Author: Editor

When Bijo Thomas logged onto his computer for a job interview this spring, an AI chatbot named Sophie appeared on the screen.Thomas, a 45-year-old tech professional from Austin, said Sophie resembled a real businesswoman from the neck up, with brown hair pulled back and a white top. She smiled, gestured, and asked follow-up questions during the 30-minute conversation.”It was very realistic,” said Thomas, who got the job — a senior AI solutions architect role at Experis, part of staffing giant ManpowerGroup — after two more interviews, both with humans. He started in May.Employers have long used technology to help sort…

After raising her kids, KeliAnne Piscopo wanted a stable career and a steady income. She thought going to school in her 40s was the solution.So in 2014, she took out nearly $54,000 in student loans from the online school Post University to get her bachelor’s degree in human services. After graduating, she helped run a public school program helping refugees adjust to life in the US.Funding cuts under President Donald Trump ended the program, and her work has since disappeared.Now 59, Piscopo works 70 hours a week at three different jobs, earning an average of $20 an hour. After her…

This is a personal essay written by Howard Steinberg, the author of the memoir, “Confessions of a Problem Seeker: My Lifetime Journey From Busy Brain To Loving Heart.” The following has been edited for length and clarity, reflects only Steinberg’s views, and should not be taken as medical advice. Steinberg is not a medical professional.Psilocybin is illegal under federal law and in most US states. Research into psilocybin-assisted therapy is ongoing, and while early clinical trials have shown promise for some mental health conditions, psilocybin has not been approved by the FDA for general medical use. There is no medical…

As artificial intelligence reshapes the workplace, this former OpenAI researcher has some advice for how professionals can succeed.”For motivated, ambitious, early-career individuals, I now have a clearer perspective on what skills are valuable in the coming decade,” Phil Chen, who has since gone on to found an AI startup, recently said in an online post titled “Career advice in the age of AI.”Chen, who previously worked as a software engineer at Google DeepMind and Scale AI, wrote that as AI becomes more capable of handling “complex, well-defined problems,” the people who will have the greatest impact will be those who…

Computer-driven hedge fund Qube is hiring flesh-and-blood portfolio managers for a new equity unit, according to two people familiar with the firm’s plans.The quant giant, now managing $50 billion across its suite of strategies, is developing a team of portfolio managers who will trade long and short positions in different sectors and report to investor Naveen Baid, the people told Business Insider.The manager, which has seen its assets surge more than 300% since the start of 2024, is diversifying beyond its quant roots, much like other well-known systematic managers.The effort is described as the firm’s first internal group of human…

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Gu Yichen, a 31-year-old Chinese national who lives in California. After being laid off by Google, he returned to Amazon, where he works on an H-1B visa.His words have been edited for length and clarity.I spent my sophomore year of high school as an exchange student in Yacolt, a small town in Washington State.I didn’t realize that participating in the program would lead me to skip China’s entrance exam and set me on a path toward studying abroad for my bachelor’s. This is part of our ongoing coverage of how the Trump administration’s…

If your Instagram account is public, your photos — including your profile picture — may now be fair game for other people’s AI creations unless you change a setting buried in the app.Meta’s new Muse Image model, unveiled Tuesday, lets users generate AI images using public Instagram posts by tagging another person’s account in a prompt.Public accounts are opted in by default, allowing others to reuse posts, reels, and profile photos unless users manually switch the feature off.The controls are only available in the Instagram app, under the “Sharing and reuse” tab in the settings menu, where users can disable…

A view of Levi Strauss & Co. headquarters on July 8, 2026 in San Francisco, California. Heather Diehl | Getty ImagesLevi Strauss beat Wall Street’s quarterly expectations on the top and bottom lines on Wednesday, leading the retailer to increase its guidance and its dividend. The denim maker is now expecting full-year adjusted earnings per share to be between $1.46 and $1.52, up from a prior range of between $1.42 and $1.48. At the high end, that’s ahead of expectations of $1.50 per share, according to LSEG. Levi also raised its top line outlook and is now expecting full-year sales to rise…

None of the retailers had the cheapest item in every category, but if it weren’t for my seemingly lucky week and Kroger card, Walmart would have.Walmart got me the lowest-priced basket this time — though the savings weren’t as big as I’d expected, given that I specifically shopped the chain’s price-dropped items. Kroger really held its own in this battle.Even so, I’d definitely keep an eye out for Walmart’s future rollbacks and Kroger’s weekly coupons and deals.This particular price drop aside, I’ve often found competitive grocery prices at Walmart, and I appreciate how the chain’s rollbacks typically last at least…

Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett speaks at the Reagan Library on Sept. 9, 2025, in Simi Valley, Calif. Barrett discussed and signed copies of her new book, Listening to the Law: Reflections on the Court and Constitution. Mario Tama/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Mario Tama/Getty Images Even as the Supreme Court was handing down one legal thunderbolt after another last week, the justices were quietly releasing their annual financial reports. Justice Samuel Alito was the only sitting justice to request an extension, which he has done for 15 years. The disclosures do not give a complete account of…