Cybersecurity researchers have discovered roughly 1,000 unprotected gateways to OpenClaw, an open-source and proactive AI agent that can be controlled through text conversations with apps like WhatsApp or Telegram. The gateways were found on the open internet, allowing anyone to access users personal information. One white hat hacker also reportedly gamed OpenClaws skills system, which lets users add plugins for tasks like web automation or system control, to reach the top of the rankings and be downloaded by users around the world. The skill itself was innocuous, but it exploited a security vulnerability that someone more nefarious could have used to cause serious harm.
Access to those gateways would allow hackers to reach the same files and content OpenClaw can access, meaning full read and write control over a users computer and any connected accounts, including email addresses and phone numbers. A number of incidents exploiting those vulnerabilities have already been reported.
OpenClaw, originally called Clawdbot, was released in November 2025 by Peter Steinberger, an Austrian-born, London-based developer best known for creating a tool that lets apps display and edit PDFs natively. The launch followed a wave of advances in AIs ability to interact with files that began in late 2025.
Late last year, many people began experimenting with Anthropics Claude Code, an agentic AI that links to a computers file system through the terminal or command line and responds to conversational prompts to build large projects independently, with some oversight. The tool excited many users but also discouraged others who were uncomfortable working in a non-graphical interface.
In response, Anthropic set Claude Code to work autonomously on a sibling product, Claude Work, which layers a more user-friendly interface on top. While it has gained some traction, it is a third-party product built by a developer outside Anthropic that has captured the most attention.
Steinbergers OpenClaw mimics the best features of Claude Code, but with more functionality and the ability to proactively work on tasks without being prompted.
That proactivity is a key differentiator between the tool, which was forced to rename itself Moltbot and then OpenClaw last week after a request from Anthropic, and other AI systems. Its potential has energized the tech sector, driven a spike in Mac Mini sales as a popular way to host the agent, and come to dominate certain corners of X and Reddit.
The problem is that the very thing that makes OpenClaw so appealing, the ability to oversee an eager AI assistant without specialist coding knowledge and with an easy setup, is also what makes it so concerning. I love it, yet [I’m] instantly filled with fear, says Jake Moore, a cybersecurity expert at Eset. Moore says users are so excited by the idea of OpenClaw as a personal assistant that they are granting it unrestricted access to their digital lives, sometimes while hosting their instances on incorrectly configured virtual private servers. That leaves them vulnerable to hacking.
Opening private messages and emails to any new technology comes with a risk and when we dont fully understand those risks, we could be walking into a new era of putting efficiency before security and privacy, Moore warns. The same access that makes OpenClaw powerful is also what makes it dangerous if it is compromised. If one of the devices Clawdbot is running on is compromised, an attacker would then gain access to everything including full history and highly sensitive information, he says.
Steinberger did not respond to multiple interview requests, but he has published extensive security documentation for Moltbot online, even if many users may not incorporate it into their setups. That concerns cybersecurity experts. Developments like Clawdbot are so seductive but a gift to the bad guys, says Alan Woodward, a professor of cybersecurity at the University of Surrey in the U.K. With great power comes great responsibility and machines are not responsible, he says. Ultimately the user is.
The way OpenClaw operates, running without oversight and acting as an always-on assistant, may cause users to forget that responsibility until it is too late. Some have already demonstrated that Moltbot can be vulnerable to prompt injection attacks, in which harmful instructions are embedded in websites or emails in the hope that AI agents will absorb and follow them. I wonder who these users think will be blamed when agentic AI empties their account or posts hateful thoughts, Woodward says.
So-called rare earth elements arent actually rare. Its just difficult to refine them into the purified forms that are needed for making things like electronics or clean energy tech. The standard processes are also toxic, which is one reason that the world has outsourced production to China.
Supra, a startup that spun out of the University of Texas at Austin, is taking a different approach thats clean, low-cost, and makes it possible to capture some of the billions of dollars worth of critical minerals that are trapped in waste in the U.S.
Dr. Sessler [Photo: Supra]
The companys technology uses supramolecular receptors, a string of molecules built to grab specific molecules like a baseball glove, says CEO Katie Durham. Jonathan Sessler, a chemistry professor at UT Austin, first designed receptors like these to target cancer cells. Then he realized that they could also be designed to target critical minerals.
My original analogy was we were going to be making a chemical sponge, Sessler says. It would go in and capture these elements and we would pick it up and wring it out.
In the final design, the nanometer-sized receptors are embedded into a polymer filled with tiny pores that increase the surface area for capturing metal ions. The material is 3D-printed into reusable cartridges.
[Photo: Genesis Cosme/The University of Texas at Austin]
At a mine or industrial site, tailings or wastewater can flow through a series of the cartridges, each targeting a specific element. The receptors bind minerals in alcohol and release them when theyre rinsed with water, using little energy and avoiding the use of toxic chemicals. The process, which the company says is 100 times more selective and faster than current rare earth refining, can also be used on electronic waste.
[Photo: Supra]
In lab tests on cobalt, the technology was able to capture 100% of the element, isolating it completely from other elements like lithium in a solution.
The tech can be customized for any element. As it comes to market, the startup is focused first on scandium and gallium, two valuable rare earth elements that currently are imported from China. The U.S. is 100% import-dependent on them, and we really did not see a lot of other startups trying to address that, says Durham. By collecting the trace amounts of scandium in industrial waste in the U.S., the company hopes it can change how the element is sourced.
[Photo: Supra]
The value varies wildly depending on purityscandium, for example, can sell for $300 per kilogram at 99.9% purity, but $3,200 per kilogram at 99.99% purity. The purest form, at 99.9999%, sells for $500,000 per kilogram. (The startup is still optimizing its process, but is aiming for the highest purity.) The company plans to launch its first pilots with partners later this year.
