• Amazon drivers can earn up to an extra $25,000 for the holidays if you thank them for a delivery.
• The company has brought back its "Thank my driver" feature after first launching it in 2022.
• Amazon covered a limited amount of $5 thank-yous at no cost to customers.

Amazon brought back its promotion that'll allow you to thank your delivery driver this holiday season.

If you're pleased with your ride, you can participate by typing "Thank my Driver" into the search bar of your Amazon app or asking Alexa to "thank my driver." You'll have to thank them within 14 days of your last delivery.

It's already got a lot of traction in 2024.

The "Thank My Driver" promotion began on December 4 this year, and Amazon tipped drivers $5 for the first 2 million thank-yous from US customers.

Amazon hit the 2-million limit within six days. However, there are still ways to help your delivery person earn extra cash.

Similar to 2023, the company is offering "additional awards" for drivers who receive praise for their deliveries, according to a press release from Amazon.

Here's what Amazon is offering: "$100 each for the 1,000 most-thanked drivers each day through the rest of December; $10,000 for the seven top-thanked drivers each week until the end of December."

Meanwhile, the seven most-thanked Amazon drivers from December 4 to December 31 will receive $25,000 plus an extra $25,000 to be donated to the charity of their choice.

"Treat your customers like family, and they will do the same to you," driver Andrew Shearouse, one of the 2023 recipients of the $25,000 tip, said.

Only US-based drivers are eligible, and they must be an Amazon Flex partner, drive for a delivery service partner, or be a hub delivery associate. A delivery driver can only be thanked once per delivery. Amazon package deliveries from the Post Office and companies like UPS aren't eligible for the extra rewards.

Those looking for other ways to thank their delivery people can check TikTok, where creators are posting about the care packages they leave on their doorstep — especially during the busy holiday delivery season.

During the holiday season, Amazon drivers' shifts can be as long as 10 hours — and a serious workout. There are some Amazon drivers who earn $18 an hour compared to full-time UPS drivers who earn an average total compensation package of $145,000 per year, according to UPS.

In September, Amazon announced that it will spend $2.1 billion to give its delivery drivers a pay raise. Although the exact rate depends on location, the boost may bump drivers' pay to a national average of $22 an hour.

• Apple launched new products in 2024, including the Vision Pro and AI-powered iPhone 16.
• It faced challenges in China with iPhone sales and antitrust issues in the US and Europe.
• Apple also introduced Apple Intelligence at WWDC, marking its entry into the GenAI market.

It's been an eventful year for Apple.

The tech giant launched a brand new hardware product, made its official entrance into generative artificial intelligence, and added a new iPhone generation — all in the span of 12 months.

It's also faced questions about CEO succession, challenges in one of its largest markets, and criticism about being behind in the AI arms race compared to some of the industry's fiercest players. Meantime, it's been under antitrust scrutiny from both US and EU authorities.

"2024 has been a year of notable highs and lows for Apple as it expanded into mixed reality and AI while navigating shifting consumer preferences and market dynamics," Jacob Bourne, tech analyst at Business Insider's sister company EMARKETER, said.

Apple got off to a rocky start this year. Its stock got two analyst downgrades in early January, with bankers citing worries about poor iPhone sales in China. Still, it celebrated wins in the services department of its business and partnered with OpenAI to bring ChatGPT to new iPhones. It explored new territory with the Apple Vision Pro and upgraded company staples, including iPads and AirPods.

Here's a look back at Apple's 2024.

There was trouble in China

Apple started 2024 with struggles in its important Greater China region — a trend that continued. Analysts called sales of the iPhone 15 in China "lackluster" as competitors like Huawei and Xiaomi stepped up their competition in the local smartphone market.

It showed throughout Apple's earnings in 2024. Although the company beat revenue estimates in its fiscal fourth-quarter, sales in China missed and dropped year over year.

Still, Apple CEO Tim Cook said there are "positive signs" in the region during the fiscal Q4 earnings call on October 31. Cook took frequent trips to China this year — at least three times, as of November — amid fears that Donald Trump's potential tariffs will affect the country that makes a majority of Apple's iPhones, AirPods, Macs, and iPads.

"China's just been a disappointment in '24, full stop," Gene Munster, managing partner at Deepwater Asset Management, said.

Apple launched the Vision Pro in February

Apple launched its first headset, the Vision Pro, in February. The mixed reality device retails for $3,500, making it one of Apple's priciest products to date.

The headset was met with mixed reactions. Its uses are limited, and it was unclear if the tech was for gamers or professionals. Months after it released, Cook told The Wall Street Journal that the Vision Pro is for "people who want to have tomorrow's technology today."

"At $3,500, it's not a mass-market product," Cook said. "Right now, it's an early-adopter product."

Apple is reportedly slowing down its Vision Pro production and is instead eyeing a more affordable version of the headset.

It was hit with a DOJ lawsuit in March

The US Department of Justice accused Apple of maintaining an illegal monopoly on the smartphone market in an antitrust lawsuit. The DOJ alleged the iPhone maker was involved in "delaying, degrading, or outright blocking" rival technology. Apple denied the allegations.

The suit said the company "repeatedly responded" to competitive threats by "making it harder or more expensive for its users and developers to leave than by making it more attractive for them to stay."

Apple asked a federal judge to dismiss the lawsuit in August, saying the government's argument includes speculation. US District Court Judge Julien Xavier Neals will have to decide whether or not the case will go to trial.

Neals' decision could come as early as January, Bloomberg reported.

Meanwhile, in Europe, Apple was fined about $2 billion related to its App Store and was subject to other competition concerns in the region.

Apple rolled out new iPads

As OpenAI, Google, and others announced updates and demonstrated the power of their new AI assistants, Apple introduced new iPads in May.

The latest iPad Pro models are the first to have OLED display; Cook and Co. unveiled them at Apple's "Let Loose" event. Cook said it was "the biggest day for iPad since its introduction."

Although the launch came as Apple watchers waited for a bigger AI announcement, iPads performed well for Apple in Q3.

Apple Intelligence was finally introduced at WWDC

The world was introduced to Apple Intelligence at the annual Worldwide Developers Conference in June.

Apple's official debut into the AI wars, which have escalated since OpenAI launched ChatGPT in 2022, was the "biggest story" of the year, William Kerwin, a technology analyst at Morningstar, said.

The hype around Apple Intelligence was instant. Dan Ives, global head of technology research at Wedbush Securities, said it would usher in a "golden upgrade cycle" for iPhones. Apple said it'd be a big part of the iOS 18 software update too, though Apple Intelligence is only available on iPhone 15 Pro models or later.

The company made some lofty promises at WWDC, and plans to deliver on them after the initial rollout in October and through 2025, although not all the features touted have launched yet. So far, US iPhone users have gotten access to "Writing Tools," AI-generated emojis, and ChatGPT through Siri. The company had been criticized for its late entry to the AI scene.

"They caught up by partnering and by adding AI to something only Apple can do," Munster said.

Meanwhile, the company is reportedly exploring ways it can bring Apple Intelligence to Chinese iPhone owners. Apple will have to partner with a local company if it wants to deliver AI to its most important international market.

The first AI iPhone launched

Apple announced its first iPhone "built from the ground up to deliver Apple Intelligence" at its "Glowtime" event in September.

The company faced slowing iPhone sales in the quarters leading up to the launch; the new AI-enabled iPhone 16 was expected by some to be the boost it needed. It released without Apple Intelligence, though that was made available through a later iOS update. It did come with a new camera control button and some software updates.

The phones start at $999 for the iPhone 16 Pro and $1,199 for the Pro Max model. Although a golden upgrade cycle hasn't happened yet, analysts still have high expectations for the next year of iPhones.

"We believe iPhone 16 has kicked off a multi-year supercycle for Apple as the AI Revolution comes to the consumer," Ives said in an analyst note.

It scrapped some projects along the way

Among the new launches in 2024, Apple also axed some ideas that were said to be in the pipeline.

Bloomberg reported in December that Apple would no longer work on building a subscription service for iPhones. The team working to make iPhone ownership possible through monthly fees and annual upgrades was reassigned to other projects, according to the article.

The tech giant also shut down its buy now, pay later service, Apple Pay Later, in June, instead partnering with Klarna to bring its offering to Apple Pay, The Verge reported.

In April, Apple filed documents outlining that it planned to cut more than 600 employees working on projects related to screens and its electric car. Before that, the company reportedly told 2,000 employees that it would wind down its multi-year efforts to make an electric car.

Still, canceling the Apple Car to reassign talent to its Apple Intelligence efforts was part of a "one-two combo" that helped the company catch up in AI, Munster said.

