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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…

Want more housing market stories from Lance Lambert’s ResiClub in your inbox? Subscribe to the ResiClub newsletter. U.S. single-family home prices, as measured by the Freddie Mac House Price Index (which uses the repeat-sales methodology), rose 3.9% in the calendar year 2024. During that same timeframe, overall U.S. consumer prices rose 2.9%. Among the 384 metro-area housing markets that the Freddie Mac House Price Index tracks dating back to 1975, these are the 10 metros that saw the biggest year-over-year home price increase in 2024: Kingston, New York: +13.5% Springfield, Ohio: +11.8% Glens Falls, New York: +11.7% Binghamton, New York: +11.5% …

There’s a cat-and-mouse game between those using generative AI chatbots to produce text undetected and those trying to catch them. Many believe they know the telltale signs—though as a journalist fond of the word “delve” and prone to em-dashes, I’m not so sure. Researchers at four U.S. universities, however, have taken a more rigorous approach, identifying linguistic fingerprints that reveal which large language model (LLM) produced a given text. “All these chatbots are coming out every day, and we interact with them, but we don’t really understand the differences between them,” says Mingjie Sun, a researcher at Carnegie Mellon University and lead author of the st…

Featuring Andy Dunn, Founder and CEO, Pie; Mélanie Masarin, Founder and CEO, Ghia and Ev Williams, Cofounder, Mozi. Moderated by Max Ufberg, Senior Editor, Fast Company. Loneliness isn’t just a lingering by-product of COVID lockdowns. According to former U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, it’s a public health crisis. Businesses have taken this diagnosis as a cue to step in, fill those cracks in our social fabric, and develop a cure. Join this panel to hear from leaders who are looking to address the loneliness epidemic by building technology that facilitates in-person connection, creating products that encourage us to rethink the ways we socialize, and more. View the…

Featuring Monica Dinsmore, Head of Esports, Electronic Arts; Joe Franzetta, Head of Sports, Roku and Tony Khan, Founder, CEO, GM, and Head of Creative, All Elite Wrestling. Moderated by Yasmin Gagne, Staff Editor, Fast Company. When it comes to sports entertainment, networks and streamers are in heated bidding wars for exclusive rights, new leagues are disrupting incumbents, and the “esports winter” is thawing out to create new opportunities for the massive industry. Hear how execs from Roku, All Elite Wrestling, and EA Sports are rewriting the rules of their industries and shaping the future of sports entertainment. View the full article

If optimizing your social media privacy settings feels important but overwhelming, a company called Block Party may be able to help. Founder and CEO Tracy Chou has long been known for advocating for diversity in the tech industry. And like many diversity advocates, and women and people of color in technology, she’s experienced plenty of harassment online, along with outright stalking. She founded Block Party after realizing that tech platforms themselves didn’t make it particularly easy to optimize settings for privacy and security. The initial Block Party product focused on the platform then called Twitter, helping users easily filter out spam, harassment, and o…

StubHub’s 2024 revenue surged 29.5%, it reported on Friday in its U.S. initial public offering paperwork, as the online ticketing marketplace moves ahead with its long-sought New York flotation. A handful of companies are moving ahead with stock market listings despite volatility arising from uncertainty around U.S. trade policy. Nvidia-backed startup CoreWeave and Swedish fintech Klarna are among the companies gearing up to go public in New York. StubHub, one of the biggest secondary ticketing marketplaces for live events, will sell new shares in the proposed offering, it said. Its revenue jumped to $1.77 billion in 2024, compared with $1.37 billion a yea…

In Beyond Anxiety: Curiosity, Creativity, and Finding Your Life’s Purpose, Martha Beck, PhD, writes that “anxiety always lies.” When I asked her why, she highlighted one of the book’s central teachings: When you seek the truth beneath your anxious thoughts, you discover that many of them aren’t real. This newfound awareness is transformative. It dismantles anxiety’s prevailing narrative that in order to be safe, you must live in fear. “So many people tell me: But, the world is in bad shape right now,” Beck shares. “I say: Yes, and doesn’t that require us to show up as our calmest, most committed, and competent selves?” “Anxiety does not do that, it just tells li…

Apple has successfully blocked its opponents in India, Tinder-owner Match and a group of startups, from accessing its commercially sensitive information which was part of antitrust findings against the U.S. firm, a confidential order shows. An investigation by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) last year found Apple exploited its dominant position in the market for app stores on its iOS operating system to the detriment of app developers, users and other payment processors. Apple has denied wrongdoing and said it is a small player in India where phones using Google’s operating system are dominant. The investigation process has concluded but CCI’s senior…

