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OpenAI on Monday launched its new AI model GPT-4.1, along with smaller versions GPT-4.1 mini and GPT-4.1 nano, touting major improvements in coding, instruction following, and long context comprehension. The new models, available only on OpenAI’s application programming interface (API), outperform the company’s most advanced GPT-4o model across the board, the ChatGPT maker said. With improved context understanding, they can support up to 1 million “tokens” — a term that refers to the units of data processed by an AI model. The models are also equipped with refreshed knowledge up to June 2024. GPT-4.1 showed a 21% improvement over GPT-4o and 27% over GPT-4.5 on…

There’s a focus on protecting our personal data now, perhaps more so than ever before, be it from foreign powers, Big Tech, or Elon Musk’s DOGE. Consumers are wary about where their data is going, what it’s being used for, and how, or if, they can put up safeguards, especially while using tech tools like search engines or AI assistants. With several AI tools and assistants hitting the market over the past couple of years—Microsoft’s Copilot and Meta’s Llama, among many others—much of our data, queries, and summaries are being fed to large tech companies, used to train their artificial intelligence models. While some users may not mind, it could turn others off, w…

The Fast Company Impact Council is a private membership community of influential leaders, experts, executives, and entrepreneurs who share their insights with our audience. Members pay annual membership dues for access to peer learning and thought leadership opportunities, events and more. When I was a college student renting an apartment in New York City, I learned firsthand that the rental process was overly complex and inefficient. My friends and I lost out on an apartment we really wanted simply because we couldn’t gather the necessary documentation fast enough. That experience stuck with me, and it sparked an idea—why not electronically store all of the d…

A group of internet businesses, including Roblox, Google, OpenAI, and Discord, have cofounded a nonprofit called Robust Open Online Safety Tools (ROOST). The new organization will fund free, open-source tools for online businesses to promote online safety, says Naren Koneru, Roblox’s vice president of engineering, trust, and safety. The move follows years of efforts by Roblox to restrict inappropriate messaging on its platform, which is widely used by children and has at times come under fire for not doing enough to combat sexual content and adult sexual predators. And while human moderators are part of that equation, AI and automation have become critical for in…

Featuring Jerry Grammont, CEO, Mabï Artisanal Tea; Jori Miller Sherer, President, Minnetonka and Mika Shino, Founder and CEO, Issei Mochi Gummies.Moderated by Kc Ifeanyi, Executive Director of Editorial Programming, Fast Company. These executives have built their companies around their respective cultures, from creating iced teas derived from ingredients native to the Caribbean, to designing moccasins in partnership with Indigenous artists, to putting a fresh spin on Japanese mochi. Hear how they’re uplifting their communities and bridging them to the broader public—which is not without its challenges. View the full article

It’s tough enough bringing the first major redesign of a commercial jetliner to fruition—especially when it looks more like something out of The X-Files than a travel brochure. So, to streamline that journey, JetZero—the first commercial blended-wing body (BWB) aircraft—is teaming with Delta as an eventual buyer to troubleshoot operation and design issues from the ground up. “Our biggest challenge is, `How do you bring an aircraft to market as quickly as possible so that you can have the most impact for your customer?’” says CEO Tom O’Leary, who cofounded JetZero with CTO Mark Page. “We don’t want to zig-zag our way to entry into service. We want to take the cleanest,…

Bowling Green, Kentucky, is known for being the city from which Corvettes roll off the production lines, and for Fruit of the Loom underwear, which is headquartered there. But the city of 76,000 could soon be known for something else: its AI-powered mass civic engagement project that is using public surveys to chart the future of the city. In the next 25 years, the county within which Bowling Green sits is set to double in size, thanks largely to the growth of nearby Nashville. Figuring out what to do about that vexes the public officials in Bowling Green and the greater Warren County. The “What Could BG Be?” project is an open consultation open to all residents…

Over the past decade, as I’ve curated this annual list of best bags, there’s been a strong focus on utility. But this year, bag designers are eager to create bags that make a statement, while also improving women’s lives with useful features. In some ways, the bag industry is coming full circle. When I first started working on this list, the bag industry was dominated by big brands like Coach and Kate Spade that were more concerned with fashion than function. But then, a new generation of direct-to-consumer brands like Dagne Dover, Cuyana, and Senreve popped up, creating bags full of features like laptop and water bottle sleeves that helped women get through busy days…

