Samsung, Hyundai and LG just bet on the startup that wants to be robotics' data backbone.

Getty Images This post originally appeared in the Business Insider Today newsletter. You can sign up for Business Insider's daily newsletter here. One of the biggest trials in tech is entering its final stretch. Elon Musk's lawsuit against Sam Altman and OpenAI has a handful of key witnesses before both sides make their closing arguments, which could come as soon as this week. OpenAI cofounder and former executive Ilya Sutskever, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, and Altman himself are all expected to testify. BI's Jacob Shamsian has a fantastic breakdown on the lead-up to the case and what's at stake. (Jacob also has a fun interview with Altman's attorney, William Savitt.) At a high level, Musk, an OpenAI cofounder, claims Altman and OpenAI president Greg Brockman deceived him in their efforts to turn the AI startup into a for-profit entity. OpenAI says this is Musk's way of slowing it down as he pushes his own AI startup, xAI, to catch up. BI's Katherine Li has been in person at the Oakland courtroom throughout the trial. She talked about what it's like getting a front-row seat to two tech titans facing off. The testimonies and evidence have offered a look inside one of the most important startups in the world. And beyond management styles and personal text messages, there have also been some great revelations. BI's legal reporters and editors broke some of the most eye-popping tidbits we've learned since the trial kicked off. A few big questions remain as we enter the final phase of the trial. Which side will benefit from Ilya Sutskever's testimony? The OpenAI cofounder and former chief scientist is one of the most interesting players in the trial. Sutskever has a complicated relationship with Altman. He led the charge in 2023 to get him out of the company, only to quickly reverse course and push for Altman's reinstatement. Still, Sutskever left OpenAI six months after the failed Altman ouster. In an October 2025 trial deposition, he said he hasn't spoken to Altman in over a year. Since leaving OpenAI, he started an AI research lab focused on risks in an AI-driven future. Concerns about Altman's dedication to safety have been a key point of attack for Musk's lawyers. Can Sam Altman change the narrative? Questions about Altman's trustworthiness have dogged him for years. It was a key point raised during his failed ouster, and has resurfaced recently in the wake of a deep dive by The New Yorker. Altman's trustworthiness is also core to Musk's case. Altman previously said he's happy the lawsuit is going to trial so he can "explain all this to the world and have this chapter behind us." What will that look like once he gets on the stand and, most importantly, is cross-examined? Plenty of people already have their minds made up about Altman one way or the other, but his testimony could swing wider public opinion. What does the aftermath look like? Since it's a civil lawsuit, there is no "guilty" verdict. The jurors determine if the defendants (Altman, Brockman, and OpenAI) are liable and how Musk should be compensated. If found liable, Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers will make the final call on remedies. Musk has already floated plenty of ideas, including switching OpenAI back to a nonprofit and getting rid of Altman, but Gonzalez Rogers has a history of calling her own shots and not being easily influenced. So even if Musk "wins," he still might not get what he wants. Read the original article on Business Insider

Shutterstock/PeoplesImages Artificial intelligence has crossed a threshold in the modern workplace. It is being used for everything from helping employees manage schedules to supporting financial forecasts. A similar shift is now unfolding inside research laboratories. There is currently a boom in national initiatives to accelerate the integration of AI into science. These include the US Genesis Mission and South Korea’s AI Co-Scientist Challenge. But despite clear benefits, we believe these institutional drives are neglecting important issues that carry immense risks for scientific research. Today, more than half of researchers use AI for work tasks including reviews of academic journals and designing experiments. AlphaFold is an AI tool developed to predict the structures of proteins for scientific research. Working out protein structures was incredibly time-consuming before its release – taking years in some cases. The same tasks now take hours. AlphaFold was acknowledged by the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. AI tools for use in medicine now assist with everything from the interpretation of results from X-rays and MRIs to supporting doctors’ decisions on the diagnosis and treatment of disease. Our key concern is that hasty adoption of AI may gradually erode the scientific culture and human relationships that sustain rigorous research. It starts with the erosion of core thinking skills among researchers, as a result of an increased reliance on AI to perform that work. This can alienate researchers from the deeper reasoning behind their work. Loss of independent thinking Early-career scientists are particularly vulnerable, because they are still developing their scientific reasoning. Troubleshooting skills and the critical evaluation of ideas may be outsourced to AI systems. AI’s fluent, confident and immediate responses can easily be mistaken for authoritative information. Once researchers begin to treat AI outputs as implicitly correct, the responsibility for judgment calls may gradually shift from them to their machines. AI’s persuasive arguments, probably drawn from mainstream ideas in their training data, could replace more rigorous, time-consuming and creative research approaches. These are traditionally shaped through critical back-and-forth discussions between researchers. This can evolve into over-dependence. As reasoning is delegated to AI, researchers become less confident at working unaided. Unfortunately, modern scientific labs are full of conditions that reinforce this dependence, such as intense competition, long hours and frequent isolation. Limited mentorship and feedback from colleagues that is delayed, critical or politically influenced can enhance this issue. In contrast, AI provides an immediate, patient and nonjudgmental alternative. Scientists interact with AI systems daily in order to check computer code, revise illustrations or charts, draft the language for grant applications, clarify scientific concepts, and at times, ask for personal advice. As researchers begin to trust the AI assistant, it can begin to function less like a tool and more like a companion. This phenomenon bears the risk of emotional dependency, too. When ChatGPT-4 was retired, many users expressed a form of grief. Replacing relationships Another important concern is the potential for replacement of human relationships in the office or research lab. AI is always available, nonjudgmental, noncompeting – and indifferent to office politics, with no ego to defend. It remembers context, adapts to individual working styles, and offers reassurance without social cost. Human scientific relationships are more complicated, involving nuance, criticism, time constraints, hierarchy – and sometimes, ulterior motives. For early-career researchers especially, these interactions can feel risky. Early career researchers may be particularly at risk of over-reliance on AI systems for advice. PeopleImages / Shutterstock Critical feedback from humans can feel adversarial, while AI responses feel supportive. So, early-career scientists might have good reason to prefer testing ideas or seeking validation through AI, rather than their peers or superiors. The scientific community cannot thrive without opposing ideas, deep scepticism against consensus, vigorous debate and rigorous mentoring. If AI begins to replace these, it threatens the foundations on which scientific progress has always been made. The current debate on AI safety mostly focuses on errors in models’ responses, or on AI systems circumventing the restrictions imposed on the way they work, known as “jailbreaking”. Such rules have limited effects when it comes to the AI models’ societal and cultural impact. Given the recent drives to get scientists to work more closely with AI assistants, we should educate our young scientists on the risks of AI dependence. We also need benchmarks to rigorously test AI models for their ability to establish boundaries with users, to prevent overdependence and other unhealthy interactions. Finally, all of us – but especially institutional leaders – should understand the capabilities and permanence of AI companionship. They are here to stay, and we should learn to make our relationships with them as healthy as possible. The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

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Bain & Company has estimated a US$100 billion market in the US for SaaS companies using agentic AI. The firm said the market is tied to automating coordination work in enterprise systems. The estimate comes from the second report in Bain’s five-part series on the software industry in the age of AI. The report examines […] The post Bain sees US$100 billion SaaS market in agentic AI automation appeared first on AI News.

