For generations, businesses were built on an extractive model: take resources, create products, generate profit, repeat. It was efficient but not enduring. With todays extreme weather events, resource scarcity, social unrest, and declining employee sense of well-being, the cracks in that model are increasingly hard to ignore.
Simply put: Extraction is no longer sustainable. Humans long for what is real and enduring.
When I look to the natural world, I see a different blueprint for our future: regeneration. Healthy ecosystems don’t just survive; they replenish, adapt, and thrive.
At Rodale Institute, where we have championed regenerative organic agriculture for 78 years, we see this every day in the soil beneath our feet. Our founders son, Robert Rodale, defined regeneration as an innate, natural capacity for renewal and healing.
Its time for business leaders to take notice. The future of businessand our societydepends on our ability to move from extraction to regeneration.
How businesses can embrace regenerative practices
Regenerative thinking is more than a philosophy for farming; it is a framework for leadership and enterprise. It calls on us to ask ourselves how we create systems that renew themselves, including the human beings who work within those systems. How can our companies generate not only financial profit but also ecological, social, and human resilience?
In agriculture, regenerative organic practices rebuild topsoil, sequester carbon, and increase biodiversity, leading to healthier soil, healthier ecosystems, and healthier people. In business, regenerative practices can similarly replenish the human and natural resources we rely on. Organizations that focus on the well-being of their employees, invest in sustainable supply chains, and build trust with communities are laying the foundation for long-term success in a volatile world.
The top 500 U.S. companies, with their scale, influence, and capital, are uniquely positioned to go beyond sustainability and embrace regenerative practices by reimagining how they use profits, design products, and engage with place. By reinvesting a portion of their earnings into regenerative capital, such as funding ecological restoration projects, employee wellness initiatives, community-owned enterprises, or nature-based solutions, they can shift from extractive profit models to ones that actively repair and renew.
At the product level, adopting circular economy principles, like designing for durability, reuse, and offering products as a service, helps eliminate waste and align business success with long-term environmental health. Additionally, through place-based stewardship, companies can partner with local communities to restore ecosystems around their facilities, support indigenous land practices, or co-create green spaces. Together, these approaches move large enterprises beyond sustainability toward becoming active agents of regeneration across economic, material, and ecological systems.
Even small organizations, though limited in scale, have a unique ability to embed regenerative practices into their everyday operations in deeply meaningful ways. By cultivating a living employee cultureoffering flexible schedules, well-being stipends, or regeneration days for rest or community servicethey can foster workplaces where people thrive, not just perform. Sourcing from local, ethical suppliers, such as nearby farms, artisans, or BIPOC-owned businesses, helps regenerate regional economies and ecosystems while reducing environmental impact. Even seemingly small actions like upcycling materials, composting, or collaborating with local artists and nonprofits to reuse waste can transform byproducts into creative value. These practices not only restore ecological and social systems but also build more resilient, purpose-driven businesses from the ground up.
Leaders in regenerative work
We already see this shift in action. Companies like Patagonia, Citizens of Humanity, Dr. Bronners, and SIMPLi are embracing regenerative principles and attracting loyal customers, retaining top talent, and building resilience against supply chain disruptions and environmental risks. They are moving beyond quarterly earnings to measure impact in terms of stakeholder well-being, carbon reduction, and community health. They are finding that purpose and profit are not mutually exclusive; they reinforce each other.
This shift requires courage. Regenerative systems do not offer instant returns. They require a willingness to invest patiently, to think beyond the next quarter, and to cultivate resilience rather than extract efficiency. Just as healthy soil yields stronger crops year after year, regenerative businesses are more likely to weather the storms, literal and metaphorical, that the future will inevitably bring. Regeneration is about playing the long game.
Rooted in regeneration
At Rodale Institute, our mission is simple, yet critical: soil health is human health. I believe the same equation applies to business. Healthy organizations rooted in regeneration will create healthier economies, healthier societies, and a healthier planet.
The future will belong to leaders who recognize that regeneration is not a buzzword; it is a survival strategy. Its time to ask ourselves: Are we depleting the resources we depend on, or are we cultivating their renewal? Are we building companies that will outlast us, or ones that will collapse under their own weight?
The choice is ours. The time is now.
Jeff Tkach is CEO of Rodale Institute.
In an age obsessed with the new and the next, creating sustained business success is an art form but a hard craft to master. The headlines tell the story. Starbucks is on its third CEO in five years. HBO changed its name, then changed it back again. Nike is slowly returning to form after three years of share decline.
As an Innosight report wisely noted almost a decade ago, Half of S&P 500 companies are expected to be replaced over the next 10 years.
