Author: Editor

Sparkles Homes, which makes a bevy of bedazzled products for discount stores like HomeGoods, was under pressure when tariffs hit their supply chain. AI ended up being a lifesaver for the business, automating various processes and reducing marketing costs.”I know there’s a lot of people worried about AI taking jobs, but, for us specifically, that’d be the only reason why the company is still in business,” said founder and CEO Brandon Lind. “And why the five people that still work for me do still have a job.”A growing cohort of small business owners is using AI to cut costs and…

People wave U.S. flags to celebrate becoming U.S. citizens after taking the oath of allegiance during a naturalization ceremony in Boston in January 2025. Joseph Prezioso/AFP via Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Joseph Prezioso/AFP via Getty Images Stay up to date with our Politics newsletter, sent weekly. The Trump administration’s sweeping effort to slow down the rate of legal migration has affected a group traditionally immune from such efforts: spouses of U.S. citizens. The administration has implemented a slew of policy changes since President Trump returned to the White House last year, ranging from pausing immigrant visas for people…

For years, fast-food chains fought to steal customers from one another. Increasingly, their biggest competition may be coming from the grocery aisle.As inflation-weary consumers rethink what counts as a good value, supermarkets’ expanding prepared-food offerings are becoming a viable alternative to a drive-thru meal. New foot-traffic data from location analytics firm Placer.ai suggests that the shift is beginning to show up in Americans’ choices about where to eat.Restaurant traffic has softened overall this year, but the pain hasn’t been evenly distributed. Quick-service restaurants have struggled while fast-casual chains, casual dining restaurants, and fine dining have proved more resilient.One reason is…

Jonathan Ross, Groq’s former CEO, says his steep learning curve as a founder came at a hefty cost.”I was a terrible leader. I was one of the world’s worst leaders when I started,” Ross said on an episode of the “Founders” podcast released on Sunday. He recounted his management mistakes early in the chipmaker’s journey.”The first thing that you have to do as a founder is you have to go from the technical thing that you know how to do and that you can add value with, to learning how to manage people,” Ross said. “For me, that probably cost…

Stephen Huang had spent decades building chips in Silicon Valley when ChatGPT’s launch convinced him the market was ready for the AI chip company he had long considered building.By then, Huang had worked on MediaTek’s GPUs, Apple’s Face ID technology, and at an Amazon AI chip team.When ChatGPT burst onto the scene in late 2022, Huang became convinced the industry had reached a turning point. “I felt the market had arrived,” he said.So at 55, Huang decided to start over.In 2024, he founded Tranxform AI, a Taiwan-based AI chip startup developing power-efficient processors designed to run AI models outside large…

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Sara Wilczynska, the founder of Swil Arts Studio. She left her job as a software engineer at Google, spent a year traveling with her partner, and discovered watercolors in Thailand. Her words have been edited for length and clarity.I was born in Warsaw in the 1980s, when Poland was still a communist country. I remember witnessing the shift into capitalism.I earned a master’s degree in computer science from the University of Warsaw, interning in Barcelona and studying abroad in Edinburgh along the way.At 25, I moved to London to work as…

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with John Goldstein, a 75-year-old retiree in Newark, New Jersey. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.Like the vast majority of retired people in our country, I live on a fixed income.I live with my partner, who is also retired and on a fixed income, and it’s not a choice to think a lot about the cost of food.And it’s not just the cost of food. The costs of housing and healthcare have had a huge impact on us. Paying the Medicare premium eats up whatever cost-of-living adjustment Social Security…

Editor’s note: In February 2025, Business Insider wrote about a medical professional named “Daniel,” who was secretly juggling two full-time remote jobs and on track to earn about $280,000. (Daniel is a pseudonym, but Business Insider has verified his identity and employment.) Read that story here. In a recent interview, Daniel shared how his overemployment situation has evolved.When Business Insider spoke with Daniel last year, secretly juggling two full-time remote healthcare jobs was relatively straightforward.Since then, one employer has required him to come into the office a couple of days each month. The other one is now tracking how he…

Being a freelance writer and editor means I have the flexibility to work from wherever, whether that’s on a hospital bed getting induced, late at night after the kids go to sleep, or in a nice hotel on a work trip.It’s not always glamorous, but it certainly has its moments, and it’s a joy to include my family when possible.When I went on a three-day work trip to Palm Springs — about a 2½-hour drive from our home in San Diego, but closer to 3½ with all the pit stops — I was happy that the hotel allowed me to…

In August, I quit my steady job as a New York City public high school teacher to start a full-time graduate program in Manhattan. I worried about the choice not only because I loved my work with the kids, but also because I had traded a consistent paycheck and affordable health insurance for tens of thousands of dollars in tuition.When I was teaching, I prepared for the cost by scrimping to save every cent I could. But my account balance still wouldn’t fully cover two years of school and living expenses.Throughout my savings journey, I learned a lot of lessons,…