• Reid Hoffman discussed on "Diary of a CEO" the lack of work-life balance in startup culture.
• He said startups needed to be intense and competitive to achieve success.
• Sacrifices that come with startup work include dinner at the office and working on the weekends.

Reid Hoffman got real about the lack of work-life balance when you're trying to build a company.

The LinkedIn cofounder said during an episode of the "Diary of a CEO" podcast that startup employees shouldn't expect that if they want their business to take off.

"Work-life balance is not the startup game," Hoffman said.

Before it became a large platform for professionals, LinkedIn was a startup. Hoffman said early employees with families were allowed to spend time at home — with the expectation that they'd also be getting work done.

"The people who think it's toxic don't understand the toughness of the startup game, and they're just wrong," Hoffman said.

The nature of building budding companies is intense, he said, and that intensity is necessary at any startup if its workers want it to be a success. That often means working on Saturday mornings and sacrificing time for a personal life.

"We served dinner at the office at PayPal, and that was a deliberate thing," Hoffman, who was a part of the company during its early days, said.

He added that there were only two instances when startup employees could balance their lives and work more evenly: a supersmall startup that doesn't have much competition or a startup where employees have worked hard enough to outpace competitors by a long distance.

Recently, business leaders such as Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky have popularized the term "founder mode" to describe being a present and detail-oriented leader. Chesky previously said that founders go wrong by letting go of their product and delegating tasks instead of getting into the details of their company.

Startup culture may sound toxic, but it's a choice, Hoffman said. He compared it to training to become an elite athlete — swimming only two hours a day probably won't lead you to an Olympic team.

"Choose what your life's about," he said. "No one says you have to do that."

• Value meals at Chili's have boosted the restaurant chain's sales lately.
• Chili's chief marketing officer says the deals aren't leaving the menu anytime soon.
• Competitors like McDonald's and Wendy's also offer value meals amid inflation challenges.

Appetizers and value meals are bringing customers to their local Chili's Grill & Bar in droves — and they're not leaving the menu anytime soon.

Deals like the Triple Dipper and the 3 for Me combo, both of which allow customers to get sit-down meals for under $20, have helped Chili's parent company, Brinker International, beat quarterly expectations recently. Same-store sales grew nearly 15% at Chili's during the company's latest quarter, which ended in September.

Those affordable deals are standing parts of the restaurant's menu, not temporary offers, George Felix, chief marketing officer at Chili's, said.

While some restaurant chains are "scrambling to throw a low-priced offer out there and try and compete," the 3 for Me deal "is something we believe in," Felix told Business Insider.

3 for Me offers diners a starter, an entrée, and a drink for as little as $10.99. Chili's has offered the combo for about two years, and it added a smash burger as an entrée option in April — a move the company said took "aim at fast food" at the time.

Other restaurant chains have ramped up deals this year to attract customers, including many whose budgets have been stretched by inflation, back to their dining rooms. McDonald's, for instance, is planning to launch a new value menu in 2025 after extending a limited-time $5 meal this year. Burger King and Wendy's have also offered their own value meals.

Meanwhile, Red Lobster discontinued its $20 endless shrimp deal, which was meant to be a permanent menu item, and ultimately blamed the promotion for an $11 million loss in Q3 2023.

For Chili's, offering food options that range from less than $11 to over $30 allows diners to choose what sort of experience they have, Felix said.

"We believe value is not about the lowest price point," Felix said. "We believe value is what you get for what you pay."

The Triple Dipper is an appetizer sampler that's been having a viral moment on social media recently.

Many Chili's customers who come in for such deals return and order higher-priced items, such as a margarita, which can cost as much — or more — than some of Chili's value meals, Felix said.

"You bring them in with the Triple Dipper, but then they come back again and it's the Don Julio margarita — they treat themselves," Felix told BI. (That margarita cost $12 when ordered for pickup in New York on Tuesday.)

It shows that even diners looking for good deals will splurge, CEO Kevin Hochman said on Chili's October earnings call. "The price-quality equation is critical for this guest," Hochman said.

Are you a Chili's customer or worker with a story idea to share? Reach out to these reporters at [email protected] and [email protected]

• Temu tops 2024 Apple App Store downloads, surpassing TikTok and ChatGPT in popularity.
• The Chinese e-commerce app offers big discounts on a wide range of products.
• Americans appear to be exploring budget-friendly options through in-app deals.

The App Store favorites of 2024 include social media platforms and one popular AI assistant, but the most downloaded app of the year was Temu.

The Chinese-owned e-commerce app was downloaded more times this year than TikTok, Threads, or ChatGPT, according to Apple. It's become known for big discounts on various products, from tech gadgets to apparel.

Temu, owned by PDD Holdings, is particularly popular among Gen Z consumers in the US. Gen Zers between 18 and 24 downloaded it 42 million times during the first 10 months of 2024, according to the app analytics firm Appfigures, which pulled data from iOS and Android users.

The e-commerce giant launched in the US in 2022 and has had a meteoric rise since then. PDD Holdings' third-quarter sales grew 44% to $14.2 billion from the same period in 2023, according to exchange rates on September 30.

It has invested millions to market to American shoppers. Three Temu ads aired during the Super Bowl, where one 30-second clip during the highly-viewed game can cost $7 million.

With Donald Trump threatening high tariffs on Chinese goods, Temu's popularity could be at risk if it resorts to raising prices to offset a possible 60% levy on its products.

Apps from retailers Amazon, Shein, and McDonald's also made the Apple App Store's top 20 most-downloaded list this year — indicating that consumers were on the hunt for a deal across categories.

McDonald's has found success in using targeted in-app promotions to build loyalty among its customers.

The chain's head of US restaurants said earlier this year that loyalty customers visit 15% more often and spend nearly twice as much as non-loyalty customers, with loyalty platform sales expected to hit $45 billion by 2027.

Amazon, for its part, has sought to capitalize on Temu and Shein's low-price appeal with a new Haul section, which is also an app-only shopping experience.

As former Starbucks CEO Laxman Narasimhan was fond of saying, "The best offers are in the app."

• Americans should send packages early to meet holiday shipping deadlines and avoid delays.
• UPS hires thousands of seasonal workers to manage increased holiday shipping demand.
• Here are FedEx, USPS, and UPS' specific deadlines for Christmas delivery.

The holiday season is here, and while delivery drivers work hard to ensure parcels reach their destinations on time, gift-givers can help by sending them before the shipping deadlines.

With Christmas less than two weeks off, there are mere days left to mail gifts to your loved ones. Carriers prep for the busy holiday time by hiring seasonal employees to assist drivers or deliver packages themselves.

In 2023, UPS said it'd hire 100,000 seasonal workers for the busy holiday season; this year, they said they're hiring more than 125,000. Although many carriers' deadlines allow for last-minute shipments — 48 hours before December 25 — it's best practice to get your gift shipped off as early as possible.

Here's when three big mail carriers say you need to ship your gifts by.

FedEx

There were five fewer shopping days between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year, FedEx Executive Vice President and Chief Customer Officer Brie Carere noted in a press release. As such, FedEx says it is doing what it can to cut down on holiday shipping chaos.

FedEx is giving consumers until December 23 to ship their packages within the US, Mexico, Canada, or Puerto Rico for next-day delivery.

USPS

If using the United States Postal Service, consumers should mail their gifts by December 21 to arrive before Christmas in the US, but those shipping to Alaska and Hawaiian must have packages in by December 20.

December 16 is the deadline for shipping internationally to Asian and European countries.

It's unclear if shipping to Canada in time for Christmas is possible. USPS previously said mail service to Canada was suspended due to the ongoing postal worker strike, but Labor Minister Steven MacKinnon asked for Canada Post union employees to be ordered back to work on Friday, according to the Toronto Star.

UPS

Those shipping with UPS have until December 23 to mail their packages within the US or Canada using its Next Day Air service. Rates will depend on when you ship and where you're shipping to.

• Police said they found a "ghost gun" on the UnitedHealthcare CEO shooting suspect.
• Ghost guns are untraceable firearms that can be assembled at home, raising safety concerns.
• Elected officials are cracking down on the sale of such weapons to curb their accessibility.

Police say a weapon they found on UnitedHealthcare CEO shooting suspect Luigi Mangione could be a 3D printed ghost gun.

Ghost guns are firearms assembled at home using parts that were purchased individually. Sometimes, those components are made using a 3D printer. It's legal to buy the parts and use them to make your own gun, but laws prohibit the sale or transfer of ghost guns to another person.

Mangione "was in possession of a ghost gun that had the capability of firing a 9mm round," Joe Kenny, the New York Police Department's chief of detectives, told reporters on Monday.

He added that it "may have been made on a 3D printer"; there's no confirmation that it was the same gun used to kill Brian Thompson.

Mangione is being held without bail, and a lawyer for him has not yet been publicly identified.