So, when results falter, how do legacy brands transform? What separates those that rise again from those that fade away? To find out, we spoke to CMOs from a rare group of brands that have won the hearts of multiple generations. What follows is a distilled playbook plus sharp provocations to guide your own transformation.
1. Only the sharp survive
The longer the legacy, the sharper a brand must be in consumers minds. But time blurs brand meaning. What starts as a clear idea becomes diluted by layers of well-intentioned additions until the brand loses its edge.
As Jonathan Mildenhall, CMO of Rocket, a lender with 40 years of mortgage expertise, puts it: One of the hardest disciplines to practice is the company-wide skill of corporate editing. The truth is that over time and across markets, people add things on (new and new and new) but no one ever takes the time to sunset the old. Thats how brands become bloated and lose their focus.
At Starbucks, CEO Brian Niccol famously cut 30% of menu items, not just for efficiency, but to get Back to Starbucks. The aim? Sharpen the brands identity by subtracting what no longer served.
Question: What could your brand let go of to become sharper in peoples minds?
2. Drive a reappraisal, not a reinvention
Reposition at your peril. Reinvention is risky; reappraisal is powerful. The most successful
transformations we heard about began not by changing the brands fundamental role, but by finding contemporary ways to express its enduring truth.
As PepsiCo CMO Mark Kirkham explains, Change the how, but dont change the what.
PepsiCos core benefits of instant refreshment, enjoyment, and fun havent changed. But with the return of the Pepsi Challenge, the brand tapped into deep memory structures to drive trials of Pepsis zero-sugar variants and create cultural reappraisal.
At Calvin Klein, CMO Jonathan Bottomley revived the brands cultural resonance without
moving it off. Strategic partnerships with figures like Jungkook and Jeremy Allen White
brought the brands key products and advertising iconography to a new generation. As
Bottomley says: The path to getting the brand back on top was to make that iconic impact on culture feel very contemporary.
Question: What cultural communities could viscerally connect with your brands core equities to drive a reappraisal?
3. History offers a map to the future, aka there is gold in the well
Treated with intention, legacy isnt baggage; its a strategic advantage. A brands past is a pattern-recognition engine, a repository of whats worked and what hasnt.
When Jonathan Mildenhall took over as Coca-Colas VP of global advertising, his first move was to dive into the archive. Ninety percent of the headwinds that Coca-Cola was facing had been dealt with in the past, by the brilliant marketers that had come before, he explains. That insight led to the Open Happiness campaign, which reignited the brands connection with a new generation.
At Bacardi, CMO Ned Duggan followed a similar path. By revisiting past activations and
aligning them with contemporary culture, he found fresher versions of what had already
succeeded. There are very few new ideas on old brands that someone hasnt thought of, says Duggan. You can either find the ones that worked and make them fresh or roll the dice.
Question: When was the last time you went back to the well to find your brand gold?
4. Transformation is an inside job.
Brands dont transform by changing ads. They transform by changing organizations.
Legacy brands often chase external reinvention through new logos and campaigns, before aligning internally. But if the brand evolution doesnt live inside the business, impacting culture and commercial planning, then it wont land outside it. The key is to make the brand genuinely valuable for other leaders and the challenges they are facing.
At the BBC, Chief Brand Officer Charl Bassil views brand as a key internal decision-making tool: The brand is a key lens through which to arbitrage decisions. It speeds up execution by resolving internal tensions.
At Bacardi, the brand mind map became a daily reference point. Duggan recalls: It guided everything. We looked at it every day. Internal clarity built external coherence.
Question: How can you give your brand an influential role in decision making across your business?
5. Customers give you courage
Transforming a legacy business means facing internal resistance. Every step forward comes with tension. What to keep, what to change. Its a tightrope walk. Every year Im told you cant do that, it will hurt TIMEs brand, says TIME Inc. Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs. Yet we have to take risks in informed ways and that does make a lot of people anxious.
That anxiety is normal. Informed risk is non-negotiable. But bringing in customer voices can turn hesitation into momentum.
At Visa, former CMO Lynne Biggar led a sweeping listening tour. She and her team spoke directly with thousands of people. We didnt sit in our offices and get a research company to do it all, she says. They talked to customers and noncustomers. Small business owners. Government officials. These voices became a North Star. They gave clarity. They inspired confidence. And they helped Visa elevate its brand across consumer payments, B2B money movement and new payment flows while imbuing a broader purpose.
Customer insight didnt just inform the work. It gave the team the courage to act. And the organization the confidence to follow.
Question: Are you listening widely enough to act bravely?
6. Soft power builds lasting change
Startups run on founder energy. Legacy brands require a different mode of leadership.
