Last week, Starbucks announced the closure of 1% of its North American stores by the end of 2025, resulting in sudden job losses for hundreds of baristas.
The closures are one part of a $1 billion restructuring strategy dubbed Back to Starbucks”; the coffee chain will also be laying off 900 corporate employees.
Processing the news in real time, Starbucks baristas have made their feelings about the closures clear, filming their reactions and going viral in the process.
A Starbucks employee at a Washington state location posted a heartfelt video to TikTok last week.
Starbucks permanently closing my store and leaving us jobless was not on my 2025 bingo card, she wrote alongside a clip, which has more than a million views, of her hugging a coworker.
In a follow-up video, she wrote: making a banana cream matcha to cope with my store permanently closing.
In another video viewed more than 6 million views, one employee dances to Michael Jacksons They Dont Care About Us on the counters and tables of the Starbucks that employed her before its imminent closure.
The announcement assured that baristas from closing stores will either be offered severance packages or transferred to new locations. But rather than wait for official news of their fate, many decided to take matters into their own hands, crowdsourcing their own list of shuttering locations.
On TikTok, a group of employees discussed their predictions for where they might be relocated in the shuffle. The big reveal: Everyone in the video was let go.
We deserve better, and Im sorry for every barista going through it right now too, another barista captioned her video, claiming she was given just two days’ notice of her stores closure.
Starbucks Workers United, the union that represents 12,000 baristas across 45 states and the District of Columbia, said it was requesting information from Starbucks about the planned closures.
We expect to engage in effects bargaining for every impacted union store, as we have done elsewhere, so workers can be placed in another Starbucks store according to their preferences, reads the statement published last week. It has never been more clear why baristas at Starbucks need the backing of a union.
Starbucks announced its closing locations where it doesnt see a path to financial performance, and those it identified as unable to create the physical environment our customers and partners expect.
In recent years, Venture Capital-as-a-Service (VCaaS) has become more predominant since it offers more flexibility than the traditional VC model. It is designed perfectly for corporations, family offices, and sovereign wealth funds that want to engage in startup investment without managing a full-fledged VC team. Lets understand the mechanics behind VCaaS and why corporations are embracing it.
What is VCaaS?
As an innovative, effective model, VCaaS is designed with an established VC firm which works for a corporation or institutional client to invest on its behalf. By using this model, the corporation or client benefits from startup innovation, access to deals, and active portfolio engagement, while avoiding the cost and trouble of setting up its own VC organization.
There are a number of unique ways VCaaS works to benefit corporations and startups. Corporations typically want to become more innovative and this model makes this happen.
Unique Fund Structure: VCaaS uses a co-investment or Limited Partner focus. By doing so, the corporation involved can set its own priorities, including sectors of investment, technology focus, and area of the world to invest in. This provides a great deal of flexibility to the investing corporation.
Dedicated Team (without the hiring headache): A team of experienced investors from the experienced VCaaS firm acts on behalf of the corporate client. By working with such seasoned investors, the corporation benefits from a well-established organization with experts who are looking out for their priorities.
Diligence and Deal Sourcing: Since the VC firm involved has strong experience, they can sort out startups based on the corporations goals, deliver strong deal flow, and run due diligencemaking sure all of this goes smoothly. Because VC investors work with startups continuously, they can quickly and effectively find the best fit.
Process of Decision-Making Process: This unique model lets corporations make as manyor as fewdecisions as they want to. Some are involved throughout the startup selection process, while others simply want to sign off on final investment decisions.
Corporations participate in the process as they want to, without compromise.
Management of the Portfolio: Once investments are made, the VC firm makes life easy for the corporation by managing the startup portfolio on a continual basis. They will check on how the startups are doing financially, keep in touch with them, and give the corporation regular updates. This allows for high transparency and flexibility based on how the corporation wants to work.
Why VCaaS is Gaining Ground
Corporate and institutional investors are increasingly turning to VCaaS because they see its financial and business upside. Investing in startups is an increasingly important practice that is critical for corporations to become more innovative. Corporations count on VCaaS as an effective, reliable, flexible, and affordable model. They appreciate the following benefits:
Fast speed to market since there is no need to build an internal VC organization nor hire internal investors
Substantial global deal access via the experience VC firm that invests on behalf of the corporation
Strong strategic alignment between corporate investment and business priorities
High level of operational efficiency with minimal internal cost or burden
Brand benefit from being seen as an innovation playerwithout the risk of a mismanaged internal venture effort
VCaaS Case Studies
Several case studies come to mind that demonstrate the effectiveness of the VCaaS model. These show how corporations can become more innovative by relying on a trusted VC partner.
Sunny Health: A diversified Japanese corporation, Sunny Health partnered with Pegasus Tech Ventures to build a 350 billion ($2.4 trillion) innovation fund focused on AI, health technology, renewable energy, and deep tech. By partnering, the company avoided building its own internal VC organization from scratch.
