What's on Your Mind?

Michelle, a 42-year-old marketing executive, was scrolling through her grocery app when she saw the total: $87. A year ago, her weekly cart never dipped below $200. Chips, late-night snacks, and bottles of wine had given way to produce, yogurt, and lean proteins. But that same morning, a $900 charge for her GLP-1 prescription landed on her credit card. Whatever she was saving at the supermarket felt dwarfed by the cost of her medication. Drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro, and Zepbound are being hailed as medical breakthroughs. They’re not just changing waistlines—they’re changing household budgets. And as these shifts ripple through everyday spending, the finan…

Management at the Bay Area transportation startup Glydways wants you to be clear about what the company is not: It may plan to move people in futuristic autonomous pods, but it’s not hyperloop-grade vaporware. And its funding by big-name Silicon Valley investors does not make it a ride for the 1%. “Public transit for everyone, everywhere,” says founder Mark Seeger. But Glydways is starting smaller than that. Its first green-lit project (after a temporary test track now under construction next to an abandoned mall in Richmond, Calif.) and others under consideration by local governments will have Glydways’s four-seat electric vehicles plying short on-demand routes between …

If drivers want to switch away from a completely gas-powered car to something electric, they have a few options. Namely: battery electric vehicles, hybrids, or plug-in hybrids (PHEVs). All are seen as a way to reduce transportation emissions and move away from gas-guzzling internal combustion cars. But it turns out, plug-in hybrid owners may not actually be plugging in their vehicles, making PHEVs not quite the environmental solution that they seem like. General Motors CEO Mary Barra, speaking this week at the Automotive Press Association conference in Detroit, touched on this reality when talking about GM’s plans with electric and hybrid vehicles. “What …

The Chevrolet Corvette has been the icon of U.S. industrial power since 1953. It also symbolizes the great ideal of America—a dream of individual freedom that was ultimately embodied in big roaring cars and endless highways. This gasoline-fueled dream might lose its gasoline smell forever, as General Motors experiments with a fully electric Corvette. GM created this car in its new design studio in Royal Leamington Spa, about 20 miles from Birmingham in the U.K. And, although the company insists that it is not a confirmed production model (concept cars are never production models), it marks the beginning of a path already taken by rivals like the Ford Mustang and the D…

And the layoffs keep coming. General Motors joins Amazon and Paramount this week, announcing on Wednesday it will be laying off 1,750 workers in Michigan and Ohio, in response to the downturn in U.S. electric vehicle (EV) market. The Detroit News first reported the news. Shares in the automotive maker (NYSE: GM) were down less than 1% in midday trading on Wednesday. The company said those cuts include 1,200 workers in Detroit at the company’s electric vehicle plant and another 550 employees at Ohio’s Ultium Cells battery cell plant. The company is also instituting temporary layoffs for some 850 workers at the Ohio plant and another 700 workers in Tennessee,…

Drive an older Buick Regal? You may need to drive it to your nearest dealer. General Motors is recalling certain 2012 and 2013 Buick Regal models because of an issue with the rear suspension toe links that could increase the likelihood of a crash. The recall affects 17,050 Buick passenger cars that were sold or registered in 22 “high corrosion” states and Washington, D.C., according to the recall notice filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The recall, submitted on Tuesday, expands on two others that the Detroit-based automaker has filed since late February related to the same issue. Only about 1% of the 17,000-plus vehicles identified may…

As automakers look to get more people in electric vehicles, they continue to make advancements in EV batteries—developments that add range, speed up charging times, or lower costs, all of which entice customer adoption. Now, General Motors says it has developed a new kind of EV battery that provides a higher range at a more affordable price, and that it aims to become the first carmaker to deploy the technology. Called lithium manganese-rich (LMR) prismatic battery cells, these batteries use a higher amount of less-expensive minerals, like magnesium, rather than more of the most expensive minerals like cobalt and nickel. Most EVs in the U.S. use lithium-ion batteries…

