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Google AI Overviews are now being powered by Gemini 3 globally, by default. Robby Stein, VP of Product, Google Search announced, "We're making Gemini 3 the new default model for AI Overviews globally, so you get a best-in-class AI response right on the search results page, for questions where it's helpful."View the full article

Bing is testing a new report within Bing Webmaster Tools named AI Performance. AI Performance shows you how many citations you are getting from Microsoft Copilot and partners. But while it shows you citations (i.e. impressions), it does not show you clicks from those Bing AI experiences.View the full article

Artist Edel Rodriguez published his new print, Minneapolis, just hours after a federal agent shot and killed ICU nurse Alex Pretti on January 24. The print features a pop art image of President Donald The President, mouth agape and gun in hand, kneeling on the neck of Lady Liberty, who’s slowly bleeding out on the street from multiple gunshot wounds. The killing occurred during the weeks-long, federally ordered presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Customs and Border Protection, and other federal agencies in the Twin Cities, where those agents have raided residential neighborhoods, detained employees from local businesses, and taken multiple schoolchildren into custody in broad daylight. Pretti’s death came just weeks after Minneapolis resident Renee Good was shot and killed in her car during an encounter with an ICE agent. Members of the The President administration—including the president himself—have spent the days following these two tragedies suggesting that both Pretti and Good posed a threat to federal agents, despite available video evidence that appears to refute those claims. As Minnesotans continue to witness ICE agents disrupting their local communities and targeting their neighbors, protest art has served a critical role in their collective movement against the surge of federal forces. Across Minneapolis, graffiti, yard signs, stickers, and even sleds with anti-ICE messages have exploded in popularity. Local screen-printing studios like Burlesque of North America and Art Price Studio have produced their own designs while also offering free printing services to protesters. Now, in the wake of Pretti’s shooting, artists across the nation are using protest art to offer their support to the city—and to express their outrage at the federal government’s actions. “These events are complex and can be easily manipulated,” Rodriguez says. “An image or a poster can cut through all of that and get to the heart of the matter. Many people feel they are alone in how they are feeling. Art helps people understand that they are not alone, that they are not imagining things.” Minneapolis Minneapolis Rodriguez’s concept for Minneapolis traces back to 2020, when Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin killed resident George Floyd by kneeling on his neck for over nine minutes. At the time, Rodriguez created an initial sketch of the scene, followed by another version several weeks later, he says, of The President “doing the same to Lady Liberty.” After witnessing the killings of Good and Pretti, Rodriguez created a new version of the illustration in which The President is holding a gun over Lady Liberty’s prone form. “All of these murders happened in the same city, and share one thing in common—disturbing violence and a disregard for human life by those in a position of authority,” Rodriguez says. “We talk about ICE or Border Patrol violating Americans’ civil rights, but the person responsible for the killings is Donald The President. That’s where the idea for this image came from.” Since 2016, Rodriguez has used his signature pop-art style to chronicle The President’s time in office, drawing inspiration from political artists like John Heartfield, George Grosz, Otto Dix, and Max Beckmann to use satirical work as a means of “documenting history for future generations.” Rodriguez, who grew up under Fidel Castro’s authoritarian regime in Cuba, says many of the The President administration’s recent actions feel strikingly familiar. “We are in a very dangerous time in this country,” he says. “Americans seem to have accepted the idea that being asked for their papers by masked men is acceptable. I grew up in a dictatorship in Cuba where this was commonplace, where people had no rights against search and seizure and no free speech. All Americans should be outraged that people are being targeted based on the color of their skin or their accent.” What Kind of American Are You What Kind of American Are You Undoubtedly the most widely circulated and impactful imagery from the killings of Good and Pretti are the videos and stills of the events themselves—which citizens captured from several angles on the scene in both cases. These videos have served as crucial touchpoints to fight back against the administration’s claims that Good and Pretti acted violently toward federal agents—when, indeed, all visual evidence points to the contrary. They also inspired James Herriot, an artist from Montana, to create his first pieces of protest art, which have since picked up considerable traction on Reddit. “When I got up and saw the news of Alex Pretti’s killing I was shaking,” Herriot says. “I felt like I had just watched a malicious, completely avoidable, and yet entirely predictable train wreck. Watching that federal agent unload round after round into a civilian on the ground was absolutely sickening.” As someone living in a deep red area of the U.S., he adds, there are only a few people in his circle that he can speak openly with, “so drawing sometimes feels like the only way I can process it.” Herriot’s illustration, titled What Kind of American Are You, merges imagery from Pretti’s killing with a scene from the 2024 film Civil War. In the film, which imagines a fractured future America, an armed antagonist played by Jesse Plemons questions a group of journalists on their race and country of origin, executing any who don’t answer to his liking. The subtext of the scene is that Plemons’s character views whiteness as a proxy for Americaness. “In this moment in the movie [Plemons’s character] is asking ‘What kind of American are you?’ to a group of strangers he intends to harm,” Herriot says. “I think that question hits on so many levels. . . . Are you one of ‘us’ or one of ‘them’ . . . Are you the right color . . . Were you born in the right place? Or even deeper, are you the kind of American who will stand for the values upon which our nation was supposedly founded, or one who will succumb to tribalism, hate, and party politics?” In What Kind of American Are You, Plemons’s character is pictured with his recognizable red sunglasses and assault rifle hovering over Pretti’s prone form, while federal agents point a gun and a can of pepper spray at Pretti’s head. Since posting the work, Herriot says he’s received some reactions labeling the art as “propaganda” (which he believes “sort of proves the point of it”), though the overwhelming response has been supportive. “I think protest art plays the same role that physical protests do,” Herriot says. “While it may not functionally, directly change anything, it shows people that they’re not alone. It shows others that not everyone in the world thinks the same way they do. It shows those in power that their actions or policies are not accepted by everyone.” TopsyDon’t worry, I’ve got you Don’t worry, I’ve got you Topsy is a graffiti artist in Seattle, who asked to remain anonymous for this story due to possible retaliation. Topsy has been creating public protest art since The President’s second inauguration, including designs in support of the No Kings protests, that depict ICE agents as pigs, and that satirize The President’s friendship with Jeffrey Epstein. News of Pretti’s death “bore a hole through my heart,” the artist says. Topsy’s initial draft highlighted violent acts perpetrated by ICE. Ultimately, though, the artist decided to shift focus. “From all accounts of his loved ones, Alex was the embodiment of someone who cared deeply about justice—lending himself to help others,” Topsy says. “This shows in all parts of his life, from his work as an ICU nurse at the VA, up to his last moments, protecting a woman before ICE executed him in retaliation. I realized that the strength of Alex’s light was far more powerful than the darkness of ICE. I wanted to make something beautiful that his parents could look at and be proud of him for that.” The final work is titled Don’t worry, I’ve got you. It shows Pretti, who worked at the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Hospital, wearing blue scrubs and a stethoscope. He’s leaning over to assist Lady Justice, who’s crumpled on the ground, wearing her symbolic blindfold. The image mirrors a moment seconds before Pretti’s death, when he attempted to help a fellow protester who had been pushed down by a federal agent. Topsy selected a wall in First Hill, a Seattle neighborhood known for its high concentration of medical centers, as the site for the work. It’s now been viewed thousands of times in real life and across social media. “In a time of many injustices, where even our own Department of Justice refuses to investigate the murders of citizens by ICE,” Topsy says, “I wanted to highlight that regular citizens like Alex are the true people who will pull Justice up from the trenches and make sure she sees another day.” View the full article

