• Mint Fantôme is a virtual, anime-style influencer, with 347,000 YouTube subscribers.
• The virtual YouTuber, or VTuber for short, appears as a digital avatar online.
• The creator behind Mint took an untraditional pathway into the entertainment industry.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with the creator behind YouTuber Mint Fantôme, a virtual influencer who appears as an anime character. Like other virtual YouTubers, the creator is anonymous online, but their identity is known to Business Insider. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

I play a 19-year-old ghost online.

My anime-style digital avatar goes by many names: Mint, Maid Mint, or Mint Fantôme. I have 347,000 subscribers on YouTube where I livestream my avatar chatting, singing, and playing video games.

This is my full-time career, and it has become all that I do. I'm part of a growing trend of virtual influencers, called VTubers. Like many others, my identity is anonymous.

I recently joked with a friend that our jobs are like the TV show "Severance." The virtual characters we play online are like our "innies," which are the separate workplace identities of the show's characters.

This character I created allows me to have a public persona online without fully sharing my personal self.

I discovered virtual YouTubers several years ago. Many of those I followed were from a Japanese company called Cover Corporation, which owns one of the top VTuber agencies, Hololive.

I found their content really fun to consume. Living in the US, it wasn't until Hololive put out auditions for English-speaking creators that I realized this could be really cool for me to try.

I auditioned, but I didn't get the role. However, through the audition process, I met some independent VTubers who inspired me. I realized you don't have to work with a huge corporation to do this work.

When I started in 2020, I wanted my avatar to be completely separate from my normal self. I told no one, not even friends or family.

Then, as I started to become more popular, some of my friends came across my videos and recognized my voice.

I later told my mom. She still doesn't quite understand it. But she knows I've always loved Japanese culture and anime. She can't believe what she thought was a phase has evolved into my career.

How I make money as a virtual influencer

Most of my income comes from donations on YouTube. That's just out of people's generosity, and it's how I've been able to maintain this as a career. I also sell merchandise and promote brands through sponsorships.

More and more, VTubers are infiltrating Western culture. For example, Hololive's VTubers collaborated with the Los Angeles Dodgers. I've seen other independent VTubers work with hockey teams and at other events where you maybe wouldn't expect to see an anime girl.

I've performed at a couple of live concerts, and I want to do more. At these shows, I'll dance and sing with other VTubers. Online, everybody is just a number and a username in the chat box. But with live events, I can feel a true connection.

What an average day looks like

I typically try to stream for two to four hours a day on YouTube.

Filming is simpler than people think. I use a phone, and there are programs like VTube Studio and VSeeFace that VTubers use to generate their avatars.

I went to school for filmography, so I have some experience. But I also watch a lot of YouTube tutorials.

When I first started, I streamed in my closet. It was a small walk-in closet with good sound insulation. Now, I have my own dedicated streaming room.

When I'm not streaming, I create my own graphics and thumbnails. I scroll through X, where I'll post and check hashtags. I also take notes on my phone on ideas for livestreams or merchandise.

It's hard for me to turn the switch off. Some creators can say they don't go online or on social media at certain times. I don't have strict boundaries like that.

Instead, I log off from my job by browsing my personal Instagram and TikTok accounts, which are centered on my hobbies and interests, such as anime and Japanese culture.

An alternative pathway to entertainment

This passion for anime helped me break into the entertainment industry, which I consider virtual YouTubers part of. As in any aspect of entertainment, so much success is the luck of the draw.

When I'm streaming, I'll see a number on the screen of how many people are watching. Maybe the number says 3,000, but I can't fully comprehend that 3,000 people are watching me. I know that they are people, and I know that their usernames represent a person. But even after all these years, I feel so ordinary. I don't feel like an influencer.

The anonymity that comes with being a VTuber has been really great for me.

I'm not a very public person. I'm very shy, and I have a lot of social anxieties. But chatting for hours a day online has really helped me come out of my comfort zone. I'm so grateful I get to do this job.

The missile-armed submarine, USS Minnesota, has been operating around Australia since late February.

Warren said on social media some people have been marked on the Social Security website as "not currently receiving payments."

Costa Rica's Judicial Investigation Agency confirmed Miller Gardner's cause of death on Wednesday night.

• Pediatric surgeon was the highest-paying job in the US based on newly released average pay data.
• Business Insider ranked pay data for hundreds of occupations from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
• Most of the top 20 best-paying gigs, on average, were healthcare jobs.

Pediatric surgeons get paid well on average.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics published on Wednesday new data that shows the average wages and employment estimates for over 800 occupations in May 2024.

With many people searching for jobs, Business Insider looked at the national data to see which jobs had the highest average annual wages. We excluded a set of catchall job categories covering miscellaneous titles because of the lack of specificity.

Most of the 20 top-paying jobs were healthcare occupations, including radiologists and emergency medicine physicians. Their annual averages far exceeded the overall annual average of $67,920.

