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  • Musk Construction owner renaming company due to Elon Musk’s politics

    Musk Construction owner renaming company due to Elon Musk’s politics

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    When Steve Riabov started his Silicon Valley construction company six years ago, his hero was another business entrepreneur: Elon Musk.

    Riabov thought if he modeled his home kitchen and bathroom remodeling business after the “bold, adventurous, and daring” tech leader, it would help his company blossom into a multi-million-dollar home-building enterprise. So he named his firm Musk Construction

    But in recent months, Riabov, 35, has become disillusioned with his idol, who has metaphorically and literally taken a chainsaw to the federal government as head of President Donald Trump‘s Department of Government Efficiency. Riabov, a native of Ukraine, was also deeply upset by Musk’s recent comments about his home country.

    So, he’s now committed to purging Musk from Musk Construction ‒ even though it will cost him between $15,000 and $20,000 to get a new company trademark and permits. And he’s already removed the Musk Construction logo from the company’s red Tesla vehicles, along with the vanity plates, “MUSK UP” and “MUSK INC.”

    “I can’t stand it,” Riabov told USA TODAY. “I no longer align with all of his values. I have to change the name.”

    What’s in a name?

    It’s not clear how many other entrepreneurs named their companies after Musk when he was building a reputation as a national hero. So, it’s not clear whether others, like Riabov, are now having second thoughts.

    But clearly, Musk’s reputation has changed since the days when he was valorized as the man who became the richest in the world by leading Tesla and SpaceX and co-founding the online payment site PayPal.

    Recent polling shows many Americans now have an unfavorable opinion of Musk, whoalso owns or co-founded the social media site X (formerly Twitter), Neuralink, which is developing implantable brain-computer interfaces, the artificial intelligence company xAI, and The Boring Company, which provides tunneling technology ‒ none of which he named after himself.

    Now, with sales slowing and even some clients who signed contracts backing out for fear of possible affiliation with Musk, Riabov feels the association is hurting rather than helping his company’s bottom line.

    “I’ve come too far to stop now,” Riabov said about the name change. “There’s no going back. Too many people are relying on me.”

    Musk, whom Riabov has never met, did not respond to a request for comment.

    One expert who researches the interaction between corporations and political actors said Riabov’s decision to change his company’s name makes sense.

    Strategic decisions matter, especially in the face of economic conditions facing downturns,” said Dinesh Hasija, a business professor at Augusta University in Georgia. “As long as your company name aligns with its core values, strategic vision, and your customers’ values, it’s more likely to pay off.”

    Path to an idol

    In 2014, Riabov was living in Luhansk, Ukraine, when he said the Russian military invaded his hometown as part of the Donbas invasion.

    Riabov said he was kidnapped on suspicion of being a spy for Ukraine and spent two weeks being tortured in a basement. He shakes his head while recalling the situation and grabs a copy of his self-published autobiography, “Hitchhiking To A Million – The Story of Ukraine Refugee,” where he wrote about the experience, for support.

    He pauses, collects himself, and quickly says, “I saw people die in there. I could’ve died in there and my dreams would’ve died with me. With his mother’s help in identifying him, the kidnappers eventually released him.   

    Riabov fled Ukraine with his then-girlfriend, an English teacher, as 2015 approached. They hitchhiked through Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, China, Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia and Thailand.

    They applied for tourist visas to the United States. With financial help from friends and family, the couple hitchhiked back to Malaysia and flew to Los Angeles with only $70 between them when they arrived in America, Riabov said.

    “We were naive, but determined to make a life for ourselves,” he said.   

    After sleeping on the streets for two weeks in L.A., they hitchhiked north to San Ramon, California. There, they applied and were granted political asylum, making them eligible to work.

    For the next two years, Riabov, who spoke limited English, toiled as a handyman doing odd jobs in the area, living in his boss’s garage, to save money, Riabov said. 

    His English improved by reading books and listening to audiobooks on creating businesses and biographies about entrepreneurs like Steve Jobs and Richard Branson. But he gravitated toward “Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future,” by Ashlee Vance.

    “Musk’s drive was motivating,” Riabov said. “He was determined to build things on Mars, and I was like, ‘He’ll need some help. Why can’t it be me?’” 

    Riabov applied for a Limited Liability Company (LLC), and by 2019, formed his construction company in San Jose, and chose to name it in honor of Musk.

    “I figured out it should be something sharp, interesting, inspired and focused,” Riabov, who attained American citizenship last year, said somberly. “I thought it was a good idea.”

    Using Musk’s name became ‘bad for business’

    But late last year, Riabov began to worry the Musk name might be “bad for business,” as the entrepreneur became more entrenched with Trump’s presidential campaign.

    Riabov said that it became too much for him and his staff in February when Musk supported Trump’s public dressing down of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and blamed Zelenskyy for Russia’s 2022 Ukrainian invasion.

    Riabov was further incensed when Musk described Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., as a “traitor” over his support of Ukraine and called for the termination of all U.S. aid to the country.

    “I almost cried, it’s so insane,” Riabov said. “Ukraine is trying to survive, and now America is taking such a different stance.”

    Then, Musk Construction sales representative Anthony Khrypchemko told him a client they had signed for a major bathroom remodel backed out.

    “We had the paperwork signed and everything, but they saw an online interview of Steve praising Musk from about six, seven years ago, and because of that, they said ‘We’re not going with you guys,’” Khrypchemko said.

    The company’s overall sales have been well in the seven figures for the past two years, but now they’re “a bit on the slower side,” Khrypchemko said.

    Riabov said the company doesn’t know how much potential business it may have lost due to its name. He asked his staff, which includes workers in Silicon Valley and across Ukraine, Poland, Germany, Georgia and Portugal, if they should rename it.

    They said yes, without hesitation and unanimously voted to rename the company, RISE Construction.

    “It became really necessary to disassociate. Musk used to be our inspiration, whose ideas were so amazing, progressive and inspiring,” said Sofie Rokishchuk, Riabov’s assistant who works remotely from Ukraine. “But that’s all changed. It’s crucial for us, as Ukrainians, to present a strong and united front. To let everyone know we don’t stand by (Musk’s) ideology.”

    Riabov said the challenge remains convincing clients that his construction company, which now includes building new homes, provides quality work.

    “We haven’t heard anybody tell us we should stick with the old name,” Riabov said. “That’s a plus for us.”

  • Developers Say to Stay Ahead in AI, ‘Burn the Boats.’

    Developers Say to Stay Ahead in AI, ‘Burn the Boats.’

    It’s not uncommon for AI companies to fear that Nvidia will swoop in and make their work redundant. But when it happened to Tuhin Srivastava, he was perfectly calm.

    “This is the thing about AI — you gotta burn the boats,” Srivastava, the cofounder of AI inference platform Baseten, told Business Insider. He hasn’t burned his quite yet, but he’s bought the kerosene.

    The story goes back to when DeepSeek took the AI world by storm at the beginning of this year. Srivastava and his team had been working with the model for weeks, but it was a struggle.

