The U.S. stock market is drifting near its record levels on Wednesday following mixed reactions to profit reports from Macy’s, Marvell Technologies, and other companies.
The S&P 500 rose 0.2% and pulled within 0.7% of its all-time high set in late October. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 174 points, or 0.6%, as of 11:50 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was virtually unchanged.
Marvell rose 4.1% after the supplier of semiconductor products delivered a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. CEO Matt Murphy credited strong demand for its data center products, while also announcing a $3.25 billion purchase of Celestial AI to bolster its artificial-intelligence infrastructure business.
American Eagle Outfitters was another winner and rallied 16.1% after the retailer reported a better profit than expected. Its CEO, Jay Schottenstein, said it also saw a strong start to the holiday shopping season with an acceleration in demand across its brands during the Thanksgiving weekend.
Outside of earnings reports, Capricor Therapeutics surged 352% after the biotech company reported encouraging results for its potential therapy for people with Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
On the losing end of Wall Street were relatively few companies, including one out of every three stocks in the S&P 500 index. But among them were some of the market’s most influential stocks, which kept indexes in check.
Microsoft fell 2% and was the heaviest weight on the S&P 500. Nvidia slipped just 0.4%, but because it’s the most valuable stock on Wall Street, it was another one of the heaviest weights dragging on the index.
Macys fell 1% despite reporting a profit for the latest quarter that was much better than the loss that analysts were expecting. Its stock may be feeling the pressure of high expectations after it came into the day with a rally of 34.1% for the year so far, more than double the S&P 500s rise.
CrowdStrike slipped 0.5% despite topping analysts expectations for profit. It too came into the day with a big gain for the year so far, raising the stakes, at 51%.
In the bond market, Treasury yields eased after a report suggested U.S. employers outside of the government may have cut more jobs in November than they added.
The data from ADP was much weaker than economists expected, but it has not had a perfect track record predicting what the more comprehensive jobs report from the U.S. government will say each month.
Wednesdays data may be discouraging for people looking for jobs, but it also keeps alive expectations that the Federal Reserve will cut its main interest rate next week. If the Fed does, that would be the third such cut this year in hopes of bolstering the slowing job market.
A report later in the morning on activity for U.S. services business was more encouraging. It said growth was stronger last month than expected for businesses in the retail, finance, insurance, and other industries.
Perhaps just as important was that the Institute for Supply Management’s survey also said prices were increasing at their slowest rate since April. That could help the Fed because fears of high inflation are the main argument against cutting interest rates.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.07% from 4.09% late Tuesday.
Easing bond yields can boost prices for all kinds of investments, and bitcoin climbed again to top $92,000 following its scary downward run in recent weeks. It briefly plunged below $81,000 last month.
In stock markets abroad, indexes were close to flat in Europe following a mixed finish in Asia.
Japans Nikkei 225 jumped 1.1% on gains for technology stocks like Tokyo Electron, which jumped 4.7%. SoftBank Group Corp. leaped 6.4% following reports that its founder, Masayoshi Son, regretted having to sell shares in computer chipmaker Nvidia to help pay for other investments.
Chinese indexes sank following the release of data showing weaker factory activity. Stocks fell 1.3% in Hong Kong and 0.5% in Shanghai.
Stan Choe, AP business writer
AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has once again expanded its warning on certain brands of imported cookware, this time adding nine additional products that may leach significant levels of lead into food.
That list of cookware has grown significantly since the FDA issued its original alert, which was updated twice, after tests found certain brass and aluminum cookware (known as Hindalium/Hindolium or Indalium/Indolium) could be leaching lead into food when used for cooking or food storage, making it unsafe to eat.
The FDA investigation remains ongoing, and the agency said it will be adding additional products to the list as needed.
Here’s what you need to know.
Is lead dangerous to health?
Yes. Lead is toxic for humans, and even low levels can cause serious health problems.
Children, women of childbearing age, and those who are breastfeeding could be at higher risk after eating food from cookware that leaches lead. Babies and kids are more susceptible to lead toxicity due to their smaller size, metabolism, and rapidly developing bodies, according to the FDA.
Which cookware is listed in the FDA’s expanded warning?
As Fast Company previously reported, the FDA’s original recall warning on August 13 was issued for Saraswati Strips Pvt. Ltd., an Indian aluminum cookware company that sells Tiger White brand cookware.
In September, three additional products were added to the list, including Silver Horse cookware distributed by Patel Brothers, and JK Vallabhdas products distributed by the Indian supermarket chain Indiaco.
Since then, the FDA has added nine additional products to the list.