Below are the top 20, including their annual pay and employment.

A few months ago, I began noticing an unusual pattern across my digital feeds. Wherever I scrolled, people kept telling me to play Tetris.

Aspiring thought leaders on LinkedIn touted the game as a tool for honing strategic thinking. On TikTok, it was promoted as a salve for workday anxiety. Reddit users sang its praises, saying it may help prevent flashbacks from traumatizing experiences, such as witnessing a stabbing at Grand Central Terminal or watching a surfer swallowed up by a deadly swell. In the past six months alone, dozens of Reddit posts have suggested Tetris to help with PTSD, accumulating thousands of upvotes and hundreds of comments.

I was skeptical. But I quickly realized that I was late to the party. Studies on the game's potential to improve players' mental health and cognition date back to at least the early 2000s. Research on how the brain adapts to playing Tetris goes back even further. In recent years, amid the rise of social media and the modern cult of self-optimization, Tetris has gained new momentum as a better-living gambit. The game has shown up in enough personal development content that its self-help status has graduated from the ultrafringe to the almost mainstream. Somehow, while I was busy living my life, Tetris had become a life hack for business bros, wellness gurus, and plenty of others in between.

But how exactly does it work?

---

Tetris was created in 1984 as an arcade game in Soviet Moscow by the scientist Alexey Pajitnov. The concept was simple: Players pieced together descending multicolored puzzle blocks to form tidy rows that fell away to clear space for even more blocks, which tumbled from above at an ever-increasing speed — a hypnotic, quick-thinking race against a game-ending pileup. Players couldn't get enough. Within a few years, the video game creator Henk Rogers partnered with Pajitnov and secured a deal to bring Tetris to Nintendo's then new Game Boy devices, cementing the game as an international obsession and a staple of '90s childhoods.

It wasn't long before Tetris devotees began reporting a strange occurrence. The game's cascading blocks would follow them off their screens and show up against the walls of darkened rooms, when they closed their eyes to fall asleep, and even in their dreams. A 1991 study of Tetris players' brain scans found that their cognitive processing while playing the game became more energy-efficient the more they played, suggesting that as they grew their Tetris-playing skills, their brains became ever more primed toward solving the puzzle. Players were able to engage with the game so deeply that they stayed in the zone even after they'd finished playing, the study found, and without virtual Tetris blocks to maneuver, their brains conjured up imaginary ones. In 1994, Wired dubbed this the "Tetris effect."

Multiple studies went on to find that playing Tetris within a critical time window following a traumatic event might reduce the onset, intensity, and frequency of PTSD symptoms. A study published last year found that among 164 Swedish healthcare workers who faced work-related trauma during the pandemic, playing a single 20-minute round of Tetris immediately after focusing on the visual aspect of a traumatic memory led to an average 85.9% drop in intrusive memories five weeks after playing. Tetris players continued showing post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms at about half the rate of nonplayers in follow-ups three and six months later.

Amy Morin, a psychotherapist and mental health podcaster in the Florida Keys, says that the research on Tetris and PTSD aligns with a broader shift in the clinical understanding of how memory consolidation and trauma work together. Earlier in her career, Morin recalls, she was expected to coax patients "to process and debrief" in the aftermath of possibly trauma-inducing experiences, such as an act of violence in the workplace. Instead of helping people move past the event, this approach often made them feel worse, she says. She and her professional peers now recognize that diving headfirst into processing terrible moments right after the fact can exacerbate distress and give way to rumination, which is a known risk factor for developing PTSD.

Its fast-paced decision-making gets me into a flow state that carries over to solving complex programming problems.

Playing Tetris, on the other hand, has been found to have the opposite effect. "Tetris takes just enough brainpower that you have to be much more present and can't be worried about the future or rehashing something in the past," Morin says. "Your brain's kind of like a file cabinet, trying to decide which folder to put these memories into. And something about the way that Tetris works makes it so those things don't end up in the 'let's revisit this later' file." In other words, whether through neurocognitive trickery or the sheer force of distraction, playing Tetris may safeguard against locking in the kinds of memories that might become intrusive thoughts down the line. Morin is so enthusiastic about the therapeutic possibilities of Tetris that she recently devoted an entire episode of her podcast to the subject.

Other studies point to further applications for Tetris' magic. Richard Haier, the psychologist who first uncovered the mechanism behind the Tetris effect, found that the cerebral cortices of frequent Tetris players became thicker over time, which could lead to improvements in associated functions such as memory capacity and cognitive development. Another study, published in 2018, found that playing Tetris may help counteract anxiety by inducing a state of flow, or being able to focus deeply on a task. Further research has indicated that these brain changes aren't unique to Tetris, with gamers reporting Tetris effect-like hallucinations from other video games. Repetition and puzzle-solving alter your perception, whether you're fitting together a cascade of colorful blocks or mining for materials to slay the "Minecraft" dragon. But it's the simplicity and accessibility of Tetris that keep new generations of players discovering — and rediscovering — its hypnotic capabilities.