Transforming an iconic brand isnt about charging in. Its about building coalitions, editing wisely and earning trust. You need to come in ready to edit, not to conquer, says Duggan.
When youre trying to evolve an organization of tens of thousands, many of whom have
devoted decades to the very things youre now seeking to change, its not brute force that prevails, but the uniting influence of soft power.
p>Charl Bassil sums it up: This is not the job for heroes. It is a job for team-builders and translatorsbut the pleasure of breathing new life into something that you find meaning in, and that you love, makes the job that much more fulfilling and meaningful.
Question: Are you building an internal culture that can sustain transformation? Or one that depends on your personal energy?
Transformation is not a one-off fireworkit is a constant campfire
Icons need to feel owned and distinctive, but they also need to be constantly updated, says Calvin Kleins Bottomley, reflecting on what it takes to stay on top in the world of fashion. Its perfectly phrased advice for all brand icons, whether in fashion, food, finance, or beyond.
Icons are in constant motion. For the CMOs of tomorrows icons, the transformation work is never done. Many companies can create a single pop of cultural relevance through a one-off campaign. The difference with the great stay-ups is that they inspire the entire organization.
True transformation means tending a constant campfire. It means building and sustaining momentum, not relying on occasional big fireworks.
Because staying on top means never standing still.
Neil Barrie is global CEO and cofounder and Sara Tate is transformation partner at
21st Century Brand.
Although there are now 55 female CEOs among the top 500 U.S. companies, female representation is still only 11%.
A recent McKinsey & Co. article, The Inner Game of Women CEOs, explores how women who reach the top navigate the mental, emotional, and relational polarities of leadership. How do they maintain confidence and humility while asserting their bold vision and operational grit without self-erasure?
Women often lead differently because they have to. Their leadership isnt just a matter of style or preferenceits survival. And that reality doesnt just shape how women show up as CEOs; it reshapes how they communicate, both internally and externally.
Female leaders face a double bind
Female leaders are consistently caught in what sociologists call the double bind. They are penalized for being too assertive while also dismissed for not being assertive enough. According to McKinsey, women are more than twice as likely as men to be described as overly ambitious, even as they are equally as likely to be described as lacking ambition. Similarly, a Textio report on job feedback shows women receive 22% more feedback on their personality than men and 30% more exaggerated feedback than men. The gap is even greater for BIPOC women.
For a female CEO, communication is not just a leadership tool; its a tightrope to walk. Every sentence, keynote, or town hall must project vision and conviction, but not aggression; authenticity, but not overexposure; strength, but not dominance. Sound familiar? Revisit America Ferreras epic monologue in the Barbie movie.
Its a balancing act few men are forced to consider, much less master.
Visibility versus relatability
In high-stakes leadership, communication isnt about charisma; its about trust. Women CEOs often default to a relational, purpose-driven approach in their messaging, using we more than I, contextualizing decisions with values, and inviting dialogue over top-down decree. This isnt weakness. Its often a strategic choice to preempt bias and build credibility.
But theres a risk. A too-collaborative tone can undercut authority in the eyes of boards or investors still primed for the Hero Archetype. On the other hand, an assertive female executive can be misinterpreted as cold or arrogant.
This paradox means women CEOs must become highly intentional communicators, code-switching not just between audiences, but between their identities.
Culture setting through language
The best women CEOs use communication not just to lead, but to recalibrate expectations of what leadership looks and feels like.
They narrate change. They humanize decisions. They model curiosity as a strength. And often, they do the extra work of translating their leadership moves, explaining not just what decisions they made, but why. This transparency builds alignment and trust but also requires time and emotional labor that their male peers are rarely asked to invest.
Internally, this may require women CEOs to spend time:
Holding stakeholder briefings that address business outcomes and cultural implications.
Articulating a clear vision with space for feedback and co-creation.
Saying I dont have all the answers, not as a sign of weakness, but as an indication of leadership maturity.
Male CEOs are rarely expected to take these extra steps.
Redefining the CEO voice
Platforms like LinkedIn, Substack, and executive podcasts create room for women CEOs to tell their own stories on their own terms. This is crucial. While many still face biased gatekeeping in traditional media, digital platforms offer more nuance, depth, and control.
We see the most effective women leaders using communications to:
Elevate purpose over personal brand.
Lean into values without becoming tokenized.
Speak candidly about failure, ambiguity, or systemic change.
Done right, this kind of external communication doesnt just enhance reputation; it redefines what executive presence looks like in the public arena.
The Takeaway
The leadership playbook is different for women than men because the expectations and penalties are different. The best women CEOs have developed an inner game of resilience, clarity, and purpose, not because they wanted to, but because they had to.
