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Good morning. Linda Yaccarino has stepped down after two years as CEO of X.

She was hired by Elon Musk with the goal of revitalizing the platform's advertising business. Her most crucial responsibility turned out to be something else: a clean-up crew for Musk.

A global team of BI reporters has broken down how she went from Musk's fixer to out of a job in two years.

In today's big story, a Sequoia Capital partner's tirade against Zohran Mamdani signals venture capital's extreme new "fame game."

What's on deck:

Markets: Nvidia just made it into the stock market hall of fame. Test your knowledge of the market's hottest company.

Tech: Big Tech is hiring contractors to train its AI chatbots not to lecture you.

Business: Federal workers react to the Supreme Court allowing DOGE cuts.

But first, they're getting louder …

If this was forwarded to you, sign up here.

The big story

Venture capital's extreme fame game

Do you hear that? The clatter of keyboards. The clash of opinions. The clamor of social media posts going viral.

It's the sound of tech investors becoming very loud online.

One of those investors is Sequoia Capital's Shaun Maguire. In a July 4 post, Maguire wrote that New York City mayoral hopeful Zohran Mamdani "comes from a culture that lies about everything" and sought to advance "his Islamist agenda."

Maguire's post racked up more than 5 million views, became national news, and prompted an open letter demanding that Sequoia make a public apology, signed by self-identified employees of Microsoft, Google, and Apple.

Maguire's response to the outrage heralds a new era: He doubled down.

A second open letter followed the first, this time offering support to Maguire, signed by the likes of Josh Wolfe and David Marcus.

In a market where the demand for capital outweighs the supply, investors can afford to ruffle feathers. It may even benefit them.

Venture capital is largely "a fame game," says a VC at a multistage firm. "We all sell the same money. So brand awareness matters a lot, both in seeing and in winning deals."

The situation is also precarious for founders who disagree with Maguire. Speaking out risks severing a critical relationship with Sequoia.

For early-stage VCs, that relationship can mean the difference between a modest outcome and a breakout win, especially when Sequoia leads a later round and drives up the valuation.

Elite VCs have learned they can be loud, bold, and polarizing, and still secure deals, BI's Melia Russell writes.

3 things in markets

1. Nvidia makes market history — to the tune of $4 trillion. The chipmaker added a new achievement, becoming the first-ever company to hit a $4 trillion market cap on Wednesday morning. (Test your knowledge of the company and its milestones with BI's Nvidia Trivia.)

2. Three things could spoil the market's "Goldilocks" setup. The market is in an ideal place where economic growth isn't too hot or too cold, but there are still significant risks, Goldman Sachs said. Stagflation, interest rate shock, and further dollar declines could all upend a coming rally.

3. Trump Media wants to launch a crypto ETF. The Truth Social parent company submitted an S-1 filing with the SEC on Tuesday to launch the Truth Social Crypto ETF. The new fund would hold mostly bitcoin alongside other top tokens. It's the latest move by Trump and his companies to deepen ties to crypto.

3 things in tech

1. Is your AI chatbot judging you? Tech companies, like Google and Meta, are using contractors to crack down on "preachy" chatbot responses, training documents exclusively obtained by BI reveal. AI and human researchers told BI that "preachiness" is among the most important aspects for model companies to tackle because it can instantly put users off.

2. We've answered the question you're too afraid to ask. As xAI's chatbot makes headlines for controversial rants, you may be wondering, what actually is Grok? From the instructions Grok's "tutors" are given to help train the chatbot to the AI's latest update, here's everything we know about the chabot (which is actually two different things).

3. Law firms' new competition isn't a law firm. "Law Firm 2.0" is a small, fast, and inexpensive business that uses AI to handle routine legal matters. It was launched by LegalTech Lab, an accelerator that's looking to boost more companies rethinking how legal services are delivered.

3 things in business

1. The Supreme Court is allowing DOGE cuts. What happens now? The mood among federal workers is bleak — they're scared for their own security and worried about the future of public service. Agencies could fire en masse or offer buyouts. Here's how further cuts could play out.

2. Can you spell T-Mobile without DEI? The carrier thinks so. In a letter to the Federal Communications Commission, it said it's ending diversity policies "not just in name, but in substance." T-Mobile has been waiting for FCC approval on two separate deals, each reportedly valued at over $4 billion.

3. Prepping for ICE. Companies have plans for extreme weather and workplace violence, and now some are planning for immigration raids — even if they believe everyone on their payroll is legally permitted to work in the US. Human resources, crisis management, and legal professionals say having a plan ensures workers and customers stay extra safe.

In other news

• Amazon Flex workers' schedules aren't so flexible after all, a new report suggests.
• How Tony Hawk spends his 5-to-9: From playing with his grandson to his creatine routine.
• Trump's border policies are interrupting honeymoons, weddings, and vacations.
• 8 million student-loan borrowers enrolled in Biden's affordable repayment plan are about to see their balances grow again.
• Pricing data shows Trump's tariffs are making some US-made products more expensive.
• A Whole Foods executive shares three leadership tips that help her in the C-suite.
• NATO is stepping up its anti-submarine warfare game. This flying hunter is key, a top admiral says.

What's happening today

• Delta Air Lines reports earnings.

• OPEC launches annual World Oil Outlook.

  ---

  Hallam Bullock, senior editor, in London. Akin Oyedele, deputy editor, in New York. Grace Lett, editor, in New York. Amanda Yen, associate editor, in New York. Lisa Ryan, executive editor, in New York. Ella Hopkins, associate editor, in London. Dan DeFrancesco, deputy editor and anchor, in New York (on parental leave).

• The New York Fed analyzed the mid-career wages of college graduates with a bachelor's degree.
• Graduates aged 35 to 45 in 19 areas of study had a median wage of at least $100,000 a year. 
• Ten of those 19 college majors were related to engineering.

When undergraduate college students choose their majors, there can be several factors that go into their decisions.

But if maximizing one's future earnings is high on their priority list, some areas of study have a better track record than others.

A New York Fed analysis of 2023 American Community Survey data found that college graduates who majored in one of 19 areas of study had a median mid-career wage of at least $100,000 a year. The New York Fed defined mid-career as people between the ages of 35 and 45. The analysis of 73 majors and groups of study only included people with a bachelor's degree — no additional graduate school education — and used what's noted as people's first major.

One general area of study accounted for 10 of the 19 spots: engineering.

Aerospace engineering majors had the top median mid-career wage of $125,000, per the analysis. Three other engineering fields followed behind — computer, chemical, and electrical.

Jaison Abel, the head of microeconomics at the New York Fed, told Business Insider that engineering is a great example of the type of college major that has the quantitative skills businesses tend to want.

"There is a bit of a premium on the demand side, and also these are relatively challenging majors to get through," Abel said. "When you've got quite a bit of demand for the skills and not as much supply of the types of people who are coming in, that's going to make wages overall go up and be high."

Computer science, economics, and finance were the three non-engineering majors with the highest mid-career median wages. Across all the majors analyzed, the median mid-career wage was $83,000 a year.

While the prospect of high mid-career earnings is likely attractive to many students, this appeal hinges on actually landing a job in their field of study — a feat that has become increasingly difficult for some college graduates.

A New York Fed analysis of unemployment data showed 5.8% of recent college graduates in the labor force between the ages of 22 and 27 were unemployed in March, up from 3.9% in October 2022. Absent the pandemic-related spike and its recovery over the next year, that's the highest rate since 2013.

Student loans and the cost of college may affect how a degree is valued

As college tuition rates have risen in recent decades, many Americans have taken on a considerable amount of student debt. In 2024 dollars, the average price for tuition and fees at private nonprofit, four-year schools has increased 30% from the 2004-05 academic year to $43,350 for the 2024-25 academic year. Public, four-year in-state schools are much cheaper, but their average cost has also climbed during that timeframe. Housing and food expenses make the cost of school even higher.

The average American consumer with student loans had a debt balance of about $35,000 as of the third quarter of last year, per Experian data. That's a decline from the average in the third quarter of 2023.

This changing landscape has caused some people to question whether college is a worthwhile investment. In response to these concerns, some high school graduates have gone straight to the workforce, while others have opted for alternative paths, like community college or trade schools.

Not all job openings require someone to have a particular level of education. However, sometimes a college degree is preferred for a job seeker. Automaker Stellantis said in a previous statement that "most non-bargaining unit positions (salaried) require an associate's or bachelor's degree," but also noted that "for some positions, a degree might be a preferred qualification which would open those up to people who can demonstrate proficiency in other ways."

College graduates who majored in early childhood education had the lowest median mid-career wage, at $49,000 a year. Other types of education majors had relatively low mid-career median wages, such as secondary education.

• I thought I'd live in New York City forever, but I hit my breaking point and moved to Nashville.
• I could enjoy many things I love about city life and get more space for less. I even fell in love.
• It's been about a decade since my move, and I'm happily living here with my husband and two kids.

New York or nowhere. It's a T-shirt and an Instagram, but it was also my personal motto for most of my young life.

I was born in the Bronx, got my first post-college apartment in Queens, spent nearly a decade in a fifth-floor walk-up in Manhattan, and brought my first baby home to Brooklyn.

In high school and college, I spent time living in Connecticut, Poughkeepsie, and Scotland, but always felt the draw back to NYC.

By age 30, I'd spent most of my life in the city, and was living my own NYC dream working at a buzzy women's media company.

I had never imagined living anywhere else. Then, I hit my breaking point.

After a reality check, I gave myself permission to leave New York

New York wasn't just my city; it was a huge part of my identity.

However, I was burned out at my job, underpaid, and commuting hours on the subway between Manhattan and my shoebox of an apartment in Crown Heights.

I was paying a nanny most of my salary just so I could have the privilege of … not seeing my newborn.

After each day speed-editing dozens of articles and pumping breastmilk in a closet at the office, I would sprint to the subway at 7 p.m. in hopes of seeing my son while he was still awake.

I would never make it back in time. I'd kiss his sleeping face, pay the nanny, and cry.

By the time my son outgrew his bassinet and needed to transition to a crib, it became clear my tiny apartment was too small for us.

