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In a sign of the times, Boy Scouts can now earn badges in artificial intelligence (AI) and cybersecurity as they learn tech survival skills. The Boy Scouts of America, which rebranded as Scouting America after 115 years back in February, counts about 1 million scouts in its ranks, and has traditionally offered badges to encourage kids to learn outdoor survival skills like first aid, hiking, and cooking, or soft skills like public speaking, communication, and citizenship in the world. (Here’s a look at all the 141 badges.) “The artificial intelligence (AI) merit badge introduces Scouts to the fundamentals of AI and automation through hands-on activities and real-wo…

You’ve just lost your job. It hard. It’s really, really hard. There’s the initial shock, rage or panic—but then it’s time to immediately hop on the endless merry-go-round of excruciating applications, unresponsive recruiters, pleading LinkedIn DMs, and occasional existential crises. You can quickly feel hopeless, all alone, adrift, angry, and at wit’s end. That’s where we come in. Fast Company—the go-to authority on career development, workplace innovation, and business news—is debuting Between Jobs: a brand new pop-up newsletter, written for folks freshly out of work and on Day 1 of navigating their new normal. Want to hire a ghostwriter for your LinkedIn pro…

Researchers are only just beginning to piece together the complex ways that technology affects young minds, but a new study raises some serious concerns. A paper published this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association, better known as JAMA, explored the relationship between social media use and cognitive performance in kids starting at age 9. The new research drew on data collected from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study, a massive, long-term study on adolescent health and brain development being conducted in the U.S. The ABCD study is currently following almost 12,000 children from age 9 to 10 as they age, with a particular foc…

Johnson & Johnson on Tuesday raised its 2025 sales forecast after reporting quarterly earnings that topped Wall Street expectations, and announced plans to spin off its orthopedics business into a standalone company. The healthcare conglomerate now expects product revenue of $93.5 billion to $93.9 billion, about $300 million higher than its prior forecast and above analysts’ expectations of $93.4 billion, according to LSEG data. Alongside the upbeat forecast, J&J said it plans to separate its orthopedics business into a standalone company named DePuy Synthes within the next 18 to 24 months, marking its second major spinoff since 2023. J&J’s orthope…

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba‘s cloud business unit has launched its second data center in Dubai, it said on Tuesday, nine years after its first, as it expands its global cloud computing services to meet growing demand. Alibaba Cloud, the digital technology and artificial intelligence division, said in a statement the launch was part of the technology major’s pledge to invest 380 billion yuan ($53 billion) over three years. No financial details were disclosed in Tuesday’s statement. “The Middle East’s advantageous position in fast-tracking AI adoption and its collaborative ecosystem are crucial enablers for private and public sector companies to thrive,” said E…

Ten major philanthropic organizations are banding together to ensure that regular Americans, not just a small group of tech billionaires, have a say in how AI will shape society and who will benefit. The organizations announced Tuesday the formation of Humanity AI, a $500-million five-year initiative aimed at ensuring artificial intelligence serves people and communities rather than replacing or diminishing them. The coalition includes the Doris Duke Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, the Mozilla Foundation, the Omidyar Network and other philanthropies. The core group, which is expected to expand …

A startup called Orion is ready to take on America’s sleep loss epidemic with a new, AI-enabled mattress cover that can adjust its temperature throughout the night to maximize comfort and rest. Cofounder and CEO Harry Gestetner previously cofounded the startup Fanfix, which helped Gen Z content creators build paid subscription programs. After the company sold to SuperOrdinary for a reported $65 million, Gestetner says he became interested in sleep and its well-documented links to health and longevity. “Every longevity expert tells you that sleep is the cornerstone of longevity,” he says. Gestetner found that most sleep and fitness trackers could detect bad …

Fans are continuing to change the tune of how they consume music. It was recently reported that MTV was going to stop broadcasting five channels, including MTV Music, MTV 80s, MTV 90s, Club MTV, and MTV Live in the United Kingdom, and that the channels would go dark the end of this year. (Its flagship channel, MTV HD, will continue to air reality series.) Local news outlets in Australia, Poland, France, and Brazil have also reported that MTV could shut down music channels in those respective countries as well—leaving some to wonder if the United States is next to shutter those channels. It’s no secret that MTV’s parent company, Paramount Global, has been going…

America’s largest brick-and-mortar retailer is partnering with the country’s most prominent AI firm in the clearest signal yet that companies are hoping to boost their sales with artificial intelligence-assisted shopping tools. Today, Walmart and OpenAI announced a new partnership that will allow ChatGPT users to buy Walmart products directly from within the chatbot itself. Here’s what you need to know about the news, and how Walmart’s stock price is reacting. The Walmart-OpenAI deal explained Today, retail giant Walmart Inc. (NYSE: WMT) announced a major new deal with ChatGPT maker OpenAI. The deal will see the artificial intelligence firm’s chatbot gain t…