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Alex, Mitchell, and Sean Virzi each paid about $13,000 for their first hair transplant. Vitri Triplets Alex, Mitchell, and Sean Virzi each paid roughly $13,000 for hair transplants in 2020. The 33-year-olds all got second transplants this year, to address additional hair thinning. The Virzi triplets are content creators and comedians, and said it helped them feel more confident. As stand-up comedians and content creators, identical triplets Alex, Mitchell, and Sean Virzi spend much of their professional lives in front of audiences and cameras. A few years ago, Sean realized he was "rapidly" balding. Even something as minor as a gust of wind during a live show became a source of anxiety, he said. After researching his options, Sean decided on a hair transplant in 2020 and persuaded his brothers to get one, too. Although Alex and Mitchell hadn't experienced the same degree of hair loss, they decided they wanted to address it early. "We saw what our future might turn into, since we're triplets," Alex said. How a hair transplant works The brothers, who were 26 at the time, each paid roughly $13,000 for hair transplants performed by Dr. Ben Talei at Beverly Hills Hair Group in 2020. In exchange for allowing the clinic to document their experience, the triplets received discounted pricing on the procedure along with two free plasma treatments, which have been shown to stimulate cell regeneration and promote hair follicle growth in some patients. View this post on Instagram A post shared by The Virzi Triplets (@virzitriplets) Male pattern baldness affects about 50 million men in the US. In recent years, hair transplants have surged in popularity, with destinations like Turkey emerging as a hot spot for lower-cost, all-inclusive procedures. In 2022 alone, Turkey drew around one million medical tourists seeking hair transplants. Fabien Beretta, executive director of Beverly Hills Hair Group, said hair transplants at the clinic typically range from $14,000 to $21,000, depending on the number of grafts needed. Regrowth treatments can tack on thousands of dollars to the overall cost, he said. Hair transplants involve individually extracting hair follicles from the sides and backs of the person's scalp and moving them to areas where patients have experienced hair loss or want added density. The full-day procedure is performed with local anesthetics, meaning that patients are awake the whole time, Beretta said. Dr. Josef Hadeed, a plastic surgeon with the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, told Business Insider that hair transplant techniques have evolved in recent years, leading to less pain and scarring and fewer complications. All surgeries carry some level of risk though, and the triplets said they were initially intimidated by the process. "Any cosmetic surgery you always hear horror stories and see videos online of botched people," Mitchell said. The Virzi triplets said the procedure was relatively painless. Virzi triplets However, they said the experience was relatively painless and easy to recover from. Patients can mostly return to their normal routines after about four days, aside from a two-week break from physical activity, Beretta said. Around three weeks after the procedure, the transplanted hair begins to shed, Beretta said. The Virzi triplets referred to that period as the "ugly duckling phase." Regrowth begins after about three months, but most of the growth occurs between six to nine months after the procedure, with full results taking up to a year and a half to set in, Beretta said. However, many patients, including the Virzi triplets, end up undergoing a second transplant to address additional hair thinning. The International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery, a nonprofit aimed at hair loss treatment and restoration, reports that in 2024, the average number of hair restoration surgical procedures per patient to achieve the desired result was 1.5, down from 3.4 in 2019. "They're like, 'Oh, this is great. I got my hair,' but they forget that there's maintenance that needs to be done," Beretta said. The three brothers are now about 10 weeks out from their second hair transplants. 'I hated looking in the mirror' The triplets said they didn't want to gradually go bald while doing live performances, and struggling with hair loss took a toll on their confidence. Sean said trying to hide the hair loss became a part of his daily life, and he combed his hair in a specific way every day to compensate for the balding. "Before I got the procedure, I hated looking in the mirror," Sean said. "I could see my hair falling out." Once the transplanted hair grew in, Sean said he felt more confident. All three said they thought the cost of the first procedures was worthwhile. Since undergoing the transplants, they've become more open about the experience — and in the process, realized just how much interest others have in the procedure. One of their Instagram videos documenting the transplant drew 41 million views. View this post on Instagram A post shared by The Virzi Triplets (@virzitriplets) "I think there's definitely an ego and pride thing associated to it, where people are like, 'I don't want to have to go get work done,'" Alex said. The triplets said they're currently in the shedding period of the post-surgery. However, after shaving their head for the second transplant, they realized that they didn't mind how they looked completely bald. "It was nice to know that the worst-case scenario of being completely bald was not that bad," Alex said. Read the original article on Business Insider

The breakup between Evelyn Ha and Ben Pasternak is the subject of an all-out online information war. Photographs via TikTok; YouTube; BI An influencer and a tech entrepreneur had a violent, and now very online, breakup. Prosecutors say startup prodigy Ben Pasternak assaulted social media star Evelyn Ha. Ha's TikTok has 4.5 million followers — but her most important video may only ever play in court. Tech entrepreneur Ben Pasternak did not want to be served. His trouble wasn't the room service. There at his suite in the Baccarat Hotel, the "service de chambre" included round-the-clock Cristal and caviar. No, the Forbes "30 Under 30" startup wunderkind was hiding out at the Manhattan hotel in hopes of dodging the hand-delivery of a 41-page lawsuit accusing his crypto venture of fraud. And there at the Baccarat, where suites start at $1,500 or more a night, things were about to go from bad to violent. On March 31, Pasternak, 26, and his influencer girlfriend, Evelyn Ha, 27, had a breakup fight inside his suite. Ha told police that Pasternak choked her twice and repeatedly slammed a bathroom door on her body. Pasternak says he acted only in self-defense. Three weeks later, Pasternak, once hailed as a teen prodigy for his tech ventures and a "vegan nugget mogul" for his successful plant-based food company, was charged with misdemeanor assault and felony strangulation. His troubles were just beginning. The incident went viral. Online debates over the breakups and rivalries of internet personalities are nothing new, but they rarely intersect with the severity of an ongoing criminal case. The battle between