Supra is one of a handful of startups working on ways to make rare earth production feasible in the U.S. Others include Phoenix Tailings, which works both with mined material and waste; and Cyclic Materials, which extracts and refines rare earths from end-of-life products.
Because of the demand for an American supply chain, Supra plans to focus first in the U.S. But the company eventually wants to make their products available globallyincluding in China, to help with the pollution challenge there. The world has gotten lazy and let China pay the environmental cost, says Sessler.
In 2026, audiences across the United States will experience some of the most iconic sporting events in the worldfrom Super Bowl LX and NBA All-Star weekend to the Milan Cortina Winter Olympic Games and the FIFA World Cup. For Comcast NBCUniversal, it marks one of the most significant years in our sports history, which will unite millions of fans.
But sports are more than entertainmenttheyre a force for connection, growth, and transformation. These events offer a rare moment to unite people and leave a lasting impact well beyond the games themselves.
EXPAND ACCESS TO YOUTH SPORTS
Early access to sports can shape a childs future. According to the Aspen Institutes Project Play, its linked to better health, stronger academics, and lifelong habits of teamwork and resilience. Yet far too many communities remain on the sidelines. Today, families spend on average nearly $900 per child per season, putting participation out of reach for too many.
Across the sports ecosystem, organizations are responding with targeted, community-based solutions. DICKs Sporting Goods has committed more than $100 million since 2014 through its Sports Matter Program to help schools and local leagues cover essentials like equipment, registration fees, and facility accesssupport that has helped keep millions of kids across all 50 states participating in youth sports. Nikes Community Impact Fund takes a similar, grassroots approach, empowering employee-led committees to award local grants to nonprofits and schools expanding neighborhood-based play, particularly for young people with limited access to safe, high-quality sports opportunities.
These efforts reinforce a simple truth: Access works best when it is local, affordable, and sustained.
At NBCUniversal, we too believe that sports can uplift local communities. Ahead of the FIFA World Cup, Telemundo is supporting neighborhood-based soccer festivals and Unity Cup celebrations in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Miamiworking with trusted local partners to connect young people not only to play, but to mentorship, cultural pride, and a sense of belonging.
Together, these initiatives demonstrate that expanding access is a critical first step. Once young people can engage in sports, they also need meaningful guidance and support.
EMPOWER THROUGH MENTORSHIP
Coaching is not just about teaching athletic skills and game strategy. Coaches often serve as role models and mentors for young athletes. The Aspen Institutes Coaching Social and Emotional Skills in Youth Sports report highlights how intentional coaching provides a powerful venue for young people to develop social and emotional competencies, from teamwork and selfregulation to empathy and decisionmaking.
One example of how companies are investing in coaching is Under Armours UA Next program, which serves as the companys national grassroots platform for middle and highschool athletes. UA Next operates across major U.S. cities through partnerships with regional coaching networks and locally-hosted camp events, connecting young athletes with highlevel instruction and structured skill building environments.
The U.S. Soccer Foundations Yes, Coach! initiative aims to train 100,000 coach-mentors by 2030 who will impact 3 million youth. Comcast NBCUniversal and Telemundo will support this effort through a new bilingual platform and public service announcement campaign created by apprentices at Wide Angle Youth Media, and airing across our networks ahead of the tournament.
Additionally, ahead of the Super Bowl, NBC station KNTV is supporting a Laureus Sport for Good USA and Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA) community event, where NFL players and PCA coaches will lead onfield training and mentorship for San Francisco youth.
These initiatives help provide more children with the chance to be supported by a trusted adult on and off the field.
In addition to the positive role mentorship and coaching play in young athletes, sports can be a powerful catalyst for giving young people the opportunity to shape and share the stories that bring these moments to life for fans at home.
ELEVATE VOICES THROUGH SPORTS STORYTELLING
Every major sports moment creates a story. These moments also have a profound impact on those who get to tell them and whose voices are amplified along the way.
A powerful illustration of sports-driven storytelling comes from Visas Player of the Match program, which leveraged the FIFA Womens World Cup global stage to spotlight top women athletes and entrepreneurs. Across all 64 matches, Visa committed $500,000 in grants to women-owned businesses from the home countries of each matchs standout playerconnecting on-field excellence with real-world entrepreneurial achievements, and broadening visibility on the world stage.
Extending the impact of storytelling beyond the field, NBCUniversal partners with nonprofit creative agencies such as RE:IMAGINE, Venice Arts, Kids in the Spotlight, Reel Works, Wide Angle Youth Media, Youth Beat, and Ghetto Film School to provide production opportunities for emerging young storytellers. This year, in collaboration with the NBA, select apprentices will produce content around NBA All-Star Weekend that will run across Comcast NBCUniversal and NBA platforms. The goal isnt just to capture memorable moments; it’s to help young creatives build confidence, broaden networks, and gain hands-on experience that extend far beyond any single event.
From access to mentorship, and the opportunities around sports storytelling, a clear throughline emerges: Sports have the power to uplift and unite communities, provide an infrastructure for youth to feel supported, and create pathways for young people to thrive.
WHY IT MATTERS
This work is personal. As a former high school athlete and a parent, Ive seen how sports can build confidence, empathy, and a sense of purpose, especially when young people feel encouraged and included.
In a year defined by unprecedented moments in sports, we have an opportunity to meet the moment with intention. By using the shared attention of these global events to expand participation and invest in the next generation of athletes and fans, we can create impact that endures long ater the final whistle.
Because when we change the game, we change lives.
Hilary Smith is EVP of corporate social responsibility at NBCUniversal.
