During the Hollywood strikes of 2023, a major sticking point for members of the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA was artificial intelligence. When the unions ultimately came to an agreement with Hollywood studios, they won key protections for actors regarding digital replicas and guardrails for how generative AI could be used in writers rooms.
The stipulation that studios could not create digital replicas of actorsat least not without their consentreflects growing concerns over how AI might compromise the livelihoods of artists and creatives.
Now it seems some performers may be looking for new ways to protect themselves against more general misuse: A January 13 Wall Street Journal report revealed that actor Matthew McConaughey filed eight trademark applications that are intended to deter unauthorized AI-generated simulations of his voice or likeness.
The trademarks, which have been approved by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, include several video clips of McConaughey, along with one of his most iconic moments: audio of him saying, Alright, alright, alright, a line from the 1993 movie Dazed and Confused that has since become a catchphrase.
My team and I want to know that when my voice or likeness is ever used, its because I approved and signed off on it, McConaughey told The Journal. We want to create a clear perimeter around ownership with consent and attribution the norm in an AI world.
McConaughey has reason to take preemptive action. AI has already enabled fraudulent ads that used the likeness of actors like Tom Hanks to promote wonder drugs. Just this week, there was a deepfake video circulating on the internet that featured eerily realistic face swaps with the cast of Stranger Thingsan example of how easily AI can be exploited by virtually anyone. The video has more than 15 million views (and counting) on X. Another creator shared a similar video using the likeness of Leonardo DiCaprio in The Wolf of Wall Street.
By trademarking himself, McConaughey is looking to prevent this kind of content from being monetized.
From a legal perspective, Orly Lobela law professor and the director of the Center for Employment and Labor Policy at the University of San Diegosays this is a novel way to combat deepfakes. The traditional name and likeness protections under state law, otherwise known as publicity rights, are meant to protect against the unauthorized use of an actors image to sell products.
But those laws are inadequate in the new era of generative AI, according to Lobel, since AI content can be monetized on the internet; there is less clarity on what constitutes commercial use on those platforms. McConaugheys decision to trademark his voice and likeness is a hybrid approach and it elevates the protections to federal claims, Lobel says.
Even McConaugheys lawyersamong them prominent entertainment attorney Kevin Yornhave noted that theyre not entirely sure whether this measure of protection would hold up in court. I dont know what a court will say in the end, Yorn told the Journal. But we have to at least test this.
A trademark also primarily protects commercial use, though McConaugheys lawyers seem to think the risk of federal claims may act as a deterrent and discourage people from creating any kind of AI-generated content with his likeness.
Still, this could set a precedent for other actors and performers to take similar action at a time when creatives are fighting an uphill battle against the use of AIand gearing up for another contract negotiation that will likely revive a number of AI-related concerns.
I think [this] is a signal that actors and others want attribution and consent and are ready to fight back, Lobel says.
The data centers that power the AI boom also need power themselves and a lot of it. Now, the Trump administration wants the tech companies cashing in on AI to foot a bigger part of the bill.
The Trump administration said Friday that it would urge major East Coast power grid operator PJM Interconnection to hold an emergency auction for tech companies, inviting them to bid on 15-year contracts for new electricity generation. Under the plan, the power auction would raise billions of dollars that would then go directly toward building out $15 billion in new power plants.
Tech companies would be locked into paying for the power they buy at auction over the lifetime of the long-term contracts whether they wind up using the electricity or not, a measure designed to smooth out spikes in electricity costs and offer 15-year revenue certainty for new plants.
The governors of Virginia, Maryland, Ohio and Pennsylvania and other states in PJMs area also signed onto the proposal to remake Americas power supply. U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright and U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum also supported the plan, which urges the power grid operator to make changes but isnt binding.
For two years, Ive been sounding the alarm, explaining that without fundamental changes to PJM Pennsylvanians were going to be paying more and more, and getting nothing in return, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro said in a press release. …Ive been working with my fellow governors and federal energy officials to push PJM to make needed reforms, and Im glad the White House is following Pennsylvanias lead and adopting the solutions weve been pushing for.
In a fact sheet on the proposal published to the Department of Energys website, the Trump administration is also encouraging PJM to cap what existing power plants charge in an effort to pass along savings to residential power users. The Department of Energy described the measures as temporary, noting that the changes could stave off painful future price increases and make blackouts less likely.
Worries grow over resource-hungry AI
Acknowledging the growing backlash around AI data centers, Microsoft also announced a new initiative this week that it claims will protect residential customers from eating the cost of its AI buildout. The tech giant says it will work closely with utility companies on the price of electricity, likening its AI expansion to other historic national infrastructure improvements like canals, railroads, the electrical grid, or the interstate highway system.