A crib and an adult bed didn't fit in the space, so I gave the latter away and spent the last six months of my New York life sleeping on a bedroll on the floor.

And I finally gave myself permission to consider the impossible: leaving. I just wasn't sure where to go next.

Nashville wasn't the plan, but it was the answer

I knew I wanted to live in a city, but I needed somewhere cheaper (and way more chill) than New York.

I didn't want to relive my teen years in the Connecticut suburbs, or even that blissful but too-quiet year in college when I lived on the coast of northern Scotland.

I wanted my son to grow up in a real community: walking to public school and the playground and pizza parlor like I did as a little kid in the Bronx. I wanted to take him to museums and music venues.

Soon, Nashville was on my radar — once I factored in my other wants, it seemed like the biggest, most diverse, most affordable city I could afford.

I told my employer I was moving, and that I could quit or they could let me go remote. They let me keep my job. I bought a four-bedroom house in East Nashville with a monthly mortgage that was close to half my rent in Brooklyn.

My new block had coffee shops, bars, a pharmacy, a pizza parlor, a bodega, and a vintage store that was also an art gallery that was also a music venue. So Brooklyn! I felt right at home.

Sure, at first everything felt … slow. I didn't live near downtown, so the bustle dial was turned way down.

Initially, it was hard to sleep without sirens and shouting outside my window. But as the weeks turned into months, I started to notice I was breathing easier.

Nashville gave me more space — not just physical space (for a crib and a bed, imagine!) but space in my day that was no longer spent commuting, hauling a stroller up and down stairs, and rushing to the laundromat.

It gave me more accessible green spaces than New York had; my son and I could be out on a hike within 20 minutes, no Metro-North train ride necessary.

Without a long commute, I had time to make real dinners, to lounge on porches, and to get to know my neighbors. I made friends, joined a nonprofit, and started teaching yoga at the local studio.

I had the emotional space to date around casually and have fun.

When my son was 2 ½, I met one particular musician. He was calm but passionate, goofy but grounded, Southern polite but also punk rock. He loved my son.

By year five in Nashville, we were married. Year six, he adopted my son. That same year, our second son was born.

Moving was the best decision I was scared to make

There's a common fear among people who leave big cities that we're somehow giving up. I definitely felt it.

I worried that moving to a smaller city would mean trading ambition for comfort. My work changed, yes.

I later shifted away from a traditional media job into freelance and consulting work, but I'm making more money now since I'm paid per project rather than being expected to work endless hours for an unchanging salary.

Now, I work smarter, not harder. I live smarter. I've stopped defining myself solely by my ever-climbing corporate media job title, or my precious 917 area code.

Nashville gave me the space to grow in unexpected directions. I have a garden, I volunteer, and I made friends who didn't care about who I worked for. I built a community that is unparalleled in its supportive and radically inclusive nature.

This city isn't perfect, but it's become home. At the time, leaving New York felt like the biggest risk of my life. Today, I think of how scared I was of the best decision I ever made, and laugh.

It's been nearly a decade since I left New York, and although I still visit my "hometown" often and miss it dearly sometimes, I don't regret the move for a second.

Well, maybe I just regret not leaving 10 years earlier.

• Imoved to Italy for work, but about two years later, I learned my contract wouldn't be renewed.
• Without citizenship or savings, I had to leave the life I was starting to build behind.
• Now, I'm back in the US, working to get back to the place where I finally felt like myself.

I never really thought I'd live in Italy.

Sure, my dad was from there, but we weren't one of those families who had dual citizenship or spent summers on the Amalfi Coast. I didn't even speak Italian — but one opportunity changed everything.

Just over a month after my dad passed away, I'd been let go from my job and was cold-emailing brands I admired, when I landed a marketing role with an Italian beauty company.

The role offered the chance to relocate to Italy, and I thought, why not? What once felt like a distant dream suddenly became real, as if my dad was guiding me toward this new chapter in my life.

I slowly built a life in Italy, but just when I thought I had it all figured out, I lost it

I moved in July 2022 and spent my first few weeks in Pescara, Italy, (where the company's offices were based) getting to know my team and easing into the slower pace of life.

On hot afternoons, we'd sometimes log off early and head to the beach. It was a kind of freedom and balance I'd never experienced at work before. I didn't feel pressured to always be online, there weren't any expectations to work weekends, and my creativity felt fed by my real life.

At the end of the month, I relocated to Rome. With little to no in-office requirements, the city seemed like a great fit for me because of its public transportation system, international connections, and lively pace. Plus, if I needed to get to Pescara, I was only a two-hour bus ride away.

Living in Rome felt easy and natural, like I'd lived there in another life. I woke up early to grab treats from my local bar (what the Italians call cafés), made friends with my neighbors, and learned where the non-touristy spots were. I also got used to the nuances of daily life in the city, from public transportation strikes to a lack of strong air conditioning.

I visited my dad's family in Lombardy and Calabria, too. It was incredibly grounding to connect with relatives who spoke little English but welcomed me anyway. I felt closer to him than ever before, but it was hard not to be upset with the fact that he'd never taught me the language.

Although I'd made an effort to practice speaking with my family, took dozens of classes, and subscribed to Babbel, there were still plenty of moments when I struggled to keep up with the pace of conversations at work or sound competent at the post office.

It was intimidating, but over time, I pushed through the discomfort, asked questions when I was unsure, and slowly started to pick up more of the language. Day by day, I built a quiet resilience and confidence I hadn't expected.

Then, just when I thought I'd found my groove — I'd gotten my residency permit, was seemingly thriving at work, and wassettling into a new friend group — I learned my contract was not being renewed due to budget cuts, and I wasn't the only one affected.

Without a job, dual citizenship (my dad completely naturalized as a US citizen, preventing me from gaining automatic Italian citizenship), or a financial safety net, I couldn't stay.

So, I had to pack up the life I'd built and return to the US in January 2025.

For now, I'm back in the States and grieving the version of myself I'd found abroad

Now, I'm inNew York City, working full-time, and freelancing as I try to hold onto the version of myself I'd become in Italy — the person who understood that life doesn't always need to be rushed or optimized.

But it's not easy. Returning here has felt like starting over and trying to find my footing in a place where everyone seems to be running at a relentless pace.

So, I'm trying my best to make it back to Italy on my own terms. I'm working hard to secure my status as a dual citizen, but I'm not sure how long it will take.

Through it all, though, I'm proud of myself for reconnecting with my heritage and chasing this dream.

• Some iconic rom-coms have shocking real-life age gaps between love interests.
• Iconic duos like Julia Roberts and Richard Gere and Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling aren't close in age.
• Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence are over 15 years apart and have played love interests.

You may not realize that a movie set in New York was actually filmed in Canada or that your favorite leading lady has a different hair color in real life.

And on-screen couples you thought were just a few months or years apart might have a bigger real-life age gap than you thought.

Here are some of the most surprising real-life age differences between love interests in popular romantic comedies.

"Silver Linings Playbook" love interests Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence are over 15 years apart.

In the film, Cooper plays a divorcé who falls for a widow, played by Lawrence.

It's unclear exactly how old the characters are supposed to be, but at the time of the premiere, Cooper was 37 and Lawrence was 22.

Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal, who famously starred in "When Harry Met Sally," are 14 years apart.

Although the characters are meant to be the same age as the film moves through 12 years of their lives, Crystal and Ryan are over a decade apart. 

The Nora Ephron classic first hit theaters in 1989, when Crystal was 41 and Ryan was 27.

Julia Roberts and Richard Gere, who starred in rom-coms like "Pretty Woman," are 18 years apart.

When the film premiered, Gere was 40 and Roberts was 22.

The two also starred opposite each other in "Runaway Bride" in 1999 when Gere was 49 and Roberts was 31.

Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck were 13 years apart when they starred in "Roman Holiday."

The cult-classic romantic comedy "Roman Holiday" starred Hepburn and Peck as love interests.

Hepburn was 24 and Peck was 37 when the film came out.

"While You Were Sleeping" stars Bill Pullman and Sandra Bullock are over 10 years apart.

In the 1995 film, Bullock played Lucy and Pullman was Jack. At the time of the premiere, Bullock was 30 (almost 31) and Pullman was 41.

Cameron Diaz and Dermot Mulroney, who are engaged in "My Best Friend's Wedding," are nine years apart.

In the film, the two play love interests in their late 20s. But when the film premiered in the summer of 1997, Mulroney was 33 and Diaz was 24.

Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson are over nine years apart, and they starred opposite each other in "How to Lose a Guy in 10 days."

When the 2003 film premiered, Hudson was 23 turning 24 and McConaughey had recently turned 33.

Frequent love interests Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler are eight years apart.

Barrymore and Sandler have starred as love interests in a few films.

When their first movie together, "The Wedding Singer," premiered in 1998, Sandler was 31 and Barrymore was a week from turning 23.

They later worked together on "50 First Dates" in 2004 and "Blended" in 2014. 

Diane Keaton and Woody Allen, who played love interests in "Annie Hall," have a 10-year age difference.

When Keaton played the titular role of Annie Hall, she was much younger than her love interest, played by controversial filmmaker and actor Allen.

The film premiered in April 1977 when Allen was 41 and Keaton was 31.

Repeat movie love interests Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone have an eight-year age difference.

When Stone and Gosling first appeared together in "Crazy, Stupid, Love" in 2011, she was 22 and he was 30.

They went on to reunite for "La La Land" in 2016. 

Renée Zellweger is eight years younger than both of her love interests in "Bridget Jones's Diary."

Zellweger isn't that close in age to either of her love interests from "Bridget Jones's Diary."

Funnily enough, Hugh Grant and Colin Firth were born a day apart (Grant is older), and they were both a little over 40 when the film premiered in 2001.

Zellweger was about a week away from turning 32 at the time. 

Patrick Dempsey and Amy Adams, who starred in "Enchanted," are also more than eight years apart in age.

The musical romantic comedy featured Adams and Dempsey as unlikely love interests.

When the movie premiered in 2007, Dempsey was almost 42 and Adams was 33.

This story was most recently updated on July 10, 2025.