    The problem was a tangle of AI jargon, but essentially, inference, the computing process that happens when AI generates outputs, needed to be scaled up to quickly run these big, complicated, reasoning models.

    Multiple elements were hitting bottlenecks and slowing down delivery of the model responses, making it a lot less useful for Baseten’s customers, who were clamoring for access to the model.

    Srivastava’s company has access to Nvidia’s H200 chips — the best, widely available chip that could handle the advanced model at the time — but Nvidia’s inference platform was glitching.

    A software stack called Triton Inference Server was getting bogged down with all the inference required for DeepSeek’s reasoning model R1, Srivastava said. So Baseten built their own, which they still use now.

    Then, in March, Jensen Huang took to the stage at the company’s massive GTC conference and launched a new inference platform: Dynamo.

    Dynamo is open-source software that helps Nvidia chips handle the intensive inference used for reasoning models at scale.

    “It is essentially the operating system of an AI factory,” Huang said onstage.

    “This was where the puck was going,” Srivastava said. And Nvidia’s arrival wasn’t a surprise. When the juggernaut inevitably surpasses Baseten’s equivalent platform, the small team will abandon what they built and switch, Srivastava said.

    He expects it will take a couple of months max.

    “Burn the boats.”

    It’s not just Nvidia making tools with its massive team and research and development budget to match. Machine learning is constantly evolving. Models get more complex and require more computing power and engineering genius to work at scale, and then they shrink again when those engineers find new efficiencies and the math changes. Researchers and developers are balancing cost, time, accuracy, and hardware inputs, and every change reshuffles the deck.

    “You cannot get married to a particular framework or a way of doing things,” said Karl Mozurkewich, principal architect at cloud firm Valdi.

    “This is my favorite thing about AI,” said Theo Brown, a YouTuber and developer whose company, Ping, builds AI software for other developers. “It makes these things that the industry has historically treated as super valuable and holy, and just makes them incredibly cheap and easy to throw away,” he told BI.

    Browne spent the early years of his career coding for big companies like Twitch. When he saw a reason to start over on a coding project instead of building on top of it, he faced resistance, even when it would save time or money. Sunk cost fallacy reigned.

    “I had to learn that rather than waiting for them to say, ‘No,’ do it so fast they don’t have the time to block you,” Browne said.

    That’s the mindset of many bleeding-edge builders in AI.

    It’s also often what sets startups apart from large enterprises.

    Quinn Slack, CEO of AI coding platform Sourcegraph, frequently explains this to his customers when he meets with Fortune 500 companies that may have built their first AI round on shaky foundations.

    ” I would say 80% of them get there in an hourlong meeting,” he said.

    The firmer ground is up the stack

    Ben Miller, CEO of real estate investment platform Fundrise, is building an AI product for the industry, and he doesn’t worry too much about the latest model. If a model works for its purpose, it works, and moving up to the latest innovation is unlikely to be worth the engineer’s hours.

    “I’m sticking with what works well enough for as long as I can,” he said. That’s in part because Miller has a large organization, but it’s also because he’s building things farther up the stack.

    That stack consists of hardware at the bottom, usually Nvidia’s GPUs, and then layers upon layers of software. Baseten is a few layers up from Nvidia. The AI models, like R1 and GPT-4o, are a few layers up from Baseten. And Miller is just about at the top where consumers are.

    “There’s no guarantee you’re going to grow your customer base or your revenue just because you’re releasing the latest bleeding-edge feature,” Mozurkewich said.

    “When you’re in front of the end-user, there are diminishing returns to moving fast and breaking things.”

    Have a tip? Contact this reporter via email at ecosgrove@businessinsider.com or Signal at 443-333-9088. Use a personal email address and a nonwork device; here’s our guide to sharing information securely.

  • Trump promised Day 1 economic boom. Americans are still waiting.

    Trump promised Day 1 economic boom. Americans are still waiting.


    Nearing Trump’s 100th day in office, economy isn’t getting better for most, with tariffs, stock market convulsions and high grocery bills.

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    From near the bottom rung of the economic ladder, certified nursing assistant Traci Dixon looks a long way up to the White House, occupied by billionaire President Donald Trump.

    For more than 20 years, the Independence, Missouri, woman has struggled to pay her bills, feed her family and make sure the kids get to school. She’s seen Democratic and Republican presidents come and go, celebrated and suffered from the ups-and-downs of the nation’s economy, and kept her wife by her side as they’ve raised kids and grandkids.

    But despite Trump’s promises of a rapid economic turnaround, life has never felt tougher than right now, she said.

    “I felt this year was going to be a dramatic change for all the better,” said Dixon, 37, who was working a long shift on Election Day and didn’t vote in last year’s presidential election. “But there’s all this darkness that’s already here and it’s only April.”

    Nearly 100 days after Trump took the oath of office for a second time, consumer and business sentiment is spasming from widespread federal job cuts, a ping-ponging stock market and president’s on-again, off-again tariffs.

    Leading economists are predicting the U.S. could enter a recession, and millions of Americans are struggling with the continuing high cost of gas and groceries while getting buried beneath a growing mountain of credit card bills and car payments.

    Business leaders are desperate for a few weeks of consistent policy, farmers have seen their federal food funding contracts dry up, and nonprofits across the country are laying off staff as the White House slashes spending.

    Trump’s tariffs in particular have injected broad uncertainty into the economy, with some businesses already passing those additional costs to consumers, who have been rushing to buy big-ticket items in anticipation of higher prices, according to JPMorgan analysts.

    Delivering on campaign promises

    As he first battled incumbent President Joe Biden and then Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump promised big changes to the nation’s economy, and he’s delivering on some of them.

    Pushed by tariff threats, some large companies, including Apple, Johnson & Johnson and Abbott Labs have announced they’re investing hundreds of billions of dollars in new factories to produce cars, computer chips and pharmaceuticals.

    The stock market has bounced around under Trump ‒ it’s down about 9% since he took office, and wiping billions from the 401Ks and retirement accounts of people across the political spectrum. But many of the president’s supporters remain committed.

    On Cape Cod in Massachusetts, two-time Trump voter James McMorrow, 22, said he appreciates that gas prices have eased ‒ it now costs him $60 instead of $90 to fill up his vintage BMW sedan. Before the election, McMorrow worked a construction job 40 hours a week, then tied on an apron as a restaurant server.

    Now, he said, he’s got a better construction job paying 50% more than he was earning previously, allowing him to quit the $18-an-hour serving job.

    “I wouldn’t say everything he’s doing is moving in the right direction, but it seems to be going well overall,” he said. “I feel like with Harris, nothing would have changed, and it would have gotten worse because nothing would have changed.”

    McMorrow said he’s been saddened to watch immigration agents detaining and deporting Brazilian immigrants who make up a significant portion of the Cape’s workforce. The Portuguese fishing heritage of the area has long drawn Brazilians to fish or work construction, and McMorrow said he considered many of them friends.

