President Donald Trump on Thursday revealed his intention to force changes at the Smithsonian Institution with an executive order that targets funding for programs that advance “divisive narratives” and “improper ideology,” the latest step in a broadside against culture he deems too liberal.Trump claimed there has been a “concerted and widespread” effort over the past decade to rewrite American history by replacing “objective facts” with a “distorted narrative driven by ideology rather than truth,” adding that it casts the “founding principles” of the United States in a “negative light.”The order he signed behind closed doors puts Vice President JD Vance, who serves on the Smithsonian Institution’s Board of Regents, in charge of overseeing efforts to “remove improper ideology” from all areas of the institution, including its museums, education and research centers, and the National Zoo.It marks the Republican president’s latest salvo against cultural pillars of society, such as universities and art, that he considers out of step with conservative sensibilities. Trump recently had himself installed as chairman of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts with the aim of overhauling programming, including the annual Kennedy Center Honors awards show. The administration also recently forced Columbia University to make a series of policy changes by threatening the Ivy League school with the loss of several hundred million dollars in federal funding.The executive order also hints at the return of statues and monuments of Confederate figures, many of which were taken down or replaced around the country after the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis in 2020 and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement, which is detested by Trump and other conservatives.The order also calls for improvements to Independence Hall in Philadelphia by July 4, 2026, in time for the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.Trump singled out the National Museum of African American History and Culture, which opened in 2016 near the White House, the Women’s History Museum, which is in development, and the American Art Museum for criticism.“Museums in our Nation’s capital should be places where individuals go to learnnot to be subjected to ideological indoctrination or divisive narratives that distort our shared history,” he said.Linda St. Thomas, the Smithsonian Institution’s chief spokesperson, said in an email late Thursday, “We have no comment for now.”Under Trump’s order, Vance will also work with the White House budget office to make sure future funding for the Smithsonian Institution isn’t spent on programs that “degrade shared American values, divide Americans based on race, or promote programs or ideologies inconsistent with federal law and policy.” Trump also wants to ensure that the women’s history museum celebrates women and not “recognize men as women in any respect.”It also requires the interior secretary to reinstate monuments, memorials, statues, and similar properties that have been removed or changed since January 1, 2020, to “perpetuate a false reconstruction of American history, inappropriately minimize the value of certain historical events or figures, or include any other improper partisan ideology.”The Smithsonian Institution is the world’s largest museum, education, and research complex. It consists of 21 museums and the National Zoo. Eleven museums are located along the National Mall in Washington.The institution was established by Congress with money from James Smithson, a British scientist who left his estate to the United States to found “at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge.”
Darlene Superville, Associated Press
Today is the initial public offering for one of the most anticipated stock market listings of the year. Its the day when shares in AI infrastructure company CoreWeave, Inc. will begin trading. However, the companys public listing isnt without some last-minute surprises. Heres what you need to know about CoreWeaves IPO.
What is CoreWeave, Inc.?
CoreWeave, Inc. hasnt always been known by its current name. The company was originally founded in 2017 as Atlantic Crypto. As its original name suggests, the company operated in the cryptocurrency industry and focused on crypto mining infrastructure using graphics processing units (GPUs), notes CNBC. However, in 2019, the company pivoted and began offering its powerful GPU resources to companies working in the burgeoning AI space.
Today, CoreWeaves main business is in providing AI infrastructure to AI companies. It operates data centers across the country that are full of powerful GPUsmainly from Nvidiaand offers the power of those GPUs out to companies over the cloud. In other words, CoreWeave provides the AI hardware infrastructure that AI software companies need.
CoreWeave was founded by Mike Intrator, Brian Venturo, and Brannin McBee and is based in Livingston, New Jersey.
CoreWeave lowers its IPO price
CoreWeaves IPO has been one of the most anticipated of 2025. Not only will it act as a sort of bellwether for tech IPOs in the coming year, but some feel the markets reaction to its public offering could help signal how investors are feeling about a shaky stock market landscape that has been rattled in recent months by President Trumps unending string of tariffs.
However, a last-minute change to CoreWeaves IPO price may suggest investor confidence in the IPO marketand the markets in generalis not as high as some would like. When CoreWeave originally filed its Form S-1 prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company said it expected its IPO share price to be between $47 and $55 per share.
However, Reuters reported yesterday that CoreWeave had decided to lower the price of its IPO shares from the $47 to $55 range to just $40 apiece. That reporting turned out to be correct, as CoreWeave confirmed soon after in a press release that its IPO share price would be $40.
The business model doesnt appear fundamentally flawed, but this suggests investors are recalibrating AI infrastructure valuations, noted IPOX research analyst Lukas Muehlbauer.
CoreWeave by the numbers
According to the companys second amendment of its Form S-1 dated March 20, 2025, CoreWeave has the following metrics as of December 31, 2024:
2024 revenue of $1.9 billion.
2024 net loss of $0.9 billion.
2024 revenue growth of 737% over the year-earlier.
2024 operating income margin of 17%.
More than 250,000 GPUs online.
32 data centers.
On March 10, CoreWeave announced a deal with ChatGPT maker OpenAI to provide AI infrastructure to the company.