Don’t tune into the Super Bowl hoping for a break from the tumultuous politics gripping the U.S.The NFL is facing pressure ahead of Sunday’s game between the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots to take a more explicit stance against the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement. More than 184,000 people have signed a petition calling on the league to denounce the potential presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the Super Bowl, which is being held at Levi’s Stadium in the San Francisco Bay Area. The liberal group MoveOn plans to deliver the petition to the NFL’s New York City headquarters on Tuesday.Meanwhile, anticipation is building around how Bad Bunny, the halftime show’s Spanish-speaking headliner, will address the moment. He has criticized President Donald Trump on everything from his hurricane response in his native Puerto Rico to his treatment of immigrants. On Sunday night, he blasted ICE while accepting an award at the Grammys. His latest tour skipped the continental U.S. because of fears that his fans could be targeted by immigration agents.Trump has said he doesn’t plan to attend this year’s game, unlike last year, and he has derided Bad Bunny as a “terrible choice.” A Republican senator is calling it “the woke bowl.” And a prominent conservative group plans to hold an alternative show that it hopes will steal attention from the main event.The Super Bowl is one of the few remaining cultural touchstones viewed by millions of people in real time and the halftime show is no stranger to controversy, perhaps most notably Janet Jackson’s 2004 performance in which her breast was briefly exposed. But there are few parallels to this year’s game, which has the potential to become an unusual mix of sports, entertainment, politics and protest. And it will unfold at a tinderbox moment for the U.S., just two weeks after Alex Pretti’s killing by federal agents in Minneapolis reignited a national debate over the Trump administration’s hard-line law enforcement tactics.“The Super Bowl is supposed to be an escape, right? We’re supposed to go there to not have to talk about the serious things of this country,” said Tiki Barber, a former player for the New York Giants who played in the Super Bowl in 2001 and has since attended several as a commentator. “I hope it doesn’t devolve, because if it does, then I think we’re really losing touch with what’s important in our society.”
Bad Bunny has leaned into the controversy
The 31-year-old Bad Bunny, born in Puerto Rico as Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, has elevated Latino music into the mainstream and gained global fame with songs almost entirely in Spanish something that irks many of his conservative detractors. He has leaned into the controversy, referring to the halftime show when he hosted “Saturday Night Live” in October by joking “everybody is happy about it even Fox News.”He segued into a few sentences in Spanish, expressing Latino pride in the achievement, and finished by saying in English, “If you didn’t understand what I just said, you have four months to learn!”Those who follow him closely doubt that he’ll back down now.“He has made it very clear what he stands for,” said Vanessa Díaz, a professor at Loyola Marymount University and co-author of “P FKN R: How Bad Bunny Became the Global Voice of Puerto Rican Resistance.” “So I can’t imagine that this would all go away with the Super Bowl.”The halftime show is a collaboration between the NFL, Roc Nation and Apple Music. Roc Nation curates the performers and Apple Music distributes the performance while the NFL ultimately controls the stage, broadcast and branding.The NFL, which is working to expand its appeal across the world, including into Latin America, said it never considered removing Bad Bunny from the halftime show even after criticism from Trump and some of his supporters.NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell on Monday described the singer as “one of the great artists in the world,” as well as someone who understands the power of the Super Bowl performance “to unite people and to be able to bring people together.”“I think artists in the past have done that. I think Bad Bunny understands that. And I think you’ll have a great performance,” Goodell told reporters during his annual Super Bowl press conference.About half of Americans approved of Bad Bunny as the halftime performer, according to an October poll from Quinnipiac University. But there were substantial gaps with about three-quarters of Democrats backing the pick compared to just 16% of Republicans. About 60% of Black and Hispanic adults approved of the selection compared to 41% of whites.Republicans are eager to maintain Latino support in their bid to keep control of Congress. But as the Super Bowl draws near, many in the GOP have kept up their Bad Bunny critiques.Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, the former head football coach at Auburn University who is now running for governor, derided the “Woke Bowl” on Newsmax last week and said he’ll watch an alternative event hosted by Turning Point USA.The group founded by the late conservative activist Charlie Kirk said Monday that Kid Rock, a vocal Trump supporter, would be among the performers at its event.
DHS won’t say whether immigration agents will be at Super Bowl
In recent days, Department of Homeland Security official Jeff Brannigan hosted a series of private calls with local officials and the NFL in which he indicated that ICE does not plan to conduct any law enforcement actions the week of the Super Bowl or at the game, according to two NFL officials with direct knowledge of the conversations.ICE is not expected to be among more than a dozen DHS-related agencies providing security at the game, the officials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations.While that is the plan, some worry that Trump and his MAGA allies who lead DHS can change their minds ahead of Sunday’s game given their recent statements.DHS official Corey Lewandowski, a key adviser to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, said in October that ICE agents would be conducting immigration enforcement at the game.“There is nowhere that you can provide safe haven to people who are in the country illegally, not the Super Bowl, not anywhere else,” he said at the time.Asked to clarify ICE’s role this week, DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin refused to say whether federal immigration agents will be present for the Super Bowl.“Those who are here legally and not breaking other laws have nothing to fear,” she said. “We will not disclose future operations or discuss personnel. Super Bowl security will entail a whole-of-government response conducted in line with the U.S. Constitution.”The progressive group MoveOn will host a Tuesday rally utside the NFL headquarters in New York to present a petition telling the league, “No ICE at the Super Bowl.”“This year’s Super Bowl should be remembered for big plays and Bad Bunny, not masked and armed ICE agents running around the stadium inflicting chaos, violence, and trauma on fans and stadium workers,” MoveOn spokesperson Britt Jacovich said. “The NFL can’t stay on the sidelines, the league has a responsibility to act like adults, protect Super Bowl fans and stadium workers, and keep ICE out of the game.”In an interview, San Francisco mayor Daniel Lurie was optimistic that the event would be a success even in a politically tense climate.“We are going to keep everybody safe our residents, our visitors,” he said. “Obviously with everything going on, we’re staying on top of it, monitoring everything. But I expect everything to be safe and fun.”