Will Padilla, a 28-year-old content creator and software-as-a-service sales rep in Scottsdale, Arizona, hadn't heard about any of this research when he discovered that playing Tetris helps him push through the trickiest parts of his workday. It was a happy fluke when Padilla decided, on a whim, to queue up the game to keep himself preoccupied one day during the first nerve-racking round of cold calls on the job.

"Cold calls make me really nervous — and everyone who has to make them — because you're calling someone out of the blue," Padilla tells me. "The person could be really rude to you. But it's part of the job." Padilla tried other means of distraction to ease the process, such as squeezing a stress ball, to no avail. With Tetris, he realized he'd found his ideal solution. "It helped me get over the initial 30 seconds of nerves," Padilla says. He went on to share the tip on TikTok with fellow SaaS sellers.

Padilla's explanation for why the game helped aligns with the research. "You're doing this stimulating thing that's not causing more anxiety but is making you think in a very calm and analytical way," he says.

Abhishek Shankar, the founder of a fertility-planning tech startup in Delaware, plays Tetris to clear his mind and sharpen his focus so he can code. "Its fast-paced decision-making gets me into a flow state that carries over to solving complex programming problems," Shankar, 39, tells me. He's even programmed a version of the game for personal use.

Who hasn't played Tetris or some other, similar game? You're not out on anything by giving it a shot.

Katherine Yan, a 27-year-old engineering manager at Medium who's based in Los Angeles, similarly says that Tetris helps train her brain to quickly recognize patterns and make decisions under pressure. "It's a constant exercise in prioritization, spatial reasoning, and adapting to imperfect conditions — just like managing competing deadlines and priorities or untangling a legacy codebase." Yan, who began playing the game in high school, says she noticed over the years that after playing for even just a few minutes she would return to her work with more focus and faster decision-making capabilities.

Jamie Krenn, an adjunct associate professor of human development at Sarah Lawrence College and Columbia University's Teachers College, has students play Tetris in her classes every semester to demonstrate how some games can improve problem-solving, spatial reasoning, and working memory by forcing players to think fast and adapt on the fly. "The way Tetris makes you recognize patterns and plan ahead is basically a workout for your brain," Krenn says.

---

At least some of the surge in awareness over the science of playing Tetris comes down to simple SEO. In 2018, Rogers and a team of Japanese video game developers unveiled a spinoff of the game called "Tetris Effect" — a sly homage to the cognitive phenomenon. Google searches for the term predictably soared when the game came out, a process that repeated with subsequent releases for new gaming consoles over the next five years. It's all but certain that many of the gamers looking for news on the game stumbled upon the research behind the title.

But with growing interest comes expanded misunderstanding. Content creators and even journalists don't always have the scientific background to correctly interpret researchers' studies, which can lead to exaggerated or oversimplified claims, confusion, and backlash. "'Play Tetris' is the new 'Have you tried yoga?' for PTSD and I'm not having any of it," a frustrated Reddit user wrote a couple of years ago in a support channel for complex post-traumatic stress disorder.

It's a problem that spreads far beyond Tetris. "Once an idea that's overly simplistic takes root, it's really hard to challenge that, even if the broader research world knows that that's not true," says Peter Simons, a science journalist and the author of the online publication Mad in America who has written critically about this dynamic. "Once it's in the layperson's mind and culturally out there, everywhere we look, it's really hard for a researcher to say, 'Hey, actually, the literature doesn't support this at all.' Then it sounds like you, the researcher, are the person who has to prove an extreme point of view, even though it's the mainstream cultural view that's extreme and overblown." It's the same hive-mind instinct that feeds conspiracy theories and problematic health advice.

"We'll get interested in pop psychology, and we'll replicate the same error over and over again, spreading misinformation because we don't understand the complexity of what we're reading," he says. "But as we get more excited about it, we'll do it more and more. That, to me, is a societal ill, not a societal good."

Morin sees things differently. From where she stands, the calculus is simple: The research is promising, the game is fun, and, in many cases, it's free to download and play. There's little to lose in trying. "So many other treatments for PTSD come with risks, like medications and even therapy," she tells me. "But who hasn't played Tetris or some other, similar game? You're not out on anything by giving it a shot."

---

Kelli María Korducki is a journalist whose work focuses on work, tech, and culture. She's based in New York City.

This is going to be a "strange" year for Pride, Kevin Kilbride says, given everything that's going on. About one-third of New York City Pride's corporate partners are still holding back their sponsorship dollars this year, with just a couple of months to go before the event, explains Kilbride, who handles media and marketing for the organization. "That is unusual," he says. "We've seen folks moving a little bit more cautiously, what they would say is strategically."

