More than 20 civil service employees resigned Tuesday from billionaire Trump adviser Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, saying they were refusing to use their technical expertise to dismantle critical public services.
We swore to serve the American people and uphold our oath to the Constitution across presidential administrations, the 21 staffers wrote in a joint resignation letter, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press. However, it has become clear that we can no longer honor those commitments.
The employees also warned that many of those enlisted by Musk to help him slash the size of the federal government under President Donald Trump’s administration were political ideologues who did not have the necessary skills or experience for the task ahead of them.
The mass resignation of engineers, data scientists and product managers is a temporary setback for Musk and the Republican president’s tech-driven purge of the federal workforce. It comes amid a flurry of court challenges that have sought to stall, stop or unwind their efforts to fire or coerce thousands of government workers out of jobs.
In a statement, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt was dismissive of the mass resignation.
Anyone who thinks protests, lawsuits, and lawfare will deter President Trump must have been sleeping under a rock for the past several years,” Leavitt said. “President Trump will not be deterred from delivering on the promises he made to make our federal government more efficient and more accountable to the hardworking American taxpayers.
The staffers who resigned worked for what was once known as the United States Digital Service, an office established during President Barack Obama’s administration after the botched rollout of Healthcare.gov, the web portal that millions of Americans use to sign up for insurance plans through the Democrat’s signature health care law.
All had previously held senior roles at such tech companies as Google and Amazon and wrote in their resignation letter that they joined the government out of a sense of duty to public service.
Trump’s empowerment of Musk upended that. The day after Trump’s inauguration, the staffers wrote, they were called into a series of interviews that foreshadowed the secretive and disruptive work of Musk’s’ Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.
According to the staffers, people wearing White House visitors’ badges, some of whom would not give their names, grilled the nonpartisan employees about their qualifications and politics. Some made statements that indicated they had a limited technical understanding. Many were young and seemed guided by ideology and fandom of Musk not improving government technology.
Several of these interviewers refused to identify themselves, asked questions about political loyalty, attempted to pit colleagues against each other, and demonstrated limited technical ability, the staffers wrote in their letter. This process created significant security risks.
Earlier this month, about 40 staffers in the office were laid off. The firings dealt a devastating blow to the government’s ability to administer and safeguard its own technological footprint, they wrote.
These highly skilled civil servants were working to modernize Social Security, veterans services, tax filing, health care, disaster relief, student aid, and other critical services, the resignation letter states. Their removal endangers millions of Americans who rely on these services every day. The sudden loss of their technology expertise makes critical systems and Americans data less safe.
Those who remained, about 65 staffers, were integrated into DOGE’s government-slashing effort. About a third of them quit Tuesday.
“We will not use our skills as technologists to compromise core government systems, jeopardize Americans sensitive data, or dismantle critical public services,” they wrote. We will not lend our expertise to carry out or legitimize DOGEs actions.
The slash-and-burn effort Musk is leading diverges from what was initially outlined by Trump during the 2024 presidential campaign. DOGE, a nod to Musk’s favorite cryptocurrency meme coin, was initially presented as a blue-ribbon commission that would exist outside government.
After the election, however, Musk hinted there was more to come, posting to his social media site, X, Threat to democracy? Nope, threat to BUREAUCRACY!!! He has leaned aggressively into the role since.
Last week he stood on stage at the Conservative Political Action Conference gathering outside Washington, where he boasted of his exploits and hoisted a blinged-out, Chinese-made chainsaw above his head that was gifted by Argentinian President Javier Milei.
“This is the chainsaw for bureaucracy, Musk bellowed from the stage.
Still, Musk has tried to keep technical talent in place, with the bulk of the layoffs in the Digital Service office focused on people in roles like designers, product managers, human resources and contracting staff, according to interviews with current and former staff.
Of the 40 people let go earlier this month, only one was an engineer an outspoken and politically active staffer name Jonathan Kamens, who said in an interview with the AP that he believes he was fired for publicly endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris, a Democrat, on his personal blog and being critical of Musk in chats with colleagues.
“I believe that Elon Musk is up to no good. And I believe that any data that he gains access to is going to be used for purposes that are inappropriate and harmful to Americans,” Kamens said.
U.S. Digital Service veterans, who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of reprisal, recalled experiencing a similar sort of shock about how government processes worked that Musk and his team are discovering. Over time, many developed an appreciation for why certain things in government had to be treated with more care than in the private sector.
Move fast and break things may be acceptable to someone who owns a business and owns the risk. And if things dont go well, the damage is compartmentalized. But when you break things in government, youre breaking things that belong to people who didnt sign up for that, said Cordell chachter, who until last month was the chief information officer at the U.S. Department of Transportation.
USDS was established over a decade ago to do things like improving services for veterans, and it helped create a free government-run portal so tax filers did not have to go through third parties like TurboTax. It also devised systems to improve the way the federal government purchased technology.
It has been embroiled in its fair share of bureaucracy fights and agency turf wars with chief information officers across government who resented interlopers treading in their agencys systems. USDS power across government stemmed from the imprimatur of acting on behalf of the White House and its founding mission of improving service for the American people.
Leavitt, the White House press secretary, is one of three administration officials who face a lawsuit from The Associated Press on first- and fifth-amendment grounds. The AP says the three are punishing the news agency for editorial decisions they oppose. The White House says the AP is not following an executive order to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America.