Adding text to video can greatly improve your content by providing context, emphasizing key points, or improving accessibility. To get started, you’ll need to choose a video editing tool and familiarize yourself with its features, particularly the text options. This process involves selecting fonts, positioning text, and customizing its appearance. Comprehending these elements is essential for creating professional-looking videos. Next, you’ll want to explore how to effectively time your text for maximum impact. Key Takeaways Open your video editing tool, create a new project, and upload your video clips. Locate the text or annotation tab and choose your preferred text style and options. Customize the text by selecting font styles, sizes, and colors that match your video theme. Adjust the timing and placement of the text to emphasize key moments without blocking visuals. Preview the video regularly to ensure the text’s timing, visibility, and alignment enhance the overall content. Benefits of Adding Text to Video When you add text to your videos, you can greatly amplify viewer engagement and retention. Studies show that videos with captions can increase viewer retention by up to 80%. Text overlays also improve accessibility, providing essential information for hard-of-hearing audiences and broadening your content’s reach. Furthermore, incorporating text clarifies visuals, making it easier for viewers to understand your message, especially in silent environments. Using strategic text placement reinforces brand identity, as consistent fonts and colors can boost brand recall by 23%. In addition, adding multilingual captions allows non-native speakers to access your videos, potentially increasing views and shares across diverse demographics. To explore how to add text to video, consider using various apps to add words to videos or learning how to insert text in YouTube videos. Getting Started With the Video Editing Tool To kick off your video editing project, start by opening the video editing tool and creating a new project. Once you’ve set up your project, upload your video clip by clicking the upload button or dragging the file directly into the workspace. Take a moment to familiarize yourself with the user interface, which includes the timeline, toolbar, and media library; this will guarantee a smooth editing experience. Next, locate the text or annotation tab on the toolbar, as it provides various text styles and options for your video. Finally, remember to save your project regularly to prevent any loss of progress during the editing process. This foundational setup will pave the way for adding text effectively in your video. How to Add Text to Specific Parts of Your Video When you want to add text to specific parts of your video, it’s essential to contemplate timing, placement, and style. Start by choosing when the text should appear to emphasize key moments. Then think about where it’ll be positioned so it doesn’t block important visuals. Finally, customize the text’s style to guarantee it fits your video’s overall aesthetic as you maintain legibility for viewers. Choosing Text Timing Adding text to specific parts of your video requires careful consideration of timing, as the placement can greatly impact viewer engagement. To control when text appears, toggle on “Show layer timing” in your video editor. This feature allows you to make precise adjustments. Use the purple bar handles on the timeline to set how long the text displays, ensuring it aligns with the pacing of your content. Drag the timing bar to position the text exactly where you want it in the sequence. It’s vital that the text timing complements key visual elements without distracting from important content. Regularly preview your video to check the timing and visibility, making necessary adjustments for ideal viewer engagement. Text Placement Strategies Effective text placement can greatly improve viewer engagement, drawing attention to key messages and information throughout your video. To boost this engagement, place text at strategic moments, like during transitions or when introducing new topics. Use a free video editor tool to add text overlays at specific timestamps, highlighting important details or providing necessary context. Be mindful of not obstructing vital visual elements; position your text in areas with minimal activity or consider using lower thirds for clarity. Adjust the timing of text appearance and disappearance to guarantee it aligns with your video’s narrative flow. Finally, experiment with different placements across various platforms, as best positioning can differ between formats like YouTube and Instagram Reels. Customizing Text Styles Customizing text styles in your video isn’t just about aesthetics; it’s crucial for ensuring that your message resonates with viewers. To add text to specific parts, utilize the timeline feature in your video editor to pinpoint the start and end times for the text display. Make sure the text is readable by adjusting its placement, size, and color to create a strong contrast with the background. In the properties panel, customize font styles, sizes, and colors to match your video’s theme. To improve visibility and engagement, consider adding animations or effects to the text. Regularly preview your video after adding text to verify that the timing and placement complement the visual content without causing distractions. Customizing Text Properties for Visual Appeal When you want your text overlays to improve the overall aesthetics of your video, it’s essential to explore the various properties available for customization. Start by using the properties panel to select from different font styles, sizes, and colors that align with your video’s theme. Experiment with fill, outline, and shadow effects to boost visibility, creating a more dynamic presentation. Furthermore, apply text animations, like fade-ins or slides, to draw attention and add visual interest. Adjust the layout and positioning to complement the overall design, ensuring your text doesn’t obstruct key visual elements. Finally, utilize contrasting colors for your text against the background to enhance readability and make it stand out for your viewers. Timing Your Text for Effective Communication How can you guarantee your text overlays improve the communication of your video’s message? Start by toggling on the “Show layer timing” feature, which helps you visualize when your text appears on the screen. This guarantees alignment with key moments in your video. Use the purple bar handles on the timeline to adjust the duration of each text box; aim for a display time of 2-3 seconds to give viewers enough time to absorb the information. Position your text carefully to avoid obscuring important visuals, boosting clarity and keeping the audience engaged. Regularly preview your edits to confirm that your text timing complements the overall pacing, guaranteeing it boosts communication without disrupting the flow of your content. Design Techniques for Text Overlays Effective design techniques for text overlays can greatly augment your video’s communication. To create impactful overlays, consider these strategies: Select appropriate fonts: Choose fonts that reflect your brand’s personality. Use playful styles for casual content and clean sans-serif fonts for professional themes. Limit font families: Stick to two font families to maintain visual consistency and avoid clutter, which can distract viewers. Incorporate animations: Utilize simple animation effects, like fade-ins or slide-outs, to improve the text without overshadowing the main content. Additionally, guarantee text readability by using contrasting colors and clear backgrounds. Finally, always test your overlays across different devices and platforms to optimize visibility and accessibility for all viewers. This will enhance overall viewer engagement and comprehension. Best Practices for Text Readability To guarantee your text overlays are easily readable, it’s crucial to prioritize font size, color contrast, and text quantity. Use a minimum font size of 24px to confirm visibility across various devices. High-contrast colors, like white text on a dark background or black text on a light background, greatly improve legibility. Limit your text to 6-8 words per screen; concise messaging allows viewers to comprehend quickly and stay engaged. Proper text alignment is likewise important; center-aligned text is usually easiest to read, though left or right alignment can work well depending on your video’s design. Furthermore, create a clear hierarchy by using bold or larger fonts for headlines and subtitles, guiding viewers’ attention effectively. Engaging Your Audience With Animated Text Using dynamic text effects can greatly improve your video’s engagement, especially when viewers often watch with sound off. By strategically timing animations like fade-ins or slide-outs, you can draw attention to key messages without distracting from the overall content. Customizing these effects guarantees they align with your video’s tone, making the information both memorable and appealing to your audience. Dynamic Text Effects Dynamic text effects can greatly improve viewer engagement in video content, especially when they highlight key messages and add visual interest. Using animations like fade-ins, slide-outs, and typewriter effects can make your information more memorable. Here are some effective dynamic text ideas: Fade-ins and slide-outs: These effects can draw attention to important points without being overwhelming. Bouncing text: This playful movement can maintain viewer interest, making your content feel lively. Simplicity is key: Avoid excessive effects that distract from your message, as straightforward animations often yield better results. Animation Timing Strategies Effective animation timing is vital when adding text to video, as it can greatly influence viewer engagement and perception. Utilize the “Show layer timing” feature in your video editing software to manage when your animated text appears and disappears, guaranteeing it matches the video’s pacing. Adjust the duration of text animations based on key moments; longer display times during critical points improve comprehension, whereas quicker shifts keep the flow during less important sections. Implement a staggered text appearance strategy, allowing text elements to enter one at a time, which emphasizes key messages effectively. Furthermore, simple animation effects like fade-ins or slide-ins improve viewer engagement without distracting from the main content. Regularly preview your animations to ensure they align seamlessly with visuals and audio. Downloading and Sharing Your Edited Video Once you’ve completed your text edits, downloading your final edited video is a straightforward process that allows you to save it in various formats suitable for different platforms. You can likewise share your video directly to social media without downloading, which saves time. Here are a few things to reflect on when downloading and sharing: Check for platform-specific dimensions; tools often offer presets for Instagram Reels or TikTok. Some platforms, like Canva Pro, offer one-click options to optimize and share videos. Always verify permissions and copyright issues before making your video public. Optimizing Text for Different Social Media Platforms When optimizing text for different social media platforms, you need to contemplate specific guidelines that improve visibility and readability. For example, Instagram Reels benefit from bold, large fonts, whereas YouTube requires text to remain on screen long enough for viewers to read. Platform-Specific Text Guidelines To effectively optimize text for different social media platforms, you need to comprehend the unique guidelines that each platform imposes. Here are some key points to contemplate: Instagram Reels: Use bold, sans-serif fonts, keeping text centered for legibility on smaller screens. YouTube: Allow text to display for 3-5 seconds per line to guarantee viewers can read during engagement with visuals. TikTok: Use quick, impactful overlays that align with trending audio, placing text at the beginning for immediate attention. For Facebook, prioritize larger font sizes and high-contrast colors, as many users scroll without sound. On LinkedIn, adopt a professional tone with minimalist designs, limiting font families to two for brand consistency. Grasping these guidelines will improve your video’s effectiveness across platforms. Text Size and Visibility Comprehending text size and visibility is key to creating engaging videos across various social media platforms. For ideal readability, aim for a minimum text size of 24px, using larger sizes for headlines and key messages. High contrast between text and background colors improves visibility, with a recommended contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1. Keep in mind that different platforms have unique requirements; for instance, Instagram posts work well with center-aligned text, whereas YouTube videos benefit from lower-third placements. Always test your text visibility on multiple devices, as fonts that look clear on desktops may be harder to read on smartphones. Finally, consider each platform’s aspect ratio to make certain your text remains fully visible and doesn’t get cut off. How to Edit Text Duration on the Timeline Editing the duration of text on the timeline is a crucial step in ensuring your video communicates effectively with viewers. To get started, follow these steps: Click on the text asset to highlight it before making adjustments. Use the handle bars on either side to drag left and shorten the duration or drag right to extend it. Preview the changes after adjusting to confirm that the text fits seamlessly within the video flow. Make sure that the timing of the text display aligns with your video content for ideal viewer engagement and comprehension. You can repeat the duration adjustment process as needed to achieve the best timing for readability and interaction. This careful attention to timing improves your video’s overall effectiveness. Removing and Replacing Text in Your Video Removing or replacing text in your video can greatly improve its clarity and effectiveness. To remove text, simply right-click on the text asset in the timeline and select the delete option in the floating toolbar, or press the delete key on your keyboard. If you want to replace existing text, drag and drop a new text option from the text tab onto the old text asset to overwrite it. After replacing the text, customize its content, font, size, and color using the property panel for a consistent theme. To adjust the duration of the text asset, highlight it and drag the handle bars to shorten or extend its display time. Always preview your changes to guarantee they fit seamlessly within your video. Enhancing Accessibility With Subtitles Subtitles play a crucial role in enhancing accessibility for viewers, as they provide a textual representation of spoken dialogue, which is especially beneficial for hard-of-hearing and deaf individuals. By including subtitles, you can additionally: Increase viewer retention by up to 80%, catering to both auditory and visual learning preferences. Expand your audience reach, making it easier for non-native speakers to understand your content, promoting inclusivity. Improve your video’s SEO, as search engines index subtitle text, boosting discoverability. Platforms like YouTube have reported that videos with subtitles generate 7.32% more views, underscoring their impact on audience engagement. In a digital environment focused on inclusivity, adding subtitles is a straightforward way to make your content accessible to a wider audience. Additional Resources for Video Text Editing In terms of enhancing your video text editing skills, a variety of resources are available to help you. You can find video editing tutorials that guide you through the process of adding text, along with text design tips to guarantee your choices resonate with your audience. Furthermore, software comparison guides can assist you in selecting the right tools for your specific needs, making the editing process more efficient and effective. Video Editing Tutorials To effectively improve your videos with text, exploring various online video editing platforms is a great starting point. Here are some resources to take into account for enhancing your skills: Video editing tutorials on YouTube: These provide visual guidance on text placement, font selection, and timing adjustments. Community forums and support groups: Engage with other users who share tips and tricks for improving text overlays and overall video quality. Free or paid courses: Look for courses that focus on video editing skills, often including modules on text integration, perfect for both beginners and advanced users. Text Design Tips Effective text design is crucial for enhancing the overall impact of your videos, as it not just conveys information but also reinforces your brand identity. Choose fonts that reflect your brand’s personality; playful styles work well for casual content, whereas clean sans-serif fonts suit professional videos. Limit your design to two font families to maintain a cohesive look and avoid visual clutter. Use contrasting colors for text against the background to improve readability, especially in fast-scrolling environments. Incorporate subtle animation effects, like fade-ins or slide-outs, to engage viewers without overwhelming them. Finally, test your text overlays across various platforms to guarantee ideal visibility, adjusting styles and placements for different screen sizes and formats. Software Comparison Guides Choosing the right software for adding text to your videos can greatly simplify the editing process and improve your final product. Each option offers unique features, catering to different needs and skill levels. Here are three popular choices: Adobe Express: User-friendly with customizable font styles, colors, and animations, suitable for both beginners and pros. Camtasia: Offers a library of lower thirds and annotations for quick, professional-looking text overlays. Canva Pro: Provides extensive resizing options, making it easy to adapt your text for platforms like Instagram Reels and TikTok. Evaluate these tools based on your specific requirements, such as ease of use, customization options, and intended audience engagement. Selecting the right software will improve your video quality considerably. Frequently Asked Questions How Do I Add a Text Caption to a Video? To add a text caption to your video, start by accessing the text or annotations tab in your editing software. Choose a caption style that suits your content, then drag it onto the timeline where you want it to appear. Customize the text’s appearance, adjusting the font, size, color, and background for visibility. Finally, modify the duration by dragging the handles on the timeline, ensuring it syncs well with your video’s audio and visuals. Is There an App to Add Text to a Video? Yes, there are several apps you can use to add text to your videos. Popular choices include Adobe Express, InShot, and iMovie, which offer user-friendly interfaces and various customization options. You can choose from different fonts, colors, and styles to match your video’s theme. Some apps likewise provide text animations and effects, enhancing viewer engagement. These applications are available on both mobile and desktop platforms, giving you flexibility in editing your content. How Do I Add Floating Text in a Video? To add floating text in your video, first, open a video editing tool that allows text overlays. Select the “Text” option, then customize your text‘s font, size, and color for visibility. Incorporate animations like fade-in or slide-in to improve engagement. Adjust the timing by dragging the handles on the timeline to control when the text appears and disappears. Finally, preview your video to guarantee the text complements the visuals effectively. How Do I Add Auto Text in a Video? To add auto text in a video, use video editing software that provides automatic captioning features. You can upload your video to platforms like Riverside or Adobe Express, which generate subtitles based on the audio. After the text is created, review it for accuracy, as automatic systems may make errors. Customize the font size and color for better visibility, then export the video with the embedded text or as a separate subtitle file for accessibility. Conclusion Adding text to your videos improves communication and engagement, making your content more accessible and informative. By following the steps outlined, you can effectively integrate text, customize it for visual appeal, and guarantee it aligns with your video’s narrative. Remember to adjust timing and duration for peak impact, and consider incorporating subtitles for greater accessibility. With these techniques, you’ll raise your video production skills and create professional-looking content that resonates with your audience. Image via Google Gemini This article, "Step-by-Step Guide to Add Text to Video" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