Communities value new jobs and property tax revenue, but not if they come with higher power bills or tighter water supplies, Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith wrote in a blog post. Without addressing these issues directly, even supportive communities will question the role of datacenters in their backyard.
Trump hinted at Microsofts plan earlier this week in a Truth Social post, stating that new policies would ensure Americans dont pick up the tab for higher energy bills. I never want Americans to pay higher Electricity bills because of Data Centers, Trump wrote. …We are the HOTTEST Country in the World, and Number One in AI. Data Centers are key to that boom, and keeping Americans FREE and SECURE but, the big Technology Companies who build them must pay their own way.
Americans are starting to blame AI for high bills
In the AI arms race, techs hottest companies often frame their insatiable appetite for electricity as an inevitability rather than its own problem. But as the cost of electricity goes up, Americans may disagree.
Tech giants are pouring billions into massive electricity and water-guzzling server warehouses to fuel their AI ambitions. In 2025 alone, five companies making big bets on AI invested $399 billion into the technology and its accompanying infrastructure, and that number is expected to shoot up to $600 billion by 2028. Those investments have also prompted broad concerns that the stock markets concentrated growth around AI represents a single point of failure if the industry starts to wobble.
Other worries are much less theoretical. Americans are grappling with higher power bills and theyre starting to blame the tech industry. A nationwide survey last year found that two-thirds of those polled believe that AI is driving up their electricity bill and most said that they couldnt afford a $20 per month increase.
Beyond power, data centers also need massive amounts of water for cooling all of those servers humming day and night. In The Dalles, Oregon, city officials are seeking to buy part of a nearby national forest to get access to more water a move that is alarming some residents and environmental groups. While officials have claimed the water will meet growing population demands, Google is The Dalles thirstiest resident and the tech companys data centers already consume a third of the citys water.
Breaking with the United States, Canada has agreed to cut its 100% tariff on Chinese electric cars in return for lower tariffs on Canadian farm products, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Friday.
Carney made the announcement after two days of meetings with Chinese leaders. He said there would be an initial annual cap of 49,000 vehicles on Chinese EV exports coming into Canada at a tariff rate of 6.1%, growing to about 70,000 over five years. China will reduce its total tariff on canola seeds, a major Canadian export, from 84% to about 15%, he told reporters.
Our relationship has progressed in recent months with China. It is more predictable and you see results coming from that, Carney said.
Carney hasn’t been able to reach a deal with U.S. President Donald Trump to reduce some tariffs that are punishing some key sectors of the Canadian economy and Trump has previously talked about making Canada the 51st state.
Earlier Friday, Carney and Chinese leader Xi Jinping pledged to improve relations between their two nations after years of acrimony.
Xi told Carney in a meeting at the Great Hall of the People that he is willing to continue working to improve ties, noting that talks have been underway on restoring and restarting cooperation since the two held an initial meeting in October on the sidelines of a regional economic conference in South Korea.
Carney said that “this agreement will drive considerable Chinese investment in Canadas auto sector, creating good careers in Canada and accelerating our progress towards a net zero (emissions) future and the auto industry of the future.”
Nelson Wiseman, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Toronto, called Friday’s deal good for both China and Canada. Canada is diversifying its bets economically,” Wiseman said. “And China is succeeding in driving a small wedge between Canada and the U.S.”
Improve global governance
Carney, the first Canadian prime minister to visit China in eight years, told Xi that better relations would help improve a global governance system that he described as under great strain.
Later, he said at the news conference that the system may give way at least in part to country-to-country or regional agreements rather than the global ones that have underpinned economic growth in the post-World War II era.
The question is: What gets built in that place? How much of a patchwork is it? he said.
The new reality reflects in large part the so-called America-first approach of Trump. The tariffs he has imposed have hit both the Canadian and Chinese economies. Carney, who has met with several leading Chinese companies in Beijing, said ahead of his trip that his government is focused on building an economy less reliant on the U.S. at what he called a time of global trade disruption.
A Canadian business owner in China called Carney’s visit game-changing, saying it re-establishes dialogue, respect and a framework between the two nations.
These three things we didnt have, said Jacob Cooke, the CEO of WPIC Marketing + Technologies, which helps exporters navigate the Chinese market. The parties were not talking for years.
Canada had been aligned with US on tariffs
Canada had followed the U.S. in putting tariffs of 100% on EVs from China and 25% on steel and aluminum under former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Carneys predecessor.