Brian Slodysko and Byron Tau, Associated Press
AP video journalist Rodrique Ngowi contributed to this report.
During Apple’s annual meeting today, shareholders struck down a proposal that had targeted many of the tech giant’s diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, a move that indicates a continued commitment to DEI even as other major employers pull back on their own efforts.
The proposal, which was put forward by a conservative think tank called the National Center for Public Policy Research, suggested that Apple could face “litigation, reputational and financial risks” due to its DEI programs. The group also claimed that Apple could face legal claims from at least 50,000 employees (though it’s not clear where that number came from).
Apple’s board had previously urged shareholders to reject the proposal, positing that it was an overreach and “inappropriately attempts to restrict the company’s business operations. (The National Center for Public Policy Research has already targeted diversity programs at Costco with a similar measure, which was also rejected.) Apple also noted that its DEI programs and company culture were key to its success as a business.
At Apple, we believe that how we conduct ourselves is as critical to Apples success as making the best products in the world, the board said in a proxy filing in January. We seek to conduct business ethically, honestly, and in compliance with applicable laws and regulations, and our Business Conduct and Compliance policies are foundational to how we do business. And we strive to create a culture of belonging where everyone can do their best work.
During Apple’s annual meeting, a leader at the think tank noted that the company could face legal challenges from the Trump administration over its DEI efforts. (He also added that The vibe shift is clear: DEI is out and merit is in.”) For the time being, however, Apple CEO Tim Cook has remained on good terms with Trump, even announcing a whooping $500 billion investment in manufacturing and job creation stateside.
Still, Apple’s stance on DEI is notable in this moment, as the Trump administration has set its sights on dismantling diversity efforts across both the federal government and private sector companies.
Over the last few months, a number of major employers have made changes to their DEI commitments, including some of Apple’s peers in the tech industry. Amazon has softened some of its public-facing language on diversity and claimed to be winding down outdated programs and materials by the end of 2024, while Google has nixed its representation goals for hiring and is currently reviewing many of its DEI initiatives. Meta, too, has cut representation goals but also went a step further and eliminated the team that focused on DEI efforts at the company.
Some of these shifts are more minor or even semantic in nature, and DEI experts have noted that many companies are making calculated changes to mitigate potential legal risks while continuing to invest in diversity work. But even so, Apple appears to stand apart from other tech giants for its continued commitment to DEIat least for now.
Teslas stock plunged more than 8% on Tuesday, marking another setback for the electric vehicle giant as it struggles to maintain momentum in 2025.
The companys stock hit its lowest level since November, driven by disappointing sales in Europe and growing concerns over CEO Elon Musks controversial political moves. Tesla shares (Nasdaq:TSLA) are now down roughly 25% just this year, making it the weakest performer among the “Magnificent 7” stocks, according to Investopedia.
The companys valuation also dipped below $1 trillion for the first time in three months, as reported by MarketWatch.
Why Tesla shares are down this week
A key factor in Teslas stock slump is a sharp decline in European sales. The companys vehicle sales plummeted 45% across Europe last month, even as overall electric vehicle demand surged, according to the Wall Street Journal. Tesla’s monthly sales in Germany, for instance, fell 60% year-over-year to 1,277 vehicles, per data from Germanys Motor Transport Authority.
Meanwhile, competitors such as Volkswagen, Renault, and SAIC Motor saw increased sales, capitalizing on growing EV interest in countries including Germany, the U.K., and the Netherlands.
Musks vocal political involvement in Germanys recent election also may have contributed to Teslas waning. His support for the far-right Alternative for Germany (Afd) party sparked backlash, potentially alienating customers in a key market.
Additionally, Teslas Model Y is currently undergoing a refresh, leading some buyers to delay purchases while waiting for the updated model, according to WSJ.
Beyond sales figures, Tesla faces growing concerns about its reputation. Some critics have argued that Musks leadership outside of Tesla, particularly his role in running the Trump administration’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), is damaging the companys image.
On February 15, protestors gathered at Tesla stores and charging stations in cities across the United States to condemn Musks cuts to essential services and mass layoffs related to his work with DOGE.
Despite Teslas recent challenges, Europe’s broader EV market remains strong, with overall electric vehicle sales rising 37.3% last month. Germany, the U.K., and the Netherlands are seeing the biggest gains in sales, according to Yahoo Finance. Whats clear is that Tesla investors are increasingly anxious this week as competitors continue to chip away at its dominance in the industry.
The United States Digital Service (USDS), the storied group of Silicon Valley types brought together by Obama to bring government services into the 21st century, will likely never be the same after the arrival of Elon Musks Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). If, that is, it survives at all.
USDS employees began resigning from the organization after Trump won the election in November. USDS deputy administrator Ted Carstensen resigned in the first week of February, after several unsuccessful attempts to get face time with the DOGE workers. Just a few days after those resignations, 50 of the 150 or so USDS employees lost their jobs in DOGEs first major round of layoffs. Wired reported last week that DOGE personnel operated separately from the remaining USDS employees.