Adding text to video can greatly improve your content by providing context, emphasizing key points, or improving accessibility. To get started, you’ll need to choose a video editing tool and familiarize yourself with its features, particularly the text options. This process involves selecting fonts, positioning text, and customizing its appearance. Comprehending these elements is essential for creating professional-looking videos. Next, you’ll want to explore how to effectively time your text for maximum impact. Key Takeaways Open your video editing tool, create a new project, and upload your video clips. Locate the text or annotation tab and choose your preferred text style and options. Customize the text by selecting font styles, sizes, and colors that match your video theme. Adjust the timing and placement of the text to emphasize key moments without blocking visuals. Preview the video regularly to ensure the text’s timing, visibility, and alignment enhance the overall content. Benefits of Adding Text to Video When you add text to your videos, you can greatly amplify viewer engagement and retention. Studies show that videos with captions can increase viewer retention by up to 80%. Text overlays also improve accessibility, providing essential information for hard-of-hearing audiences and broadening your content’s reach. Furthermore, incorporating text clarifies visuals, making it easier for viewers to understand your message, especially in silent environments. Using strategic text placement reinforces brand identity, as consistent fonts and colors can boost brand recall by 23%. In addition, adding multilingual captions allows non-native speakers to access your videos, potentially increasing views and shares across diverse demographics. To explore how to add text to video, consider using various apps to add words to videos or learning how to insert text in YouTube videos. Getting Started With the Video Editing Tool To kick off your video editing project, start by opening the video editing tool and creating a new project. Once you’ve set up your project, upload your video clip by clicking the upload button or dragging the file directly into the workspace. Take a moment to familiarize yourself with the user interface, which includes the timeline, toolbar, and media library; this will guarantee a smooth editing experience. Next, locate the text or annotation tab on the toolbar, as it provides various text styles and options for your video. Finally, remember to save your project regularly to prevent any loss of progress during the editing process. This foundational setup will pave the way for adding text effectively in your video. How to Add Text to Specific Parts of Your Video When you want to add text to specific parts of your video, it’s essential to contemplate timing, placement, and style. Start by choosing when the text should appear to emphasize key moments. Then think about where it’ll be positioned so it doesn’t block important visuals. Finally, customize the text’s style to guarantee it fits your video’s overall aesthetic as you maintain legibility for viewers. Choosing Text Timing Adding text to specific parts of your video requires careful consideration of timing, as the placement can greatly impact viewer engagement. To control when text appears, toggle on “Show layer timing” in your video editor. This feature allows you to make precise adjustments. Use the purple bar handles on the timeline to set how long the text displays, ensuring it aligns with the pacing of your content. Drag the timing bar to position the text exactly where you want it in the sequence. It’s vital that the text timing complements key visual elements without distracting from important content. Regularly preview your video to check the timing and visibility, making necessary adjustments for ideal viewer engagement. Text Placement Strategies Effective text placement can greatly improve viewer engagement, drawing attention to key messages and information throughout your video. To boost this engagement, place text at strategic moments, like during transitions or when introducing new topics. Use a free video editor tool to add text overlays at specific timestamps, highlighting important details or providing necessary context. Be mindful of not obstructing vital visual elements; position your text in areas with minimal activity or consider using lower thirds for clarity. Adjust the timing of text appearance and disappearance to guarantee it aligns with your video’s narrative flow. Finally, experiment with different placements across various platforms, as best positioning can differ between formats like YouTube and Instagram Reels. Customizing Text Styles Customizing text styles in your video isn’t just about aesthetics; it’s crucial for ensuring that your message resonates with viewers. To add text to specific parts, utilize the timeline feature in your video editor to pinpoint the start and end times for the text display. Make sure the text is readable by adjusting its placement, size, and color to create a strong contrast with the background. In the properties panel, customize font styles, sizes, and colors to match your video’s theme. To improve visibility and engagement, consider adding animations or effects to the text. Regularly preview your video after adding text to verify that the timing and placement complement the visual content without causing distractions. Customizing Text Properties for Visual Appeal When you want your text overlays to improve the overall aesthetics of your video, it’s essential to explore the various properties available for customization. Start by using the properties panel to select from different font styles, sizes, and colors that align with your video’s theme. Experiment with fill, outline, and shadow effects to boost visibility, creating a more dynamic presentation. Furthermore, apply text animations, like fade-ins or slides, to draw attention and add visual interest. Adjust the layout and positioning to complement the overall design, ensuring your text doesn’t obstruct key visual elements. Finally, utilize contrasting colors for your text against the background to enhance readability and make it stand out for your viewers. Timing Your Text for Effective Communication How can you guarantee your text overlays improve the communication of your video’s message? Start by toggling on the “Show layer timing” feature, which helps you visualize when your text appears on the screen. This guarantees alignment with key moments in your video. Use the purple bar handles on the timeline to adjust the duration of each text box; aim for a display time of 2-3 seconds to give viewers enough time to absorb the information. Position your text carefully to avoid obscuring important visuals, boosting clarity and keeping the audience engaged. Regularly preview your edits to confirm that your text timing complements the overall pacing, guaranteeing it boosts communication without disrupting the flow of your content. Design Techniques for Text Overlays Effective design techniques for text overlays can greatly augment your video’s communication. To create impactful overlays, consider these strategies: Select appropriate fonts: Choose fonts that reflect your brand’s personality. Use playful styles for casual content and clean sans-serif fonts for professional themes. Limit font families: Stick to two font families to maintain visual consistency and avoid clutter, which can distract viewers. Incorporate animations: Utilize simple animation effects, like fade-ins or slide-outs, to improve the text without overshadowing the main content. Additionally, guarantee text readability by using contrasting colors and clear backgrounds. Finally, always test your overlays across different devices and platforms to optimize visibility and accessibility for all viewers. This will enhance overall viewer engagement and comprehension. Best Practices for Text Readability To guarantee your text overlays are easily readable, it’s crucial to prioritize font size, color contrast, and text quantity. Use a minimum font size of 24px to confirm visibility across various devices. High-contrast colors, like white text on a dark background or black text on a light background, greatly improve legibility. Limit your text to 6-8 words per screen; concise messaging allows viewers to comprehend quickly and stay engaged. Proper text alignment is likewise important; center-aligned text is usually easiest to read, though left or right alignment can work well depending on your video’s design. Furthermore, create a clear hierarchy by using bold or larger fonts for headlines and subtitles, guiding viewers’ attention effectively. Engaging Your Audience With Animated Text Using dynamic text effects can greatly improve your video’s engagement, especially when viewers often watch with sound off. By strategically timing animations like fade-ins or slide-outs, you can draw attention to key messages without distracting from the overall content. Customizing these effects guarantees they align with your video’s tone, making the information both memorable and appealing to your audience. Dynamic Text Effects Dynamic text effects can greatly improve viewer engagement in video content, especially when they highlight key messages and add visual interest. Using animations like fade-ins, slide-outs, and typewriter effects can make your information more memorable. Here are some effective dynamic text ideas: Fade-ins and slide-outs: These effects can draw attention to important points without being overwhelming. Bouncing text: This playful movement can maintain viewer interest, making your content feel lively. Simplicity is key: Avoid excessive effects that distract from your message, as straightforward animations often yield better results. Animation Timing Strategies Effective animation timing is vital when adding text to video, as it can greatly influence viewer engagement and perception. Utilize the “Show layer timing” feature in your video editing software to manage when your animated text appears and disappears, guaranteeing it matches the video’s pacing. Adjust the duration of text animations based on key moments; longer display times during critical points improve comprehension, whereas quicker shifts keep the flow during less important sections. Implement a staggered text appearance strategy, allowing text elements to enter one at a time, which emphasizes key messages effectively. Furthermore, simple animation effects like fade-ins or slide-ins improve viewer engagement without distracting from the main content. Regularly preview your animations to ensure they align seamlessly with visuals and audio. Downloading and Sharing Your Edited Video Once you’ve completed your text edits, downloading your final edited video is a straightforward process that allows you to save it in various formats suitable for different platforms. You can likewise share your video directly to social media without downloading, which saves time. Here are a few things to reflect on when downloading and sharing: Check for platform-specific dimensions; tools often offer presets for Instagram Reels or TikTok. Some platforms, like Canva Pro, offer one-click options to optimize and share videos. Always verify permissions and copyright issues before making your video public. Optimizing Text for Different Social Media Platforms When optimizing text for different social media platforms, you need to contemplate specific guidelines that improve visibility and readability. For example, Instagram Reels benefit from bold, large fonts, whereas YouTube requires text to remain on screen long enough for viewers to read. Platform-Specific Text Guidelines To effectively optimize text for different social media platforms, you need to comprehend the unique guidelines that each platform imposes. Here are some key points to contemplate: Instagram Reels: Use bold, sans-serif fonts, keeping text centered for legibility on smaller screens. YouTube: Allow text to display for 3-5 seconds per line to guarantee viewers can read during engagement with visuals. TikTok: Use quick, impactful overlays that align with trending audio, placing text at the beginning for immediate attention. For Facebook, prioritize larger font sizes and high-contrast colors, as many users scroll without sound. On LinkedIn, adopt a professional tone with minimalist designs, limiting font families to two for brand consistency. Grasping these guidelines will improve your video’s effectiveness across platforms. Text Size and Visibility Comprehending text size and visibility is key to creating engaging videos across various social media platforms. For ideal readability, aim for a minimum text size of 24px, using larger sizes for headlines and key messages. High contrast between text and background colors improves visibility, with a recommended contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1. Keep in mind that different platforms have unique requirements; for instance, Instagram posts work well with center-aligned text, whereas YouTube videos benefit from lower-third placements. Always test your text visibility on multiple devices, as fonts that look clear on desktops may be harder to read on smartphones. Finally, consider each platform’s aspect ratio to make certain your text remains fully visible and doesn’t get cut off. How to Edit Text Duration on the Timeline Editing the duration of text on the timeline is a crucial step in ensuring your video communicates effectively with viewers. To get started, follow these steps: Click on the text asset to highlight it before making adjustments. Use the handle bars on either side to drag left and shorten the duration or drag right to extend it. Preview the changes after adjusting to confirm that the text fits seamlessly within the video flow. Make sure that the timing of the text display aligns with your video content for ideal viewer engagement and comprehension. You can repeat the duration adjustment process as needed to achieve the best timing for readability and interaction. This careful attention to timing improves your video’s overall effectiveness. Removing and Replacing Text in Your Video Removing or replacing text in your video can greatly improve its clarity and effectiveness. To remove text, simply right-click on the text asset in the timeline and select the delete option in the floating toolbar, or press the delete key on your keyboard. If you want to replace existing text, drag and drop a new text option from the text tab onto the old text asset to overwrite it. After replacing the text, customize its content, font, size, and color using the property panel for a consistent theme. To adjust the duration of the text asset, highlight it and drag the handle bars to shorten or extend its display time. Always preview your changes to guarantee they fit seamlessly within your video. Enhancing Accessibility With Subtitles Subtitles play a crucial role in enhancing accessibility for viewers, as they provide a textual representation of spoken dialogue, which is especially beneficial for hard-of-hearing and deaf individuals. By including subtitles, you can additionally: Increase viewer retention by up to 80%, catering to both auditory and visual learning preferences. Expand your audience reach, making it easier for non-native speakers to understand your content, promoting inclusivity. Improve your video’s SEO, as search engines index subtitle text, boosting discoverability. Platforms like YouTube have reported that videos with subtitles generate 7.32% more views, underscoring their impact on audience engagement. In a digital environment focused on inclusivity, adding subtitles is a straightforward way to make your content accessible to a wider audience. Additional Resources for Video Text Editing In terms of enhancing your video text editing skills, a variety of resources are available to help you. You can find video editing tutorials that guide you through the process of adding text, along with text design tips to guarantee your choices resonate with your audience. Furthermore, software comparison guides can assist you in selecting the right tools for your specific needs, making the editing process more efficient and effective. Video Editing Tutorials To effectively improve your videos with text, exploring various online video editing platforms is a great starting point. Here are some resources to take into account for enhancing your skills: Video editing tutorials on YouTube: These provide visual guidance on text placement, font selection, and timing adjustments. Community forums and support groups: Engage with other users who share tips and tricks for improving text overlays and overall video quality. Free or paid courses: Look for courses that focus on video editing skills, often including modules on text integration, perfect for both beginners and advanced users. Text Design Tips Effective text design is crucial for enhancing the overall impact of your videos, as it not just conveys information but also reinforces your brand identity. Choose fonts that reflect your brand’s personality; playful styles work well for casual content, whereas clean sans-serif fonts suit professional videos. Limit your design to two font families to maintain a cohesive look and avoid visual clutter. Use contrasting colors for text against the background to improve readability, especially in fast-scrolling environments. Incorporate subtle animation effects, like fade-ins or slide-outs, to engage viewers without overwhelming them. Finally, test your text overlays across various platforms to guarantee ideal visibility, adjusting styles and placements for different screen sizes and formats. Software Comparison Guides Choosing the right software for adding text to your videos can greatly simplify the editing process and improve your final product. Each option offers unique features, catering to different needs and skill levels. Here are three popular choices: Adobe Express: User-friendly with customizable font styles, colors, and animations, suitable for both beginners and pros. Camtasia: Offers a library of lower thirds and annotations for quick, professional-looking text overlays. Canva Pro: Provides extensive resizing options, making it easy to adapt your text for platforms like Instagram Reels and TikTok. Evaluate these tools based on your specific requirements, such as ease of use, customization options, and intended audience engagement. Selecting the right software will improve your video quality considerably. Frequently Asked Questions How Do I Add a Text Caption to a Video? To add a text caption to your video, start by accessing the text or annotations tab in your editing software. Choose a caption style that suits your content, then drag it onto the timeline where you want it to appear. Customize the text’s appearance, adjusting the font, size, color, and background for visibility. Finally, modify the duration by dragging the handles on the timeline, ensuring it syncs well with your video’s audio and visuals. Is There an App to Add Text to a Video? Yes, there are several apps you can use to add text to your videos. Popular choices include Adobe Express, InShot, and iMovie, which offer user-friendly interfaces and various customization options. You can choose from different fonts, colors, and styles to match your video’s theme. Some apps likewise provide text animations and effects, enhancing viewer engagement. These applications are available on both mobile and desktop platforms, giving you flexibility in editing your content. How Do I Add Floating Text in a Video? To add floating text in your video, first, open a video editing tool that allows text overlays. Select the “Text” option, then customize your text‘s font, size, and color for visibility. Incorporate animations like fade-in or slide-in to improve engagement. Adjust the timing by dragging the handles on the timeline to control when the text appears and disappears. Finally, preview your video to guarantee the text complements the visuals effectively. How Do I Add Auto Text in a Video? To add auto text in a video, use video editing software that provides automatic captioning features. You can upload your video to platforms like Riverside or Adobe Express, which generate subtitles based on the audio. After the text is created, review it for accuracy, as automatic systems may make errors. Customize the font size and color for better visibility, then export the video with the embedded text or as a separate subtitle file for accessibility. Conclusion Adding text to your videos improves communication and engagement, making your content more accessible and informative. By following the steps outlined, you can effectively integrate text, customize it for visual appeal, and guarantee it aligns with your video’s narrative. Remember to adjust timing and duration for peak impact, and consider incorporating subtitles for greater accessibility. With these techniques, you’ll raise your video production skills and create professional-looking content that resonates with your audience. Image via Google Gemini This article, "Step-by-Step Guide to Add Text to Video" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