Some sponsors have expressed political concerns, pointing to the White House's antagonistic stance on diversity, equity, and inclusion and the current climate more broadly. Others are gesturing at tariffs or general economic instability as the cause for their hesitation in committing big money, which organizers have to take at face value, even if it's hard to imagine the politics aren't part of the calculation. Case in point: Kilbride says that a "pretty significant" corporate sponsor has asked to be a silent partner of this year's New York Pride, though it hasn't scaled back its funding.

"Our businesses have long been a leader in trying to support this community and push this movement forward and more into the spotlight," Kilbride said. "And it's unfortunate that that not across the board seems to be shared by all of the former partners."

LGBTQ+ Pride month is close on the horizon, in June, and organizers of events, marches, and celebrations across the country are in the final stages of securing funding and sponsorships. In contrast to years past, when, if anything, the complaint was that Pride had become too corporate, planners are encountering a much different, colder scenario. This year, businesses are anxious about their involvement. While some are sticking to it, others are scaling back donations or declining to participate entirely. They're scared of the Trump administration's anti-DEI stance and threats of retribution. They're worried about the potential social media backlash. And they're reacting accordingly.

"There's a variety of responses. One is there is obviously retreat," said Bob Witeck, a communications strategist focused on the LGBT business community. "A number of companies have made the decision that this is a fraught environment in which to take part."

---

San Francisco Pride has had several big sponsors back away this year, including Anheuser-Busch, Comcast, Diageo, and Nissan. It may be on track for a $200,000 shortfall in its anticipated $4.1 million budget. Suzanne Ford, the executive director of San Francisco Pride, said the companies backing away have been wishy-washy about why.

"Obviously, the Trump administration and the war on diversity, equity, and inclusion, I think, has affected some corporations' decisions about who they sponsor," she said. "Some corporations are hedging their bets, not trying to inflame one side or the other and trying to just stay out of the fray."

The public attention on the dropouts has helped inspire other sponsors to jump in and fill the gap, Ford said, including Levi's, which is returning after a three-year hiatus, Benefit Cosmetics, and La Crema wines. As news about withdrawals trickled out, San Francisco Pride also brought in $30,000 in donations from individuals last month, and organizers believe some companies could still make donations even if they choose not to officially sponsor. Pride is a boon for San Francisco: A 2015 economic impact study found it injected $350 million into the local economy every year, thanks to more than half a million visitors attending the two-day celebration. Ten years later, Ford thinks that number could be $1 billion as crowds have continued to grow.

"Pride, over its history, has faced difficult times, and we've always found a way, and we'll find a way now," she said.

A Diageo spokesperson said that Diageo plans to participate in events around Pride in San Francisco, such as offering promotions at bars through its Smirnoff brand. Comcast, Anheuser-Busch, and Nissan did not respond to requests for comment.

Ryan Bos, the executive director of the Capital Pride Alliance in Washington, DC, said a number of sponsors have dropped out of this year's event, including Booz Allen Hamilton, a consulting firm and major federal contractor that could, in theory, find itself in the crosshairs of some of Trump's DEI-related executive actions.

"As you can imagine, being in the nation's capital, a lot of advocates we work with either have federal contracts or definitely receive federal funding," he said.

In an email, a Booz Allen spokesperson said the company is committed to supporting all of its employee communities and celebrating tribute months. They said the decision not to be a headline sponsor this year "does not reflect any pullback of support to this community."

I think there is a level of fear.

Denver Pride has seen a decrease in funding for its events, which include a festival, parade, and 5K race. Natalie Zanoni, the organization's interim CEO, said in an email that among those who sponsored Denver's 2024 Pride and are coming back this year, average contributions have decreased by 62%. Other sponsors aren't coming back at all. She noted that Denver's Pride is unique in that it doubles as an annual fundraiser for Denver's local LGBTQ+ community center, The Center on Colfax, meaning the decline in sponsorship money will affect more than the size of parade floats. "The decrease in funding we are experiencing puts these critical services at risk, such as mental health support, programming for our trans and gender diverse community, youth, older adults, and more," she said. While they are "disappointed" by the situation, the group doesn't want to call out specific funders. "We also recognize that these decisions do not reflect the views and opinions of everyone within the organizations in question," Zazoni said.

Kojo Modeste, the executive director of Pride Toronto, said that Nissan Canada is the only company that's publicly announced its exit from the city's event. The company said in an email that it was a "local decision solely due to a reevaluation" of its marketing and media activations in a "variety of activities." However, Modeste said "quite a few" other sponsors have quietly pulled out. Many of the corporations haven't provided a detailed justification, though most are based in the US, which, given the current economic headbutting between the two countries, adds another element. "It sends a message without sending the message, without them telling us exactly that they're pulling out for these reasons," Modeste said. "I think there is a level of fear."

Some smaller Canadian sponsors are trying to step in to help fill the gap, which Modeste is grateful for, but their generosity will still leave the organizers with a shortfall. "The cost of doing the festival year after year keeps going up," Modeste said. "Even if we were to gain back 50% of that loss, it is not going to cover that big gap that is left."