‘I didn’t expect it to be dismantled’
Confusingly, there are two main DOGE groups now active in the government. The original group consists of less than 30 people, many of them under 25 years old, and operates out of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, D.C. Then, at 736 Jackson Place are the offices of USDS, whose name was changed from the U.S. Digital Service to the U.S. DOGE Service via an executive order on January 20. White House lawyers likely did this to confer upon DOGE, which had previously been classed as an advisory group, the U.S. Digital Services greater level of access to sensitive government data and its limited accountability to Congress. The new USDS, which heretofore was part of the General Services Administration, has now been moved into the executive branch.
The USDS layoffs targeted product managers and web designers, while leaving most engineers in place, says one recently departed USDS employee who spoke on condition of anonymity. Anne Marshall, the former USDS director of engineering and data science, resigned February 17 in protest of DOGEs reorganization plans. Unfortunately, with the changes made by DOGE, it is no longer possible for me to support this team, Marshall wrote in a LinkedIn post. She added that the termination of so many product managers and designers reflects a misunderstanding ofor an indifference tothe nature of the offices work.
On Tuesday, a group of 21 additional USDS employees published a public letter to White House Chief-of-Staff Susie Wiles announcing their resignations, citing concerns over political interference. On January 21st, we were subjected to 15-minute interviews by individuals wearing White House visitor badges, the letter reads. Several of these interviewers refused to identify themselves, asked questions about political loyalty, attempted to pit colleagues against each other, and demonstrated limited technical ability. This process created significant security risks and was designed to intimidate government employees. According to the recently departed USDS employees estimates, that would mean about 40 workers remain in the unit.
DOGE is working from Musks question everything playbook, says the ex-USDS employee: tearing everything down to the extreme bare minimum system, then adding back on only the parts that are necessary. If something breaks, DOGE can hire back those people to fix it.
I didn’t expect it to be dismantled and turned into a puppet like a Horsehair worm taking over the mind of a praying mantis so quickly, says the ex-USDS worker.
They can just fire them
Another ex-USDS employee says that when they read the E.O. establishing DOGE, they thought USDS might be allowed to continue its government efficiency work. After all, the E.O.s definition of the new USDS included the phrase modernizing Federal technology and software to maximize governmental efficiency and productivity, which closely resembles the original USDS mission.
But the U.S. DOGE Service has a very different definition of efficiency than the old USDS, which applied a modern software product development approach to making government services like dispensing passports or processing VA benefits claims work faster and more efficiently. For DOGE efficiency seems to mean firing federal employees and cancelling scheduled Congressionally-approved contract payments for things Musk and/or Trump dont approve of. (Neither DOGE nor USDS immediately responded to Fast Companys request for comment.)
The first ex-USDS employee says many of the remaining USDS staffers are staying on because they believe strongly in the offices original mission of making the government work better for people, and they want to continue doing that work. But the projects that reflect that spirit may dwindle as specific departments or programs at client agencies get cut. For example, USDS had been working with the Office of Transformation within the Social Security Administration to modernize a number of public websites (such as the MySSA self-service site) as well as the SSAs phone support and IVR systems. On Monday, the whole project was abruptly cancelled.
Still, its possible that DOGE could forcibly alter a culture within the government that habitually resists change.The government has been slow to modernize inefficient systems due to both a lack of funding and a risk-averse bureaucracy. Change agents like USDS have often encountered career agency officials who deny them timely access to the government systems and data when that access is needed to make real improvements. In the past, some agency officials have felt threatened by USDS personnel, whom they saw as overconfident whiz kids who believed they could quickly grasp the agencys work and fix major systems problems. In at least that respect, DOGEs frosty reception within the agencies isnt so uniquebut Musks crew has more tools to deal with it.
I envy [DOGE] the blank check theyve been given, and the ability to bulldoze through dumb obstacles, says former USDS administrator Mikey Dickerson. If they meet these people who are just barriers and who wont say yes and they wont say no, they can just fire them.
Dickerson says he would have picked different projects to work on if he were leading DOGE. In theory, he notes, DOGE personnel could use their authority to accomplish meaningful work, but he sees no evidence that they are doing so.
Still, DOGEs long-term effects might be better than its short-term results, Dickerson suggests. This can be positive in the long term in the way that a wildfire in Yosemite goes through and clears out all the old brush so that new things can grow, he says.
There’s a new entrant in the scam hall of fame.
The Chengdu Snow Villagea newly opened destination in the suburban Chengdu, Sichuan provinceadvertised a picturesque snow landscape for guests to enjoy during the Lunar New Year celebrations last month. Photos of the event resembled scenes from a Christmas card, featuring thick layers of snow blanketing log cabin roofs.
However, unseasonably warm weather meant the main feature was a no-show. Rather than canceling the events, organizers got creative. White sheets were stapled to cabin roofs, white sand and large cotton wool sheets were scattered across the grounds, and soapy foam drifted through the air in a feeble attempt to create a winter wonderland. Photos posted online by disappointed visitors showed the reality: sad wisps of cotton scattered across a greenish-brown field, clinging to the branches of bushes.
Chinas tourism industry is really outdoing itself with its creativity! Welcome to Snow Village in Chengdu- where snow is made of cotton balls, the ground is white sand, and the fake waterfalls flow with imagination.1/2 @MM81792127@GundamNorthrop@SolomonYue pic.twitter.com/2fZr2ORrLl— Ava Olivia (@AvaOlivia27) February 18, 2025
The fake wonderland quickly went viral for all the wrong reasons, prompting the Chengdu Culture and Tourism Bureau to launch an investigation into the project. The village later apologized and offered refunds to guests, according to Reuters.