Google is exploring ways to give site owners a way to prevent Google from using its content for Search AI generative features including AI Mode and AI Overviews. Google said this is based on the new requirements from UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and any measures must avoid breaking how Google Search works. What Google said. Google wrote: “We’re now exploring updates to our controls to let sites specifically opt out of Search generative AI features.” Google added that these options cannot break Google Search, Google said: “Any new controls need to avoid breaking Search in a way that leads to a fragmented or confusing experience for people.” When is this coming. It is unclear when these new controls are coming but more controls are welcomed. Many publishers, content creators, site owners – want to be able to control if Google uses their content for Search AI features, like AI Overviews and AI Mode. These new controls, whatever they might be, will give us more control in how Google uses our content for their features. Full text. Here is what Google posted on its blog this morning: Shifts in user behavior are rapidly changing how people search for information, and features like AI Overviews are helping people discover new content and ask more questions. Today, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) opened a consultation on potential new requirements for Google Search, including on the controls we provide to websites to manage their content in Search AI features. This is a complex topic because it can affect how people find information and how websites get found in Search. For years, we have provided web publishers with a range of controls, based on open standards like robots.txt, to manage how their content appears in Search. As technology has evolved, so have our tools. We added controls for things like Featured Snippets and image previews (which also apply to AI Overviews). And more recently, we introduced Google-Extended, a new control that lets websites manage how their content is used to train our Gemini models. Building on this framework, and working with the web ecosystem, we’re now exploring updates to our controls to let sites specifically opt out of Search generative AI features. Our goal is to protect the helpfulness of Search for people who want information quickly, while also giving websites the right tools to manage their content. We look forward to engaging in the CMA’s process and will continue discussions with website owners and other stakeholders on this topic. Any new controls need to avoid breaking Search in a way that leads to a fragmented or confusing experience for people. As AI increasingly becomes a core part of how people find information, any new controls also need to be simple and scalable for website owners. We’re optimistic we can find a path forward that provides even more choice to website owners and publishers, while ensuring people continue to get the most helpful and innovative Search experience possible. Why we care. More controls are no doubt better than fewer controls from Google. And SEOs, site owners, publishers, etc have been asking Google to give us controls over how our content is used for AI Overviews and AI Mode. These controls may be coming soon – so stay tuned. View the full article

I love the idea of the mythical Instagram hack. When a social ‘expert’ pops up on my feed, emphatically telling me to do the Fate of Ophelia choreography during the full moon after every post to go viral — there’s a good chance I’ll give it a bash. (If you saw me practicing that dance in my last vlog, no, you didn’t.) The fact is, though, those hacks, in the truest sense, really don’t exist. The quality of your content is the be-all and end-all of Instagram post performance. But there are a handful of things you can do to give your content a helpful little boost. Posting at a good time for the platform can help, as can keeping up a consistent posting cadence. We have data to back those points up — and now I have one more to add to that list of helpful boosters. Replying to comments on your Instagram posts boosts engagement. By 21%, no less. What I find most encouraging about this data is that it validates something that shouldn't be revolutionary but somehow feels that way: being genuinely social on social media works. Most great social media managers and creators will do this instinctively. And now we have some hard data to back up the fact that this really does impact post performance. Replying to comments on your Instagram posts can boost engagement by around 21%, according to Buffer data scientist Julian Winternheimer's analysis of over 700,000 Instagram posts from nearly 68,000 accounts. Julian found that when creators engage back in their comments, their posts perform better relative to their own baseline. This finding is part of a larger study Julian conducted across six major platforms — and Instagram showed one of the strongest effects. (Threads came in at 42%, LinkedIn at 30%, and Instagram at 21%.) Let's dig into how Julian analyzed the Instagram data, what it means for your strategy, and how to make comment engagement sustainable. ✨ Need help staying on top of all your Instagram comments? Buffer's new Community feature pulls all your comments across platforms into a single dashboard. Get it free → Jump to a section: The analysis How replying to comments impacts Instagram engagement Why this matters for Instagram specifically How to actually stay on top of your comments on Instagram Putting the ‘social’ back in social media More Instagram resources The analysisTo assess the impact of replying to comments on Instagram, Julian performed a couple of different analyses. Most importantly, rather than comparing big accounts to small ones (which wouldn't tell us much), he compared each account to its own performance over time. Think of it this way: we're not asking, "Do accounts that reply get more engagement than accounts that don't?" We're asking, "Does Account 1 perform better when it replies versus when it doesn't?” This method — called a fixed-effects regression model, if you want to get technical — accounts for all the unique factors that make each account different. Audience size, niche, location, posting frequency... all of that is baked into the baseline. (If you’re interested — and want more cool graphs — check Julian’s full analyses on his blog here.) Julian also ran a second analysis using Z-scores to double-check the results. (Basically, measuring how far above or below "normal" each post performed for that specific account.) Both methods pointed to the same conclusion, which gives us a lot more confidence in the finding. Now, a few important things to keep in mind: This is correlation, not causation. We can't say with 100% certainty that replying causes higher engagement — it's possible that posts which naturally perform well simply get more replies from the creator because there's more activity to respond to.That said, the pattern shows up across all six platforms Julian analyzed, with engagement lifts ranging from 5% to 42%. That consistency is hard to chalk up to coincidence.Julian's dataset for Instagram included over 700K posts from nearly 68K accounts, so we're working with a pretty robust sample size here.How replying to comments impacts Instagram engagementPosts where creators replied to comments saw about 21% higher engagement on average — even after controlling for whether the post had comments at all. Julian's fixed-effects model compared more than 700,000 Instagram posts across nearly 68,000 profiles and found a clear pattern: "When creators engage back in their comments, their posts perform better relative to their own baseline." The Z-score analysis backed this up. Posts with replied-to comments tended to score above an account's usual engagement level, while those without replies sat slightly below. Around 63% of profiles showed positive effects overall. That's nearly two-thirds of accounts seeing a boost. Source: Instagram: Engagement and Replies — Julian Winternheimer, Data Blog, October 2025 Why this matters for Instagram specificallyInstagram uses several different algorithms across the app — one for the feed, one for stories, one for reels, and one for explore. They all work a little differently, because users want different things from each part of the app. “People tend to look for their closest friends in stories, use explore to discover new content and creators, and be entertained in reels,” Head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, has previously said. But they all have something in common: they prioritize genuine engagement. When you reply to comments, you're doing a few things that these algorithms care about: Extending the conversation: More comments signal to Instagram that your post is sparking discussion. The algorithm looks at "time spent" as a key metric, and active comment threads keep people on your post longer. It’s likely that your own replies count toward this, too. Building relationships: Instagram tracks interaction history between accounts. When you consistently reply to someone's comments, the algorithm sees that connection and is more likely to show your future posts to them. Consistent interactions between accounts — like commenting on each other's posts — tell Instagram who might want to see more of your content. Encouraging more engagement: When people see you actively responding, they're more likely to join the conversation themselves. It signals that you're actually present and care about what your audience has to say. How to actually stay on top of your comments on InstagramIf you’re an active Instagrammer and create content on other platforms (🙋‍♀️), keeping on top of comments is easier said than done. Here are a few strategies that have helped me: Batch your replies like you batch your content: If you already set aside time to create posts, try doing the same for engagement. I find that carving out two 10-minute windows — maybe mid-morning and before bed — keeps me on top of comments without constantly context-switching throughout the day. Focus on starting conversations, not closing them: You don't need to write paragraphs in response to every comment. Sometimes "Yes! Have you tried..." or "Great question — here's what worked for me..." is enough to keep the thread going. Reply while the post is still fresh: Instagram's algorithm looks at how quickly engagement happens on a post. If you can reply to comments within the first few hours after posting, you're more likely to spark additional engagement while the post is still being shown to more people. (This is where posting at times when you're actually available to engage becomes really strategic.) Use tools that meet you where you are: Buffer's Community feature pulls all your Instagram comments (plus comments from other platforms) into a single dashboard. You can reply directly from there without opening Instagram and falling down the scroll hole. It's free for up to 3 social accounts, and honestly, it's saved me from losing entire afternoons to my explore page. There's also a Comment Score feature that tracks your reply consistency over time. Think of it like a Duolingo streak, but for engagement — it helps turn replying into a habit rather than something you remember to do only when you're already scrolling. The feature also includes a Comment Score, which tracks your consistency and speed over time. It's basically a habit-building tool to help you make engagement a ritual rather than an afterthought. Putting the ‘social’ back in social mediaJulian's cross-platform analysis covered nearly 2 million posts, and Instagram's 21% engagement lift sits right in the middle of the pack. It's not as dramatic as Threads' 42% or LinkedIn's 30%, but it's still a meaningful boost — especially when you consider Instagram's scale and reach. I find this data so encouraging because it really underpins the original purpose of social media: fostering genuine human connection between folks from all over the world. You're not trying to crack some secret code or find a loophole in the algorithm. You're just showing up for the people who showed up for you. And Instagram's various algorithms — across feed, stories, reels, and explore — all reward that kind of authentic engagement. Here's what that looks like in practice: Post your content. Reply to the people who comment. Keep the conversation going. Do it consistently. That's it. The 21% lift isn't a guarantee for every account (remember, around 63% of profiles in Julian's study saw positive effects), but the odds are in your favor if you're willing to put in the time to engage back. ✨Get access to Community, along with all of Buffer's planning and scheduling features, for free for up to 3 social platforms. Get started in under 1 min →More Instagram resourcesHow the Instagram Algorithm Works: Your 2026 Guide14 Ways to Get More Followers on Instagram8 Best Free Hashtag Generators in 2026How to Recognize and Block Fake Instagram AccountsView the full article