In its S-1 filing, CoreWeave listed several growth opportunities that it believes it has. This includes continuing to acquire more workloads from its existing customers, expanding internationally, and acquiring new customers in new industries, including banks, high-frequency trading, and pharmaceutical companies.
When is CoreWeaves IPO?
CoreWeaves initial public offering is today, Friday, March 28, 2025.
What is CoreWeaves stock ticker?
CoreWeaves stock ticker is CRWV.
What market will CoreWeave shares trade on?
CoreWeave shares will trade on the Nasdaq Global Select Market.
What is the IPO share price of CRWV?
CoreWeaves IPO share price is $40 per share.
How many CRWV shares are available in its IPO?
There are 37.5 million Class A common shares available in CoreWeaves public offering. However, not all those shares are offered by the company itself. Of the 37.5 million shares, CoreWeave is selling 36,590,000 of them. The remaining 910,000 shares are sold by CoreWeaves existing shareholders.
How much will CoreWeave raise in its IPO?
CoreWeave will only receive the profits from the 36,590,000 it sells. That means CoreWeave potentially raised more than $1.46 billion in its IPO.
What is CoreWeaves valuation?
At its $40 per share IPO price, CoreWeave has a fully diluted valuation of around $23 billion, according to Reuters.
The U.S. government is on a global egg hunt, seeking exports from countries in Europe and elsewhere to ease a severe shortage that has caused egg prices at grocery stores to hit record highs.Germany, Italy, Poland, and Sweden are among the nations the U.S. Department of Agriculture approached to address the shortage brought on by a bird flu outbreak, according to European industry groups.But supplying Americans with eggs would be complicated for foreign producersand not because of political tensions over the myriad import tariffs President Donald Trump has imposed or threatened to impose on his nation’s top trading partners.Even if they were eager to share, European countries don’t have many surplus eggs because of their own avian flu outbreaks and the growing domestic demand ahead of Easter.One of the biggest obstacles, however, is the approach the United States takes to preventing salmonella contamination. U.S. food safety regulations require fresh eggs to be sanitized and refrigerated before they reach shoppers; in the European Union, safety standards call for Grade A eggs to be sold unwashed and without extended chilling.“These are two systems that could not be more different,” said Hans-Peter Goldnick, the president of the German Egg Association.
Feathers on eggs at the supermarket
It is common in parts of Europe, for example, for consumers to buy eggs that still have feathers and chicken poop stuck to them.Farmer David Karlsch described the simple process that gets eggs from hens to customers of the family-owned Saballus poultry farm in Schoeneiche, a town just outside Germany’s capital: The eggs are taken from nests, placed into cartons, and sold on the premises or from a refrigerated vending machine just outside the property.“The demand at Easter time is of course very, very high, as many children naturally want to paint eggs,” Karlsch said.Poland, a major egg exporter, fielded a U.S. query about the availability of eggs, according to Katarzyna Gawrońska, director of the National Chamber of Poultry and Feed Producers. The issue of washed versus unwashed was a major factor as European officials considered such requests, she said.Eggs are not cleaned in most of the 27 EU member nations because of concerns that removing the natural protective coating from eggshells makes them more vulnerable to bacteria, Gawrońska said.Polish veterinary officials are trying to determine if the country and its farmers can meet U.S. requirements, such as whether the exporting country has a comparable food safety inspection system or a significant bird flu outbreak.
Powdered egg products
Although European Union regulations state that table eggs “shall not be washed or cleaned,” member countries have some leeway if they authorized egg baths at packing plants decades ago.Danish Egg Association CEO Jrgen Nyberg Larsen said national customs are part of it; washed eggs are the norm in Sweden, for example. But Sweden and Norway have informed the U.S. they don’t have extra eggs to export, Larsen said.For now, any increased U.S. egg imports from Europe are more likely to arrive in powdered form or other products that can be shipped frozen or dried, Larsen said.That’s the response Poland’s trade association gave U.S. officials. If the U.S. certifies Poland as a source, the organization’s members would have a limited number of shell eggs to sell but could supply “very large volumes of egg processing products,” Gawrońska said.Processed eggs usually are pasteurized to prevent foodborne illnesses and then used in food manufacturing or by restaurants, hospitals, and nursing homes, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.Baked goods, pasta, and sauces like mayonnaise are some of the commercial products made with egg powder.
Europe’s own production problems
U.S. officials also tried to sound out farmers in northern Italy’s Veneto region for emergency egg supplies, according to Coldiretti, the main Italian agricultural lobbying organization.But Italy only produces enough eggs to cover the national demand, so most of the region’s producers said they could not help. Bird flu outbreaks since the start of last year also have taken a toll on the Italian poultry industry.Germany cannot contribute much either. Its domestic poultry industry generates about 73% of the eggs consumed in the country, “and we ourselves essentially have to import eggs from Holland every day to keep everyone satisfied,” the German Egg Association’s Goldnick said.“We have around 45 million eggs that we can collect from the chicken coops every day, and in America, there’s a shortage of around 50 million eggs a day. That shows how difficult it is,” he said.
