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While having lunch with a few fellow business owners recently, our conversation turned to the topic on every entrepreneurs mindartificial intelligence. It turns out that AI tools have quietly woven themselves into our daily routines, whether we’re brainstorming, researching, or synthesizing data, were also using it in slightly different ways. Tools like ChatGPT are like Swiss Army Knives for productivity and creativity. Its no surprise that in the latest McKinsey Global Survey on AI, 65% of organizations reported regularly using AIthe technology is here to stay. That said, leaning too heavily on AI can go awry. If you delegate content creation to ChatGPT, for example, it runs the risk of plagiarizing. The generative AI tool is also a notorious liar. In 2023, one startup found that ChatGPT made things up about 3% of the time. That same year, a Google chatbots false claim caused the companys market value to tumble by around $100 billion. The key is strategic integration with safeguards in place. If youre curious about how to integrate AI smartly into your business, here are some friendly tips to get you started while keeping things safe and effective. Use AIs strengthswithout losing your own ChatGPT can supercharge your creativity. Wharton professor Christian Terwiesch pitted the large language model (LLM) against humans to determine which group could generate better business ideas. (Spoiler alert: The robots came out victorious.) Commenting on his findings, Terwiesch said that everybody should be using ChatGPT to help them generate ideasif nothing else, your idea pool will improve. He called it a no-brainer. I like to use ChatGPT to get the ball rolling on creative brainstorming. Using simple prompts, you can ask ChatGPT to help you generate ideas and then choose and refine the best ones. ChatGPT can also summarize dense, lengthy information in seconds. It can break down concepts in as simple terms as youd likejust begin your prompt with something like, Pretend you are explaining this to [a 12-year-old, a college kid, etc.]. Importantly, the best practices with ChatGPT entail using the LLM as a jumping-off point, without delegating your creativity entirely. To me, the idea is to assign ChatGPT the rote or manual parts of your work to make more time and space for wide swaths of impactful, deeply creative workthe work that leads to innovation and breakthroughs. In sum, use ChatGPT for tasks like summarizing information and generating ideas, not as a replacement for your own critical thinking and expertise. Always verify information from AI Fact-checking is a practice that we sometimes take for granted. The New Yorker, known for its historically rigorous fact-checking department, employs around 30 people to verify the facts in every single story. As one former fact-checker explained, Each word in the piece that has even a shred of fact clinging to it is scrutinized. ChatGPT, however, has no fail-safe in place. Thats why leaders must be skeptical of anything presented as a fact, verify information with sources, and encourage employees to do the same. If ChatGPT generates a summary of somethingfor example, the latest news on DeepSeekthe summary will include the names of sources hyperlinked to the corresponding web addresses. I recommend checking each one, as ChatGPT has a tendency to link to a source that does not contain the relevant information. In short, never take information from ChatGPT at face value. Be clear about how AI should be used Finally, its critical for leaders to be transparent about how employees can use generative AI tools. For starters, this signals to employees that they should leverage LLMsif theyre not, the company’s competitors and their colleagues will. I regularly encourage Jotform employees to seek out new ways to automate their busywork, including using generative AI tools, to make more time for tasks that feel personally meaningful, motivating, and inspiring. Failing to communicate corporate policies surrounding AI creates a risk that employees will misuse itfor example, handing over the reins for their creative work, or essentially copying and pasting other peoples work product based on the LLMs results. Without clear guidance, employees may encounter problems with data security, ethical concerns, and regulatory compliance issues. Theres no shortage of fear and anxiety surrounding AI, especially regarding its potential to take human jobs. Transparency can help employees understand AIs role as a productivity and creativity booster, rather than a threat, fostering innovation and meaningful productivity. By setting clear expectations, leaders create a culture where AI enhances work and advances individuals on their career paths, rather than disrupting them.