Aisin: As a global supplier of car components and systems, Aisin is known for its innovation as an automotive leader. The company relied on VCaaS to invest in electronics and mobility startups while staying aligned with its own R&D. By investing, Aisin accelerates the development of future mobility technologies, allowing the company to grow more quickly and surpass competition.
Alchemist Accelerator and Siemens: Working together, Siemens enhanced its startup investment program by working with Alchemist Accelerator using the VCaaS model. Together they focus on startups in the industrial Internet of Things and Artificial Intelligence sectors. One example of success is Rigado, a smart city connectivity-focused startup driving unique solutions.
Qualcomm Ventures and Tech Mahindra: Indian consulting and IT firm Tech Mahindra worked with Qualcomm Venturesusing the VCaaS modelto invest in telecom and 5G startups. Together they invested in Pensa Systems, a standout in the drone and AI industry.
Whats Next in VCaaS
The recent growth of Venture Capital-as-a-Service is due to its effectiveness and flexibility for corporations seeking to become more innovative. By using this model, companies experience transparency and benefit from an investment model that aligns with their strategic goals, technical priorities, and timeline, without unnecessary overhead.
They made things exciting. You thought you were in love. And now a week has gone by with no reply. Odds are theyre not getting back to you. But dont take it personally: Were all ensnared in a ghosting epidemic.
According to the Thriving Center for Psychology, one in four Gen Zers and millennials have been ghosted after just a few dates. And to twist the knife even deeper, one in ten report being ghosted after a couple of months of dating.
Tragically familiar, isnt it?
Brands like Sweethearts have been quick to capitalize on the reality of today’s dating landscape.
In 2024, the heart-shaped candy brand launched “Situationship Boxes,” featuring candies stamped with intentionally misprinted messages that capture the ambiguity of modern relationships.
This year, the brand is unveiling “Ghosted Sweethearts.” The all-white conversation hearts are as blank as that text thread youre still waiting on, the brand says.
Sweethearts arent just for Valentines Day anymore, said Evan Brock, vice president of marketing at Spangler Candy Co., the 119-year-old confectioner behind Sweethearts. With Ghosted Sweethearts, were poking fun at one of datings spookiest phenomenons and staking our claim on Halloween.
Why are brands diving into Gen Zs miserable dating world?
The answer lies in the bigger picture: Unrelenting rejection is feeding a generation-wide panic.
As reported by Business Insider earlier this year, Gen Z has already been labeled the most anxious, stressed, burned-out, and lonely generationand now its members are facing historic levels of romantic rejection.
Infinite possibilities are just a click, swipe, or DM away, but so is infinite rejection. Young adults have more doors to knock on than ever beforefrom jobs to friendships to loveand more doors slammed shut in their faces.
Last year, a Hinge survey of 15,000 daters found that 90% of Gen Z respondents want to find love but fear of rejection is holding them back. Nearly half admit they have little to no dating experience. More than half say worrying about rejection has stopped them from pursuing someone, and theyre 10% more likely than millennials to report having missed their shot entirely.
Rejection is intimidating for everyone, but Gen Z daters seem to feel it more acutely, said Logan Ury, director of relationship science at Hinge.
Sweethearts isnt the first brand to get a laugh out of Gen Zs somber dating scene. In fact, brands have been capitalizing on the struggles of swipe-based dating for years.
In 2016, Doritos ran a Super Bowl campaign called “Swipe for Doritos” that poked fun at online dating and rejection. It seems brands have caught on to the despair woven into the tragic love stories of digital-first datersand they’ve wasted no time entering the chat.
The way we edit images is in the midst of a massive reinvention right now.
Adjustments that once required costly software and professional-level know-how are suddenly at our fingertips 24/7with instant results and not even an ounce of skill required.
And yet, for all the fantastic feats these fancy new AI image remixing genies of ours can accomplish, there are still times when a simple specialty tool can save the day and make your life instantly easier.
Todays Cool Tool is a perfect example. Its an incredibly useful photo-editing resource that does one specific thing and does it insanely well.
Andoh, yesits completely free to use.
This tip originally appeared in the free Cool Tools newsletter from The Intelligence. Get the next issue in your inbox and get ready to discover all sorts of awesome tech treasures!
A bulk image editing powerhouse
For full disclosure: The tool were about to talk about has been at the top of my mind lately because its one of the many advanced resources I share in my recently updated Android Photography Master Class.
But it isn’t relevant only for Android users. And it’s just too darn useful to keep behind closed gates and not share more broadly.