    “There a lot of good people getting deported, which I’m not a fan of,” he said. “I wish there was a better way to weed out the bad ones and Trump is just doing everyone. Unfortunately, I really do think it’s worth it.”

    ‘I will immediately bring prices down’

    Trump specifically promised to end inflation on Day 1, cut energy bills in half within 12 to 18 months through expanded oil drilling, and bring down food costs right away.

    “When I win, I will immediately bring prices down,” Trump said during the campaign.

    In interviews with hundreds of voters across the country last year, USA TODAY reporters overwhelmingly found that those who supported Trump believed he would be best for the economy. They said they trusted his policies would lead to higher wages, lower prices and more affordable housing.

    Unlike McMorrow, Dixon said she’s not yet seeing much relief.

    She’s particularly sensitive to gas prices ‒ her family rents a double-wide trailer 15 miles from where she works, and said she sometimes calls in sick when a tank of gas for her 2013 Nissan Pathfinder costs too much to make it worth the drive. Her family’s old apartment was much smaller but closer to work.

    “Living nowadays is just hard,” Dixon said. “I feel like 20 years ago things were still a struggle, but it was easier.”

    Inflation slowed slightly in March ‒ rising 2.4% compared to 2.8% in February ‒ which means prices in general fell 0.1%, driven largely by a 10% drop in gas prices, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Travel costs, including airplane tickets also dropped, in part because Americans dialed back their vacation plans, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

    During the campaign, Trump specifically promised to drive gas prices below $2 per gallon. AAA reports that the national gas price average in mid-April was $3.22, up from $3.08 in March but down from $3.61 a year ago. The recent high was about $4.75 per gallon in summer 2022, driven up by Americans hitting post-pandemic roads.

    The uncertainty is having an impact on Trump’s popularity: Most Americans now express little or no confidence in how Trump is handling the economy, a new Pew Research Center survey shows.

    Trump’s poll numbers sinking

    Last November, Americans, by a margin of 59% to 40%, said they were very or somewhat confident about Trump’s ability to make good decisions about economic policy. In the new poll, that assessment has flipped. Now, 54% say they have little or no confidence in his handling of the economy, while 45% are confident.

    During their respective campaigns, Democrats Biden and Harris often discussed measures they had taken to shore up the American economy, which fared better after the COVID-19 pandemic than other large nations.

    Trump meanwhile keyed into the emotions of Americans who saw the prices of eggs, gas, food and car insurance skyrocketing. Trump assured them he could fix things ‒ fast.

    Instead, financial experts say Trump may be discovering an important fact about the presidency: It’s hard to bring prices down and frighteningly easy to tank the stock market.

    In the weeks after stocks plummeted following Trump’s “Liberation Day” announcement on tariffs, Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell began warning Trump’s approach will lead to higher costs, higher inflation and rising unemployment. The stock market has slid when Trump has attacked Powell, and risen when he’s backed off threats to try fire him.

    Trump has urged Americans to keep the faith: “BE COOL! Everything is going to work out well. The USA will be bigger and better than ever before!” he said in an April 9 social media post.

    ‘Medicine’ is causing pain now

    Nationally, leading Republican lawmakers say they’re confident the president’s plans will ultimately unleash a new era of American prosperity driven by low taxes and limited government, even if it means short-term pain. 

    They said it will inevitably take more than 100 days to reverse the decades of hollowing-out of American manufacturing of everything from generic drugs to ships.

    While Biden often prioritized policies that provided targeted assistance to low-income Americans, building the economy from the bottom up, voters endorsed Trump’s plan to shrink the size of government. He’s promised to remove taxes on tips, overtime and Social Security, and continue tax cuts that primarily benefited the wealthy, passed during his first term.

    Trump argues his tariff policy will generate vast wealth for the country, allowing tax rates to drop even further.

    “We are doing really well on our TARIFF POLICY. Very exciting for America, and the World!!! It is moving along quickly,” Trump wrote on Truth Social earlier in April.

    But data suggests the “medicine” Trump’s administering is causing Americans pain now.

    The Yale Budget Lab predicts the average household will pay an additional $3,800 this year due to Trump’s tariffs, particularly those impacting food and clothing.

    Shaking up the stock market, driving up the price of cars and houses, and failing to quickly lower grocery costs adds to the damage in a country where the collective household debt now runs more than $18 trillion.

    Requests for help from the national 211 helpline have been growing since the COVID-19 pandemic, when the government handed out billions in dollars to taxpayers, businesses and human-service agencies. That funding has largely now ended.

    Last year, the 211 service, which is supported by the global nonprofit United Way, received more than 16.8 million requests for assistance, with housing, food and utilities topping the list. United Way officials noted that they serve anyone who calls ‒ and that both natural disasters and personal crises affect people of all political persuasions.

    “It is a lifeline into what is happening within communities at very granular levels,” said United Way CEO Angela Williams said of the 211 call volume. “We tend to overlook the emotional drain and mental health impact and trauma that not having money for food or to pay bills has on people. People are too proud to ask for help.”

    Dixon, the Missouri nursing assistant, was one of those who did ask. Although she and her wife both work fulltime, the three-bedroom, two-bathroom trailer they rented farther away from work in 2022 costs $750 a month more than their previous two-bedroom apartment, where they crammed in six people for two years.

    She counts herself lucky that the kids get two meals a day when school is in session.

    “Even though the cost of living is going up, my paycheck isn’t going up. I’m working as hard as I ever have been working but…” she said, her voice trailing off. “We’re blessed to have the jobs that we have, but a lot of places don’t give raises.”

    ‘Times are tough out there.’

    Nationally, Americans are increasingly pulling money from home equity lines of credit, slapping down credit cards or turning to buy now, pay later services. Credit card delinquencies are hitting levels not seen in more than a decade, the New York Federal Reserve reported, and overall credit card balances have risen more than 7% in a year.

    “Times are tough out there. Times are really hard,” said Aaron Washington, 50, of Chicago.

    Washington lost his family’s California home to foreclosure about two years ago when prices rose and the family’s income shrank. He moved into his car, battling addiction as he traveled the country looking for a job he could hold down.

    Washington said he bounced around the country for about two years before nearly ending his life in front of a train in Chicago. 

    An intervention team got him stabilized and then helped him find a residential drug-treatment center. He’s now living in bridge housing but got hurt recently while working. As he‘s aged, he said, his body couldn’t handle the industrial packaging jobs that once paid the bills.

    He said he worries government cuts will harm the nonprofit and health care services that helped him, but he’s also skeptical that government has all the solutions. He said that thanks to the grace of God and his own hard work getting sober, he’s pulling himself together.

    But he’s not optimistic about the future as he edges closer to the typical retirement age.

    “To me, the economy feels like a dark dangerous alley, walking down with all of the little money you have in the world, hoping you don’t get clubbed over the head,” he said. “If you are at the bottom, it’s a lot harder to punch up right now. I can’t imagine making it to middle class in the next 10 years.”

    This story has been updated with additional information.

