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A defiant Elon Musk on Wednesday took the stand in a jury trial to defend himself against accusations that he engaged in a pattern of deceptive behavior that misled investors as he attempted to back out of his $44 billion deal to buy Twitter before he finally completed the takeover. The civil trial in San Francisco centers on a class-action lawsuit filed just before Musk took control of Twitter, a social media service he renamed X, in October 2022, six months after agreeing to buy the embattled company for $44 billion, or $54.20 per share. The price paid by the world’s richest man represents sliver of a fortune now estimated at $841 billion. The case, which represents T…

United Airlines might kick you off a flight if you don’t use headphones to listen to devices Blasting music, your favorite podcast, or your bestie’s TMI voicemail for all to hear can be an annoying experience for those nearby. But one airline isn’t just looking down on passengers who allow sounds from their devices to be overheard by those around them. They’re kicking them off planes. In a newly released policy, United Airlines said it would ban passengers who don’t abide by its new headphone rule. The airline added the rule to its Contract of Carriage, which passengers agree to when buying a plane ticket. Under the Refusal of Transport category, which lists reasons why…

As companies ramp up pressure on their workers to embrace AI, a new source of workplace conflict has emerged. A report released this week by background check company Checkr suggests that managers and employees are increasingly at odds over AI use in the workplace. Most employees seem to view AI with skepticism, adopting it largely in response to directives from managers and leadership. For many leaders, however, it has become a business imperative as they scramble to keep up with competitors and assuage shareholder concerns—and managers seem to be absorbing that message. The Checkr report, which surveyed 3,000 workers (half of whom were managers and half of whom were …

By now, anyone who follows major brands has seen it or heard of it: The small bite that went ‘round the world. McDonald’s CEO and chairman Chris Kempczinski recently posted a video of himself on Instagram trying the brand’s newly launched Big Arch burger. It was basically the golden arches version of a dorky corporate unboxing. When he got the Big Arch into his grips, he took a reasonable, if small, bite and said, “I love this product. It is so good.” Cue the online mockfest. Kempczinski didn’t deliver the news like an amphetamine-laced nano-influencer. No, here he was eating like some quarter-zip normie on a first date. On a scale of 1-10 in exec…

Groceries are a little harder to come by in dozens of neighborhoods this year in the wake of an ongoing retreat from The Kroger Co. The Cincinnati-based supermarket company has been shuttering locations since June of last year, when it announced a footprint optimization plan that would result in the closure of about 60 stores. According to a Fast Company review of local media reports and online review platforms like Yelp, Kroger could be more than halfway through that process. Some 33 stores have already closed, with at least three more confirmed so far this year. Closures in the months since the announcement largely impact stores under the flagship Kroger ba…

Gap stock is plummeting this morning in early trading after the company reported its fourth-quarter results after the bell yesterday. As of this writing, shares of Gap Inc. (NYSE: GAP) are down more than 12%, and its recent temporary store closures are partly to blame for that. Here’s what you need to know. Gap’s Q4 2025 results The iconic retail chain turns 56 this year, and during its long life, it has seen its fair share of ups and downs. The company’s name-brand Gap stores were an iconic mall staple in the 80s and 90s, but in the early 21st century, the brand faced growing competition from online rivals and shifting brand loyalties among Gen Z—something the com…

If you’re looking for a job or hiring, the question is no longer whether AI is involved—but how aggressively you’re using it. Generative AI has wormed into every stage of recruitment, from drafting applications and filtering candidates to AI-led interviews. It’s the wild west out there. (And it’s getting wilder.) Both employers and prospective employees are exasperated. Examples abound. Last year, Anthropic urged prospective applicants to not use AI systems when applying to jobs at the AI company, even asking them to sign a contract to confirm they read and understood the ask. Goldman Sachs has implemented blocks and employs AI detection software, while McKinsey act…

Dream job alert: Wendy’s is looking to hire a “chief tasting officer”—and the role pays $100,000. The fast-food company launched a contest to find the perfect person for the unique job. The new CTO will create content and taste-test Wendy’s food on camera. Wendy’s is known for its humorous approach to marketing and branding. The job ad is no exception. The contest website reads: “Do you hate your job? Are you too iconic to be opening PDFs for your boss? Ever been told you’re a personality hire? Do you care more about bacon than bottom lines? Are you more about JBC than KPI?” Want to try your luck at landing the coveted role? Here’s what you need to kno…

Hello again, and welcome back to Fast Company’s Plugged In. Apple may have perfected splashy product-launch keynote events, but it’s never been wed to them. In terms of sheer quantity of new stuff, this week was about as eventful as it gets. And yet the company chose to dispense its announcements via press release over three days. Monday brought the iPhone 17e and a new iPad Air. Tuesday offered new MacBook Airs and MacBook Pros, plus a couple of displays. In each instance, the advances were incremental: faster chips, beefier specs, and other updates that are welcome, but not exactly memorable. But on Wednesday, Apple concluded its slow-roll product-fest with something…