Those product details are as follows:
Brand and product name: Sonex Aluminum, Pot, an ISO 9001:2000 5 certified company
Retailer: Alanwar Food Corp. (Balady Foods) 7128 5th Ave Brooklyn, NY
Manufacturer: Sonex Cookware 60-61 / A, Small Ind. Estate #2 Gujranwala, Pakistan
Recall status: Recall initiated on 11/18/25.
Brand and product name: IKM Aluminum Saucepan(7023672411878 Aluminum Pan 2 Size Pouted Wooden Handle 9)
Retailer: India Metro Hypermarket, 5130 Mowry Ave Fremont, CA
Manufacturer: SM Foods, New Delhi, India
Recall status: Distributor agreed to recall on 11/19/25.
Brand and product name: Brass Tope
Retailer: India Metro Hypermarket, 5130 Mowry Ave Fremont, CA
Manufacturer: Kraftwares (India) Ltd. Mumbai, India
Recall status: Distributor agreed to recall on 11/19/25.
Brand and product name: Aluminum Kadai Size 5 A cook brand
Retailer: India Metro Hypermarket, 5130 Mowry Ave Fremont, CA
Manufacturer: Kraftwares (India) Ltd. Mumbai, India
Recall status: Distributor agreed to recall on 11/19/25.
Brand and product name: IKM 4-Quart Pital Brass Pot(7023672414398 Brass Hammered Handi No 3)
Retailer: INDIA CASH AND CARRY, 39175 Farwell Dr Fremont, CA
Manufacturer: JSM Foods, New Delhi, India
Recall status: Distributor agreed to recall on 11/19/25.
Brand and product name: Silver Horse Aluminum Coldero 28
Retailer: Punjab Supermarket & Halal Meats, 8767 Philadelphia Road Rosedale, MD
Manufacturer:
Recall status: FDA notified retail location of sample results.
Brand and product name: Silver Horse Aluminum Coldero 28 (765542732177 Aluminium Degda 20)
Retailer: Punjab Supermarket & Halal Meats, 8767 Philadelphia Road Rosedale, MD
Manufacturer:
Recall status: FDA notified retail location of sample results.
Brand and product name: Silver Horse Aluminum Degda 24
Retailer: Punjab Supermarket & Halal Meats, 8767 Philadelphia Road Rosedale, MD
Manufacturer:
Recall status: FDA notified retail location of sample results.
Brand and product name: Chef Milk Pan 24 cm (Milk Pan 24 cm MF 0732131905632)
Retailer: Punjab Supermarket & Halal Meats, 8767 Philadelphia Road Rosedale, MD
Manufacturer: Shata Traders, 10227 Avenue D, Brooklyn, NY 11236
Recall status: Distributor agreed to recall on 11/19/25.
FDA recommendations
According to the FDA, consumers should check their homes for the cookware and throw it away. Do not donate or refurbish it.
Consumers who are concerned they may have been exposed to lead or elevated levels of lead should contact their healthcare provider.
Retailers and distributors are encouraged to consult with the FDA regarding the safety and regulatory status of any products used in contact with food that they market or distribute.
Additional questions can be sent to the FDA via email at premarkt@fda.hhs.gov.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Wednesday he would push a new requirement that the Federal Reserve‘s regional bank presidents live in their districts for at least three years before taking office, a move that could give the White House more power over the independent agency.
In comments at the New York Times’ DealBook Summit, Bessent said that there is a disconnect with the framing of the Federal Reserve and added that, unless someone has lived in their district for three years, we’re going to veto them.
Bessent has stepped up his criticism of the Fed’s 12 regional bank presidents in recent weeks after several of them made clear in a series of speeches that they opposed cutting the Fed’s key rate at its next meeting in December. President Donald Trump has sharply criticized the Fed for not lowering its short-term interest rate more quickly. When the Fed reduces its rate it can over time lower borrowing costs for mortgages, auto loans, and credit cards.
The prospect of the administration vetoing regional bank presidents would represent another effort by the administration to exert more control over the Fed, an institution that has traditionally been independent from day-to-day politics.
The Federal Reserve seeks to keep prices in check and support hiring by setting a short-term interest rate that influences borrowing costs across the economy. It has a complicated structure that includes a seven-member board of governors based in Washington as well as 12 regional banks that cover specific districts across the United States.
The seven governors and the president of the New York Fed vote on every interest-rate decision, while four of the remaining 11 presidents vote on a rotating basis. But all the presidents participate in meetings of the Fed’s interest-rate setting committee.
Bessent argued last month in an interview on CNBC that the reason for the regional Fed banks was to bring the perspective of their districts to the Fed’s interest rate decisions and break the New York hold on the setting of interest rates.