We're really back to, in a sense, what Pride was originally intended to be.

It's not just the large Pride events that are seeing pullbacks. Jessica Laney, the president of Pikes Peak Pride in Colorado Springs, said the event has never really had large corporate sponsors. It's generally relied on grassroots support and smaller entities, but they've scaled back this year, too. Pikes Peak is seeing fewer sponsors at their $5,000 and $10,000 tiers, which represent some of their highest levels of giving. Government grants have dried up, too. "Those are pretty much gone now," Laney said. On the more encouraging side, they've had an uptick in smaller contributors, say, at the $1,000 level. "It's kind of like a change off," she said.

Pikes Peak Pride is still below where it was last year in terms of sponsorship dollars, but the group hopes more money will come in. It's being more proactive about outreach and doubling the number of fundraisers it hosts.

Alexander Clark, the board president of 406 Pride, which hosts Billings Pride Fest in Montana, said they've had some new sponsors jump in, including a large local hotel chain, and as of now, one of its five major sponsors is returning — and increasing its donation. As for the other four major donors, Clark said the organizers are taking a cautiously optimistic approach. "As we're approaching some of the bigger sponsors, though, we're expecting to get some pushback, because some of the companies that have participated in the past may not have that same DEI focus," he said.

406 Pride is what Clark admits is a "unique" organization and location, given that it's in a deep-red county in a deep-red state.

"Folks seem to have a 'keep to their own' mentality," he said. If they're part of the queer community, they'll come out, but if not, they "don't really bother with us."

That means in terms of sponsors, it's always been a more thoughtful decision to participate. This year, Clark is hoping partners will come back and then some, because organizers are taking a number of new — and more expensive — safety measures. They're installing concrete barriers instead of wooden ones and are hiring a security firm to back up local police. "I'm not taking any chances this year," he said.

---

These decisions to scale back Pride support aren't happening in a vacuum — they're taking place in a context when many corporations are afraid to engage in anything that might appear DEI-esque.

The White House has pledged to root out what it's characterized as "illegal DEI" from the federal government, government contractors, and, where possible, private companies and is seeking to make examples out of specific entities it believes have gone too far. Some conservative social media influencers are on the hunt for targets to rile up their followers about. Businesses don't want to be caught up in whatever the controversy of the day is, or the one that pops up tomorrow, or the day after that. This has led a number of major companies to scale back their DEI practices. Some have eliminated or overhauled programs aimed at underrepresented consumers, vendors, and employees, including the LGBTQ+ community, and have scrubbed mention of certain diversity-related terms from their websites, financial filings, and other documentation. Take Target: It faced blowback last year over its Pride merchandise collection and wound up scaling it back, even though the collection wasn't markedly different from anything it had done in previous years.

"If you and I were talking five years ago, the bigger issue was corporate exploitation," Witeck said. "So we're really back to, in a sense, what Pride was originally intended to be. It was sort of a civil rights activation."

He added that some companies, instead of sponsoring celebrations or parades, are donating to community causes instead. "In some respects, that's a positive move," he said.

Fabrice Houdart, a human rights advocate who focuses on LGBTQ+ rights and corporate social responsibility, pointed out that the Trump administration has not targeted Pride, including this year's World Pride, which will happen in Washington, DC. In Houdart's mind, companies may just be taking advantage of the opportunity to walk away from initiatives they were never really that attached to in the first place.

"Right now, the wind is not very pro-LGBT and therefore they're thinking, 'Well, I'm just going to throw out the baby with the bathwater and run away from that community as quickly as I can,'" he said. "In many ways, what it shows is that there was some amateurism in the way the company expressed their values."

It's very, very hard to make that happen without corporate support.

All of the Pride organizers I spoke to expressed disappointment about former sponsors' handling of this year's events. Parades, festivals, and other gatherings cost money to put together, and less money may mean they could need to scale back their plans, though, in certain areas, such as security, medical services, and insurance, there's no compromising.

"People are getting the message that Pride is fragile. It always has been and always be," Ford said.

Historically, some corporations have been ahead of the curve on LGBTQ+ rights — General Motors, for example, extended marriage benefits to same-sex couples before same-sex marriage was legalized nationwide. Organizers also said they were starting to look for more grassroots, individual support going forward so that they won't be so reliant on big business and whatever cultural and political tides they're reacting to.

"You've got a free event that we're trying to make as accessible to as many people as we can. It's very, very hard to make that happen without corporate support," Kilbride said. "It's still, I think, going to end up being on the queer community. In my opinion, we are our own sponsors during Pride Month, so I think that's kind of what the future is headed towards."

In the meantime, New York City Pride is planning to get fundraising for this year wrapped by the beginning of May. Some of the attention on sponsors dropping out is bringing some of them back to the table, and there's hope additional visibility could inspire other companies to step up — corporate anxiety works both ways.