Steven Sloan and Steve Peoples, Associated Press
Discounting has been part of retails toolkit for decades, and it can be effective, especially during high-stakes shopping seasons. But as promotions become more frequent across the industry, companies are taking a closer look at the downside: Short-term sales gains dont always come with long-term loyalty or durable margins, and customers remember how a brand made them feel far more than what they saved at checkout.
Whats often missing from the conversation is the role of experience-led value. Loyalty isnt built through price aloneits built through moments that make a customer feel recognized, appreciated, and confident they made the right choice. When brands compete only on discounts, they sacrifice those moments in favor of short-term volume.
This coming year, retailers may feel the urge to pull the markdown lever more than ever.
While the National Retail Federation pegged retail sales during the recent holiday shopping season to exceed $1 trillion, retailers saw fewer unit sales as shoppers dealt with tariff-driven sticker shock. As a result, 2025 marked a significant change in consumer behavior as shoppers across the board sought value and deals. That shift is likely to persist through 2026, increasing pressure on retailers to use markdowns to move inventory.
The risk isnt that retailers will discount, its that discounting becomes the strategy rather than the symptom.
WHEN DISCOUNTS COST MORE THAN THEY DELIVER
Kohls offers a useful illustration of this tension. In the third quarter of 2025, the retailer reported a modest year-over-year increase in gross margin, while operating income declined amid softer sales. The results underscore how difficult it can be to translate promotional activity and operational improvements into sustained profitability when demand remains under pressure.
This dynamic isnt unique to Kohls. Shifting consumer preferences, lingering supply-chain complexity, and intensified competition have forced many retail leaders to make difficult decisions about pricing and inventory.
Target faced a similar challenge in 2022, when excess inventoryparticularly in home and apparelprompted the company to take decisive markdown and inventory-reduction actions. While those moves helped rebalance inventory levels, they also weighed on near-term profitability.
More recently, Lululemon has contended with elevated promotional activity amid signs of slowing demand in the U.S. and increased competition in the athleisure category from brands like Vuori and Athleta. Analysts have pointed to higher markdown levels as retailers across the space work to maintain traffic and manage inventory in a more competitive environment.
Taken together, these examples reflect a broader pattern in retail: promotions can help stabilize revenue in the short term, but they dont always improve operating leverage or long-term customer value. Discounts move inventorybut they rarely move customer lifetime value in the same direction.
WHY DISCOUNTING FEELS INEVITABLE BUT ISNT SUSTAINABLE
Discounting has intuitive appeal. In a crowded market with shrinking discretionary budgets, deals cut through the noise. Spending trends underscore just how price-sensitive shoppers have become, with a growing percentage planning holiday-season purchases early and hunting for discounts across channels.
Yet this rush to save can produce a dangerous feedback loop:
1. Shoppers learn to wait for deals.
2. Brands feel pressured to offer deeper discounts.
3. Margins shrink, forcing even steeper promotions next cycle.
Over time, this turns what should be a preference decision into a pricing decision, and pricing decisions rarely build durable brands.
LOYALTY IS BUILT BEYOND THE TRANSACTION
If discounting tells a shopper, Buy now because its cheap, then true loyalty says, Buy again because it matters. The difference is subtle, but profound.
Loyalty isnt a transaction with a strike price; its a series of experiences that make a customer feel recognized, appreciated, and connected. It doesnt live at checkout. Its built in the moments of fulfillment, engagement, and emotional connection that follow.
Yet many retail strategies still prioritize pre-purchase price incentives over post-purchase relationship building. Thats why promotions dominate inboxes, but customer lifetime value stagnates.
A BETTER PATH FORWARD
Some brands are finding a way out of this loop by shifting emphasis away from discounts and toward experience-led value. This includes deploying value-oriented pricing structures that dont train customers to wait for sales. Retailers can also offer post-purchase experiences that reinforce brand affinity without discount hooks. They can also provide more personalized engagement that acknowledges the shopper as an individual rather than a deal seeker.
Retailers who embrace these strategies in 2026 signal something important: you matter to us, not just your wallet. And that distinction, over time, fuels repeat business in a way discounts never can.
Discounts will always have a placeespecially during peak shopping seasons when consumer attention is fragmented and competitive pressure is intense. But when discounting becomes the foundation of a pricing strategy rather than a tactical lever, it eats into profits and inwardly rewires customer expectations.
The retailers that will win in 2026 and beyond wont be the ones offering the biggest discounts. Theyll be the ones who understand how customers remember brands, through moments of appreciation, relevance, and experience that extend beyond the transaction.
As the past holiday season showed, even the most sophisticated retailers can fall into the trap of equating promotional volume with lasting value. The brands that win in the long run will resist that reflexand instead focus on creating moments that customers remember, not just prices they respond to.
Elery Pfeffer is the CEO at Nift.
You wouldnt pay a surgeon to file your tax return, and you wouldnt ask your accountant to perform your appendectomy. The same is true for AI: Organizations should start realizing that different AI providers excel at different needs, from coding to specialized research or creative design.
Over the coming year, enterprises will absorb a variety of these AI providers technologies in earnest and at scaledepartment by department, role by role. Legal teams will standardize on tools like Harvey. Customer service teams will rely on Glean or purpose-built agents. Development teams may choose resources from Anthropic. Marketing, engineering, finance, and HR will similarly gravitate toward AI resources from Microsoft, xAI, or OpenAI, optimized for their specific needs.
In other words, enterprises will evolve from the idea that single-provider AI resources will solve their needs to an era of targeted, role-based, or need-based AI.