In order to create a snowy atmosphere, the tourist village purchased cotton for the snow . . . but it did not achieve the expected effect, leaving a very bad impression on tourists who came to visit, the village shared on its official WeChat account.
Following the precedents of previous years, we typically have snow in winter. So we set up this spot for a photo shoot in advance to wait for the snow to come, a Snow Village staff member told the state-run paper Global Times. However, this year, the weather didnt cooperate, and it didnt snow. The Chengdu Snow Village has removed all images of the attraction from its social media pages, and the venue has since closed down.
This isnt the first time a tourist attraction in China has been caught misleading visitors. Last year, hidden artificial pipes were discovered at the Yuntai Mountain Waterfall in Henan province, used to boost the waterfall’s flow and maintain its spectacular appearance during the dry season. Just a few weeks ago, an amusement park in Zibo City, Shandong province went viral after internet users realized that its zebras werent actually zebras, but donkeys painted with black and white stripes.
A+ for creativity, everyone.
Pop quiz: Which two Super Bowl ads were created by Artists Equity Advertising, the commercial creative arm of Ben Affleck and Matt Damons studio Artists Equity?
Hint: It was the two starring Ben Affleck and Matt Damon.
The big game ads for both Stella Artois and Dunkin were excellent vehicles for both actors. But theyre also the rare occurrence of major advertising investmentwhich goes well beyond the $8 million just for Super Bowl airtimegoing to a boutique creative shop run by Hollywood A-listers.
However, this is not a story about Super Bowl ads. Its about Artists Equity’s approach to capitalizing on the increasingly aligned interests of Hollywood and brand marketersand how the company just may have the strategy and talent to capitalize on it.
Since Affleck and Damon founded Artists Equity in 2022, the studio has been steadily churning out film and TV work. Releases include Air, the unauthorized story of how Nike landed Michael Jordan; the Cillian Murphy drama Small Things Like These; Doug Limans The Instigators with Apple Films; William Goldenbergs Unstoppable on Prime Video; and Jennifer Lopez Kiss of the Spider Woman. It’s also behind the upcoming Affleck-starring action sequel The Accountant 2.
But since Afflecks first spin as a Dunkin spokesperson in 2023anchored by a Super Bowl spot in which when he takes over a Boston-area drive-thruArtists Equity has been building its advertising team with a few different goals in mind. The first is to provide an added revenue stream and creative outlet for the company. Second, give both brands and talent the best experience and results with advertising that also entertains. Its far from the only creative shop with those ambitions. But Affleck is confident that Artists Equity Advertising can carve out its own corner of the commercial world, and has a plan on how to do it.
A significant part of that plan is bringing to the ad world the company’s filmmaking prowess and the creator-focused approach it takes with its studio projects. Affleck tells Fast Company that his early commercial experiences as a brand spokesperson felt overly transactional. Like a hired gun, brought in to smile and wave, with no creative input or involvement. As a result, the work was unsatisfying to him, and ultimately not as good for the brands as it could have been.
My argument to brands is that there’s a reason why you want to associate this person with the product you’re selling, and the reason is the cultural footprint this person has created, Affleck says. And to me, the obvious take is asking them to come in and be part of the creative process, which means sharing the strategy goals, creative goals, and brand goals.
[Image: courtesy Artists Equity Advertising]
Glazed ambition
The notion of brands involving celebrities or artists in the creative process sounds rather obvious. And it is becoming more common see Bud Lights work with comedian Shane Gillis. But its still more the exception than the rule.
Artists Equitys advertising business was largely born out of Afflecks experience with Dunkin. Back in 2022, as a lifelong fan of the brand, Affleck was talking to the company about starring in a Super Bowl ad. At the time, Dunkin had a traditional ad agency working on the spot. But Affleck had an idea. What if he just showed up at a random Massachusetts Dunkin and worked the drive-thru? IT would not only make for a fun spot, but also generate a ton of earned media. The brand was hesitant, but Affleck persisted.
The agency was much smaller at the time, and in order to prove it to them, I said we’d shoot the commercial that they originally wanted, but then asked them to let us try to improve that, and also do the commercial that I think would work, he says.
The result was a Top 5 Super Bowl ad in 2023 on USA Todays Ad Meter, as well as an 837% increase in social conversations after the Super Bowl, more than any other brand, according to media intelligence firm Meltwater.
Dunkin CMO Jill McVicar Nelson says the Artists Equity model allows the company to tap into top talent across creative, production, design, and more, allowing them to deliver beautiful, high-impact work at incredible speed. Because they oversee both creative and production, they move swiftly to finalize assets while maximizing content creation, she says. This means we get a wealth of high-quality assets across all channels, with an exceptional eye for production and design in everything they do.
The Super Bowl work continued this year and last, with the DunKings. The line of merch the brand created in 2024in particular the track suitssold out in less than 30 minutes.
Its also ed to creating a steady stream of work for the brand, including the recent Sabrina Carpenter spot for her Brown Sugar Shakin Espresso. And a merch collab this month with Juicy Couture that sold out in five minutes.