Both authorities and gun safety groups have raised concerns about ghost guns, which are accessible online in kits. More than 25,000 privately made firearms were recovered by US law enforcement agencies in 2022, according to the DOJ.

In 2022, New York City officials filed a lawsuit against five ghost gun retailers over their sales to residents. Mayor Eric Adams eventually came to an agreement with at least four of the companies that would stop the sale of ghost guns in NYC.

It's unclear if the firearm Pennsylvania police say they recovered from Mangione is technically a ghost gun, said Kris Brown, the president of the gun safety group Brady.

They'll know for sure once investigators examine the weapon to see if any of its component parts have serial numbers. Only if there are no serial numbers is it a ghost gun, meaning entirely unregulated and untraceable, Brown told Business Insider.

Mangione may have printed the plastic portions of his gun, but he likely purchased the metal components, she said. Under current law, if you buy these components as part of a kit, you need a background check, Brown said.

These include the slide, the thread for the barrel, and the trigger mechanism; all are easily acquired through mail-order companies that advertise online.

Currently, some states require serial numbers for separately sold metal components, and some do not, Brown said.

Brady advocates for gun-control legislation, including the 2022 rule issued by the Biden-Harris administration regulating the sale of ghost gun kits."That bill has been very effective," she said. "Without it, it would have been lawful for a shooter to buy a kit and assemble an entire gun in minutes." In 2023, there was a drop in ghost gun recoveries by police nationwide, Mark Collins, Brady's director of federal policy, said.

Brady is pushing next for passage of the Ghost Guns and Untraceable Firearms Act, which would set a federal standard requiring background checks and the serialization of build-it-yourself gun parts.

• Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman predicts AGI is more than two years away.
• His timeline contrasts with Sam Altman, who suggests AGI is achievable "with current hardware."
• Definitions of AGI vary, with Suleyman emphasizing a broad human-level learning system.

Mustafa Suleyman, Microsoft's AI CEO, indicated that the timeline of AI advancement will be much longer than Sam Altman has predicted.

During an interview on The Verge's Decoder, Suleyman gave his take on when artificial general intelligence — AI with human-level proficiency at tasks — will become achievable. In October, Altman, cofounder and CEO of ChatGPT-maker OpenAI, said that AGI is "achievable with current hardware." He spoke during an ask-me-anything session on Reddit.

Altman didn't clarify exactly what he meant by "current hardware," though Decoder host Nilay Patel defined it as within one to two generations of tech.

Suleyman agreed with that timeline but with some hefty caveats. He told Patel that AGI would be more plausible in the next two to five generations.

"I don't want to say I think it's a high probability that it's two years away, but I think within the next five to seven years, since each generation takes 18 to 24 months now," Suleyman said.

He added that five generations of tech, like new versions of Nvidia's GB200 chips, could be up to a decade away.

"The uncertainty around this is so high that any categorical declarations just feel sort of ungrounded to me and over the top," Suley said.

Weeks after his declaration on Reddit, Altman spoke at The New York Times DealBook Summit in early December. He said AGI will come sooner than expected but "will matter much less."

Suleyman says people have different definitions of AGI. He defines it as "a general-purpose learning system that can perform well across all human-level training environments" — including physical labor.

Meantime, OpenAI's website defines AGI as "a highly autonomous system that outperforms humans at most economically valuable work."

"The challenge with AGI is that it's become so dramatized that we sort of end up not focusing on the specific capabilities of what the system can do," Suleyman said.

No matter how Altman defines AGI, OpenAI is reportedly working to remove a clause from its contract with Microsoft that's meant to prevent the misuse of AGI. Still, Suleyman says he's confident in Microsoft's multibillion-dollar investment in OpenAI.

"Naturally, in any partnership, there are little tensions here and there, but fundamentally, we will win together," he told Patel.

• My Gen Alpha sister sent me her Christmas list, and some of the items surprised me.
• Her wish list is a snapshot of what teens at her Texas high school are coveting this holiday season.
• Nike, Apple, and Lululemon remain popular among teens, according to her list and a recent survey.

Every holiday season, my family expects to receive an extensive Christmas list from my 14-year-old sister — in true youngest-sibling fashion.

Usually, I (a practically vintage 25-year-old, to her at least) expect to get a few hints about which trends appeal to the next generation of consumers. This year, I was surprised to find some old names among her gift ideas.

While her Christmas list includes unsurprising entries from brands that have recently done well with young people — think Stanley and Lululemon — she also asked for items I didn't expect to be on a high schooler's radar.

Piper Sandler got input from over 13,000 teens in the US for its semi-annual Generation Z survey published in October. While Nike was teens' favorite brand, Lululemon ranked third in apparel brands.

IPhones are still king in the smartphone market for teens, with 87% telling Piper Sandler they own one. It's not totally shocking that Apple, Nike, and Lululemon made it on her list, but her reasons and a few other entries seemed surprising.

From TikTok to the classroom, my sister — who my mom asked to remain unnamed — told me her inspiration comes from online and offline. She gave me an "important disclaimer" that items on her list are suggestions we adults can choose from — we aren't required to get them all, of course.

Some fun honorable mentions from her list: Robux (currency for the game Roblox), a Stanley tumbler, and luxury beauty products from Dior.

Here's what else my sister said she and her Gen Alpha friends are coveting this holiday season.

Victoria's Secret products are making a comeback with her friends.

Victoria's Secret thrived in the 2000s as a lingerie brand, along with popular teen brand Pink. It raked in billions and was a hit during my teenage years, but struggled to adjust to apparel trends.

Almost 10 years later, my sister and her classmates are eyeing Pink loungewear sets, perfume, and Victoria's Secret makeup bags not unlike the ones I begged for in high school. That's reflected by its shares, which have gained 85% in the last year.

It buys into young people's recent obsession with Y2K fashion trends. Victoria's Secret even brought back its famous fashion show this year.

It's certainly earned a new customer in my sister.

She wants an iPhone 16, but not for the reason you'd think.

When I asked my sister if she knew about Apple Intelligence, she had no clue what I was talking about. So it was surprising to see the iPhone 16 — a phone Apple has touted as being made for AI — on her wish list.

About 30% of teens surveyed by Piper Sandler said they planned to upgrade their iPhones in the coming months because of Apple Intelligence.

It's not the writing tools, Siri, or Genmojis that have her looking to trade in her iPhone 12 Pro Max. She said she's mostly interested in having the photo-editing features — which she wasn't aware were made possible by Apple Intelligence.

Apple is launching its AI software on a rolling basis with new features expected to be released on Monday as part of iOS 18.2 — just in time for Christmas.

Everyone at school is wearing Jordans and Dunks.

She said she sees "a whole bunch" of retro Jordan sneakers and Nike Dunks — two styles that Jim Duffy, a Nike analyst for Stifel Institutional, previously told BI that Nike has come to rely on too much for sales.

Although Nike has released signature shoes with several professional athletes over the years, my sister says she mostly sees Jordans and Dunks at her high school in Texas.

Nike has struggled recently — revenue was down 10% in the fiscal-first-quarter earnings reported in October. I wasn't sure if teens were giving the brand much attention these days, but it seems like young people remain interested in the sports giant.

• Officials reportedly found bullet casings with the words "deny," "defend," and "depose" on them at Brian Thompson's murder scene.
• The words are similar to the title of a 2010 book about the insurance industry, "Delay Deny Defend."
• Police have not yet shared a motive for the shooting.

The gunman who shot Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, reportedly left behind a cryptic message at the crime scene.

Update: A "person of interest," 26-year-old Luigi Mangione, was arrested in connection with Thompson's death in Altoona, Pennsylvania, on Monday.

Multiple news outlets said that the shell cases found at the scene were inscribed with the words "deny," "defend," and "depose." These words are similar to the title of Jay M. Feinman's 2010 book "Delay Deny Defend: Why Insurance Companies Don't Pay Claims and What You Can Do About It," causing speculation that the shooter may have been referring to it.

The phrase "delay, deny, defend" is also common among lawyers who say that insurance companies delay the claims process with paperwork, deny claims that should be covered, and then defend themselves in court if a claimant pursues legal action.

The suspect of Thompson's shooting was still on the run as of Friday afternoon. Police haven't shared a motive behind the killing, which took place Wednesday morning.

Feinman, an author and professor emeritus at Rutgers, wrote about the insurance industry's evolution and shared advice for consumers on handling disputed claims in his book "Delay Deny Defend."

An NYPD spokesperson declined to comment when asked if police were investigating any link between the book and the shooting. The author also declined a request for comment.

Here are some of the key takeaways from Feinman's book.

There's only one mention of UnitedHealthcare by name.