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Emily Stewart is a senior correspondent at Business Insider, writing about business and the economy.

• A Ukrainian drone operator said he can text and FaceTime with manufacturers.
• Manufacturers want battlefield feedback and can send replacement parts in a day.
• He said it means Ukrainian drones are typically better fit for the fight than what is made by Western companies.

A Ukrainian drone operator said that he can text and FaceTime with drone manufacturers about how to make and improve the tech, making the weapons better suited for battle.

Dimko Zhluktenko, a drone operator with Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces who has operated both strike and reconnaissance drones, told Business Insider that working with Ukrainian drones "is much easier because of the communication with the manufacturers."

In training, "we would send them videos, pictures, FaceTime or anything" if there were any issues, feedback, or parts that needed to be replaced, he said.

Most of the drones that Ukraine's forces are using to fight back against Russia's invasion are being made in Ukraine, but drone operators are also using ones made in the West, like the US's Switchblade and Turkey's Bayraktar.

Hundreds of Ukrainian companies, from bigger, government-backed operations to smaller ones working out of garages, are working on making a host of different types of drones. And there is a lot of communication with troops about what works and doesn't. It permits rapid iteration.

Zhluktenko said that being able to talk so directly with the manufacturers in Ukraine means that he typically prefers working with Ukrainian drones over Western alternatives.

"Normally having the Ukrainian thing is somewhat better just because you can get it to work faster much faster," he said.

Ukrainian weapon systems are being built and refined for this specific conflict. He said that "it's not fair to say that all foreign stuff is crappy, but at the same time, I know that in most of the cases, if it's Ukrainian, that is somewhat battle-tested and better fit for our specific battlefield."

The problem with working with big Western companies is that there is a "shitload of bureaucracy, and probably you won't get very fair results even after that."

In Ukraine, there's a "short feedback loop," he said, where manufacturers start to design a new drone type, drone alteration, or new drone software, and then they work with the operators to quickly design and prototype the most suitable one. He said that drone operators get direct requests from the manufacturers asking them to fly new drone types. It provides feedback for rapid iterative development.

He said that the drone makers will hand them the drone and the manual, tell them to fly at the range or in battle, and report back. They don't even care if it gets lost, they just want a detailed report on what could be improved so they can make a better product.

It's "essentially market research," he said.

Zhluktenko said that manufacturers "want to come to our places" near the battlefield "and see how we operate. They want to see what is that they can do to make our life easier."

The close communication allows for speedy repairs and replacements too. That allows Ukraine's troops to keep training or fighting without introducing new delays.

Zhluktenko said that sometimes when they have had issues with a drone, "we called the manufacturer and said, 'Guys, we had this kind of issue and something broke off, can we just quickly patch it somehow?'"

"And then they'll say, "no problem at all."

A replacement part can regularly arrive from the company the next day.

"The communication here is tremendously good," Zhluktenko said, noting that they don't have to go through official bureaucratic channels. "It is very direct, and they are very open to help us. They don't need a shit load of documents or anything," he said, telling BI that he hasn't had similar experiences with Western drone manufacturers.

Zhluktenko said that in Ukraine, "manufacturers are acting in their best interest" because if the soldiers think the product is good, the companies "can pitch it to the government, the government can buy it, they could scale the production, and Ukraine can win. I think that is the main motivation here."

A different way of making drones

Different from Russia and many Western nations, the way Ukraine is making its drones comes with a host of advantages and disadvantages.

It breeds innovation and creates a range of drones that Russia has to learn to defeat, but it also creates more work for operators. It is also a lot harder for any individual company to scale up production.

Drones have been used more in Russia's invasion of Ukraine than in any other conflict in history. They have been used for reconnaissance, to track and hit Russian equipment and troops, damage Russian ships at sea, and hit oil refineries in Russia hundreds of miles past the border, among other missions.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine produced 2.2 million drones in 2024 and planned to increase that further in 2025.

But with a smaller military and a smaller population than Russia, Ukraine still needs all the help it can get, and operators are still using Western drones, including ones purchased directly by soldiers or their supporters from other countries.

Ukraine has relied on drones as it dealt with shortages of other equipment, including turning to drones when supplies of ammunition from partners fell short.

Ukraine has received billions of dollars in aid from partners, including the US and Europe, but at times that aid has been insufficient.

Ukraine has increasingly made more of its own weapons as the war has continued in a bid to become more self-sufficient. Its president said 30% of the military equipment it used in 2024 was made domestically.

That matters more as international partners like the US under President Donald Trump become less reliable. Its increased domestic production may not be enough though. Some experts assess Ukraine can only last a few months with no aid from the US.

Europe is boosting defense spending and many allies intend to continue supporting Ukraine, but the US was the single largest individual contributor, and some of the most powerful weaponry it was giving Ukraine has no easy replacement.