Artists Equity Advertising has their finger on the pulse of culture, and while many may make that claim, they actually walk the walk, says Nelson. They dont just anticipate what consumers will care about; their team is really connected to pop culture through their work across the studio. They bring this unique ability to extend a brands presence beyond traditional paid media, and together, weve created multi-faceted campaigns that go beyond adswhether its a seven-minute short film, buzzy merchandise, custom songs, compelling social content, and more.
[Image: courtesy Artists Equity Advertising]
A-listers behind the scenes
Affleck and Damon are obviously the most visible talent in the companys biggest ads, but Artists Equity Advertising now accounts for nearly a third of the companys 75-person headcounta testament to the smart creative hires the company has made in the past two years.
Executive creative director Brandon Piece, was the company’s first advertising hire in 2023. Pierce’s creative pedigree spans legendary shops Wieden+Kennedy, 72andSunny, and Droga5, and before joining Artists Equity Advertising, helped build Hulu’s in-house marketing creative studio. That experience led him to creating Your Attention Please with Craig Robinson, and Amy Schumers writers room on season five of Inside Amy Schumer.
Ben is a multi hyphenate creative, obviously on the film side, says Pierce. And I like to call myself a multi-hyphenate creative that has found a way to successfully transition from traditional advertising to longer-form storytelling, stuff that feels like entertainment, even if its for a brand.”
Eight months ago, the company brought in Josh Jeffries as president of advertising. Jeffries’ resume is similarly full of agency experience, including time at Deutsch LA, Anomaly, and 72andSunny. Jeffrieswho’s charged with scaling the magic Artists Equity Advertising has been able to conjure over the past few Super Bowlssays the company is being very deliberate in not chasing growth for its own sake, and instead focusing on slowly branching out.
“We’re highly selective of who we want to partner with,” Jeffries says, adding the company likely won’t take on more than two more clients beyond Stella and Dunkin in 2025.
The agency is working to strike the balance between the work Affleck and Damon do and dont appear in.
After seeing the Dunkin work last year, AB InBev got in touch about its Stella Artois brand, with a goal to help shift its image in the U.S. as an upscale beer to more of a quality everyday indulgence. Enter Dave Beckham. David Beckham was already a brand spokesperson, and Damon had worked with AB InBev in the past, so it was a natural fit for a separated-at-birth concept. The Super Bowl spot is the start of a year-long campaign created by the agency, and most of the work was shot at the same time.
We want to be cognizant of not having the expectation that Ben and Matt are featured in everything that we do, says Jeffries. It’s a healthy way to start, obviously, because it works quite well. There has to be an authentic connection to the brand and the talent themselves. In addition to the Carpenter spot, this past year included Dunkin ads with Kristen Wiig and Will Arnett. The latter was part of the…ahem… Dunkin Cinematic Universe, with Arnett hiring “Dunkinterns” and gettign creeped out by an Affleck robot.
Super Bowl post-game
In an industry dominated by public holding company behemoths, it’s the rare advertising shop that isnt pushing to grow as fast and as much as possible. But the strategy for Artists Equity Advertising is about quality over quantity. Not least, Pierce says, because it has a reputation to protect.
Pierce says its about keeping the spirit of being a creatively-driven company. Whether it’s a film, a documentary, a commercial, or a billboard, we try to keep that thread through everything that we do here, he says Because ultimately everything we put out in the world has Artists Equity attached to it, so it better be at the level of everything else that we’ve established.
Its easy to see what having a film studio as a sibling within the business can do for the advertising side in terms of creative pedigree and access to top tier talent pool. But Affleck says the ad side brings plenty to the film business. Data research, analytics, social media measurement, have all become a part of the overall business. The difficulty around obtaining capital in order to produce something is the principal hurdle, says Affleck. We’ve gotten much deeper into this side of the business because I see all of it as a means by which artists can demonstrate either the value that they’re bringing, or, more effectively exploit the value that they have.
Advertising and marketing is an industry obsessed with efficiency and efficacy. Those who trade in brand entertainment aim to bridge the gap between art and commerce in a way that delights audiences and helps lift the brand. Much easier said than done.
Within this dynamic, Artists Equity Advertising is a bit rare find. Big stars taking big swings for big brands, but also being in the room from the start to collaborate on strategy and creative. Over the last tw years, the shops growing team has just begun to show how that strategy can pay off for brands and creative partners who embrace the approach.
Affleck is excited about the results so far, and the potential in further bridging Hollywood and brandland. This is a world where the lines are just increasingly blurred, says Affleck. I’m interested in how that evolution is taking place, and being part of it.
Sales of fully electric car sales In Europe were up 37.3% in January, industry data showed on Tuesday, although the sharp rise was not enough to compensate for a drop in petrol and diesel vehicles, leaving overall sales down by 2.1%.
Figures from the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) showed that all-electric brand Tesla saw a 45.2% drop in the European Union, Britain and the European Free Trade Area, while sales at its Chinese competitor SAIC Motor, which owns the MG brand, were up 36.8%.
Why it’s important
The EU executive will present auto sector plans on March 5, following talks with automakers, unions, and interest groups.
EU carmakers, which are struggling to compete with Chinese rivals and bracing for U.S. tariffs, are urging the Commission to grant relief from potential fines resulting from CO2 car emission targets that came into effect in January.