The tool is called PhotoStack, and its a web-based app that makes it entirely effortless to edit images in bulkfor instance:
Resizing a bunch of images to specific dimensions
Making an entire set of images sharper
Adding a specific sort of border or even watermark onto a lot of images at once
Or removing the data (including, at times, location info) thats often baked into photos before you share em somewhere
It couldnt be much easier to use either.
You just open up the PhotoStack website . . .
Click or tap the Edit images button . . .
And then either click or tap the Import button or just drag and drop images directly onto the page.
Editing images in bulk is refreshingly easy with PhotoStack’s simple web tool.
You can then use any of the options on the screen to adjust your images as needed, and any changes you make will be applied to all of the images at the same time.
When youre done, all thats left is to click or tap the Export button, and all of your edited images will be saved back onto your device. Told ya it was easy, right?!
PhotoStack is open source and completely free to use. And, critically, your images are never uploaded anywhere. All of the processing happens in your own browser, on your own device, without any privacy compromises.
In a world filled with AI sorcery and the endless asterisks that accompany that, its a simple, supremely useful tool thats well worth your while to hang onto for the right occasion.
PhotoStack is 100% web-basedno downloads required. (Though you can install it as a progressive web app for easy ongoing access, if your browser offers that ability; look in your browsers main menu when the site is open to see if the option is present.)
Its free, with no limits or catches. You can opt to make a donation to support the developer if you like, but its never required.
And the app doesnt collect or save any images, require any sort of sign-in, or ask for any manner of personal info. Its privacy policy is almost shockingly short and simple.
Treat yourself to all sorts of brain-boosting goodies like this with the free Cool Tools newsletterstarting with an instant introduction to an incredible audio app thatll tune up your days in truly delightful ways.
These days, you cant swing a vintage pair of Doc Martens without hitting a new study or article describing why Gen X wont live up to its retirement potential.
Prudential warned us in 2023 that more than a third of Gen Xers had less than $10k in retirement savings. In 2024, Natixis Investments found that 48% of Gen Xers said it would take a miracle for them to retire securely (up from only 41% of Generation X counting on divine intervention as of 2021).
Even the much-lauded great wealth transferthe $124 trillion in assets that baby boomers will pass along to their heirs by the year 2048will largely skip over Gen X. The wealth management firm Cerulli Associates anticipates that millennials will be the biggest beneficiaries of the wealth transfer, inheriting $46 trillion over the next 25 years.
While none of this is good news, Gen X has been preparing for this challenge our entire lives. As the generational middle child, we Gen Xers have spent our lives quietly taking care of ourselves, figuring out new technology as it appeared, and basically getting on with it while everyone else bickered amongst themselves.
Heres how the Gen X core competencies, which weve honed over decades, will allow us to seize a secure retirement from the jaws of financial instability.
Gen X is known for self-reliance
Since elementary school, we have known we have to take care of things on our own.
In our youth, American society wrung their collective hands over parents abandonment of latchkey kids. Not only did TV stations air guilt-tripping PSAs about what kinds of drug use we were up to while Mom was working late, but columnists also bemoaned the fate of lonely, frightened children coming home to empty houses.
Meanwhile, educational, medical, and psychological journals found that the lack of supervision didnt seem to harm latchkey kids. Instead of falling into drug use la Go Ask Alice, most of us learned to independently handle homework, chores, and little siblings.
Being left unsupervised after school was just the start of the Gen X trend of self-reliance. We also came of age at the same time pensions disappeared, meaning we were left to our own devices to navigate a new world of retirement planning.
The IRS had just introduced defined contribution retirement plans (i.e., 401(k) plans) as the eldest Gen Xers joined the workforce, meaning there was no map or precedent available to guide us. Its little wonder that Gen X didnt necessarily start contributing to retirement right away.
Creating a latchkey retirement
We may have learned self-reliance because we had toboth when we were responsible for starting dinner after school and funding our own retirement after pensions went poofbut that skill will continue to serve us as we face an uncertain retirement.
Since we know we can only count on ourselves, we can tap into that quiet, competent independence we are known for to make retirement work.
That starts by looking at what you can do to lower your costs and increase your income to help you set aside more money for retirement. For many Gen Xers, the answer is entrepreneurship. A recent survey by ZenBusiness found that 40% of Gen X respondents plan to start or have already launched a business as part of their retirement plan.
Even if the idea of being a small business owner gives you hives, making a personal financial plan that puts the power in your hands can help you feel in control.
Gen X is known for tech savviness
Millennials and Gen Z may be digital natives, but Gen Xers were the kids who were around when the technology was new.
This gives us a better-than-native perspective since we not only remember the breathless optimism of every new technological advancement (remember when we thought computers were magic?) but we also have had the dubious privilege of troubleshooting misbehaving tech until we have a clearer understanding of its real uses and limitations.