But now, he said last month, three, maybe four of the Fed presidents were appointed from outside their districts, with some living in New York.
Im not sure thats the way the Federal Reserve was designed, he said in the interview.
Christopher Rugaber, AP economics writer
As the “fourth wave” of coffee begins to take shape, companies that are embracing modernand, increasingly, automatedcoffee making are working to balance their tech with the craft of brewing. Terra Kaffe is one of them.
The companyknown for its pricey, hypermodern automatic espresso machine TK-02revealed its first brand expansion with the August launch of Demi, a miniature version of its flagship product. Now, it’s launching a slate of accessories to complement its machines and to move the brand out of startup mode and help establish itself as a serious competitor in the world of coffee gadgets.
[Photo: Terra Kaffe]
The accessories, which will be rolling out into early 2026, include a countertop milk frother with a matcha setting, a line of double-walled conical glassware, tumblers for taking your coffee on the go, a quick-brewing cold brew maker, an ice cube tray, and a drip coffee potall of which are meticulously designed in the brand’s signature modern style to integrate seamlessly into the entire Terra Kaffe ecosystem. The accessories give existing Terra Kaffe owners a way to enhance their experience with the machine while providing newcomers a wider entry point into the brand.
We’ve evolved into the next stage in this company’s life cycle. Now were a true lifestyle brand offering a myriad of options to serve all coffee lovers, Terra Kaffe founder and CEO Sahand Dilmaghani says. Every product has a foundation of seamlessness in the experience, elevating the way you go about your morning ritual.
[Photo: Terra Kaffe]
Creating an Ecosystem
When Terra Kaffe released Demi, the compact machine delivered on size for those with minimal counter space, as well as cost, coming in at $795, less than half the price of the TK-02. But the machines smaller profile requires a trade-offnot being able to produce a milk-based drink (the TK-02 can produce lattes, cappuccinos and flat whites). Thats why the company saw an opportunity for its standalone Aero milk frother.
The stainless steel Aero enables users to do one thing better than even the TK-02: make matcha. Its spinning technology whisks the matcha if you pour in the powder and place it under the machines spout for hot water. A built-in setting automatically stops whisking at the ideal time. (If youre old-school, you can still whisk your matcha with a bamboo whisk, then add milk from the Aero, which has a built-in temperature setting for the beverage.)
[Photo: Terra Kaffe]
Everything is complementary, Dilmaghani says. Were creating things to constantly improve the whole experience and tie a bow around it.’
With the new accessories line, the company was also able to broaden the scope of its machines beyond making single-serve drinksand do it in style. For Terra Kaffe users serving a crowd, it added a Drip Coffee Carafe, and while the Demi can brew a pot out of the box, the company is pushing a new setting that will enable the TK-02 to do so as part of the machines first major software update.
[Photo: Terra Kaffe]
While the TK-02 has an option that creates coffee optimized for iced coffee, it does not have an option to dispense the coffee cold, creating an opportunity for the Ripple ice tray, which makes four ice pucks that fit into the new line of tumblers.
In early 2026, Terra Kaffe will roll out a way to make cold coffee quickly with a cold brew maker that it says will cut the roughly 18- to 24-hour process into minutes, and could be a way into the Terra Kaffe ecosystem for people who prefer cold drinks. The product uses a rotating force to rotate water through the coffee bed quicker. There’s no pressure associated with it, so it’s the same brewing methodology, Dilmaghani explains. But the technology we’re building actually accelerates the cold brew extraction process.
[Photo: Terra Kaffe]
Form and function
A child of two architects, Dilmaghani says he places design on an equal pedestal as functionality, and time spent living in Berlin brought German design inspiration to his work. He channelled all of those inspirations for his coffee brand. Terra Kaffes brand identity and design language have a consistent throughline of geometric modernity, pulling from Bauhausian design principles, he says. Every single millimeter of the products are intentionally designed. The dials, the proportion to the base, how you engage with itthose are the details people subconsciously enjoy even if they don’t consciously acknowledge.
With its name that means “earth” and its water droplet logo, Terra Kaffe is working to evoke nature with its products as it expands. The TK-01 is only available in black and white, while the Demi is sold in brownish Dune, Slate grey, Forest green, and Cloud blue earth tones. The ice trays are also available in Dune and Cloud, its Aeris tumblersavailable in three sizesrange from grey Smoke to amber Mairgold and burnt orange Sienna
[Photo: Terra Kaffe]
Minimalism doesnt mean plain, Dilmaghani says. Everything that you engage with stems from a place of evoking a certain feeling. That’s why, for us, everything goes back to precision, modernity and warmth.