China responded by imposing duties of 100% on Canadian canola oil and meal and 25% on pork and seafood. It added a 75.8% tariff on canola seeds last August. Collectively, the import taxes effectively closed the Chinese market to Canadian canola, an industry group has said. Overall, China’s imports from Canada fell 10.4% last year to $41.7 billion, according to Chinese trade data.
Carney tried to address the concerns of Canadian automakers and auto workers by saying the initial cap on Chinese EV imports was about 3% of the 1.8 million vehicles sold in Canada annually and that, in exchange, China is expected to begin investing in the Canadian auto industry within three years.
Were building (a) new part of our car industry, building cars of the future in partnership, bringing affordable autos for Canadians at a time when affordability is top of mind, and doing it at a scale that allows for a smooth transition in the sector, he said.
For the exchange of a small piece of the Canadian market, we have a commitment. We are waiting for an investment commitment in Canada. The real leaders of the new industry. So its an agreement that will create the future for our industry.
But Ontario Premier Doug Ford, the leader of Canada’s most populous province where the country’s auto sector is based, blasted the deal.
“Make no mistake: China now has a foothold in the Canadian market and will use it to their full advantage at the expense of Canadian workers,” Ford posted on social media.
Worse, by lowering tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles this lopsided deal risks closing the door on Canadian automakers to the American market, our largest export destination.
China sees an opening under Trump
China is hoping Trumps pressure tactics on allies such as Canada will drive them to pursue a foreign policy that is less aligned with the United States. The U.S. president has suggested Canada could become America’s 51st state.
Carney, though, noted Canada’s relationship with the U.S. is much more multifaceted, deeper and broader. Canada and China have different systems and disagree on issues such as human rights, he said, limiting the scope of their engagement even as they seek ways to cooperate on areas of common interest.
The Canadian leader leaves China on Saturday and visits Qatar on Sunday before attending the annual gathering of the World Economic Forum in Switzerland next week. He will meet business leaders and investors in Qatar to promote trade and investment, his office said.
Ken Moritsugu and Rob Gillies, Associated Press
Associated Press business writer Chan Ho-him contributed to this report.
Quickfire question: Who, in a business, should be responsible for AI?
Most of us would assume the tech side of an organization should hold the bag: the CTO, CIO, CDO, CMO or perhaps even a new chief AI officer. And while this direction certainly made sense in the early wave of AI adoptionwhen it was still a mere toolthe rise of agentic AI (read: autonomous, intelligent agents that behave less like gadgets and more like colleagues) forces us to rethink our assumptions.
Which means we should be asking whether AI should be treated as a technology or as a member of the team. And if its the latter, is HR actually the role best positioned to oversee it?
WHY HR IS RE-EMERGING AS A STRATEGIC AI PLAYER
While some might think that AI will diminish the influence of chief people officers, human-centered agentic design is bringing HR back to the center of business transformation. After all, autonomous AI could transform the very definition of an HR role: managing workflows, employee experiences, and workplace culture.
One challenge blocking effective AI management is often rooted in organizations outdated design models. Traditional enterprise structures, especially in the Fortune 500, lag years behind the market and best practice. For instance, until recently CFOs were often leading AI decisions, largely optimizing for cost savings only. But just because a machine can do something doesnt mean it should.
Research by Gather found that 95% of AI pilots fail to deliver meaningful business impact because theyre overly based on algorithms. Meanwhile, employees spend $13 billion annually on their own subscriptions as enterprise tools dont meet their needs. Human-centered design is the missing ingredient for AI success at scale; companies that design for human needs achieve faster ROI, lower risk, and sustainable competitive advantage.
Fortunately, I can see a more progressive mindset emerging. Its no longer How do we do the same with fewer people? but How do we help the same people do more with AI? And instead of What roles can AI replace? its What roles can only humans perform?
These reframed attitudes make the people function central to AI transformation. If AI is treated as an employee-like resource that affects experience, workflow, and culture, HR becomes its logical home.
REINVENT HR: INTRODUCING THE CHIEF RESOURCE OFFICER
But if AI really is joining the workforce, HR must evolve beyond managing just human resources. In the agentic era, the function becomes responsible for orchestrating all faculties: human and digital.
Enter the chief resource officer (CRO). This is a new role that would reflect AIs real place in a company, responsible for integrating AI into workforce planning, ensuring ethical and effective use, and promoting a culture that encourages augmentation over replacement.
Mic drop, I know.
