• Jean Smart called on TV networks to consider not broadcasting award ceremonies following the LA fires.
• Some entertainment journalists said outright cancellations would hurt gig workers in LA the most.
• A debate has erupted on whether award season should go ahead at all.

Jean Smart called on TV networks to not broadcast this year's award ceremonies amid the Los Angeles wildfires, but some journalists believe this move would hurt those who work behind the scenes on the show.

The awards season has already been altered this week in response to the fires, which JPMorgan analysts estimate could result in losses of $50 billion.

On Wednesday, Joey Berlin, the CEO of the Critics Choice Association, said its awards ceremony would be pushed back to January 26. The SAG nominations broadcast has also been canceled.

Oscars nominations are now expected to be delayed by two days to January 19, per an email from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts reported by multiple outlets.

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

But some people think more should be done.

Smart, the Emmy-winning actor who stars in "Hacks," posted on Instagram on Wednesday: "With ALL due respect during Hollywood's season of celebration. I hope any of the networks televising the upcoming awards will seriously consider NOT televising them and donating the revenue they would have gathered to victims of the fires and the firefighters."

Brandon Lewis, a film critic, said on X that all the awards shows should be pushed back, adding: "I just don't see how anyone will be able to focus on something comparatively trivial like campaigning with people's homes destroyed and lives upended."

Some X users agreed, while others called for awards season to be canceled.

Eric Andersen, the founder and editor in chief of Awards Watch, an awards-focused outlet, and other users on X suggested that the networks and awards organizers should donate the revenue from broadcasts to people affected by the wildfires.

Andersen added that the award organizations would not generate any money without televising their shows.

The Academy Awards made $143.5 million in revenue in 2023 from the Oscars and related events, according to financial statements reported by The Hollywood Reporter.

Marc Malkin, a senior editor at Variety, told KTLA 5 that "priorities have to shift," but Hollywood was a "gig economy" that relied on award shows.

"Makeup artists, hairstylists, drivers, waiters," Malkin said. "Yes, the celebrities are going to be fine. They don't need an awards show money-wise, but all of this gig economy, all of those people. It's a day rate. They're all going to lose work."

He added: "People rely on this to feed their kids, to pay their rent. We can't ignore that."

Maggie Lovitt, a Collider editor, Matthew Rettenmund, an author and freelance editor, and other users on X agreed with this sentiment.

Some users on Instagram also hit back against Smart's statement in her comments section, with one writing: "Productions shutting down will further contribute to the demise of LA. How will those of us rebuild if we can't work?"

• Elon Musk's $1 million sweepstake ended with a Michigan man winning the final prize.
• The selection process faced legal scrutiny for not being random, as the winners were handpicked.
• The last winner was paid thousands by the Trump campaign and was pictured at campaign events.

Elon Musk's controversial $1 million swing state giveaway concluded with the final prize going to a Michigan man who had worked on President-Elect Donald Trump's campaign.

The sweepstakes, funded by Musk through America PAC, a pro-Trump super PAC, distributed daily prizes in the lead-up to the election.

The prizes went to registered voters in swing states who signed an online petition pledging support for free speech and gun rights.

In return, participants received cash payments of up to $100 and a chance to win $1 million.

On the sweepstakes' final day, America PAC announced Tyler VanAkin of Reading, Michigan, as the last $1 million check recipient.

"Tyler was traveling but we were able to meet up with him before he boarded his flight," it said in a post on X.

However, it omitted key details about VanAkin's work for the Republican presidential campaign, and also that he was en route to Trump's election night watch party in West Palm Beach, Florida.

The Financial Times was the first to report the details, based on election filings.

The controversial giveaway

In announcing the sweepstake on October 19, Musk said, "We're gonna be awarding a million dollars, randomly, every day from now until the election."

It was later revealed that it was not random at all and that America PAC was hand-selecting recipients.