What the McKinsey article illuminates, and what we must continue to say out loud, is this: Women are not thriving despite their different approach, theyre thriving because of it. And how they communicateas translators, narrators, and meaning-makersis central to their success.
As more women take the helm, lets not ask them to conform to outdated norms. Lets rewrite the norms, starting with how we define strong leadership and how we choose to talk about it.
Tyler Perry is co-CEO of Mission North.
Millions of individuals and families across the U.S. are trapped in a vicious cycle. Financial concerns like inflation and housing costs are harming their mental health, and the rising cost of healthcareanother major concern for householdsis preventing them from getting the care they need. That makes all of their health problems worse, and the cycle keeps spinning faster and faster.
That was the key insight from our recent survey on mental and financial health we conducted with Talker Research. About 70% of U.S. adults said their financial anxiety is at an all-time high, and 20% reported a decline in their mental health over the past year.
If that weren’t alarming enough, roughly 30% of people said their mental health had been negatively impacted by the cost of healthcare, or by the difficulty of accessing healthcare for themselves or a loved one. Most discouraging, despite the evident need, only 14% of people were currently seeing a therapist or psychiatrist. The top reason people cited for not getting help? Affordability, by a wide margin.
Mental health access barriers
What is the biggest challenge preventing you from seeking professional care for mental health?
Source: Included Health / Talker Research (2025)
Costs are rising
This tangle of financial anxiety, cost-related access barriers and deteriorating mental health are a crisis in the making for all of us. When people forgo needed care or medications due to costas 36% of Americans recently havetheir physical and mental health problems tend to get worse, which makes them more likely to end up in the emergency room or a hospital bed.
This cycle is an especially acute problem in the commercial insurance market, which largely comprises employers providing health benefits to America’s workforce (158 million people). Thanks in part to surging hospital prices, per-capita healthcare spending has shot up faster in the commercial market than in Medicare or Medicaidand the cost trend is only getting steeper.
Cumulative growth in per capita spending by insurance type since 2008
Source: KFF (2025)
Employee benefits
Rising costs are trickling down to individuals and families through higher premiums and copays, even though employers, to their credit, have absorbed most of the increases in recent years. In fact, in an effort to support their workforce and rein in costs, many employers have upped their investment in a wide range of health benefitsoften at little or no cost to employeesto close gaps in care and guide their people toward high-quality, cost-effective support. These benefits range from mental health apps, platforms for telehealth and chronic condition management, navigation services, and much, much more.
While some of these offerings do help individuals get healthier and generate cost savings, it’s clear they haven’t done enough to reverse the broader affordability trend. How come?
Engagement is one problem. Too few employees are aware of their benefits, enroll in them, or stick with them long enough to impact their health or financial outcomes. Employee engagement is always an uphill battle, and the lack of integration in healthcare only makes it harder. Mental, physical, and financial health can’t be addressed in isolation, as the recent survey findings show. But most tools and services arent connected, making it nearly impossible for individuals to experience a seamless journey that supports all of their healthcare needs.
A bigger, related problem is the fee-for-service payment model. Engagement alonegetting people to use more serviceswont improve outcomes if the care isnt timely or high quality. In the commercial market, a shift toward value-based care and contracting is helping employers, employees, and healthcare partners align incentives to drive better clinical and financial results for everyone.
What people really need, what theyre missing most, is personalized, all-in-one healthcare that provides integrated medical and mental health support, care coordination, benefits guidance, and help with billing and claims, all of it connected by empathetic humans who are looking out for the whole person. Mind, body, wallet. Taking care of any one of these dimensions of healthand bringing down costs for everyonerequires taking care of all three.
Owen Tripp is cofounder and CEO of Included Health.
High Noon has recalled certain variety 12 packs due to a potentially serious labeling error. The packs include cans that were labeled as Celsius energy drinks but in fact contained vodka seltzer, according to a recall notice posted this week by the the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
There are obviously quite a few problems with an energy drink containing vodka, the least of which being that most people would likely agree that these beverages are meant for different parts of the day. The recall applies to High Noon “Beach Variety” 12 packs shipped between July 21 and July 23, many of which contain cans that were labeled Celsius Astro Vibe energy drink, Sparkling Blue Razz edition.
According to the FDA, consumers should check their individual Celsius cans to make sure they dont contain lot codes “L CCB 02JL25 2:55” to “L CCB 02JL25 3:11.”
While the two brands are not owned by the same companyHigh Noon is owned by E. & J. Gallo and Celsius is owned by PepsiCothe mix-up happened at a packaging supply facility that works with both brands.