Now hear me out. Weve seen similar transformations before. The chief revenue officer didnt exist until CFO priorities shifted, and suddenly organizations needed a new leader to capitalize on growth opportunities. AI represents a similar inflection point, one that expands HRs mandate rather than diminishes it.
THE REAL CHALLENGE? UPSKILLING THE C-SUITE
The biggest barrier to this shift will be leadership readiness. Many existing HR managers are not yet AI experts, and theyre often stereotyped as preferring traditional processes and workflows. But as companies adopt agentic systems, CROs will become core stakeholders. Theyll need fluency in data governance, workflow management, and experience design. Any AI work integrations must be human-centered and, from an agentic perspective, negate the chances of garbage in/out. As a result, CRO training and upskilling, whether performed in-house or with the help of an external partner, become more important than ever.
The risks of unwittingly fostering an AI knowledge gap are real. At Gather, we partnered with a major global financial services company whose lifecycle management systems werent communicating properly with its AI capabilitiesresulting in churn, operational escalations, increased risk, and inconsistent messaging to card members. But the problems were organizational, rather than technological.
Gather interviewed five core user groups to map the complete automation lifecycle (intake to execution), identifying opportunities to improve efficiency and consistency. Then, we created assets to showcase automation use cases and build stakeholder awareness, introducing structured data models for better reporting, governance, and reuse. So far, the changes have proved a huge successpowering significant progress for the businesss automation adoption goals.
DESIGN A HUMAN-CENTERED AI FUTURE
Thriving in the agentic era starts with asking another quickfire question: What work must remain human?
Creativity, empathy, judgment, and relationship-building remain irreplaceable, and these are the areas that determine long-term business success. So, a new CRO must:
Bring HR into AI strategy early
Upskill executives together, not in silos
Treat AI as a collaborator rather than a cost-reduction tool
Design systems where both humans and agents can thrive
Far from diminishing HRs role, AI will expand it. As agentic systems take on more responsibility, HR and the chief resource officer will become some of the most important stewards of the modern workforce. Ultimately, AI wont replace peoplebut it will replace organizations that fail to redesign around them.
Justin Tobin is founder and CEO of Gather.
If drivers want to switch away from a completely gas-powered car to something electric, they have a few options. Namely: battery electric vehicles, hybrids, or plug-in hybrids (PHEVs).
All are seen as a way to reduce transportation emissions and move away from gas-guzzling internal combustion cars.
But it turns out, plug-in hybrid owners may not actually be plugging in their vehicles, making PHEVs not quite the environmental solution that they seem like.
General Motors CEO Mary Barra, speaking this week at the Automotive Press Association conference in Detroit, touched on this reality when talking about GMs plans with electric and hybrid vehicles.
What we also know today with plug-in hybrids is that most people don’t plug them in,” Barra said. “So that’s why we’re trying to be very thoughtful about what we do from a hybrid and a plug-in hybrid perspective.”
Hybrids as a solution to EV sales growth
EVs are seen as a crucial climate solution. In the U.S., transportation accounts for the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, and switching to electric vehicles cut those emissions and reduce air pollution.
The recent growth in EV sales meant that transportation emissions stayed relatively flat in 2025, despite an increase in road traffic (and an increase in electricity emissions at large).
But the rate of that sales growth has been slowing, and is expected to slow even more in 2026, in part because the Trump administration ended federal subsidies that helped people purchase EVs.
With the end of those tax credits, plus tariffs and bad consumer sentiment tainting EV sales, automakers have looked to hybrids as a way to still get customers into more efficient cars.
GM is one of those automakers: In 2024, the company said it planned to bring plug-in hybrid options to North America in 2027.
At the conference this week, Barra said that while GM is enthusiastically investing in EVs because we think thats the end game, the automaker is still “continuing to evaluate” hybrid and plug-in hybrids.
Plug-in hybrids don’t need to be plugged in
If drivers arent plugging in their plug-in hybrids, though, then that vehicle option isnt as helpful for the climate as it seems.
There are two main types of hybrids: HEVs, or hybrid electric vehicles, which use regenerative braking to recharge the battery, and PHEVs, or plug-in hybrids, which can be plugged in just like an EV to charge. (PHEVs do also allow regenerative braking to charge the battery, just by a smaller amount.)
But plug-in hybrids dont need to be plugged in to work. Plugging those vehicles into an EV charger will make them more efficient, and can allow drivers to avoid using their gas engine at all. But they can still be driven without a charge, just by relying on gas.
This could make plug-in hybrids even less fuel efficient than a gas-only car, according to Consumer Reports.