Pasternak and Ha shows how, for a generation raised on social media, no topic is too personal to deliberate online. An online 'jury' is already passing judgment Ha has 4.5 million followers on TikTok, where a video from a day after the fight showed her silently applying makeup to a red, half-inch scratch on her cheek. The video received more than a million views and more than 700 comments, many criticizing "ben." "I'm no longer in a relationship," Ha told her 470,000 YouTube followers three weeks later. "There's been serious boundaries that were crossed, and I decided to move away from that relationship for the sake of my safety and my well-being." Her post, which went live the day news broke of Pasternak's arrest, has received more than 1 million views and 4,000 supportive comments — far more than anything else she had posted all year. Evelyn Ha posting about her injuries. @hjevelyn/TikTok Three days later, on April 26, Pasternak responded with his own YouTube video, titled "My experience with Evelyn." Pasternak's channel has fewer than 2,000 subscribers, but his video received nearly 600,000 views. In the video, Pasternak said he has never strangled anyone and accused Ha of infidelity, jealousy, and "digging her nails into me" during past fights. "The truth is, Evelyn was abusive to me for pretty much the entirety of our relationship," he said. "And I'm not the only one," Pasternak told the camera. "I've spoken to multiple of her former partners." Another of Ha's exes, Instagram star Fred Liu, soon posted a story for his own 800,000 followers saying that he had experienced "physical violence" in his relationship. "I experienced things that were consistent with parts of what Ben described," Liu wrote. In his YouTube post, Pasternak briefly tried to crowd-source his defense, asking viewers to email information about Ha. The tagline was later removed. Ha, through a representative, declined a request for an interview. Pasternak told Business Insider in an interview that he felt he had to speak up. "Sharing the truth felt like the most important thing to me, and that's eventually what I came to do," he said of his YouTube video. "Hitting the post button was one of the scariest things I have ever done." Ben Pasternak gave his account of the altercation with Evelyn Ha in a YouTube video. @ben_pasternak/YouTube Ha gave a video of the event to police Manhattan prosecutors allege that the hotel breakup turned violent when Ha began filming the argument on her cellphone. Pasternak "lunged at her to try to take her phone," scratching her in the face, Isaac Buck, an assistant district attorney, told the judge at the arraignment. He said that Pasternak was "actively fleeing" legal action at the time, referring to the lawsuit over his crypto venture. As the fight for the cellphone continued, Pasternak "took both hands and strangled" Ha, then pushed her to the ground, the prosecutor continued. When Ha got up, Pasternak "again used both his hands to strangle" her, the prosecutor said. He said Pasternak grabbed Ha's phone and repeatedly slammed a bathroom door on Ha's arms and hips as she struggled to get it back. Ha "is extremely fearful of the defendant," the prosecutor told the judge. The prosecutor also told the judge that Ha "eventually" left the hotel with her phone. "I didn't think she would go to the police, but I thought she was going to start a social media war or something of that nature," Pasternak said of the moment she left the suite. "And then a few minutes later she sent that text saying, 'I'm going to make this come back a million fold.'" A Ha family representative told Business Insider that she shared her video of the hotel incident with the NYPD. Camps have formed on either side Ha and Pasternak have taken different approaches in telling their sides of the story. Ha has kept her social media posts vague. Neither she nor her two influencer sisters has described or mentioned the fight, and her posts do not refer to Pasternak by name. Beyond what she's posted to her fans, she "doesn't really want to talk about it," the family's rep said. "She's obviously told her family what happened, but it's pretty traumatizing to even talk about it," the rep said. "So it's not something she's really wanting to put out there, and she just really wants the justice system to take care of it." Instead, her fans have done the work for her. On Reddit, Instagram, and TikTok, they have dug into Ha's vast corpus of popular online videos, pulling out clips of moments where Pasternak has joked about violence and criticized her. Pasternak has moved quickly to defend his name and shape the narrative forming online. His publicist and lawyer issued a statement after allegations about him hit the internet, and supporters have lent their voices to his defense. His longtime publicist, Dini von Mueffling, told journalists that Ha "physically attacked Ben" throughout their relationship. "When Ben ended his relationship with Evelyn on March 31st, she flew into a rage and attacked him," von Mueffling told Business Insider. His lawyer, Joshua Kirschner, said in a press statement that Pasternak's conduct was "limited to lawful self-defense and efforts to disengage." Other allies, like Liu and Pasternak's friend Kylie Ritchie, stepped forward to back up his version of events. "They would get in these explosive fights and Evelyn would physically scratch him, pull him, the whole thing," Ritchie told Business Insider. The March 31 fight came at the end of a rocky patch, during which the two had broken up and then reconciled, she said. It was a pattern. Pasternak and Ha "always kind of made up" during these incidents, Ritchie said. "Ben thought it was crazy because he didn't take this very seriously, and nothing ever happened with that," Ritchie said. Pasternak said he is still reeling emotionally. "When you are going through a breakup and then, on top of that, you have 10 million people commenting on the breakup, it's even more painful," he told Business Insider. Ben Pasternak's photo in Forbes Photo by Mamadi Doumbouya/The Forbes Collection via Contour RA by Getty Images The tech wunderkind is now under a different microscope Pasternak was already almost-famous when he was arrested. "Flogg," his "Generation Z marketplace app," secured millions in seed-stage funding, Time wrote in an article naming him one of the "most influential teens of 2016." Simulate, a meatless food company Pasternak cofounded at age 19, sold its vegan "chicken" nuggets in Whole Foods, Walmart, and Target. Fast Company called it "The Tesla of Chicken," and the company landed him on a Forbes "30 Under 30" list for 2021. It was valued at $250 million before being sold. Pasternak has since been served with the fraud lawsuit from investors in his cryptocurrency project, Believe. A process server gave it to a reluctant lobby security guard, downstairs from Pasternak's $1.8 million Manhattan condo, two weeks after the alleged assault, court records say. The lawsuit alleges Pasternak exploited the trust he built through his previous companies to scam people who bought tokens on the platform. Pasternak allegedly engineered several price swings for his custom cryptocurrency — once named $PASTERNAK — at the expense of people who held the token. Pasternak hasn't responded to the allegations in court filings; von Mueffling told Business Insider the lawsuit is "not serious." Pasternak told Business Insider he still believes he's in good standing in the startup community. He says he's gotten hundreds of messages of support from people he's worked with over the years who know he's "anti-violence by nature" and "just immediately know that this is nonsense." At his court date, Pasternak pleaded not guilty to assault and strangulation, and agreed to comply with a restraining order. He is free without bail. He is due back in court on June 11, when he is scheduled to learn if he has been indicted. "I never would want to inflict pain on her," Pasternak told Business Insider. "I had deep, deep love for her," he said, adding, "It sucks that we're here." Read the original article on Business Insider