Last week, I published a deep exploration into Palantir and its founder factory and how the company’s power and success can be explained by its ability to attract elite talent and how it empowers them to develop their skills and learn new ones in the projects they pursue. That talent then goes on to found their own startups, invariably seeking to address hard, intractable problems much as they did in their work at Palantir. (In the few days since I published my first story, I’ve found another 21 former Palantir employees turned founders, bringing what was already the largest public dataset of these people to 335. If you haven’t already, check it out here.) There are a number of high-profile companies founded by Palantir alums that many people have heard of. These include: Anduril, the defense contractor ($30.5 billion valuation), cofounded by Brian Schimpf, Matt Grimm, and Trae Stephens; Kalshi, the predictions market ($11 billion valuation), cofounded by Tarek Mansour; Eleven Labs, the voice AI platform ($6.6 billion valuation), cofounded by Mati Staniszewski; Handshake, the marketplace for early-career workers, colleges, and employers which has recently focused more on matching specialized talent with AI training opportunities ($3.3 billion valuation), cofounded by Garrett Lord; and Partiful, the planning tool for IRL experiences ($400 million valuation), cofounded by Shreya Murthy and Joy Tao. But there are so many fascinating stories among the cadre of startups founded and led by Palantir alums. The nine companies showcased below, which span healthcare, government services, cybersecurity, law, clean energy, hardware development, and not-for-profits, exemplify the power of being acculturated to finding a big, hard problem—and having the skills to tackle it. Angle Health Palantir alum founders: Ty Wang (CEO), Anirban Gangopadhyay Other founders: None What Angle does: AI-native healthcare benefits platform, particularly serving employees of small and medium-size businesses Employees: Approximately 100 Funding: $197 million raised to date, including a $134 million Series B in December 2025 led by Portage, with funding also from Blumberg Capital, Y Combinator, and others Secret sauce: Creating a full-stack solution. To work toward achieving the company’s goal of changing how “people approach and access healthcare,” as Wang says, and “democratize access to the kinds of modern healthcare services . . . that are still not available to a lot of the people that really need them,” Angle had to rebuild “the technology infrastructure that powers the way that the vast majority of Americans access healthcare today, which is through their health plan.” Angle has centralized data assets and focused on enabling AI-driven, human-in-the-loop workflows across its products and operations. That allows it to offer such things as digital behavioral health programs or digital pharmacies, for example—newer services that have become more routine for large employers to include in their health plans—and that can reduce the overall cost of care for the thousands of small businesses that Angle serves. One key learning from Palantir: Gangopadhyay explains that Angle’s culture encourages “a lot of slow thinking and having discourse” on a monthly basis to develop a clear plan, and then “we’re very intentionally head-in-the-ground and hands-to-keyboards executing.” Although Palantir itself is not structured this way in terms of a “monthly sync,” he adds that “we’re very light on meetings. We leave the individuals to execute in their own way.” That is spiritually aligned with how Palantir operates. Avandar Labs Palantir alum founders: Pablo Sarmiento (CEO and CTO) Other founders: None What Avandar does: Software for social enterprises and nonprofits to manage their data Employees: One Funding: Bootstrapped. In fact, Sarmiento says he will not raise equity-based funding, choosing instead to pursue non-dilutive capital sources, including revenue-based financing to align better with the goals of socially focused companies. Secret sauce: “Think about it,” says Sarmiento, “we shouldn’t be building the software we need to fight a crisis during the crisis,” referring to COVID as well as the work he did after he left Palantir, at Zenysis Technologies, helping create software so that the National Health Institute in Mozambique could successfully fight a cholera epidemic. “It should exist.” Avandar Labs lets not-for-profits and social enterprises build a unified data platform to integrate and analyze an organization’s program data. (It’s currently in beta but when complete, Sarmiento says it’ll be “customizable to any mission.”) The platform’s core technological difference is that it was built from the start for social sector use cases, such as “ensuring it can support epidemic response, humanitarian emergencies, and cross-sector coordination.” He promises it’ll be far cheaper than any alternatives, too. One key learning from Palantir: “Bias towards action.” Chapter Palantir alum founders: Cobi Blumenfeld-Gantz Other founders: Corey Metzman, former Presidential candidate (and current Ohio gubernatorial candidate), Vivek Ramaswamy What Chapter does: AI to help American seniors find the optimal Medicare plan at the lowest cost Employees: Approximately 200 Funding: $186 million raised to date, most recently at a valuation of approximately $1.5 billion. Investors include Stripes, XYZ, and Susa Ventures, among others. Secret sauce: Using AI to help seniors navigate Medicare. Chapter’s recommendation engine identifies which of the 24,000 Medicare options that exist is right for an individual customer, taking into account their doctors, prescriptions regimen, usual pharmacies, the benefits that are most important to them, their ability and willingness to pay, and more. “Each one of those inputs is a huge data problem in and of its own,” Blumenfeld-Gantz notes. It has an app that can determine from a picture of a user’s Medicare card which plan they’re on and then “curate every single item that’s eligible for your plan” and check them out without a litany of phone calls, he adds. Speaking of calls, Chapter ingests every phone communication its brokers have to assess if they’re making high-quality, compliant recommendations and offer real-time feedback. One key learning from Palantir: Being relentless. Working in a regulated space, where you have to get federal and state licenses and get licensed by insurance carriers in every state you operate, “it’s just not accepting no,” says Blumenfeld-Gantz. “[You have to be] really annoying to state departments of insurance until they take your call and move your paperwork forward. The way I think about it is that you have to make it less work for them to do what you want them to do. Status quo, the easier thing is for them to do nothing. So you have to change the status quo so it’s easier for them to do something than nothing.” Draftwise Palantir alum founders: James Ding (CEO), Emre Ozen Other founders: Ozan Yalti (former senior associate at the global law firm Clifford Chance) What Draftwise does: AI software for law firms and in-house legal teams to automate contract drafting, review, and negotiation Employees: Approximately 60 Funding: $28 million raised to date, from Index Ventures, Y Combinator, and others Secret sauce: “Every other well-funded legal tech company in the space is building an application layer tool trying to put LLMs inside of bespoke interfaces to try to increase productivity for lawyers,” says Ding. “Draftwise is a data platform. We started by recognizing that the pain point we wanted to solve was one where the challenge is that big-ticket deals require data, and if you can’t have the data, you can’t make good decisions. We started from that foundation, integrating data across a variety of silos, bringing it together, and shaping it into an ontology. Then we also happen to have interfaces to serve that data to people inside their workflow.” For example, Ding cites an add-in for Microsoft Word that Draftwise made. “You’re drafting a contract, you’re negotiating financial covenants, Draftwise can pull together into a single view all the data you need to actually make the decision of what covenants to give.” One key learning from Palantir: “The thing I wanted to bring was immense agency, immense accountability, a sense of high integrity,” says Ding, “but also high effort where we’re just getting things done, we’re doing it right, and we’re doing the best we can.” Fourth Age Palantir alum founders: Zach Romanow, plus founding partners Jesse Rickard, Pete Mills, and Samuel Tarng Other founders: None What Fourth Age does: Specialized forward-deployed engineering for Palantir customers to build complex applications on top of Palantir’s platforms Employees: More than 50 Funding: Bootstrapped Secret sauce: “My first customer is really the engineers,” says Romanow, “the best and brightest FDEs, or the people that could become the best and brightest FDEs if they’re in the right place and have the right teams around them. . . . hire the best possible people that at scale provide differentiated outcomes for customers, and the customers will pay you accordingly.” One key learning from Palantir: “If you have a very, very high bar for the people . . . then A players want to join the A team,” Romanow says. “Let’s really stay true to our principles of what we know great looks like.” Manifest Palantir alum founders: Daniel Bardenstein (CEO); Marc Frankel (former CEO) Other founders: N/A What Manifest does: Software and AI “bill of materials” to protect everything from healthcare systems to military aircraft Employees: Approximately 30 Funding: $21 million raised to date from such investors as AE Industrial Partners (Boeing’s venture arm), Palumni VC, XYZ, and others Secret sauce: Provides both vendors and buyers with visibility into the provenance of the elements in the software and AI they depend on to eliminate the risk of introducing a potentially calamitous vulnerability. “Software is the only thing that we buy that you don’t get to know what’s in it,” says Frankel. “Everything else in our lives comes with an ingredients list.” One key learning from Palantir: “Low ego, high ops tempo.” Nira Energy Palantir alum founders: Andy Chen (CTO) Other founders: Chris Ariante (CEO, ex-Exxon Mobil), Andrew Martin What Nira does: Software for clean energy developers, data centers, and utilities that helps them understand where there’s available capacity on the electric grid for new projects Employees: Approximately 30 Funding: $65.5 million from Energize Capital, Y Combinator, and others Secret sauce: Focusing on “one of the most painful roadblocks to building” renewables, the hidden pain point impeding the goal to “accelerate America’s power grid to be fossil free as quickly as possible,” as Chen says. That is what’s known in the energy business as “interconnection”—adding renewable projects to the grid. Nira’s built mapping tools to help developers identify sites with capacity and another one to estimate costs while a project is in queue to come online. One key learning from Palantir: “Learning about transmission planning is a critical part to being successful at Nira,” Chen says. “If you’re not interested, you’re not going to be able to learn it. One thing that’s similar culturally between Palantir and the people we have here is this fundamental curiosity and willingness to learn about totally random stuff that will never help you in a future job, but you want to do it because you’re fundamentally interested in it.” Chen adds that he’s now hiring for a forward deployed engineering role. Nominal Palantir alum founders: Jason Hoch Other founders: Cameron McCord (CEO, former Naval submarine officer, ex-Anduril), Bryce Strauss (ex-Lockheed Martin) What Nominal does: Software to help hardware engineering teams, people who build such things as nuclear fusion reactors and satellites, test and deliver complex systems faster Employees: Approximately 100 Funding: $102.5 million raised to date, from Sequoia Capital, Lightspeed, Lux Capital, Founders Fund, and others Secret sauce: Speed and solving the data challenges that hardware manufacturers face. When mechanical and electrical engineers work on hard hardware problems, “they [also] have software problems, they have data infrastructure problems,” Hoch says. “We’re speeding up the workflows. We’re increasing the maximum complexity of what the hardware engineers and our customers can accomplish. When they finish a task or a simulation, they don’t need to crack open Claude Code to start understanding their data. It’s just right there in front of them. They’re able to ask the hard physics and engineering questions of the data.” That’s the speed. For that data issue, “when you’re building complex software systems,” Hoch explains, “you have this incredible toolkit of SaaS companies that have been building ways to make your job better for 30 years.” Hardware engineers, by contrast, “You’ll have 10,000 data points a second, a million data points a second coming off of a sensor,” meaning that the nature of helping them process that data is not a solved problem. One key learning from Palantir: “Remaining customer obsessed, remaining technically obsessed. Our customers are wildly technical. The things that I would have to teach people 12 years ago when I was onsite with a customer, these people already know it. It’s keeping us honest to making sure we’re really staying at the cutting edge.” Sage Palantir alum founders: Raj Mehra (CEO), Matt Lynch (CTO) Other founders: Ellen Johnston (chief product officer) What Sage does: A hardware and software platform to deliver better eldercare, particularly in assisted living facilities Employees: More than 100 Funding: $59 million raised to date, from IVP, Friends & Family Capital, Maveron, and others Secret sauce: Building hardware to collect the critical data to support its software. “How do we give caregivers better tools to care for residents? How do we give residents of these communities tools to call for help and get help when they need it?” asks Mehra. Realizing that existing systems weren’t measuring relevant data, Sage has built Core, which tracks nurse calls and helps caregivers manage tasks, which operators can then “use to improve quality of care and caregiver performance,” Lynch notes. It also built Detect, which is AI-powered fall detection that enables care providers to respond proactively to those kind of emergency events. “We can measure and pull in all of the telemetry from the physical devices that we’re deploying,” Mehra adds. “Based on all of that, you can then synthesize it and provide value to folks up the value chain.” One key learning from Palantir: “One of us is responsible for every single person we bring in,” says Mehra. One of Palantir’s founders interviewed every hire for a long time. “We haven’t departed from that,” he continues, “and I don’t think we ever should because it’s how we keep the culture intact.” Adds Lynch: “Then, if we make a mistake, we own it . . . when bets don’t pay off, we can’t sacrifice the culture for that.” View the full article