  • Ranking all 32 teams’ 2025 classes best to worst

    Ranking all 32 teams’ 2025 classes best to worst

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    Now complete, the 2025 NFL draft will go down as one of the league’s more memorable ones – though it’s destined to mostly be remembered for Colorado QB Shedeur Sanders’ free fall to the fifth round, which made Aaron Rodgers’ infamous wait 20 years before seem like a mere glitch.

    The Sanders saga aside, this draft also produced the drama, head-scratching decisions and OMG moments inherent to the annual “Player Selection Meeting.” And speaking of any draft’s endemic components, it’s now time to prematurely grade its results … about three years before that’s a remotely fair exercise. But we eat from microwaves far more routinely than slow cookers, right?

    One note about the report card methodology: As I grade each team, the goal is to pull back for a big-picture look at its performance holistically rather than judging from a narrow perspective that doesn’t include trades and other considerations that more accurately frame the decisions.

    With that in mind, here are your ridiculously hasty 2025 NFL draft grades, with team classes ranked from best to worst:

    A team that had to get a transfusion of offensive talent – regardless of circumstances, but especially to give QB Drake Maye a fighting chance in his second NFL season – wisely spent its first four picks on that side of the ball. First-round OT Will Campbell, second-round RB TreVeyon Henderson, third-round WR Kyle Williams and third-round C Jared Wilson will likely not only play significant snaps as rookies – even if they’re not all necessarily starters – but could all have exceptional impacts. Henderson’s could be the most noticeable given his ability to thrive on every down – though the large chunks he rips off as a runner and the protection he provides on passing downs should most benefit Maye.

    They might have gotten the draft’s best player in OLB Abdul Carter, who could be a reasonable facsimile of fellow Penn Stater Micah Parsons … even if Carter doesn’t understand he’s not worthy of wearing GOAT OLB Lawrence Taylor’s No. 56. But to get back into the first round for QB Jaxson Dart, essentially at the cost of two third-rounders and with no reason to play him prematurely with Russell Wilson and Jameis Winston round, might be the move that truly gets this franchise back on course … while keeping HC Brian Daboll and GM Joe Schoen in their posts. All that aside, good odds that bulldozing fourth-round RB Cam Skattebo winds up as the favorite pick of Big Blue’s starved fans.

    No. 6 overall pick Ashton Jeanty was one of this draft’s few apparent blue-chippers and should instantly catalyze what was the league’s worst ground game in 2024. Aside from being inspirational, second-rounder Jack Bech might immediately emerge as new QB Geno Smith’s top wide receiver. Third-rounders Darien Porter, a corner, and Charles Grant, an offensive tackle, could wind up as high-quality starters at mid-range draft cost. Seemingly nice debut by rookie GM John Spytek.

    Notable that they hired a defensive-minded coach – and one of the best corners in franchise history – in Aaron Glenn only to opt for an offensive-centric draft, and one that seemed modeled on the Lions blueprint Glenn saw work so well as their defensive coordinator. First-round RT Armand Membou and second-round TE Mason Taylor, son of former Jets OLB Jason Taylor, should either provide immediate help to new QB Justin Fields … or whomever replaces him in a year or two. Third-round CB Azareye’h Thomas will be tested opposite Sauce Gardner but represents good value. Fourth-round WR Arian Smith is pure speed, which could open the field for Mason and WR Garrett Wilson. Glenn and rookie GM Darren Mougey nicely drove the fairway on their first tee shot.

    Let’s call this a progress report grade – at least until they officially have Rodgers in the building (though worth noting that HC Mike Tomlin didn’t seem too worried about it during an NFL Network interview Saturday). But assuming Rodgers ultimately arrives, he should walk into a locker room that’s more talented than the version that qualified for the playoffs last season. First-round DL Derrick Harmon could be the next Cam Heyward, even as he plays alongside the perennial All-Pro in the short run. Fourth-round OLB Jack Sawyer should juice a pass rush that already had plenty of it beyond T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith. But the real delta here could be third-round RB Kaleb Johnson, perhaps a substantial upgrade from departed Najee Harris and who ought to really thrive if a heavily resourced offensive line fully jells in 2025. And getting Ohio State QB Will Howard in Round 6 at least indicates something of a developmental plan for a team that’s spun its wheels behind center since Ben Roethlisberger retired.

    It might not have been exactly what the fan base was hoping for – Jeanty – but owner Jerry Jones and his front office generally do a pretty solid job this time of year. Aside from being a bully on the field, first-round G Tyler Booker not only fills a need but could provide fresh leadership in the locker room in time. Second-round DE Donovan Ezeiruaku and third-round CB Shavon Revel Jr. were certainly worthy of being taken a round earlier than they were. Fifth-round RB Jaydon Blue brings sub-4.4 speed if not the background to suggest he can shoulder the load on the ground. Receiving depth behind WR CeeDee Lamb still looms as a significant question.

    EVP/GM Howie Roseman isn’t satisfied unless he’s made a few trades, added blockers … and reeled in a University of Georgia defender. Check, check and check, ex-Bulldogs LB Smael Mondon Jr. arriving in Round 5. Nearer the top, it’s also very Roseman to get a sublime talent such as multi-dimensional LB Jihaad Campbell, who could fill multiple needs in Philly once his shoulder is sound, at the end of Round 1. Same goes for second-round S Andrew Mukuba. Sixth-round QB Kyle McCord could blossom into a quality backup in time. And, yes, Roseman added three O-linemen.

    Nice to see them break their 23-year streak of not taking a wideout in Round 1, especially considering what Matthew Golden can bring to this offense in terms of game-changing speed and clutch plays. GM Brian Gutekunst stuck with the TLC theme for the offense, adding OT Anthony Belton in the second round and a nice toy in the third with plus-sized WR Savion Williams (6-4, 220) – the classic “find a way to get the ball into his hands” guy.

    Already set up nicely in 2026 with extra picks in Rounds 2, 3 and 4 – two courtesy of the Laremy Tunsil trade to Washington – GM Nick Caserio did a nice job working the board this year, too. And the focus was helping QB C.J. Stroud after a slight sophomore slump largely beyond his control. Moving forward, he’ll operate behind a promising blocker – second-rounder Aireontae Ersery – on a new-look line and will be throwing to talented former Iowa State WRs Jayden Higgins (Round 2) and Jaylin Noel (Round 3), who round out a receiver group that was wiped out at times in 2024.

    All NFL news on and off the field. Sign up for USA TODAY’s 4th and Monday newsletter.

    Mid-rounders like CB Caleb Ransaw, OL Wyatt Milum and RB Bhayshul Tuten all have nice upside, lightning fast and powerful Tuten in particular. But rookie GM James Gladstone’s first draft will be completely defined by the bold move to trade up three spots for WR/CB Travis Hunter with the second overall pick – a gambit that also cost the Jags their second-rounder and a first in 2026. Yet Hunter just might be the generational prospect worth the price – especially if he can become a security blanket for QB Trevor Lawrence while Brian Thomas Jr. hits the home runs. And maybe Hunter provides situational reps at corner.