The recall was initiated after High Noon discovered that a shared packaging supplier mistakenly shipped empty Celsius cans to High Noon,” the notice explains.
The product was shipped to eight states:
Florida
Michigan
New York
Ohio
Oklahoma
South Carolina
Virginia
Wisconsin
Reached for comment, a representative from E. & J. Gallo referred Fast Company to a press release and explained that the recall is limited to products from two production lots. However, the representative could not provide the exact number of impacted cases and cans.
We are working with the FDA, retailers and distributors to proactively manage the recall to ensure the safety and well-being of our consumers,” E. & J. Gallo said in a statement.
A representative for Celsius did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Both the FDA notice and the press release shared images of the impacted Celsius cans, which have silver lids as opposed to their normal black lids. While no illnesses or adverse events have been reported, High Noon is advising consumers to dispose of these specific 12 packs or mislabeled Celsius cans.
For refunds and more information on next steps, customers can contact consumerrelations@highnoonvodka.com.
The United States will impose a 25% tariff on goods from India, plus an additional import tax because of Indias purchasing of Russian oil, President Donald Trump said Wednesday.
India is our friend, Trump said on his Truth Social platform, but its tariffs on U.S. products are far too high.
The Republican president added India buys military equipment and oil from Russia, enabling Moscow’s war in Ukraine. As a result, he intends to charge an additional penalty starting on Friday as part of the launch of his administrations revised tariffs on multiple countries.
Trump told reporters on Wednesday the two countries were still in the middle of negotiations on trade despite the tariffs slated to begin in a few days.
Were talking to India now,” the president said. “Well see what happens.
The Indian government said Wednesday it’s studying the implications of Trump’s tariffs announcement.
India and the U.S. have been engaged in negotiations on concluding a fair, balanced and mutually beneficial bilateral trade agreement over the last few months, and New Delhi remains committed to that objective, India’s Trade Ministry said in a statement.
Trump’s view on tariffs
Trump’s announcement comes after a slew of negotiated trade frameworks with the European Union, Japan, the Philippines and Indonesia all of which he said would open markets for American goods while enabling the U.S. to raise tax rates on imports. The president views tariff revenues as a way to help offset the budget deficit increases tied to his recent income tax cuts and generate more domestic factory jobs.
While Trump has effectively wielded tariffs as a cudgel to reset the terms of trade, the economic impact is uncertain as most economists expect a slowdown in U.S. growth and greater inflationary pressures as some of the costs of the taxes are passed along to domestic businesses and consumers.
There’s also the possibility of more tariffs coming on trade partners with Russia as well as on pharmaceutical drugs and computer chips.
Kevin Hassett, director of the White House National Economic Council, said Trump and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer would announce the Russia-related tariff rates on India at a later date.
Tariffs face European pushback
Trump’s approach of putting a 15% tariff on America’s long-standing allies in the EU is also generating pushback, possibly causing European partners as well as Canada to seek alternatives to U.S. leadership on the world stage.
French President Emmanuel Macron said Wednesday in the aftermath of the trade framework that Europe does not see itself sufficiently as a global power, saying in a cabinet meeting that negotiations with the U.S. will continue as the agreement gets formalized.
To be free, you have to be feared, Macron said. We have not been feared enough. There is a greater urgency than ever to accelerate the European agenda for sovereignty and competitiveness.
Seeking a deeper partnership with India
Washington has long sought to develop a deeper partnership with New Delhi, which is seen as a bulwark against China.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has established a good working relationship with Trump, and the two leaders are likely to further boost cooperation between their countries. When Trump in February met with Modi, the U.S. president said that India would start buying American oil and natural gas.
The new tariffs on India could complicate its goal of doubling bilateral trade with the U.S. to $500 billion by 2030. The two countries have had five rounds of negotiations for a bilateral trade agreement. While U.S. has been seeking greater market access and zero tariff on almost all its exports, India has expressed reservations on throwing open sectors such as agriculture and dairy, which employ a bulk of the countrys population for livelihood, Indian officials said.
The Census Bureau reported that the U.S. ran a $45.8 billion trade imbalance in goods with India last year, meaning it imported more than it exported.
At a population exceeding 1.4 billion people, India is the worlds largest country and a possible geopolitical counterbalance to China. India and Russia have close relations, and New Delhi has not supported Western sanctions on Moscow over its war in Ukraine.
The new tariffs could put India at a disadvantage in the U.S. market relative to Vietnam, Bangladesh and, possibly, China, said Ajay Sahai, director general of the Federation of Indian Export Organisations.
We are back to square one as Trump hasnt spelled out what the penalties would be in addition to the tariff, Sahai said. The demand for Indian goods is bound to be hit.
