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Capital One has launched an AI agent designed to help consumers with one of the most frustrating, time-consuming processes in life: buying a car. The banking giants Chat Concierge provides information, makes decisions, and takes action using multiple AI agents. Mimicking human reasoning, the product aims to assist consumers in all aspects of the research process involved in making a car purchase, from comparing vehicles to scheduling test drives. Buying a car is a stressful experience, says Prem Natarajan, EVP, chief scientist, and head of enterprise AI at Capital One. The possibility that we can make this really important purchase for people a frictionless experience, a more satisfying experience, a more easy experience is important. The company is a major provider of auto loans, and already offers Dealer Navigator, a platform that provides car buyers and dealers with resources for the research, sale, and financing processes. Capital Ones new agent comes amid a wave of buzz around agentic AI, with many experts calling it the way of the future. Agentic AI can be magical for users because it shifts the purpose of artificial intelligence from being a general tool to performing specialized tasks, Natarajan says. In recent weeks, Google and OpenAI have announced their own agentic features that can browse the web and perform tasks on behalf of users. Instacart also recently announced that it would integrate agentic AI to create grocery lists and place orders on customers behalf. Our journey into agentic AI started before it was being talked about, Natarajan says. The only way youre part of any trend is if you were in the early part of shaping it. [Image: Capital One] The Chat Concierge, which users will find on participating dealers websites, orchestrates task completion among multiple specialized AI agents. Capital One will scale up the feature nationwide throughout the year. Customers who walk into a car dealership with lots of questions often cant find one employee who is able to address all of them. If a customer goes the online route, a typical chatbot will likely take their name and phone number and say that someone will get back to them. Sanjiv Yajnik, president of financial services at Capital One, says Chat Concierge is different because it starts conversing with a customer immediately about any question they might have. In a single conversation, the agent can perform tasks like estimating the value of a trade-in and scheduling appointments with salespeople. It can look at the inventory and answer a whole bunch of questions, says Yajnik. For example, if a user tells Chat Concierge that they want a cheaper car, the system understands what cheaper means, what to compare it to, and what to offer the user. Chat Concierge uses Metas Llama AI as a base, but its not out of the boxCapital One has customized the model with its own data. Natarajan and Yajnik say they hope that this system will allow people to enjoy the car-buying process that many find overwhelming. The main goal of Chat Concierge is shifting some of the cognitive burden of the job from humans to AI, Natarajan says. And if Capital Ones agent helps more people buy vehicleswell, that will presumably be good for the companys loan business.
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Federal officials on Thursday approved a new type of pain pill designed to eliminate the risks of addiction and overdose associated with opioid medications like Vicodin and OxyContin.The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said it approved Vertex Pharmaceuticals’ Journavx for short-term pain that often follows surgery or injuries.It’s the first new pharmaceutical approach to treating pain in more than 20 years, offering an alternative to both opioids and over-the-counter medications like ibuprofen and acetaminophen. But the medication’s modest effectiveness and lengthy development process underscore the challenges of finding new ways to manage pain.Studies in more than 870 patients with acute pain due to foot and abdominal surgeries showed Vertex’s drug provided more relief than a dummy pill but didn’t outperform a common opioid-acetaminophen combination pill.“It’s not a slam dunk on effectiveness,” said Michael Schuh of the Mayo Clinic, a pharmacist and pain medicine expert who was not involved in the research. “But it is a slam dunk in that it’s a very different pathway and mechanism of action. So, I think that shows a lot promise.”The new drug will carry a list price of $15.50 per pill, making it many times more expensive than comparable opioids, which are often available as generics for $1 or less.Vertex began researching the drug in the 2000s, when overdoses were rocketing upward, principally driven by mass prescribing of opioid painkillers for common ailments like arthritis and back pain. Prescriptions have fallen sharply in the past decade and the current wave of the opioid epidemic is mainly due to illicit fentanyl, not pharmaceutical medicines.Opioids reduce pain by binding to receptors in the brain that receive nerve signals from different parts of the body. Those chemical interactions also give rise to opioids’ addictive effects.Vertex’s drug works differently, blocking proteins that trigger pain signals that are later sent to the brain.