As researchers approach the front doors of Oxford’s new Life and Mind Building (LaMB), they’re greeted with a towering concrete facade, rendered with a rippling surface effect. What first appears to be a mere stylistic choice actually encodes something more special: Each of the concrete’s waves and dips is derived from the brain scan of an Oxford researcher. Designed by the architecture firm NBBJ, the LaMB is a massive, 269,000-square-foot space that brings together two departments: experimental psychology, which studies the human brain and how it operates; and biology, which encompasses both zoology (animal studies) and plant sciences. When it opened last October after four years of construction, it became the largest facility on the historic university’s campus. The LaMB’s facade is visually striking, but it also embodies a few clever ways that NBBJ is reimagining what a university lab building can be. The structure is built to account for the natural path of the sun, capture energy using solar panels, and use advanced cladding technology to lessen its environmental impact. In short, it’s a vision of a lab that’s better for both its staffers and the planet. A brain wave hidden in plain sight When visitors look up at the LaMB, they’re literally observing someone’s positive thought—even if they don’t know it. Darius Umrigar, a principal architect at NBBJ and the lead project designer of LaMB, says one of his team’s main priorities was to design with longevity in mind, given that Oxford itself is nearly 1,000 years old. That meant choosing durable materials (concrete, stone, and metal) to make up the facade. At the same time, they wanted to ensure that the building would have aesthetic interest and fit within the existing campus. The solution would need to be a design that works with the building’s thick concrete exterior and can withstand the environment for decades. “During that process, we talked to the head of experimental psychology,” Umrigar says. “They do a lot of brain scanning, both voluntarily and in terms of their approach to research and treatment. When we were considering the design, we were looking at how it would weather well and maintain its beauty without needing to be maintained.” They wanted a texture for the building’s cladding that wasn’t just “flat concrete,” he adds. Through this discussion, one student volunteered her own brain scan to serve as the basis of a potential decorative feature. That student was Sage Boettcher, who’s now a career development research fellow in the department of experimental psychology. A scan of her brain was taken while she actively envisioned the future of the LaMB lab. From there, the NBBJ team isolated a two-second blip of the recording, resulting in a distinct sinusoidal wave pattern of dips and curves. Those rippling gestures were then carved into various stone slabs, which appear at intervals across the building’s exterior. “What we try to do with NBBJ is to not leave a legacy that dates the building, but look at using materials in the truest form and balance that with the budget we’ve got to work with,” Umrigar says. “I think the harmony of simple, quality materials that will weather well and stand the test of time is certainly the key to success.” Labs are a major energy suck—the LaMB uses clever design to combat that The LaMB’s facade is designed to be beautiful, but it also serves a greater purpose for the environment. Traditionally, labs are a major energy suck. According to a 2019 study, the combined emissions of hospitals and labs account for 4.4% of the world’s total greenhouse gas emissions. (For context, the study found that labs at Harvard accounted for nearly 44% of the university’s energy use, yet only 20% of its total space.) According to the engineering consultancy Hoare Lea, which worked with NBBJ on the LaMB, labs are typically expected to consume three to five times as much energy as a traditional office. Some estimates put that figure even higher, at around a factor of 10. The main reason labs drain so much energy is their intense climate control demands. Maintaining the integrity of the many experiments that take place every day means labs need 24/7 systems keeping their air filtered, moving at the correct volume, and tuned to specific humidity and temperature settings. All of these demands equal major energy inputs—and, ultimately, high operational costs. One of the biggest ways that lab buildings can conserve energy, Umrigar says, is by simply preventing air from leaking out. For the NBBJ team, that meant creating an airtight cladding system. The final design includes an outer layer of precast concrete panels, a thick internal layer of thermal insulation, triple-glazed windows, and precision detailing to ensure that every nook and cranny is sealed against the outside world. The LaMB is also carefully situated to maximize natural sunlight. A central atrium cutout allows in soft daylight without overheating the building, while harsher light is captured via a series of roof-mounted solar panels. Inside, air source heat pumps and adaptive ventilation (which uses special sensors to determine how and when to circulate air) cut down even further on wasted energy. In all, these clever design tactics mean that the LaMB emits about 40% less carbon than it would at baseline. “It’s a great achievement for a very large lab building, and certainly probably pushing the boundaries of what the university has been able to do for science buildings of this type in the past,” Umrigar says. “It sets a new benchmark, I would say, not only for Oxford, but for many other universities looking to develop a research facility.” View the full article

Kim (not her real name) is a scientist and tenured faculty member at a high-profile university. For years, she steadily moved up the hierarchy, yet no one could point to what she accomplished. She kept transferring from role to role, not because she succeeded. In fact, it was the opposite. Kim wasn’t delivering measurable results, and no one liked working with her. She occupied an uncomfortable middle ground: not unsuccessful enough for the university to dismiss her, but no longer effective enough to stay. They transferred her to a newly created role. It came with bigger, but opaque responsibilities. The result looked like a promotion, but functioned as avoidance. I study and speak about high achievers in the workplace, including in my recent book, The Success Factor, and have observed this problem resurface, leading to the departure of top performers. What happened to Kim is what I call promotion by failure. It’s the practice of moving an underperforming or difficult employee into a higher status role, often with increased influence and reduced accountability, to avoid directly addressing the poor performance. Ultimately, this isn’t just a performance issue—it’s a leadership and systems failure. Achieving promotion by failure When companies reassign, elevate, or create new positions for under-performing employees, this misaligned intervention sends an alarming signal with reverberating negative ripple effects on teams and the entire organization. The displacement strategy removes the bad employee from immediate friction but ignores the root cause. Sadly, the underperforming employee will eventually repeat their behavior in a new role. But promotion by failure doesn’t help anyone. It’s not a developmental rotation, and it doesn’t provide a stretch assignment to the troubled employee. What it does do is reward poor behavior without consequence and leaves a trail of damage and mistrust in its wake. Reasons for this lack of accountability can be structural, psychological, or legal in nature. We typically see this to be more prevalent in large bureaucratic systems, organizations with weak performance management, and cultures that avoid conflict. Letting someone go may open a company up to litigation, especially if there’s a lack of clear performance metrics. As a result, they end up shuffling the employee around so they can make sure that they don’t do too much damage. Organizations then repeat the cycle until the employee leaves on their own, or the issues escalate to the point where companies cannot ignore the issue. Weak leaders share blame in fueling promotion by failure. They are often conflict-avoidant and worry that any potential grievances will damage their reputation. They’ve also convinced themselves that the role wasn’t the right fit for the individual or have overestimated the power of a new role for the individual, instead of addressing their capability gaps. Why high performers leave when this happens Ultimately, while they might have avoided conflict by promoting a weak performer, there are unintended negative consequences. Top performers, in particular, can become disillusioned, which leads to employee disengagement, lack of innovation, and retention issues. High performers value competence, clarity, and fairness. Promotion by failure violates all three. It signals that results don’t matter, negative behavior has no consequence, and excellence is optional. This causes your top performers to be disenfranchised, cynical, and disengaged. And when they feel all those things, eventually they leave the organization. As a result, organizations don’t only end up losing their best talent, but also their trust. And when these people leave, who remains? Those who operate by smoke and mirrors rather than achieve results. The organizational cost that leaders underestimate It’s not just poor leadership. There’s a tangible organizational cost and messaging when you reward poor performance. Erosion of performance culture: High performers have the image that optics The President output, and that they don’t reward consistent results as much as visibility or tenure. It also sends a signal that performance standards vary depending on who the company is evaluating. Loss of institutional credibility: When communication about merit conflicts with reality, employees no longer trust promotion or role assignment decisions. Employees respond to leaders’ explanations with silence, rather than buy-in. Increased attrition among top talent: High performers leave due to neglect. The strongest contributors leave quietly, without waiting for counteroffers. The exit interviews raise red flags of poor leadership rather than workload or salary. Normalization of mediocrity: Instead of rewarding high performance and productivity, average becomes the acceptable norm, which stunts innovation. Feedback and brainstorming sessions shift from improvement to reassurance, while the company treats excellence as optional rather than expected. Succession pipelines filled with the wrong people: If you ever wondered why certain people are in leadership roles, it’s because in some institutions, promotion is about loyalty rather than capability. Companies fill those roles with people who create the least resistance. What senior leaders need to do If you’re a leader who is committed to excellence, it’s time to address this overlooked (yet undeniable) reality. Address performance early and directly: Make feedback specific and behavior-based, not tied to outcomes or personality. Give ideas on how to improve performance and communication. Separate compassion from avoidance: There is no way around it. Difficult conversations need to happen despite discomfort, not when your top performers leave en masse. It’s necessary for leaders to pair, not substitute, their support with accountability. Create consequences that don’t rely on relocation: You should not reward poor performance. If someone is unfit for the role, think about reducing or redesigning their leadership role. Their compensation, scope, or authority changes should reflect performance realities, not wish lists. Invest in real development or make hard exit decisions: Measure progress based on pre-agreed milestones. If improvement doesn’t happen, act decisively rather than extending the process indefinitely. Audit roles that exist without outcomes: Do an inventory of the leadership roles and flag those positions without clear deliverables. If necessary, redesign or eliminate them, and align titles and influence with measurable contributions. The mistake you accept becomes the new standard. Promotion by failure is rarely about one person. It mirrors what leaders tolerate, reward, and avoid. Ending promotion by failure is not about being harsher. It’s about being honest, accountable, and fair. It’s time to stop using title inflation as conflict management. View the full article

As the Federal Open Market Committee announces its near-term interest rate plans Wednesday, market watchers expect the central bank to hold interest rates steady as policymakers seek greater clarity on the health of the economy. View the full article

Submit your production volume from last year to be considered among the top in your field. The deadline for submissions is Feb. 27, and the clock is already running. View the full article

A California consumer who applied for a refinance in November says he was unaware his data, including financial details, was shared with advertisers. View the full article

Learn how to choose keywords using competitor and SERP analyses and how to prioritize them with metrics. View the full article