An improving U.S. market and Easter demand
Other countries the U.S. government contacted include Austria, Norway, Spain, and Denmark. The U.S. Department of Agriculture said it secured new egg commitments from Turkey and South Korea in recent months, although it did not specify the amount or type.Imports of liquid, frozen, and dried eggs may help free up some domestic shell eggs for consumers, but the U.S. made its appeal for foreign eggs amid a significant deficit; last month, the country produced 720 million fewer table eggs than in February 2024, a decline of nearly 10%.The U.S. also cut its own egg exports to boost supplies at home, the Agriculture Department said.While the informal trade talks continue, the U.S. market has shown signs of improvement. It’s been nearly a month since a major bird flu outbreak impacted egg-laying hens, the department said. It reported the national wholesale price for large eggs dropped to $3.27 per dozen as of March 21, or less than half its peak of $8.15 per dozen on Feb. 21.U.S. consumers are just starting to see those falling wholesale prices translate to lower prices on grocery shelves, the department said. The big demand for eggs that usually accompanies Easter and Passover could cause prices to edge up again next month.
Business is business
Trump hasn’t exactly walked on eggshells with the people of Europe since starting his second term. The president’s repeated threats to seize Greenland, a Danish territory, infuriated many in Denmark. His posture toward Ukraine and disparaging remarks from top members of his administration have alarmed America’s European allies.The European Union, which is the third-largest trade partner of the U.S., was not exempted from the tariffs Trump ordered on steel, aluminum, and automobiles. Bracing for more, it has prepared counter-tariffs on American products.But many officials in Europe say none of that would rule out exporting eggs.Goldnick said an egg producer friend recently told him that “if the price is right, then I’ll deliver.” Any deals made or not would come dwn to business decisions, he said.“I have two souls in my chest. On the one hand, I would say, ‘No, we can’t support this system,’ but that’s not the right answer,” he said, referring to the new U.S. tariffs on European goods.“The right answer is we have to help where we can. And it concerns the people. It doesn’t concern the government. You wouldn’t prop them up or anything, but it’s just people’s demand at Easter, for eggs, and that’s just as important to satisfy in America as it is here.”
Gera reported from Warsaw, Poland. Pietro De Cristofaro in Schoeneiche, Dee-Ann Durbin in Detroit, Giada Zampano in Rome and Josh Funk in Omaha, Nebraska, contributed to this report.
Vanessa Gera and Kerstin Sopke, Associated Press
Ever since it became obvious that the iPhone was one of the most transformative consumer products in history, a question has been floating out there: Would its impact ever be matched by a device in an even newer category? And if something pulled it off, what would it be?
After a decade and a halfso farwe arent any closer to getting answers. Yes, Apple has had its monster hits since then, especially the iPad, AirPods, and Apple Watch. But they havent been iPhone-size landmarks. Meta and others have poured billions into headsets and glasses with the explicit goal of replacing smartphones; still no iPhone. Imran Chaudhri and Bethany Bongiornoveterans of the iPhonetried to leap to the next level with their startup Humanes AI Pin, flopped, and recently off-loaded the remains to HP.
I cant help feeling, though, that the most promising territory for the next great device is right there in front of us. Its our wrists, a location weve found handy for gadgets since the 19th century. Smartwatches demand no fundamental changes in human behavior to become part of our lives. By contrast, the AI Pinwhich you wore affixed to clothing, with your palm serving as the screen for its laser-projected interfacewas a failed bet on an altogether new experience.
The fact that even the Apple Watch is merely an enormous success rather than an epoch-shifter doesnt mean the opportunity to create a radically new smartwatch is lost. After all, Apple didnt invent the smartphone. Contenders such as the BlackBerry and Palm Treo already existed. They were popular, even. Its just that the iPhone sprinted right past them into a new era of computing. It even surpassed fantasies about what an Apple smartphone might be like. (In 2009, I wrote about what most pundits had been expecting: pretty much an iPod that could make phone calls.)
So as much as I cherish my Apple Watch, Id love to see a watch come along that makes it look like a BlackBerry. A few recent developments have had me thinking about that possibilityand, especially, the obstacles preventing it from happening.
First, theres the future of the Apple Watch itself. Last week, Bloombergs Mark Gurman reported that Apple is investigating building cameras into its watchesnot for snapshot-taking or FaceTime calls, but to enable the companys Visual Intelligence AI. In theory, a camera-equipped Apple Watch could offer all sorts of new features based on it seeing the world around you, from better walking directions to nutritional information about food youre about to eat. It might have a shot at fulfilling some of the AI Pins utterly unfulfilled ambitions to weave AI into everyday life.
Given Apples unsteady footing in AI (as exemplified by its ongoing failure to ship the new and improved Siri it first demonstrated last June) it would be ridiculous to get giddy over the prospect of Visual Intelligence on the Apple Watch. To be even mildly intrigued, you need to buy into Apple getting a lot better at conducting ambitious AI in real time, and doing it on a device greatly constrained by computing power, connectivity, and battery life. Still, it seems likely that someone will build serious AI vision into a smartwatch. One no-brainer candidate: Google, whose Lens AR technology has been useful for years and could become part of a future Pixel Watch.