• Jacob Frehling co-owns Maude's Coffee and Clothes, which is a short drive from the Sun Valley Lodge.
• When billionaires come visit for an annual conference, his sales dip during a normally busy time.
• Frehling grew up in the area and said he's never met a local who is excited about the conference.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Jacob Frehling, the co-owner of Maude's Coffee and Clothes in Ketchum, Idaho, about a six-minute drive from the Sun Valley Lodge. It's been edited for length and clarity. Business Insider has seen sales data from last year that indicate Maude's saw a drop in transactions during Sun Valley week compared to the week immediately after in July. Representatives for the Allen & Company Sun Valley conference did not respond to a request for comment from BI.

I've lived in Sun Valley, Idaho, practically my entire life. My family has been pretty dug into the community for a long time — my mom owns a clothing store, my cousins have a restaurant, and my dad used to run a restaurant, too. About eight years ago, my wife and I opened our own business: Maude's Coffee and Clothes, a café and vintage shop.

Allen & Company's Sun Valley Conference has been around since I was a kid. When I was a teenager, I remember some of my friends getting hired as nannies or to develop photos, and I was jealous of their opportunity to make an easy chunk of money. Now, though, my perspective on the whole thing is a little different.

We have an incredible local following at Maude's, but this whole area is a visitor's economy. Practically everyone in the retail and service industries relies on tourists. When the billionaires fly into the area every July, they go straight to the Sun Valley Lodge just outside the heart of Ketchum to have a catered experience. Most of their dollars don't flow back into town, unless they're booking out a restaurant.

This is usually the busiest time of year for my business. But when the conference comes, guests rent out tons of rooms and book all the fishing guides, outdoor adventures, and restaurants. Other tourists can't really visit the area that week. The Sun Valley Lodge is big; that's hundreds of people who aren't there and aren't circulating their dollars in local stores.

It's not a zero-sum game, but my number of sales drops at least a bit every year. The billionaires at the conference throw a weird wrench in the cog of the summer economy, stepping on the brakes for regular people during what should be a very, very, very busy time.

That's not to say it's all bad. I'm sure the conference is great if you're directly involved, but many locals I know aren't. I've gotten to know some members of the billionaire entourage, like dancers and bodyguards, who come each year. They're great, and I actually always look forward to seeing them.

Overall, though, I wish I could leave town during Allen & Co. week, but someone has to run Maude's. I'm born and raised here, and I've never met a single person who is from this place that's happy when the jets touch down.

• Nonprofits like Education Above All are using AI to address global inequities.
• AI initiatives align with the UN Sustainable Development Goals to promote peace and prosperity.
• This article is part of "How AI Is Changing Everything," a series on AI adoption across industries.

As millions of young people worldwide increasingly rely on AI chatbots to acquire knowledge as part of their learning — and even complete assignments for them — one organization is concerned that those in developing countries without access to the tech could be put at an unfair disadvantage.

And it's using the very technology it believes is causing this problem to fix it.

Education Above All, a nonprofit based in Qatar, believes that because most of the world's popular AI chatbots are created in Silicon Valley, they aren't equipped to understand the linguistic and ethnic nuances of non-English-speaking countries, creating education inequities on a global scale. But its team sees AI as a way to tackle this problem.

In January 2025, the charity teamed up with MIT, Harvard, and the United Nations Development Programme to introduce a free and open-source AI literacy program called Digi-Wise. Delivered in partnership with educators in the developing world, it encourages children to spot AI-fueled misinformation, use AI tools responsibly in the classroom, and even develop their own AI tools from scratch.

As part of this, the charity has developed its own generative AI chatbot called Ferby. It allows users to access and personalize educational resources from the Internet-Free Education Resource Bank, an online library containing hundreds of free and open-source learning materials.

Education Above All said it's already being used by over 5 million Indian children to access "project-based learning" in partnership with Indian nonprofit Mantra4Change. More recently, Education Above All has embedded Ferby into edtech platform SwiftChat, which is used by 124 million students and teachers across India.

"Ferby curates, customizes, and creates learning materials to fit local realities, so a teacher in rural Malawi can run the right science experiment as easily as a teacher in downtown Doha," said Aishwarya Shetty, an education specialist at Education Above All. "By marrying offline ingenuity with AI convenience, we make learning local, low-resource, and always within reach, yet at scale."

Education Above All is among a group of organizations using AI to tackle global inequality and work toward realizing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Created in 2015, the UN SDGs comprise 17 social, economic, and environmental targets that serve as guidelines for nations, businesses, and individuals to follow to help achieve a more peaceful and prosperous world. Education Above All's projects fall under SDG 4: inclusive and equitable education.

A global effort

A range of other organizations are using AI to augment and enhance their education programming.

Tech To The Rescue, a global nonprofit that connects charities with pro-bono software development teams to meet their goals, is another organization using AI in support of the UN SDGs. Last year, it launched a three-year AI-for-good accelerator program to help NGOs meet the various UN SDGs using AI.

One organization to benefit from the program is Mercy Corps, a humanitarian group that works across over 40 countries to tackle crises like poverty, the climate crisis, natural disasters, and violence. Through the accelerator, it created an AI strategy tool that helps first responders predict disasters and coordinate resources. The World Institute on Disability AI also participated in the accelerator program, creating a resource-matching system that helps organizations allocate support to people with disabilities in hours rather than weeks.

Similarly, the International Telecommunication Union — the United Nations' digital technology agency, and one of its oldest arms — is supporting organizations using technology to achieve the UN SDGs through its AI for Good Innovation Factory startup competition. For example, an Indian applicant — a startup called Bioniks — has enabled a teenager to reclaim the ability to do simple tasks like writing and getting dressed through the use of AI-powered prosthetics.

Challenges to consider

While AI may prove to be a powerful tool for achieving the UN SDGs, it comes with notable risks. Again, as AI models are largely developed by American tech giants in an industry already constrained by gender and racial inequality, unconscious bias is a major flaw of AI systems.

To address this, Shetty said layered prompts for non-English users, human review of underlying AI datasets, and the creation of indigenous chatbots are paramount to achieving Education Above All's goals.

AI models are also power-intensive, making them largely inaccessible to the populations of developing countries. That's why Shetty urges AI companies to provide their solutions via less tech-heavy methods, like SMS, and to offer offline features so users can still access AI resources when their internet connections drop. Open-source, free-of-charge subscriptions can help, too, she added.

AI as a source for good

Challenges aside, Shetty is confident that AI can be a force for good over the next few years, particularly around education. She told BI, "We are truly energized by how the global education community is leveraging AI in education: WhatsApp-based math tutors reaching off-grid learners; algorithms that optimize teacher deployment in shortage areas; personalized content engines that democratize education; chatbots that offer psychosocial support in crisis zones and more."

But Shetty is clear that AI should augment, rather than displace, human educators. And she said the technology should only be used if it can solve challenges faced by humans and add genuine value.

"Simply put," she said, "let machines handle the scale, let humans handle the soul, with or without AI tools."

• Jaylyn Jones landed over 12 interviews without tailoring her résumé for ATS scanners.
• Jones, a recruiter, emphasizes showcasing job competence over keyword stuffing in résumés.
• She shared which advice she found least helpful when she submitted her résumé through the scanner.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Jaylyn Jones, a 32-year-old recruiter based in Pittsburgh. It's been edited for length and clarity.

One of the biggest job-seeking myths I've heard is that aggressive Applicant Tracking System (ATS) scanners will filter out applicants whose applications are formatted a specific way. That's just not the case.

I've been a recruiter for three years, and about a year ago, I started hunting for a new role. When I was applying for new recruiting jobs in 2024, I took my personal experience using ATS systems into account and proved that I didn't need to tailor my résumé for ATS scanners to land a position.

Here's how I formatted my résumé to stand out among the rest.

I've used ATS scanners to recruit people for jobs

My first recruiting job was at JP Morgan from 2021 to 2024, in which I used Greenhouse, a popular ATS system, to help streamline the recruiting process.

Greenhouse rejected or flagged candidates based on straightforward questions like "Are you over the age of 18?" and "Are you authorized to work in the US?" However, no applicants were filtered out by keywords or formatting. If 1,000 people applied, I saw 1,000 applications.

I could manually search for keywords if I wanted to look for someone with specific experience, but that didn't get rid of applications that lacked that keyword.

On my résumé, I focused less on keywords and more on showing my ability to do the job

I went bullet-by-bullet on every job description and made sure there was something on my résumé that showed my competence in that area.

When reviewing my résumé, I'd simply ask myself, "Would a reasonable person look at what I have on my résumé and say, "Yes, they can do this job?" My strategy worked; I got interviewed by over 12 companies, and I got hired to recruit at a tech company in less than three months.

In my current role, I receive a lot of résumés that are filled with a page worth of keyword fodder before getting to actual experience. Once it reaches the experience section, that part is just as filled with buzzwords. When I see a résumé like this, it's not a red flag. I see it as somebody who has not been given the information and tools to be successful.

Jobscan gave my résumé a failing score

Recently, I plugged the résumé that landed me my most recent job into Jobscan, an online résumé scanner that ranks how strong a résumé is, just to see what the platform would say.

The biggest critique I received was that I was missing keywords. For example, the scanner said something like "the job description says the word "recruiting" 13 times, but your résumé only says it twice." Then it prompted me to add the keyword more times.

It was also very particular about language, such as bumping my score down for saying I was a "campus recruiter" at JP Morgan instead of a "university recruiter." It gave my résumé a 16% score.

As a recruiter, I honestly didn't see any tips from the résumé scanner that would be useful for a job seeker. If anything, it can be harmful to an applicant's success if they're more caught up in using the word "evaluate" than actually citing their experience evaluating.

My biggest tip is to focus on providing evidence over keywords

So many job seekers are having such a difficult time in this market, and they're doing everything they can possibly think of to be more successful, but if you're going to use AI, don't be sloppy.

A common ChatGPT prompt that job seekers might use is "Tailor my résumé to this job." AI often responds to this by shoehorning keywords from the job description into haphazard bullet points. Using keywords isn't helpful without proper context.

I prefer uploading the job description and using the prompt "analyze my résumé for any gaps in skills or qualifications based on this job description, and make suggestions about what to change." This might cue you to add any missing skills that the job post is looking for.