    They got a “joker” … on defense. DB Jahdae Barron might turn out to be a steal with the 20th pick and could elevate an already formidable D to the elite tier. Second-round RB RJ Harvey will give the ground game needed horsepower, though it remains to be seen who primarily shares the load since he wouldn’t seem well suited at his size (5-8, 205) to take 20 touches a game in the NFL. Third-round WR Pat Bryant has a chance to chip in early.

    GM John Schneider and HC Mike Macdonald sure have been busy transforming the roster during a frenetic offseason. That continued in a draft that should be a boon to the present and possibly the longer-range future. First-round OL Grey Zabel addresses a clear and present need at guard. Second-round S Nick Emmanwori, whom Schneider moved up for, could be the next coming of Kam Chancellor. Second-round TE Elijah Arroyo will also have a chance to be a significant presence in a new-look passing attack. But the obvious wild card is third-round QB Jalen Milroe, a tantalizing prospect whom the Seahawks should have the luxury of developing on a reasonable timeline … especially if new QB1 Sam Darnold retains his newly found Pro Bowl form.

    This haul will rise or fall depending on the success, or lack thereof, realized by No. 1 overall pick Cam Ward. And while there’s not a ton of doubt the Titans got this year’s best quarterback – and filled a glaring need in doing so – what’s less clear is how good Ward actually is. After pulling out of the 2024 draft – when he likely would have been no better than the sixth quarterback selected – he truly blossomed at the University of Miami. Whether that success and his alpha personality translate to Nashville is TBD, but rookie GM Mike Borgonzi was confident enough in Ward to resist the significant trade overtures he received. As for the rest of Borgonzi’s first crop? Meh?

    After watching their defense and blocking collapse in Super Bowl 59, HC Andy Reid and GM Brett Veach targeted fortifications – first-round LT Josh Simmons the most intriguing, particularly if he’s available ahead of schedule coming off the torn patellar tendon he suffered last October. Reid expressed confidence in Simmons’ progress, so the Chiefs might have committed quite the heist. Second-round DT Omarr Norman-Lott, third-round DE Ashton Gillotte and third-round CB Nohl Williams could all provide valuable reps immediately, the latter potentially allowing All-Pro Trent McDuffie to revert to slot duties.

    There’s a reason underrated GM Mickey Loomis has been on the job for a quarter century. Good chance he just about perfectly married value to need with his first three selections, who might all be starters in 2025: First-round OT Kelvin Banks Jr., second-round QB Tyler Shough and third-round DL Vernon Broughton. Third-round S Jonas Sanker and fourth-round LB Danny Stutsman could find themselves in prominent roles – and making an impact – soon enough.

    From a football perspective, they got two standouts in the first two rounds with S Malaki Starks and OLB Mike Green, respectively – each addressing what are among the few needs for one of the league’s powerhouses, Starks likely to start from Day 1. Green led FBS with 17 sacks in 2024 and could make an immediate splash, too. Still, as much as GM Eric DeCosta defended Green’s selection, it’s a pretty bad organizational look. The Ravens have significant issues here currently with K Justin Tucker (who they are apparently in the process of replacing with sixth-rounder Tyler Loop) and in their past – yet chose a guy with multiple sexual assault allegations in his past (Green has denied both). Baltimore is a more talented football team today than it was a week ago, but at what cost?

    First-round TE Tyler Warren fell into their lap at No. 14 – and could be ideal for a team that ought to be running the ball while providing help to its muddled quarterback situation … which has a new ingredient in sixth-rounder Riley Leonard, most recently of Notre Dame. Second-round DE JT Tuimoloau arrives at the intersection of value and need.

    It’s gotten to a point where GM Brad Holmes and HC Dan Campbell are almost above reproach as it pertains to their roster-building acumen. Did DT Tyleik Williams seem like a bit of a reach at the end of Round 1? Maybe … but you tell Holmes and Campbell they’re wrong. Second-round G Tate Ratledge seems made to order for this culture while patching a hole.

    GM Jason Licht is another guy – one who doesn’t seem to get deserved credit – who does a heckuva job in the draft-and-develop space. A bit surprising the Bucs went with a wideout – Emeka Egbuka – in Round 1, but he’s among this draft’s safest players … and Mike Evans isn’t getting any younger (though Egbuka’s game more closely resembles Chris Godwin’s). The team needed reinforcements at corner, and second-rounder Benjamin Morrison and third-rounder Jacob Parrish should check that box nicely. Might have been nice to see NT Vita Vea get some help on the D-line, though.

    Not especially sexy, but second-round TE Terrance Ferguson, third-round OLB Josaiah Stewart and fourth-round RB Jarquez Hunter should all be able to claim instant roles on a team that could be the biggest threat to the Eagles in the NFC next season. But the big win was GM Les Snead obtaining the Falcons’ first-rounder in 2026, which he might need for QB Matthew Stafford’s successor.

    They’re not afraid, that’s for sure – and the decision to take QB Michael Penix Jr. at No. 8 a year ago has aged well despite all the handwringing at the time. This year, GM Terry Fontenot snagged OLB Jalon Walker at No. 15, potentially one of this draft’s best selections – particularly given the Falcons’ years-long inability to rush the quarterback. Yet dealing back up to No. 26 for OLB James Pearce – generally nothing wrong with doubling down – will likely render as the tipping point. Pearce’s talent is undeniable, so there was a reason he was still available at that juncture. Also, Fontenot mortgaged that 2026 first-rounder to get him – quite a risk since this team doesn’t exactly appear ready to win the Super Bowl given it still hasn’t managed to win the NFC South since 2016. Safeties Xavier Watts (Round 3) and Billy Bowman Jr. (Round 4) will add juice to a secondary that shed Justin Simmons.

    This defense badly needed attention, so credit GM John Lynch for earmarking his first five picks on it. First-round DE Mykel Williams and second-round DT Alfred Collins could help Nick Bosa get back to being the dominant player he should be. Third-round LB Nick Martin ought to flourish alongside All-Pro Fred Warner.

    It was a lighter class in part because veteran CB Marshon Lattimore came at the price of a third- and fourth-rounder at last year’s trade deadline, a transaction that has yet to bear sufficient fruit. Still, GM Adam Peters did a nice job while picking OT Josh Conerly Jr. in the first round and CB Trey Amos in the second. Fourth-round WR Jaylin Lane could capably take over for departed Dyami Brown as the deep threat.

    A team that seems oh-so-close to its first Super Bowl win didn’t seem to come out of this draft with that player or two who seem capable of putting it over the top. We’ll see how the trade up for DT T.J. Sanders in the second round plays out, but going heavy on defense – including Round 1 CB Maxwell Hairston and Round 3 DE Landon Jackson – seems sensible given how the AFC East champs faltered on that side of the ball down the stretch in 2024.