Making matters even more complicated, many AI providers are now beginning to roll out their own browsers.
Enterprise leaders thus face a new challenge: how to manage the onslaught of AI needs that are now arriving.
HISTORY IS REPEATING ITSELF
Enterprises have been here before.
When cloud computing emerged, many dipped their toes in the water by standardizing on a single provider. The logic was simple: fewer vendors, lower cost, less risk. But as cloud usage expanded, different workloads demanded different strengths, and organizations diversified their cloud infrastructure.
The same dynamic emerged with data platforms. Early efforts focused on centralized applications like data lakes, but as use cases multiplied, organizations often found that no single system served every real-world use case equally well. Most enterprises responded by adopting multiple tools around a shared data foundation.
In both cases, organizations that had prepared themselves for flexibility were better positioned.
AI is following this same trajectory, only faster. And unlike cloud or data infrastructure, AI adoption isnt happening quietly behind the scenes. Its happening in daily workflows across departments, often without central coordination.
Leaders can therefore best help their organizations succeed by embracing many tools, each chosen for what it does best, while managing them through shared controls.
THE RISK OF AI TOOL SPRAWL
As AI systems and use cases proliferate, failing to prepare poses real risks to the enterprise.
This proliferation extends beyond standalone AI tools. Increasingly, SaaS applications from CRM systems and productivity suites to finance and HR platforms embed their own AI. In many cases, AI adoption will happen by default, not by deliberate choice.
With these tools, teams will also inherit fragmented security policies, inconsistent controls, and limited visibility. Tools that seem harmless in isolation can create meaningful risk in aggregate.
This is the rise of shadow AI: systems introduced to solve real problems, but without the oversight to manage them responsibly. With agentic AI, where systems act on users behalf, those risks compound: permissions expand and accountability becomes harder to trace.
If these tools are left unchecked, leaders will lose sight of where AI is used, what data it touches, and which systems act autonomously on the organization’s behalf. Experimentation and innovation should not be allowed to scale faster than oversight.
GOVERNANCE IS THE MISSING LAYER
Multimodal flexibility does not have to come at the expense of visibility and security. Again, we have been here before. With SaaS, enterprises dont manage a wide variety of capabilities by forcing everyone onto one system. They manage it by establishing shared controls across many tools.
Enterprises need a governance layer that sits above all AI vendors. That layer should provide:
Visibility across AI usage
Policy enforcement independent of model provider
Guardrails for data access
Safe experimentation
Support for bringing your own device, contractors, and distributed teams
Governance doesnt restrict freedom. It enables it by allowing organizations to choose every model they want and assign them across their teams without introducing new risk.
And true governance cant rely on technology alone. Leaders must cultivate a culture of AI literacy, where every employee can confidently evaluate, validate, combine, and challenge AI systems. Then organizations can embrace a multitude of AI tools, safely, and effectively.
PREPARE FOR MULTI-MODEL SUCCESS
Much like SaaS, the cloud, and data platforms before it, AI will soon spread across roles, workflows, and applications. Leaders that build in the capacity to manage all these modelsthrough visibility, governance, and an AI-fluent workforcewill be best positioned to capture all of AIs advantages without compromising safety, trust, or control.
Steve Tchejeyan is president of Island.
Shares in Palantir Technologies (Nasdaq: PLTR) are rising this morning, one day after the AI data analysis software company with significant U.S. government contracts reported better-than-expected Q4 earnings. Heres what you need to know about Palantirs latest results and its rising stock price.
Palantirs Q4 2025 beat Wall Street expectations
Yesterday, Palantir announced its Q4 2025 earnings, and investors breathed a sigh of relief. For Palantirs Q4, which ended on December 31, the company brought in $1.41 billion in revenue, signaling 70% year-over-year growth.
The majority of that revenue comes from Palantirs U.S. customers, which is split roughly evenly between the U.S. government and commercial U.S. businesses.
Palantir said U.S. government revenue totaled $570 million for the quarter, representing 66% year-over-year growth in that vertical. U.S. commercial revenue totaled $507 million137% year-over-year growth.
But more important than those actuals was what Wall Street had been expecting. And Palantir easily surpassed those expectations, leading to the rapid rise in its stock price today.
As cited by CNBC, London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) estimates expected Palantir to bring in $1.33 billion for the quarter. The company ended up surpassing that estimate by around $80 million.
Analysts were also expecting an earnings per share (EPS) of 23 cents. Palantirs actual EPS for the quarter was 25 cents.
PLTR shares are still down from their all-time highs
Palantir released its earnings results after the closing bell yesterday, and today its stock price is reaping the rewards of those results, enjoying double-digit growth in premarket trading.
As of this writing, PLTR shares are up 11.35% to $164.55. The companys share had closed at $147.76 yesterday.
That share price pop will be music to the ears of Palantir investors. Before this morning’s premarket trading bump, PLTR shares were down nearly 17% year-to-date.
Its current premarket price rise doesnt quite put PLTR shares back in the black for the year, but its definitely a move in the right direction.
Palantir shares had hit an all-time high of above $207 in November, after seeing a phenomenal year of growth.
The previous November, in 2024, started with shares sitting in the low-40s range. But increasing government contracts and AI optimism throughout the remainder of 2024 and into 2025 sent PLTR shares surging.
Then came December 2025, and PLTR shares got pummeled. Between December 24 and 31, the companys stock price fell from the $194 range to around $177. That fall reflected both rising concerns about Palantirs lofty valuation and broader worries about a potential AI bubble.
Where does PLTR go from here?
Despite Palantir beating expectations for Q4, the future of its stock price likely hinges on its abilityor notto continue delivering results that justify its valuation.
