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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…

Two California Democrats have introduced a bill that would allow rideshare drivers to bargain with gig companies, including Uber and Lyft, for better pay and certain benefits. The measure, Assembly Bill 1340, is likely to face steep opposition from the gig companies that rely on thousands of independent workers to keep their services operating at an accessible price point. “The bill would empower rideshare drivers with the right to organize for better working conditions and establish a process for gig drivers to choose their union,” California’s Service Employees International Union, which is supporting the bill, said in a press release. “It would protect workers …

The last big breakthrough in aviation when it comes to boarding your flight came in the early 2000s, with the arrival of eTicketing. But a new proposed overhaul of how you get on planes could shake things up in a much larger way. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a United Nations agency that oversees international airline policy, has revealed plans for a digital travel credential (DTC), which will do away with boarding passes and current check-in procedures and instead rely on technology like facial recognition. (Some 193 countries, including the U.S., are members of the ICAO.) A pilot program testing the DTC has been underway in Finland for al…

Over the weekend, crypto traders were likely anything but zen, as the price of OM—the native token to the Mantra blockchain—crashed more than 90%. On Sunday, OM prices fell from around $6.30 to less than $0.50 within a couple of hours, shaking up the crypto markets and likely leaving many people with crypto holdings wondering if they were witnessing another catastrophe like the FTX collapse. But that doesn’t appear to be the case so far. Here’s a rundown of the important facts to know, as we understand them on Monday morning. What happened with Mantra? As noted, OM values plummeted sharply on Sunday, April 14 by more than 90%. It was unclear what exactly wa…

Daters: It might be time to spring clean your dating app profile. More than 50% of young Americans have gone on a date with someone who looked different from their profile photos, according to a new survey from dating app Hily. That’s led 54% of Gen Z and 62% of millennial daters to either end a date early or decline a second one, Hily found after surveying 3,700 dating app users earlier this month. “For a variety of reasons, quite a few people don’t regularly update their profile pics, some not even when their looks change,” the company wrote in an accompanying blog post. “Women tend to be afraid of being judged for their appearance, while men feel like the …

Attention! There is now just one day left until the deadline for this year’s tax filing. And the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has already reminded taxpayers to “act now” to pay whatever they owe on their 2024 taxes, or request an extension, before April 15. Fewer Americans have filed their federal taxes, and more have requested extensions, compared with the same period last year, according to CNN, which reviewed the IRS data. According to those numbers, as of March 21, the IRS had received nearly one million fewer tax returns, or 1.1% less, than it received in the same point in the filing cycle last year. While experts told CNN this was not a reason for concern,…

Lawrence Cappello is an award-winning professor of U.S. legal & constitutional history at the University of Alabama and a graduate of New York City Public Schools. He is the author of None of Your Damn Business: Privacy in the United States from the Gilded Age to the Digital Age (University of Chicago Press) and a certified information privacy professional (CIPP/US & CIPM). His work on the right to privacy has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, The Economist, The Hill, and other media outlets. What’s the big idea? In an age of constant connectivity, privacy can feel like a thing of the past—but award-winning professor Lawrence Cappello makes…

It’s fair to assume that most of us can relate to the famous saying, “in this world, nothing is certain except death and taxes.” This is just the second half of one of Benjamin Franklin’s last great nuggets of wisdom, but more on that to come. As Franklin would likely have reminded you, Tuesday, April 15, 2025, is the last day to file your federal income taxes for 2024. With everything going on at Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), including reported layoffs at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), it might be tempting to try and fly under the radar this year and not file your taxes, hoping to dodge an audit. However, even with all th…

Mauritania isn’t typically a major tourist destination. But its only railway has recently become the subject of a viral TikTok travel trend: riding the “Iron Ore Train.” This 437-mile journey through the Sahara desert offers dramatic selfie backdrops—and no shortage of controversy. The History of the Iron Ore Train The Mauritania Railway, or “Iron Ore Train,” is the country’s only rail line. Since the 1960s, it has transported iron ore from the mining hub of Zouérat to the port city of Nouadhibou. Operated by the state-owned Société Nationale Industrielle et Minière (SNIM), the train is a crucial economic lifeline for Mauritania—hauling up to 16,800 metric …

The Federal Aviation Administration said Sunday that the helicopter tour company whose sightseeing chopper broke apart in flight and crashed in New York, killing the pilot and a family of five visitors from Spain, is shutting down operations immediately. The FAA, in a statement posted on X, also said it would launch an immediate review of New York Helicopter Tours’ operating license and safety record. The move came hours after New York Sen. Chuck Schumer had called on federal authorities to revoke the operating permits of New York Helicopter Tours. The company’s sightseeing helicopter broke apart in midair and plunged into the Hudson River Thursday, killing the tourist…

You’re mid-sentence in a meeting, sharing an idea or outlining a strategy you’ve been thinking through for weeks—then it happens. Someone jumps in, cuts you off, and shifts the conversation. You fade out while they take the spotlight. It’s frustrating—but even more so when it’s subtle. Maybe you weren’t shouted over, but you were redirected, ignored, or sidelined. Over time, it takes a toll on confidence, clarity, and leadership presence. So how do you know it’s happening—and how do you stop it? Here are five signs you’re being talked over in meetings, plus practical strategies to reclaim your voice and authority. 1. You’re constantly “circling back” to what y…

The death of downtown is now a familiar refrain. Central business districts (CBDs) in cities around the world—once bustling centers of office work—were hit hard by the pandemic and the shift to remote work, leading many to predict they would never fully recover. But instead of demise, downtowns are being reinvented. And Tokyo is leading the way. Traditional downtown business districts in cities around the world were defined and dominated by vertical towers where legions of white-collar professionals and support staff were stacked in isolated office buildings. The world’s largest metropolitan area is pioneering a new model where the city itself increasingly takes o…

China appears to be pursuing a calculated effort to recruit recently laid-off U.S. scientists—particularly those with expertise in artificial intelligence—to relocate or contribute remotely to research operations based in Shenzhen. This campaign is reportedly being driven by a network of entities linked to a shadowy Chinese technology conglomerate. In March, advertisements offering “full-cycle support” for relocation to Shenzhen were placed on LinkedIn, Craigslist, and in several major international publications. (I was alerted to one such newspaper ad through a friend in the city.) The timing coincides with a wave of budget-driven layoffs across U.S. federal agencies…

Big Lots continues to trickle back to life after a bankruptcy last year that was widely expected to lead to its demise. The discount retailer will see another 54 store reopenings at the beginning of next month, according to Variety Wholesalers, the North Carolina-based retail company that has taken control of hundreds of Big Lots leases. These “second wave” store openings will span 12 states across the South and Midwest, a Variety spokesperson shared with Fast Company. The stores are expected to open on Thursday, May 1. What happened to the original Big Lots? After suffering declining sales and foot traffic for years, Big Lots filed for Chapter 11 b…