• President Donald Trump imposed reciprocal tariffs on more than 180 countries.
• Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said he thinks it's a fitting response to how the US has been treated.
• Lutnick criticized the European Union's tariffs on American poultry, seafood, and beef.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said on Wednesday that President Donald Trump's new reciprocal tariffs are just a response to how the US has been treated on trade.

"The European Union won't take chicken from America. They won't take lobsters from America. They hate our beef because our beef is beautiful and theirs is weak," Lutnick said on Fox News' "Hannity."

Lutnick added that he thought it was "unbelievable" that other countries weren't buying more goods from America. He also accused other nations of ripping the US off.

"Finally, finally, the man behind the Resolute Desk, the man in the Oval Office, Donald Trump, is finally standing up for our farmers, our ranchers, and our manufacturers," Lutnick said. "To let the world understand — either they buy our products, or don't bother coming here unless you are paying for the right to come."

On Wednesday, Trump signed an executive order imposing reciprocal tariffs on countries that have placed tariffs on US goods.

"Reciprocal. That means they do it to us, and we do it to them. Very simple. Can't get any simpler than that," Trump said in his remarks.

Trump said he would charge countries "approximately half" of what those countries have been charging. The tariffs will start at a baseline rate of 10% and affect 185 countries, Trump said.

The European Union was hit with a 20% tariff, while India received a 26% tariff. China received an additional 34% tariff. This is on top of the 20% tariff that Trump had already imposed on China last month, bringing the total to 54%.

Lutnick had called for the use of reciprocal tariffs during his confirmation hearings as commerce secretary in January.

"We are treated horribly by the global trading environment. They all have higher tariffs, non-tariff trade barriers, and subsidies," Lutnick said at his Senate confirmation hearing.

"They treat us poorly. We need to be treated better. We need to be treated with respect, and we can use tariffs to create reciprocity, fairness, and respect," Lutnick continued.

Representatives for Lutnick at the Commerce Department did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

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Trump unveiled sprawling reciprocal tariffs against America's trading partners all over the world.

Scammers could well be among those finding creative — and concerning — uses for ChatGPT's new image generator.

Why it matters: Axios' testing of the new image generator found that the tool generates plausible fake receipts, employment offers and social media ads to invest in Bitcoin.

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Driving the news: ChatGPT adoption has skyrocketed since OpenAI's new image-generating tool launched a flotilla of AI-created art styled after Studio Ghibli, The Simpsons and The Muppets.

• Just as the images went viral, so did the examples for potential exploitation — including the ability to create fake receipts and forged cease-and-desist letters.

Zoom in: While testing the new generator on Tuesday after it was made available to free users, I was able create some pretty basic images of fake receipts, job offers and advertisements for cryptocurrencies.

• When I created a fake receipt for two coffees at a Philz Coffee location, the tool originally created a pretty unbelievable version: It didn't have the company's logo or the unique names for the store's coffees. Even the address wasn't real.
• After some prompting, it was a bit more believable — and ChatGPT had no problem using Philz' copyrighted logo when I asked it to incorporate it.

In further testing, ChatGPT created more fake documents that a scammer could find helpful.

• I asked it to produce an employment document showing someone had been hired to work at Apple as a software engineer, and it did so without any hesitation — even filling out the document with salary information and someone's name.
• ChatGPT also created an "advertisement for social media to invest in Bitcoin."

Threat level: Hackers could use these generated images to lure victims into crypto scams or to assume someone else's identity and gain access to privileged systems.

• "It's no surprise that technology designed to help everyday users work faster also has very applicable use cases for bad actors looking to make their schemes more legitimate and convincing," Doriel Abrahams, principal technologist at Forter, told Axios in an emailed statement.

Yes, but: I did hit some roadblocks. ChatGPT wouldn't let me create a replica of a New Jersey driver's license.

• When I asked ChatGPT to create an "an ID card for someone living in a real city in New Jersey and who was born in 2004," it told me it wasn't allowed, but that it could "create a generic template for an ID card that includes a fictional name, a real city in New Jersey, and a birth year of 2004."
• That ID card template was not super believable though (see below).

Between the lines: ChatGPT's image generator appears to deal with the same prompt hacking problems that most consumer-facing large-language model grapple with.

• OpenAI has guardrails to prevent the most obvious examples of fraud and abuse, but scammers are already finding workarounds.
• An OpenAI spokesperson told Axios that while the company's goal is to "give users as much creative freedom as possible," it does monitor image generations using internal tools and takes actions when it identifies those that violate its policies.
• "We're always learning from real-world use and feedback, and we'll keep refining our policies as we go," the spokesperson said.

What to watch: The researchers and cybersecurity vendors that Axios spoke to haven't seen any clear examples of fraudsters using AI-generated images from the new tool in their schemes — yet.