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Courtesy of Carmen P; Tyler Le/BI Carmen P is a 29-year-old living in New York City. Business Insider has verified her income and employment history with documentation. The following as-told-to essay has been edited for length and clarity. I'm a VP of product strategy and development at a multi-national bank and make $155,000 a year. Before getting my MBA, I worked in market research, but it felt like my earning potential was capped. The real money-makers were the account executives who made commissions, but I wasn't really comfortable with the dynamic of sales roles. I think of my student loans from my MBA as my subscription to life. I wouldn't be able to have the opportunities that I have — now and in the future — if it weren't for this $700 payment every month. It's not a small sum of money, but it's not overbearing. An MBA isn't a magical ticket, though. It can put you in the right rooms, but your interview skills, ability to sell yourself, and previous experience still matter. Earning a higher salary and being financially independent has enabled me to walk away from situations that weren't serving me a lot faster. Because of that, I feel like I have a lot more options in life. Here's my salary journey. Keyword specialist, $35,000 In college, I studied business with a focus on marketing. I initially wanted to be a graphic designer within advertising, but quickly realized that wasn't going to pay much, so I switched paths. I landed my first job in 2018 at a small Amazon advertising startup called Channel Bakers. My hourly rate was $17, or around $35,000 a year. I was responsible for tagging search terms on the back end of Amazon products. A few months later, I was transferred to a client success role, diving deeper into our analytics. I left after about a year because I realized that I didn't love the advertising side of things and liked the analytical work a lot more. "Salary Journeys" is Business Insider's first-person series following real people and their real paychecks — how they built their income, what it means for their lives, and what they learned along the way. If you're willing to share how your salary has changed over time, please fill out this Google Form. Research Associate, $40,000 My next role was as a research associate at Lieberman Research Worldwide, a market research consultancy. It wasn't a high salary jump — I made around $40,000 a year — but I think of this job as the launchpad for the rest of my career. It was a much larger company and taught me so many business skills that I didn't learn in college, such as data processing and data manipulation, how to answer questions using Excel, and how to make clean, professional presentations. Even as a really young associate, I was given opportunities to work on market research studies with big-name clients. The job involved a lot of ground-level work, and my role was more of a project coordinator role — that was the beginning of learning how to be a project manager. Because it was such a large company, it took a lot of time to get promoted. I was living at home with my parents at that point and really wanted more autonomy and control over my life. I made the jump to my next company purely for salary reasons. Data collection manager, $60,000 In 2020, I became a data collection manager at MFour, another market research company, which gave me a nearly $20,000 increase to $60,000 and came with bonuses. Instead of doing presentations and data processing work, I was going out and collecting data for surveys. I had to manage many different projects — sometimes up to 30 at a time — which helped me stay organized and become a very efficient person. I made it a point to tell my manager that I wanted to be promoted to a senior project manager in a year to a year-and-a-half, and that's exactly what happened. Senior project manager, $75,000 What helped me make that jump was that I knew what issues we were dealing with on a daily basis, and I began to initiate conversations about improvements we could make to be more efficient. My manager loved it. My scope shifted from many small projects to fewer larger ones. I realized that I loved the operations management side of things — coming up with new processes, helping my manager implement them, and training people. I wanted to help the company become more profitable, which sparked my desire to go to grad school. I hadn't studied finance and wasn't comfortable with accounting and all of the backend work that actually makes a profitable company. Operations system manager, $90,000 While I was playing around with the idea of going to grad school, I was promoted to operations systems manager in 2022, and my salary became $90,000. For me, business school was about making a new network outside my existing world. I'd lived in California my entire life and went to college not too far away, so my existing network felt small. It wasn't going to get me into the types of companies, roles, and salaries that I wanted. I was only there for around eight more months before I quit for grad school. MBA, internship, and part-time work, $40,000 I did my MBA at Boston University, with a specific focus on finance and social impact. I used student loans to cover housing and tuition. I also got a scholarship because I was an early decision applicant. For the first few months of my MBA program, I was also working part-time for my last company, but I eventually quit to focus on finding an internship. I cold-applied for the internship. Networking felt so unnatural; I'd go to a lot of networking events, but had a hard time asking people directly for referrals. That's something that I definitely regret. What I did at those events instead was learn about different ways people joined their companies. That's where I learned about rotational programs and started applying, including to one at my current company. They were all two-year programs and paid high salaries, and I'd get to rotate within different departments. They were perfectly in alignment with what I wanted to do next in my career. I landed an internship with my current company for the summer of 2023, after my first year. My take-home pay was around $7,000 a month, a massive jump from my past salary. It was very enticing, as someone who'd invested a lot into an MBA program and also knew that I wanted to move to an expensive city afterward. It was honestly