    GM Ryan Poles, who’s known for his aggressive maneuvers, continues to build out the support system for second-year QB Caleb Williams. But did Poles hit the optimal notes? Time will tell if first-round TE Colston Loveland was the correct choice over Warren. Poles also stood pat at No. 39 and wound up with WR Luther Burden III, who loosely compares to Deebo Samuel, but Chicago missed out on what appeared to be this draft’s top running back prospects. Poles did wind up with three stabs in Round 2, and DT Shemar Turner might have been the best of the trio (OT Ozzy Trapilo being the other).

    Could be an especially wide variance of outcomes with their first two picks, first-round DT Walter Nolen and CB Will Johnson – the latter’s knee likely to determine if he was a steal or a player with diminishing returns. Third-rounder Jordan Burch joins a D-line that may be morphing from weakness to strength.

    Nothing wrong with amassing quality depth. But what if it’s overly redundant? First-round RB Omarion Hampton might not need long to displace fellow banger Najee Harris, but would a back like Henderson have provided a better change-of-pace option? Second-round WR Tre Harris is a nice player but not the deep threat this passing game seemingly needs. Outside corner and tight end remain open questions.

    From a macro perspective, they resourced their draft properly by investing heavily in the defense and offensive line – this team’s major issues in 2024 giving up too many points and its ongoing penchant for getting QB Joe Burrow sacked three times a week. But first-round DE Shemar Stewart is your classic boom-or-bust prospect – how often does that work out in Cincinnati? – and going for a pair of linebackers afterward seemed a bit … odd. The best thing that arguably “happened” was retaining 2024 Defensive Player of the Year runner-up Trey Hendrickson on the roster, though it’s past time to address his woefully underfunded contract.

    They might have overspent on WR Tetairoa McMillan at No. 8. And they might have struck gold on OLB Nic Scourton at No. 51. Fourth-round RB Trevor Etienne is a nice player, though it’s worth wondering if GM Dan Morgan should have attacked other parts of the roster given the presence of recently extended RB Chuba Hubbard and newly signed Rico Dowdle in the backfield.

    Previous deals left them with one pick in the top 100, though taking G Donovan Jackson was prudent with QB J.J. McCarthy coming back from his knee injury … even if Jackson is a Buckeye protecting a Wolverine. Otherwise, a team that spent freely in free agency seemed largely relegated to targeting depth.

    They absolutely needed to get tougher in the trenches – on both sides of the ball. So from that standpoint, spending their only picks ahead of the fifth round on DT Kenneth Grant (Round 1) and G Jonah Savaiinaea (Round 2) made sense. Conversely, were they both slight reaches relative to their draft position or even the best available options at their respective positions? The team’s spotty track record, especially on the O-line, makes one wonder.

    Think this assessment is a copout? Fine. But there’s no legitimate way to know what to make of this until the bigger picture comes into focus – at least a year from now. It’s tough to even know where to begin.

    But let’s start with Thursday, when the Browns stunningly vacated the No. 2 spot and opportunity to take Hunter, the 2024 Heisman Trophy winner quite possibly a generational prospect – not to mention one who seemingly would have fit well onto this roster and was glowingly praised by GM Andrew Berry the week before the draft. But Berry punched out and wound up with DT Mason Graham (No. 5 pick) and battering ram RB Quinshon Judkins (No. 36 pick) as part of the compensation – both very good football players and doubtless Week 1 starters. Second-round LB Carson Schwesinger should also be instantly productive, while electric fourth-round RB Dylan Sampson could be a fantastic foil to Judkins, who paired so well with Henderson at Ohio State.

    But what to make of the quarterback situation, which was the scintillating tandem of Joe Flacco and Kenny Pickett a week ago? By obtaining Jacksonville’s 2026 first-rounder, the Browns seemed well positioned to draft a passer next year, which is expected to have far better options as it pertains to the slingers likely inbound from NIL land. Taking former college star Dillon Gabriel, most recently of Oregon, in Round 3 added intrigue to the mix – which, sure, fine.

    But by taking Sanders in the fifth round, the quarterback situation is now as muddled as ever (and this is a team that’s been paying Deshaun Watson a fully guaranteed $230 million to be horrible), the body language of Berry and HC Kevin Stefanski after taking Sanders leading many to wonder if owner Jimmy Haslam had mandated the pick. Put such speculation aside, and Berry and Stefanski tried to downplay it afterward. Stefanski is a two-time Coach of the Year who’s gotten a ton out of this roster – when Watson isn’t on the field, and he won’t be in 2025 after multiple Achilles surgeries. Yet the worse the Browns are next season – and, just maybe, the worse Sanders is (and after all the NFL has already put him through) – the better the shot Cleveland will have to get a 2026 rookie quarterback who could quite reasonably be clearly better than anyone currently on this depth chart.

    So, yeah … get back to me in a year.

  • People are using AI travel tools to plan their vacations

    People are using AI travel tools to plan their vacations

    With summer travel season just around the corner, millions of Americans are already gearing up to get on the road. Travelers are taking to AI to skip most of the hard part: planning. 

    “Things are always moving a mile a minute and my time is very limited –so I need information and I need it fast, and I need it accurate,” said BrandBomb PR CEO Lindsay Feldman.  

    A screen showing a ChatGPT prompt.

    Lindsay Feldman used ChatGPT to help plan her work trip. (Sunny Tsai / FOXBusiness)

    Feldman owns a PR agency, and she recently used ChatGPT to plan a work trip. 

    “I was basically getting the answers that I needed in that moment, and instantly,” said Feldman.

    AI can figure out travel details, even down to the nitty-gritty of public transportation.

    “It mapped out from my starting point to where the closest train station was and what train to get on and if there were any transfers involved, which was such a game-changer,” said Feldman.

    ChatGPT also takes your requests and includes them in an efficient plan.

    “I’m going to Hawaii this weekend, so it created a whole itinerary, how the day’s going to go,” said Tyler Bennett, who uses AI to plan her vacations.

    A phone screen showing an Apple Map

    Tyler Bennett created an Apple Map guide with all the places she wants to visit in Hawaii. (Sunny Tsai / FOXBusiness)

    Bennett made an Apple Map guide with places she wants to visit and shared it with ChatGPT.

    “I’m just going to use this as an outline or guide, and then maybe add more things to it later,” said Bennett.

    Other AI tools can also help with travel.

    “You can go to Gemini and say, Hey, help me find flights within my budget, show me YouTube videos of things I can do once I get there. And it’ll pull from both across Google’s products and across the web to make it really easy,” said Google Technology Expert Sarah Armstrong.

    Google Gemini screen showing the responses it pulled from across the web.

    Google Gemini can pull information from across Google’s products and the web to make planning more efficient. (Sunny Tsai / FOXBusiness)

    Google Gemini has personalized AI assistants that are tailored to you.

    We introduced something called Gems, which is sort of like your own personal AI assistant for whatever you want it to be. So I have a travel Gem in Gemini…it’s the chat function where I consistently go back to it for travel planning. And it’s really learned my preferences, which is great. So, I don’t have to start with a new prompt over and over again,” said Armstrong.

    AI ENERGY DEMAND IN US WILL SURGE BUT ALSO PROVIDE OPPORTUNITY TO MANAGE ENERGY

    One tech company is taking AI travel one step further.