While Feinman mentioned several top insurance companies by name throughout the book — State Farm and Allstate in particular — UnitedHealthcare only appeared once.

In the introduction, Feinman described how, in 2009, UnitedHealth, Aetna, Guardian, and other companies agreed to stop using certain databases to calculate fees for out-of-network treatment after being accused by then-New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo of systematically lowballing patients.

Feinman says the insurance industry changed in the early 1990s.

In the intro to his book, Feinman wrote that insurance companies began to significantly reconsider the claims process in the 1990s when they "became a profit center rather than the place that kept the company's promise."

A major part of this shift occurred when insurance companies, including Allstate in 1992, hired consulting giant McKinsey & Company, he said.

McKinsey developed new strategies for handling claims and saw it as a "zero-sum game," Feinman writes. The insurance companies started using computer systems to estimate the amounts to be paid and deterring claimants from hiring lawyers, he said.

McKinsey declined Business Insider's request for comment.

Insurance companies aren't friends — but they're also not the enemy, he wrote.

Feinman said in the book that insurance companies aren't our friends — but they're not our enemies, either.

That's because companies must pay claims "pretty well most of the time" to stay in business.

"The point of view in this book is pro-consumer but it is not anti-insurance," Feinman writes. "Insurance is essential to our economic security." However, to serve as "the great protector of the standard of living of the American middle class, prompt and fair claim handling has to be the rule," he wrote.

'Understand your coverage. Understand the claims system. Get help if you need it.'

In Chapter 11, Feinman outlined what consumers can do to protect themselves while also seeking ways to cooperate with insurance companies.

He wrote that the responsibility to fix the system shouldn't fall to consumers alone. Legislators, regulators, and the courts must also step in, he wrote.

Feinman's advice boiled down to three key tenets: consumers should research the reputation of their agencies and policies carefully, understand the claims system, and seek legal recourse when necessary.

• OpenAI's marketing campaign "Shipmas" ended Friday.
• The campaign included 12 days of product releases, demos, and new features.
• On the final day, OpenAI previewed o3, its most advanced model yet.

OpenAI released new features and products ahead of the holidays, a campaign it called "Shipmas."

The company saved the most exciting news for the final day: a preview of o3, its most advanced model yet, which the company said could be available to the public as soon as the end of January.

Here's everything OpenAI has released so far for "Shipmas."

'Shipmas' Day 1

OpenAI started the promotion with a bang by releasing the full version of its latest reasoning model, o1.

OpenAI previewed o1 in September, describing it as a series of artificial-intelligence models "designed to spend more time thinking before they respond." Until now, only a limited version of these models was available to ChatGPT Plus and Team users.

Now, these users have access to the full capabilities of o1 models, which Altman said are faster, smarter, and easier to use than the preview. They're also multimodal, which means they can process images and texts jointly.

Max Schwarzer, a researcher at OpenAI, said the full version of o1 was updated based on user feedback from the preview version and said it's now more intelligent and accurate.

"We ran a pretty detailed suite of human evaluations for this model, and what we found was that it made major mistakes about 34% less often than o1 preview while thinking fully about 50% faster," he said.

Along with o1, OpenAI unveiled a new tier of ChatGPT called ChatGPT Pro. It's priced at $200 a month and includes unlimited access to the latest version of o1.

'Shipmas' Day 2

On Friday, OpenAI previewed an advancement that allows users to fine-tune o1 on their own datasets. Users can now leverage OpenAI's reinforcement-learning algorithms — which mimic the human trial-and-error learning process — to customize their own models.

The technology will be available to the public next year, allowing anyone from machine-learning engineers to genetic researchers to create domain-specific AI models. OpenAI has already partnered with the Reuters news agency to develop a legal assistant based on o1-mini. It has also partnered with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory to develop computational methods for assessing rare genetic diseases.

'Shipmas' Day 3

OpenAI announced on December 9 that its AI video generator Sora was launching to the public.

Sora can generate up to 20-second videos from written instructions. The tool can also complete a scene and extend existing videos by filling in missing frames.

"We want our AIs to be able to understand video and generate video and I think it really will deeply change the way that we use computers," the CEO added.

Rohan Sahai, Sora's product lead, said a product team of about five or six engineers built the product in months.

The company showed off the new product and its various features, including the Explore page, which is a feed of videos shared by the community. It also showed various style presets available like pastel symmetry, film noir, and balloon world.

The team also gave a demo of Sora's Storyboard feature, which lets users organize and edit sequences on a timeline.

Sora is rolling out to the public in the US and many countries around the world. However, Altman said it will be "a while" before the tool rolls out in the UK and most of Europe.

ChatGPT Plus subscribers who pay $20 monthly can get up to 50 generations per month of AI videos that are 5 seconds long with a resolution of 720p. ChatGPT Pro users who pay $200 a month get unlimited generations in the slow queue mode and 500 faster generations, Altman said in the demo. Pro users can generate up to 20-second long videos that are 1080p resolution, without watermarks.

'Shipmas' Day 4

OpenAI announced that it's bringing its collaborative canvas tool to all ChatGPT web users — with some updates.

The company demonstrated the tech in a holiday-themed walkthrough of some of its new capabilities. Canvas is an interface that turns ChatGPT into a writing or coding assistant on a project. OpenAI first launched it to ChatGPT Plus and Team users in October.

Starting Tuesday, canvas will be available to free web users who'll be able to select the tool from a drop-down of options on ChatGPT. The chatbot can load large bodies of text into the separate canvas window that appears next to the ongoing conversation thread.

Canvas can get even more intuitive in its responses with new updates, OpenAI said. To demonstrate, they uploaded an essay about Santa Claus's sleigh and asked ChatGPT to give its editing notes from the perspective of a physics professor.

For writers, it can craft entire bodies of text, make changes based on requests, and add emojis. Coders can run code in canvas to double-check that it's working properly.

'Shipmas' Day 5

OpenAI talked about its integration with Apple for the iPhone, iPad, and macOS.

As part of the iOS 18.2 software update, Apple users can now access ChatGPT directly from Apple's operating systems without an OpenAI account. This new integration allows users to consult ChatGPT through Siri, especially for more complex questions.

They can also use ChatGPT to generate text through Apple's generative AI features, collectively called Apple Intelligence. The first of these features was introduced in October and included tools for proofreading and rewriting text, summarizing messages, and photo-editing features. They can also access ChatGPT through the camera control feature on the iPhone 16 to learn more about objects within the camera's view.

'Shipmas' Day 6

OpenAI launched its highly anticipated video and screensharing capabilities in ChatGPT's Advanced Voice Mode.

The company originally teased the public with a glimpse of the chatbot's ability to "reason across" vision along with text and audio during OpenAI's Spring Update in May. However, Advanced Voice Mode didn't become available for users until September, and the video capabilities didn't start rolling out until December 12.

In the livestream demonstration on Thursday, ChatGPT helped guide an OpenAI employee through making pour-over coffee. The chatbot gave him feedback on his technique and answered questions about the process. During the Spring Update, OpenAI employees showed off the chatbot's ability to act as a math tutor and interpret emotions based on facial expressions.

Users can access the live video by selecting the Advanced Voice Mode icon in the ChatGPT app and then choosing the video button on the bottom-left of the screen. Users can share their screen with ChatGPT by hitting the drop-down menu and selecting "Share Screen."

'Shipmas' Day 7

For "Shipmas" Day 7, OpenAI introduced Projects, a new way for users to "organize and customize" conversations within ChatGPT. The tool allows users to upload files and notes, store chats, and create custom instructions.

"This has been something we've been hearing from you for a while that you really want to see inside ChatGPT," OpenAI chief product officer Kevin Weil said. "So we can't wait to see what you do with it."

During the live stream demonstration, OpenAI employees showed a number of ways to use the feature, including organizing work presentations, home maintenance tasks, and programming.

The tool started to roll out to Plus, Pro, and Teams users on Friday. The company said in the demonstration it will roll out the tool to free users "as soon as possible."

'Shipmas' Day 8

OpenAI is rolling out ChatGPT search to all logged-in free users on ChatGPT, the company announced during its "Shipmas" livestream on Monday. The company previously launched the feature on October 31 to Plus and Team users, as well as waitlist users.

The new feature is also integrated into Advanced Voice Mode now. On the livestream, OpenAI employees showed off its ability to provide quick search results, search while users talk to ChatGPT, and act as a default search engine.

"What's really unique about ChatGPT search is the conversational nature," OpenAI's search product lead, Adam Fry, said.

The company also said it made Search faster and "better on mobile," including the addition of some new maps experiences. ChatGPT search feature is rolling out globally to all users with an account.

'Shipmas' Day 9

OpenAI launched tools geared toward developers on Tuesday.