That brings up a fundamental issue with smartwatches, at least for iPhone users, and anyone who covets their business. Its that only Apple has a clear pathway to building an amazing new smartwatch that works with an iPhone. That is by design: The company provides itself with multiple custom affordances for integrating its phone and watch and is unwilling to share them with other manufacturers. For the decade-plus history of the Apple Watch, this fact has stunted the growth of the entire field.
Back in 2012, before there was an Apple Watch, Eric Migicovskys Pebble helped create the smartwatch category. Migicovsky sold the company to Fitbit in 2016, ending its original run. Now hes back with a company called Core Devices that, as he told my colleague Jared Newman in February, is building a very slightly modernized version of what Pebble once offered. Its a sign of how slowly smartwatches have evolved that a minor upgrade to the 2016 Pebble actually sounds quite appealing.
But in a blog post, Migicovsky wrote that the limitations Apple imposes on third-party smartwatches frustrate even Core Devices modest aspirations. His new smartwatch cant handle notifications as adeptly as an Apple Watch, is shut off from supporting SMS and iMessage, lacks an easy way to integrate with third-party iPhone apps, and cant access the internet if the Pebble app isnt running on the iPhone. The title of Migicovskys postApple restricts Pebble from being awesome with iPhonesconveys his bottom line, which is that Googles Android is a far friendlier platform than iOS for a company such as Core Devices.
Migicovsky published his post on Monday of last week. Coincidentally, the European Commission dinged Apple the following day for the same kind of limitations that raised Migicovskys ire. However, the EC can do more than simply complain. In a ruling based on its Digital Markets Act, it has instructed Apple to make iOS work better with third-party smartwatches and other devices, providing a list of specific fetures (such as notifications) that the company needs to open up by the end of 2025. It also requires Apple to improve its communications with developers integrating products with its platform.
As youd imagine, Apple is not looking forward to adjusting its product strategy and technical road map based on a government edict. Todays decisions wrap us in red tape, slowing down Apples ability to innovate for users in Europe and forcing us to give away our new features for free to companies who dont have to play by the same rules, the company grumbled in a statement. Its bad for our products and for our European users. We will continue to work with the European Commission to help them understand our concerns on behalf of our users.
Apple hasnt yet explained its objections to the new EC ruling in detail. But it undoubtedly has several that go beyond its disinterest in helping other companies compete with the Apple Watch. For example, giving third parties more access to iMessage will introduce security issues that dont exist with the current closed loop between the iPhone and Apple Watch. Widening the deep iOS access that the Apple Watch enjoys to support other devices could also lead to a less reliable experience. The most likely outcome may resemble Apples compliance with an earlier EC ruling that forced it to enable competitive app stores. In that instance, the company acted grudgingly, making changes only in the EU and without any effort to create a great experience for anyone involved.
I do hope theres at least a tiny chance that the ECs ruling leads Apple to make government-mandated lemons into lemonade. It could surprise us all by supporting other manufacturers smartwatches wholeheartedlynot just where its a legal requirement, and not in such a cumbersome fashion as to discourage anyone from taking advantage of it.
This much seems certain: If Apple doesnt invent the next great wrist-worn gadget, somebody else will. Its kind of fun to think about that somebody else creating something so compelling that Apple sees welcoming it onto the iPhone as being in its own self-interestor at least a better option than giving iPhone fans any reason to even toy with the idea of switching allegiances.
You’ve been reading Plugged In, Fast Company‘s weekly tech newsletter from me, global technology editor Harry McCracken. If a friend or colleague forwarded this edition to youor if you’re reading it on FastCompany.comyou can check out previous issues and sign up to get it yourself every Friday morning. I love hearing from you: Ping me at hmccracken@fastcompany.com with your feedback and ideas for future newsletters. I’m also on Bluesky, Mastodon, and Threads, and you can follow Plugged In on Flipboard.
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As return-to-office policies take hold and fully flexible work arrangements decline, employees are re-adapting to in-person interactions. One of the biggest challenges? Giving and receiving constructive feedback.
Unlike praise, constructive feedback highlights areas for improvementa critical driver of individual and organizational success, yet one that many find difficult. Whether remote or in-person, various factors, like overestimating negative consequences or fearing relationship fallout, often make both giving and receiving feedback feel high stakes.
While virtual feedback has its own challengeslimited nonverbal cues, potential misinterpretation, and technological barriersthe shift back to in-person conversations introduces new complexities. Body language, tone, and the immediacy of face-to-face exchanges add layers of nuance that leaders may feel less practiced in navigating.
Now more than ever, leaders and teams must navigate feedback thoughtfully. Heres how to make in-person feedback a tool for growthensuring it strengthens, rather than strains, workplace relationships.
Anchor yourself in the right mindset
Before giving constructive feedback, get into the right headspace. The goal is to help the other person grownot to vent frustration, prove a point, or put someone in their place. If emotions are running high, step back. Feedback should come from a place of support and a genuine desire to see the other person succeed, which in turn strengthens the team and organization. Stay centered, and make sure your words and tone reflect that intention.
Choose the right time and place
Giving feedback soon after observing behavior, reviewing work, or having a key interaction keeps it relevant and actionablebut timing and environment matter. In-person conversations offer the potential for richer dialogue, but only if done right.