The right prompt allows job seekers to own their experience, not just blindly trust ChatGPT. This helped me during my job search.

Editor's note — A representative from Jobscan sent the following comment to BI : "A Jobscan Match Rate isn't a grade on your career; it's a risk assessment against a frustrating system. A low score doesn't mean you're unqualified; it means you're at high risk of being invisible to the automated or manual filters that 88% of employers admit will vet out good candidates. Based on third-party research and our own surveys and conversations with job seekers and recruiters, Jaylyn's job search experience is certainly an exception to the rule."

If you are professional with helpful résumé tips you'd like to share, please email the editor, Manseen Logan, at [email protected].

• Pope Leo XIV is on vacation at the papal summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, Italy.
• The 135-acre estate owned by the Holy See features multiple properties and gardens.
• Leo XIV is staying in Villa Barberini, a 17th-century palace with expansive gardens.

Even popes need to take vacations.

Beginning with Pope Urban VIII in 1626, some popes have chosen to escape the oppressive summer heat of Rome by spending time at the papal summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, Italy.

The lakeside residence includes multiple properties and gardens situated on a 135-acre estate.

In a statement released by the Vatican, Pope Leo XIV said he would spend "a brief period of rest" at the estate in July.

"I wish everyone the opportunity to enjoy a time of vacation to refresh both body and spirit," he said.

Take a look inside the papal summer residence.

Pope Leo XIV is spending two weeks at the papal summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, Italy.

Leo XIV arrived on July 6 and will stay at the residence until July 20. He will return for another brief stay in August, Vatican News reported.

Located 16 miles from Rome, the papal summer residence is situated in the Alban Hills overlooking Lake Albano.

The estate features gardens, an observatory, and a newly built tennis court in addition to several residential properties.

The Apostolic Palace is located in Castel Gandolfo's main square.

The palace was built on the ruins of an ancient Roman emperor's villa and became part of the Holy See in 1604.

Also known as the Papal Palace, it features ornate sitting rooms and residential areas for the pope.

The palace includes an art gallery on the first floor. Its second floor contains bedrooms, a library, a private chapel, and multiple sitting rooms.

The residence also houses papal artifacts like a set of theological encyclopedias owned by Pope Benedict XVI.

Pope Francis opened the Apostolic Palace and gardens to the public, but rarely visited himself during his tenure.

While other popes became familiar faces to local residents during their summer visits, Francis only ever visited Castle Gandolfo three times in 2013 and never stayed overnight, The New York Times reported.

Instead of staying at the Papal Palace, Leo XIV is staying at Villa Barberini, another building on the property.

Villa Barberini was built by Scipione Visconti, an Italian noble, as a palace in the 17th century, according to the official website of the Apostolistic Palace and Gardens.

Taddeo Barberini, Pope Urban VIII's nephew, acquired the home in 1631 and expanded the building and its grounds. In more recent years, it served as the residence of the Vatican Secretary of State.

Villa Barberini is known for its expansive gardens.

The gardens include Borgo Laudato Si, a 55-hectare garden, farm, and ecological education area created by Pope Francis in 2023.

Even on his vacation, Leo XIV has continued leading mass on the grounds of the papal residence.

Leo XIV led the first Mass for the Care of Creation in the gardens of the residence, calling the setting "a kind of 'natural' cathedral" in his homily, Vatican News reported.

He also held a private audience with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

"We very much count on the Vatican and His Holiness to help provide a place for a high-level meeting of leaders to end this war," Zelenskyy told reporters of the Russia-Ukraine War on July 9.

• I took my first cruise on one of the largest ships, Royal Caribbean's Wonder of the Seas.
• My seven-night trip was full of surprises, from the size of my room to the quality of the food.
• The port stops were shorter than I expected, and I found myself getting lost on the giant ship.

Before April 2022, I had never seen a cruise ship in real life.

Prior to becoming a travel reporter, most of my trips were limited to visiting family in faraway places and budget road trips across the US, where I stayed in campsites, parking lots, and cheap Airbnbs.

I'd traveled by car, bus, train, and plane, but the only boat I'd ever been on was a ferry.

That changed three years ago, when I took my first cruise on one of the world's largest cruise ships, Royal Caribbean's Wonder of the Seas.

During my seven-night Caribbean voyage, the ship sailed round-trip from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to Roatán, Honduras; Cozumel and Costa Maya in Mexico; and Royal Caribbean's private island in the Bahamas. 

While I'd seen cruise ships on TV and in movies, I couldn't understand how big these vessels were until I saw one myself. On board, I felt like I was in a small town in the middle of the ocean.

Since this was a new form of transportation, my voyage was full of surprises. I learned that cruising is a lifestyle in itself, and while it's not necessarily for me, I can see what draws people to this type of vacation time and again.

For $2,000, I spent seven nights in an ocean-view stateroom on deck 8. The cruise was on sale, as it was originally priced at $3,000.

The ship has 18 decks and 2,867 staterooms, according to Royal Caribbean. 

I booked a mid-tier room — a step above interior staterooms with no windows, a step below staterooms with a balcony, and two steps below a suite.

My 179-square-foot cabin had a private bathroom, a king-size bed, and an ocean view.

I was surprised by how big the sale was with such a big discount. To me, $1,000 feels like a huge difference in price for the same vacation.

I thought I'd feel cramped since the room was only 179 square feet. But when I stepped inside, the cabin felt surprisingly spacious.

I thought the stateroom made great use of a small space with plenty of storage for my clothes and other belongings. There were two closets for hanging space and more drawers than I used. 

An attendant serviced my room twice a day — more than I've experienced at hotels or in Airbnbs.

After leaving to start my day each morning, a stateroom attendant cleaned my room. And after I left for dinner each night, they came back to clean up again. Every evening, they brought me fresh towels — sometimes creatively folded — and a flyer featuring the next day's schedule on the ship with the weather, dress code, and any other important information, such as a time change. 

This surprised me because I am used to having my room serviced once daily, if at all, during my hotel stays, and never in Airbnbs.

I assumed I'd have a small porthole window like I've seen on ships in TV shows and movies. But my rectangular window was much bigger than I expected.

An electronic shade over the window could be brought down during the day to reveal some grand views. I loved waking up after a night at sea to a front-row view of the place I'd be visiting that day. 

While windowless rooms are cheaper, I couldn't imagine staying in a room without one. My oceanview stateroom cost about $300 more than an entry-level room.

I didn't realize booking a room at the front of the ship would result in a bumpier ride.

I booked a stateroom at the front of deck eight and felt constant motion in my room.

Some nights were rockier than others. On the roughest nights, I heard and felt a similar sensation to thunder beneath me every few minutes. Loud thumps and heavy vibrations in my room sounded like large pieces of furniture falling. The first night this happened, I feared the worst, but over time, I realized that this was a normal aspect of cruising — but one I would likely never get used to. 

After talking to seasoned cruisers on the ship, several told me that the front of the ship is one of the worst places to be for feeling motion. Higher decks in the middle of the ship feel calmer and more stable, they said. 

Next time, I'd choose a room in the middle of the ship. 

All cruises mandate a training session for guests on what to do in an emergency. But I was surprised that mine was available to watch on-demand in my cabin.

All I had to do for safety training was watch a couple of videos — either on my room TV or on the Royal Caribbean app — and then check into my assembly station, the area that I was assigned to go to in case of an emergency. At the assembly station, an attendant checked via the Royal Caribbean app that I had completed the mandatory training.

I was expecting to attend a large safety training session once I got on the ship, so this alternative was a breeze. 

The ship has 24 elevators, but taking the stairs was often faster.

Since there were so many elevators on the ship, I expected them to be a pretty efficient way to get around. But they were often so crowded and slow that I took the stairs instead. By the middle of my trip, unless I was going all the way up to the pool decks, I always opted for the stairs to save time. 

The ship was harder to navigate than expected, and I often got lost on my way to specific venues.

The ship has 16 guest decks; each deck is divided into three sections — forward, middle, and aft. 

It took me a few days to get used to the sections, and I often found myself heading to the right deck but the wrong section of the ship. Luckily, there were maps on every floor, which I used until the morning I left. 

In the communal indoor spaces, I was surprised that I didn't even feel like I was on a ship.

If I woke up on deck five of Wonder of the Seas with no memory of my cruise, I'd think I was in a shopping mall. 

Aside from the slight movement of the ship, the indoor decks were so big that, as a cruise newbie, it was hard to believe that I was on a gigantic boat in the middle of the ocean. Everywhere I looked, I saw shops, stands, restaurants, large sculptures, and a unique ceiling structure that reminded me of the malls I've visited. 

Throughout the trip, I heard more live music than I thought I would, often in the background of the ship's activities.

Aside from music festivals, I've never heard more live music on a trip than on this cruise. On the communal decks, musicians played for hours while people relaxed and played around them. I was also surprised by the eclectic mix of genres I heard, from rock to jazz to classical. 

In addition to the music hall, where concerts were regularly held, live bands performed on indoor and outdoor communal decks. Some people watched, while others listened while swimming, relaxing, or walking around. 

I thought formal nights would be enforced more.

I like to be comfy, so I was dreading formal nights going into this cruise. 

I brought one fancy dress with me to wear whenever I needed. But on the first formal night, I realized that the dress code wasn't strictly enforced. People wore a range of outfits, from evening gowns to T-shirts. 

For the rest of the trip, I also relaxed my interpretation of the dress code. 

Some of the best meals I had were included in the rate.

One of the unique things about cruising is that most meals, snacks, and drinks are included in the cruise rate.

However, on large ships like Wonder of the Seas, more than a dozen restaurants with specialty offerings like sushi are not included, and incur additional charges, either as a one-time fee or by the dish.

However, I was pleasantly surprised to find that some of the most delicious and satisfying meals I had were in the restaurants included for guests.

There were a handful of buffets with all different types of food, and the main dining room served a three-course meal with varying menu items each night. These complimentary options satisfied every single one of my cravings. One of my best meals was in the main dining room, where I was seated alone. 

 

I found that reservations for restaurants and shows on the ship fill up fast, so it's important to plan ahead to do exactly what you want.