In October, Philadelphia County District Attorney Larry Krasner sued Musk and his super PAC, characterizing it as an illegal lottery scheme.

But Judge Angelo Foglietta of Philadelphia's Court of Common Pleas allowed the giveaway to continue in Pennsylvania, writing in a decision that Musk's giveaway failed to meet the criteria required for a lottery under Pennsylvania law.

One of those criteria is that winners need to be chosen at random.

During the hearing, America PAC's treasurer testified that those chosen to win were "selected by the organization in a multi-step process."

The PAC said this involved reviewing participants' social media posts and meeting them in person.

Musk's lawyers also said at the hearing that individuals were selected based on their "suitability" to serve as spokespersons for the PAC, and that the windfall would not be lottery winnings but compensation for being chosen as spokespeople.

The Trump campaign paid him for 'advance consulting'

A year-end FEC filing by America PAC shows that VanAkin was paid $1 million on November 12, 2024, a week after his win was announced, for his services as a "spokesperson consultant."

The other announced winners are also listed in the filing, but only VanAkin received income from political committees, per the Financial Times.

FEC filings for the Trump campaign show that VanAkin worked for them between June and October, earning a little over $14,200 for "advance consulting & per diem," and receiving more than $16,300 in travel reimbursements.

Instagram posts also show that VanAkin, who works as a chiropractor, attended a bus tour stop with campaign staff, wearing a Trump-Vance branded jacket, and was in attendance at the West Palm Beach election watch party.

America PAC, the Trump campaign, and VanAkin did not immediately respond to Business Insider's requests for comment.

As wildfires continue to devastate large areas of Southern California, a number of stars are speaking out.

"Y'all LA is burning down and Kimberly Noel is literally posting, telling us to go buy Skims," a woman posted on Instagram.

An American aircraft carrier continued to patrol the South China Sea, and a Chinese "flattop" concluded a sea trial.

New York is one of only two states that does not allow trial proceedings to be broadcast without the judge's approval.

A photo of the discovery on Reddit has racked up 40,000 upvotes in less than 24 hours. One user described it as "nasty."

The fires sweeping across LA have burned down thousands of buildings, leaving the destruction of iconic and historic landmarks in their wake.

President-elect Trump is scheduled to be sentenced Friday morning in his New York hush money case at a 9:30 am ET hearing.

Why it matters: With the proceeding, Trump will become the first former president sentenced for a crime, but he is expected to avoid time behind bars or any significant punishment for his historic felony conviction.

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• The sentencing, which Trump fought to delay or block altogether, comes just 10 days before his inauguration to a second term in the White House.
• The Supreme Court refused to intervene late Thursday, dashing a last-ditch bid by Trump's legal team to stop the proceeding.
• Judge Juan Merchan has already indicated that Trump won't face jail time.

Catch up quick: Merchan wrote in a filing earlier this month that "unconditional discharge appears to be the most viable solution to ensure finality" and allow Trump to pursue his appellate options.

• A court may impose a sentence of unconditional discharge when it believes "no proper purpose would be served by imposing any condition upon the defendant's release," under New York law.
• Merchan noted that prosecutors no longer viewed jail time "as a practicable recommendation" given Trump's election victory.

Flashback: Trump became the first-ever former U.S. president to be convicted of a felony last May, when a New York jury found him guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records.

• He was charged in connection with a $130,000 hush money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels over an alleged sexual encounter. Trump has repeatedly denied the affair.
• Since then, Trump's team has repeatedly tried to have his case thrown out under the Supreme Court's 2024 ruling that presidents have immunity for "official acts."

The big picture: Just last year, Trump faced four criminal indictments.

• Since his election win, two federal cases against him have been dropped.
• His Georgia election interference case was cast into further limbo after the Georgia Court of Appeals ruled to disqualify Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis late last month. She is appealing the decision.

Go deeper: Trump seeks to stop Smith releasing final report

Editor's note: This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

AI technology is advancing rapidly and if you're not already using it at work, brace yourself.