Four years ago, GM set an audacious goal: By 2035, the automaker planned to go all-electric. The company says it’s still aiming for that target. But it simultaneously lobbied the Senate to end California’s ban on new gas car sales—which was also supposed to go fully into effect in 2035. In theory, California’s policy should have supported GM’s transition. GM even recruited employees in the lobbying effort. “We need your help!” the company wrote in an email to staff, as reported by The Wall Street Journal. “Emissions standards that are not aligned with market realities pose a serious threat to our business by undermining consumer choice and vehicle affordability.” …

However uncertain the outlook is for the American auto industry in the age of tariffs, growing competition from China, and the rise of EV upstarts, the view inside the new boardroom at General Motors is stylishly optimistic. Part of the automaker’s new corporate headquarters that’s opening January 12, the boardroom is a large and elegant space with a massive marble table surrounded by mainstay elements of mid-century modern design. Fluted wood wall treatments, subtle curves, geometric overhead lighting, minimalist bench seating, and sweeping views of a changing downtown Detroit combine to create a physical manifestation of how GM sees itself evolving through the 21st …

Gmail was always a gateway drug for the greater Google ecosystem. When it launched in 2004, Gmail stood out by offering then-wild amounts of storage for free. Despite few updates to its design in two decades, it now boasts 2.5 billion users and is the largest email service in the world. And—like so much of the tech industry—Google is betting that email will sell you on its next big bet: AI. Starting today, Gmail will begin rolling out three new AI services that will significantly impact the way use your inbox. Gmail’s new AI features Two of the services require a $20/mo subscription to its Gemini AI service, while the third will come to all users, free. (A…

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. The way we produce and consume food is changing. Not only is the current food system a threat to our health, it’s also a threat to our planet. As a food producer, the challenge is clear: How do we transition toward more nutrient-dense, environmentally responsible food choices without compromising taste or accessibility? Modern food production has often emphasized convenience, leading to hig…

Since its founding in 2010, GoFundMe has become the go-to platform for helping others in need, with more than $50 million raised every week and more than 8,000 fundraising campaigns launched every day. But using the platform to raise money from friends, family, and generous acquaintances or strangers often doesn’t come naturally, especially when people are already dealing with a traumatic situation like a house fire, medical problem, or other emergency. “In order for help to occur, people have to do something quite difficult, which is asking for help,” says GoFundMe CEO Tim Cadogan. “That’s something that almost no one likes doing, so it’s a hard threshold to cro…

Artificial intelligence might be the future of the workplace, but companies that are trying to get a head start on that future are running into all sorts of problems. Klarna and Duloingo have been some of the poster children for the “AI-first” workplace. Two years ago, Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski announced he wanted his company to be the “favorite guinea pig” of OpenAI, instituting a hiring freeze and replacing as many workers as possible with AI systems. Last month, Duolingo announced an AI-first shift, saying it would stop using contractors to do work AI can handle and only increase headcount when teams have maximized all possible automation. Klarna, thou…

It’s another bad day for gold and silver. Traders in precious metals are seeing both gold and silver plummet significantly as the week kicks off, with gold down nearly 7% and silver down 8% over the past 24 hours. Worse, gold has now fallen nearly 20% since its all-time high of over $5,586 in January. Silver is down even more, falling more than 44% since its all-time high earlier this year of over $121. Here’s what you need to know. The ‘safe haven’ trade is absent Silver and especially gold are generally considered “safe haven” assets—assets investors turn to when economic uncertainty abounds, and they want to park their money in a valuable that isn’t likely …

Gold and silver prices rose to record highs in early trading on Monday, spurred on by a confluence of a few different political events and economic factors, including tensions over the U.S. seizing of possibly another oil tanker from Venezuela, speculation of future Federal Reserve rate cuts, overall economy insecurity, and bets on U.S. monetary policy in 2026. In 2025, gold has surged by nearly 70%, according to Bloomberg. Here’s what to know. What happened today? At the time of this writing, in midday trading on December 22, gold bullion (GC=F) was up over 1.9% to $4,472.20 and silver (SI=F) was up about 3.4%, heading toward $70 an ounce, making both he…