Despite releasing nearly two dozen products of different sizes and colors just this year, Terra Kaffe has more significant plans in the next year and beyond to mark its rising dominance in the home coffee tech space.
We make sure that every touchpoint you engage with is inviting, Dilmaghani says. The expansion of the peripheral products continues that thread.
One of the worlds biggest AI startups might be eyeing a massive IPO.
According to a new report in the Financial Times, Anthropic has tapped the Palo Alto-based law firm Wilson Sonsini to help the company go public as soon as early next year. The law firm has a deep well of experience shepherding major tech IPOs and has worked with Google, LinkedIn, Lyft, and Square on their public offerings.
In the lead-up to a potential IPO, the Financial Times reports that the company is drumming up a private round of funding that would peg its value at over $300 billion. According to the report, the company is also discussing its plans with large investment banks, but those talks are in their early stages. Anthropic might be trying to outmaneuver its rival OpenAI, which is reportedly considering an IPO in the second half of 2026, by going public first and could be valued at as much as a once-unthinkable $1 trillion.
OpenAI recently pivoted away from its roots as a nonprofit to restructure itself as a public benefit corporation in a move that set the stage for a potential future IPO. Though the for-profit part of OpenAI will continue to operate under a nonprofit parent company, the change ushers in a new era for the business of AI one likely to be more focused on juicing revenue, attracting investment and pleasing shareholders.
Anthropic sets itself apart
Anthropic, which was founded by a group of OpenAI executives who split off in 2021, is backed by billions in investment from Amazon and Google. Unlike its prominent Microsoft-backed rival, Anthropic focuses on business applications for its AI tools rather than racing to capture a broad swath of the consumer market with generative AI multimedia.
We are interested in our consumer users to the degree they are doing work, solving problems in their life, Anthropic design chief Joel Lewenstein told Fast Company in an October interview. Because were not interested in passive consumption and image generation and video generation, we just sort of have ruled those out from a mission perspective.
The company is known for a more conservative approach to AI development that takes the technologys many risks and safety concerns into account an approach that could benefit its long term trajectory.
Our interests are in making things that are beneficial while minimizing the risks of those same products because everything has a double-edged sword, Lewenstein told Fast Company. We see helping people grow and expand and create and solve problems as being the right risk-reward tradeoff.
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes announced Tuesday that Arizona is the latest state to sue Temu and its parent company PDD Holdings Inc. over allegations that the Chinese online retailer is stealing customers data.
Mayes said the app deceives customers about the quality of its low-cost products and collects what she described as a shocking amount of sensitive data without the consent of users, including GPS locations and a list of other apps on users’ phones.
According to the lawsuit, prosecutors are concerned about Temu being subject to laws in China that require Chinese companies to hand over data requested by the government, and that its code is designed to evade security reviews.
It can detect everywhere you go, to a doctors office, to a public library, to a political event, to your friends’ houses,” Mayes said during a news conference. So the scope of this invasion of privacy is enormous, and thats why I consider it possibly the gravest violation of the Arizona Consumer Fraud Act that we have ever seen in Arizona.
Arizona’s top prosecutor also said the state wants to protect businesses from being ripped off by the online retailer, alleging the company has copied the intellectual property of brands that include the Arizona Cardinals and Arizona State University.
In a statement early Wednesday, Temu denied the allegations.
We help consumers and families access quality products at affordable prices, the company said. We work to keep costs down and maintain reliable supply so people can meet their needs without stretching their budgets.
Attorneys general in Kentucky, Nebraska, and Arkansas have filed similar lawsuits in recent years.
There have been legislative efforts at the federal level to counter Chinas influence, especially when it comes to technology and intellectual property. But Mayes suggested there should be greater intervention by the federal government to protect consumers.
Mayes called the allegations against Temu more egregious than those that have been made against TikTok.
Through a forensic review, investigators in Arizona found the apps code has portions recognized by experts as malware or spyware and allows exfiltration of data from a users mobile device while concealing that the app is doing so. The review also found in the app large swaths of previously banned code from the platforms precursor version.
Mayes urged Arizonans to delete their Temu accounts, uninstall the app, and scan their devices for malware.
Sejal Govindarao, Associated Press
Hit-Boy has made chart-topping beats for the likes of Beyoncé, Jay Z, Nas and Doechii but behind the scenes he was stuck in a restrictive publishing deal. In this interview, Hit-Boy talks But now he’s in full control of his art and his story. He’ll also dive into his creative process and how he’s walking the line of AI and art.