Some automakers have increased the prices of petrol engine models to encourage EV adoption, but the industry fears that customers will simply buy fewer cars.
Electric transport groups, instead, claim that any push to weaken the targets will disrupt investments in EV infrastructure and hamper the bloc’s competitiveness.
By the numbers
January sales in the EU, Britain and EFTA fell slightly below 1 million cars sold, the lowest volume since August.
Registrations at Volkswagen and Renault grew by 5.3% and 5.4% respectively, while they fell by 16% at Stellantis.
In the EU, January sales fell by 2.6%, even as the registrations of battery electric (BEV) and hybrid electric (HEV) cars grew by 34% and 18.4% respectively. Plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) sales were instead down by 8.5%.
Electrified vehicleseither BEV, HEV or PHEVsold in the bloc accounted for 57.2% of passenger car registrations in January, up from 47.4% in the previous year.
Among the largest EU markets, Spain sales increased by 5.3%, while in France, Italy, and Germany they dropped by 6.2%, 5.8%, and 2.8%. In Britain they were down 2.5%.
Context
While battling to bring down high costs in home markets and fighting competition from China, European carmakers are also preparing to face potential import tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump.
Trump has raised tariffs on aluminium and steel and threatened a 25% tariff on imports from Mexico and Canada, as well as on all autos and semiconductors.
Alessandro Parodi, Reuters
Toyota announced plans to restructure its board on Tuesday in what it described as an attempt to bring in more diverse views and give a larger roles to auditors.Among six appointments is Christopher Reynolds, now an executive in the automaker’s North American operations. As a lawyer, and son of a Ford worker, he brings experience in human resources and risk management, according to Toyota.The number of women on the 10-person board will grow from one to two with the appointments of Kumi Fujisawa, an independent outsider and entrepreneur, and Hiromi Osada, previously a Toyota auditor. George Olcott, previously an auditor, will also join the board.The number of outside members will rise from four to five.Takanori Azuma, a Toyota Human Resources official, said the new board includes auditors for the first time.The company’s internal controls have come under scrutiny since it admitted to cheating on certification tests for seven vehicle models last year.Azuma said the additions are designed to bring diverse views to its leadership as “weapons for survival” in a changing environment.“It would be a mistake to assume that what we think up internally will be what our customers and people around the world can empathize with,” he said.The maker of the Camry sedan and Lexus luxury models has been trying to transform itself into what it calls “a mobility company” as the auto industry undergoes drastic changes including the arrival of powerful relative newcomers like Tesla and BYD.Chairman Akio Toyoda, from the company’s founding family, and Chief Executive Koji Sato’s positions will remain unchanged.The company will seek approval for the new board at a general shareholders’ meeting later this year.
Yuri Kageyama is on Threads: https://www.threads.net/@yurikageyama
Yuri Kageyama, AP Business Writer
On Monday morning, anonymous hackers played a video on screens throughout the Department of Housing and Urban Development HQ in Washington, D.C. The AI-generated video jankily portrayed President Trump kissing Elon Musks feet, with an overlaid caption reading: Long live the real king. It reportedly played on a loop for five minutes before the baffled building staff eventually scrambled to each floor and turned off the TVs manually.
As amusing as it may have been for some to see a high-tech protest depicting a low-status Trump, amusement is all this protest has to offer. Those looking for, or trying to manifest, cracks in the presidents relationship with the worlds richest man still have their work cut out for them. Despite Trumps historically mercurial affinities, and a distaste for being overshadowed, his alliance with Musk appears a lot sturdier than many predicted.
The AI-generated video that played at HUD is hardly the first public attempt to drive a wedge between the president and the tech oligarch. Media figures such as Rachel Maddow, politicians including Senator Bernie Sanders, and random social media users have all been part of a sprawling concerted effort to turn Trump against President Musk. Rolling Stone even reported in December on conversations taking place within the Democratic National Committee about party leaders describing Trump as subservient to Musk, in order to activate Trumps ego.
Its easy to see why they might have thought this strategy would succeed. During Trumps first term, he quickly soured on the people in his orbit. In 2017 alone, 34% of his top aides either resigned, were fired, or transitioned to different positions; a record amount of turnover for a president in his first year. By the end of that term, among the most influential positions within his administration, the rate of turnover reportedly reached 92%.
Beyond past precedent, there were other reasons to believe the relationship would quickly combust. Both men clearly enjoy being the main character of the internet; perhaps the world stage wouldnt be big enough to contain both egos. On top of that, their apparently tight bond got off to a rocky start. After his political pivot to the right, Musk initially threw his weight behind Governor Ron DeSantis in 2022, since Trump would be too old by the end of a second term. Trump, for his part, called Musk a bullshit artist around the same time.
Any differences between the two, however, now seem confined to the past. During a joint appearance on Fox Newss Hannity last week, Sean Hannity asked Musk and Trump about the push to break up their partnership. In response, Trump confirmed hes aware of those efforts, saying: Elon called me. He said, You know theyre trying to drive us apart. I said, Absolutely. You know, they said, We have breaking news: Donald Trump has ceded control of the presidency to Elon Musk. President Musk will be attending a Cabinet meeting tonight at 8 oclock. And I sayits just so obvious. Theyre so bad at it.