Avoid squeezing feedback into rushed moments, like between back-to-back meetings, where neither party has the focus needed for a meaningful exchange. Choose a time when both people are centered and not overwhelmed. Opt for a neutral space, such as a meeting room rather than your office, to minimize power imbalances, and ensure its free from interruptions to foster an open, productive discussion.
Be specific
Vague feedback falls flat. Instead of saying, You always interrupt or, Youre not a team player, point to a concrete moment: In yesterdays Ops meeting, you raised your voice several times and spoke over others. After that, the room got quieter. Speak from personal observationwhat you saw, heard, and when it happenedrather than assuming how others felt or making broad character judgments. This keeps feedback clear, actionable, and easier to receive.
Get the nonverbal part right
Its easy to focus mainly on what youre going to say, but dont forget how you say it, including the part that involves no words at all, which is much more important when you cant hide behind a screen. Tone and body language are thought to make up the vast majority of how communication is received. Speak in an even tone, including about challenging topics. Maintain good eye contact but not in a scary, intense way. Lean forward to communicate engagement and care. Avoid postures that convey defensiveness, like having your arms crossed tightly.
Dont fear silence
In our always-on world, its tempting to fill every space with words. Instead, try to be comfortable with silence, whether by pausing more frequently as you speak or not pushing for an immediate response from the other person. Silence, even a few seconds, creates time and capacity to become aware of and process emotional responses, contributing to a more genuine interaction that will help both parties understand and support each other.
Mind the generational gap
Members of different generations may prefer different modes of feedback. Gen Z may want an approach that takes into account their values and sources of meaning (I know collaboration matters to you, so here are some ways I see you doing it well and some areas for improvement), while boomers may be more focused on outcomes and practical advice.
Ask for feedbackgenuinely
Asking for feedback regularly from your team members models important leadership behavior and promotes an open, growth-oriented, high-performance culture. But it has to be a genuine request, and employees you manage may be reluctant to be honest for fear of retaliation. Be empathetic to that reality. Avoid asking for feedback in the same conversation where youre giving it. It can feel transactional or make the other person hesitant to share openly. If you dont want to hear it, dont ask for it. And remember: How you respond to feedback will determine whether the person feels comfortable providing any feedback in the future.
Feedback skill is as much about receiving as giving. Its human nature to react defensively, but try to take a breath and open yourself to what is being communicated, especially if its coming from a place of support. Ask for specifics if theyre not provided. While listening, ask yourself, How might this feedback be true? How does it fit with how I see myself? And remember: Feedback is a gift. It is one of the most impactful experiences that supports growth.
Practice, practice, practice
Some people may be naturals when it comes to communicating feedback, but most arent. Luckily its a skill that can be improved. Think of feedback-giving as a muscle to strengthen. One way to do that is to start with low-stakes situations (say, giving feedback to a team member after a specific activity like a presentation) and work up to more sensitive areas of improvement like patterns of behavior or communication.
Branded is a weekly column devoted to the intersection of marketing, business, design, and culture.
The controversy around Signalgatetop government officials accidentally including a journalist in their group chat discussing details of a military attack in Yemenhas become the new Trump administrations biggest headache to date. But its also been an unprecedented name-recognition moment for the encrypted-communication app Signal, literally putting it in the top headlines around the world, and turning a national security screwup into a massive branding moment.
Is that a good thing for Signal? There are some potential risks and pitfallsand usually having gate appended to your company name isnt exactly a plus. But in this case, the attention appears to be paying off for Signal.
For starters, a slew of high-profile media explainers has no doubt introduced the whole idea of encrypted-text apps to plenty of people who never gave the category much thought, but who are now learning about the favorite chat app for spies and journalists, as the Wall Street Journal dubbed it. And many may conclude that if a sizable portion of the presidents cabinet figured the app was private enough to pick over military strike details, its probably private enough for complaining about the boss or gossiping about the neighbors. (After all, the Trump officials cover wasnt blown by hackers or scammers, but by an embarrassing user error.)
For everyday Americans, this seems like an inadvertent but strong endorsement of the cybersecurity and privacy value that Signal represents, one secure-messaging advocate told The Intercept, noting that the government has previously criticized such apps as potential tools of terrorists and criminals. Signal promptly shot up app-store download charts; as of Thursday, it was No. 15 on the Apple App Stores free apps ranking, up from 49th early in the week. And according to market intelligence firm Sensor Tower, downloads of the app from March 24 to March 26 were up 105% from the prior week, and 150% from the same period last year.
The recent news coverage has also highlighted the differences between Signal and the better-known WhatsApp, a private messenger tool now owned by Meta. (WhatsApp reportedly has more than 2 billion users globally, and Signal has an estimated 40 to 70 million monthly.) Signal is an independent, nonprofit entity, and the app is open source. Plenty of privacy experts prefer Signal because it collects less user data and is, you know, not owned by Meta.
Coincidentally, the respective heads of WhatsApp and Signal just recently had a public disagreement, with WhatsApp chief Will Cathcart saying that its security protocols are essentially the same, and Signal president Meredith Whittaker pushing back hard on that claim. Signal is the gold standard in private comms, she said in an X posta statement thats since been widely quoted in SignalGate stories. (Signal did not respond to an inquiry from Fast Company.)