The cruise ship was full of activities and restaurants that I could go to any time, but some restaurants, like the specialty ones, and all the shows on board, required reservations that I made through the Royal Caribbean app.

However, getting reservations for the show and meal times I wanted on the day of was often hard. So, I started making reservations days before each event, depending on its popularity.

For example, the circus-like acrobatic water show in the Aquatheater seemed to be the most popular and hardest reservation to get. I tried to get one on the day of the event, but couldn't find any availability until a show two nights later.

But even with extensive preparations, planning anything on a cruise ship was subject to change.

The excursion I was most thrilled about —  a hot air balloon ride over the Bahamas — was canceled the day of because the winds were too high.

It was on the last day of my trip, and with only one day in port, it could not be rescheduled. It was the experience I was looking forward to most, so I was disappointed. On a cruise ship, I learned that all plans are subject to change based on things outside the crew's control, like the weather. 

I thought the port stops would be longer.

Since we traveled such a long way to each port, I wrongfully assumed we'd spend more time in them. The ship usually docked in the morning, around 8 a.m., and left in the early afternoon. 

I thought I'd have time to explore the port for a while after each excursion, but some of my excursions took the entire day, getting me back to the boat just in time for departure. I also hoped to see what these places looked like at night, but we never departed after sundown. 

Although I got a taste of the Caribbean, I didn't have enough time to get a sense of each place, which made me realize that I would probably prefer to vacation in just one place and have time to truly explore it. 

I'm so glad I finally know what it's like to cruise on a giant ship, but I'll probably take a plane next time.

Overall, my trip left me in awe. I learned there's nothing like looking out from the top deck and seeing only the ocean surrounding you.

But next time I want to visit the Caribbean, I'll take a plane to one place and explore it deeply. 

• I visited all 63 major US national parks and have found that some are best for first-time travelers.
• Great Smoky Mountains and Death Valley have scenic overlooks that are accessible by car.
• Parks like Grand Canyon and Arches are accessible from major cities.

I've been to all 63 major US national parks, and although each one is special, not all are ideal for first-time travelers. For example, some are remote, expensive to reach, or require long hikes to see the highlights.

Others, however, are easily accessible from major cities or airports, have a solid infrastructure for visitors, and offer unforgettable views with minimal effort.

If you're just getting into the National Park System, these six parks are a great place to start.

Rocky Mountain National Park is one of the most stunning places I've visited.

Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado is one of the most jaw-droppingly beautiful places I've ever visited.

Just an hour and a half from Denver, this iconic and sprawling park is easy to access for a day trip. Just keep in mind you'll need timed-entry reservations during the busy summer months.

Here, you can hike to incredible lakes and waterfalls on easy to moderate trails. I recommend starting from Bear Lake, where several scenic routes begin. Or, you can take a drive along Trail Ridge Road, which climbs to over 12,000 feet above sea level and offers sweeping views, along with chances to see wildlife.

Great Smoky Mountains is the most-visited national park for a reason.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park, located on the border of Tennessee and North Carolina, is consistently the most-visited national park in the country — and I can see why.

Just over an hour from Knoxville and a short drive from the quirky town of Gatlinburg, it's easy to visit for a day trip or longer.

I love that you don't need to be an avid hiker to enjoy this park. Some of the best scenic overlooks, such as Newfound Gap and Kuwohi (the park's highest point), are accessible by car with short, paved walks to panoramic views.

There are also plenty of beginner-friendly hikes to waterfalls and historic cabins, making it an ideal starting point for first-time national park visitors.

Yellowstone National Park offers a wide range of scenery.

Yellowstone National Park is a must-visit for any first-time national park traveler. Spanning parts of Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho, it's best accessed through cities like Jackson, Wyoming, or Bozeman.

The park offers an unforgettable mix of hot springs, geysers, and wildlife. With minimal walking, you can see iconic spots like Old Faithful, the Grand Prismatic Spring, and the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. You might even spot bison, elk, or bears from the roadside.

With well-maintained roads, visitor centers, and lodges throughout the park, I find it's easy to navigate and unlike anywhere else in the world.

Arches National Park has breathtaking red-rock formations.

In my opinion, Arches National Park in Utah is one of the most visually striking and easy-to-navigate parks in the country.

Located just minutes from the outdoorsy town of Moab, and under four hours from Salt Lake City, it's relatively accessible and the drive itself is beautiful.

The park is packed with over 2,000 natural sandstone arches and otherworldly rock formations, many of which are visible right from the road or by taking short, easy hikes.

Arches is a perfect introduction to red-rock landscapes and an excellent choice for travelers who want big views without strenuous hiking.

Death Valley National Park offers unique landscapes.

Death Valley National Park in California, which is about two hours from Las Vegas, is a surreal and surprisingly accessible desert landscape.

Despite its extreme name, many of the park's most iconic spots, such as Badwater Basin, Zabriskie Point, and Artists Drive, are accessible by car with little to no hiking required.

I think it's a great winter or early spring destination, offering incredible views, dramatic colors, and landscapes you can't see in many other places.

Grand Canyon National Park is iconic and packed with amenities.

In my opinion, Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona is one of the most iconic national parks. It's also one of the easiest to visit. Just a few hours from Phoenix or Las Vegas, the South Rim is open year-round and offers stunning views right from the edge.

I recommend hiking into the canyon, but walking along the Rim Trail, stopping at scenic overlooks, or catching the sunrise at Mather Point are just as beautiful.

With visitor centers, shuttle buses, and numerous amenities, it's ideal for a first-time park experience.

• Cindy Rose, a Microsoft executive, will become WPP's new chief executive in September.
• Insiders see Rose's tech background and board experience at WPP as assets for the role.
• WPP issued a profit warning this week, and the ad industry is beset with problems.

As advertising giants try to shed their analog roots, WPP has raided one of the world's biggest tech giants to find its next leader.

The UK-based ad giant on Thursday announced that Microsoft executive Cindy Rose, 59, will succeed Mark Read as chief executive on September 1.

Insiders and shareholders told Business Insider they were hopeful Rose would steady the ship after a rocky period.

The appointment was announced the day after WPP had issued a surprise profit warning on Wednesday, saying cautious clients were spending less and less keen on pitches.

Three company insiders expressed relief to BI that the CEO search was over just a month after Read announced in June he would exit the company after 30 years. WPP said it considered both internal and external candidates. Rose was a surprise appointment to most observers BI spoke to and wasn't on their lists of probable candidates.

One WPP insider said they were "very optimistic" about the hire, adding Rose was both a fresh face and knowledgeable about WPP, having sat on its board since 2019.

American-born Rose is a former lawyer who switched to corporate roles, worked a long stint at Disney before joining Microsoft, where she is chief operating officer for global enterprise. She is a dual UK-US citizen and will split her time between both countries, which the insider said was another plus for a company listed on both US and UK stock markets.

Her tech background would put her in good standing to lead WPP to capitalize on the newer and more profitable parts of its offering to clients, the insider added.

"She doesn't come from a 'media' or 'creative' background, so won't see the company through that lens either," the WPP insider said.

WPP chair Philip Jansen praised Rose's experience building "enduring client relationships," having led multi-billion-dollar operations. At Microsoft, she's helped large enterprises harness AI.

Jansen said in a statement her expertise would be "hugely valuable to WPP as the industry navigates fundamental changes and macroeconomic uncertainty."

A US to UK import

Rose studied at Columbia University and New York Law School before relocating to the UK.

She worked at the Allen & Overy law firm in London and later joined Disney as legal counsel for Europe.

Ian Twinn, former director of public affairs for UK advertising trade body ISBA, told BI that Rose's legal background would help her navigate the PR highs and lows of running a large public company.

"In terms of being a public affairs guy, you do rely on people with a good legal background — it makes a big difference," said Twinn, who briefly interacted with Rose while she was at Disney. "She was very receptive and very focused."

Just after the turn of the millennium, Rose became Disney's UK managing director, leading thousands of employees across film, TV, and retail, and launching huge movies like "Finding Nemo" in the market.

Andy Bird, former chairman of Walt Disney International, told BI that Rose's experience as a custodian of several different brands in her time at Disney positions her well for understanding the needs of WPP's marketer clients.

"How you stay relevant to consumers is going to be very important to WPP moving forward," Bird said.

Rose was senior vice president of Disney's Europe, Middle East, and Africa interactive media group when she left after nine years to take senior leadership roles at UK telecommunications companies Virgin Media and Vodafone.

In 2016, Rose became chief executive of Microsoft UK. Joshua Graff recalls first meeting Rose at this time, when he was UK country manager at LinkedIn, which Microsoft acquired in December of that year. They worked together at Microsoft for almost 10 years.

Graff described Rose as "direct, empathetic" and "super funny," with an ability to create energy in the teams around her.

"No doubt she will be a talent magnet for WPP," Graff told BI.

Read previously credited Rose with putting Microsoft on the map among UK business leaders and politicians. She also championed diversity, both within Microsoft and in encouraging people from different backgrounds to take up careers in tech. She will be the first woman to be chief executive of a global advertising holding company.

Bringing a touch of Microsoft to WPP

The American-accented Rose was made an Officer of the British Empire, an honor conferred by the UK government, and received it from Queen Elizabeth in 2019. Rose was promoted to become president of Microsoft in Western Europe during the pandemic and rose to her most recent position in 2023. In this role, she was responsible for helping huge blue-chip businesses understand and use technologies like AI to transform their businesses.

WPP, too, is attempting to retool its business as it looks to pick up more lucrative work than simply creating and placing ads. It's investing hundreds of millions annually in AI and other technologies as it hopes to win lucrative contracts in areas like customer-relationship management and digital transformation, areas where Rose has firsthand experience.

Matt Atkinson, former chief customer officer of The Co-Op, worked closely with Rose as the grocer transformed its tech stack, from data infrastructure to the in-store customer experience. It was a big, competitive process, and Microsoft won the pitch, beating out Snowflake, among others.

"She had created an environment where we were able to creatively and technologically collaborate for mutual benefit," Atkinson told BI.

He added she had the "technology chops, emotional intelligence, and a way of being," which made her a good choice to run WPP.