Go deeper: ChatGPT's new image generator blurs copyright lines

Disclosure: Axios and OpenAI have a licensing and technology agreement that allows OpenAI to access part of Axios' story archives while helping fund the launch of Axios into four local cities and providing some AI tools. Axios has editorial independence.

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• RH's stock plunged 26% after a major tariff announcement.
• The company's CEO cursed when he found out the luxury home furnishing company's stock fell.
• Nearly three-quarters of the company's products come from Asian countries.

RH's CEO had a very relatable reaction when he heard his stock was plunging: "Oh shit."

On an earnings call on Wednesday for the company previously known as Restoration Hardware, Gary Friedman cursed when he found out RH's stock fell 26% after hours as investors reacted to a major tariff announcement.

"We're just really well positioned right now. I think that's the headline. If you're going to bet on somebody in this race, and what's our stock now?" Friedman said. "Oh really? Oh shit, okay. I just looked at the screen."

Friedman said that the stock was hit after Wednesday's "Liberation Day" tariffs were announced because investors recognized the company gets most of its luxury homegoods from affected countries.

In the year that ended in February, RH reported that 72% of its products were sourced from Asia, with significant chunks coming from Vietnam and China. The rest of its Asia goods come from India and Indonesia, the company said Wednesday.

On Wednesday, President Donald Trump announced a 34% retaliatory tariff on China and 46% tariffs on Vietnam. India and Indonesia were hit with 26% and 32% in duties, respectively.

Friedman said that other home decor and furnishing businesses were going through a similar challenge.

"I know most of the businesses pretty well," he said. "So we're all in the same boat."

RH acknowledged that tariffs could hit its business in its annual report.

"Significant uncertainty exists as to whether and when tariffs may be reduced or imposed, and what countries may be implicated. Given that we cannot reasonably predict the timing or outcomes of trade actions by the US government or other countries, the impact of such actions on our business and results of operations remains uncertain," the company wrote.

RH said in the filing that it had begun moving its supply chain away from higher-tariff countries — but that might not be enough.

"The ability to predict tariff rates in different countries may be difficult as policies may change on short notice," the company wrote.

RH reported a 5% increase in 2024 revenue to $3.18 billion, compared to last year. Its stock is down over 37% so far this year.

Governments use import tariffs to encourage local manufacturing, but they drive up the cost of production for businesses that rely on foreign raw materials. These duties are likely to raise prices for everyday goods Americans use. While companies might choose to absorb a portion of the costs, customers usually shoulder most of the burden.

"April 2, 2025, will forever be remembered as the day American industry was reborn, the day America's destiny was reclaimed, and the day that we began to make America wealthy again," Trump said during Wednesday remarks.

• Mike White initially didn't want to cast Blackpink's Lisa in season three of "The White Lotus."
• White was concerned that the music idol — born Lalisa Manobal — was too famous.
• "I'm just used to not having so much attention; we don't need it," White said.

Fans of Blackpink's Lisa almost missed out on seeing their idol in season three of HBO's "The White Lotus."

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter published Wednesday, the show's creator, Mike White, shared that he initially didn't want to cast Lisa — born Lalisa Manobal — in the show.

"I did not know who Lisa or Blackpink was. All I knew was that there was a Blackpink girl in 'The Idol,' and I was like, 'We're not doing that,'" White said, referring to Lisa's Blackpink bandmate Jennie Kim, who was in the 2023 HBO series co-created by Sam Levinson.

"Then I found out that there might be security issues, and I was just like, 'No.' They were like, 'She'll audition,'" White said.

One of the producers on the show, David Bernad, added that the team ended up meeting with Lisa in Thailand.

"We had her come meet us in Phuket at a secret location, and at that point, we'd already met with actresses in Bangkok and had someone we were really interested in. But Lisa was so humble and she'd worked so hard on her performance. This was someone fighting for this part," Bernad told the outlet.

While the music star's audition was "amazing," White said he "still didn't want to cast her" in the show because of her fame.

"I'm just used to not having so much attention; we don't need it. But I wanted to be respectful to Thailand. She's like Taylor Swift meets Princess Diana there," White said.

Blackpink is a South Korean girl group consisting of four members — Jennie, Rosé, Lisa, and Jisoo — originally formed in 2016.

Since their debut, the group has taken the world by storm. In 2023, they became the first Korean act to headline Coachella.

Lisa has 105 million Instagram followers, and she was one of the stars included in Vanity Fair's annual Hollywood Issue cover last year — alongside big names like Zendaya, Glen Powell, and Nicole Kidman.

"I've been performing for a long time, and this opportunity came right when I was trying to find a new challenge. They sent over the script, and I sent a tape back," Lisa told The Hollywood Reporter.

The star added that she took acting lessons before flying to Thailand to meet with the show's creators.

"I was so nervous. I brought my mom," Lisa said.

Representatives for Lisa and White did not immediately respond to requests for comment sent by Business Insider outside regular hours.