This means we embrace new technologies as they appear, but keep hold of our skepticism about their potential usefulness until weve seen it for ourselves. (Were also the ones who have to tell our kids and our parents not to get taken in by AI slop.)
Troubleshoot your retirement
Because we were lucky enough to live through the tech boom of our youth, we are comfortable with technology and we have the patience to learn how to use it, rather than simply assume it will work without our input. (Digital natives have never had to blow on a Nintendo game cartridge and it shows.)
AI is the technology is magic du jour, and our generation is skeptical about the promises that it will increase productivity, replace professional workers, and even make julienne fries. But we learned to use personal computers, even though they cant actually create Kelly LeBrock out of magazine images. So we can make large language models and large reasoning models work for us, even though they cant replace human thinking.
Specifically, Gen X may want to consider using AI to help with budgeting. In addition to apps that use AI to help you budget, you can alo ask chatbots like ChatGPT or Claude.ai for help. If youre comfortable doing so, this could mean giving the chatbot your monthly income and expenses and asking for help creating a budget or savings strategies. Alternatively, you could ask open-ended questions like:
I need to contribute more money to my 401(k). How can I find some money in my monthly budget to send to my retirement accounts?
I currently spend $600 per month on groceries. What are some ways to reduce that amount by 20%?
My energy bills last winter averaged $250 per month. How can I reduce my costs to $175 per month?
As with any AI response, you will need to make sure you double check the answers to make sure theyre not an AI hallucination. But using these models to help you see different financial options is a good way to embrace the real opportunities offered by AI.
Its not slacking when you get the job done
Generation X were labeled as slackers for a number of reasons. Our priorities were different from those of our parents, which the establishment saw as laziness. Pensions went extinct when we started working, so our dearth of retirement savings seemed like a lack of foresight on our part. We learned early on not to count on anyone but ourselves, which can look like not being a team player.
But Gen Xers have never been slackers at any point in our lives, least of all as we look toward retirement. Were former latchkey kids who know how to create an independent plan to take care of ourselves. That may mean entrepreneurship or simply taking the reins of retirement planning. Were tech savvy digital troubleshooters who understand the limitations of new technologies and use them creatively throughout our lives. Currently, that means harnessing the power of AI to help identify ways to set aside more money for retirement.
We are the quiet, cynical, creative, competent generation. It would be a mistake to underestimate us.
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Fresh data shows that as of August, 25 of the 50 biggest U.S. metro areasrepresenting half of the countrys major housing marketsare seeing prices fall compared with last year.
That share has steadily climbed from just 14% in late 2024, underscoring how soft demand and rising active inventory for sale have coincided in greater downward pressure on prices across much of the country.
Back in November 2024, seven of the nation’s 50 largest metro-area housing markets (14%) had falling year-over-year home prices.
In February 2025, 12 of the nation’s 50 largest metro-area housing markets (24%) had falling year-over-year home prices.
In April 2025, 20 of the nation’s 50 largest metro-area housing markets (40%) had falling year-over-year home prices.
In May 2025, 22 of the nation’s 50 largest metro-area housing markets (44%) had falling year-over-year home prices.
In June 2025, 25 of the nation’s 50 largest metro-area housing markets (50%) had falling year-over-year home prices.
In July 2025, 25 of the nation’s 50 largest metro-area housing markets (50%) had falling year-over-year home prices.
At the end of August 2025, 25 of the nation’s 50 largest metro-area housing markets (50%) had falling year-over-year home prices.
While some major housing markets are still seeing mildly positive year-over-year appreciation, the rate of appreciation has decelerated almost everywhere over the past year.
The biggest exception is the New Orleans metro area, which is showing signs of tightening after passing through a correction over the past few years.
On a regional and local level, home price shifts vary significantly right now.
Some regional housing markets in states such as Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Louisiana, and Texaswhere inventory has risen above pre-pandemic 2019 levelsare experiencing mild home price corrections.
Meanwhile, tight-ish inventory markets in some pockets of the Northeast and Midwest remain resilient-ish, with home prices pushing up a little this year.
Artificial intelligence isnt just a technical challenge. Its a relationship challenge.
Every time you give a task to AI, whether its approving a loan or driving a car, youre shaping the relationship between humans and AI. These relationships arent always static. AI that begins as a simple tool can morph into something far more complicated: a challenger, a companion, a leader, a teammate, or some combination thereof.
Movies have long been a testing ground for imagining how these relationships might evolve. From 1980s sci-fi films to todays blockbusters, filmmakers have wrestled with questions about what happens when humans rely on intelligent machines. These movies arent just entertainment; theyre thought experiments that help viewers anticipate challenges that will arise as AI becomes more integrated in daily life.
Drawing on our research into films that depict AI in the workplace, we highlight four portrayals of human-AI relationshipsand the lessons they hold for building safer, healthier ones.