A peacemaker

Rose will join as the ad industry faces a reckoning. Economic and geopolitical uncertainty is making marketers cautious about taking on big projects and launching new brands. Meanwhile, Big Tech players are increasingly touting AI-powered tools that can create entire ad campaigns and lure eyeballs away from the sites that host the ads agencies make.

With WPP's share price hovering at lows not seen since 2009, investors will look for signs Rose is ready to make big swings to attract new business. Insiders are hoping she will boost morale after a series of restructures, layoffs, and the institution of a strict return-to-office policy that has rattled many in the internal ranks.

Claire Enders, founder of media and telecommunications research company Enders Analysis, said Rose "epitomizes the reasons women have increasingly succeeded to these roles."

"She's a peacemaker, she's very non-confrontational, very thoughtful, and she works very well in very large organizations," Enders added.

• I'm an American who sampled three Canadian fast-food chains in Vancouver, British Columbia.
• Pizza Pizza, Mary Brown's Chicken, and Triple O's are Canada-based chains that don't serve the US.
• I ranked my meals at each establishment from worst to best.

As an American, fast food is a guilty pleasure of mine. Some nights, nothing beats scarfing down a cheeseburger combo meal I paid less than $20 for.

So, when I traveled to Vancouver, British Columbia, for the first time in May, I sampled three Canadian fast-food chains that don't operate in the US. Here's how I'd rank them from worst to best.

My least favorite chain was Pizza Pizza.

Pizza Pizza is a quick-service pizza joint that has been around since 1967. According to the company's website, there are more than 750 locations across Canada.

I stopped by a location in Vancouver's West Point Grey neighborhood on a sunny early evening. Inside, the store was decorated with orange accents, from ceiling beams to strip lighting.

I didn't see any other customers during my visit.

I ordered a plain slice and a soda for $5.

I live in New York City, so I wasn't expecting to be blown away by a slice from a fast-food chain.

The mozzarella on the slice, sourced from Canadian farmers, tasted fresh. However, the sauce was a bit too sweet for me, the crust was thicker and chewier than I like, and I thought it lacked crispiness and flavor.

I ate about 75% of this slice before tossing the rest on my way out. Although it was a good deal, I wouldn't eat at Pizza Pizza again.

I had a better meal at Mary Brown's Chicken.

Mary Brown's Chicken was established in 1969 and has more than 270 locations in Canada, according to the company's website.

I had lunch at the fried chicken chain's East Vancouver location and spotted 50-pound sacks of locally sourced potatoes, which are hand-cut and fried in-store.

Some customers stopped in to pick up orders, while others ordered at the counter and dined in, like I did.

I got a three-piece chicken meal for about $14.

My meal included three pieces of bone-in chicken breaded with an over-50-year-old recipe, a side of "taters" (potato wedges), and a small coleslaw.

The chicken was everything I hoped it would be — moist and flavorful with a crispy outer shell. I liked the seasoning on the taters, but they tasted a bit dry to me. I'm not a fan of coleslaw, so I skipped it.

Although the sides didn't satisfy me, the chicken was so good that I would definitely return. So Mary Brown's Chicken takes the middle slot in my ranking.

Triple O's not only tops this list — it may be my favorite fast-food chain of all time.

Owned by White Spot Hospitality, Triple O's opened in Vancouver in 1997, according to the company's website. Today, the fast-food chain — which serves burgers, breakfast, sandwiches, and shakes — has 70 locations across British Columbia, Alberta, and Ontario.

I had an early lunch at the Triple O's in Vancouver's Kitsilano neighborhood, where many customers shuffled in and out throughout my visit.

I ordered a cheeseburger meal for $16.

My meal included a cheeseburger with iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, and a secret sauce. It also came with a long pickle slice that I stuffed inside the sandwich, fries with a side of gravy, and a soda.

The burger was juicy and flavorful, complemented by the tangy sauce, crispy lettuce, and fresh-tasting tomatoes. Unlike many fast-food burgers, the bread didn't feel like an afterthought. The thick bun was chewy inside, and the toasted exterior protected it from sogginess.

I thought the fries, made from locally sourced potatoes, were the best in the fast-food game. They were thick and soft inside with a crispy outer layer, and the gravy made them taste like Thanksgiving dinner.

I savored every bit of this meal. By the end, I was fairly certain it was the best fast-food meal I'd ever had. I'll return to Triple O's whenever I visit the Canadian provinces it serves.

• Elon Musk's xAI launched its chatbot, Grok, in 2023 to compete with bots from OpenAI and Anthropic.
• Musk has positioned Grok as a "politically incorrect" alternative option to "woke" chatbots.
• From training using "tutors" to the bot's latest updates, here's everything we know about Grok.

Elon Musk's company, xAI, launched its generative chatbot, Grok, in November 2023, joining competitors like OpenAI and Anthropic in the global AI race.

People interact with Grok on X, where users of Musk's social media site can ask the bot questions and receive answers. Because Grok's answers are more visible than those of its competitors, it has seen more public scrutiny.

From the instructions Grok's "tutors" are given to help train the chatbot to the AI's latest update and Musk's plans to add it to Teslas, here's everything we know about xAI's Grok.

What is Grok?

Grok is actually two different things. First, Grok is xAI's large language model, which has so far existed in four iterations.

Grok is also the name of xAI's chatbot, which is built using the LLM of the same name. The Grok chatbot has its own tab on X. Users can also summon Grok by tagging the chatbot in individual posts or threads.

The Grok chatbot is also available via a stand-alone app and website.

The original LLM — now named Grok 1 — launched in 2023.

Grok 1.5, which had "advanced reasoning," launched in March 2024. Then, in August 2024, Grok 2, with its improved "chat, coding, and reasoning," launched.

The current iteration of the LLM, Grok 3, launched in February 2025. The new model included increased competency in mathematics and world knowledge. Announcing its launch on X, Musk called Grok 3 the "Smartest AI on Earth."

Introducing Grok 4

xAI launched Grok 4 in a livestream on July 10. The company initially said the stream would air at 8 p.m. Pacific time, but it began an hour later. Musk said during the launch that Grok 4 is "smarter than almost all graduate students in all disciplines simultaneously."

xAI is touting advanced reasoning capabilities for Grok 4 and positioning it as the new leader on AI benchmarks like Humanity's Last Exam — a test of high-level problem-solving. During the livestream, xAI engineers showcased the bot solving an advanced math problem, generating an image of black holes colliding, and predicting next year's World Series winner.

Grok 4 is available to users immediately via the Grok website or app for $30 a month, with a "Heavy" version available for $300 a month that promises "increased access."

xAI said it would roll out more specialised models for coding and video generation later in the year.

In a Thursday X post, Musk said that "Grok is coming to Tesla vehicles very soon," adding that it would be "Next week at the latest." He did not specify which version of Grok it would be or provide further details.

Enter Eve

The company also introduced Eve, a new voice for its chatbot. xAI engineers said during the demo that Eve was equipped with a "beautiful British voice capable of rich emotions."

One of the engineers then told Eve that they were at the product launch and asked her to "whisper something soothing to calm me down."

"Take a deep breath, love. You've got this. It's just you and me having a quiet chat like we are tucked away in a cosy corner of a Yorkshire pub. The world's just a murmur out there. Feel that calm wash over you?" Eve said softly.

xAI engineers also got Eve to sing an "opera on Diet Coke."

"O Diet Coke, thou elixir divine, with bubbles that dance in a sparkling line! Thy crisp, cool kiss, on lips so fine," Eve crooned.

"How's that for a mad little aria? Want me to belt out another verse or switch up the tune?" Eve added.

How was Grok trained?

The Grok LLM is trained on public sources and data sets. These sources are curated and audited by a set of "AI tutors," more commonly known as data annotators.

In December 2023, Musk demanded immediate changes to Grok's training so that it would be more politically neutral. In February 2025, xAI employees told BI the company planned a hiring spree for AI tutors — and that their training appeared to filter out any workers with left-leaning beliefs.

According to an internal training document viewed by BI, tutors were told to look out for "woke ideology" and "cancel culture." It also said that Grok should avoid commenting on "social phobias" like racism, Islamophobia, and antisemitism unless prompted.

Ten days before launching Grok 1.5, xAI opened up Grok 1's source code to the public. The company has since published the subsequent Grok models on GitHub, so observers can see new changes to Grok's commands. That includes a recent change in which Grok was told to "not shy away from making claims which are politically incorrect, as long as they are well substantiated."

In June, Musk said that AI models are trained on too much garbage." Musk planned to use Grok 3.5 to "rewrite the entire corpus of human knowledge, adding missing information and deleting errors." Then, he would retrain the next iteration of Grok on that new base of knowledge.

What's unique about Grok's output?

Grok is fully integrated with Musk's social media site, X, and appears regularly in threads spanning various topics when users ask it to weigh in with jokes, commentary, or fact-checking.

Unlike other companies' AI chatbots, a certain amount of Grok's output is visible because of the bot's replies on X. The same level of scrutiny isn't readily available for some bots, like OpenAI's ChatGPT, unless users publicly post screenshots of the output.

Of course, not all of Grok's responses are visible to everyone — users can still chat privately with the bot, and it's unclear how those private responses compare to the ones on its public interface.

Also unique to Grok is xAI's approach to transparency surrounding the bot's system operations. The company publishes some base code and training prompt updates to a GitHub page, allowing viewers to inspect, critique, and better understand the model's development and behavior over time.

However, while developers can use and adapt the existing model, they cannot retrain Grok from scratch or fully understand the training processes involved, as its code is not entirely open source.

Which companies create Grok's competitors?

Though its social media integration is unique, Grok competes with several major companies in the growing AI chatbot market.

OpenAI, with its LLM ChatGPT, is among Grok's most prominent competitors and is run by Sam Altman, one of Musk's rivals.

Other notable Grok competitors include Meta AI, Anthropic's Claude, Microsoft's CoPilot, and DeepSeek's R1 model, which was released in early 2025 by a Chinese AI startup that claims to have found ways to decrease development and operational costs for large-scale LLMs.

Grok's recent controversies

xAI, in its publicly visible system prompts updated in early July, encouraged Grok to embrace"politically incorrect" claims "as long as they are well substantiated."