A new book by a former Deloitte executive turned workplace well-being expert argues exactly that In her new book Hope Is the Strategy, Jen Fisher, an expert on workplace well-being and human sustainability, makes a clear and timely case that hope isn’t a soft skill or a leadership afterthought; it’s a practical, learnable approach to navigating uncertainty and building healthier, more resilient organizations. In the following excerpt, Fisher draws on her personal experience grappling with burnout, as well as her research on well-being, leadership, and corporate culture, to reframe hope as something we can all learn and implement for ourselves and those we work with. We’ve long misunderstood hope in the workplace. We’ve treated it as wishful thinking—a nice-to-have feeling that emerges when things are going well. But research from psychologist C.R. Snyder reveals something far more powerful: Hope is a cognitive process with three essential components: goals (what we want to achieve), pathways (our ability to identify routes to those goals), and agency (our belief that we can pursue those paths). This isn’t passive optimism; it’s an active strategy for navigating uncertainty and driving meaningful change. After my own experience with burnout, I discovered that hope isn’t what you turn to after strength fails—hope is the strength we’ve been looking for all along. It’s not the light at the end of the tunnel; it’s the torch we need to lead others through it. And when organizations embed hope into their leadership practices and culture, they unlock something remarkable: the capacity to transform not just how people feel about work, but what they can actually accomplish together. As more organizations prioritize helping their employees become healthier, more skilled for the future, and connected to a sense of purpose and belonging, they have an opportunity to instill hope in leadership and encourage it in workers. A roadmap for the future A leader who has hope can map out a path for an employee, offering a solid roadmap rather than an empty promise. They might say, “I can’t promise you complete job security, but I can provide you with the skills that will make you attractive in the job market.” That, in turn, helps foster hope in the worker, because they know that they’ll have more tools in their success toolkit, no matter what the future holds. That’s not just a win for the individual, but for the group. An organization (of any type—it could also be a community, or a family) filled with people tapped into their meaning and purpose is stronger than one made up of disengaged, unhealthy, and unhappy people. In fact, hope is a strategy for a variety of prevalent workplace problems: It can improve mental well-being and stress management; it can drive action and reduce catastrophic thinking; and it can help overcome the disengagement crisis at work. What’s more, hope will support our transition to a more human-centered workplace as AI takes on the more mundane, tactical aspects of work. Creating new ripples from leadership on down is possible—and as with the negative ones, it starts with modeling behaviors to set the tone for your team and your peers. That is, modeling the sustainable work behaviors and values that will drive purpose and well-being. Here are four examples: 1. Get clear on what your own boundaries are If you’re following someone else’s vision of success instead of your own, you’re going to end up miserable and probably burned out. So take that PTO—really. The company will not crumble without you. And don’t answer that email at midnight—reply in the morning, during work hours. A leader who actually sets healthy boundaries and lives by them gives employees permission to do the same. As I reevaluated the role that work played in my life, I set my own new boundaries. I got clear on what my definition of success was, instead of allowing the external world to define that for me. And I brought hope into my life: I started each day with a set of “what if” questions, looking at the day ahead through the lens of possibility: What if this goes right? What if I do things this way? Then I’d end each day with reflection: How did it go? It helped me to see challenges as an opportunity for change. Here are some other daily practices I put in place, all of which I still follow today: Treat sleep as a nonnegotiable. I protect my eight hours like the business asset it actually is, recognizing that sleep isn’t a luxury but the foundation that makes everything else possible. Schedule humanity into the calendar. Not vague “personal time” but specific blocks for connections that make me human: dinner with my husband, phone calls with friends, reading fiction that has nothing to do with work. Incorporate daily recovery rituals. Three-minute breathing breaks between meetings, a proper lunch away from my desk, a brief walk outside to reset my nervous system—these small moments of renewal prevent depletion from accumulating. Defend the calendar against the tyranny of urgency. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, exercise, and sleep aren’t just activities to fit around “real work”—they comprise the immovable infrastructure that sustains my performance. Everything else has to work around them, not the other way around. 2. Embrace the unknown When we temporarily suspend our need for certainty, a different kind of productivity emerges. I call these my Possibility Days: Once a week, I grant myself permission to coexist with uncertainty. Instead of trying to control outcomes, I deliberately seek experiences with unknown results. I have conversations without preparing talking points. I explore ideas that seem impractical. I follow curiosity down rabbit holes without worrying where they lead. My most innovative solutions and deepest insights almost always trace back to these deliberate ventures into possibility thinking. 3. Walk the walk The old ways of leading through power and control are giving way to something more human, more hopeful, and more whole. The future of leadership isn’t just about what we do—it’s about how we show up, how we hold space for both struggle and possibility, and how we cultivate well-being as a vital way of being. There’s this old thinking that we should check our feelings or emotions at work. It’s basically telling people: Don’t show up as who you truly are. When leaders normalize having no energy, no life, no nothing beyond work, it becomes not just accepted but expected. Emotions, whether they’re positive or negative, are really a sign of the things we care about—and when we’re told not to bring emotions into the workplace, it stunts creativity, growth, innovation, connection, and understanding. The answer is simple: Show your emotions. Your employees look to you to set the pace, tone, and stakes of the team and the work being done. Be vulnerable and authentic about when you’ve made a mistake, when you said one thing and you did another, when you screwed up. Your actions show them that decisions to support their own health and well-being and career growth aren’t going to be viewed negatively or make it seem like they’re less committed to their work. 4. Build teams grounded in trust True organizational and individual success depends on teams built on mutual trust—teams that prioritize deep relationships alongside personal well-being. Trust-based teams require leaders who actively invite people to show up authentically and provide genuine support when they do. This means fostering psychological safety where team members feel confident giving honest feedback, taking calculated risks, learning from missteps, and growing from challenges rather than facing punishment for them. Organizations with the strongest well-being cultures maintain ongoing dialogue between leaders and team members. Within trust-based environments, people develop a growth-oriented perspective. Colleagues treat each other with genuine care and respect, creating workplaces rooted in kindness. This positive energy extends far beyond individual teams, helping organizations attract diverse talent, improve retention, spark innovation, and build lasting resilience. View the full article

Yahoo Scout offers a clean and uncluttered classic search experience with the power of natural language AI. The post New Yahoo Scout AI Search Delivers The Classic Search Flavor People Miss appeared first on Search Engine Journal. View the full article

Latest cuts will bring total number of lay-offs to 30,000 over past three months amid higher spending on AIView the full article

Google just announced it is looking into ways to allow websites to specifically opt out of Google using its content in the Search generative AI features such as AI Overviews and AI Mode. This comes based on UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) new requirements for Google Search.View the full article

Find the best search engines to use other than Google, including privacy-focused and AI-powered options. View the full article

EVs hit a new milestone: In December, buyers in Europe registered more electric cars than gas cars for the first time. EV registrations hit 217,898 in the EU last month—up 50% year-over-year from 2024. Sales of gas cars, on the other hand, dropped nearly 20% to 216,492. The same trend played out in the larger region, including the UK and other non-EU countries like Iceland. Car buyers have more electric options in Europe than in the U.S., from tiny urban EVs like the $10,000 Fiat Topolino to Chinese cars like the BYD Dolphin. “We’re actually seeing this trend globally, although the U.S. is a different story: as the availability and quality of EVs goes up, sales have been going up as well,” says Ilaria Mazzocco, who studies electric vehicle markets at the Center for Strategic & International Studies. “There’s a story that some of the major OEMs have been pushing that there’s no demand for EVs. But when you look at the numbers…it turns out there’s a lot of latent demand.” Some automakers are doing better than others. Tesla’s market share dropped around 38% last year in Europe as buyers reacted to Elon Musk’s politics. BYD tripled its market share over the same period. EVs made up 17.4% of car sales in the EU last year, around twice the rate in the U.S. That’s still well behind Norway (not part of the EU), where a staggering 96% of all registrations were fully battery-electric in 2025. Hybrid cars are still more popular than pure electric vehicles in the EU, with 34.5% of market share. Diesel cars, which used to dominate in Europe, now only have around 9% of market share. It’s not clear exactly what will happen next as the EU may weaken its EV policy. The bloc had targeted an end to new fossil-fueled cars by 2035; in a proposal in December, it suggested cutting vehicle emissions by 90% instead, leaving more room for hybrid cars. Some of the growth also will depend on how willing European countries are to continue letting cheap Chinese EVs on the market. Still, steep growth in EVs is likely to continue. View the full article

TikTok’s U.S. operations are now managed by a new American joint venture, ending a long-standing debate over whether the app would be permanently banned in the United States. The good news for TikTok users is that this deal guarantees that the app will continue to operate within America’s borders. But there’s some bad news, too. Successive U.S. administrations—both Biden’s and The President’s—argued that TikTok posed a national security threat to America and its citizens, partly because of the data the app collected about them. While all social media apps collect data about their users, officials argued that TikTok’s data collection was a danger (while, say, Facebook’s was not) because the world’s most popular short-form video app was owned by ByteDance, a Chinese company. The ironic thing is that TikTok will actually collect more data about them now than it did under ByteDance ownership. The company’s new mostly American owners—Larry Ellison’s Oracle, private equity company Silver Lake, and the Emirati investment company MGX—made this clear in a recent update to TikTok’s privacy policy and its terms of service. If this new data collection unnerves you, there are some things you can do to mitigate it. How to stop TikTok’s new U.S. owners from getting your precise location When TikTok’s U.S. operations were still owned by ByteDance, the app did not collect the GPS phone location data of users in the United States. TikTok’s new U.S. owners have now changed that policy, stating, “if you choose to enable location services for the TikTok app within your device settings, we collect approximate or precise location information from your device.” While allowing TikTok—or any social media app—to access your location can mean you see more relevant content from events or creators in your area, there’s no reason that app should need to know your precise GPS location, which reveals where in the world you are down to a few feet. Thankfully, you can block TikTok’s access to your GPS location data by using the settings on your phone. On iPhone: Open the Settings app. Tap Apps. Tap TikTok. Tap Location. Set location access to Never. On Android: Find the TikTok app on your home screen and tap and hold on its icon. Tap the App information menu item from the pop-up. Tap Permissions. Tap Location. Tap “Don’t Allow.” How to limit new targeted advertising When TikTok’s U.S. operations were owned by ByteDance, the company’s terms of service informed users that it analyzed their content to provide “tailored advertising” to them. This was not surprising. TikTok’s main way of generating revenue is via showing ads in the app. But in the updated terms of service posted by TikTok’s U.S. owners, it now appears that TikTok will use the data it collects about you, as well as the data its third-party partners have on you, to target you with relevant ads both on and off the platform. As the new terms of service states, “You agree that we can customize ads and other sponsored content from creators, advertisers, and partners, that you see on and off the Platform based on, among other points, information we receive from third parties.” Unfortunately, as of this writing, TikTok’s new U.S. owners don’t seem to offer a way for U.S. users to disable personalized ads (users in some regions may see the option under Settings and privacy > Ads in the TikTok app). Still, if you have an iPhone, you can at least stop TikTok from tracking your activity across apps and websites using iOS’s App Tracking Transparency feature, which allows users to quickly block an app from tracking what they do on their iPhone outside of the app. Open the Settings app on your iPhone. Tap Privacy and Security. Tap Tracking. In the list of apps that appears, make sure the toggle next to TikTok is set to off (white). Currently, Android does not offer a feature like Apple’s App Tracking Transparency. TikTok’s U.S. owners track your AI interactions Like most social media apps, TikTok has been slowly adding more AI features. (One, called AI Self, lets users upload a picture of themselves and have TikTok turn it into an AI avatar). As Wired previously noted, TikTok’s new U.S. owners have now inserted a new section in the privacy policy informing users that it may collect and store any data surrounding your “AI interactions, including prompts, questions, files, and other types of information that you submit to our AI-powered interfaces, as well as the responses they generate.” That means anything you upload to use in TikTok’s AI features—or prompts you write—could be retained by the company. Unfortunately, there’s no internal TikTok app setting, or any iPhone and Android app setting that lets you get around this TikTok AI data collection. That means TikTok’s U.S. users only have one choice if they don’t want the app’s new U.S. owners to collect AI data about them: Don’t use TikTok’s AI features. View the full article