The top prize in landscape architecture has just been awarded to Mexican designer Mario Schjetnan, a multifaceted landscape architect whose work has transformed parks across Mexico City and vastly expanded social housing projects across his home coountry. Schjetnan and his firm, Grupo de Diseño Urbano (GDU), were announced winners of the 2025 Cornelia Hahn Oberlander International Landscape Architecture Prize, a biennial award from the Cultural Landscape Foundation recognizing the most influential and impactful practitioners in the field. Schjetnan and GDU have designed some of the most significant parks in Mexico, including Chapultepec Forest and Park, the se…

California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday vetoed landmark legislation that would have restricted children’s access to AI chatbots. The bill would have banned companies from making AI chatbots available to anyone under 18 years old unless the businesses could ensure the technology couldn’t engage in sexual conversations or encourage self-harm. “While I strongly support the author’s goal of establishing necessary safeguards for the safe use of AI by minors, (the bill) imposes such broad restrictions on the use of conversational AI tools that it may unintentionally lead to a total ban on the use of these products by minors,” Newsom said. The veto came hours after he signed a…

SpaceX launched another of its mammoth Starship rockets on a test flight Monday, successfully making it halfway around the world while releasing mock satellites like last time. Starship — the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built — thundered into the evening sky from the southern tip of Texas. The booster peeled away and made a controlled entry into the Gulf of Mexico as planned, with the spacecraft skimming space before descending into the Indian Ocean. Nothing was recovered. “Hey, welcome back to Earth, Starship,” SpaceX’s Dan Huot announced as employees cheered. “What a day.” It was the 11th test flight for a full-scale Starship, which SpaceX founder and CEO E…

I was asked to be the keynote speaker recently for an important conference at Rutgers Business School on the future of business education. I thought it would be helpful for business school leadership and students and for recruiters of business school graduates to recap my message in this Playing to Win/Practitioner Insights (PTW/PI) piece. It is called The Future[s] of Business Education: Two Strategy Paths. And as always, you can find all the previous PTW/PI here. Audience participation The conference attendees were mainly U.S. business school deans and other senior faculty members. The array of deans was quite impressive with deans from leading schools including …

When Apple’s AirTag came out four years ago, one of the most obvious uses for it was for luggage. On my long trips to Asia, I always breathe a sign of relief when I glance at my phone and find that my checked suitcase has been loaded onto the aircraft. And I often wish I had one in my carry-on suitcase, especially when the overhead bins run out of space and the flight attendant checks my bag at the gate. July, a fast-growing Australian startup, has become the first luggage brand to incorporate AirTags directly into its suitcases. The technology was made in partnership with Apple and Google, so the tags are integrated with both Apple’s Find My and Google’s Find Hub…

Shares in America’s “Quantum Four” quantum computing companies surged again yesterday. D-Wave, IonQ, Quantum Computing, and Rigetti all saw their stock prices jump by double-digit percentages. But why? The Quantum Four’s big stock price gains had nothing to do with radical new quantum computing breakthroughs. Instead, investors can thank banking giant JPMorganChase for the gains. Here’s what you need to know. Why did quantum computing shares surge yesterday? Yesterday, America’s four most prominent quantum computing companies saw their stock prices surge by double-digit percentages. But the genesis behind these soaring share prices wasn’t directly related to n…

For the past five years, Fast Company’s Next Big Things in Tech awards have celebrated technological breakthroughs that are changing the way we work and live. This year’s awards include 137 honors for innovations impacting everything from applied AI to telecommunications to agriculture. Arriving at that cadre of winners from a pool of 1,200 applicants requires many hours of work sifting through applications, scrutinizing projects, and deciding which achievements rank at the top. Here is a peek into how our small army of editorial staffers make it happen. Methodology Our team of editors and writers assessed each application based on factors such as: Relevan…

Across both white-collar and blue-collar settings, productivity depends on how well information is organized and communicated. DataSnipper uses AI to help auditors quickly surface relevant details in lengthy legal documents, while Sharebite streamlines employee meal programs for the hybrid workplace. Tines has developed a unified AI platform to manage a wide range of workplace software, and Weavix has reimagined the shop-floor radio for modern communication needs. DataSnipper For helping rapidly sift through lengthy financial documents Auditors often need to extract dates and financial details from dense documents such as leases, loan agreements, and meeting minutes—ta…

This year’s wellness and fitness honorees encompass innovations in sleep, fitness, and mental well-being. They help users chill out, de-stress, and take concrete actions to reduce their chronic disease risk. Sure, some of these may seem over the top. But as technologies improve and reach scale, what’s over the top now could become a basic necessity tomorrow. Ammortal For building the ultimate rejuvenation machine The Ammortal Chamber may be the ultimate self-care flex at the moment. The fully immersive “wellness experience” combines red light therapy for cellular regeneration, vibro-acoustic sound therapy to harmonize the nervous system, pulsed electromagnetic fields to…