There aren’t enough hours in the day to be an expert on every issue (even though we’re expected to hold a strong opinion on just about everything). I prefer to stick to topics I’m already familiar with or in the process of learning. But sometimes, especially on X/Twitter, I’ll post color commentary about an issue that’s not in my wheelhouse. It’s a good way for me to keep the bigger picture of human flourishing in sight. Those topics might be childhood independence, economics, mental health, or vehicle size. I’m not singularly focused on vehicle size, but it’s a growing issue among people who already drive badly. The percentage of new vehicle sales/leases for pickup t…

It could have easily become a high-rise luxury condo complex. Or maybe a struggling office tower now being converted into luxury condos. Maybe a parking garage, or a data center. But instead, 30 years ago this spring, Alameda County Parcel Number 8-641-8-5 became home to the Oakland Ice Center—where recently-crowned Olympic gold-medalist figure skater Alysa Liu still trains. Located just north of downtown Oakland, in what the city considers the Uptown Retail and Entertainment Area, parcel 8-641-8-5 was just a vacant, privately-owned lot back in 1991. But in that year, Oakland’s now-defunct Redevelopment Agency acquired it as part of a three-parcel transaction for …

The Chinese coffee giant Luckin is reportedly acquiring the third wave coffee mecca Blue Bottle in a deal worth just shy of $400 million. It’s more than another acquisition: Luckin is making its most aggressive move on Starbucks since it opened its first U.S. locations in New York in 2025 in a rivalry that is quickly heating up. But to understand what’s at play, we need to zoom out for a moment to take a quick scan of the global coffee market. Inside the coffee wars With around 40,000 stores and $37 billion in revenue, Starbucks is the biggest coffee company in the world. While it’s had a few stagnant years, its all-star CEO Brian Niccol has been staging a desi…

American employers unexpectedly cut 92,000 jobs last month, a sign that the labor market remains under strain. The unemployment rate blipped up to 4.4%. The Labor Department reported Friday that hiring deteriorated from January, when companies, nonprofits and government agencies added a healthy 126,000 jobs. Economists had expected 60,000 new jobs in February. Revisions also cut 69,000 jobs from December and January payrolls. The job market had been expected to rebound this year from a lackluster 2025 when the economy, buffeted by President Donald The President’s erratic tariff policies and the lingering effects of high interest rates, generated just 15,000 jobs a mont…

The past week has been a brutal one for many working in the tech and financial industries. Thousands of jobs have been lost—or will be lost soon—from companies including Block, Morgan Stanley, Capital One, eBay, and, as reported today, software giant Oracle. Here’s what you need to know about the layoffs. Oracle to cut ‘thousands’ of jobs The most recent news of layoffs came yesterday, after Bloomberg reported that the database software giant Oracle Corporation (NYSE: ORCL) is planning to cut “thousands” of jobs as soon as this month. And yes, artificial intelligence is to blame—but not solely because AI is directly taking jobs. Instead, Oracle i…

New York is the latest state to consider a bill that would prohibit AI chatbots from dispensing advice that licensed professionals would normally give, such as medical or legal advice. The bill would also allow people who believe they were harmed by such advice to sue the operator of the chatbot. Senate Bill S7263, introduced by Democratic state Senator Kristen Gonzalez, passed out of a technology committee on a 6–0 vote last week and now advances to a reading on the floor of the Senate. Interestingly, the bill requires operators to clearly label their chatbots as AI, but stipulates that such a label isn’t enough to shield them from lawsuits under the statute. The…

When considering AI’s impact in cities, many residents and government officials envision a dark future of unbridled surveillance, hollowed-out city halls and unaccountable bots calling the shots based on biased training data. We, on the other hand, embrace a much more optimistic vision. With ambitious local leadership, AI, and especially the coming wave of agentic AI, can offer a profound opportunity not only to make government services more efficient but also to transform how cities fulfill their end of the social contract. As long-time public servants and champions of government innovation at our respective universities, we understand the challenges local governmen…

For the past few years, leaders have been trying to decode what’s happening to attention at work. We’ve debated burnout, quiet quitting, and whether younger employees simply approach productivity differently than previous generations. But new workplace data suggests something far more basic may be happening: many employees aren’t disengaged—they’re visually exhausted. New research from VSP Vision Care and Workplace Intelligence found that desk workers now spend nearly 100 hours each week looking at screens, with most reporting that digital eye strain is directly affecting their productivity. Workers experiencing visual discomfort say it reduces their output by nearly …

Eli Lilly wants to get its obesity drugs into the hands of more Americans and it’s betting on employers to help do so. The Indianapolis-based drugmaker launched a new program on Thursday that’s designed to offer employers more options for covering obesity drugs, thereby lowering the cost barriers to access for employees. Lilly and rival Novo Nordisk have taken various steps in recent months to slash the prices of their now-popular GLP-1 medications, and Lilly’s latest move is intended to close what it refers to as an “access gap” in U.S. obesity care. In early 2024, Lilly launched LillyDirect, an online pharmacy where patients can buy a variety of medications, inc…