kind of a win on all fronts. For fun money, I saved some of the money that I made during the summer internship, and worked other part-time jobs, like at the graduate admissions office in my second year. For the two years I was doing my MBA, my income totaled around $40,000. Rotational program, $140,000 plus bonuses I got a return offer from my company in August 2023 and started full-time in July 2024, joining the analytics team. My starting salary was $140,000. I also got $35,000 in bonuses from my sign-on bonus and signing on early, a relocation bonus of $10,000, and an additional $10,000 yearly bonus. That paycheck was the biggest I'd ever received in my life — a very defining moment. I remember seeing the amount in my bank account and thinking, I can't believe I have this. It was intimidating — I felt very small all of a sudden, but it also made me realize that there was so much potential that I could reach. In the second year of my rotational program, I joined a digital experience team. I only got a $5,000 salary bump, but my yearly bonus increased from $10,000 to $17,500. My relationship with money has gotten a lot better. Financial literacy wasn't really something my immigrant parents had taught me, and I'd had trouble saving earlier in my career. In business school, people talked transparently about financial literacy. That's when I learned that I need a high-yield savings account, a Roth IRA, and a brokerage account. VP of product strategy and development, $155,000 In my current role, I monitor the health of multiple of our products in terms of risk and finance, to make sure we're on track with our goals. My salary is now over $155,000. I don't know what my bonus will look like next year, because it's dependent on performance, but I assume the baseline would be higher than what I earned last year. I'm still paying off my student loans, which I'm able to cover perfectly fine. I feel well compensated and well balanced now Looking back, I know that I wasn't well compensated when I was starting my career, but I don't feel bitter about it. I learned so many skills in these earlier roles that are priceless now. I met a lot of good people and had good managers. I'm happy I went through it and wouldn't change a thing. Looking back, I know that I wasn't well compensated when I was starting my career, but I don't feel bitter about it. I think I'm being well compensated now. It's a good salary for the work that I do, and it's a pretty balanced 9-to-5. I don't ever really feel like I don't have time for my personal life. I volunteer on Saturdays doing arts and crafts with kids, have time after work to film my TikTok videos, and take sewing and pottery classes. Before, I would've said that my career goals were to have more responsibility and to learn, and that I didn't care about the money as much. Now that I have so much work-life balance, I don't really care about titles. My goal is mainly monetary; for my next role, I wouldn't mind making a lateral move if it were 15% to 20% higher than what I'm making currently. Because I live in NYC, my "comfortable" salary number is around $250,000 — about $100,000 more than what I'm making now. That would enable me to rent a decent apartment while also saving to buy an apartment in the city. People say it's crazy, but I think it's doable. I'd have to do it on my own. My life feels very well-rounded now in terms of salary and work-life balance, so I'm very happy with how things have progressed. If you're interested in sharing your salary journey, please fill out this Google Form. Read the original article on Business Insider

Jimmy Donaldson, aka MrBeast, and Jeff Housenbold are making their pitch to advertisers on May 12. Craig Barritt/Getty Images for TIME YouTuber MrBeast is wooing Madison Avenue at a swanky invite-only event. MrBeast and his company's CEO want to pitch bigger ad deals to top brand and agency execs. It shows how hard creator-led media companies are competing with legacy media giants for budgets. YouTube star MrBeast is stepping up his charm offensive with Madison Avenue as his company ramps up efforts to win a larger share of traditional TV ad dollars. Beast Industries is hosting a breakfast for top brand and ad executives and creator-economy insiders at Penthouse 45, a sleek Manhattan event venue known for sweeping views of the Hudson River and New York City skyline. The invite-only gathering will feature Jimmy Donaldson (aka MrBeast) and Beast Industries CEO Jeffrey Housenbold talking up the company's assets, growth plans, and media partnership goals, three people who saw the invite said. It promises an "inside look at the world's most impactful entertainment brand" where the duo will "share their vision for the future and how we are defining the next era of strategic partnerships together." The event has symbolic significance in that it coincides with the annual TV upfronts week, when legacy TV companies like NBCUniversal and Disney throw extravaganzas to pitch advertisers for big spending commitments. The timing underscores how hard creator-led media companies are now competing with entertainment giants for brand budgets. Creator-focused companies like Google's YouTube and SoftBank-backed Spotter also host their own upfronts-style events. The MrBeast event comes as his company has been trying to build a scaled media business and Disney-style entertainment enterprise. It's seeking a VP of agency partnerships to work with big agency holding companies as well as a CMO to round out its executive suite. Beast Industries has been beefing up its executive team with hires from major media companies, including TikTok and NBCUniversal. The company has also seen some flux — Kelly Calabrese, who was VP of global media and brand partnerships, left in April after six months. Meanwhile, Tina Tran is joining from TikTok as a VP in brand partnerships, Business Insider can exclusively report. "It's not surprising the No. 1 creator, and one of the big celebrities in the world, wants to sit down and have an intimate conversation with the biggest advertisers in the world," said David Freeman, a former CAA exec who recently left to start his own creator-focused company, Kynetic Media Ventures. "Everyone wants to get closer to agencies and brands. I think you're going to see more and more talent who are building bigger media companies do this." Advertisers, for their part, are racing to work with creators as audiences shift from traditional TV to creator-driven platforms like YouTube. US ad spending in the category is estimated to hit $44 billion in 2026, from $37 billion in 2025, according to a report from the Interactive Advertising Bureau. Advertisers' spending on creators is limited by the lack of results-based measurement they are used to in other media. That means deals are usually funded from sponsorship budgets rather than from the larger media spending bucket. The IAB is trying to help close the gap with an event called CreatorFronts in September, which will be accompanied by a report identifying pain points and opportunities. It also plans to make recommendations to tech platforms to adopt common definitions for impressions and other terms. Read the original article on Business Insider