More than three million developers are using OpenAI’s APIs as shorthand code to infuse apps and websites with an engine of advanced AI. And today, the company’s most popular API, called Chat Completions, is getting a significant sequel called Responses. Eight months in development, it will vastly expand upon and simplify the experience of plugging into OpenAI. For developers, Responses will mean using less code to stack more complex questions to the AI. A hundred lines of code will turn into just three, as the company is courting a wider set of developers who don’t consider themselves LLM experts. For consumers, it will mean you’ll soon be interacting with AI that’s f…

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 years, the real estate industry had lacked the data necessary to drive informed business decisions. Data is often fragmented, incomplete, or nonexistent, making it difficult for landlords and real estate professionals to analyze trends, forecast market shifts, and optimize their operations. Our research at RentRedi showed us that 90% of our landlords previously used pen and paper or spreadsh…

eOlipop’s surging popularity has taken the $60 billion soda industry by storm. As Gen Z and millennials ditch sugary sodas, Olipop is leading the pre-biotic beverage trend, sparking the likes of Coca Cola and PepsiCo to enter the fray. Olipop co-founder, CEO and formulator, Ben Goodwin, shares how the brand is navigating the turbulence of rapid growth amid rising competition, and whether healthy soda is actually healthy or just a TikTok-fueled fad. This is an abridged transcript of an interview from Rapid Response, hosted by the former editor-in-chief of Fast Company Bob Safian. From the team behind the Masters of Scale podcast, Rapid Response features candid conversatio…

The deadline to claim the Super Early rate for Fast Company’s Brands That Matter is this Friday. Rates go up March 28 at 11:59 p.m. ET. This is the fifth year that Fast Company will be honoring brands that have turned their marketing and branding strategies into cultural moments while still delivering for their core audience. It will also mark the second year that Brands That Matter will recognize CMOs of the Year—the marketers leading their organizations to new heights with ambitious, effective leadership that keeps their brands top of mind for consumers. Brands That Matter includes a main list of General Excellence honorees, as well as dozens of brands in seve…

Most people think of urban open spaces in terms of grand parks—Chicago’s Millennium Park or New York’s Central Park or San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. These are our iconic parks—our sublime spaces. They serve as the “lungs” of our cities, and they certainly steal our hearts. These spaces are not locked behind gates but are stages where our own lives play out and memories are created, full of movement and reflection and joy. There are more modest spaces in our cities, though, that are just as important to our lives—the thresholds and courtyards and pocket parks. They’re the places where we bump into our neighbors to walk our dogs or read on a bench in an environment…

When filmmaker Travis Gutiérrez Senger reflects on Asco’s legacy, he quickly notes they were more than an art group; they created a movement, one with remarkable influence on Chicano art history. “That movement continues today, and it’s very expansive,” he says. “There’s a lot of books, films and things that will be written about Asco over a period of time. And this was our contribution in some ways.” He’s referring to Asco: Without Permission, a documentary that chronicles the story of the 1970s art group founded by multidisciplinary artist Patssi Valdez, muralist Willie Herrón III, painter and performance artist Gronk and writer and photographer Harry Gamboa Jr.…

America’s fast casual restaurants are almost universally struggling. But a few chains are betting on one universally beloved fried finger food to draw customers back into booths: the humble mozzarella stick. Over the past year or so, the fast casual sector has faced a chilling effect as inflation and rising menu prices continue to drive consumers away. Last year, chains including Red Lobster, Tijuana Flats, Buca di Beppo, and BurgerFi all sought bankruptcy protection. Others, like Dine Brands (the owner of Applebee’s and IHOP) and Darden (the owner of Olive Garden) have recently reported lackluster financial results. Amidst this dreary environment, Chili’s, the f…

Currently, America is experiencing its worst flu season since 2009, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). As a matter of fact, the CDC says there are so many cases that this season is now classified as being “high severity” for all age groups. That’s the first time a flu season has acquired that designation since the 2017–18 season. Still, some states are faring better than others. Here’s what you need to know about the current 2024–25 flu season and where outbreaks are the worst. 16,000 dead from flu so far The 2024–25 influenza season is having a significant impact on the health and well-being of Americans. According to …

Trying to get from point A to point B? If only it were that simple! With any manner of travel these days, you’ve got options: planes, trains, buses, ferries, and beyond. And finding the best path to embark on isn’t always easy. Even finding all the available options can sometimes be a pain. But it doesn’t have to be. For over a decade, I’ve been using a tool that demystifies how to get from one location to another. It’s a great way to see all the available travel options in a single spot—complete with estimated prices and travel times. Notably, there’s absolutely no AI at play here. AI travel tools may be interesting for brainstorming ideas, but this tool will…