 |
|
|
|||||
In 2013, when Meredith OConnor was 16, the music video for her debut single “Celebrity” went viral. Afterward, she channeled her own stardom into championing childhood mental health: As a hyperactive kid, OConnor says she was often the subject of bullying, and when her music career gave her a platform, she was eager to use it to advocate on behalf of other victims. I knew my fan base was younger, but I didn’t know how many people would resonate with mental health challenges, she says. I realized there were millions of gifted people that are being marginalized, and that’s when I really wanted to start the mental health study. Since blowing up YouTube over a decade ago, OConnor earned a masters degree in mental health counseling and cofounded the Mental Health Counseling Services of Manhattan in 2024. In working closely with public schools, OConnor says she was struck by the many ways in which standardized tests disadvantage neurodivergent students. That observation led me to speak directly with leaders across law, advisory firms, and business about how hiring and evaluation systems might evolve in an AI economy. OConnor explains that the more she spoke with AmLaw 20 firms and Fortune 500 executives, the more she realized that the kinds of skills they desired from graduates were not the skills that were measured and rewarded on standardized tests. Thats especially true for those like herself with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), who have many natural advantages, but often struggle with memorization and sustaining focus. Before age 23, the ADHD brain is gifted in many things. But one of the areas of slower development is executive function, she says, explaining that the limitation affects short-term memory, concentration, and impulse control. By the time [those with ADHD] are 18, you’ll have taken all these aptitude tests that are studying parts of the brain that have not developed yet. Those with ADHD, however, often excel in areas like abstract thinking, creative problem-solving, resilience, and empathyall of which are seeing heightened value by employers in the age of artificial intelligence. Its better than humans at many of the tasks that people who are neurodivergent struggle with, OConnor says. Skills that are aligned with being an entrepreneur, skills that align with communication, skills that align with problem-solvingthose are the things that AI can’t do better than humans yet. People with ADHD often demonstrate certain natural strengths and challenges. By sheer coincidence, many of the challenges can now be mitigated using AI tools. And at the same time, many of the ADHD advantageslike creative problem-solving, abstract thinking, and intuitionare seen as increasingly valuable in an AI-enabled world. AI Excels Where ADHD-ers Often Fall Short Those with ADHD often struggle with routine processes, time management, and processing large volumes of information. But AI tools are proving effective in helping them overcome those gaps. Rather than sitting still and paying attention for long periods in an academic lecture or a meeting, for example, AI software can now record that information, transcribe it, and highlight key points in a more condensed format. Traditional environments are not designed for them; they are designed for the neurotypical person. And I think AI can help level the playing field, says Rebecca Koniahgari, the founder of Bryge AI, a tool that helps neurotypical people better communicate with ADHD-ers (or “bridge the gap,” the inspiration for the product’s name). The New York-based engineer says she developed the product to better communicate with colleagues and friends who have been diagnosed with the condition. Instead of asking people with ADHD to adapt their communication style, Bryge AI is intended to be used by those who love, live, or work with someone who has ADHD. Im neurotypical, and the burden of communication has always been on the other person [with ADHD], so lets meet them halfway, Koniahgari says. The online app allows users to input a message and then translates it into a more ADHD-friendly structure that emphasizes clarity, brevity, and emotional intelligenceflagging potential issues, such as language, that might trigger anxiety, lack clarity, or use negative framing. After launching the prototype she developed at a hackathon event hosted by AI coding platform Bolt, Koniahgari was awarded a silver medal for Bryge AI at the 2025 Stevie Awards for Women in Business. Now, Koniahgari says shes looking to integrate the technology into other AI tools like ChatGPT or Claude AI, and eventually into workplace communication platforms like Slack, to make it even more accessible and widely available. ADHD-ers Often Excel Where AI Falls Short Just as the technology can help fill the gaps where ADHD-ers struggle the most, ADHD-ers seem well positioned to fill the gaps where the technology often struggles, like with creative problem-solving, out-of-the-box thinking, and adaptability. According to a recent study conducted by researchers at Drexel University, those with ADHD tend to solve problems using insight rather than analytical skills. Instead of working out problems in steps, their brains often make subconscious connections that result in an aha moment of insight. We hypothesized that people who have