Josh Boak and Rajesh Roy, Associated Press
Associated Press writers Samuel Petrequin and Darlene Superville contributed to this report.
If you read the typical 2025 mass layoff notice from a tech industry CEO, you might think that artificial intelligence cost workers their jobs.
The reality is more complicated, with companies trying to signal to Wall Street that they’re making themselves more efficient as they prepare for broader changes wrought by AI.
A new report Wednesday from career website Indeed says tech job postings in July were down 36% from their early 2020 levels, with AI one but not the most obvious factor in stalling a rebound.
ChatGPTs debut in late 2022 also corresponded with the end of a pandemic-era hiring binge, making it hard to isolate AI’s role in the hiring doldrums that followed.
Were kind of in this period where the tech job market is weak, but other areas of the job market have also cooled at a similar pace, said Brendon Bernard, an economist at the Indeed Hiring Lab. Tech job postings have actually evolved pretty similarly to the rest of the economy, including relative to job postings where there really isnt that much exposure to AI.
The template for tech CEO layoff notices in 2025 includes an AI pivot
That nuance is not always clear from the last six months of tech layoff emails, which often include a nod to AI in addition to expressions of sympathy.
When he announced mass layoffs earlier this year, Workday CEO Carl Eschenbach invited employees to consider the bigger picture: Companies everywhere are reimagining how work gets done, and the increasing demand for AI has the potential to drive a new era of growth for Workday.”
Autodesk CEO Andrew Anagnost explained that a need to shift resources to accelerate investments in AI was one of the reasons the company had to cut 1,350, or about 9%, of workers.
The Why We’re Doing This section of CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz’s announcement of 5% job cuts said the cybersecurity company needed to double down on AI investments to accelerate execution and efficiency.
AI flattens our hiring curve, and helps us innovate from idea to product faster, Kurtz wrote.
It’s not just U.S. companies. In India, tech giant Tata Consultancy Services recently characterized its 12,000 layoffs, or 2% of its workforce, as part of a shift to a Future-Ready organization that would be realigning its workforce and deploying AI at scale for our clients and ourselves.
Even the Japanese parent company of Indeed and Glassdoor has cited an AI shift in its notice of 1,300 layoffs at the job search and workplace review sites.
AI spending, not replacement, is a more common factor
Microsoft, which is scheduled to release its fourth-quarter earnings Wednesday, has announced layoffs of about 15,000 workers this year even as its profits have soared.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told employees last week the layoffs were weighing heavily on him but also positioned them as an opportunity to reimagine the company’s mission for an AI era.
Promises of a leaner approach have been welcomed on Wall Street, especially from tech giants that are trying to justify huge amounts of capital spending to pay for the data centers, chips and other components required to power AI technology.
Its this sort of double-edged sword restructuring that I think a lot of tech giants are encountering in this age of AI, where they have to find the right balance between maintaining an appropriate headcount, but also allowing artificial intelligence to come to the forefront, said Bryan Hayes, a strategist at Zacks Investment Research.
Google said last week it would raise its budget for capital expenditures by an additional $10 billion to $85 billion. Microsoft is expected to outline similar guidance soon.
The role of AI in job replacement is hard to track
One thing is clear to Hayes: Microsoft’s job cuts improve its profit margin outlook for the 2026 fiscal year that started in July.
But what these broader tech industry layoffs mean for the employment prospects of tech workers can be harder to gauge.
Will AI replace some of these jobs? Absolutely, said Hayes. But its also going to create a lot of jobs. Employees that are able to leverage artificial intelligence and help the companies innovate, and create new products and services, are going to be the ones that are in high demand.
He pointed to Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, which is on a spree of offering lucrative packages to recruit elite AI scientists from competitors such as OpenAI.
The reports published by Indeed on Wednesday show that AI specialists are faring better than standard software engineers, but even those jobs are not where they have been.
Machine-learning engineers which is kind of the canonical AI job those job postings are still noticeably above where they were pre-pandemic, though theyve actually come down compared to their 2022 peak, said Bernard, the Indeed economist. Theyve also been impacted by the cyclical ups and downs of the sector.
Economists are watching for AI’s effects on entry-level tech jobs
Tech hiring has particularly plunged in AI hubs such as the San Francisco Bay Area, as well as Boston and Seattle, according to Indeed.
But in looking more closely at which tech workers were least likely to get hired, Indeed found the deepest impact on entry-level jobs in the tech industry, with those with at least five years of experience faring better.
The hiring declines were sharpest in entry-level tech industry jobs that involve marketing, administrative assistance and human resources, which all involve tasks that overlap with the strength of the latest generative AI tools that can help create documents and images.