That said, one of the risks is that Team Trumpnot generally known for acknowledging blundershas been casting about for a scapegoat. And thats already entailed what seem like veiled attempts to blame Signals UX. In an interview with Fox News, National Security Adviser Mike Waltz said he took responsibility for inadvertently inviting the journalist into the chat group, but asked: Have you ever had somebody’s contact that shows their name . . . and then you have somebody else’s number there?
He also speculated that the journalist got in the group deliberately or through some other technical means. These head-scratchers seemed to blame some unspecified software glitch or vulnerability, but ended up sounding like a dodge.
Still, a second concern is that the extensive criticism of the administration officials involved might rub off on, or imply faults with, Signal itself. (Thats what Trump himself seemed to be doing when he baselessly mused that the app could be defective.) More broadly, those critiques note that such sensitive communication should happen in specially designed secure compartmented information facilities, or SCIFs, which among other things ban cellphones, as theyre vulnerable to hacks.
Separately, the groups messages were set to expire, which runs against laws that require archiving of official communications. Big financial institutions operate under similar regulations. But this doesnt necessarily suggest flaws in apps like Signal or WhatsApp; it means additional protocol often rules out off-channel options by default, and that protocol doesnt appear to have been followed.
In an X post, Signal addressed what it called misinformation in a government memo interpreted as suggesting vulnerabilities in its app, but actually referring to advanced phishing scams. The post did not address Signalgate or the finger-pointing fallout but seemed clear enough that Signal is eager to defend its reputation and clarify that whatever went wrong here, it wasnt a tech failure. Right now there are a lot of new eyes on Signal, the company wrote. That, at least, is certainly no secret.
A new pair of studies from MIT Media Lab and OpenAI found that those who use the chatbot most heavily also experience the most loneliness. The catch-22: its unclear whether this is caused by the chatbot itself or if lonely individuals are simply more likely to seek out emotional bonds.
Researchers analyzed millions of interactions and found that only a small number of users rely on ChatGPT for emotional supportbut those who do are among its heaviest users. The MIT study found that higher daily usage of ChatGPT correlated with higher loneliness, dependence, and problematic use, and lower socialization. Since loneliness is a tricky feeling to quantify, researchers said they measured both users subjective feelings of loneliness and their actual levels of socialization.
The studies also found that heavy users were more likely to consider the chatbot a friend or attribute human-like emotions to it. Those engaging in personal conversations with the chatbot reported the highest levels of loneliness. If they set the chatbots voice mode to the opposite gender, those levels were even higher.
Its been over two years since OpenAI released ChatGPT. While researchers emphasize that these studies are preliminary, they reinforce existing concerns about how AI chatbot tools are affecting peoples livesboth online and offline. ChatGPT attracts 400 million users weekly worldwide. Some use it to win arguments or even as a substitute for therapy, despite warnings from health professionals. Others call ChatGPT their best friend.
Interactions with chatbots that cater to your preferences and are trained to be as polite and affirming as possible might help in the moment when you interact with them, but they also slowly chip away from your ability to deal with the messy real world and complex human interactions, says Sandra Matz, Columbia Business School professor and author of MINDMASTERS: The Data-Driven Science of Predicting and Changing Human Behavior.
The problem is that wed need to understand this more causally by assigning people to use or not use chatbots and then studying the impact of these experiences on loneliness, she adds. Obviously, something that comes with ethical questions if we’re playing around with people’s experience of loneliness.
Theres been increasing scrutiny of the negative effects of interacting with AI chatbotsand for good reason. Decades later, researchers are still trying to fully grasp the impact social media has had on mental health. When it comes to AI chatbotswell, I guess well check in again in a couple of years and see.
For the better part of the last half-century, the world has traveled to California to experience Silicon Valley. Theyve heard from Stanford dropouts-turned-unicorn founders, toured dazzling tech campuses, spoken with shrewd venture capitalists, and discussed, ad nauseum, the regions core DNA. Theyve come to scoop up the secret fertilizer, take it back home, and sprinkle it onto the local soil in the hopes of magically growing Silicon Prairie, or Silicon Heartland, or Silicon Fill-in-the-Blank.
In reality, few places in the United Statesalmost none outside a handful of big coastal citieshave succeeded. Eventually, hopeful communities have abandoned their innovation hubs after disappointing results. But not all of them. Among the rare successes of a burgeoning tech hub, Tulsa stands out. I know because I helped lead the citys reinvention. So, in understanding how northeast Oklahoma managed to establish a growing innovation economy, other places may finally be able to carve out a sustainable path in tech.
The task isnt simplethere are no shortcuts. But thats because, in the end, theres no secret ingredient. It simply comes down to whether cities can find the niche that corresponds with their strength and exploit it. No place will be able to compete with Silicon Valleys moneybut great gobs of capital sit in various locales, and yet few have become tech hubs. No place can replicate the Valleys concentration of talentbut for all the celebrated universities, few have spawned notable clusters of innovation. Thats not whats really important.
Here’s what istruly important: Having a community think carefully about what their value add can be to the greater world of tech, and how they can lean into that specific attribute. Innovation economies grow from the bottom-up, not the top-down, and they can be tailored to fit your city. Thisis what Tulsa is doing so successfullyand its the reason that Im convinced other cities can do the same.