For example, once the BMW 330e xDrive sedans 20-mile electric range is exhausted, it only gets 25 mpg3 mpg less than the conventional 330i xDrives EPA rating of 28 mpg, per the outlet.
Thats likely because a plug-in hybrids battery increases the vehicles overall weight, making them less fuel efficient. (Thanks to their batteries, electric vehicles are heavier than gas-powered cars.)
The climate reality of plug-in hybrids
So, are plug-in hybrids climate benefits actually overblown? Research says yes.
An October 2025 report from Transport & Environment, a European advocacy group for clean transportation, found that plug-in hybrids are a diversion on the road to zero emissions.
The real-world carbon dioxide emissions of plug-in hybrids, the report found, are nearly five times the official emissions estimates.
European Commission driving data released in 2024 came to a slightly different conclusion, but shows the same trend: Plug-in hybrids produce about 3.5 times the official emissions determined in lab tests for regulatory purposes, that report found.
Basically, regulatory assessments to determine emissions assume 84% of PHEV drivers drive their vehicles primarily with the battery. In reality, its more than 27%.
Data on U.S. plug-in hybrid drivers shows the same issue.
A 2022 report by the International Council of Clean Transportation found that for plug-in hybrids in the U.S., real-world electric drive share may be 26%56% lower and real-world fuel consumption may be 42%67% higher than assumed within EPAs labeling program for light duty vehicles.”
How efficient, and helpful to the environment, plug-in hybrids really are, then, depends on their drivers. Thats why environmental expertsand even Barra herselfsay that EVs are still ultimately the endgame for the auto industry.
Social media companies have revoked access to about 4.7 million accounts identified as belonging to children in Australia since the country banned use of the platforms by those under 16, officials said.
We stared down everybody who said it couldnt be done, some of the most powerful and rich companies in the world and their supporters, communications minister Anika Wells told reporters on Friday. Now Australian parents can be confident that their kids can have their childhoods back.
The figures, reported to Australias government by 10 social media platforms, were the first to show the scale of the landmark ban since it was enacted in December over fears about the effects of harmful online environments on young people. The law provoked fraught debates in Australia about technology use, privacy, child safety and mental health and has prompted other countries to consider similar measures.
Officials said the figure was encouraging
Under Australian law, Facebook, Instagram, Kick, Reddit, Snapchat, Threads, TikTok, X, YouTube, and Twitch face fines of up to 49.5 million Australian dollars ($33.2 million) if they fail to take reasonable steps to remove the accounts of Australian children younger than 16. Messaging services such as WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger are exempt.
To verify age, platforms can either request copies of identification documents, use a third party to apply age estimation technology to an account holders face, or make inferences from data already available, such as how long an account has been held.
About 2.5 million Australians are aged between 8 and 15, said the countrys eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant, and past estimates suggested 84% of 8- to 12-year-olds held social media accounts. It was not known how many accounts were held across the 10 platforms but Inman Grant said the figure of 4.7 million deactivated or restricted was encouraging.
Were preventing predatory social media companies from accessing our children, Inman Grant said.
The 10 biggest companies covered by the ban were compliant with it and had reported removal figures to Australia’s regulator on time, the commissioner said. She added that social media companies were expected to shift their efforts from enforcing the ban to preventing children from creating new accounts or otherwise circumventing the prohibition.
Meta removed 550,000 accounts
Australian officials didnt break the figures down by platform. But Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads, said this week that by the day after the ban came into effect it had removed nearly 550,000 accounts belonging to users understood to be under 16.
In the blog post divulging the figures, Meta criticized the ban and said smaller platforms where the ban doesn’t apply might not prioritize safety. The company also noted browsing platforms would still present content to children based on algorithms a concern that led to the ban’s enactment.
The law was widely popular among parents and child safety campaigners. Online privacy advocates and some groups representing teenagers opposed it, with the latter citing the support found in online spaces by vulnerable young people or those geographically isolated in Australias sprawling rural areas.
Some said they had managed to fool age assessing technologies or were helped by parents or older siblings to circumvent the ban.
Other countries might follow
Since Australia began debating the measures in 2024, other countries have considered following suit. Denmarks government is among them, saying in November that it had planned to implement a social media ban for children under 15.
The fact that in spite of some skepticism out there, its working and being replicated now around the world, is something that is a source of Australian pride, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Friday.
Opposition lawmakers have suggested that young people have circumvented the ban easily or are migrating to other apps that are less scrutinized than the largest platforms. Inman Grant said Friday that data seen by her office showed a spike in downloads of alternative apps when the ban was enacted but not a spike in usage.