When it comes to the battle of the prediction markets, which player are you betting on?
Fanatics, the global sports platform, is out to prove that sportsbooks will be the emerging industry’s biggest winners. Today, Fanatics is launching a stand-alone predictions market app designed to appeal to the fans who already buy its apparel and collectibles.
It’s the first of the major sportsbooks to move into prediction marketsand almost certainly won’t be the last.
Prediction markets are one of the top things that fans want to do these days, says Matt King, who leads betting and gaming for Fanatics. People want to be able to express their opinions on not just sports, but entertainment, culture, and everything under the sun.
King, the former CEO of FanDuel, oversaw Fanatics expansion into sports betting in 2023 with a sportsbook that now operates online in 22 states and Washington D.C. With prediction markets, King sees a way to give people the ability to speculate on different asset classes, different trades, all in one place. The demographic that is core to both Fanatics and prediction marketsmen in their 20s and 30s, who likely watch sports and trade cryptoare seeking the ability to profit if theyre right, King says.
Fanatics Markets will be available to users aged 21 and up in 10 states this afternoon, and an additional 14 by the end of the weekall places where Fanatics Sportsbook & Casino is currently unavailable. The trading categories featured in the app include live games, major league matchups, economic indicators, and elections. (Later releases will include crypto, pop culture, movies, and more.)
Fanatics designed the apps user experience, partnering with Crypto.com to operate the derivatives exchange that powers the underlying market and its pricing. The Android app will go live first, followed by iOS.
Prediction markets are an adaptation of traditional futures markets, which allow traders to buy and sell contracts associated with future events. Originally a hedging tool designed to protect farmers in the event of a poor harvest, the contracts have been repackaged as an internet-era way to bet on news.
Since winning greater regulatory clarity last year, prediction markets have been growing at a breakneck pace. Weekly trading volume now extends into the billions of dollars, with a significant portion of those dollars dedicated to sports. In late October, for example, industry pioneer Kalshi posted weekly notional trading volumes of more than $1 billion in sports, making the category its most popular by far.
For those arguing prediction markets are a positive because they can generate meaningful signal… volume on Kalshi is *overwhelmingly* just sports gambling: pic.twitter.com/jh1Z22DsRh— Jason Mikula (@mikulaja) December 2, 2025
Numbers like those have convinced sportsbooks to get off the sidelines.
If you look at the inherent customer base, the experience that we have in this business, its super exciting for us, Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin told CNBC last month. Customers want this product, and we want to give it to the customers.
GROWING COMPETITION
Meaningfully, prediction markets also give Fanatics an opportunity to try to leapfrog U.S. sports betting leaders FanDuel and DraftKings, which together control roughly 80% of the market. Fanatics sports betting operation generated $300 million in revenue in 2024; its market share, while growing, is in the single digits.
Structurally, prediction markets are vastly different to operate than sportsbooks, in which the operator serves as the house. But to fans, the underlying impulse is the same: putting money on a predicted outcome.
While Fanatics is making the first move, FanDuel has teamed up with CME Group and has a product in the works. DraftKings says it is watching how things unfold, according to CEO Jason Robins.
Stock and crypto trading platforms see prediction markets as an opportunity, too. Robinhood unveiled its prediction markets feature last fall, just in time for the presidential election. Leaked screenshots suggest that Coinbase, in pursuit of its goal of becoming an everything exchange, could unveil a prediction market offering, in partnership with Kalshi, later this month.
Meanwhile, Kalshi and Polymarket are attracting significant investor interest. In October, Polymarket raised up to $2 billion in strategic capital from ICE, parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, and Kalshi followed suit with a $1 billion round on Tuesday, led by Paradigm.
As Fanatics prepares to go head-to-head with existing exchanges, King says he sees Fanatics strong brand as an essential asset. We think a combination of the brand, a good product experience, and our rewards proposition means that well have a big chunk of customers that play with us, he says. But we don’t think its winner take all. We recognize it’s going to be a competitive industry.
PLACING BETS, AMASSING REWARDS
Fanatics has positioned itself at the center of sports fandom in recent years. In addition to selling licensed apparel, it now offers trading cards, collectibles, and memorabilia. Its live events arm produces the annual Fanatics Fest in New York City, which has become something of the Comic Con of sports. The companys Fanatics ONE rewards program, meanwhile, knits together these disparate arms, offering users rewards for betting and shopping.
In the coming months, King expects to integrate Fanatics Markets with Fanatics ONE. Users might earn rewards points the more they trade, for example.