When I was recruited to Tulsa in 2019, the economys two pillarsoil and gaswere both on the ropes. Like many other midsized cities, there was rising alarm that Oklahomans were poised to be left behind by AI, the states manufacturing and service jobs gutted by automation.
So, the Tulsa-based George Kaiser Family Foundation asked me to lead an effort less to make the region a mini-Silicon Valley, and more to help Tulsa find what I call its tech nicheits own special place in the 21st century economy. As one cowboy hat-wearing entrepreneur told me, We dont want to be San Francisco. We want to be the best version of ourself.
But that just raised a series of questions that most cities struggle to answer: What should the communitys tech identity be? How could we create durable jobs? Where should we deploy scarce capital? The economic development organization I founded, Tulsa Innovation Labs, led a community-wide effort to answer those questions.
We looked initially at education technology and discarded it as a focusTulsa simply didnt have a competitive advantage in that realm. We then looked at agriculture technology and set that aside toothe potential impact of investing in that cluster wasnt sufficient to building a resilient tech economy.
Instead, we zeroed in on four areas where we believed we could create the critical mass of activity necessary to reinvent Tulsas economy: virtual health, energy tech, advanced air mobility, and cyber. Having narrowed the field, we raised over $200 million in four years to invest in those clusters and put ourselves on track to create 20,000 jobs.
The question today is what other older industrial economies such as St. Louis, Buffalo, and Cincinnati can learn from Tulsas experience. And the lesson is surprisingly simple: Rather than try to emulate Silicon Valley, they should find their own tech niche and then invest in infrastructure that fuels growth in those clusters. To do that, they need to follow four principles.
First, cities should build on existing industries
Every city has longstanding employers with expertise that can be transitioned to tech. Tulsas energy companies were facing intense disruption thanks to climate change. And although Oklahomas aerospace industry is largely in maintenance, repair, and overhaulnot techthe industrys regional facilities offered existing infrastructure and talent with valuable skills that can translate. Tulsas challenge was to build on top of those important assets to spark growth in emerging technologies.
Second, cities need to identify their strongest opportunities in tech
Cities should pick a few tech clusters that are adjacent to existing industries and show long-term growth trends, thereby building a bridge to a more vibrant economy.
Given its legacy as the oil capital of the world, Tulsas prime opportunity was energy tech. As was advanced air mobility given the regions strong history in aerospace and the energy industrys use of drones to monitor pipelines. While its understandable that many startups want to be in Silicon Valley, others are realizing its wiser to build near established industries with the ready-made partners they provide and the dynamic ecosystems they can offer.
Third, those searching for a niche should ensure it promises a range of jobs
San Francisco is a cautionary tale because the explosion almost exclusively of high-paying positions for the most educated has increased housing prices and widened inequality. Choosing clusters that offer jobs demanding a variety of skills and education levelsjobs open to those without bachelors degreescan drive inclusion. In Tulsa, we selected cyber in part because workers with skills-based credentials are essential to the industry. About a third of the 20,000 jobs Tulsa is on track to create are accessible without a bachelors degree.
Finally, cities should select a niche that allows them to lead
Midsized cities need not compete with major tech hubs. Instead, they should search for specific clusters, sub-clusters, or parts of an industrys value chain in which they can lead. For virtual health, Tulsas opportunity was in remote care solutionstechnologies that, for example, enable remote glucose monitoring. Virtual health also has nice synergies with cybersecurity, which keeps those remote systems safe, as well as advanced air mobility in which drones could deliver pharmaceuticals to rural parts of the region. The specific clusters that comprise your tech niche should reinforce each other.
Silicon Valley is a unicorn, and for too long, it has been viewed as the model for places that cant possibly recreate it. This myth has become a self-fulfilling prophecy, with a national innovation economy that leaves out most Americans and dismisses the Heartland as flyover country. Places like Tulsa can thrive in the decades to come if they find the right niche. Pulling off an economic renaissance isnt easy to do, but its entirely realistic. For anyone living in a place thats being left behind by tech, know that you can write your own future if you and your neighbors work together and grow from the inside out.
When OpenAI announced earlier this week that image generation was now directly available within ChatGPT, a lot of the initial examples used advertising to show how it works.
Powered by OpenAIs flagship multimodal model GPT-4o, the updated chatbot can now create visuals straight from its chat interface. Turbo Design founder Shane Devine posted an image of his prompt asking the platform to turn a generic office scene into a McDonalds ad. His reaction to the results: Were cooked.
We are cooked pic.twitter.com/LfWizvSEoh— Shane Levine (@theShaneLevine) March 26, 2025
Other examples floating around in reaction hypothesized how the new tool would replace traditional photoshoots. Much like Levines comment, the mood appeared to be yet another sign of death at the door of traditional advertising creatives. Is it the future of all banner ads and bus shelter posters? If that McDonalds spec ad is any indication, weve still got a long way to go.
For Fast Companys Brand New World podcast, Ive been talking to creatives, ad agency execs, and CMOs about the impacts of, and strategies around Gen AI tools. They all focus on the utility of these tools to help humans, not replace them.