It launched o1 out of preview in the API. OpenAI's o1 is its series of AI models designed to reason through complex tasks and solve more challenging problems. Developers have experimented with o1 preview since September to build agentic applications, customer support, and financial analysis, OpenAI employee Michelle Pokrass said.

The company also added some "core features" to o1 that it said developers had been asking for on the API, including function calling, structured outputs, vision inputs, and developer messages.

OpenAI also announced new SDKs and a new flow for getting an API key.

'Shipmas' Day 10

OpenAI is bringing ChatGPT to your phone through phone calls and WhatsApp messages.

"ChatGPT is great but if you don't have a consistent data connection, you might not have the best connection," OpenAI engineer Amadou Crookes said in the livestream. "And so if you have a phone line you can jump right into that experience."

You can add ChatGPT to your contacts or dial the number at 1-800-ChatGPT or 1-800-242-8478. The calling feature is only available for those living in the US. Those outside the US can message ChatGPT on WhatsApp.

OpenAI employees in the live stream demonstrated the calling feature on a range of devices including an iPhone, flip phone, and even a rotary phone. OpenAI product lead Kevin Weil said the feature came out of a hack-week project and was built just a few weeks ago.

'Shipmas' Day 11

OpenAI focused on features for its desktop apps during Thursday's "Shipmas" reveal. Users can now see and automate their work on MacOS desktops with ChatGPT.

Additionally, users can click the "Works With Apps" button, which allows them to work with more coding apps, such as Textmate, BB Edit, PyCharm, and others. The desktop app will support Notion, Quip, and Apple Notes.

Also, the desktop app will have Advanced Voice Mode support.

The update became available for the MacOS desktop on Thursday. OpenAI CPO Kevin Weil said the Windows version is "coming soon."

'Shipmas' Day 12

OpenAI finished its "12 days of Shipmas" campaign by introducing o3, the successor to the o1 model. The company first launched the o1 model in September and advertised its "enhanced reasoning capabilities."

The rollout includes the o3 and 03-mini models. Although "o2" should be the next model number, an OpenAI spokesperson told Bloomberg that it didn't use that name "out of respect' for the British telecommunications company.

Greg Kamradt of Arc Prize, which measures progress toward artificial general intelligence, appeared during the livestream and said o3 did notably better than o1 during tests by ARC-AGI.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said during the livestream that the models are available for public safety testing. He said OpenAI plans to launch the o3 mini model "around the end of January" and the o3 model "shortly after that."

In a post on X on Friday, Weil said the o3 model is a "massive step up from o1 on every one of our hardest benchmarks."

• Apple's Tim Cook said his departure from Apple is coming up more often in conversations.
• Cook, who has been CEO since 2011, said, "It's a privilege of a lifetime to be here."
• He's previously said he'd like the next CEO to come from within Apple.

Apple CEO Tim Cook says his retirement is becoming a hotter topic as he gets older.

Cook, 64, has had the top job at Apple since 2011. For much of his tenure, he's been asked about his predecessor, the late Apple cofounder Steve Jobs, but there's been a shift to questions about who will succeed him as CEO.

During a Q&A session with Wired editor at large Steven Levy, Cook said he's being asked how much longer he'll be CEO "now more than I used to."

"It's a privilege of a lifetime to be here. And I'll do it until the voice in my head says, 'It's time,' and then I'll go and focus on what the next chapter looks like," he said.

Cook has worked at Apple since 1998. He's seen it through periods of uncertainty as well as big moments like the release of the iPhone and hitting a $3 trillion market cap. He told Levy his "life has been wrapped up in this company."

"It's the overwhelming majority of my adult life. And so I love it," Cook said.

Although Apple hasn't made any official declarations about Cook's retirement, several top Apple execs have been mentioned as possible successors.

John Ternus, senior vice president of hardware engineering at Apple, and chief operating officer Jeff Williams are potential frontrunners to take the helm, Bloomberg reported.

Company insiders reportedly told Bloomberg that Cook's retirement is at least three years off. When it does come, Cook previously said that he wants it to be an internal hire.

"I really want the person to come from within Apple," Cook told pop star Dua Lipa on an episode of her podcast "At Your Service" in November 2023.

As for what comes after his retirement, Cook told Levy it's ultimately "up to others to determine" Apple's legacy. He has his vision for what that will be.

"Apple will be remembered for delivering great products that changed the world, that really improved people's lives," he said.

• AWS said developers spend most of their time on non-coding tasks, impacting productivity.
• It introduced Amazon Q Developer — an AI agent to aid developers — at the re:Invent keynote on Tuesday.
• But junior engineers are concerned AI tools like Amazon Q could reduce coder demand.

Artificial intelligence could give coders more time to code. Programmers aren't sure whether that's a good thing.

In a post Tuesday, Amazon Web Services said developers report spending an average of "just one hour per day" on actual coding.

The rest is eaten up by "tedious, undifferentiated tasks," AWS said. That includes learning codebases, drafting documents, testing, overseeing releases, fixing problems, or hunting down vulnerabilities, AWS said. The company didn't say where it got the data.

AWS CEO Matt Garman spoke to the developers in the audience at the company's re:Invent keynote on Tuesday, introducing a tool he said would give them more time to focus on creativity. Amazon Q Developer is an AI agent that AWS is rolling out in two tiers with free and paid options.

The announcement is another indication that technology like AI could upend the way many coders do their jobs. Some have argued that AI will remove some of the tedium from tasks like creating documentation and generating basic code. That could be great for coders' productivity — and perhaps for their enjoyment of the jobs — yet it could also mean employers need fewer of them.

GitLab has reported that developers spend more than 75% of their time on tasks other than coding. Several veteran software engineers previously told BI that the time they spend coding is perhaps closer to half.

Software engineers on job forums like Blind are discussing how much they should rely on an AI assistant for their work. Some have asked for recommendations for the best agent, and receive mixed replies of "your own brain" and genuine reviews. Others worry that AI has already become a crutch in their coding process.

AWS isn't the only tech giant offering AI to coders. Google CEO Sundar Pichai recently said that AI generates more than a quarter of the new code created at the search company. He said the technology was "boosting productivity and efficiency." Workers review the code that AI produces, Pichai said.

"This helps our engineers do more and move faster," he said. "I'm energized by our progress and the opportunities ahead, and we continue to be laser-focused on building great products."

The rise of AI could be worrisome for newbie programmers who need to develop their skills, according to Jesal Gadhia, head of engineering at Thoughtful AI, which creates AI tools for healthcare providers.

"Junior engineers," Gadhia previously told BI, "have a little bit of a target behind their back."

He said that when an AI tool touted as the "first AI software engineer" came out this year, he received texts from nervous friends.

"There was a lot of panic. I had a lot of friends of mine who messaged me and said, 'Hey, am I going to lose my job?'" Gadhia said.

• AWS announced plans for an AI supercomputer, UltraCluster, with Trainium 2 chips at re:Invent.
• AWS may be able to reduce reliance on Nvidia by developing its own AI infrastructure.
• Apple said it's using Trainium 2 chips for Apple Intelligence.

Matt Garman, the CEO of Amazon Web Services, made several significant new AWS announcements at the re:Invent conference on Tuesday.

His two-and-a-half hour keynote delved into AWS's current software and hardware offerings and updates, with words from clients including Apple and JPMorgan. Graphics processing units (GPUs), supercomputers, and a surprise Apple cameo stuck out among the slew of information.

AWS, the cloud computing arm of Amazon, has been developing its own semiconductors to train AI. On Tuesday, Garman said it's creating UltraServers — containing 64 of its Trainium 2 chips — so companies can scale up their GenAI workloads.

Moreover, it's also building an AI supercomputer, an UltraCluster made up of UltraServers, in partnership with AI startup Anthropic. Named Project Rainier, it will be "the world's largest AI compute cluster reported to date available for Anthropic to build and deploy its future models on" when completed, according to an Amazon blog post. Amazon has invested $8 billion in Anthropic.

Such strides could push AWS further into competition with other tech firms in the ongoing AI arms race, including AI chip giant Nvidia.

Here are four takeaways from Garman's full keynote on Tuesday.

AWS' Trainium chips could compete with Nvidia.

Nvidia currently dominates the AI chip market with its sought-after and pricey GPUs, but Garman backed AWS's homegrown silicon during his keynote on Tuesday. His company's goal is to reduce the cost of AI, he said.

"Today, there's really only one choice on the GPU side, and it's just Nvidia. We think that customers would appreciate having multiple choices," Garman told the Wall Street Journal.

AI is growing rapidly, and the demand for chips that make the technology possible is poised to grow alongside it. Major tech companies, like Google and Microsoft, are venturing into chip creation as well to find an alternative to Nvidia.