Student-loan borrowers are facing a maze of confusing rules as President Donald Trump's repayment overhaul goes into effect. Hannah Latham for BI; Getty Images; Alyssa Powell/BI This is the second story in Business Insider's new series, "Student debt spiral," examining the companies, policies, and financial pressures reshaping how Americans navigate college loans. Read the first, about what happens when borrowers are told their loans are paid off — and then get sued. A construction manager in Massachusetts thought her $55,000 student-loan debt was forgiven — until she was sued. A Michigan nurse wanted to make payments on her balance of more than $50,000, but no one could tell her who to pay. Their experiences point to a growing concern: As more Americans turn to private student loans, critics say the industry operates with uneven oversight, limited transparency, and fewer borrower protections than the federal student-loan system. Private student loans make up a relatively small share of the higher-education borrowing market, but the industry is poised for rapid growth. President Donald Trump's sweeping student-loan changes, which take effect July 1, will limit federal borrowing, pushing more students toward private lenders. Meanwhile, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the federal agency tasked with overseeing the student-loan industry, directed staff to "deprioritize" oversight in an internal memo last year. Business Insider reviewed the past decade of CFPB complaints and interviewed borrowers, attorneys, lawmakers, and former regulators about how private student loans are monitored — and where they say the system falls short. Borrowers described confusion over who owned their debt, missing or conflicting notices, and lawsuits following defaults. While private lenders are subject to federal and state consumer-protection laws, critics say enforcement is fragmented and inconsistent, especially as federal oversight recedes. Julie Margetta Morgan, a former CFPB and Department of Education official, said that the industry's growth could leave more borrowers exposed to payment errors, costly litigation, and the harsh consequences of default, including ruined credit and wage garnishment. "There are rules that lenders are supposed to be following," she said. "We have laws against unfair and deceptive practices for a reason, but you need someone who actually is willing to enforce those laws and has the capacity to do it." With private student loans, Morgan said, "there's really no one minding the store here." This story is part of a new Business Insider series, "Student debt spiral," on the growing private student-loan industry. Read the first installment below and stay tuned for more. They were told their private student loans were paid off. Then they were sued. Share your private student-loan experience with asheffey@businessinsider.com or securely on Signal at asheffey.97. The challenges with private student-loan oversight Private lenders said they are prepared for the expected influx of federal borrowers. A Sallie Mae spokesperson pointed to "significant oversight and standards set by banking regulators" and "robust consumer protection laws and regulations." A SoFi spokesperson said that the company "communicates extensively" with borrowers, "so they can successfully manage their finances and get their money right." Private lenders have a business interest in helping borrowers to pay off their loans, said Scott Buchanan, executive director of the Student Loan Servicing Alliance, which represents federal and private lenders. "That's their bread and butter, making sure that they are making loans that are performing well," he said. Lawyers described difficulty getting their clients' payment information from lenders. Hannah Latham for BI Business Insider's reporting found widespread frustration among private borrowers. Private lenders serve about 10% of borrowers, yet account for roughly 25% of CFPB complaints. In reviewing the past 10 years of complaints, Business Insider found hundreds of entries related to lender mistakes with loan transfers, missing or erroneous documentation, and confusion about payment status. CFPB released a report in January showing it received about 4,500 private student-loan complaints from July 2024 through July 2025 — an increase of 33% compared to the previous year. Anna Park, an attorney at the New York Legal Assistance group, said she's not surprised by the volume of CFPB complaints based on what she's witnessed with her clients. In her capacity as a lawyer, she's had trouble getting information from lenders, she said. "It's very difficult, even when we reach out with authorization from the law firm, and we know the language to use, and we know which documents to ask for. Even then, sometimes we come up with nothing," Park said. Lenders are subject to a multitude of laws around communication and fair debt collection, including the federal Truth in Lending Act and various state laws. Nineteen states have enacted what they call a borrower's "bill of rights." These laws govern how and when lenders can contact borrowers, and aim to provide some protections. Critics say these protections lack proper enforcement. "State attorneys general don't have the capacity to monitor and conduct oversight and enforcement of this industry in the same way that a CFPB would," Morgan said. Default is a common land mine. Typically, when a borrower goes 120 days without paying, a third party takes over collections, and borrowers may struggle to track communications or lose access to their original accounts, according to interviews and CFPB complaints. Melinda Laszczynski, 39, discovered where her defaulted account had been transferred when a collections agency requested she pay her full $160,000 balance. "Millions of Americans could have avoided the consequences of default if they had been treated properly by their servicer," former CFPB director Rohit Chopra told Business Insider in 2024. That year, the agency sued and won a sweeping settlement from one major lender, Navient, over claims that it mishandled borrowers' payments by steering them into repayment plans that blocked access to lower monthly payments. Last spring, the Trump administration cut staff and deprioritized oversight at the agency, according to an April internal memo. A spokesperson said the agency's student-loan ombudsman is continuing to fulfill statutory duties. The push for stronger private student-loan protections Since Trump's federal changes will impose borrowing caps on some lending and offer less generous repayment plans, the private market anticipates a rush of borrowers seeking more options. Policymakers are pushing for stronger oversight. Lawmakers are pushing for bolstered oversight over the private student-loan industry. Nic Antaya for BI In February, a group of Democratic lawmakers, led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, released the first congressional analysis on private lenders' plans for federal repayment changes with one core warning: New federal borrowing caps would eliminate the "competitive pressure" private lenders have faced to keep repayment terms reasonable. Without that pressure, the lawmakers said, lenders would have weaker incentives to offer terms that resemble federal