As of yesterdays close, Palantir was valued at around $352 billion and traded at a price-to-earnings ratio of more than 230, which is incredibly high for even a tech company.
The companys stock price could also be significantly impacted if upcoming Big Tech earnings do not meet expectations and thus reignite fears of an AI bubble. If investors turn sour on AI stocks, Palantir shares could once again be hit hard.
For instance, Google parent Alphabetthe best performing of the so-called Magnificent 7 tech stockswill report earnings on Wednesday. Fellow tech giant Amazon will report the following day. Later this month, meanwhile, AI chip giant Nvidia Corporation will report its results.
Investor sentiment around AI could be deeply impacted by the results of any one of those companies.
As for Palantir itself, the firm issued guidance yesterday for both its current Q1 2026 and its full-year 2026.
For its Q1, Palantir said it expects revenue of between $1.53 billion and $1.54 billion. Thats more than the $1.32 billion that many analysts were expecting. For its full-year 2026, Palantir expects revenue of $7.18 billion to $7.2 billion. That is nearly $1 billion more than many analysts were expecting.
President Donald Trump said Monday that he’s “not ripping down” the Kennedy Center but insisted the performing arts venue needs to shut down for about two years for construction and other work without patrons coming and going and getting in the way.The comments strongly suggested that he intends to gut the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts as part of the process.“I’m not ripping it down,” the Republican president told reporters in the Oval Office. “I’ll be using the steel. So we’re using the structure.”Such a project would mark the Republican president’s latest effort to put his stamp on a cultural institution that Congress designated as a living memorial to President Kennedy, a Democrat. It also would be in addition to attempts to leave a permanent mark on Washington through other projects, the most prominent of which is adding a ballroom to the White House.Shortly after taking office last year, Trump dismissed Kennedy Center board members who had been appointed by Democratic presidents and replaced them with loyalists, who voted to make him chairman. He helped choose the recipients of the 2025 Kennedy Center Honors, a program he avoided during his first term. He later hosted the event, and the board voted late last year to rebrand the Kennedy Center by adding his name to the building and website.Trump announced Sunday on social media that he intends to temporarily close the performing arts venue on July 4 for about two years “for construction, revitalization, and complete rebuilding,” subject to board approval.The announcement followed a wave of cancellations by leading performers, musicians, and groups since the president took over leadership of the arts institution. Trump did not mention the cancellations in his announcements, or during his comments Monday.Kennedy Center Arts Workers United, which includes several unions representing the institution’s arts workers, said in a statement that it was aware of Trump’s announcement but had received no formal notice or briefing about his plans. The group pledged to enforce its members’ contractual rights.“Should we receive formal notice of a temporary suspension of Kennedy Center operations that displaces our members, we will enforce our contracts and exercise all our rights under the law,” the statement said. “We expect continued fair pay, enforceable worker protections, and accountability for our members in the event they cannot work due to an operational pause.”
Promising ‘the highest-grade everything’
Recalling his past career in construction and real estate, Trump said, “you want to sit with something for a little while before you decide on what you want to do.” Speaking of the Kennedy Center, he said: “We sat with it. We ran it. It’s in very bad shape,” asserting that the building is “run down,” “dilapidated” and “sort of dangerous.”Roma Daravi, a Kennedy Center spokesperson, said in a social media post that “decades of gross negligence” has led to $250 million of deferred maintenance needs and that temporarily closing the institution “is the most logical choice to allow for comprehensive renovations, efficient project completion, and responsible use of taxpayer dollars.”Deborah Rutter, the Kennedy Center president who was ousted by Trump, declined comment Monday. In the past, she has said allegations from Trump and others about the center’s management were false.A representative for David Rubenstein, the board chairman who was also pushed out by Trump, said Rubenstein was not available Monday to comment.Trump, citing the complaints of a workman he said has been laying marble at the Kennedy Center, said the closure is needed because “you can’t do any work because people are coming in and out.”He pegged the cost at about $200 million, including the use of “the highest-grade marbles, the highest-grade everything.”“We’re fully financed and so we’re going to close it and we’re going to make it unbelievable, far better than it ever was, and we’ll be able to do it properly,” Trump said.Congress earmarked $257 million for the Kennedy Center in a tax cut and spending bill that Trump signed into law last summer.
What kind of work is involved
The White House said after the president spoke that some of the maintenance includes work on the building’s structural, heating and cooling, plumbing, electrical, fire protection and technical stage systems. Work on the building’s exterior, security standards and parking are also included.Daravi, the Kennedy Center spokesperson, declined comment when asked how the closure would affect the annual Mark Twain Award and Kennedy Center Honors events this year.Trump said last October, also on social media, that the venue would stay open during construction. But on Monday he said that plan was no longer feasible.“I was thinking maybe there’s a way of doing it simultaneously but there really isn’t, and we’re going to have something that when it opens it’s going to be brand new, beautiful,” Trump said.“The steel will all be checked out because it’ll be fully exposed,” he said. “It’s been up for a long time, but as anybody knows it was in very bad shape. Wasn’t kept well, before I got there,” he said. “So we’re going to make it, I think there won’t be anything like it in the country.”The Kennedy Center opened in 1971.Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, D-Rhode Island, who in November opened an investigation into the Kennedy Center’s financial management, said the planned closure is part of Trump’s “demolition tour of Washington.” Whitehouse is the senior Democrat on the Environment and Public Works Committee, which oversees public buildings, and is an ex-officio member of the Kennedy Center’s board.Since Trump returned to the presidency, the Kennedy Center is one of many Washington landmarks that he has sought to overhaul in his second term.He demolished the White House East Wing and launched a massive $400 million ballroom project, is actively pursuing building a triumphal arch on the other side the Arlington Bridge from the Lincoln Memorial, and has plans for Washington Dulles International Airport.-Associated Press writers Hillel Italie in New York and Steven Sloan in Washington contributed to this report.
