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Chris was frustrated. Hed used Artificial Intelligence (AI) extensively in college. Now at his first job, he saw very few of his colleagues ever experimenting with it. At first, Chris tried bringing up AI conversationally. He mentioned creating a meal schedule, as well as planning a cool weekend trip itinerary. But when he suggested to his manager how they might want to incorporate AI into their workflow, he felt rebuffed. Chris isnt alone. As the first group of highly experienced AI users is starting work, they have experience with AI. However, they lack the credibility and subject matter expertise to transform workflows. Championing change management initiatives (especially those involving new technology) can be an uphill battle, but the following can help you enter the AI-conversation with your colleagues. 1. Understand the cultural reticence about AI in your organization A lot of experienced experts have real, valid concerns that AI will replace their expertise. Recent stats suggest that almost a quarter of workers feel AI could make their job obsolete, while almost half see that it will change their job significantly over the next few years. So its important to first take some time to have conversations with your team, to ask them about their experiences and concerns when it comes to. Heres a starting list of curious questions you can ask to get a better sense of where your group is currently: What have you heard about others using AI at work? Have you used AI yet (personally or professionally)? If so, what has most impressed you about AIs abilities? Was there anything you found particularly frustrating in your AI experiments? What most worries you about AI at work? Once you understand your manager and colleagues overall stance on AI, the next step is to talk to them about potential small next steps they could take using AI. Ask them what frustrates them at work, then zero in on one part of one workflow that feels most wasteful to people in your group. Offer an AI workaround for that part. Once you have an AI-inspired project, the next step is to help increase your groups own comfort with using AI. 2. Host an AI lunch and learn at work It can be hard for many at work to admit they dont understand some of the newer technologies. Also, the less people experiment with AI, the less likely they are to see its true potential. Consider offering a fun learning activity where you can demo the potential of AI. As a bonus, reach out to some of your AI-savvy colleagues to design and launch the training. This demonstrates to management youre willing to design and lead projects. It also shows that you can collaborate with your peers in a productive way, and that youre committed to adding value to your workplace with new technology. Here are a few things you can incorporate into your AI session: Bring a list of prompts that people can use to get started on how to interact with the AI interface. One of the hardest barriers for new users to overcome with AI can be how to start the conversation with this blank screen. Split the group into smaller working groups to use AI to design a logo for a company product or service. You might want to think about prizes for originality and the groups top-rated logo. You can provide key objectives for a real or imagined team off-site and have small groups work together with AI to design an agenda that people in the group agree would be helpful. These outputs can also be useful for your next team meeting. 3. Bring your manager into some of your AI-aided problem-solving sessions You might need to get your managers full buy-in before they are open to inviting others to an AI training. As noted earlier, the more people experience AI, the more they can picture it in their workstreams. To do this, when there is a piece of your work that requires brainstorming with your manager, ask if you can bring your laptop and connect it to a visible screen to incorporate AI into your brainstorming session while giving your manager a sense of how AI contributes. AI brings some great out-of-the-box thinking and endless ideas that can often help teams generate more innovative answers as a result. Another easy-to-try strength of AI is as a meeting notetaker. See if your manager would agree to a pilot test of AI team meeting summaries for a few months. That could give your whole team a sense of AIs capacity to summarize the main points and generate key next steps that help all attendees. It can even offer key insights to those who were absent. A move towards an AI-enabled workplace In the end, Chris decided to cautiously bring ChatGPT to his meetings. First, he used it as a notetaker and distributed the notes afterwards, which the team found beneficial. Then, whenever his teammates engaged in a brainstorm, he enlisted AIs help and shared AI-generated suggestions with his group. Within a few months, more of his colleagues were experimenting with AI, and his manager would regularly enlist Chriss help to figure out how the company could use AI to lighten the teams administrative load. Whether you decide to try one of these three steps, its important to recognize that moving to an AI-enabled workplace can be a cultural shift. And of course, AI is still evolving. It can hallucinate and it can lie. Thats why its better to go slow when approaching these types of transitions. You dont want to force change on someone, or a team, whos just not there yet. For AI to provide the benefits that it can bring, you need your whole teams buy-in. Your team might be the tortoise, not the hare, in this AI race, but you can still powerfully influence their journey and build momentum in your organization to take advantage of whats ahead.