You’ll also see traders, the more they trade, unlock benefits that are really only available to our best users, whether thats access to exclusive merch drops, or free tickets to Fanatics Fest, or other things like that, he says. It’s a formula weve seen work in the other categories that we operate in, and so we know there’s a huge overlap between the customer demographic, trading and prediction markets, and some of our other core businesses.
Spots is emerging as a prediction markets linchpin because of the frequency and regularity of the events it comprises. Month in, month out, theres always something going on, says Travis McGhee, global head of predictions at Crypto.com.
Prior to its Fanatics collaboration, Crypto.com launched sports event trading last December. The trading platform also announced a prediction markets partnership with Underdog, a fantasy and sports gaming company, in September.
But even sports-first Fanatics sees potential in a broader realm of trading possibilities.
Sports is the most intuitive [category] to net-new users, King says of prediction markets. But he expects to see sports fans expand their trading activity to new categories as they get more comfortable with the format. If you think about the papal election, when there were a lot of Chicagoans rooting for our man, that was incredibly popular on a relative basis, he says. And I think if that were to happen again today, it would be orders of magnitude more popular, because you have so many more users that are on these platforms and aware that they can now express an opinion.
Sports leagues have their offseasons. But if Fanatics has its way, there will always be a reason for fans to log on and put money down.
Flying often first requires crawling, in a car, in slow or stopped traffic that eventually treats you to a view of airplanes soaring away from your ground-anchored vehicular misery. After decades of hype about flying cars, the past 10 years have seen a pivot to something of a car-plane hybrid: an electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft that provides taxi-like service.
In conceptall we have to go by, since the only way to watch an eVTOL speeding somebody to LAX is in a computer-rendered videothis can look appealing. But after years of promising services that have yet to take off, eVTOL startups need to go beyond impressing investors. They need to prove to regulators that they can deliver safe, reliable service in already-crowded airspace. And then they need to earn the business of paying customers who have other transportation choices. Their basic bet that enough people will spend potentially large sums of money to save time is not crazy. But its hardly a sure thing, either.
To understand the gap between a private demo and public service, consider Joby Aviation, a Santa Cruz, California, firm that says its within months of launching commercial operations. At Novembers Web Summit conference in Lisbon, Portugal, the company pitched its vision for the eVTOL future. This is not just a rendering, this is not just an idea, vouched Eric Allison, chief product officer.
Joby Aviations Eric Allison at Web Summit 2025 in Lisbon, Portugal [Photo By Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile for Web Summit via Getty Images]
But the first use case he laid out did not involve whisking people to San Francisco International Airport. Instead, he talked up how Jobys six-rotor eVTOL aircraftwhich seats four passengers and a pilot, can hit 200 mph, and offers a maximum range of 150 miles on a chargecould replace the driving commute he endured from Mountain View to downtown San Francisco. That trip that took me one and a half hours on a daily basis could maybe take 15 minutes if we don’t go on the road but we fly, he said.
Outside of the opening credits of Futurama, however, the idea of large numbers of people packing into air taxis to get to a crowded business district doesnt scale. Plus, we already know how to upgrade a commute like that: not with expensive aircraft transporting a few people each but with fast and frequent train service. Like, for example, the quick, quiet electric-powered trains now plying Caltrain routes up and down the peninsula.
Product-market fits
Allison expanded on Jobys plans for service to airportsdestinations that already feature landing facilities and have traffic spread more evenly throughout the dayand its partnerships with Delta Air Lines, Virgin Atlantic, and All Nippon Airways (ANA). Predicting passenger service in Dubai next year, Allison emphasized that Joby isnt flying vaporware: This is something that we are executing on.
In an interview after his presentation, he offered a more grounded version of Jobys pitch for its S4 battery-electric air taxi. The companys ambitions for its eVTOL do include speedy aerial commutes for the well-heeled, something Joby is already exploring via the Blade Air Mobility helicopter service it bought in August in a transaction valued at $125 million.
In November, Blade announced the start of weekday helicopter commuting flights between Westchester County Airport and Manhattan at fares of $125 to $225 per ride. Allison said the company aims to beat those rates with its eVTOL service and instead roughly match Uber Black pricing on a per-seat basis. We think there’s a ton of potential in most of the highly congested big cities, not just in the U.S. but around the world, he said.
Uber isnt merely a comparison point but a partner; in 2021, Joby bought the ride-hail companys Uber Elevate division while Uber deepened its investment in Joby from $50 million to $125 million and agreed to integrate Jobys future services into its apps.
Jobys business model doesnt assume software will replace a human pilot, although Allison allowed that in the long run, we think autonomy plays a big role in this.