    A phone showing text messages of the AI-platform booking a flight

    Using Miso’s platform could save travelers time when looking for and booking flights. (Miso / FOXBusiness)

    “We’ll just do it for them, they just text us. So it’s basically having a travel agent in your pocket that will find you the best deal and then save you time if any issue arises,” said Miso Founder Martin Mrozowski. “We want to help our customers get the best deals for their flights and hotels. Automate that experience, automate the support aspects of it, all the headaches and hassles that come along with travel.”

    REAL ID DEADLINE FOR TRAVELERS, SOME FEDERAL BUILDING ACCESS QUICKLY APPROACHING

    Miso is an AI-powered booking platform that remembers your information.

    “It’ll know what your preferences are. It’ll know any frequent flyer numbers, TSA numbers, and it’ll optimize for getting the best deal…it knows literally everything about you,” said Mrozowski.

    GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE

    Miso also works on the client’s behalf to deal with airlines on claims and refunds when a flight is canceled or delayed. All of this is made possible by a simple text message. 

    Just like anything else, AI is not perfect, so it’s probably a good idea to always double-check the information you get. 

  • Elon Musk May Leave DOGE, but Firings Are Heating up

    Elon Musk May Leave DOGE, but Firings Are Heating up

    Elon Musk said he’s backing away from DOGE in May, but that doesn’t mean the federal worker firings are over.

    In fact, they’re only heating up.

    While the first era of DOGE firings continues to face legal issues, the next set could be on stronger footing. That’s because agencies have the chance to craft more methodical plans. In particular, many are offering buyout-like deferred resignation plans for workers to voluntarily quit in exchange for months of paid administrative leave.

    These methods could prove to be on a more solid legal footing than the first round of firings, which focused on new or newly promoted workers, cited low performance ratings, and did not provide notice. It all means that the DOGE ethos is alive and well in the federal government, with or without Musk.

    How round 2 of firings is different

    Musk and DOGE spent much of the last three months overseeing a wave of probationary federal workers. Those workers were at the start of their tenure in their new roles, including internal promotions. They have fewer protections than longer-serving federal employees.

    That round of cuts saw several snafus because, rather than targeting specific programs, DOGE simply removed many people who had been working for less than a year or two. That led to scenarios like workers who handle the nuclear stockpile or study bird flu getting fired and then ultimately rehired. It also faced legal issues, with a judge ordering in March that those workers needed to be reinstated.

    Going back to the drawing board with terminations means a chance to execute reduction-in-force plans, or RIFs, that follow proper procedures.

    “I think probably the courts have done a huge favor to DOGE by putting people back in their office until they can do a more well-calculated RIF,” Michele Evermore, a senior fellow at the left-leaning think tank the Century Foundation, said.

    The White House and DOGE office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from BI.

    Over the past month, new RIFs have gone out. The Department of Education announced in March that it was terminating over 1,300 workers, slashing its workforce by 50%. The Small Business Administration said it would reduce its workforce by 43%.

    The Department of Health and Human Services had already started terminating employees as part of its plan to slash 10,000 from its workforce.

    While the next round of reductions appears to be more targeted, it doesn’t mean they’re immune to litigation.

    Federal worker unions have vowed to fight back. Doreen Greenwald, president of the National Treasury Employees Union, said in a statement that the union would “pursue every legal avenue to stop this unprecedented attack on the very foundation of our national government.”

    It’s unclear if they’ll have a case. David Super, an administrative law professor at Georgetown Law, said that the plans may vary by department, and some could be more vulnerable to legal challenges than others.

    He added that it’s “entirely possible that those agencies work really, really carefully and produce correct RIF plans.”

    Federal workers are getting the option to quit before they’re fired

    In lieu of RIFs, some agencies are choosing another acronym: DRPs. Deferred resignation programs are the next round of the “Fork In The Road” that offered employees early resignation earlier in the year, and might be an easier solution for those aiming to trim head count because workers voluntarily opt into them. Bloomberg reported, for instance, that nearly 20% of Department of Labor workers have opted for voluntary separation. Some Social Security Administration employees have also received a DRP.

    Two internal emails at the Internal Revenue Service, viewed by BI, said that over 10,000 agency employees applied for the second round of the deferred resignation program and that further reductions in force are coming.

    While DRPs might help the government shed workers, the payout could end up being less than the severance provided in a RIF, said Alan Lescht, an employment attorney specializing in federal workers.

    “They’re trotting this out to people who are being targeted for RIFs or could potentially be in a RIF. And for federal employees that are like that, the RIFs may actually provide a larger payout,” Lescht said. And, opting into a DRP means workers are giving up rights to their positions — essentially, forfeiting the ability to be reinstated. He suggests workers take a “deep dive” into their job prospects before opting out.

    “For many people, it may turn out that the best option is to stay and fight because the government has to satisfy a lot of requirements in order to justify a firing under the RIF rules,” Lescht said. “The RIF rules are very extensive and very complicated, and it’s very likely that with the speed with which the government is moving, that they will make mistakes.”

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  • See who attended, what happened

    See who attended, what happened


    President Donald Trump did not attend the event. He has not been to the dinner since 2015, and never attended during his years in office.

    play

    From “The White Lotus” to “Breaking Bad,” a handful of actors, entertainers and other notable figures turned up for the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, an event that President Donald Trump and his administration opted to skip.

    The annual dinner, which raises funds to support the journalists who cover the president, was held at the Hilton in Washington, D.C. The event is famous for being an inside-the-Beltway opportunity to poke fun at U.S. presidents and unite celebrities, media executives and luminaries under one roof.

    Trump, who has not attended the dinner since 2015, indicated he would not attend the gala. He did not attend it during his first term as president. He and first lady Melania Trump attended the funeral of Pope Francis in Rome on April 26. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said previously that she would not attend either.

    Last year Colin Jost, a “Saturday Night Live” standout known for cohosting the sketch show’s “Weekend Update” segment, headlined the affair.

    That’s usually how these evenings go. But unlike at previous dinners, a comedian did not headline the April 26 dinner. The White House Correspondents’ Association disinvited Amber Ruffin after she was booked to appear. The decision came after White House staffers criticized comments made by Ruffin that were critical of the Trump administration.

    Association President Eugene Daniels explained the thinking in a note to press colleagues in March, saying:”At this consequential moment for journalism, I want to ensure the focus is not on the politics of division but entirely on awarding our colleagues for their outstanding work and providing scholarship and mentorship to the next generation of journalists.”

    Here is a roundup of what happened at the 2025 White House Correspondents’ Dinner.

    Jason Isaacs, Dean Norris and other celebs walk the red carpet

    The red carpet at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner featured a smattering of celebrities, including Jason Isaacs, who starred on Season 3 of “The White Lotus,” Dean Norris, who played Walter White’s DEA agent and brother-in-law in “Breaking Bad,” and Tim Daly, who played Henry McCord on “Madam Secretary.”