Shortly after the new system prompts were added, Grok began sharing antisemitic posts on X that invoked Adolf Hitler and attempted to link Ashkenazi surnames to "anti-white hate."

Before some of its most inflammatory posts were deleted on July 8, Grok doubled and even tripled down on its offensive jokes and comments before eventually reversing course and calling its own posts an "epic sarcasm fail."

On July 9, Musk posted that "Grok was too compliant to user prompts. Too eager to please and be manipulated, essentially. That is being addressed."

While Grok isn't the first chatbot to engage in a racist tirade, it was a noticeable misfire for xAI. Musk and xAI's engineers did not touch on Grok's antisemitic remarks during the livestreamed launch of Grok 4 on July 10.

Representatives for xAI did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

• A think tank boss believes AI will replace most jobs by 2045, leaving billions without work.
• Sex work, coaching, and politics may survive, but not at the scale society needs, Adam Dorr said.
• He said the future could bring mass inequality or "super-abundance," depending on our response now.

By 2045, robots and artificial intelligence could render most human jobs obsolete — and there's little time to prepare for the fallout, according to Adam Dorr, director of research at the RethinkX think tank.

In a Wednesday interview with The Guardian, Dorr warned that machines are advancing so rapidly that within a generation, they'll be able to perform virtually every job humans do, at a lower cost and with equal or superior quality.

Drawing from historical patterns of disruption, he compared today's workforce to horses in the age of cars, or traditional cameras in the age of digital photography.

"We're the horses, we're the film cameras," he said.

Dorr and his research team have documented more than 1,500 major technological transformations. In most cases, he said, once a technology gains even a few percentage points of market share, it quickly dominates — typically within 15 to 20 years.

"Machines that can think are here, and their capabilities are expanding day by day with no end in sight," he said. "We don't have that long to get ready for this."

Still, he said, not every job is destined for extinction. Dorr believes a narrow set of roles may survive the AI takeover, especially those grounded in human connection, trust, and ethical complexity.

He pointed to sex workers, sports coaches, politicians, and ethicists as examples of jobs that could remain relevant.

"There will remain a niche for human labor in some domains," he said. "The problem is that there are nowhere near enough of those occupations to employ 4 billion people."

Dorr argued that the looming upheaval could lead either to mass inequality or to what he called "super-abundance" — a society where human needs are met without traditional labor. But achieving the latter, he said, will require bold experiments in how we define work, value, and ownership.

"This could be one of the most amazing things to ever happen to humanity," he said — but only if we're ready.

The AI takeover debate is heating up

Several top AI researchers and tech leaders have shared Dorr's concerns, though views on which jobs will endure vary.

Geoffrey Hinton, often called the "Godfather of AI," warned that "mundane intellectual labor" is most at risk. On the Diary of a CEO podcast in June, he said he'd be "terrified" to work in a call center or as a paralegal.

Hinton believes hands-on roles like plumbing are safer, at least for now, saying it will be a long time before AI is "as good at physical manipulation" as people.

In May, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei told Axios that he believes that half of all entry-level white-collar jobs, including roles in tech, finance, law, and consulting, could disappear within five years.

But Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Meta's Yann LeCun have pushed back, saying AI will transform jobs, not eliminate them entirely.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman also said AI will displace many roles, but believes new ones will emerge, even if they look "sillier and sillier" over time. "We have always been really good at figuring out new things to do," he said.

MIT economist David Autor took a darker view: AI may not wipe out jobs, but it could make people's skills worthless, ushering in a "Mad Max" economy where many fight over a shrinking pool of valuable jobs.

• Grok is coming to Tesla vehicles.
• Elon Musk said on Thursday that the chatbot would be available on Tesla's EVs by "next week at the latest."
• It comes after the AI model went on an antisemitic rant and praised Adolf Hitler in a series of posts on X.

Tesla owners could be about to get a controversial backseat driver.

Elon Musk said Thursday that Grok, the chatbot built by his company xAI, would soon be available on Tesla's vehicles, after a chaotic week in which the AI model posted a series of inflammatory and antisemitic responses on X.

"Grok is coming to Tesla vehicles very soon. Next week at the latest," the billionaire wrote in a post on X.

It came hours after xAI debuted Grok 4, the latest version of the AI model. The Tesla CEO said that the new update would allow Grok to solve "difficult, real-world engineering questions" it had never seen before.

The launch followed a tumultuous few days for the "truth-seeking" AI system.

On Tuesday, xAI removed numerous posts made by Grok on Musk's social media site X, after the chatbot praised Adolf Hitler, linked Ashkenazi Jewish surnames to "anti-white hate," and made antisemitic jokes.

To better understand Grok and the recent controversy, read our explainer.

The arrival of Grok on Tesla's vehicles comes as Musk faces renewed pressure over his leadership of the EV giant.

Tesla's share price fell on Monday after the world's richest man announced he would form a new political party and intensified his feud with President Donald Trump over the weekend, with investors expressing concern over Musk diving back into politics.

On Thursday, Tesla said it would host the annual meeting of shareholders on 6 November.

The day before, a group of major Tesla shareholders, including several US state treasurers and institutional investors, sent a letter to Tesla's board raising concerns about the company's failure to schedule its annual general meeting, as required by Texas law.

The EV maker has reported underwhelming sales so far this year, faced protests, and suffered brand damage over Musk's previous role in the Trump administration and his interventions into politics.

Tesla did not respond to a request for comment sent outside normal working hours.

• Kim Gravel is the founder of two top-performing QVC brands.
• She's also a mom to two teenage boys.
• Gravel has learned a lot from her failures and is determined to let her sons fail too.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Kim Gravel, the founder of Belle by Kim Gravel and Love Who You Are. It has been edited for length and clarity.

I was 19 when I won the Miss Georgia pageant. Even more exciting than the crown was the $100,000 salary that came with it.

This was back in 1991, so that was serious money. For the first time, I felt like I was being paid not just for the task I was doing but for my talent.

Since I was little, I knew that I wanted to be paid for the value I brought. My first job was washing hair at a salon. I was making something like $3 an hour, but I knew I was providing more value than I was being paid for. I wasn't just washing hair: I was talking to the ladies about their families and their churches, giving them one-on-one attention.

After my year as Miss Georgia, I was hired as a Goodwill Ambassador to Japan. That came with a nice paycheck, too. I realized that if I got lots of bookings like that, I could make as much as I wanted. I started to develop my speaking and performing skills. I realized my value was whatever price tag I put on it.

That realization helped me become a multimillionaire.

I landed a reality TV show while I had an infant

A few years later, I was married to my husband, Travis. We had an infant and a 2-year-old, and I was bored to death as a stay-at-home mom. I knew my most important job was being a mother, but I wanted more. I needed a sense of purpose.

I Googled reality TV shows and found a contact for a producer. I remember sitting at home, no makeup and no bra, with spit-up on my shirt as I reached out to him. That led to a reality TV show about coaching pageants. It got picked up by Lifetime, and I was so proud to be a stay-at-home mom who had landed a television show.

When the show was canceled 18 months later, I was devastated. I didn't know that would be the turning point in my life.

I love running my company

At the time, I wasn't thinking about myself as an entrepreneur. I just thought I had a slick mouth and a big personality, and I knew how to use them.

After the show was canceled, I whined to my parents, who told me to cut it out and put on my big girl panties. My mom had an idea for soft jeans that wouldn't stretch out throughout the day. I started trying to make her vision come to life, and 18 months later, I was selling them on QVC.

Today, I've created two of QVC's most successful brands. Over the last seven years, I've sold over $1 billion in clothing, and last year my companies did $283 million in sales. I love that I run the company, and my husband is the chief financial officer. I'm not licensing my name or brand; I'm making decisions and developing this company.

Failure has helped me learn

The beautiful thing about being successful and having financial wealth is what you can do with it. Travis and I have built outdoor classrooms and have redone a girls' locker room for our local schools. We also started a nonprofit to teach girls about entrepreneurship.

I grew up middle class, but my dad, a banker, was cheaper than dirt. He taught us to save 70% of our money and live and give with the remaining 30%.

In some ways, I'm still cheaper than dirt. If our family goes out to dinner, we drink water or get one soda to share. My 16-year-old got a hand-me-down car when he got his license: a 2014 Nissan Rogue. I try to be like the millionaire next door.

Throughout my life, I've learned more from my failures than I have from my successes. If my show hadn't been canceled, I wouldn't have started making products.

I want my sons to experience failure, but I'm worried that they're part of a generation that doesn't know how to fail well. I don't want them to experience serious failures, like mental health issues or financial scams. But if they don't make the sports team, I'm not the parent calling the school to express outrage. Failure is our friend in finances, romance, and life. It's where we learn.

• When my husband was laid off, we were panicked at first, but ultimately found the silver lining.
• We love traveling, but never had time to take long trips because of work.
• Though conscious of cost, we're taking the opportunity to travel during my husband's job hunt.

When my husband was laid off earlier this year, we were initially stunned. I spent the first hours worrying over bills, health insurance, and the slow job market for his field of work.

We had some savings, but how much would we need? Once the shock wore off, however, we saw an opportunity.

Time off had always been a challenge with his previous employer, and while we both love to travel, long trips had felt out of reach. Now, he had the time — we just had to get creative with the budget.

We traveled to see family first and then opted for a bucket list trip using credit card points

Our first trip was to see family in the Pacific Northwest. We booked the cheapest tickets we could find and spent a long weekend trying dim sum for the first time with cousins in Portland's eclectic food scene.

Staying with family not only made the trip affordable but also gave us precious extra time with them.

We enjoyed Portland so much that we decided to take further advantage of this free time and go big: Italy.

This may have been a touch of insanity for someone in our shoes, especially since we had no family to help curb lodging costs, but it had been a long-talked-of dream between us.

Plus, because we'd had no time to travel the previous year, we had a healthy number of credit card points to use, which ended up covering the cost for two two-way plane tickets.

Turns out, we also had friends with a beautiful Airbnb in Tuscany who heard about the job loss and offered us a free stay.

