narrowing it down to about 20 that seemed most efficient.

They then borrowed a lab at the Indian Institutes of Technology to test those 20, or so. To their disappointment, none of the salts cooled the water enough.

They were back to square one. Turns out, they didn't need the internet after all — their school teacher recommended trying two different salts: barium hydroxide octahydrate and ammonium chloride.

"While we did scour through the entire internet to find the best salt possible, we kind of just ended up back to our ninth-grade science textbook," Chaudhary said.

The trio says they found that ammonium chloride maintained temperatures of around 2 to 6 degrees Celsius (about 35 to 43 degrees Fahrenheit), which is ideal for many vaccines. Adding barium hydroxide octahydrate to the mix produced sub-zero Celsius temperatures, which is ideal for some other vaccines and sometimes for transplant organs.

Now they had two different refrigeration options.

About three months later, they'd built a prototype and were testing it in local hospitals.

Meet the Thermavault salt refrigerator

The fridge itself is an insulated plastic container with a copper wall lining the inside, where the vaccines or organs would sit. The cooling solution, made by dissolving the salts in water, is poured into a space between the plastic outer wall and the copper inner wall.

Cold boxes and coolant packs are already in widespread use for bringing vaccines to rural areas without electricity. Those carriers typically rely on simple ice packs.

One advantage of the ammonium chloride solution, the trio of teens says, is it's reusable in the field without electricity. You don't need a freezer to pull ice from. Rather, you can remove the salt water from the box, boil away the water, and collect the salt in its solid form, ready to dissolve in new water and produce its cooling effect all over again.

Jain said they're planning to use the prize money to pursue a Performance, Quality and Safety (PQS) certification through the World Health Organization so they can pitch it to Gavi — an international alliance that distributes vaccines.

The Earth Prize program also has a volunteer who can help them pursue a patent, according to a spokesperson.

The Earth Prize casts across the planet for teens who are working on environmental projects and awards one winner from each world region. Chaudhary, Ladhania, and Jain won the prize for Asia. A global winner will be chosen by public vote, which closes on April 22.

• OpenAI now requires a government ID for developer access to advanced AI models.
• Copyleaks research shows DeepSeek-R1 mimics OpenAI outputs, raising imitation concerns.
• AI model fingerprinting could enforce licensing and protect intellectual property rights.

In a bid to protect its crown jewels, OpenAI is now requiring government ID verification for developers who want access to its most advanced AI models.

While the move is officially about curbing misuse, a deeper concern is emerging: that OpenAI's own outputs are being harvested to train competing AI systems.

A new research paper from Copyleaks, a company that specializes in AI content detection, offers evidence of why OpenAI may be acting now. Using a system that identifies the stylistic "fingerprints" of major AI models, Copyleaks estimated that 74% of the outputs from rival Chinese model, DeepSeek-R1, were classified as OpenAI-written.

This doesn't just suggest overlap — it implies imitation.

Copyleaks's classifier was also tested on other models including Microsoft's phi-4 and Elon Musk's Grok-1. These models scored almost zero similarity to OpenAI — 99.3% and 100% "no-agreement" respectively — indicating independent training. Mistral's Mixtral model has some similarities, but DeepSeek's numbers stood out starkly.

The research underscores how even when models are prompted to write in different tones or formats, they still leave behind detectable stylistic signatures — like linguistic fingerprints. These fingerprints persist across tasks, topics, and prompts, and can now be traced back to their source with some accuracy. That has enormous implications for detecting unauthorized model use, enforcing licensing agreements, and protecting intellectual property.

OpenAI didn't respond to requests for comment. But the company discussed some reasons why it introduced the new verification process. "Unfortunately, a small minority of developers intentionally use the OpenAI APIs in violation of our usage policies," it wrote when announcing the change recently.

OpenAI says DeepSeek might have 'inappropriately distilled' its models

Earlier this year, just after DeepSeek wowed the AI community with reasoning models that were similar in performance to OpenAI's offerings, the US startup was even clearer: "We are aware of and reviewing indications that DeepSeek may have inappropriately distilled our models."

Distillation is a process where developers train new models using the outputs of other existing models. While such a technique is common in AI research, doing so without permission could violate OpenAI's terms of service.

DeepSeek's research paper about its new R1 model describes using distillation with open-source models, but it doesn't mention OpenAI. I asked DeepSeek about these allegations of mimicry earlier this year and didn't get a response.

Critics point out that OpenAI itself built its early models by scraping the web, including content from news publishers, authors, and creators — often without consent. So is it hypocritical for OpenAI to complain when others use its outputs in a similar way?

"It really comes down to consent and transparency," said Alon Yamin, CEO of Copyleaks.

Training on copyrighted human content without permission is one kind of issue. But using the outputs of proprietary AI systems to train competing models is another — it's more like reverse-engineering someone else's product, he explained.

Yamin argues that while both practices are ethically fraught, training on OpenAI outputs raises competitive risks, as it essentially transfers hard-earned innovations without the original developer's knowledge or compensation.

As AI companies race to build ever-more capable models, this debate over who owns what — and who can train on whom — is intensifying. Tools like Copyleaks' digital fingerprinting system offer a potential way to trace and verify authorship at the model level. For OpenAI and its rivals, that may be both a blessing and a warning.

Business Insider surveyed 150 Wall Street-bound college students about their career tracks, motivations, and aspirations, to understand what's fueling their decision to pursue some of the most demanding post-grad jobs.