There is no real long-term trends yet that we can say but were engaging, she said.
Meanwhile, she said, the regulator she heads planned to introduce world-leading AI companion and chatbot restrictions in March. She didnt disclose further details.
Charlotte Graham-McLay, Associated Press
Almost 1 million Frigidaire mini-fridges are being recalled because they pose the potential to catch fire, according to a notice from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) released on Thursday. The notice expands an earlier recall from 2024.
Canada-based Curtis International is recalling another 330,000 mini-fridges, on top of the 634,000 units it recalled back in July of 2024. The company has received at least six reports of the model EFMIS121 mini-fridges catching fire and resulting in property damage, per the CPSC notice.
The mini-fridges were sold exclusively at Target stores nationwide and online at Target.com from January 2020 through October 2023, for around $30.
What is the reason for the Frigidaire recall?
The mini-fridges internal electrical components can short-circuit and ignite the surrounding plastic housing, posing fire and burn hazards.
What are the product details?
This recall covers Curtis International six-can Frigidaire-brand mini-fridges, model EFMIS121, with limited serial numbers, in addition to certain mini-fridges with model numbers EFMIS129, EFMIS137, EFMIS149, and EFMIS175 that were previously recalled.
Frigidaire is printed on the front of the units. The model and serial numbers are on a label on the back of the mini-fridge.
This recall includes only the serial numbers identified below. The items were sold in the color red at Target stores.
Brand and product name: Frigidaire-brand mini-fridges, model EFMIS121 (plus EFMIS129, EFMIS137, EFMIS149, and EFMIS175 from a previous recall)
Units: About 330,000
Manufacturer: ShangYu North Electron Manufacture Co. Ltd. of China
Importer: Curtis International Ltd. of Canada
Manufactured in: China
Recall number: 26-199
Recall Date: January 15, 2026
What to do if you own one of the mini-fridges
Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled mini-fridges and follow the instructions to register for a refund at recallrtr.com/minifridge.
Consumers should unplug and cut the power cord and write Recall using a permanent marker on the front door of the unit.
Consumers should dispose of the recalled mini-fridges in accordance with local and state regulations.
For a moment, Eric Adams was riding high.
Fresh off trips to Dubai and the Democratic Republic of Congo, the now jobless ex-mayor of New York City was back in Times Square on Monday to announce his first initiative as a private citizen: a new cryptocurrency coin that would also serve to beat back antisemitism and anti-Americanism.
Were about to change the game, he promised, without describing how, exactly, the digital asset would support those lofty ambitions. This thing is going to take off like crazy.
But after surging to a nearly $600 million valuation within minutes of its launch, the new coin, dubbed NYC Token, went into free fall, losing nearly 75% of its value by that evening. The drop came after an account linked to the token’s creation withdrew $2.5 million worth of coins, according to the crypto-analytics firm Bubblemaps.
Around $1.5 million was later returned, the firm said, though by then investor confidence had collapsed. To some cryptocurrency experts, the rollout had all the hallmarks of a rug pull. The scheme prevalent among celebrity-linked meme coins involves insiders hyping an asset then quickly dumping their stakes, saddling amateur investors with deep losses.
Others have suggested that Adams and his inexperienced team were themselves duped by savvier investors, who took advantage of a sloppy launch.
The debate has found Adams back in a mode of damage control that defined so much of his one-term mayoralty: denying misconduct, attacking the press and facing scrutiny about the competence of his inner circle of loyalists.
Through a former campaign spokesperson, Adams has released multiple statements in recent days clarifying that he had not profited off the token and had not moved investor funds, calling reports otherwise false and unsupported by evidence.
Like many newly launched digital assets, the NYC Token experienced market volatility, the spokesperson, Todd Shapiro, said Wednesday. Mr. Adams has consistently emphasized transparency, accountability, and responsible innovation.
A machine lawyer and an Israeli hotelier
Despite claims of transparency, Adams has so far declined to reveal his partners in the token.
But two people close to the project confirmed that Frank Carone, Adams’ former chief adviser and one-time lawyer for the Brooklyn Democratic Party, was closely involved in the launch. The two people spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they had been asked not to disclose the identities of people involved in the token’s creation.
One of Carones former clients, Yosef Sefi Zvieli, a real estate investor linked to several Israeli hotels, was also part of its creation, Shapiro confirmed to The Associated Press.