The plunge in tech hiring started before the new AI age, but the shifting experience requirements is something that happened a bit more recently, Bernard said.
Matt O’Brien, AP technology writer
While tariffs were initially enacted to help promote domestic manufacturing, one particular industry is getting the short end of the stick: chocolate. Due to chocolate’s main ingredient, which is rarely grown in the country, US-based chocolate brands depend on cacao exports, and are now subjected to high import tarriffs.
Just last month, the popular chocolate company Hershey’s announced a price increase for its products in an effort to offset rising production costs related to cacao.
“[For years,] weve worked hard to absorb these costs and continue to make 75% of our product portfolio available to consumers for under $4, a Hershey representative told Fast Company at the time.
The price increase followed the companies pursuit for a tariff exemption with Trump’s administration, estimating a tariff expense of upwards of $20 million in its second quarter.
After speaking with 11 experts in the chocolate industry, Reuters found that tariffs are hurting American companies’s competitively amid rising costs of cacaoyet others and benefiting.
Reaping the benefits
Almost everyone loves chocolate, and its popularity continues to rise, with chocolate amounting to $21.4 billion in confectionery sales last year.
As chocolate’s birthplace, Mexico does not rely on imported cacao, as its tropical weather can sustain the growth of beans. Due to its local harvest, Mexican brands can produce chocolate without paying for the Trump imposed 10-25% tariffs.
Similarly, Canada benefits from a lack of tariffs, as it imports its cacao with zero additional duties, making production up north cheaper than in the U.S. Additionally, the United States-Mexico-Canada free trade pact (USMCA), the trade agreement that replaced NAFTA, chocolate imports from both Canada and Mexico are tariff free, regardless of cacao origin.
American companies are required to pay taxes to import cacao, which cannot be nationally produced at scale, while Mexico can produce its own and Canada buys in without extra fees, setting American companies back.
Still, as American companies continue to struggle, it seems a new trade deal might revert back tariffs and help those in the chocolate industry. On July 29, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick suggested that natural resources not found in the U.S. could be tariff exempt as soon as upcoming trade deals close.
“If you grow something and we don’t grow it, that can come in for zero,” Lutnick told CNBC.
The Trump administration is pushing an initiative for millions of Americans to upload personal health data and medical records on new apps and systems run by private tech companies, promising that will make it easier to access health records and monitor wellness.
President Donald Trump is expected to deliver remarks on the initiative Wednesday afternoon in the East Room. The event is expected to involve leaders from more than 60 companies, including major tech companies such as Google and Amazon, as well as prominent hospital systems like the Cleveland Clinic.
The new system will focus on diabetes and weight management, conversational artificial intelligence that helps patients, and digital tools such as QR codes and apps that register patients for check-ins or track medications.
The initiative, spearheaded by an administration that has already freely shared highly personal data about Americans in ways that have tested legal bounds, could put patients’ desires for more convenience at their doctors office on a collision course with their expectations that their medical information be kept private.
There are enormous ethical and legal concerns, said Lawrence Gostin, a Georgetown University law professor who specializes in public health. Patients across America should be very worried that their medical records are going to be used in ways that harm them and their families.
Officials at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, who will be in charge of maintaining the system, have said patients will need to opt in for the sharing of their medical records and data, which will be kept secure.
Those officials said patients will benefit from a system that lets them quickly call up their own records without the hallmark difficulties, such as requiring the use of fax machines to share documents, that have prevented them from doing so in the past.
We have the tools and information available now to empower patients to improve their outcomes and their healthcare experience, Dr. Mehmet Oz, the administrator for CMS, said in a statement Wednesday.
Popular weight loss and fitness subscription service Noom, which has signed onto the initiative, will be able to pull medical records after the system’s expected launch early next year.
That might include labs or medical tests that the app could use to develop an AI-driven analysis of what might help users lose weight, CEO Geoff Cook told The Associated Press. Apps and health systems will also have access to their competitors’ information, too. Noom would be able to access a person’s data from Apple Health, for example.
Right now you have a lot of siloed data, Cook said.
Patients who travel across the country for treatment at the Cleveland Clinic often have a hard time obtaining all their medical records from various providers, said the hospital system’s CEO, Tomislav Mihaljevic. He said the new system would eliminate that barrier, which sometimes delays treatment or prevents doctors from making an accurate diagnosis because they do not have a full view of a patient’s medical history.
Having seamless access to health app data, such as what patients are eating or how much they are exercising, will also help doctors manage obesity and other chronic diseases, Mihaljevic said.
These apps give us insight about whats happening with the patients health outside of the physician’s office, he said.