View this post on Instagram A post shared by Evolving AI (@evolving.ai)
Even for its own Super Bowl ad, OpenAI only used Sora as a concepting tool. CMO Kate Rouch told me at the time, Because we made this on a pretty compressed timeline, it really helped the creatives prototype, experiment with camera angles, and things like that, all to speed up the process.
Deepthi Prakash, Omnicom Advertising Group COO, says this latest update is a really valuable integration, allowing for a more conversational experience, and a more natural sparring partner to help identify insights and translate them to visual ideas. The quality of the visuals isnt at par with the best specialized technologies out there, she says. But its certainly good enough for a strategist or a business leader to help develop and communicate concepts and ideas.
Omnicom-owned agency network TBWA announced its CollectiveAI platform last June. Integrating platforms like ChatGPT, as well as others from Google, Adobe, Microsoft, and more. Its tools are trained on the company’s past work to create social content and brand materials for clients, among other things. For Prakash, this new update simply improves their existing quiver.
This doesnt really change things for us, she says. But hopefully, it accelerates the development of tools that are designed not just for specific tasks, but for entire workflows so that AI moves from being a set of tools to being a real partner in the creative process.
Omid Farhang is the founder and CEO of award-winning independent ad agency Majority. He says this new update feels like the first time he ever watched Netflix on his phone. A moment that I knew for sure was coming yet still couldnt help feeling utterly dazzled that its here, says Farhang.
Far from the existential dread expressed in some of the social media reactions to the new update, Farhang sees profound opportunity especially for smaller creative firms. It feels like for the first time ever, being a small, young company is a competitive advantage, he says. Because we have no legacy departments and antiquated processes to undo; we can harness AI with less fear, more nimbleness. More malleability. More playfulness. More audacity.
Farhang advises any creative professional to embrace any and all the new AI tools. Since the dawn of man, every generation operates under the delusion that theyve hit the height of human potential, until an innovation emerges that reminds us we are perpetually the chrysalis, never the butterfly, says Farhang. All this chatter, speculation, daydreaming and resistance about AI are shrieks from the cocoon.
Donald Trumps return to office has bolstered a wave of apps. Bluesky spiked in November; Signal is seeing renewed attention. Niche dating apps are also raking in new usersboth from the right and left.
Americans are dating across party lines less and less. In 2020, 71% of Democrats told the Pew Research Center they wouldnt date a Trump voter. Most also agree that cross-party dating is getting harder. App developers have seized the moment, creating new spaces for singles to connect within their political circles.
But those efforts look different depending on which side of the aisle you gravitate toward. The MAGA movement has long flirted with its own dating appsnow one is gaining traction with hundreds of thousands of downloads and backing from Peter Thiel. On the left, attempts to build a liberal-only space havent taken off. Instead, progressive dating apps often feel more like a reaction born of resistance or fear.
The right-wing dating apps resurgence
Leading the pack among right-wing apps is Date Right Stuff, cofounded by former Trump staffer John McEntee and backed by $1.5 billion from Thiel. The apps 2022 launch was rocky, marked by few downloads and plenty of controversyincluding allegations that the FBI visited users who answered a prompt about the January 6 insurrection. One user, 18-year-old Grace Carter, told Wired that McEntee sent her uncomfortable messages via the apps Instagram.
But since Trumps inauguration, interest has surged. In a recent interview with Andrew Zucker on the Golden Age podcast, chief marketing officer Raquel Debono said the app has now surpassed 400,000 downloads. Like Tinder and Hinge, Date Right Stuff is expanding into live eventsit recently hosted a Make America Hot Again party at Trump Towerand into platonic matchmaking. Sort of like a Bumble BFF, but with your right-wing BFF, your person to talk politics with, Debono explained.
Security is also top of mind. Face ID verification is coming soon to make sure everyone is exactly who they say they are, Debono wrote in an email to Fast Company. Its all about meeting people who share your values, get your sense of humor, and let you be unapologetically yourself.
Whether Date Right Stuff has staying power is another question. Back in 2018, Gaby Del Valle wrote about the rise of right-wing dating apps for Vox. Every app mentionedRighter, Conservatives Only, Donald Daters, Patriohas since disappeared.
Where do all the liberals go?
Sex and dating quickly became political flashpoints after Trumps first election. Some liberals refused to match with anyone who identified as Moderate on Hinge. Others looked to Koreas 4B movement, where women pledged to abstain from dating and sex altogether.
But unlike the right, the left hasnt coalesced around a dating enclave, despite the fact that dating apps, in general, have long skewed liberal. According to a 2006 Pew study, online daters were more likely to express liberal social beliefs. But platforms explicitly designated for progressive users like Lefty and TruuBlue haven’t gained traction.
Then theres the rise of fake dating. Lavender marriages (unions between LGBTQ+ individuals to mask their identities) have gone viral on TikTok in the wake of Trumps return to the White House. More queer daters are now seeking relationships rooted in political safety over attraction. In a grim twist, theres an app for that.
Jeremy Del Zotto created Gen We, and recently launched a Lavender Marriages community on the app. The announcement video has racked up more than 500,000 views. In a recent update, Del Zotto said Gen We had thousands of downloads within weeks.