Zvieli, whose involvement was first reported by Business Insider, previously owned a college dorm in Brooklyn, which drew complaints from students of filthy conditions and neglect. After defaulting on his mortgage, Zvieli hired Carone as his attorney and was able to turn the troubled property into a city-financed homeless shelter.
Their exact role in the token launch was not immediately clear, though at least part of Zvielis job involved reaching out to influencers ahead of the debut. Neither he nor Carone appeared to have direct experience in cryptocurrency. Messages left with the two men were not returned.
As questions around the launch swirled this week, Adams sought guidance from Brock Pierce, the billionaire crypto investor, and former Mighty Ducks child actor, whose private jet he sometimes used as mayor.
After looking into the project, Pierce said he was confident that no one has run off with anyones money.”
Though he described himself as Adams crypto adviser, Pierce said he was only made aware of the project after its launch. Had I been consulted, I wouldve put together a team of more qualified people who knew what theyre doing, he added.
Political-coin instability
Even within the largely unregulated world of meme coins, experts say projects promoted by politicians are especially prone to unsavory trading practices.
The president of Argentina, Javier Milei, has faced fraud allegations for his own crypto promotion, which drew thousands of investors before swiftly collapsing. Coins launched by President Donald Trump and his wife, Melania Trump, also saw significant price fluctuations upon release.
The number of accounts that invested in NYC Token were far less than those ventures, totaling just over 4,000 as of Thursday, according to Nicolas Vaiman, the founder of Bubblemaps, which conducted an analysis of publicly available trade records.
Roughly 80% of those accounts had bought in during a 20-minute period before Adams had announced the coin but after it was made available for purchase, the analysis found. The window, Vaiman said, provided an advantage to insiders involved in the launch and other traders who pay close attention to new tokens.
Political coins are driven purely by attention, and the crypto community is aware that attention peaks right after the launch, Vaiman said. People know you don’t want to stick around, especially for such a vague prospect, like fighting anti-Americanism or antisemitism. What does it even mean? How are you going to achieve that in a token?
The website for the coin says a portion of the proceeds will be divided evenly among three causes: antisemitism and anti-Americanism awareness campaigns, crypto education for the citys youth and a scholarship initiative.
It does not detail which organizations will be supported, or what percentage of the proceeds will go toward charitable causes.
Uncertain fate
Adams has disputed that any money had been pulled by the token’s creators.
He has said the appearance of withdrawals were the result of adjustments made by the designated market maker, an entity that buys and sells orders of a new token to ensure traders can make purchases without major price shifts.
The market makers include FalconX, a well known digital asset broker. The company declined to respond to inquiries on the record.
As of Wednesday, a majority of accounts that invested in the coin had lost money, according to the Bubblemaps analysis. Fiften traders were down at least $100,000, while 10 had netted $100,000.
Pierce said he was still hoping the project could be salvaged, adding that the fate and outcome of this project will be determined in the coming days.
But some in the crypto world had their doubts.
It could be a legitimate project with just a really bad rollout,” said Benjamin Cowen, the founder of another crypto research analytics firm, Into the Cryptoverse. “But the way it was launched didnt instill a lot of confidence. Its hard to regain trust in the crypto community.
Jake Offenhartz, Associated Press
Rumors are circulating of potential strike action next month from CorePower Yoga instructors, who say they are paid less per hour than the cost of a single class drop-in fee.
CorePower Yoga has a cult following online, particularly for their Hot Sculpt classes, and currently has more than 200 locations across the US. But in the r/Corepower subreddit, a recent post urges members to pause or quit their membership to show support for instructors, who are fighting for fair wages and cleaner studios.
If you can stomach it to pause or quit your membership, it will benefit you as a consumer as well as the instructors who are paid on average $16/hour to teach and who are NOT paid for instruction preparation, playlist curation, and cue perfection, the post reads.
CPY instructors deserve better conditions and better pay to provide for you, the high-paying consumer. You deserve to get what you pay for. At ~$200/month, you deserve a pristine studio with well-compensated instructors.
The subreddit is now full of members questioning if their local studio is striking, or claiming theyve paused their membership in support of instructors.
While details of the strike action remain unclear, in a separate subreddit dedicated to CorePower Yoga teachers, a graphic posted last month claims the striking staff are demanding $30/hour compensation for CorePower instructors, $20/hour for cleaners, and studios to be deep cleaned a minimum of four times a year, suggesting they currently arent (alleged incidents of cockroaches, ringworm and black mold have also plagued the subreddit).
One CorePower member brought the conversation to TikTok, where the video quickly gained over 170,000 views in just two days.