However, Garman told The Journal the doesn't expect Trainium to dethrone Nvidia "for a long time."

"But, hopefully, Trainium can carve out a good niche where I actually think it's going to be a great option for many workloads — not all workloads," he said.

AWS also introduced Trainium3, its next-gen chip.

AWS' new supercomputer could go toe to toe with Elon Musk's xAI.

According to The Journal, the chip cluster known as Project Rainier is expected to be available in 2025. Once it is ready, Anthropic plans to use it to train AI models.

With "hundreds of thousands" of Trainium chips, it would challenge Elon Musk's xAI's Colossus — a supercomputer with 100,000 of Nvidia's Hopper chips.

Apple is considering Trainium 2 for Apple Intelligence training.

Garman said that Apple is one of its customers using AWS chips, like Amazon Graviton and Inferentia, for services including Siri.

Benoit Dupin, senior director of AI and machine learning at Apple, then took to the stage at the Las Vegas conference. He said the company worked with AWS for "virtually all phases" of its AI and machine learning life cycle.

"One of the unique elements of Apple business is the scale at which we operate and the speed with which we innovate," Dupin said.

He added, "AWS has been able to keep the pace, and we've been customers for more than a decade."

Now, Dupin said Apple is in the early stages of testing Trainium 2 chips to potentially help train Apple Intelligence.

The company introduced a new generation of foundational models, Amazon Nova.

Amazon announced some new kids on the GenAI block.

AWS customers will be able to use Amazon Nova-powered GenAI applications "to understand videos, charts, and documents, or generate videos and other multimedia content," Amazon said. There are a range of models available at different costs, it said.

"Amazon Nova Micro, Amazon Nova Lite, and Amazon Nova Pro are at least 75% less expensive than the best-performing models in their respective intelligence classes in Amazon Bedrock," Amazon said.

• Elon Musk helped found OpenAI, but he has frequently criticized it in recent years.
• Musk filed a lawsuit against OpenAI in August and just amended it to include Microsoft. 
• Here's a history of Musk and Altman's working relationship.

Elon Musk and Sam Altman lead rival AI firms and now take public jabs at each other — but it wasn't always like this.

Years ago, the two cofounded OpenAI, which Altman now leads. Musk departed OpenAI, which created ChatGPT, in 2018, and recently announced his own AI venture, xAI.

There is enough bad blood that Musk sued OpenAI and Altman, accusing them in the suit of betraying the firm's founding principles, before dropping the lawsuit. The billionaire then filed a new one a few months later, claiming he was "deceived" into confounding the company. In November, he amended it to include Microsoft as a defendant, and his lawyers accused the two companies of engaging in monopolistic behavior. Microsoft is an investor in OpenAI.

Two weeks later, Musk's lawyers filed a motion requesting a judge to bring an injunction against OpenAI that would block it from dropping its nonprofit status. In the filing, Musk accused OpenAI and Microsoft of exploiting his donations to create a for-profit monopoly.

Here's a look at Musk and Altman's complicated relationship over the years:

Musk and Altman cofounded OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, in 2015, alongside other Silicon Valley figures, including Peter Thiel, LinkedIn cofounder Reid Hoffman, and Y Combinator cofounder Jessica Livingston.

The group aimed to create a nonprofit focused on developing artificial intelligence "in the way that is most likely to benefit humanity as a whole," according to a statement on OpenAI's website from December 11, 2015.

At the time, Musk said that AI was the "biggest existential threat" to humanity.

"It's hard to fathom how much human-level AI could benefit society, and it's equally hard to imagine how much it could damage society if built or used incorrectly," a statement announcing the founding of OpenAI reads.

Musk stepped down from OpenAI's board of directors in 2018.

"As Tesla continues to become more focused on AI, this will eliminate a potential future conflict for Elon," OpenAI said in a blog post at the time, adding that Musk would continue to provide guidance and donations.

With his departure, Musk also backed out of a commitment to provide additional funding to OpenAI, a person involved in the matter told The New Yorker.

"It was very tough," Altman told the magazine of the situation. "I had to reorient a lot of my life and time to make sure we had enough funding."

It was reported that Sam Altman and other OpenAI cofounders had rejected Musk's proposal to run the company in 2018.

Semafor reported in 2023 that Musk wanted to run the company on his own in an attempt to beat Google. But when his offer to run the company was rejected, he pulled his funding and left OpenAI's board, the news outlet said.

In 2019, Musk shared some insight on his decision to leave, saying one of the reasons was that he "didn't agree" with where OpenAI was headed.

"I had to focus on solving a painfully large number of engineering & manufacturing problems at Tesla (especially) & SpaceX," he tweeted. "Also, Tesla was competing for some of same people as OpenAI & I didn't agree with some of what OpenAI team wanted to do. Add that all up & it was just better to part ways on good terms."

Musk has taken shots at OpenAI on several occasions since leaving.

Two years after his departure, Musk said, "OpenAI should be more open" in response to an MIT Technology Review article reporting that there was a culture of secrecy there, despite OpenAI frequently proclaiming a commitment to transparency.

Musk also added that his "confidence in Dario for safety is not high," referring to Dario Amodei, who led OpenAI's strategy at the time.

In December 2022, days after OpenAI released ChatGPT, Musk said the company had prior access to the database of Twitter — now owned by Musk — to train the AI chatbot and that he was putting that on hold.

"Need to understand more about governance structure & revenue plans going forward. OpenAI was started as open-source & non-profit. Neither are still true," he said.

Musk was reportedly furious about ChatGPT's success, Semafor reported in 2023.

In November 2022, the chatbot took off and garnered millions of users for its ability to do everything from write essays to craft basic code. 

In February 2023, Musk doubled down, saying OpenAI as it exists today is "not what I intended at all."

"OpenAI was created as an open source (which is why I named it "Open" AI), non-profit company to serve as a counterweight to Google, but now it has become a closed source, maximum-profit company effectively controlled by Microsoft. Not what I intended at all," he said in a tweet.

Musk repeated this assertion a month later.

"I'm still confused as to how a non-profit to which I donated ~$100M somehow became a $30B market cap for-profit. If this is legal, why doesn't everyone do it?" he tweeted.

Musk was one of more than 1,000 people who signed an open letter calling for a six-month pause on training advanced AI systems.

The March 2023 letter, which also received signatures from several AI experts, cited concerns about AI's potential risks to humanity.

"Powerful AI systems should be developed only once we are confident that their effects will be positive and their risks will be manageable," the letter says.

But while he was publicly calling for the pause, Musk was quietly building his own AI competitor, xAI, The New Yorker reported in 2023. He launched the company in March 2023.

Altman has addressed some of Musk's gripes about OpenAI.

"To say a positive thing about Elon, I think he really does care about a good future with AGI," Altman said last year on an episode of the "On With Kara Swisher" podcast, referring to artificial general intelligence.

"I mean, he's a jerk, whatever else you want to say about him — he has a style that is not a style that I'd want to have for myself," Altman told Swisher. "But I think he does really care, and he is feeling very stressed about what the future's going to look like for humanity." 

In response to Musk's claim that OpenAI has turned into "a closed source, maximum-profit company effectively controlled by Microsoft," Altman said on the podcast, "Most of that is not true, and I think Elon knows that."

Altman has also referred to Musk as one of his heroes.

In a March 2023 episode of Lex Fridman's podcast, Altman also said, "Elon is obviously attacking us some on Twitter right now on a few different vectors."

Nonetheless, he called Musk one of his heroes, adding, "I believe he is, understandably so, really stressed about AGI safety."

In a May 2023 talk at University College London, Altman was asked what he's learned from various mentors, Fortune reported. He answered by speaking about Musk.

"Certainly learning from Elon about what is just, like, possible to do and that you don't need to accept that, like, hard R&D and hard technology is not something you ignore, that's been super valuable," he said.

Musk has since briefly unfollowed Altman on Twitter before following him again; separately, Altman later poked fun at Musk's claim to be a "free speech absolutist."

Twitter took aim at posts linking to rival Substack in 2023, forbidding users from retweeting or replying to tweets containing such links, before reversing course. In response to a tweet about the situation, Altman tweeted, "Free speech absolutism on STEROIDS."

Musk has called himself a "free speech absolutist" before and said it's one of the reasons he bought Twitter, now X.

Altman joked that he'd watch Musk and Mark Zuckerberg's rumored cage fight.

"I would go watch if he and Zuck actually did that," he said at the Bloomberg Technology Summit in June 2023, though he said he doesn't think he would ever challenge Musk in a physical fight.

Altman also repeated several of his previous remarks about Musk's position on AI.

"He really cares about AI safety a lot," Altman said at Bloomberg's summit. "We have differences of opinion on some parts, but we both care about that and he wants to make sure we, the world, have the maximal chance at a good outcome."