Darlene Superville, Associated Press
Almost 10 years ago, physician and data scientist Dr. Ruben Amarasingham founded Pieces Technologies in Dallas with a clear goal: use artificial intelligence to make clinical work lighter, not heavier. At a time when much of healthcare AI focused on prediction and automation, Pieces concentrated on something harder to quantify but more consequentialhow clinicians actually think, document, and make decisions inside busy hospital workflows.
That focus helped Pieces gain traction with health systems looking for AI that could assist with documentation, coordination, and decision-making without disrupting care. But as hospitals began relying more heavily on AI for diagnosis, triage, and daily operations, the expectations placed on these tools changed. It was no longer enough for AI to sound impressive or move fast. It had to be trustworthy under real clinical pressure.
Pieces did not set out to become a case study in healthcare AI accountability. But over the past two years, that is effectively what it became. In 2024, a regulatory investigation by the Texas Attorney Generals office into the accuracy and safety of its systems forced the company to examine how its models behaved in real-world settings, how clearly their reasoning could be explained, and how quickly problems could be identified and corrected.
Rather than retreat, the company reexamined its models, documentation practices, and safeguards. Those efforts later became central to its acquisition by Smarter Technologies, a private equity-backed healthcare automation platform formed earlier this year through the combination of SmarterDx, Thoughtful.ai, and Access Healthcare, in September 2025. The purchase price was not disclosed.
Pieces journey captures a defining truth about healthcare AI today: the technology is no longer judged by ambition alone, but also by whether it can withstand scrutiny, explain itself under pressure, earn clinician trust, and operate safely in environments where the cost of error is measured in human outcomes.
FROM PROMISE TO PROOF
AI arrived in healthcare with big promises. It would ease physician workloads, speed decisions in emergencies, and cut through the complexity of modern care. Some of those promises materialized early. But as adoption spread, hospitals began to see the limits of systems that were impressive in theory but fragile in practice.
In early 2025, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration published updated guidance on AI and machine learning-enabled medical devices, calling for stronger post-market monitoring, clearer audit trails, and safeguards against model drift in high-stakes settings. The Federal Trade Commission reinforced that message through enforcement actions targeting exaggerated AI claims and misuse of sensitive health data.
Those signals changed the conversation, forcing many hospitals to ask vendors harder questions: How does your system reach its conclusions? Can clinicians understand and override its recommendations? And does the model behave consistently as conditions change?
For many AI companies, the excitement of the last decade no longer buys time. Proof does.
A REAL-LIFE TEST
Pieces encountered those expectations earlier than most. The regulatory scrutiny forced the company to confront how its models reasoned through patient data and how clearly that reasoning could be explained to clinicians and regulators alike.
But Amarasingham says the companys mission never shifted. Our team is focused on building the tools to make life easier for physicians, nurses, and case managers who are carrying the weight of the health system every day, he tells Fast Company.
That focus meant publishing method papers, sharing documentation with health systems, and creating processes that exposed when models struggled, drifted, or required recalibration. Those practices became foundational to the companys next chapter.
Shekhar Natarajan, founder and CEO of Orchestro.ai and a longtime observer of healthcare regulation, sees this as part of a larger reckoning. Many AI companies, he says, relied on what he calls emergent safety, assuming ethical outcomes would arise naturally from good intentions and culture.
That approach no longer holds, Natarajan explains. Regulators now expect safety and accountability to be engineered into systems themselves, with reproducible reasoning, documented controls, and safeguards that hold up even when teams are stretched thin.
BUILDING TRUST
Trust in healthcare does not come from branding or inspiration. It comes from repeated proof that technology understands clinical work and behaves consistently under changing conditions. Clinicians want AI that respects the pace of the workday, adapts to the unpredictable rhythm of patient care, and reduces cognitive burden rather than adds to it. Above all, they want systems that behave predictably.
Pieces shaped its approach around these realities, focusing on building tools to work alongside clinicians rather than ahead of them and creating ways for teams to question the systems conclusions. It also designed its internal processes to document when the model was correct, struggled, drifted, or needed recalibration. For Amarasingham, that kind of thinking was essential for the progress of the company.
Innovation, to us, had to serve the care team first. The goal was to reduce cognitive load rather than to add to it, he says, a view that aligns with a growing consensus in healthcare AI research.
That emphasis aligns with what independent clinicians say is holding healthcare AI back.
Dr. Ruth Kagwima, an internist at Catalyst Physician Group in Texas, says AI adoption stalls when tools disrupt already overloaded clinical workflows or fail to earn trust through clarity and validation.
AI systems that succeed in hospitals are easy to understand, fit naturally into daily work, and show clear proof of safety and accuracy, she says. They have to protect patient data, respect clinical judgment, and improve care without adding friction.
Another independent healthcare analyst, Dr. Patience Onuoha, who is an internist affiliated with multiple hospitals in Indiana, points to the practical constraints that still slow adoption at the bedside. Data is often messy and siloed, and new tools can disrupt already busy clinical workflows, she says. There are also real concerns around safety, bias, legal risk, and trusting algorithms that are not easy to understand.
Natarajan believes this will be the defining standard of the next decade. In his view, companies survive regulatory pressure when they transform their internal principles into systems that can be inspected. They build clear chains of accountability, create evidence trails that reveal where bias may appear, and show clinicians not only how a model works but also why it does.
IMPACT ON THE FUTURE
Healthcare AI is moving toward a world where oversight is a design requirement rather than an afterthought, especially with regulators demanding documentation that spans the full lifecycle of a system. They want performance data segmented across race, age, and medical conditions, assurances that the system cannot infer sensitive traits that patients never disclosed, and they want companies to demonstrate how quickly they can detect and correct model drift.