Competing costs
But airport trips constitute the bulk of Jobys pitch. On that front, Allison acknowledged that the company will have to compete with existing tansit options. Thats a reality often left out of eVTOL pitches that pretend single-seat airport rides like Chicagos CTA Blue Line to OHare, San Franciscos BART to SFO, and Washingtons Metro to Dulles International Airport dont already offer traffic-immune service between city centers and international airports at fares as low as $2.50. We’re not looking to replace public transport, Allison said. Were creating a new option that has unique features that you can’t get through any of the other modes.
[Photo: Joby Aviation]
First among them is speed, but theres also the view that Blade passengers enjoy today: You just get this fantastic view of the skyline as you’re flying down the river and swinging over to go to the airport, Allison said. For what Blade chargesits site lists fares from $195 to $295 for flights from Manhattan to JFKthat view had better be exceptional.
Uber, meanwhile, quoted about $145 for an Uber Black ride from midtown Manhattan to JFK and $100 for UberX early on the Tuesday afternoon of Thanksgiving week. Taking New Yorks subway or the Long Island Rail Road to the AirTrain that links those transit systems to JFK (a two-seat itinerary less convenient and pricier than the airport-rail options in Chicago, D.C., or San Francisco) costs $11.40 to $15.50 for most riders.
Infrastructure weaknesses
Efficient eVTOL rides will demand a long series of sign-offs from local infrastructure operators and authorities. The easiest looks to be agreements with airports to streamline a passenger connection apart from the usual passenger entrances. Joby is working with Delta and other airline partners on that, Allison said. He added that Joby is assuming airport transfers will need time for travelers to clear security at their departing terminal. Its eVTOL, meanwhile, will need time for a quick, 10-minute battery charge.
Joby will also need to build out vertiports for its aircraft across its target markets, which will be a lot more involved than clearing space for its operations at airports. A lawsuit the company filed against its rival Archer Aviation offered a peek at one part of that strategy: exclusive deals with property developers, one of which Joby alleges its former executive George Kivork disrupted by taking sensitive data about that deal to Archer.
Archer denied the allegations in a statement from Eric Lentell, chief legal and strategy officer, that read, in part: Joby alleges we used their trade secrets to win a deal with a developer but the reality is that Archer has no deal with this developer and Mr. Kivork did not bring any Joby confidential information to Archer. Joby, in turn, declined to comment beyond the details of its complaint, filed in Santa Cruz Superior Court on November 19.
The regulatory road ahead
Getting this far has not been cheap for Joby. On November 5, the firm reported a Q3 loss of $401 million, versus $144 million in the year-ago quarter, with $978 million in cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments.
Securing U.S. regulatory approval of its eVTOL will clear the companys path to revenue service. On the day of its earnings release, it announced that it had begun powered-up testing of the first aircraft built to the final design that the Federal Aviation Administration will need to certify. Joby aims to have test flights, conducted by its own and FAA pilots, start later this year. Allison declined to predict when the FAA will issue a type certification for its eVTOL.
The company is exploring ways to launch pre-commercial operations in Dubai ahead of that certification. In the U.S. it plans to apply for a new eVTOL pilot-operations program announced by the FAA in Septemberthe latest in a series of moves by the air-safety agency to adapt its regulations for this new category of aircraft.