Separately, Altman told The New Yorker in August 2023 that Musk has a my-way-or-the highway approach to issues more broadly.

"Elon desperately wants the world to be saved. But only if he can be the one to save it," Altman said.

 

Musk first sued Altman and OpenAI in March 2024.

He first sued OpenAI, Altman, and cofounder Greg Brockman in March, alleging the company's direction in recent years has violated its founding principles.

His lawyers alleged OpenAI "has been transformed into a closed-source de facto subsidiary of the largest technology company in the world" and is "refining an AGI to maximize profits for Microsoft, rather than for the benefit of humanity."

In response, OpenAI called the lawsuit "incoherent" and "contradictory," suggesting Musk was jealous of the company's success without him.

A few months later, Musk withdrew the lawsuit, a day before a judge was set to consider the future of the case in a hearing.

Musk sued OpenAI again in August 2024, this time claiming he was "deceived" into cofounding the company.

Musk filed a new lawsuit in August against Altman and cofounder Greg Brockman, who recently left the company for three months and returned a couple of days ago.

The lawsuit alleges that OpenAI executives played on Musk's concerns about the existential risks of AI and "assiduously manipulated" him into cofounding the company as a nonprofit. The intent of the company was to focus on building AI safely in an open approach to benefit humanity, the lawsuit says.

The company has since decided to take a for-profit approach.

OpenAI responded to the lawsuit by stating that "Elon's prior emails continue to speak for themselves."

The emails, which were published by OpenAI in March, show correspondence between Musk and OpenAI executives that indicated he supported a pivot to a for-profit model and was open to merging the AI startup with Tesla. 

Musk expanded his beef with OpenAI to include Microsoft, accusing the two of constituting a monopoly

Musk amended the lawsuit against OpenAI in November to include Microsoft as a defendant. He also named Reid Hoffman, who serves as a Microsoft board member and former OpenAI board member, as a defendant.

The billionaire called OpenAI's partnership with Microsoft a "de facto merger" and accused the two of anti-competitive practices, such as engaging in "lavish compensation." Musk's lawyers said the two companies "possess a nearly 70% share of the generative AI market."

"OpenAI has attempted to starve competitors of AI talent by aggressively recruiting employees with offers of lavish compensation, and is on track to spend $1.5 billion on personnel for just 1,500 employees," lawyers for Musk said in the complaint. 

Two weeks later, Musk filed a motion asking a judge to prevent OpenAI from dropping its nonprofit status.

Musk filed a complaint to Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers of the US District Court for the Northern District of California, arguing that OpenAI and Microsoft exploited his donations to OpenAI as a nonprofit to build a monopoly "specifically targeting xAI." In the filing, Musk's lawyers said OpenAI engaged in anticompetitive behaviors and wrongfully shared information with Microsoft.

If granted by the judge, the injunction could cause issues with OpenAI's partnership with Microsoft and prevent it from becoming a for-profit company.

As Musk's influence on US policy grows, his feud with Altman hangs in the balance.

As President-elect Donald Trump's self-proclaimed "First Buddy," Musk's power and influence on the US economy could increase even further over the next four years. In addition to being a right-hand-man to Trump, he'll lead the new Department of Government Efficiency with biotech billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy.

Musk hasn't been quiet about his disdain for Altman post-election. He dubbed the OpenAI cofounder "Swindly Sam" in an X post on November 15. The Wall Street Journal reported that Musk "despises" Altman, according to people familiar.

• Apple Intelligence for iPhone 15 Pro and later was released in September.
• However, some AI features, like "LLM Siri," reportedly won't be available until 2026.
• The first update included a new Siri interface, enhanced Messages, and Mail app improvements.

Much of the chatter about the newest iPhone 16 models has been about how they can support Apple Intelligence.

There are also still a lot of questions about when, exactly, all the cool new AI features will be fully available.

Apple has touted the iPhone 16 as a phone "built from the ground up" for artificial intelligence. It hit the market in September, and Apple Intelligence began rolling out later that month as part of the iOS 18.1 software update.

The first AI drop included several new features available on the iPhone 15 Pro or later, but some of the tools highlighted at June's Worldwide Developer Conference won't come to iOS until 2025 or later.

Although the first AI rollout as part of the iOS 18.1 software update included some tweaks to virtual assistant Siri, Apple is still working to infuse improved large language models into the voice assistant by 2026, Bloomberg reported. The goal is to make Siri even more conversational to rival competitors in the AI arms race.

This "LLM Siri" would compete with AI offerings made by companies like OpenAI and Google. It is expected to be announced in 2025 and released as part of iOS 19 the year after.

Apple has yet to provide a clear-cut calendar for the full Apple Intelligence rollout, but it provided some more details on the timeline when it announced iOS 18.1.

Here's an estimated timeline for the US English Apple Intelligence release based on what experts on Apple and the company have said since WWDC.

October is the initial Apple Intelligence beta test.

When iOS 18.1 came out in September, it included the option for those with eligible iPhones to enable Apple Intelligence.

Here are some of the features that came in the first drop.

• Updates to the Messages app, including more extensive reply suggestions
• A new section of the Mail app that categorizes high-priority messages.
• The Reduce Interruptions Focus mode — similar to Do Not Disturb, but your phone will allow alerts from messages it deems urgent.
• Email and text summaries in notifications.
• Writing Tools, which will help with summarizing, proofreading, and editing bodies of text.
• A new Siri animation and interface that will make the perimeter of a device's screen glow, along with a "Type to Siri" feature.

There's more to come in December.

Apple said more colorful features are coming next month.

• Visual intelligence, which Apple said will "help users learn about objects and places instantly" using their camera.
• Writing tools will get an upgrade, allowing it to apply more specific changes to text.
• OpenAI's ChatGPT will also be integrated into eligible iPhones.

The new Siri and more languages are coming in 2025 and beyond.

Apple has been promoting a "more personal Siri" in its marketing, but Bloomberg correspondent Mark Gurman reported that it won't come out for a while.

In one clip from Apple, actor Bella Ramsey asks Siri to recall the name of a man they met months prior. The revamped Siri assistant instantly reminds Ramsey of the man's name, which is impressive, but the feature won't be available on iPhone 15s or iPhone 16s until 2025 or later.

It's unclear if this will come as part of the overhauled version of Siri expected in 2026 or in earlier updates.

According to the company, Apple Intelligence will first be available in American English and will "quickly expand" to other English-speaking countries, including Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, Australia, and the UK in December.

Apple said more languages are coming in April. So far, they include Indian English, Singaporean English, Chinese, Japanese, French, German, Italian, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, Vietnamese, and more.

An earlier version of this story was published September 22.

• Secondhand luxury platform The RealReal has a trove of data about the hottest brands.
• Demand for trendy items influences how they're priced on The RealReal.
• These are the brands that two executives from The RealReal say you should buy now.

It's the most wonderful time of the year to be a shopper — but anyone who wants lasting bang for their buck knows to look beyond 2024's biggest trends and choose styles that will last.

Two experts from The RealReal, chief creative officer Kristen Naiman and associate director of fashion Noelle Sciacca, broke down which brands and trends shoppers should add to their carts now before they sell out or get more expensive on the secondhand market.

Using customer data, including about which designers are seeing spikes in search queries, the company can predict budding trends, Naiman said on "The Cutting Room Floor" podcast last week.

The RealReal prices its items based on several variables, including seasonality, condition, availability, and demand, measured through search volume and how quickly items sell out.

The more popular a brand gets, the more expensive it can become, Naiman said on the podcast.

These are the hottest brands to buy this season to be on-trend — and avoid overpaying for — next year, according to Naiman and Sciacca.

Bally

"Bally is super hot right now," Naiman said of the Swiss brand, which is already popular among "diehard, interesting fashion people."

It's only a matter of time before it goes mainstream, she added, telling "The Cutting Room Floor" host Recho Omondi that if she wants to buy an item from Bally, she should "do it now."

The brand began to surge earlier this year; Bally sales were up 42% year-over-year in August, Sciacca told Business Insider.

Romeo Gigli

Romeo Gigli is "really trending right now" for vintage-lovers, Naiman told Omondi. The Italian brand became a staple in the 1980s and early 1990s for its romantic style and soft tailoring.

Although its popularity dwindled over the years, Naiman predicted a resurgence.

Styles from the designer's heydey are "particularly captivating consumers," Sciacca said.

Brands like Miu Miu and Loewe will continue to be popular

Miu Miu is among the hottest labels of 2024, with retail sales up 86% in the first half of the year. Sciacca and Naiman don't foresee that changing.

Searches are surging on The RealReal, particularly for the brand's bags and sunglasses, with queries up 100% and 212% year-over-year, Sciacca said.