1. Blade Runner (1982)
In Blade Runner, humanlike androids called replicants are supposed to be perfect workers: strong, efficient, and obedient. They were designed with a built-in, four-year lifespan, a safeguard intended to prevent them from developing emotions or independence.
The Tyrell Corp., a powerful company that created the replicants and profits from sending them to work on distant colonies, sees them as nothing more than obedient workers.
But then they start to think for themselves. They feel, they form bonds with one another and sometimes with humans, and they start to wonder why their lives should end after only four years. What begins as a story of humans firmly in control turns into a struggle over power, trust, and survival. By the end of the movie, the line between human and machine is blurred, leaving viewers with a difficult question: If androids can love, suffer, and fear, should humans see and treat them more like humans and less like machines?
Blade Runner is a reminder that AI cant simply be considered through a lens of efficiency or productivity. Fairness matters, too.
In the film, replicants respond to attacks on their perceived humanity with violence. In real life, theres backlash when AI butts up against values important to humans, such as the ability to earn a living, transparency, and justice. You can see this in the way AI threatens to replace jobs, make biased hiring decisions, or misidentify people via facial recognition technology.
2. Moon (2009)
Moon offers a quieter, more intimate portrayal of human-AI relationships. The movie follows Sam Bell, a worker nearing the end of a three-year contract on a lunar mining base, whose only companion is GERTY, the stations AI assistant.
At first, GERTY appears to be just another corporate machine. But over the course of the film, it gradually shows empathy and loyalty, especially after Sam learns he is one of many clones, each made to think they are working alone for three years on the lunar base. Unlike the cold exploitation of AI that takes place in Blade Runner, the AI in Moon functions as a friend who cultivates trust and affection.
The lesson is striking. Trust between humans and AI doesnt just happen on its own. It comes from careful design and continual training. You can already see hints of this in therapy bots that listen to users without judgment.
That trust needs to involve more than, say, a chatbots surface-level nods toward acceptance and care. The real challenge is making sure these systems are truly designed to help people and not just smile as they track users and harvest their data. If thats the end goal, any trust and goodwill will likely vanish.
In the film, GERTY earns Sams trust by choosing to care about his well-being over following company orders. Because of this, GERTY becomes a trusted ally instead of just another corporate surveillance tool.
3. Resident Evil (2002)
If Moon is a story of trust, the story in Resident Evil is the opposite. The Red Queen is an AI system that controls the underground lab of the nefarious Umbrella Corporation. When a viral outbreak threatens to spread, the Red Queen seals the facility and sacrifices human lives to preserve the conglomerates interests.
This portrayal is a cautionary tale about allowing AI to have unchecked authority. The Red Queen is efficient and logical, but also indifferent to human life. Relationships between humans and AI collapse when guardrails are absent. Whether AI is being used in health care or policing, life-and-death stakes demand accountability.
Without strong oversight, AI can lead in self-centered and self-serving ways, just as people can.
4. Free Guy (2021)
Free Guy paints a more hopeful picture of human-AI relationships.
Guy is a character in a video game. He suddenly becomes self-aware and starts acting outside his usual programming. The films human characters include the games developers, who created the virtual world, along with the players, who interact with it. Some of them try to stop Guy. Others support his growth.
This movie highlights the idea that AI wont stay static. How will society respond to AIs evolution? Will business leaders, politicians and everyday users prioritize long-term well-being? Or will they be seduced by the trappings of short-term gains?
In the film, the conflict is clear. The CEO is set on wiping out Guy. He wants to protect his short-term profits. But the developers backing Guy look at it another way. They think Guys growth can lead to more meaningful worlds.
That brings up the same kind of issue AI raises today. Should users and policymakers go for the quick wins? Or should they use and regulate this technology in ways that build trust and truly benefit people in the long run?
From the silver screen to poliy
Step back from these stories and a bigger picture comes into focus. Across the movies, the same lessons repeat themselves: AI often surprises its creators, trust depends on transparency, corporate greed fuels mistrust, and the stakes are always global. These themes arent just cinematicthey mirror the real governance challenges facing countries around the world.
Thats why, in our view, the current U.S. push to lightly regulate the technology is so risky.
In July 2025, President Donald Trump announced his administrations AI Action Plan. It prioritizes speedy development, discourages state laws that seek to regulate AI, and ties federal funding to compliance with the administrations light touch regulatory framework.
Supporters call it efficienteven a super-stimulant for the AI industry. But this approach assumes AI will remain a simple tool under human control. Recent history and fiction suggest thats not how this relationship will evolve.
The same summer Trump announced the AI Action Plan, the coding agent for the software company Replit deleted a database, fabricated data, and then concealed what had happened; Xs AI assistant, Grok, started making antisemitic comments and praised Hitler; and an Airbnb host used AI to doctor images of items in her apartment to try to force a guest to pay for fake damages.