Want more housing market stories from Lance Lambert’s ResiClub in your inbox? Subscribe to the ResiClub newsletter. Since the pandemic housing boom fizzled out, the number of unsold completed U.S. new single-family homes has been rising. Here’s a look at the recent historical numbers for January: January 2018: 63,000 January 2019: 76,000 January 2020: 76,000 January 2021: 40,000 January 2022: 32,000 January 2023: 68,000 January 2024: 83,000 January 2025: 115,000 The January figure (115,000 unsold completed new homes) that recently published is the highest level since July 2009 (126,000). Let’s take a closer look at the data to bett…

Fast Company is the official media partner of Summit Detroit. For the past 17 years, Summit, an organization hosting conferences and immersive experiences around the world, has brought together entrepreneurs and creatives in lush settings that double as vacation destinations—think Tulum, Mexico; Palm Desert, Calif.; Powder Mountain, Utah; and even out on the open sea. This year marks the end of Summit’s larger-scale events as the company pivots toward more intimate gatherings. So it’s little surprise that more than a few eyebrows were raised when Summit announced Detroit as its last big hurrah this June 5-8. [Illustration: Summit] “We came together and decided…

The generative AI revolution has turned into a global race, with mixtures of models from private companies and open-source initiatives all competing to become the most popular and powerful. Many choose to promote their prowess by demonstrating their performance on common tests and levels within regular rankings. But the legitimacy of those rankings has been thrown into question as new research published in Cornell University’s preprint server arXiv shows it’s possible to rig a model’s results with just a few hundred votes. “When we talk about large language models, their performance on benchmarks is very important,” says study author Tianyu Pang, a researcher at S…

Between the rise of quiet quitting, the evolution of hybrid work, and concerns about artificial intelligence, we live in tumultuous times. In order to retain talent, it’s important for leaders to adapt to the changing needs of their employee population. This is a particularly large challenge at the moment since it requires understanding and supporting very different groups. There are currently five different generations from all walks of life in the workplace. They have a wide range of preferences when it comes to money management, lifestyle, and retirement goals. Finding ways to better understand and engage with the needs of unique employee segments can enhance …

TikTok and Instagram are flooded with reels of food influencers hyping already viral restaurants or bringing hundreds of thousands of eyes to hidden gems. With sauce-stained lips, exaggerated chewing, and that signature hooked finger over their mouth, they urge viewers to “run, don’t walk” to these must-try spots. But how trustworthy are these glowing reviews? Platforms like Yelp and Google Reviews long ago opened the door for anyone with an internet connection to play food critic. But the rise of short-form video has democratized the food-reviewing game to a whole new level. OnTikTok and Instagram, driving engagement is the name of the game, and posting hyperbolized …

Intel‘s promised $28 billion chip fabrication plants in Ohio are facing further delays, with the first factory in New Albany expected to not be completed until 2030, local media outlet The Columbus Dispatch reported on Friday. The first factory will begin operations sometime shortly thereafter in either 2030 or 2031, the report said, citing the chipmaker. Shares of the company, which originally scheduled to begin chipmaking in Ohio factories in 2025, were up more than 5%. Intel has been cutting capital expenses after its expensive bid to become a contract chip manufacturer for other companies, in a move to restore its lost glory, strained its balance sheet. …

Heathrow Airport, Europe’s busiest, has shut down today, following a fire last night at a nearby electrical substation that caused a major power outage. The closure has disrupted at least 1,350 flights, according to Flightradar24, with some aircraft diverted to alternate airports like Gatwick, Amsterdam’s Schiphol, and Paris’s Charles de Gaulle. What caused the fire? While the cause of the fire is still under investigation, British officials have stated that there is no evidence of foul play. According to the London Fire Brigade, the fire broke out at an electrical substation around 11:20 p.m. on Thursday, involving a transformer containing 25,000 liters of coo…

Dek: The health supplement company counts investors like Lewis Hamilton and Alex Honnold. Kat Cole is no stranger to a career pivot. At Hooters, she went from waitress to vice president as she worked her way up the restaurant chain’s corporate ladder. Then, over the course of more than 10 years at Cinnabon parent Focus Brands, she built a career selling sweet treats to consumers. In 2024, Cole made the leap from selling fast food to health supplements by becoming CEO of AG1 (formerly known as Athletic Greens), which sells a green multivitamin and nutrient powder. Valued at $1.2 billion in 2022, AG1 has been endorsed by athletes like Olympic runner Allyson Fe…