Handbags from Loewe continue to be popular as well.

The label's Puzzle Tote "is selling for an impressive 90% of its original price, while searches for the Flamenco bag have jumped 87% year-over-year," Sciacca said.

Moschino will kick off the year in a big way

"Moschino is a brand to watch as expressive styles gain momentum over uniform dressing," Sciacca said. "We're kicking off 2025 with a Moschino spotlight on-site."

The Italian designer is known for its lighthearted take on fashion.

Customers are searching for Ralph Lauren and Alaïa

Both Ralph Lauren and Alaïa are seeing surges in search queries on The RealReal. The former is experiencing a 57% increase in searches this quarter compared to last year, while searches for the latter have risen 29% year-over-year.

For Alaïa, there is particular interest in handbags, including the most recent styles and vintage pieces from the 1980s and 1990s.

• Jay Jandrain is the CEO of Butterball.
• His family celebrates Thanksgiving with lots of food and two different types of turkey.
• Jandrain prepares his holiday feast himself — with some help from his wife, he told BI.

The CEO of Butterball — perhaps the biggest name in turkeys — spends all year preparing for the biggest day for turkeys.

But on Thanksgiving itself, the day is reserved for family — complete with two Butterball turkeys he cooks himself, he told Business Insider.

CEO Jay Jandrain has been in the turkey business for 35 years. He says he has a passion for poultry that runs in his blood. Jandrain told BI that his father was in the turkey business, too, so it's a family affair.

And like most Americans, he says he'll be celebrating Thanksgiving with a house full of family.

Jandrain says he's become somewhat of an expert host over the years, and he's expecting his parents, in-laws, and all three of his children to celebrate with him and his wife at their home in North Carolina on Thursday.

Like most families, he says, he grew up with "obviously having a turkey on the table" during the holidays. It was an extra big deal because his dad was in the turkey business.

"So that's always been a big part of how we celebrate the holidays," he says.

So how does the CEO of Butterball prepare the main course on Turkey Day?

Jandrain says the turkey is the star of his family's Thanksgiving table. He's in charge of cooking — a tradition he learned from his parents, he says.

Jandrain's mother even told his wife, when they got married, to "never learn to cook." Now, he — like his father did — handles all the cooking while his wife takes care of the "prep stuff," as he calls it.

He says he appreciates all the different ways to cook a Thanksgiving turkey — and changes it up sometimes. But the most time-tested version of turkey — oven-roasted — is king at the family dinner table, he says. There's "always one in the oven," he says.

And this year, Jandrain says he also has plans to grill one bird.

His favorite holiday dish, other than turkey, is a classic Thanksgiving stuffing, and he says his family often makes "way more food than we're going to eat."

"My wife always tells me to pare it down. But you know, everybody's always got their favorite side," Jandrain said.

And to top off the bounty, his must-have dessert is a twist on a Thanksgiving classic. Jandrain says the feast isn't complete without pumpkin cheesecake.

As for Butterball, it begins prepping for the holiday season a year in advance, and its "fresh" turkey season begins in October. During the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving, plant employees work seven days a week to be ready for the big day, Jandrain says.

The name "Butterball" first appeared in a 1940 trademark registered to Ada Walker of Ohio. It's unclear exactly what inspired Walker's trademark, attorney Boston David Kluft wrote in a LinkedIn post on the mystery of the name.

On Walker's application for a trademark, she asked for the Butterball name to be affixed to "Live and Dressed" poultry, as well as "Sandwiches, Eggs and Fresh Vegetables."

When poultry worker Leo Peters purchased the trademark in 1951, his Butterball turkeys took off in popularity. The first-ever Butterball-branded turkey was introduced in 1954, according to the company.

Now — under new ownership — the company operates in five states across the US, and it's headquartered in Garner, North Carolina. It's a privately-held company, co-owned by Seaboard Corporation and Maxwell Farms since 2010.

As the CEO, Jandrain — who was appointed to the role on an interim basis in 2018 and permanently in 2019 — becomes somewhat of celebrity to those who want to learn more about the company and its famous turkeys. (He's been with the company since 2002.)

And when in doubt, Jandrain says, call the Butterball Turkey Talk Line to speak to one of the turkey experts for guidance.

Correction: November 27, 2023 — Jay Jandrain has been CEO of Butterball on a permanent basis since 2019; he was appointed on an interim basis in 2018.

An earlier version of this story was published November 23, 2023.

• People are sharing a tariffs-related clip from "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" amid Trump's threats.
• The scene highlights the impact of high tariffs on the US economy after the Great Depression.
• Mexico's president has vowed to retaliate against tariffs Trump imposes.

A scene from "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" is having a viral moment after President-elect Donald Trump announced new tariff plans.

In the 1986 coming-of-age movie, Bueller's teacher, played by a famously monotone Ben Stein, recounts the impact of high tariffs on the US economy after the Great Depression to a classroom of zoned-out students.

The scene got a boost online after Trump said on Truth Social on Monday that he planned "to charge Mexico and Canada a 25% Tariff on ALL products coming into the United States, and its ridiculous Open Borders."

The "Ferris Bueller" clip began going around about a week after the election, but it's recirculating as Trump doubles down on his promise of tariffs.

"This iconic scene with Ben Stein might be 37 years old but feels like essential viewing as we all argue about tariffs," a caption from NowThis Impact reads.

In the scene, Bueller's economics teacher explains the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, a Republican-backed law enacted in 1930 that raised tariffs on imported goods.

It was intended to help the US recover from the Great Depression. Instead, it caused countries to implement retaliatory tariffs and sunk the US economy deeper as both exports and imports decreased.

Nearly 100 years later, in response to Trump's announcement, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo vowed to retaliate against tariffs, putting "joint ventures at risk."

"I've never actually processed what was being said by the teacher in this scene until this moment," a comment under a post with the scene's audio said. Others said someone should show it to Trump before he's sworn in.

The clip has struck a chord among people on social media worried about the economy under the tariffs Trump has proposed. Economists have said that they would increase prices and inflation and that many companies would pass the costs on to consumers.

• I visited an Apple store to get a rundown of all that Apple Intelligence is offering.
• Math Notes, available on iOS 18, solves complex equations using AI in the Calculator app.
• Safari's 'hide' tool removes distractions from webpages, enhancing online shopping experiences.

I've been covering Apple's AI rollout since it was first announced at the Worldwide Developers Conference in June, and I'm still learning about all it has to offer.

I visited an Apple store on Thursday morning for an Apple Intelligence tutorial. It was mostly a recap of the features I've tried already, but two tools were surprisingly useful.

The demo was quick, less than 15 minutes, and I was helped by two store employees who said they usually show shoppers features based on which apps they frequently use. For me, that meant a recap of the "clean up" tool in the Photos app, but I got new details on Math Notes and a "hide" feature on Safari.

Apple launched its AI software in beta with the iOS 18.1 update in October — the first of a rollout happening over the next several months. Although flashier features, like the Image Playground and Genmojis, aren't included yet, many new AI-powered tools exist on iPhone 15 Pro models or later.

When I played with Apple Intelligence on my own, I was impressed, but I couldn't fully explore it since my iPhone 14 Pro Max isn't compatible with the software. If you've recently upgraded to an iPhone 15 Pro or later, an AI walkthrough might be beneficial.

Here's what you might've missed if you haven't gotten a tutorial.

I thought Math Notes would come out later

I was impressed by Math Notes when Apple first demonstrated it at WWDC, but it was unclear which phase of Apple Intelligence it would be included in.

The AI-powered math helper was rolled out with iOS 18 in September, before the official Apple Intelligence launch. Unlike other AI tools, Math Notes is available on any iPhone compatible with iOS 18.

In the Calculator app, you can type complex math equations, and your phone will use AI to solve them. On iPads, you can use a pencil to write out the problems. I can't help but wonder where this was when I was in high school.

I could see myself using "hide" on Safari a lot

Although I've read about and reported on Apple Intelligence's uses in the Safari app, I didn't have the chance to see how they could be applied to my daily life.

One store employee demonstrated how the "hide" tool removes distracting elements from a webpage. He used the shopping site Temu as an example. When he clicked the hide button and selected which parts he didn't want to see — mostly ads — the page transformed to become an efficient showing of items to shop from.

This tool would definitely come in handy for an online shopper like myself who wants to get straight to the goods.

There's also the Tips app

If you can't make it to an Apple store for a rundown, there's always the Tips app with a section on Apple Intelligence. It provides some guidance on how to use the AI available on iOS 18.1 so far.

I went through it while first exploring Apple Intelligence, but the hands-on demo in a store gave me some more details.

Apple has said that there's more to come in December with the release of iOS 18.2, and there's more Apple Intelligence on the horizon in 2025.