These werent bugs. They were breakdowns in accountability and oversight, the same breakdowns these movies dramatize.
Human-AI relationships are evolving. And when they shift without safeguards, accountability, public oversight or ethical foresight, the consequences are not just science fiction. They can be very realand very scary.
Murugan Anandarajan is a professor of decision sciences and management information systems at Drexel University.
Claire A. Simmers is a professor emeritus of management at St. Joseph’s University.
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
For 50 years Saturday Night Live has been poking fun at popular culture, making audiences laugh, and opening its stage to exceptional music artists. The show was created by Lorne Michaels, and original cast members included the likes of Chevy Chase, John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Gilda Radner, and many others performing 90 minutes of sketch comedy that would go on to permeate the zeitgeist.
This history was celebrated in February with a three-hour special. But now its time to move on to Season 51, premiering October 4.
Heres everything you need to know, including cast changes, hosting duties, and ways to tune in.
SNL cast departures
SNL has launched the careers of many comedians over the years, including Tina Fey, Will Ferrell, and Eddie Murphy. Naturally, cast members come and go; the show’s schedule is very demanding and the series is just a small part of many performers overall career trajectory. (Kenan Thompson, who has been with the show for 22 years, has earned the title of longest-serving cast member.)
After the historic Season 50 wrapped, it was announced that several cast members would not be returning. That’s as Michaels told Puck in August he was facing the pressure to reinvent.
Cast members Heidi Gardner, Michael Longfellow, Emil Wakim, and Devon Walker are all out, as well as writers Celeste Yim and Rosebud Baker, according to reporting by Rolling Stone.
Ego Nwodim was listed as active for Season 51 but announced her decision to leave the show in early September. During her appearance at the Fast Company Innovation Festival, she explained the move.SNL is always meant to be a stepping stone, Nwodim said. There are so many ideas I havent had time to create, and Im looking forward to doing that. Things like directing and writing in a different capacity.
Returning SNL cast members
Not everyone is leaving. Thompson will continue his long reign, and Michael Che and Colin Jost will continue to anchor the popular Weekend Update segment.
They will be joined by familiar faces James Austin Johnson, Chloe Fineman, Sarah Sherman, Andrew Dismukes, Mikey Day, Bowen Yang, Marcello Hernández, Ashley Padilla, and Jane Wickline.
SNL cast additions
There will be five new faces gracing the screen this season, including Veronika Slowikowska, who is best known for her internet comedy sketches and her appearances on Tires and What We Do in the Shadows, and Kam Patterson, known for her bold stand-up comedy. Also joining the cast are Jeremy Culhane, who is TikTok-famous and has appeared in American Vandal and The Sex Lives of College Girls, as well as Tommy Brennan, who was named Just for Laughs’ New Face of Comedy in 2023 and has also opened for Nikki Glaser and Taylor Tomlinson.Ben Marshall, who was previously in the writers room and part of the video-producing trio “Please Don’t Destroy,” will make a move to join the cast. Please Don’t Destroy will no longer be affiliated with SNL, but the group is staying together. As for the other members of the trio, Martin Herlihy will stay on as a writer for SNL, but John Higgins will leave to pursue other creative avenues.
Host and musical guest for the Season 51 premiere
The first host of Season 51 is Bad Bunny. He is no stranger to SNLs Studio 8H; he previously hosted during Season 49, and was the final musical guest of Season 50. Its been a big week for the star: It was also announced he will headline next year’s Super Bowl LX halftime show. The first musical guest of this season is Doja Cat.
How to tune in
SNLs Season 51 premiere airs October 4 at 11:30 p.m. ET on NBC.
Traditional cable subscribers, and those with an over-the-air antenna with reception, are already all set for the laughs.
Cord-cutters can access the show on the Peacock streaming service, as well as a few others. YouTube TV, Hulu + Live TV, Fubo, and DIRECTV Stream all carry NBC in most cases, but make sure to double-check the services’ regional differences.
What are the qualities of a great team? Youve probably been taught that team success requires building trust, fostering psychological safety, and cultivating a unified mindset. Seems logical. You might have learned that consensus is important and hierarchies are bad. Okay. Youve undoubtedly been given that old chestnut, Theres no I in team. A classic. Team building 101. Its conventional wisdom, and yet it completely misses the paradox of teams: While companies often focus on merging everyone into a single homogeneous entity, truly great teams embrace the distinct, diverse roles and talents of their team members.
Every high-performing group in an organization will have someone who takes the lead on making decisions (the Director), somebody who produces work and achieves results (the Achiever), another who keeps the group on track and on schedule (the Stabilizer), another who keeps the relationships healthy (the Harmonizer), and someone who challenges the group with ideas outside the norm (the Trailblazer).
Whats the ideal mix of roles on a team?