Actually I’ve been wanting to talk about this for a while, TikTok creator Carter Martin said in the clip. I go to CorePower. I’ve gone on and off for years. My best friend used to be an instructor, and I always thought it was insane that she got $20 to teach the yoga class.
She continued: You’re not just working the desk. You are literally teaching a specialized class based on specialized training that you’ve done and paid for through CorePower to be an instructor.
CorePower teachers are 200-hour certified or are certified through CorePower Yogas Intensive Yoga Sculpt program, according to the companys website. This training can run prospective teachers anywhere from $1,400 up to $4,000. Once qualified, instructors online have reported making anywhere from $15 to $20 an hour. (The company provided instructor pay details and rates in an interview with The Cut.)
Fast Company has reached out to CorePower Yoga for comment.
Meanwhile, to attend a class, drop-in rates run $40 in major cities like New York, while unlimited studio memberships are currently $259 per month.
This is something that we as instructors talk about all the time, another former instructor, Annie Williams, weighed in online. She goes on to detail how instructors are responsible for creating unique sequences for their classes, changed fortnightly, as well as the playlist. They are also required to arrive 30 minutes before class and stay 30 minutes after it finishes, she explained.
All of that work to get paid $20 to teach a class, Williams said in the video. It would just drive me insane when someone would come in and they had to pay $40 to take it. She added: I’m literally teaching 30 people.
For context, an instructor at a similarly buzzy fitness studio like Solidcore can reportedly make $100 per hour, when factoring in revenue share for a full class. Pay for class instructors at upscale gyms like Equinox, meanwhile, rumoredly starts from around $60-80 per class.
Some blame private equity for the studios decline. In April of 2019, CorePower Yoga was sold to private equity firm TSG Consumer Partners for an undisclosed sum. One month after that, over 1500 instructors joined a class action lawsuit alleging substantial underpayment of wages under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Later that year, CorePower Yoga agreed to pay $1,492,500 to settle allegations.
Price goes up, quality goes down, Martin concluded in her video. Another victim of private equity.
As protests in Iran intensify, satellite technology has become one of the only ways for people in the country to circumvent a total internet blackout and heavy restrictions on phone service. Now, as a number of people in the country turn to SpaceXthe company now providing free access to Starlinkthere are growing calls for Apple to get involved, too.
At least one member of Congress has now reached out to Apple urging the company to turn on satellite texting in Iran. The office of Rep. Buddy Carter, a Republican from Georgia, confirmed to Fast Company that theyd been in touch with Apple about opening up satellite messagingwhich lets iPhone users send messages even when there is no wifi or cellular servicein the country, though they didnt say what response, if any, they might have received from the company. That outreach comes after, on Wednesday, Carter called on the company to do so publicly.
Apple, the leading phone brand in the world, must enable satellite messaging for Iran so they can message family and report atrocities being committed by the Iranian regime, said Carter in a social media post.
Some activists have called for Apple to turn on satellite-based messaging, a service that the company is quickly rolling out. One of these calls, which as of Thursday night racked up nearly half a million views on X, reads: During this nationwide blackout, the brutal killing of civilians has started in the past 24 hours. We urgently call on Apple to enable Satellite Messaging for users inside Iran, or confirm whether the service is already active and functioning without interference.
Communication is a lifeline. Lives depend on it, the person added.
It isnt immediately clear if this is something Apple can do, or what Apple might have already turned on in Iran. Apple did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Globalstar, the satellite telecommunications company that supports Apples satellite-based texting service, did not respond to a request for comment by publication time.
Theyre expensive, but iPhones are used throughout Iran, and the government recently lifted restrictions on newer models. Still, Apples website says that the satellite-based texting feature is currently only available to people in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Japan, assuming theyre using an iPhone 14 or a newer model. Apple also offers another satellite-based service, called Emergency SOS, for texting emergency services, though, again, Iran isnt one of the countries where its available.
When asked about SpaceX and Starlink, a spokesperson for the State Department Fast Company on Wednesday, the administration is committed to helping to preserve and protect the free flow of information by the most effective means to the people of Iran in the face of the Iranian regimes brutal repression.
But the spokesperson did not address Fast Companys follow up questions about outreach to Apple, specifically. Neither did Florida Senator Rick Scott, who commended SpaceX for making Starlink available in Iran earlier this week.
I would welcome anything anything from any company, any government that can help people to send even one byte of data, Amir Rashidi, who focused on internet security and digital rights at the Miaan Group, which has been tracking the communications blackout in Iran, to Fast Company earlier this week.