[Photo: Joby Aviation]
But overall, Jobys plans envisage FAA certification
A baby and his family dog sit across from each other in a podcast studio.“Welcome to the talking baby podcast,” says the infant, wearing headphones and sounding like a deep-voiced radio broadcaster. “On today’s episode, we’ll be talking to the weird-looking person who lives at my house.”So begins a series of humorous interactions between two characters animated by artificial intelligence that’s attracted millions of views on social media. They’re a nod to the 1989 movie “Look Who’s Talking” but produced in a matter of hours and without a multimillion-dollar Hollywood budget.AI helped do all of that, but it didn’t craft the punch lines. It’s a relief to comedian Jon Lajoie, who made the videos, that AI chatbots just aren’t “inherently funny.”“It can’t write comedy,” said Lajoie. “It can’t do any of that.”For now, at least, they won’t take his job.Lajoie’s viral videos have gained him attention as an AI-adopting entertainer that’s he’s not entirely comfortable with as he grapples with what all this means for the future of his very human craft of making people laugh.King Willonius is not feeling so cautious. His first big hit was an AI-generated song called “BBL Drizzy” that made fun of rapper Drake during the height of his feud with Kendrick Lamar. He’s since moved into making AI video parodies like “I’m McLovin It (Popeye’s Diss Song)” and “I Want My Barrel Back (Cracker Barrel song).”“It’s very similar to somebody who’s writing for The Onion or SNL,” Willonius said. “I try to find out, OK, what’s my comedic angle on this particular topic? And then I’ll generate a video from that.”He starts with writing his own notes on an idea, then refines it with a chatbot, and puts that language known as a prompt into AI tools that can generate imagery, video, music and voices. The key, he says, is to keep iterating.But he wouldn’t just ask it for a joke Willonius says most chatbot-generated comedy lacks the “nuances or complexities that it takes for jokes to really land.”A scholar of comedy, Michelle Robinson, said “a lot of the stuff that I’ve seen AI produce is corny as hell.”“It does seem fluent in the basic grammar of jokes, but sometimes they’re slightly off,” said Robinson, a professor of American studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. “They may be moderately funny, but I think they’re really missing an important element of what makes us laugh.”What are they missing? She’s not totally sure, except that most good jokes are a little edgy or dangerous and chatbots can’t seem to calibrate “whatever provocation is in the joke to the moment that we’re living in.”Caleb Warren, a professor who studies marketing and consumer psychology at the University of Arizona, said that leaves comedy writers with an opportunity to make use of tools that can’t completely outsource their skills.“The ideas that are driving the humor are coming from the human comedian,” but the AI tools can help them execute and illustrate them, Warren said.Willonius was a struggling comedian and screenwriter who began experimenting with AI during Hollywood’s actor and writer strikes in 2023.“I leaned all the way into AI because I didn’t know what else to do with my free time,” he said. “I was doing everything I could to try to break into Hollywood. And once the writers’ strike happened, that kind of shut that down. I started to learn these AI tools and get really good at them and started to cultivate an audience.”While Willonius saw an opening, the rise of generative AI has stoked division and posed challenges to other professional comedians.Sarah Silverman joined book authors in suing leading chatbot makers, alleging they infringed the copyright of her “The Bedwetter” memoir. The daughter of the late Robin Williams called it “gross” and “maddening” when users of OpenAI’s AI video generator Sora conjured up realistic “deepfakes” of the beloved actor to churn out what she described as “horrible TikTok slop puppeteering.”“You’re not making art, you’re making disgusting, overprocessed hot dogs out of the lives of human beings, out of the history of art and music, and then shoving them down someone else’s throat hoping they’ll give you a little thumbs-up and like it,” Zelda Williams wrote in October.And the estate of legendary comic George Carlin last year settled a lawsuit against podcasters who purportedly cloned his voice to make a fake hourslong comedy special.Comics have also relished mocking AI tools. A recent “South Park” episode called “Sora Not Sorry” had a bumbling police detective investigate a scourge of fake videos.Lajoie, known for his work on the TV series “The League” and comic songs on YouTube, tried to see what would happen if he asked ChatGPT to help craft a bizarre movie script idea. He said it gave him something “super boring” about “grandma’s dentures and a talking raccoon.”“That level of human creativity, it can’t mimic yet or at least maybe I’m not great at prompting,” he said. Instead, he found it useful to cheaply animate ideas he would otherwise never have pursued such as the talking baby, birds wearing jeans, or a podcasting Jesus Christ interviewing an Easter Bunny who’s never heard of him.The prominent venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz invited Lajoie and Willonius to exhibit their video creations this fall at a new AI gallery space in Manhattan, part of a promotion of AI creativity tool startups that the firm invests in.Willonius obliged. Lajoie ended up bowing out, after an interview with The Associated Press in which he voiced doubts about what he described as AI’s “Napster phase.” The music-sharing website shuttered in the early 2000s after the record industry and rock band Metallica sued over copyright violations.The investment firm’s co-founder, Marc Andreessen, has been bullish about AI’s potential to bring new life into filmmaking and comedy. On a November podcast, he blamed Hollywood opposition to its adoption on “woke activists (who) have picked up AI as the new thing they’re going to agitate about.” He compared it to resistance to computer graphics in movies before they became commonplace.Lajoie said he shared his early AI video experiments with a few friends who are “anti-AI; real, real, anti-AI” and they were surprised by how well the sketches retained Lajoie’s own comedic voice.He insists he’s no AI expert, just “a creative person who can figure out how to make two characters talk to each other.” But even editing the sketches requires understanding comedic timing, and he has no interest in ceding tht part to a machine.“The thing with comedy is it’s so related to performance, delivery and point of view,” Lajoie said. “Do AIs have a point of view? They can grab a few points of view from different people.”“And when it does have a point of view, I think that’s when we all should be afraid for all of the reasons that the Terminator has taught us,” he said.
Matt O’Brien, AP Technology Writer