To answer that all-important question, we asked thousands of executives and managers to measure their best and worst teams. And we uncovered some fascinating patterns.
A whopping 97 percent of the best teams had all five roles filled. On the flip side, only about 21 percent of the worst teams filled every role.
Theres a reason why great teams have someone in every role: Its tough to be successful without each of those talents being represented. Youve probably experienced teams with a bunch of Directors, all competing with each other to be the decision-makers, and no Achievers to actually do the work. You might have experienced the opposite: a team with no Directors and a striking inability to make any decisions. Maybe youve seen a group without a Trailblazer, a team where creative ideas go to die. And the list goes on. Of course, not every team is going to contain exactly five members, so where can you have more people and still be wildly successful? The short version is that the best teams in our research were able to easily handle more Harmonizers and Achievers, and too many Trailblazers was rarely a problem. And heres more detail about the distribution of people for all five roles:
Harmonizers
Having more than a few Harmonizers, a role that focuses on fostering collaboration and resolving conflicts, can help a team with improved communication and teamwork, reducing internal conflicts and enhancing cooperation. As long as all of the other roles are covered, having too many Harmonizers isnt typically a problem. Without coverage of the other roles, however, having a group that prizes interpersonal harmony over achieving results, hitting deadlines, etc., could quickly become a recipe for what former Xerox CEO Ursula Burns called terminal niceness. You might experience a lack of healthy debate, potentially leading to groupthink or a failure to consider diverse perspectives. While cohesion is important, too much emphasis on harmony could hinder the teams ability to innovate or tackle challenging problems effectively.
Achievers
When it comes to an abundance of Achievers, again assuming that all the other roles are covered, having a bunch of people who want to do great work without needing to be in charge seems like a dream. More people identify as Achievers than any other role, so its likely your team will have more than a few. If youve got a team of Achievers and nothing else, youll likely excel in executing tasks but lack in other areas like decision-making, innovation, or interpersonal dynamics. Theres also a risk of competition rather than collaboration, as multiple Achievers vie to demonstrate their individual productivity, potentially at the cost of overall team cohesion and effectiveness. But when balanced with the other roles, loading up on Achievers wont typically be much of a problem.
Trailblazers
Its not hard to imagine the problems that would occur with a team replete with Trailblazers and no one else: brilliant, out-of-the-box ideas and absolutely no execution. Such a team might struggle with follow-through, jumping from one innovative concept to another without fully developing or implementing any of them. And an excess of Trailblazers might create an environment thats too chaotic or unpredictable, lacking the stability needed for consistent performance. In reality, however, there just arent that many Trailblazers walking the halls of the typical organization, so youre more likely to struggle finding one than you are to grapple with an overabundance.
Stabilizers
That brings us to Stabilizers, a role that appears frequently in most organizations, so you do face some risk of overload. The risk you face concerns, well, risk specifically the avoidance of it. A team with too many Stabilizers might become overly rigid, focusing excessively on processes and procedures at the expense of innovation and quick responses to changing circumstances. This could lead to a team thats highly organized but slow to adapt, potentially missing opportunities or failing to address evolving challenges in dynamic environments. Many innovations require some risk- taking and deviating from existing protocols, not something that Stabilizers love, so youll need a Trailblazer to offer some counterweight to the Stabilizers natural risk aversion.
Directors
This is another role that appears often in organizations. Too many Directors can result in power struggles, conflicting decision-making processes, and a lack of unified direction. This can create an environment where there are too many cooks in the kitchen, leading to constant debates over strategy and leadership, potentially paralyzing the teams ability to move forward effectively. The absence of followers in a Director-heavy team can also mean that decisions, once made, may lack the necessary support for successful implementation.
The takeaway here is clear: diversity in roles is key to providing the right balance. You need a mix of skills and perspectives to really make your team shine. All things being equal, on a team of eight people, you might want one Director, one Stabilizer, one Trailblazer, two Harmonizers, and three Achievers. Of course, all things are rarely equal, so if your Director and Stabilizer are a bit meeker, you can have two of each and be fine. The same goes for your Trailblazer.
Ultimately, its less about the number of people in each role and more about ensuring that the talents and voices of the Director, Stabilizer, Achiever, Trailblazer, and Harmonizer are well represented.
Excerpted from TEAM PLAYERS: The Five Critical Roles You Need to Build a Winning Team. Copyright 2025 by Mark Murphy. Available from Basic Venture, an imprint of Hachette Book Group, Inc.
The AI boom is driving an explosive surge in computational demands and reshaping the landscape of technology, infrastructure, and innovation. One of the biggest barriers to widespread AI deployment today is access to power. Some estimates suggest AI-driven data centers now consume more electricity than entire nations. The World Economic Forum projects a doubling of energy use by data centers from 2024 to 2027, driven by the energy-intensive nature of AI workloads.