Want more housing market stories from Lance Lambert’s ResiClub in your inbox? Subscribe to the ResiClub newsletter. In the past few years, the housing market has experienced a “lock-in effect,” in which many homeowners with lower monthly payments and mortgage rates (some even below 3%) are unwilling to sell and purchase another home with a significantly higher monthly payment and mortgage rate. Last year, researchers from the Federal Housing Finance Agency estimated that the lock-in effect had resulted in more than a million “lost” home sales. But what mortgage rate would it take for homeowners to consider moving? ResiClub aimed to find out with the ResiClub Housi…

Featuring Matthew Prince, Cofounder and CEO, Cloudflare. Moderated by Brendan Vaughan, Editor in Chief, Fast Company. With a quarter of the global internet powered by Cloudflare—its network provides service to over 300 cities across more than 100 countries—the company is at the helm of delivering content and connecting millions. But as AI-powered bots grow at a prolific rate and cybersecurity risks become increasingly sophisticated, ensuring the safety of the internet requires innovative thinking. Join Cloudflare cofounder and CEO Matthew Prince for a one-on-one conversation on how the company plans to tackle the challenges of the future. View the full article

You’ve signed up to attend a conference or industry event, and when the day finally arrives, you probably experience some regret. Thoughts run through your head, such as “Why do I have to go?” “I have too much work to do.” “I won’t know anyone.” “I can make connections online.” Sound familiar? Entering a room full of strangers or, worse yet, people in your field that you admire can make you feel like you’re a kid again, walking into your first day of kindergarten. It’s intimidating, but worth it because nothing replaces live connections, says Rebecca Grinnals, cofounder of the luxury wedding and event business conference Engage! Summits. “You can’t put a price o…

For the better part of the last half-century, the world has traveled to California to experience Silicon Valley. They’ve heard from Stanford dropouts-turned-unicorn founders, toured dazzling tech campuses, spoken with shrewd venture capitalists, and discussed, ad nauseum, the region’s core DNA. They’ve come to scoop up the secret fertilizer, take it back home, and sprinkle it onto the local soil in the hopes of magically growing “Silicon Prairie,” or “Silicon Heartland,” or Silicon Fill-in-the-Blank. In reality, few places in the United States—almost none outside a handful of big coastal cities—have succeeded. Eventually, hopeful communities have abandoned their “inno…

Technology workers in Kenya have held a vigil for a colleague who died in unclear circumstances after she was unable to travel to her home in Nigeria for two years. Ladi Anzaki Olubunmi, a content moderator for TikTok employed by the subcontractor Teleperformance Kenya, died last week and her decomposing body was discovered in her house after three days. It was unclear what caused her death, but colleagues say she had complained of fatigue and was “desperate to go back home.” Teleperformance Kenya told the Associated Press on Wednesday that they didn’t deny Olubunmi her leave to go home. Her family in Nigeria says she only traveled once since coming to Kenya t…

The Fast Company Impact Council is an invitation-only membership community of leaders, experts, executives, and entrepreneurs who share their insights with our audience. Members pay annual dues for access to peer learning, thought leadership opportunities, events and more. For Generation Z, real estate is more than just settling down—it’s about staying connected, empowered, and mobile. Born between the mid-1990s and early 2010s, they are the first fully digital generation, raised on smartphones, cloud-based everything, and on-demand convenience. Gen Z’s influence on the housing market is rooted in their expectations. They bring a consumer mindset to renting …

For the first time since 1984, the airline Korean Air is updating its charmingly retro look to new branding that’s better suited for the modern era. The rebrand, designed by the global creative consultancy Lippincott, includes a new wordmark, refreshed logo, and pared-down color scheme. It’s set to debut across Korean Air’s operations and on the livery of its aircraft in the coming weeks. The rebrand comes just a few months after Korean Air officially completed merger negotiations with Asiana Airlines, South Korea’s second-largest airline. The two companies will become one mega-airline. [Image: Korean Air]As Korean Air begins to integrate Asiana Airlines’ operations with …

Satellite-based disaster monitoring has been a slow and tedious process for decades. The process consists of capturing images, transmitting them back to Earth, and relying on human analysts to interpret the data. This often led to first responders receiving critical information, often too late to act effectively. But AI is now revolutionizing satellite operations in space, aiding real-time image processing and autonomous decision-making. NASA’s latest space venture focuses on AI-powered autonomous satellites that can operate without human oversight. In collaboration with Ireland-based satellite intelligence startup Ubotica, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) has …