“In trying to develop medicines that don’t have the addictive risks of opioid medicines, a key factor is working to block pain signaling before it gets to the brain,” Vertex’s Dr. David Altshuler, told the Associated Press last year.Commonly reported side effects with the drug were nausea, constipation, itching, rash, and headache.“The new medication has side effect profiles that are inherently, not only different, but don’t involve the risk of substance abuse and other key side effects associated with opioids,” said Dr. Charles Argoff of the Albany Medical Center, who consulted for Vertex on the drug’s development.The initial concept to focus on pain-signaling proteins came out of research involving people with a rare hereditary condition that causes insensitivity to pain.Vertex has attracted interest from Wall Street for its ambitious drug pipeline that involves winning FDA approval for multiple drugs across several forms of chronic pain, which generally represents a bigger financial opportunity than acute pain.But the Boston drugmaker’s share price plummeted in December when Vertex reported disappointing mid-stage results in a study of patients with chronic nerve pain affecting the lower back and legs. The drug didn’t perform significantly better than placebo, the research found.“We believe the data reflect a near worst-case scenario for this key pipeline program,” biotechnology analyst Brian Abrahams said in a research note to investors, adding that the results jeopardized estimates that Vertex’s pipeline could be worth billions across multiple forms of pain.Still, Vertex executives said they plan to move forward with a new, late-stage study of the drug, theorizing that a different trial design could yield better results and pave the way for FDA approval in chronic pain. AP video journalist Mary Conlon contributed to this story from New York. The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Matthew Perrone, AP Health Writer
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E-Commerce
If you enjoy snacking on chocolate-covered pretzels, you’ll want to make sure you dont have a specific variety of the tasty snacks from Fresh Direct in your possession. Thats because the chocolate-covered pretzels in question contain an undeclared milk allergen that could cause life-threatening health consequences in some people, up to and including death. Heres what you need to know about the recall. Whats happened? Food distributor United Natural Trading LLC of Edison, New Jersey, has announced a recall of one of its Fresh Direct Dark Chocolate Covered Pretzels products after it was found to contain an undeclared milk allergen. As a result, the company decided to issue a voluntary recall. What product is being recalled? The voluntary recall only includes one product, according to the recall notice posted on the website of the Food And Drug Administration (FDA). The details of the product involved in the recall, which has an undeclared milk allergen, are as follows: Description: Fresh Direct Dark Chocolate Covered Pretzels Lot Number: 24353 Best By Date: 06/30/2025 UPC#: 811102026276 Images of the product can be found here. Where was the recalled product sold? According to the notice on the FDAs website, the above product was sold online via a third-party vendor site. The products were shipped to Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York. What is a milk allergen? A food allergen is a type of food that causes an adverse reaction in the person who consumes it. According to the FDA, there are nine major food allergens. The first one the FDA lists is the milk allergen, which is the reason for this recall. Milk allergens can cause a number of uncomfortable reactions in the body as well as lead to an acute reaction called anaphylaxis, which can be deadly. What are the symptoms of a milk allergy? Milk allergy symptoms are wide-ranging and can differ based on the individual, according to the Mayo Clinic. Symptoms can present within a few minutes to a few hours of consuming the milk product. Immediate symptoms usually include: Hives Wheezing Itching or tingling feeling around the lips or mouth Swelling of the lips, tongue, or throat Coughing or shortness of breath Vomiting The Mayo Clinic says the following symptoms may take more time to appear: Loose stools or diarrhea, which may contain blood Abdominal cramps Runny nose Watery eyes Colic, in babies However, the greatest threat from a milk allergen comes from its ability to cause anaphylaxis. Anaphylaxis is a life-threatening allergic reaction that can lead to the person being unable to breathe. Anaphylaxis is a medical emergency that requires immediate treatment as it can lead to death. The Mayo Clinic says signs of anaphylaxis include: Constriction of airways, including a swollen throat that makes it difficult to breathe Facial flushing Itching Shock, with a marked drop in blood pressure What do I do if I have the recalled Fresh Direct pretzels? Do not consume them. Instead, dispose of them. According to the FDA notice, consumers can also retain the packaging for the recalled pretzels and its online receipt or other proof of purchase so they may receive a refund. Consumers can contact United Natural Trading LLC for more information at 732-650-9905 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. EST, Monday to Friday.
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