Perhaps it was a calculated move to present a unified front in the face of so much wishful thinking for a falling out. But there are plenty of reasons beyond the Hannity interview to suggest that a divorce wont be coming any time soon.
Trump and Musk’s shared vision
Trump and Musk appear to be on the same page about how the U.S. should be governed, for one thing. As Musks Department of Government Efficiency decimates headcount in federal offices around the country, he is on the brink of achieving what Trump set out to do in his first term. Soon after taking office in 2017, Trump signed an executive order placing a hiring freeze across the executive branch. It lasted 79 days, during which then-head of the Office of Management and Budget Mick Mulvaney developed a long-term plan for workforce reduction. Trump would go on to spend the rest of his term fuming about the rogue bureaucrats of the so-called Deep State who thwarted some of his plans. Now, Musk is as animated about taking a chainsaw to the federal bureaucracy as he was about doing so upon taking over Twitter.
The pair similarly see eye-to-eye on the classic conservative hobbyhorse of deregulation. While Musk has long lamented all the irksome government rules standing in the way of his business plans, Trump bragged in his 2021 farewell address that he had slashed more job-killing regulations than any administration ha[s] ever done before.
On top of everything else, Musk and Trump seem equally credulous when it comes to fringe conspiracy theories. Even Musks own AI chatbot Grok admits the X head honcho spreads the most misinformation on that platformalthough it recently blocked some criticism of Musk and Trumpand farfetched concepts like Fort Knoxs supposed missing gold now tend to quickly spread from a Musk tweet to a Trump press conference. Considering both have also professed intense animosity toward legacy media and wokeness, one imagines the two would find plenty to talk about over deskside Diet Cokes in the Oval Office.
The money factor
Although Tesla stock has dropped 37% from its high in December amid backlash, Musk and his various companies stand to profit immensely from his new government adjacency. DOGE has already made cuts at agencies that oversee some of Musk’s products, for instance, among other potential conflicts of interest. But Trump may stand to benefit even more.
Beyond the $277 million Musk contributed to his campaign efforts, what Trump has gained from this symbiotic relationship is a new cudgel against non-compliant members of his party. Back in December, Musk warned Republicans in the House and Senate that he would fund primary challengers against anyone who stood in the way of Trumps agenda. That threat lingered in the air throughout the confirmation hearings for Trumps cabinet, during which any objections to even the most controversial pickslike Robert Kennedy Jr., Pete Hegseth, and Tulsi Gabbardeventually vanished. Musks role in keeping party members in line is not something Trump would lightly sacrifice.
Another headline sponge
During his first term, Trumps wild-card unpredictability, social media proclivity, and authoritarian-like bearing brought him constant negative press coverage. With a jubilant Elon Musk testing the limits of his newfound power, though, Trump now has a spare lightning rod for bad headlines. Trumps critics and adversaries among the Democrats, opinion columnists, and random social media users now have a second Trumpian figurewith his own unique modus operandito focus their attention on, siphoning ire that might otherwise go solely to Trump.
Still, that ire is very much real. Polls in recent weeks have shown Musks popularity plummeting, and Trumps slipping as well. Angry town halls seem to be making some Republicans nervous about how to defend Musk and DOGEs actions to their constituents, while conflicting advice about handling Musks recent ultimatum for federal workersthat they submit five bullets about what they accomplished the previous week or forfeit their jobssuggests fracturing support for DOGE within the administration.
But the situation would likely have to deteriorate dramatically further before bringing about a divorceif for no other reason than spite. While the same vanity that allowed Kamala Harris to easily bait Trump into ranting about crowd sizes during their debate last fall does not seem as susceptible to the President Musk taunts, it just might help prolong the president in denying his detractors an outcome they so clearly desire.
Many things remain uncertain about AIs future impact on our lives. One that isnt in doubt is that more and more of the worlds software will be written, at least in part, by software. Already, 25% of Googles code is generated by AI, CEO Sundar Pichai said last October. By 2028, projects research firm Gartner, 75% of enterprise developers will use AI tools in their work.
This trend is reflected in programmers embrace of products such as GitHub Copilot and Cursor, which let them call on generative AI to fill in some of the specific code as they tackle a projectessentially a fancy form of autocomplete for software engineering. The next step beyond that is AI coding assistance thats more agenticcapable of handling at least certain tasks from start to finish without constant supervision. Thats what a San Francisco startup called Factory offers with its platform, which officially debuts today.
Our mission, at a high level, is to bring autonomy to software engineering, says Factory CEO Matan Grinberg, who founded the company with CTO Eno Reyes. Its platform includes agentsFactory calls them Droidsthat automate tasks in the software development lifecycle, and in particular tasks that developers don’t want to dotesting, debugging, refactoring, migrations, all that ugly stuff, explains Grinberg.
Factory aims to go beyond the code-autocomplete features offered by tools such as GitHub Copilot.
Rather than replacing something like the GitHub Copilot, Factory aims to provide a new layer for software projects thats compatible with the processes and products a team already has in place. For those who use Copilot, it’s like, Okay, coolI brought this down from [Factory], says Grinberg. Now there’s some other things I want to do.