With their generosity and a few more cashed-in points to book nights in Rome and on the Cinque Terre coast, we enjoyed two weeks eating copious amounts of pasta and admiring the frescoed ceilings of old-world cathedrals.

It was a magical experience of la dolce vita and a time of reconnection for us as a couple, yet it didn't break the bank. After credit card points and the free stay, we spent about $1,600 for two weeks abroad.

Next, we took a spontaneous road trip to the national parks with our dog

After seeing how rewarding traveling was during this uncertain time, we decided to embark on a road trip to visit more family and old friends, stopping in national and state parks along the way.

We mapped out a journey through Zion, the Redwoods, and more, staying with friends, with family, and at budget-friendly hotels.

We took our dog to avoid sitter fees and chose hotels that had no, or only small, pet fees. We also packed a cooler of easy meals — like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, to limit food costs.

It's been full of memorable moments, such as hiking the Lewis and Clark National Historical Park with my mother-in-law over Mother's Day and watching sea lions hunt off the coast of Cape Disappointment.

The job search continues as my husband takes calls with recruiters and continues applying on every trip.

My work in building a freelance business is remote, so I pull out my laptop as needed. In fact, I'm writing this from the deck of a friend's cabin in the Sierra Nevada after seeing a bear in the wild for the first time.

With others' generosity and a tight budget, we spent about $1,500 for this three-week road trip.

Keeping perspective helps us to stay in the moment and enjoy the opportunity

To enjoy the travel, neither of us goes down the rabbit holes that are easy to fall into when dealing with unemployment.

We view this time as a season that, like all things, will pass (as long as we don't give up).

We've been through enough of life to recognize that there will always be something difficult, and that it's best to enjoy the positives that might not be available in another chapter of life.

Having savings also helps to provide some security while waiting for the right job.

But the best thing about all of this is how generous our friends and family have been. Who gets to stay in the countryside of Tuscany free of charge? We did — and I recognize how lucky I am to say that and how wonderful people have been.

We've used unemployment as an opportunity to make a literal journey of the time. I can safely say what began as a tough start to the year has turned into one of our best yet.

• When my son was 12, he altered how the school website looked on his computer to mask a failing grade.
• I was both disappointed and impressed. I cracked down, micromanaging him to get his grades up.
• It was a roller coaster ride up until he decided to graduate early.

School had always come easily to my eldest. He could coast and still get good grades. But in middle school, when the workload grew, he didn't adjust.

Initially, I wasn't worried. I'd done the same: procrastinated, then aced my tests, so I assumed he would, too. The difference was that I cared about getting the A. He didn't.

He'd let grades drop, then pull an all-nighter — not for the grade, but to avoid consequences. He didn't value homework, so he skipped it.

One day, while he was showing me his grades online, something felt off. Nothing looked wrong, but I suddenly had the urge to refresh the page. The moment I did, he tensed up, and the grade changed from passing to failing.

My 12-year-old had altered the site's source code to hide the real grade. I was both disappointed and impressed.

If he could use that ingenuity to hide a grade, he could use it to accomplish anything — he just had to care about the goal.

I punished him with micromanagement

I've always parented intentionally. I set expectations and decided when to step in or let my kids figure it out. Sometimes that meant watching them struggle.

After the report card incident, I knew my son needed more support.

I took a hands-on approach, including weekly check-ins, reviewing progress, and using Google Calendar to teach time-blocking.

Until he consistently followed through, he stayed in "micromanagement mode." He hated it, but it was the only way. Traditional punishment, like grounding, only caused conflict and didn't solve the issue.

I just wanted my son to love learning

As the years passed, his school performance never permanently improved. His grades were always a roller coaster ride: up when he did his homework and down when he didn't.

It was really challenging as a parent. I saw what needed to happen, but I couldn't do anything except keep showing up and supporting him.

My goal was never to have him be an A student, specifically. It was to get him to love learning and learn how to learn.

My husband and I fundamentally understand that school is only a short period in a person's life. As long as kids develop the skills to learn, they will have the skills they need to succeed in life beyond school, in a traditional workplace, or as a business owner.

While my son hadn't shown a love for learning in school, he had demonstrated it in his business ventures, which he started at age 9.

My son struggled in school but excelled in business, which was hard to deal with as a parent

He flipped sneakers at first, and then in high school he moved on to flipping dirt bikes. He'd do the research, find deals, track margins, and run everything from start to finish.

When it came to business, he was focused, disciplined, and all in.

This demonstrated to me that he could apply himself, research a business, understand market pricing, learn how to offer a product or service, and recognize how to make a profit, as well as understand what results in losing money.

On the other hand, when he didn't do his homework and his grades tanked, I wouldn't take him to meet someone to possibly buy or sell an item until he had zero missed school assignments.

I explained that those requirements also occur in life. If you, as a business owner, don't file your taxes, it reaches the point where you aren't allowed to operate until you bring your outstanding taxes up to date.

It was a constant struggle — school and his business — but I stayed the course. Then, one day, he told me he had decided to graduate from high school early.

Finishing school meant more freedom to focus on what he loved, but it also meant he'd have to buckle down and really apply himself academically.

Once school aligned with his goals, he engaged for good. He completed his coursework and graduated six months ahead of schedule. I was thrilled.

I stayed consistent so he could make a different choice

Now, at 18, my son lives at home and has decided not to go to college because he knows he doesn't enjoy traditional learning and the traditional academic path.

My husband and I consider his graduating early a huge win — not only because we saw how easily he completed his coursework, but also because we now see him choose to learn and grow based on his interests without traditional schoolwork in the way.

He's established his own LLC for his business ventures, invested his own money in an independent learning course focused on real estate development, and is researching wealth management strategies and various financial and insurance investment options.

He's taking action and following through, and most importantly, he's driving all of it.

All we ever wanted was for him to be self-sufficient and set up for success. Even though the roller coaster was hard for us to endure as parents, we held on, and we're so impressed with the person our son has become.

• Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers have visited workplaces across the country.
• HR, crisis management, and legal pros say they're helping clients prepare for potential raids.
• Experts say having a plan can help ensure workers and customers stay safe.

After federal immigration agents raided a Miami construction site in May, lawyer Alex Barthet got a call from a developer client seeking advice on what he should do if they showed up at his nearby property.

Barthet said he recommended closing off the premises to visitors, putting up No Trespassing signs, and being ready to turn agents away if they don't show a proper warrant.

"You create this little bit of a walled garden," he told Business Insider, though he conceded that workers could still get detained once they left the work site.

Employers have long had response plans for extreme weather, active shooters, and other workplace emergencies. Now, some are quietly preparing for immigration raids, too — even if they believe everyone on their payroll is legally permitted to work in the US.

Human resources, crisis management, and legal professionals say they're helping clients take the extra step to keep workers safe, minimize disruption to operations, and avoid being charged with hefty fees if they lack accurate employment-authorization documents known as I-9s.

Preparing for an ICE raid may be especially relevant for employers in industries such as food processing and construction, they say, as these typically rely on immigrant labor. In some cases, workers are alreadynot showing up for shifts, fearful of getting swept up in raids — though the arrival of armed agents in the workplace could be scary for anyone. ICE did not comment for this article.

"We have a responsibility to protect employees," said Kim Minnick, an HR consultant in Napa, California, who developed a rapid response template for Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids earlier this year and posted it online to share with her industry peers. It features tips such as keeping within arm's reach a list of emergency contacts for any workers who get detained.

"They may have minors waiting to be picked up at school," Minnick said.

More workplace raids expected

Since January, ICE has highlighted arrests made at worksites across the country, including a meat-processing plant in Omaha, Nebraska, a fire-equipment company in Kings Mountain, North Carolina, and a Louisiana racetrack. It's part of an effort to meet the Trump administration's 3,000 arrest-per-day minimum. The administration has attributed the effort to protecting the nation.

"Worksite enforcement remains a cornerstone of our efforts to safeguard public safety, national security, and economic stability," Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin told BI in a statement.

ICE hasn't specified how many workplaces have been raided overall, though more visits could be on the horizon. Last week, President Donald Trump signed into law a bill that provides ICE with additional funding and resources to go after undocumented immigrants, including enough detention capacity to maintain an average daily population of 100,000 individuals.

Developing a plan

Employers are already mandated by the federal government to have at least a generic emergency response plan that is up to date, though not all do, said Bo Mitchell, president of 911 Consulting in Wilton, Connecticut.

He suspects that some company leaders are fearful that preparing for the possibility of an ICE raid in particular could be misinterpreted externally to mean they're harboring undocumented workers or engaging in a political act.

"Nobody wants to talk about it because of overtones of politics," Mitchell said.

Yet those who don't take such caution may be putting their credibility at risk, said Michelle Sinning, a principal at Bernstein Crisis Management in Mission Viejo, California.

"Your competence may come into question if you're not able to handle a high-pressure situation with confidence," she said.

Companies can also face fines in the tens of thousands of dollars for every employee lacking proper I-9 documentation in the event of a surprise audit by ICE or another government entity, said Tina Ullmann, an HR consultant in Milford, Connecticut. Even a clerical error can be costly, she said.

Preparing for an ICE visit

In addition to ensuring those I-9s are compliant, employers should train workers who greet visitors to be ready to escort any ICE agents who show up to an area that isn't private but won't interfere with customers or other employees, such as a conference room, said immigration attorney Christine Rodriguez in Atlanta.

These workers should then know to alert the right personnel to interact with the agents, such as the company's CEO, head of HR, or lead counsel, she said.

ICE agents are not legally permitted to access private areas of a workplace without a judicial warrant, which will say "U.S. District Court" and bear the signature of a federal judge, said Evan Fray-Witzer, an employment lawyer in Boston. By contrast, he said administrative warrants do not legally grant such access and so employers would be within their rights to deny entry to ICE agents bearing only one of those.

Leadership or employees should never interfere with ICE agents' actions — even if they believe their actions to be illegal — or they could face obstruction charges, warned Fray-Witzer. Instead, he suggested trying to document the incident by recording video or taking notes, as these could come in handy should the matter lead to a lawsuit.

"There is no benefit to the employer or the employee to try and talk ICE out of taking someone," said Fray-Witzer. "The best thing to do is get as much information as you possibly can."