stronger ADHD symptoms would solve more of these puzzles with an a-ha moment, with insight, and that turned out to be true, explains John Kounios, a professor of psychological and brain sciences at Drexel University, and one of the papers coauthors. The thing that was surprisingalthough, in retrospect, it makes perfect senseis that the people who solved the most puzzles were the ones who were lowest in ADHD symptoms and [who were] highest in ADHD symptoms. The study asked participants a series of questions that are commonly used to screen for ADHD symptoms, and only included participants who had not been diagnosed with, or weren’t taking medication for, a cognitive disorder. Kounios explains that those who demonstrate more ADHD symptoms excel at solving problems using insight, those with the fewest symptoms also tend to excel by using analytical reasoning, while those in the middle arent particularly good at either. The chatbots do not do this kind of spontaneous cognition that humans do, so human creativity sets the agenda, Kounios says. What people who have ADHD are good at is coming up with solutions to problems that no one knew they had. A Team Effort Between the Neurotypical, Neurodivergent, and AI Kounios warns, however, that like other technology tools, there is a fine line between assistance and distractionand AI could pose challenges to those who are already struggling to maintain focus. It would require the person with ADHD to have the discipline to use chatbots n [a productive] way, he says. Certainly, it can be a rabbit hole that people can fall into. That is why Kounios believes that people can best leverage their unique strengths and limit their natural challenges when they solve problems using the latest AI tools alongside teammates who think differently. There’s research literature on the benefits of having sort of diverse teams,” he says. “You want to have some people who are older and some people who are younger . . . male and female . . . all kinds of different people. Kounios adds that similar research is proving the same for neurodiversity. I think it’s also good to have a mixture of cognitive profilessome people who are going to be more scattered, less focused, maybe more creative, along with people who are much more analytical, focused, and systematic.
Category:
E-Commerce
Three AI companiesOpenAI, Google, and Perplexityare on the verge of receiving approval to sell their technology, hosted on their own cloud systems, directly to the government, a person familiar with the matter tells Fast Company. That authorization will be on a low impact and pilot level, the person said, but constitutes a major step toward independence. That independence could help those companies avoid some of the complications created by ongoing partnerships between AI firms and longtime government tech contractors. As large language models have gone mainstream, AI companies have often relied on tech firms that have already passed arduous government security reviewsincluding Microsoft, Palantir, and Amazon Web Servicesto host their chatbots for federal users. In the early days, these partnerships made it easier for AI labs to quickly get their tech in front of government officials, but also meant ceding at least some control over when and how their AI was made available. The downside of that kind of dependence is now playing out in the brewing feud between Anthropic and the Pentagon, which appears to have been fueled, in part, by its partnership with Palantir. The Defense Department is threatening to cancel a $200 million contract after Anthropic requested limits on the use of its AI for certain applications, including autonomous weapons and mass surveillance. Anthropics Claude model was made available to military officials with the help of Palantir’s systems and was even used in the U.S. operation to capture former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, according to reports. According to Semafor, tensions mounted after an Anthropic official asked a Palantir executive how Claude had been used in the operation, prompting concern inside the Pentagon about the companys willingness to support military applications. This is all to say that not relying on a company like Palantir makes selling to the government far less complicated. In pursuit of that independence, OpenAI, Perplexity, and Google applied for, and received, expedited review of their cloud systems last year under a federal security initiative called FedRAMP 20x. Now, Fast Company can report, theyre almost certain to be approved. These approvals are separate from any decision by a specific federal agency to purchase their products, but they show the companies have taken concrete steps to engage the government on their own terms. Anthropic, by contrast, has leaned heavily on partners like Palantir to help sell its technology to government customers. The company does not appear to have participated in FedRAMP 20x, though its not clear why. Still, the question of independence is one Anthropic has publicly acknowledged. We would also like to be able to directly provide services to governments and not necessarily go through a partner at all times, Michael Sellito, the companys head of global affairs, told FedScoop in 2024. Neither Palantir nor Anthropic responded to Fast Companys request for comment.