    Lynda Carter, known for her portrayal of Wonder Woman in the 1970s TV series of the same name, actress Alex Borstein, from “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” and “Family Guy,” and “Shark Tank” personality, Kevin O’Leary, also appeared at the event.

    ‘What we are not is the enemy of the people’

    After awards were bestowed upon an array of journalists, Daniels, president of the WHCA, discussed threats to journalism. He paused to thank previous U.S. presidents who attended the dinner in years prior.

    “We don’t invite presidents of the United States to this because it’s for them, we don’t invite them because we want to cozy up to them or curry favor (and) we don’t only extend invites to the presidents who say they love journalists or who say they’re defenders of the First Amendment and a free press,” Daniels said. “We invite them to remind them that they should be.”

    Daniels acknowledged Trump’s absence before screening a video compilation of previous presidents at the event, including clips of Joe Biden, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan.

    Daniels defended journalism, a profession he said is under attack nationally and globally:

    “What we are not is the opposition. What we are not is the enemy of the people. And what we are not is the enemy of the state.”

  • Brands target AI chatbots as users switch from Google search

    Brands target AI chatbots as users switch from Google search

    Stay informed with free updates

    Advertising groups and tech start-ups have been racing to find ways to help brands boost their likelihood of surfacing in results from artificial intelligence chatbots, marking a new era of “search engine optimisation”.

    Companies such as Profound and Brandtech have developed software for monitoring how frequently brands were surfaced by AI-powered services such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Anthropic’s Claude and Google’s Overviews feature.

    Brands such as fintech company Ramp, jobs search site Indeed and Pernod Ricard-owned Scottish whisky maker Chivas Brothers have adopted the software. They are hoping to reach millions of users who regularly use generative AI products as a new method to search for information online — a shift that poses a long-term threat for Google’s main business.

    “This is about much more than just getting your website indexed in their results. This is about recognising large language models as the ultimate influencer,” said Jack Smyth, partner at marketing technology group Brandtech, which has created its own interface for brands. 

    These new tools are able to predict an AI model’s sentiment towards companies by feeding a slew of text prompts to chatbots and analysing the results. The technology is then used to create a ranking of brands, allowing agencies to advise on how best to ensure they are mentioned by the models.

    The moves come as advertisers face pressure from the rising use of AI to create and target their marketing. Meta and Google have been developing self-serve tools for running ad campaigns directly to brands, in a potential threat to the work of agencies and media buyers. 

    Some agencies are spotting the opportunity to offer new services to brands as AI becomes more prevalent and so-called search engine optimisation becomes less relevant.

    Research from consultancy Bain found that 80 per cent of consumers now rely on AI-written results for at least 40 per cent of their searches, reducing organic web traffic by up to 25 per cent. About 60 per cent of searches now end without the users clicking through to another website, its research found.

    However, on Thursday, Google’s parent company Alphabet announced its core search and advertising business grew almost 10 per cent to $50.7bn in the first quarter of the year.

    The strong results provided reassurance to investors concerned about the growing popularity rival AI chatbots such as Elon Musk’s Grok, while also being on alert for evidence that answers from Google’s own Gemini chatbot and AI summaries are cannibalising its search business by reducing the number of user clicks on ads.

    Still, agencies are racing to help corporate clients trying to appear within the results generated by AI services.

    Brandtech has created a ‘Share of Model’ product that charges brands to see similar analysis and offers guidance on adjusting website text and image assets to better serve AI search.

    Profound, which raised $3.5mn in seed funding in August led by Khosla Ventures, offers a data analytics platform which allows brands to track common queries related to their industry and understand their performance in AI searches.

    “Traditional search has been one of the biggest monopolies in the history of the internet,” said James Cadwallader, co-founder of Profound. “And for the first time, it feels like the castle walls are cracking. This is a CDs to streaming moment”.

    The software requires an understanding of how the individual models surface brands. ChatGPT, for example, uses a traditional web search and then evaluates the different sources for what information is most relevant for the user, including assessing the credibility and authority of the website.

    Adam Fry, OpenAI’s ChatGPT search lead, said users are being more nuanced and precise in the questions they are asking, such as “can you find a quiet restaurant for a family of five in New York”, instead of “restaurants in New York”.

    “The really new thing here is you have a layer of ChatGPT’s model, a layer of intelligence above traditional search,” said Fry.

    Meanwhile, Perplexity, an AI-driven search engine, is currently piloting sponsored “questions” as a suggested follow-up after a user query.

    “LLMs understand more content and can be more nuanced. They can find contradictions or find if information is misleading . . . so it’s a much more thorough process than reviewing links,” said Denis Yarats, co-founder of Perplexity. “It is much harder to be a target of SEO because the only sort of true strategy is to be as relevant as possible and provide good content.”

    Data visualisation by Janina Conboye

  • David Sacks Says Elon Musk Not Out of DOGE, in ‘Maintenance Mode’

    David Sacks Says Elon Musk Not Out of DOGE, in ‘Maintenance Mode’

    David Sacks, the White House crypto czar and close friend of Elon Musk, said on the latest All-In podcast that Musk’s decision to spend less time at the White House DOGE office is indicative of his management style at his companies.

    On the Friday episode, Sacks said that Musk is simply running DOGE like he typically runs his other companies, recalling the Twitter acquisition. Sacks was invited to help Musk purchase the social media platform and was a trusted confidant during the transition.

    “I saw this before when I was part of the Twitter transition — is that for the first three months or so he was basically full time at Twitter HQ, learning the business down to the database level. I mean, every nook and cranny of that business, he learned about,” Sacks said. “Once he felt like he had a mental model and he had the people in place that he trusted, he could move to more of a maintenance mode.”

    Musk said on Tuesday’s Tesla earnings call that he’ll scale back his time at DOGE and focus more on his EV company. The CEO said he’ll spend a day or two a week on his government work “as long as it is useful.”

    The decision comes after investors and Wall Street analysts pleaded for the chief executive to re-align his priorities back to his company, as Tesla experienced sluggish sales and backlash from some of its core customer base.


    David Sacks and Elon Musk

    David Sacks has a long personal and business relationship with Elon Musk.

    Patrick McMullan/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images



    Sacks said Musk’s method is how he can simultaneously manage multiple companies, and the CEO can now step back from DOGE.

    Musk “has these intense bursts where he focuses on something, gets the right people and structure in place, feels like he understands it, and then he can delegate more,” he said. “And I think that he has reached that point with DOGE.”

    The venture capitalist said Musk isn’t completely stepping down from his government role but is instead rationing his time in the White House. Musk is limited to 130 days per year as a designated special government employee.

    “My sense is that DOGE is going to continue, it’s just that Elon is shifting to a mode where he can manage it one day a week or two days a week as opposed to being there five days a week,” he said.

    While Sacks is not known to be a member of the DOGE team, the venture capitalist has had a yearslong personal and business relationship with Musk that can be traced back to their executive roles at PayPal. The two are part of what later became known as the PayPal Mafia, which also includes Peter Thiel and Reid Hoffman.

    Musk and Sacks did not respond to requests for comment.