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E-Commerce
Leaving your corporate job for a solopreneur path is a bold moveand it can feel terrifying. But as long as youre prepared, it can be a smart move, especially in the current rocky job market. I worked at one corporate job for 15 years. Then I pivoted to a new career in marketing. Eighteen months later, I was working for myself as a full-time freelance writer. Within two months of going solo, I had replaced my salary at a marketing agency, but Id also taken a lot of baby steps in advance of making the switch. You can make the transition to solopreneurship easier if you build a safety net before you walk out the corporate door. Heres how. {"blockType":"creator-network-promo","data":{"mediaUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2025\/04\/workbetter-logo.png","headline":"Work Better","description":"Thoughts on the future of work, career pivots, and why work shouldn't suck, by Anna Burgess Yang. To learn more, visit workbetter.media.","substackDomain":"https:\/\/www.workbetter.media","colorTheme":"blue","redirectUrl":""}} Calculate how much income youll need The first step is to be brutally honest with yourself: How much of a reduction in pay can you stand? Odds are, youll have an in-between period: Youll have left your corporate job, but not built up enough of a solo business yet. Can you withstand 25% of your current salary? 50%? Do you have savings to supplement the rest? I know some people who wont leave corporate jobs until they earn enough with a side hustle. But thats incredibly difficult, since youll basically be working two jobs for a period of time. However, if thats the only way to make it work for your finances, its an option. Youll also need to consider that youll pay self-employment tax. A general rule of thumb is to set aside 25% to 30% of your earnings. Youll also be paying your own expenses, like any apps or tools you need to run your business. When youre thinking about how much you need to earn, take your costs into account. Build your network If youre going solo, your network is a substantial asset during your ramp-up period (and beyond). The people you know become your clients, your referrals, your sounding board for ideas. I started posting on LinkedIn consistently a full 18 months before I struck out on my own. At the time, I had no idea that I would become a solopreneur. It just seemed like a good idea to build a network since Id started a new career. While youre still at your 9-to-5 job: Start connecting with industry peers, potential clients, and former coworkers. Join groups (like professional associations or Slack communities) where your future clients hang out. Show up on LinkedIn, adding value and building credibility. Even though youre still working your 9-to-5 job, you should gradually reframe your personal brand. You want to become known as the person who can solve XYZ problem. That way, by the time you leave your job, youve planted the seeds for your solo business. Side hustle, if you can If your job and life allow, keep one foot in your corporate role and build your solo business on the side. This gives you some huge advantages. You can test out your pricing, positioning, and processes without the pressure of needing to replace your salary. Youve also got a revenue buffer since your 9-to-5 will keep all of your bills paid. If you put all of the money from your side hustle aside, you might have a nice cushion once youre ready to launch. I started freelancing alongside my 9-to-5 job two years before I became a solopreneur. I was able to build a portfolio of work and collect client testimonialsboth of which helped immensely when I announced that I was starting a full-time writing business. Yes, it means extra hustle. I was juggling my 9-to-5 job, three kids, and a raging global pandemic. But I told myself that it was temporary. Sometimes you dont get to choose the timing Ideally, you get to choose the timing of your exit from the corporate world. But sometimes its chosen for you. I was laid off from my full-time marketing job. Even though Id been thinking about full-time freelancing for months, I kept telling myself I wasnt ready to make the leap. Because Id been building in the background, I was able to make a fairly seamless transition. The timing wasnt my decision, but it was the direction I was headed. I wasnt starting from zero. The more momentum and clarity you build for your solo business, the more options youll have when the moment finally arrives. {"blockType":"creator-network-promo","data":{"mediaUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2025\/04\/workbetter-logo.png","headline":"Work Better","description":"Thoughts on the future of work, career pivots, and why work shouldn't suck, by Anna Burgess Yang. To learn more, visit workbetter.media.","substackDomain":"https:\/\/www.workbetter.media","colorTheme":"blue","redirectUrl":""}}
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E-Commerce
In a new legal filing, Meta is being accused of shutting down internal research that showed people who stopped using Facebook experienced less depression, anxiety, and loneliness. The allegations come as part of a lawsuit filed by several U.S. school districts against Meta, Snap, TikTok, and other social media companies. The brief, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California but is not yet public, reportedly claims the study, called Project Mercury, was initiated in 2019 and was meant to explore the impact of apps on polarization, news-consumption habits, well-being, and daily social interactions. Plaintiffs in the suit say social media companies were aware that these platforms had a negative impact on the mental health of children and young adults but did not act to prevent it. The suit also alleges they misled authorities about this harm. We strongly disagree with these allegations, which rely on cherry-picked quotes and misinformed opinions in an attempt to present a deliberately misleading picture, Meta tells Fast Company in a statement. “The full record will show that for over a decade, we have listened to parents, researched issues that matter most, and made real changes to protect teenslike introducing Teen Accounts with built-in protections and providing parents with controls to manage their teens experiences. Andy Stone, Meta’s communications director, downplayed the study in a social media post. “What it found was people who believed using Facebook was bad for them felt better when they stopped using it,” he wrote in a thread on Bluesky. “This is a confirmation of other public research (‘deactivation studies’) out there that demonstrates the same effect. It makes intuitive sense but it doesnt show anything about the actual effect of using the platform.” While the company’s research showed people who stopped using Facebook for a week reported lower feelings of depression, anxiety, loneliness, and social comparison, Meta chose not to publish those findings and shut down work on the project, Reuters reports. The company never publicly disclosed the results of its deactivation study, the suit reads. Instead, Meta lied to Congress about what it knew. Stone, in his social media thread, implied the study was flawed and the company’s disappointment wasn’t with the results, but in its apparent failure to overcome expectation effects, the idea that beliefs and expectations influence perception.” The filing, though, shows that some staffers rejected Meta’s belief that the findings were influenced by the existing media narrative around the company, with one allegedly saying that burying the research was no different than the tobacco industry doing research and knowing cigs were bad and then keeping that info to themselves. Meta has filed a motion to strike the documents at the heart of the Project Mercury allegations. The judge overseeing the case has set a hearing date for those arguments on January 26. Meta has been accused of ignoring similar research in the past. Two years ago, the company was sued by 41 states and the District of Columbia, who accused it of harming young people’s mental health. The collective attorneys general alleged the company had knowingly designed features on Instagram and Facebook that addict children to its platforms and violated the federal Childrens Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). In 2022, up to 95% of children ages 13 to 17 in the U.S. reported using a social media platform, with more than a third saying they use social media almost constantly, according to the Pew Research Center. To comply with federal regulation, social media companies generally prohibit kids under 13 from signing up to their platforms. Children have easily found ways around those bans, however. That has led some countries, including Australia and Denmark, to ban anyone under 16 from having social media accounts.
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E-Commerce
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