Why it matters: That was Sam Altman's message, buried in a blog post.

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• "We believe that, in 2025, we may see the first AI agents 'join the workforce' and materially change the output of companies," writes the OpenAI founder.

State of play: The possibility of using AI agents to do work instead of expensive humans has some companies super excited. It's making many workers super anxious.

• Distinct from an AI chatbot, an AI agent can work autonomously. You tell it what to do, and the agent goes off and does it in the real world. In other words, it could theoretically fully replace a human.

For example, a scientist could use a bot to conduct research and possibly even design an experiment.

• But an AI agent, when prompted, can act as a research assistant. It can not only do the research and design an experiment, the agent can conduct it and compile the results. (In a recent paper, scientists at AMD and Johns Hopkins University described how they successfully had an agent do just that.)

Zoom out: Altman, of course, has a big interest in a future where AI plays a bigger role at work. And it's not clear yet what happens to U.S. workplaces in 2025.

• But the idea of AI agents in our workplaces is hardly just an AI entrepreneur's fantasy, researchers and experts say.

Zoom in: Some companies are already experimenting with AI agents in limited pilot programs to conduct drug discovery, for project management, or to design marketing campaigns.

The big picture: The key question is what happens to people's jobs? Most experts agree that agents will change the nature of work over the coming years — particularly for those who work at a desk in front of a computer.

That could mean an agent starts doing some of your work. "In an ideal world, this is a multiplier of effort where I delegate the worst parts of my job to AI," says Ethan Mollick, a management professor at Wharton who studies AI.

• Altman said something similar in a podcast interview. He doesn't think about "what percent of jobs AI will do, but what percent of tasks will it do," he said on Lex Fridman's podcast last year. AI will let people do their jobs, "at a higher level of abstraction."
• AI has made workers more efficient, but there's still a lot more work to do. "The one thing I'm not worried about is that we're running out of work," GitHub CEO Thomas Dohmke tells Axios.

Yes, but: While humans will still absolutely be needed to supervise the AI's work, agents will start replacing humans over the next two years, says Anton Korinek, an economics professor at the University of Virginia and a visiting scholar at Brookings.

• "Any job that can be done solely in front of a computer will be amenable to AI agents within the next 24 months," Korinek says in an email, assuring this reporter that he was not himself an AI. (He also agreed he could be replaced by one.)
• "From my conversations with business leaders, the majority of large companies employing white-collar workers are looking into what they can automate with AI."

Between the lines: Humans are moving more slowly than the technology. Companies have to figure out how to adjust operations to accommodate AI workers, says Lareina Yee, a senior partner at McKinsey and an AI expert.

• And that can be a costly endeavor. The biggest challenge to moving AI agents into the workplace isn't the tech, it's the people, she says. "This is not a technology strategy moment, it's a business strategy moment."

Last year was Earth's warmest on record, eclipsing 2023's record and for the first time exceeding the Paris target of 1.5°C above preindustrial levels, the Copernicus Climate Change Service announced Thursday.

Why it matters: While climate scientists don't put too much stock into an individual year's record, the long-term trend is toward more rapid warming, and it is not entirely clear why 2024 was so hot — and what it portends.

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Zoom in: Last year was the hottest seen in instrument record-keeping, but also much longer before that.

• In fact, as with 2023, the year was very likely the hottest in at least 125,000 years.
• Some daily global average temperatures, as measured using increasingly precise computer model data, exceeded 2°C above preindustrial levels — flirting with another temperature target in the Paris Climate Agreement.

According to Copernicus, an agency of the European Commission, each year in the last decade has been one of the 10 hottest on record.

• Data from U.S. centers, such as NOAA and NASA, show similar results. (Their final 2024 data comes out Friday.)
• Global average surface temperatures in 2024 were about 1.6°C above pre-industrial levels, Copernicus found, and about 0.12°C (.22°F) above 2023's record high.