Some of this momentum comes from damage that has surfaced over time. For example, recent research reported by the Financial Times found some AI medical tools tended to understate the symptoms of women and ethnic minority patients, potentially worsening disparities in care because models werent trained or evaluated for fairness and transparency.
Companies that adapt to this new reality will shape the next generation of clinical AI. Pieces now operates within this landscape. As part of Smarter Technologies, it is working to bring its governance practices to a wider network of hospitals. That means integrating safety frameworks across larger datasets, more diverse populations, and broader distribution environments. It is difficult work, but also the kind of work that defines leadership in a field where the cost of failure is measured in human outcomes.
A NEW CHAPTER
Healthcare AI is entering a consequential phase of growth, where the safety of AI systems is far more important than headline-grabbing breakthroughs.
As hospitals sharpen their expectations for AI, Amarasingham believes the industry will need to adopt a different mindset. In healthcare and AI, youre not playing to win once and for all; youre playing to keep playing, keep learning, and keep improving outcomes for patients, he says.
The work, he adds, will never be finished, because the rules shift and the needs evolve. What matters is whether companies choose to design for that reality. In other words, AI in healthcare will advance only as fast as it earns trust. And that means healthcare AI vendors and buyers must now, more than ever, be committed to steady, transparent work that stands up under pressure.
Ive read a lot of books on building a culture at work. A lot of the advice is well intentioned but to me overly complex. A 20-step framework is a lot harder to live by than a simple operating principle. Culture is something people feel and live more than implement.
Venture capitalist Ben Horowitz wrote in his book What You Do Is Who You Are: How to Create Your Business Culture, Its not the values you list on the wall. Its not what you say in company-wide meetings. Its not your marketing campaign. Its not even what you believe. Who you are is what you do.
For me, culture is created through actions. Its the choices leaders make every day that shape how people experience their work. Words can motivate, but actions are what transform. I feel strongly that culture lives in daily behavior, in the decisions that happen behind closed doors, and in the examples leaders set. When those actions dont match the message, culture starts to crumble.
At its core, culture is the outcome of how people treat one another. You can read an organizations culture in the everyday interactions between team members, customers, partners, and other stakeholders, notes Dan Pontefract, a leadership strategist and award-winning author of six workplace culture books. Good or bad, culture is contagious. When people observe respect and generosity, that behavior spreads. But when they see apathy, ego, or petty power plays rewarded, the culture will inevitably corrode. Wherever you look, culture is an outcome, and it becomes the core of how that organization operates.
When Leaders Dont Live Their Values
You probably remember when Uber experienced its explosive growth in the early 2010s. CEO Travis Kalanick was known for being bold and disruptive, in more ways than one. The companys innovation at all costs mantra fueled success, but behind the scenes the culture was the opposite.
Despite all the values-based talking points emphasizing customer obsession and empowerment, employees defined the culture as toxic, with high levels of burnout, ruthless competition, and ethics issues. People complained about long hours, fear-based leadership, and a lack of trust and accountability. In 2017, former engineer Susan Fowler went public with her experience, describing a workplace filled with harassment, fear, and silence.
Ubers culture didnt fail because it lacked values. In fact, it listed many of them on its website that sounded like ones you read about as best practices in Harvard Business Review. Actually, it failed because those values werent real because they werent practiced. What leaders said and did were two totally different things. Eventually Kalanick was fired and the company had to rebuild its culture from scratch.
When Leaders Do Live Their Values
Microsoft is a different story. When Satya Nadella took over as CEO in 2014, the companys culture was competitive and closed off. It was struggling to innovate and it was losing touch with its people, trying to operate in an industry that required constant change. Nadella knew that the strategy wasnt the big issue, the culture was.
Instead of rolling out a new list of corporate values, as CEOs tend to do in grand fashion, he focused on improving behavior. Uncharacteristic for a tech exec, he talked about empathy, curiosity, and growth, and then he modeled them. Nadella openly shared his own learning journey and encouraged people to learn from mistakes. He talked about taking the company from a know it all culture to a learn it all culture. He created space for collaboration and growth instead of competition and fear.
The shift is attributed to Microsofts dramatic increase in revenue and success in cloud computing and AI. Employee engagement improved, innovation returned, and Microsoft regained its energy and purpose. The company became known for its empathy-driven leadership and ability to adapt. Nadella didnt just talk about culture, he lived itand people followed.
Actions Speak Louder Than Words
Culture isnt what you say in meetings; its what people see you do that matters. If I tell people to say no to meetings but I attend every meeting, people will live in fear of my words. If I tell people to challenge the status quo and they see me actively questioning assumptions, theyre much more likely to do it themselves. When your actions reflect your words, trust grows. When they dont, it fades fast.
Kevin Bishop, director of talent development at LinkedIn, believes culture is one of the most important things an organization can focus on. Culture isnt static, he says. Its a living, evolving force shaped by our daily choices and actions. If were not intentional, it can drift away from our values and become a liability rather than a strength.
Are your actions aligned with your words? Do you practice what you preach when it comes to team culture? Ask yourself these questions:
What words would I use to describe my teams culture? How am I demonstrating those words every day?
What word would my team use to describe our culture?
How am I empowering my team to succeed?
How am I removing barriers instead of creating them?
If youre brave enough, this is a great exercise to do with your team to shape the culture you want, together.
Leading by Example
Culture isnt a set of beliefs. Its a set of choices. Every day, your team watches what you do and learns from it. Thats what defines your culture. If your actions reflect your values, people will trust you. If they dont, theyll stop listening. The best leaders understand this simple truth: Culture is not what you say, its what you do.