Category:
E-Commerce
Sebastian Siemiatkowski, CEO of Swedish fintech company Klarna, says the organization is set to employ drastically fewer people. And he says he shares his outlook on the workforce with another CEO: Anthropics Dario Amodei. Siemiatkowski made the comments on the 20 VC podcast with Harry Stebbings earlier this week, where the CEO didn’t deny that the company has been steadily shrinking.The CEO said that currently the company has about 3,000 employees. That’s down from 7,000 just four years ago. In another four, he says there will likely be less than 2,000a reduction of one-third. Siemiatkowsk said employees leaving the company are not being replaced, and explained that AI’s integration allows for fewer employees.Klarna’s slimming down comes even as buy now, pay later (BNPL) services are booming. Around 30% of Americans say they have used them, according to a 2025 Bankrate report. And in 2025, according to a PartnerCentric survey, 35% said they planned to use the services even more. The popularity is driven by the fact that Klarna, like other BNPL options, allows shoppers to split purchases into interest-free installments, pay within 30 days, or even opt for longer-term financing options. Likewise, thousands of retailers now accept BNPL. Still, the success of such businesses no longer seems to equate to the need for more employees, as AI’s impact looms largersomething some leaders have been increasingly warning about. Anthropic’s CEO Dario Amodei wrote of his gravest concerns about AI in a recent essay that included items like loss of autonomy, “misuse for destruction” and “powerful AI” which he writes is “definitely coming.” Amodei writes: “I think it should be clear that this is a dangerous situationa report from a competent national security official to a head of state would probably contain words like ‘the single most serious national security threat weve faced in a century, possibly ever.’ It seems like something the best minds of civilization should be focused on.” The CEO also predicted AI could remove the need for 50 percent of all white-collar entry-level jobs in the next one to five years, doubling down on a stance he’s warned about previously. Worryingly, Klarna’s CEO doesn’t disagree with Amodei’s stance, acknowledging that he’s “in Dario’s camp” on concerns around AI. “I want to be honest about the fact that I do think there’s going to be a very big shift,” Siemiatkowski said on the podcast. Specifically, he echoed the concerns around job loss. “I’m an optimist at heart, but I also want to be a realist around what’s going to happen in the shorter term, and it’s going to be a lot of turmoil in this.” Regardless, while the CEO seemed to express some major concerns around AI’s rapid advancements, Siemiatkowski has leaned into them heavily. In 2024, he announced that AI could handle a growing number of jobs as the company paused hiring and reduced its size by 2,000 employees. But, as Business Insider reported, it wasn’t long before customer satisfaction dipped, and the company had to scramble to reassign workers to customer support to handle the fallout. (Klarna says that because AI can handle the simple requests, the ones remaining are more complex and required hiring new customer support agents). Fast Company reached out to Klarna to inquire on whether the company would scale back its relationship with AI. A representative said Klarna “did not lean too much into AI,” but its “thinking on human customer service” has changed. The representative continued, “When you automate a large amount of the simpler customer service requests, you are left with the most complex and sensitive cases . . . So we have begun to directly hire a small number of human agents directly employed by Klarna, not at outsourced providers.” This article has been updated to reflect the fact that Klarna’s reduction in size has been due to attrition, not to layoffs. Additionally, we have removed a reference to a social media post by Siemiatkowski that was taken out of context.