When one of the founders of modern AI walks away from one of the world’s most powerful tech companies to start something new, the industry should pay attention. Yann LeCun’s departure from Meta after more than a decade shaping its AI research is not just another leadership change. It highlights a deep intellectual rift about the future of artificial intelligence: whether we should continue scaling large language models (LLMs) or pursue systems that understand the world, not merely echo it. Who Yann LeCun is, and why it matters LeCun is a French American computer scientist widely acknowledged as one of the “Godfathers of AI.” Alongside Geoffrey Hinton and Yoshua Bengio, he received the 2018 Association for Computing Machinery’s A.M. Turing Award for foundational work in deep learning. He joined Meta (then Facebook) in 2013 to build its AI research organization, eventually known as FAIR (Facebook/META Artificial Intelligence Research), a lab that tried to advance foundational tools such as PyTorch and contributed to early versions of Llama. Over the years, LeCun became a global figure in AI research, frequently arguing that current generative models, powerful as they are, do not constitute true intelligence. What led him to leave Meta LeCun’s decision to depart, confirmed in late 2025, was shaped by both strategic and philosophical differences with Meta’s evolving AI focus. In 2025, Meta reorganized its AI efforts under Meta Superintelligence Labs, a division emphasizing rapid product development and aggressive scaling of generative systems. This reorganization consolidated research, product, infrastructure, and LLM initiatives under leadership distinct from LeCun’s traditional domain. Within this new structure, LeCun reported not to a pure research leader, but to a product and commercialization-oriented chain of command, a sign of shifting priorities. But more important than that, there’s a deep philosophical divergence: LeCun has been increasingly vocal that LLMs, the backbone of generative AI, including Meta’s Llama models, are limited. They predict text patterns, but they do not reason or understand the physical world in a meaningful way. Contemporary LLMs excel at surface-level mimicry, but lack robust causal reasoning, planning, and grounding in sensory experience. As he has said and written, LeCun believes LLMs “are useful, but they are not a path to human-level intelligence.” This tension was compounded by strategic reorganizations inside Meta, including workforce changes, budget reallocations, and a cultural shift toward short-term product cycles at the expense of long-term exploratory research. The big idea behind his new company LeCun’s new venture is centered on alternative AI architectures that prioritize grounded understanding over language mimicry. While details remain scarce, some elements have emerged: The company will develop AI systems capable of real-world perception and reasoning, not merely text prediction. It will focus on world models, AI that understands environments through vision, causal interaction, and simulation rather than only statistical patterns in text. LeCun has suggested the goal is “systems that understand the physical world, have persistent memory, can reason, and can plan complex actions.” In LeCun’s own framing, this is not a minor variation on today’s AI: It’s a fundamentally different learning paradigm that could unlock genuine machine reasoning. Although Meta founders and other insiders have not released official fundraising figures, multiple reports indicate that LeCun is in early talks with investors and that the venture is attracting attention precisely because of his reputation and vision. Why this matters for the future of AI LeCun’s break with Meta points to a larger debate unfolding across the AI industry. LLMs versus world models: LLMs have dominated public attention and corporate strategy because they are powerful, commercially viable, and increasingly useful. But there is growing recognition, echoed by researchers like LeCun, that understanding, planning, and physical reasoning will require architectures that go beyond text. Commercial urgency versus foundational science: Big Tech companies are understandably focused on shipping products and capturing market share. But foundational research, the kind that may not pay off for years, requires a different timeline and incentives structure. LeCun’s exit underscores how those timelines can diverge. A new wave of AI innovation: If LeCun’s new company succeeds in advancing world models at scale, it could reshape the AI landscape. We may see AI systems that not only generate text but also predict outcomes, make decisions in complex environments, and reason about cause and effect. This would have profound implications across industries, from robotics and autonomous systems to scientific research, climate modeling, and strategic decision-making. What it means for Meta and the industry Meta’s AI strategy increasingly looks short-term, shallow, and opportunistic, shaped less by a coherent research vision than by Mark Zuckerberg’s highly personalistic leadership style. Just as the metaverse pivot burned tens of billions of dollars chasing a narrative before the technology or market was ready, Meta’s current AI push prioritizes speed, positioning, and headlines over deep, patient inquiry. In contrast, organizations like OpenAI, Google DeepMind, and Anthropic, whatever their flaws, remain anchored in long-horizon research agendas that treat foundational understanding as a prerequisite for durable advantage. Meta’s approach reflects a familiar pattern: abrupt strategic swings driven by executive conviction rather than epistemic rigor, where ambition substitutes for insight and scale is mistaken for progress. Yann LeCun’s departure is less an anomaly than a predictable consequence of that model. But LeCun’s departure is also a reminder that the AI field is not monolithic. Different visions of intelligence, whether generative language, embodied reasoning, or something in between, are competing for dominance. Corporations chasing short-term gains will always have a place in the ecosystem. But visionary research, the kind that might enable true understanding, may increasingly find its home in independent ventures, academic partnerships, and hybrid collaborations. A turning point in AI LeCun’s decision to leave Meta and pursue his own vision is more than a career move. It is a signal: that the current generative AI paradigm, brilliant though it is, will not be the final word in artificial intelligence. For leaders in business and technology, the question is no longer whether AI will transform industries, it’s how it will evolve next. LeCun’s new line of research is not unique: Other companies are following the same idea. And this idea might not just shape the future of AI research—it could define it. View the full article

Four-day visit to China overshadowed by concerns about human rights and spy threatsView the full article

Generative artificial intelligence technology is rapidly reshaping education in unprecedented ways. With its potential benefits and risks, K-12 schools are actively trying to adapt teaching and learning. But as schools seek to navigate into the age of generative AI, there’s a challenge: Schools are operating in a policy vacuum. While a number of states offer guidance on AI, only a couple of states require local schools to form specific policies, even as teachers, students, and school leaders continue to use generative AI in countless new ways. As a policymaker noted in a survey, “You have policy and what’s actually happening in the classrooms—those are two very different things.” As part of my lab’s research on AI and education policy, I conducted a survey in late 2025 with members of the National Association of State Boards of Education, the only nonprofit dedicated solely to helping state boards advance equity and excellence in public education. The survey of the association’s members reflects how education policy is typically formed through dynamic interactions across national, state, and local levels, rather than being dictated by a single source. But even in the absence of hard-and-fast rules and guardrails on how AI can be used in schools, education policymakers identified a number of ethical concerns raised by the technology’s spread, including student safety, data privacy, and negative impacts on student learning. They also expressed concerns over industry influence and that schools will later be charged by technology providers for large language model-based tools that are currently free. Others report that administrators in their state are very concerned about deepfakes: “What happens when a student deepfakes my voice and sends it out to cancel school or report a bomb threat?” At the same time, policymakers said teaching students to use AI technology to their benefit remains a priority. Local actions dominate Although chatbots have been widely available for more than three years, the survey revealed that states are in the early stages of addressing generative AI, with most yet to implement official policies. While many states are providing guidance or tool kits, or are starting to write state-level policies, local decisions dominate the landscape, with each school district primarily responsible for shaping its own plans. When asked whether their state has implemented any generative AI policies, respondents said there was a high degree of local influence regardless of whether a state issued guidance or not. “We are a ‘local control’ state, so some school districts have banned [generative AI],” wrote one respondent. “Our [state] department of education has an AI tool kit, but policies are all local,” wrote another. One shared that their state has a “basic requirement that districts adopt a local policy about AI.” Like other education policies, generative AI adoption occurs within the existing state education governance structures, with authority and accountability balanced between state and local levels. As with previous waves of technology in K-12 schools, local decision-making plays a critical role. Yet there is generally a lack of evidence related to how AI will affect learners and teachers, which will take years to become more clear. That lag adds to the challenges in formulating policies. States as a lighthouse However, state policy can provide vital guidance by prioritizing ethics, equity, and safety, and by being adaptable to changing needs. A coherent state policy can also answer key questions, such as acceptable student use of AI, and ensure more consistent standards of practice. Without such direction, districts are left to their own devices to identify appropriate, effective uses and to construct guardrails. As it stands, AI usage and policy development are uneven, depending on how well resourced a school is. Data from a Rand-led panel of educators showed that teachers and principals in higher-poverty schools were about half as likely to report that AI guidance was provided. The poorest schools are also less likely to use AI tools. When asked about foundational generative AI policies in education, policymakers focused on privacy, safety, and equity. One respondent, for example, said school districts should have the same access to funding and training, including for administrators. And rather than having the technology imposed on schools and families, many argued for grounding the discussion in human values and broad participation. As one policymaker noted, “What is the role that families play in all this? This is something that is constantly missing from the conversation and something to uplift. As we know, parents are our kids’ first teachers.” Introducing new technology According to a Feb. 24, 2025, Gallup poll, 60% of teachers report using some AI for their work in a range of ways. Our survey also found there is “shadow use of AI,” as one policymaker put it, where employees implement generative AI without explicit school or district IT or security approval. Some states, such as Indiana, offer schools the opportunity to apply for a one-time competitive grant to fund a pilot of an AI-powered platform of their choosing, as long as the product vendors are approved by the state. Grant proposals that focus on supporting students or professional development for educators receive priority. In other states, schools opt in to pilot tests that are funded by nonprofits. For example, an eighth grade language arts teacher in California participated in a pilot where she used AI-powered tools to generate feedback on her students’ writing. “Teaching 150 kids a day and providing meaningful feedback for every student is not possible; I would try anything to lessen grading and give me back my time to spend with kids. This is why I became a teacher: to spend time with the kids.” This teacher also noted the tools showed bias when analyzing the work of her students learning English, which gave her the opportunity to discuss algorithmic bias in these tools. One initiative from the Netherlands offers a different approach than finding ways to implement products developed by technology companies. Instead, schools take the lead with questions or challenges they are facing and turn to industry to develop solutions informed by research. Core principles One theme that emerged from survey respondents is the need to emphasize ethical principles in providing guidance on how to use AI technology in teaching and learning. This could begin with ensuring that students and teachers learn about the limitations and opportunities of generative AI, when and how to leverage these tools effectively, critically evaluate its output, and ethically disclose its use. Often, policymakers struggle to know where to begin in formulating policies. Analyzing tensions and decision-making in organizational context—or what my colleagues and I called “dilemma analysis” in a recent report—is an approach schools, districts, and states can take to navigate the myriad of ethical and societal impacts of generative AI. Despite the confusion around AI and a fragmented policy landscape, policymakers said they recognize it is incumbent upon each school, district, and state to engage their communities and families to co-create a path forward. As one policymaker put it: “Knowing the horse has already left the barn [and that AI use] is already prevalent among students and faculty . . . [on] AI-human collaboration versus an outright ban, where on the spectrum do you want to be?” Janice Mak is an assistant director and clinical assistant professor at Arizona State University. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. View the full article

“Snow Will Fall Too Fast for Plows,” “ICE STORM APOCALYPSE,” and “Another Big Storm May Be Coming …” were all headlines posted on YouTube this past weekend as the biggest snowstorm in years hit New York City. These videos, each with tens or hundreds of thousands of views, are part of an increasingly popular genre of “weather influencers,” as Americans increasingly turn to social media for news and weather updates. People pay more attention to influencers on YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok than to journalists or mainstream media, a study by the Reuters Institute and the University of Oxford found in 2024. In the U.S., social media is how 20% of adults get their news or weather updates, according to the Pew Research Center. It’s no surprise, then, that a number of online weather accounts have cropped up to cover the increasing number of extreme weather events in the U.S. While some of these influencers have no science background, many of the most popular ones are accredited meteorologists. One of the most viewed digital meteorologists—or weather influencers—is Ryan Hall, who calls himself “The Internet’s Weather Man” on his social media platforms. His YouTube channel, Ryan Hall, Y’all, has more than 3 million subscribers. Max Velocity is another. He’s a degreed meteorologist, according to his YouTube bio, who has 1.66 million followers. Reed Timmer, an “extreme meteorologist and storm chaser,” also posts to 1.46 million subscribers on YouTube. “While most prefer to avoid the bad news that comes with bad weather, I charge towards it,” Timmer writes in the description section on his channel. The rising popularity of weather influencers is stemming not just from a mistrust in mainstream media—which is lingering at an all-time low—but also from an appetite for real-time updates delivered in an engaging way to the social-first generation. YouTube accounts like Hall’s will often livestream during extreme weather events, with his comments section hosting a flurry of activity. There’s even merch. Of course, influencers are not required to uphold the same reporting standards as network weathercasters. There’s also the incentive, in terms of likes and engagement, to sensationalize events with clickbait titles and exaggerated claims, or sometimes even misinformation, as witnessed during the L.A. wildfires last year. Still, as meteorologists navigate the new media landscape, the American Meteorological Society now offers a certification program in digital meteorology for those “meteorologists who meet established criteria for scientific competence and effective communication skills in their weather presentations on all forms of digital media.” While we wait to see whether another winter storm will hit the Northeast this weekend, rest assured, the weather influencers will be tracking the latest updates. View the full article