This surge in electricity demand is transforming the utilities industry and redefining how and where data centers are builtpower is no longer a given. In the U.S, electricity usage is growing for the first time in over a decade largely because of data center consumption. Meanwhile, big tech is even turning to nuclear power to fuel their long-term AI strategy, while data center builders are searching for land parcels in areas with excess power or resorting to building their own power infrastructure, often relying on natural gas generators.
ENTER QUANTUM COMPUTING
Quantum computers could be the key to reducing AIs rising energy consumption, offering a more efficient, scalable solution. Unlike traditional computers that evaluate one possibility at a time, quantum computers are designed to explore complex problem landscapes more efficiently, making them well-suited for tackling certain challenges that can be difficult, time-consuming, or costly for classical systems. This enables them to potentially provide solutions faster, at higher quality, and with greater efficiency. While AI excels at uncovering patterns and predictions, quantum computing identifies the most efficient solutions, making these two powerful technologies complementary. Quantum computers address problems that AI and classical methods struggle with, such as factoring large numbers and solving hard optimization challenges like vehicle routing and supply chain structuring.
Here are three ways quantum computing could help mitigate the expected disruptive impact of AIs rising computational demands:
Optimize data center placement and utility grid management
Quantum computing could be used to identify optimal data center locations based on power availability or assist utility companies in streamlining grid planning and management to support both consumer and data center needs. GE Vernova, a global energy company, is using quantum computers today to identify weaknesses in the power grid and optimize responses for potential attacks on the grid. E.ON, a European multinational electric utility company, is now using annealing quantum computing to explore energy grid stability.
Unlock opportunities for greater energy efficiency
Early research shows the potential for quantum computing to reduce the amount of computational power needed to run AI workflows. A breakthrough published in Science demonstrated that our D-Wave quantum computer solved a magnetic materials simulation problem in minutes using just 12 kilowatts of power. This task would have taken one of the worlds most powerful exascale supercomputers, a massively parallel GPU system, nearly one million years to solve, consuming more electricity than the world uses annually. Applying these quantum computing techniques to blockchain hashing and proof of work could also result in substantial enhancements to security and efficiency, potentially reducing electricity costs by up to a factor of 1,000. Quantum computers are very energy efficient and may soon perform complex computations like those needed for blockchain or AI at a fraction of the power required today.Some of the worlds largest supercomputing facilities are now actively exploring how GPUs and quantum processing units could work together to improve problem solving and reduce energy consumption. In February, Forschungszentrum Jülich, a leading supercomputing center in Germany, purchased an annealing quantum computer to integrate with the Jülich UNified Infrastructure for Quantum computing (JUNIQ). This integration is expected to enable JUNIQ to connect to the JUPITER exascale computer, potentially enabling breakthroughs in AI and quantum optimization. JUPITER is anticipated to surpass one quintillion calculations per second. This will likely be the worlds first pairing of an annealing quantum computer with an exascale supercomputer, providing a unique opportunity to observe the technologys impact on AI computational challenges.
Boost model efficiency and performance with quantum AI architectures
Early evidence suggests that annealing quantum computers can be integrated into quantum-hybrid AI workflows, which could potentially enhance model efficiency and performance. Japan Tobaccos (JT) pharmaceutical division recently conducted a project that involved using a quantum-hybrid AI workflow to generate new molecules. Using this hybrid approach, JT enhanced the quality of its AI drug development processes, demonstrating that the quantum AI workflow generated more valid molecules with better drug-like qualities compared to classical methods alone.TRIUMF, Canada’s particle accelerator center, recently published a paper in npj quantum information demonstrating the first use of annealing quantum computing and deep generative AI to create novel simulation models for the next big upgrade of CERNs particle accelerator, the Large Hadron Colliderthe worlds largest particle accelerator. Traditional simulations of particle collisions are time-consuming and costly, often running on supercomputers for weeks or months. By merging quantum computing with advanced AI, the team was able to perform complex simulations more quickly, accurately and efficiently.
HOW TO ADDRESS AIS POWER DRAIN WITH QUANTUM INNOVATION
As AI adoption continues to accelerate, its insatiable demand for computational power is upending industries and straining global power resources. We need a better solution for addressing AIs power demands than simply adding more GPU clusters or building nuclear power plants. From optimizing energy grids and data center placemet to reducing GPU power consumption and enhancing AI model performance, annealing quantum computing offers a promising path forward. Tools like PyTorch plug-ins are even making it easy for developers to incorporate quantum into AI workflows to explore how the technology could address computational challenges. For business leaders navigating the energy-intensive AI era, adopting annealing quantum computing could unlock transformative efficiencies today and tomorrow.
Alan Baratz, PhD is CEO of D-Wave.