Category:
E-Commerce
Sebastian Siemiatkowski, CEO of Swedish fintech company Klarna, says the organization is set to drastically downsize. And he says he shares his outlook on the workforce with another CEO: Anthropics Dario Amodei. Siemiatkowski made the comments on the 20 VC podcast with Harry Stebbings earlier this week, where the CEO didn’t deny that the company has been steadily shrinking.The CEO said that currently the company has about 3,000 employees. That’s down from 7,000 just four years ago. In another four, he says there will likely be less than 2,000a reduction of one-third. Siemiatkowski cited both layoffs and the employees leaving the company and not being replaced, and explained that AI’s integration allows for fewer employees.Klarna’s slimming down comes even as buy now, pay later (BNPL) services are booming. Around 30% of Americans say they have used them, according to a 2025 Bankrate report. And in 2025, according to a PartnerCentric survey, 35% said they planned to use the services even more. The popularity is driven by the fact that Klarna, like other BNPL options, allows shoppers to split purchases into interest-free installments, pay within 30 days, or even opt for longer-term financing options. Likewise, thousands of retailers now accept BNPL. Still, the success of such businesses no longer seems to equate to the need for more employees, as AI’s impact looms largersomething some leaders have been increasingly warning about. Anthropic’s CEO Dario Amodei wrote of his gravest concerns about AI in a recent essay that included items like loss of autonomy, “misuse for destruction” and “powerful AI” which he writes is “definitely coming.” Amodei writes: “I think it should be clear that this is a dangerous situationa report from a competent national security official to a head of state would probably contain words like ‘the single most serious national security threat weve faced in a century, possibly ever.’ It seems like something the best minds of civilization should be focused on.” The CEO also predicted AI could cut 50 percent of all white-collar entry-level jobs in the next one to five years, doubling down on a stance he’s warned about previously. Worryingly, Klarna’s CEO doesn’t disagree with Amodei’s stance, acknowledging that he’s “in Dario’s camp” on concerns around AI. “I want to be honest about the fact that I do think there’s going to be a very big shift,” Siemiatkowski said on the podcast. Specifically, he echoed the concerns around job loss. “I’m an optimist at heart, but I also want to be a realist around what’s going to happen in the shorter term, and it’s going to be a lot of turmoil in this.” Regardless, while the CEO seemed to express some major concerns around AI’s rapid advancements, Siemiatkowski has leaned into them heavily. In 2024, he announced that AI could handle a growing number of jobs as the company paused hiring and cut 2,000 employees. But it wasn’t long before customer satisfaction dipped, and the company had to scramble to reassign workers to customer support to handle the fallout. The CEO later took to X to explain what went wrong, writing that he was “tremendously embarrassed” about the turn of events. Fast Company reached out to Klarna to inquire on whether the company would scale back its relationship with AI. A representative said Klarna “did not lean too much into AI,” but its “thinking on human customer service” has changed. The representative continued, “When you automate a large amount of the simpler customer service requests, you are left with the most complex and sensitive cases . . . So we have begun to directly hire a small number of human agents directly employed by Klarna, not at outsourced providers.”