CMS will also recommend a list of apps on Medicare.gov that are designed to help people manage chronic diseases, as well as help them select health care providers and insurance plans.
Digital privacy advocates are skeptical that patients will be able to count on their data being stored securely.
The federal government, however, has done little to regulate health apps or telehealth programs, said Jeffrey Chester at the Center for Digital Democracy.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and those within his circle have pushed for more technology in health care, advocating for wearable devices that monitor wellness and telehealth.
Kennedy also sought to collect more data from Americans medical records, which he has previously said he wants to use to study autism and vaccine safety. Kennedy has filled the agency with staffers who have a history of working at or running health technology startups and businesses.
CMS already has troves of information on more than 140 million Americans who enroll in Medicare and Medicaid. Earlier this month, the federal agency agreed to hand over its massive database, including home addresses, to deportation officials.
The new initiative would deepen the pool of information on patients for the federal government and tech companies. Medical records typically contain far more sensitive information, such as doctors’ notes about conversations with patients and substance abuse or mental health history.
This scheme is an open door for the further use and monetization of sensitive and personal health information, Chester said.
Amanda Seitz, Associated Press
Google is indexing conversations with ChatGPT that users have sent to friends, families, or colleaguesturning private exchanges intended for small groups into search results visible to millions.
A basic Google site search using part of the link created when someone proactively clicks Share on ChatGPT can uncover conversations where people reveal deeply personal details, including struggles with addiction, experiences of physical abuse, or serious mental health issuessometimes even fears that AI models are spying on them. While the users identities arent shown by ChatGPT, some potentially identify themselves by sharing highly specific personal information during the chats.
A user might click Share to send their conversation to a close friend over WhatsApp or to save the URL for future reference. It’s unlikely they would expect that doing so could make it appear in Google search results, accessible to anyone. Its unclear whether those affected realize their conversations with the bot are now publicly accessible after they click the Share button, presumably thinking theyre doing so to a small audience.
Nearly 4,500 conversations come up in results for the Google site search, though many dont include personal details or identifying information. This is likely not the full count, as Google may not index all conversations. (Because of the personal nature of the conversations, some of which divulge highly personal information including users names, locations, and personal circumstances, Fast Company is choosing not to link to, or describe in significant detail, the conversations with the chatbot.)
The finding is particularly concerning given that nearly half of Americans in a survey say theyve used large language models for psychological support in the last year. Three-quarters of respondends sought help with anxiety, two in three looked for advice on personal issues, and nearly six in 10 wanted help with depression. But unlike the conversations between you and your real-life therapist, transcripts of conversations with the likes of ChatGPT can turn up in a simple Google search.
Google indexes any content available on the open web and site owners are able to remove pages from search results. ChatGPT’s shared links are not intended to appear in search by default and must be manually made discoverable by users, who are also warned not to share sensitive information and can delete shared links at any time. (Both Google and OpenAI declined Fast Companys requests for comment.)
One user described in detail their sex life and unhappiness living in a foreign country, claiming they were suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and seeking support. They went into precise details about their family history and interpersonal relationships with friends and family members.
Another conversation discusses the prevalence of psychopathic behaviors in children and at what age they can show, while another user discloses they are a survivor of psychological programming and are looking to deprogram themselves to mitigate the trauma they felt.
I’m just shocked, says Carissa Veliz, an AI ethicist at the University of Oxford. As a privacy scholar, I’m very aware that that data is not private, but of course, not private can mean many things, and that Google is logging in these extremely sensitive conversations is just astonishing.
Similar concerns have been raised with competing chatbots, including those run by Meta, which began sharing user queries with its AI systems in a public feed visible within its AI apps. Critics then said user literacy was not high enough to recognize the dangers of sharing private information publiclysomething that later proved to be correct as personal details surfaced on the social feed. At the time, online safety experts highlighted worries about the disparity between how users think app functionalities work, and how the companies running the apps actually make them work.
Veliz fears that this is an indication of the approach were going to see big tech taking when it comes to privacy. It’s also further confirmation that this company, OpenAI, is not trustworthy, that they don’t take privacy seriously, no matter what they say, she says. What matters is what they do.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman warned earlier this month that users shouldnt share their most personal details with ChatGPT because OpenAI could be required to produce that if compelled legally to do so by a court. I think thats very screwed up, he added. The conversation, with podcaster Theo Von, didnt discuss users conversations being willingly opened up for indexing by OpenAI.
People expect they can use tools like ChatGPT completely privately, says Rachel Tobac, a cybersecurity analyst and CEO of SocialProof Security, but the reality is that many users arent fully grasping that these platforms have features that could unintentionally leak their most private questions, stories, and fears.