I had a bit of an existential crisis
Grinberg and Reyes were respectively 24 and 23 when they started Factory in 2023by all accounts, a whirlwind of an experience. It started when Grinberg, whod studied string theory at Princeton and was working on a PhD in physics at Berkeley, suddenly began questioning his trajectory in life.
I realized that I had spent basically the last decade obsessed with physics, he says, and I was only doing it because it was hard, not because I actually loved it. Which is obviously a horrible reason to pursue a career path. So, I had a bit of an existential crisis.
Grinberg found a new obsession in AI, a technology whose destiny had been permanently altered by the arrival of ChatGPT. He was particularly fascinated by program synthesis (later better known as code generation): the science of teaching software to write software. He became a regular at AI hackathons, including the one where he met Reyes, whod written his thesis on deep learning and worked on language models at Microsoft and Hugging Face. (The two had been at Princeton at the same time anddespite having overlapping circles of friends had somehow managed not to know each other.)
At Hugging Face, I was working with Databricks, Bloomberg, Grammarlyeveryone wanted code gen, says Reyes. Hed already collaborated on an AI code generator for finance applications. Theres way more opportunity here, he remembers thinking.
Factorys platform lets users select code and other data to incorporate into collections called Workflows.
This is where a classic Silicon Valley element of serendipity kicked in. At almost the same moment Grinberg and Reyes connected, Grinberg had sent an unsolicited email to Shaun Maguire, a partner at venture capital titan Sequoia, seeking career advice. Its very rare that cold emails actually turn into something, says Maguire. But like Grinberg, Maguire had a background in high-energy physics theory. And when he learned that Grinberg had coauthored a paper with legendary physicist Juan Maldacena, the credential blew his socks off.
In person, Maguire was even more impressed by Grinberg: I was shocked that not only does this guy like have the IQ to write a string theory paper with Juan Maldacena as an undergrad, but he also has charisma and sales ability and empathy. He immediately encouraged Grinberg to pivot from PhD student to startup foundera goal Grinberg now acknowledges hed already had in mind, though hed kept it to himself.
A week later, Grinberg returned with the idea that became Factory. By then, the GitHub Copilot had shown that AI could produce lines of code usable in a production environment. But as the name Copilot indicates, it was doing so under the watchful eye of a human programmer. Grinberg was thinking ahead to AI that could perform some straightforward tasks more independentlyin other words, agentic AI, though nobody was bandying around the term at the time.
His point was, Copilot is great, but soon we’re going to have junior developers in a box, remembers Maguire. And that’s what he wanted to work towards. Sequoia helped get Grinberg and Reyes on their way by leading Factorys $5 million seed round of funding. It followed up by leading a $15 million Series A round in 2024.
Delegating away some tasks
Grinberg emphasizes that Factory doesnt envision AI taking over coding in a sweeping fashion anytime soon. Instead, the exact nature of the human-computer collaboration will vary from area to area. Software developers of the future will be delegating away some tasks, he says. They will be pairing with AI on others. And they wil be more directly hands-on working on some things with suggestions from AI as they do it.
In a demo, he showed me how the companys platform uses AI to let engineering teams create shareable, easily digestible collections of all the code and other data associated with a particular project. Known as Workflows, they dont just help humans keep tabs on whats where. Theyre also a starting point for the Droid agents, which can take on useful grunt work relating to the code encompassed by a Workflow.
For example, many programmers use a system called Mermaid to create diagrams about works in progresssay, a chart documenting all the dependencies that various blocks of code might have on each other. Instead of personally writing the lines of JavaScript necessary to create a Mermaid diagram, a user might have a Droid do the job and then save the results as a code snippet for later use. Similarly, if a project has code that lacks commentsembedded explanations documenting what the software is doing and how it does ita Droid can add them.
Among the software development tasks Factorys AI can assist with is one of the most basic of them all: debugging.
Those are examples of tasks that many teams might happily offload to AI. But the whole point is that users can ask Droids to undertake assignments on the flysomething as spontaneous as Hey, can you generate me a customer usage dashboard? says Grinberg. Such a dashboard could draw on any relevant data the user added to the Workflow in question. And like everything Droids create, it would be reusable.
Of course, theres nothing new about using dashboards to help wrangle complex projects. In the past, however, theyve been one-size-fits-all tools hard-coded by a platform provider. By using generative AI, Factory wants to pioneer a more fluid approach in which its customers can call on Droids to construct the functionality they want when they want it. Instead of being set in stone, says Reyes, a teams working environment can consist in part of LLM-generated, malleable pieces of content.
That malleability includes the ability to choose the large language models that power Factorys AI: We support everything, basically, says Grinberg. Even freshly-minted, cutting-edge models are on the list, including xAIs Grok 3 (announced last week) and Anthropics Claude Sonnet 3.7 (announced on Monday).
By riding atop all the major LLMs, Factory expects to get more powerful as they do, opening up scenarios where Droids grow competent at work thats presently beyond their skill set. Building for what’s going to be possible in a year or two is how we got here first, says Reyes. And we’re already building for what will be possible a year or two in the future.
Which is not to say that Factory fully understands how its customers will use its platform. As with all things generative AI, nobody knows for sure what it can and cant do well until someone gives it a try.
We just want a ton of people to see this new paradigm of interacting with software, says Grinberg. It’s just going to be so much fun to have all these people who have really strong opinions get their hands dirty.