loans, including on interest rates. Federal interest rates are fixed throughout the duration of a borrower's repayment. Currently, they're 6.39% for direct undergraduate loans, compared to variable private student-loan interest rates ranging from about 3% to 18%. "For years, private student lenders have used sketchy tactics to rip Americans off," Warren said in a statement to Business Insider. "The Trump administration should focus on lowering costs for students and borrowers, not giving predatory private lenders free rein to profit off of American families." The Department of Education has said the repayment changes aim to curb excessive borrowing and compel colleges to lower their tuition, but it has not commented on the anticipated surge in private lending. For now, Morgan said, local and state oversight is the best bet for change. "We really need states to be looking at the full picture there," she said. "They can drive down state school tuition prices, they can increase enforcement at the state level of consumer financial protection laws, and then they can crack down on debt collection, as well." Some states are taking action. In February, the New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection announced new debt-collection rules aimed at curbing predatory collection practices, such as excessive outreach and failure to present proper documentation, while also giving borrowers clearer avenues for disputing debt with regulators. In California, the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation told Business Insider that it monitors lenders' annual portfolio performance reports and investigates borrower complaints. Other states with borrower "bill of rights" laws intended to protect borrowers from predatory lending have similar processes. These protections vary widely, creating a confusing patchwork for borrowers who move states and aren't aware of the differences. Morgan said greater transparency is a critical first step. Some states require lenders to be licensed and registered, while others do not, limiting regulators' ability to track activity and intervene early. More consistency across states and stronger federal oversight would make it easier to spot patterns of abuse and enforce protections, she said. "We're going to see a quiet crisis for student-loan borrowers where they're taking on higher interest debt with more onerous terms," Morgan said, "but that we won't be able to see because you don't have the same transparency as the federal student-loan program." Read the original article on Business Insider

Making connections with people is one of the best ways to stand out in your job search, say workplace observers. Joe Raedle/Getty Images Networking tends to be more important when the job market remains sluggish in some industries. White-collar workers often don't have as much leverage as they did a few years ago. Fostering genuine relationships can help job seekers stand out in competitive hiring processes. Networking can feel awkward. It can also be one of the best ways to land a job right now. Yet, if you're busy actually doing your job, it may feel like one more obligation competing for your attention. So, you like a few posts on LinkedIn and move on. Unfortunately, that's not going to cut it, workplace observers say. In a job market that has cooled for industries like tech — and where applying to jobs online can seem downright fruitless — making connections matters. Professional elbow-rubbing is becoming more important, partly because white-collar employees, in particular, don't hold the same bargaining power they enjoyed during the pandemic-era hiring frenzy. So, landing a new role can require more effort. Plus, as AI threatens to take on more work — and as companies pump more money into the technology — some employers are becoming choosier about the people they hire and keep. Add in economic X factors such as war, energy shocks, and inflation and you've got more reasons to treat networking like healthy eating or hitting the gym — and not something you do only in January. "Networking is more about farming than it is about hunting. It's about cultivating relationships with people," said Ivan Misner, the founder of BNI, a business networking organization focused on referrals. That's why he encourages people to start connecting with people before they need a job. Misner, a longtime networking evangelist, compares relationship-building to the old saying that the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago — and the second-best time is today. "For those employees who have not planted an oak tree, who have not been out networking, they need to go do it now," he said. Joining the 'favor economy' One reason networking is more essential than ever is that our attention is often fractured by the amount of information flying at us, said Dorie Clark, a communication coach who teaches at Columbia Business School and wrote the book "The Long Game." "What is always going to get your attention is a close relationship with people that you care about and want to help," she said. Many of us, though, often find jobs not through our close contacts but through their acquaintances, Clark said. What can play out, she said, is an example of what's sometimes called the "favor economy." "You will help someone that you don't know that well, because you are indirectly doing a favor for the person you do know well," she said. Clark said that because AI threatens to take jobs and because many employers are cautious about hiring, some old-school relationship-building is imperative. "The thing that is going to get you to the front of the line when jobs are scarce is interpersonal relationships with people who are willing to go above and beyond and expend political capital to help you," she said. Clark said that relying too much on social media for networking can be dangerous because it's often a poor substitute for building deeper connections over time. "It gives you the illusion of productive networking. It gives you the illusion of connection," she said. Instead, Clark advises workers and job seekers to look for more "bespoke" ways of connecting. It might be as simple as sending someone you know a text once in a while without expecting a response. She said that sharing something that reminds you of that person, or simply saying hello, can make a difference. "As long as you're friendly, you're thoughtful, you're relevant, you're not seeking something from them — most people will be very happy to hear from you," Clark said. The gold standard, however, remains spending time with someone IRL, she said. When you don't know someone well — and especially when there's a power imbalance — it's best to make a single small ask. That means you probably shouldn't request a coffee date, a job referral, and a testimonial quote, Clark said. Instead, she said, think about what would be the "highest and best use" of how someone might help you and what feels appropriate as an ask. Finding ways to stand out Networking is also important because as piles of résumés stack up for an open job, sifting through them, even with the help of applicant-tracking software, can be a heavy lift for busy managers, said Gorick Ng, a Harvard University career advisor who's the author of the book "The Unspoken Rules." What often stands out, he said, is someone walking down the hall and saying: "My niece is looking for a job. Here's their résumé. Do you mind just taking a closer look?" Or, Ng said, it could be that someone inside an organization vouches for a former colleague by telling the hiring manager that the candidate is likable and trustworthy. "And just like that, somebody else who you do not know just got that leg up because they have somebody else behind the scenes pounding on the table for their name to be picked," Ng said. That's why, he said, it's so important for people looking for a job to be seen, heard, and remembered. After all, Ng said, hiring managers aren't likely to hire someone they haven't grown excited about as a candidate. "It's hard to fall in love with an applicant that is nothing more than just a Word document that you may not even look at," he said. Do you have a story to share about your job hunt? Contact this reporter at tparadis@businessinsider.com. An earlier version of this story appeared on June 3, 2025. Read the original article on Business Insider

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EV companies like Rivian are still facing a state-by-state fight to sell their cars without third-party dealerships. Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images EV makers want to sell their cars directly to consumers without going through franchise dealerships. A patchwork of decades-old state dealership-franchise laws restricts the direct-to-consumer model. Three EV makers told Business Insider how those laws complicate the buying process in some states. As EV sales slow down, EV makers have a growing incentive to make their cars easier to buy. Rivian, Lucid Motors, Scout Motors, and other EV makers say they still face a barrier across much of the US: state dealership-franchise laws that restrict where and how they can sell directly to consumers. These laws, largely written decades ago, govern the relationship between traditional automakers and their franchised dealers. "Franchise laws protect consumers as well as dealers — that's why they've been part of the fabric of America for many years," Amy Wright, a spokeswoman for the National Automobile Dealers Association, told Business Insider. "When dealers compete, prices go down, and customers win." EV makers, founded long after many of the franchise-dealership laws were enacted, say the rules are being used against companies that never had franchise dealers in the first place. Direct sales, they say, let them control pricing, educate first-time EV buyers, and avoid relying on third-party dealers to sell a new kind of vehicle. In interviews with Business Insider, Rivian, Lucid, and Scout Motors said this state-by-state system can create a stifling and awkward retail experience: Customers could see a vehicle, service it, or discuss some features, but not test-drive the car, discuss the price, or complete the sale. Rivian A Rivian showroom in New York. Richard B. Levine/Reuters Beau Whiteman, Rivian's director of state public policy, said Ohio shows how "restrictive" some state laws can be. The company filed a lawsuit last year against the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles, challenging the state's restrictions on direct-to-consumer sales. The 17-year-old EV maker can't obtain a dealer license in Ohio, but it can operate service facilities to fulfill warranty obligations, he said. At Rivian's service centers, prospective customers can ask basic questions about the cars, but employees cannot discuss pricing, financing, purchasing, or offer a test drive, Whiteman said. "If you're an Ohio resident and want to drive one of our cars, we cannot offer that to you," he said. To buy a Rivian, Ohio customers must complete the purchase online. In some cases, Whiteman said Rivian will process an Ohio purchase in Illinois, where it is licensed to do business. The customer may have to pay for a temporary Illinois tag and complete power-of-attorney forms before Rivian submits paperwork to the Ohio DMV. "You can just see how it's complicated and convoluted and inefficient," he said. The Ohio Automobile Dealers Association disputed Rivian's characterization, saying Ohio law allows Rivian vehicles to be sold through an independent dealer of the company's choice. "There's nothing 'convoluted' or 'complicated' about the process," the association said. Lucid Motors Lucid Motors is allowed to sell directly to customers in fewer than half the states in the US. Josh Lefkowitz/Getty Images Daniel Witt, head of public policy at Lucid Motors, said the state restrictions can create "awkward" customer interactions and legal risks for employees. Retail workers need to know which questions they can answer, which topics are off-limits, and when a normal sales conversation can create legal exposure, he said. This can also be tough for customers because they're often unaware of the state restrictions. "You're dealing with retail employees. They're not legal experts, but they have all these red lines that they have to consider," he said, adding that the workers are put on the "front lines for compliance." In some states like Michigan, where Tesla has fought and won the ability to sell directly to customers, Witt said Lucid can partly benefit. The settlement Tesla reached with the state allows other EV makers to discuss prices, offer test drives, and provide warranty service, but they cannot complete the final sale or title the vehicle. Witt said this can create financial burdens for buyers due to taxes and registration costs that may have to be handled separately from the vehicle purchase. Scout Motors Scout Motors expects to start customer deliveries in 2028. Josh Lefkowitz/Getty Images Scout Motors, a company that shut down in 1980 and was relaunched as a Volkswagen Group subsidiary in 2022, has yet to deliver a car to customers, but the company says dealership laws are already shaping its business. Cody Thacker, Scout's vice president of commercial operations, said the company has spent years exploring different business models before choosing direct sales. Since then, Scout has had to plan its sales and service footprint in accordance with state laws. South Carolina provides a stark example. Scout said it invested more than $2 billion into its production campus in Blythewood and that the center will create more than 4,000 permanent jobs. What it can't do is sell directly to customers. Thacker called it "tragic." "We are in this position where we have to tell the people who build Scout vehicles that they have to drive to Tennessee to buy the product that they make," he said. A spokesperson for the South Carolina Automobile Dealers Association did not respond to a request for comment. Thacker said that, while the current laws are not exactly existential for EV companies, the rules should help, not stifle, US startups' ability to grow and then compete effectively in a global market. "The United States market and the auto industry specifically does not exist in a vacuum, and this is a point in time where the winners and losers for the next hundred years are being selected," he said. Read the original article on Business Insider

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