Category:
E-Commerce
When I cofounded Brilliant Earth in 2005, e-commerce was still in its infancy. I believed technology could reshape the jewelry industry entirelychanging how customers find pieces they love, personalizing their own designs, and reimagining the customer experience. We launched as a digital-first venture to do just that. Now, two decades into our pioneering digital journey, I’ve realized something surprising: Our most sophisticated online tools have actually made in-person interactions more valuable. I believe the brands leading the next wave of innovation aren’t choosing between digital and physical. They’re using digital excellence to help create meaningful in-person connections and lifelong brand affinity. BOLSTER HUMAN CONNECTION THROUGH DIGITAL Over the years, Brilliant Earth introduced several industry firsts. Before we launched, buying diamond jewelry online was unheard of; we became one of the first companies to sell engagement rings and fine jewelry through e-commerce, and were early to offer lab-grown diamonds when few knew what they were. We developed online tools for customers to design their own engagement rings and fine jewelry. But we also understood that the future wouldnt be dominated by digital. Seamlessly integrating online and physical experiences would be key. Even as digital tools get more sophisticated, leading companies aren’t eliminating the in-person element. They’re doing the opposite: harnessing these innovations to make human touchpoints more meaningful. In doing so, they create branded experiences that feel more personal and authentic than traditional retail was doing. This transformation spans every retail categoryfrom IKEA’s Place app that lets customers visualize furniture in their homes to Nike’s data-driven inventory localization, based on neighborhood shopping patterns. Even legacy media companies are getting involved: Condé Nast is preparing to launch Vette, a creator-commerce platform using AI-driven tools to help influencers curate personalized storefronts. It bridges the gap between content discovery and purchase decisions. The key insight for any industry leader is this: Modern shoppers no longer see a divide between online and offline shopping. Both are now intrinsic parts of the customer journey, not opposing concepts. No matter your industry, customers expect each digital tool to serve a dual purpose: enhancing their online experience while creating richer, more meaningful interaction when they choose to engage in person. The companies getting this right aren’t using digital tools to replace human touchpoints. They’re giving their teams better information, so every interaction feels more personal and valuable. 3 PILLARS OF NEXT-GENERATION EXPERIENCE As I look toward the future, I see three fundamental principles driving the evolution of exceptional customer experiences: 1. Invest in tech-powered personalization: Digital tools that recognize customers across all touchpoints are delivering increasingly sophisticated personalization. Take Ralph Lauren’s “Ask Ralph,” which launched last fall. Its like having a personal stylist in your pocketone who knows the brands entire archive, drawing upon that knowledge to provide personalized styling advice, complete with live inventory. The experience feels like a natural extension of the world Ralph has built for almost 60 years. In the big box world, Walmart is using AI features like a personalized algorithm that can predict and preempt customer needs, including frequency and quantity of orders. It expanded testing of a GenAI shopping assistant to help customers make the best choices for their needs. At Brilliant Earth, we’ve taken this approach into our showrooms where we use dozens of customer data points to curate each appointment and continue that personalized journey long after customers leave our stores. But we’ve also learned to lean into what our customers find most special: the unique guidance and expertise they get from our jewelry specialists. The goal is to build unified systems that remember customer preferences no matter how they shop with you, so every interaction feels personal and connected. 2. Focus on immersive technologies to eliminate friction: Deploying smart technologies to allow customers to experience products before purchasing will fundamentally change how customers interact with your brand world. Released last summer, Warby Parker’s new AI-powered Advisor feature scans customers’ faces to capture style preferences and measurements, then recommends glasses while offering virtual try-on capabilities that calculate frame sizes. And Sephora launched its latest digital extension this fall called My Sephora Storefront, where creators can build their own beauty shops inside Sephora’s website and app, so shoppers never have to leave the platform. These integrations eliminate the traditional friction points between discovery and purchase, and allow customers to experience products virtually before committing. 3. Emphasize human-AI collaboration: The most successful AI implementations preserve authentic human connections while augmenting capabilities. Condé Nast’s Vette platform demonstrates another approach by using AI to handle complex backend operationslike inventory management, product recommendations, and sales analytics. This allows creators to focus on what humans do best: building authentic relationships with their audiences and providing personal curation reflecting their unique voice and taste. The best AI implementations don’t replace peoplethey make them better at their jobs. Smart companies are learning to use AI to give their teams insights about individual customers, making every interaction more relevant without losing the human touch that builds real loyalty. THE NEXT WAVE OF INNOVATION I’m proud of how far we’ve come in using innovation to enable self-expression and connect with authentic human needs at Brilliant Earth. But more than that, I’m energized by the opportunities ahead. Todays digital transformation has given us capabilities that seemed impossible just a few years ago. While there are many questions about AI’s future impact on jobs and human connection to be answered, the companies and leaders succeeding right now aren’t using AI to eliminate human contact. They’re using it to make those human moments count even more. Those who get this right will reshape the next generation of retail. Beth Gerstein is the cofounder and CEO of Brilliant Earth.
Category:
E-Commerce