Yes, but: The Paris Agreement's most stringent temperature target of holding warming to 1.5°C compared with pre-industrial levels refers to a long-term, 20-to-30-year average, rather than a single year or two.

• Still, 2024 shows the world is already exceeding the barrier that diplomats set at the Paris climate summit in 2015, and in fact the average of 2023 and 2024 falls above the 1.5°C threshold, Copernicus said.
• Studies show that if warming exceeds 1.5°C relative to preindustrial levels, the odds of potentially catastrophic impacts, such as the shutting of key ocean currents and melting of Arctic and Antarctic ice sheets, would increase considerably.
• Regarding exceeding the 1.5°C marker, Copernicus' news release stated: "Global temperatures are rising beyond what modern humans have ever experienced."

What they're saying: "Humanity is in charge of its own destiny but how we respond to the climate challenge should be based on evidence," said Carlo Buontempo, the Copernicus Climate Change Service's director.

• "The future is in our hands — swift and decisive action can still alter the trajectory of our future climate."

Between the lines: One of the most impactful records seen during 2024 was unusually high amounts of water vapor in the atmosphere, at about 5% above the 1991-2020 average, beating previous highs.

• Extreme heat and high humidity is a deadly combination, and record large swaths of the globe saw "strong" to "extreme heat stress," per Copernicus' data.
• The high water vapor content in the atmosphere also helped contribute to extreme precipitation events, and to rapidly intensifying tropical cyclones, such as hurricanes Helene and Milton.

The intrigue: Climate scientists are still investigating why 2024, which didn't feature a planet-warming El Niño event on top of human-caused climate change, vaulted above 2023 on the list of hottest years.

• Multiple studies have been published on this topic, and the possibility that the climate has shifted into a new phase of more rapid warming for reasons that are not yet completely clear is unnervingly still on the table.

What's next: Along with NOAA's and NASA's climate reports on Friday will come a new report on trends in ocean heat content.

• All of it is likely to show evidence of a planet heating faster and to record levels.

President-elect Trump has inspired Republican members of Congress to introduce a bill that would allow the federal government to take steps to repurchase the Panama Canal.

Why it matters: It's the second time this week GOP lawmakers have rushed to propose legislation that would codify Trump's vision for a new era of American expansionism.

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• Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) said Tuesday she plans to introduce a bill that would rename the Gulf of Mexico the "Gulf of America."

Driving the news: Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.), the chair of the pragmatist Republican Main Street Caucus, introduced the two-page Panama Canal Repurchase Act on Thursday.

• The bill authorizes the president and secretary of state to "initiate and conduct negotiations with appropriate counterparts" in Panama on buying back the canal.
• The U.S. controlled the canal from its construction in 1914 until 1977, when then-President Carter turned over to Panama.

By the numbers: Johnson's legislation has 15 GOP co-sponsors, ranging from relative centrists like Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) to right-wing hardliners like Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.).

• It does not yet have any bipartisan support, though some Democrats have expressed openness to the idea of reasserting U.S. influence over the canal to counter China.
• Trump has also proposed purchasing Greenland and, more jokingly, annexing Canada, and he has not ruled out the use of military force to achieve the former.

We have less resources to reign in the falsities now—but maybe we can protect those who tell the truth.

The young royal appeared to have a shy moment when talking to fans, as the six year old embraces life in the public eye.

State Farm, which canceled hundreds of policies in Pacific Palisades last summer, is encouraging customers affected by the fires to file damage claims.

President-elect Donald Trump will be sentenced today in the New York hush money case. Follow Newsweek's live blog.

Following the overnight attack, fires broke out at facilities that Kyiv says were being used to support the Russian invasion.

Nationwide protests have erupted, leading to over 2,000 arrests and more than 20 deaths.

The DOJ immediately launched legal action after winning an appeal on a point of law as it seeks to make the report public before Trump takes office.

Sightings of mysterious drones were first reported in New Jersey in November and quickly spread to other states.