Category:
E-Commerce
Fast-fashion clothing chain Forever 21 is reportedly getting ready to shutter hundreds of locations as it considers filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. If it does, it would be the second wave of mass store closings and second bankruptcy that the chain has undergone in less than six years. Heres what you need to know about Forever 21s reported closures. Forever 21 may close 200 storesor all of them This week, Bloomberg reported that Forever 21 may close 200 locations in the United States as part of a potential second bankruptcy process that the retailer is considering. If Forever 21 can’t find a buyer during the bankruptcy process, the chain would reportedly close all of its remaining U.S. stores. The situation mirrors what’s been happening with the fabric-and-crafts chain Joann, which is in the process of trying to find a buyer and may be forced to go out of business if it is unsuccessful. A count on Forever 21s store locator tool reveals that is has 359 stores in the United States. Forever 21s intellectual property is owned by brand management firm Authentic Brands Group, while its operations are run by Catalyst Brands, a joint venture operated by retail group SPARC and, as of this month, JCPenney. Catalyst Brands owns other retailers including Aéropostale, Brooks Brothers, Eddie Bauer, Lucky Brand, and Nautica. Last month, it said publicly that it was “exploring strategic operations” for Forever 21. Fast Company reached out to Forever 21 and Catalyst Brands for comment. Catalyst Brands has not confirmed that it will initiate bankruptcy proceedings for Forever 21. In a statement provided to Bloomberg, the company said, Forever 21s operating company, which is the brand licensee in the U.S., continues to explore strategic options, including a potential sale, while also reducing costs and optimizing its store footprint. The efforts are ongoing and no final decisions regarding the outcome of the process have been made. Forever on the brink Forever 21 has been struggling for years with slowing sales, a weakening brand image, and increased competition from online retailers. In September 2019, the chain filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. At the time, the company said it would be closing about 350 of its 800 stores worldwide. Less than six months later, it was announced that two of Forever 21s biggest landlords, Simon Property Group and Brookfield Property Partners, were teaming up with Authentic Brands Group to buy the struggling chain for $81 million. But since then, Forever 21 has continued to face existential pressures, including declining foot traffic and the rise of online fast fashion retailers like Temu and Shein. In 2023, Forever 21 entered a partnership with Shein that allowed its clothes to be sold on the Chinese shopping platform and saw Sheins clothing being sold in Forever 21 stores. Still, the partnership doesn’t seem to have been enough to turn Forever 21s fortunes around. Shein is more popular than ever, while Forever 21 still continues to struggle with much of the same pressures it has for years. Forever 21 did not respond to a request for more information about a potential bankruptcy timeline or which locations might be closed. We will update this post if we hear back. However, as Bloomberg notes, if Forever 21 does file for bankruptcy and go out of business it will not affect Authentic Brands Groups ownership of the brand’s IP. The publication reports that Authentic already plans to license the Forever 21 brand to other parties.
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E-Commerce
The layoffs of roughly 7,000 IRS probationary workers beginning this week likely mean the end of the agency’s plan to go after high-wealth tax dodgers and could spell disaster for revenue collections, experts say.The majority of employees shown the door at the federal tax collector are newly hired workers focused on compliance, which includes ensuring that taxpayers are abiding by the tax code and paying delinquent debts, among other duties.The IRS layoffs, one of the largest purges of probationary workers this year across the government, could also hurt customer service and tax return processing during tax season this year, the union representing Treasury Department employees warned Thursday.The upheaval comes less than two months before the tax filing deadline and as the Department of Government Efficiency under Trump adviser Elon Musk seeks to shrink the size of the federal workforce in an effort to radically cut spending and restructure the government’s priorities.Vanessa Williamson, a senior fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, said on a Thursday call with reporters that the layoffs at the IRS will disproportionately harm enforcement efforts.“When you underpay and understaff the IRS, the agency doesn’t have the power or the resources it needs to go after wealthy tax evaders with their high priced lawyers,” she said, adding, “The result is, of course, a disaster for revenue.”The Inflation Reduction Act, signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2022, gave the IRS $80 billion and the ability to hire tens of thousands of new employees to help with customer service and enforcement as well as new technology to update the tax collection agency, though congressional Republicans later clawed back some of the money.Former IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel, appointed by Biden, placed a particular focus on aggressively auditing high-income tax cheats as well as executives who use business aircraft for their personal use while still writing it off as a tax expense and wealthy people who sought to get favorable tax treatment through Puerto Rico without meeting certain tax requirements.A Congressional Budget Office report issued last year describes how rescissions in funding for the IRS affect baseline projections of future revenues, offering a variety of scenarios depending on the severity of the cuts.A $5 billion rescission would reduce revenues by $5.2 billion from 2024 to 2034 and increase the deficit by $0.2 billion. A $20 billion rescission would reduce revenues by $44 billion and increase the deficit by $24 billion for the same period. A $35 billion rescission would reduce revenues by $89 billion and increase the cumulative deficit by $54 billion.“If you starve the IRS, you’ll be providing a feast for the tax evaders,” Williamson said.Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said during his confirmation hearing last month that “we do not have a revenue problem in the United States of America, we have a spending problem.”However, both revenues and spending will be an ongoing point of contention for congressional Republicans, who are trying to come up with how to pay for extending provisions of President Donald Trump’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. The Penn Wharton Budget model estimates that permanently extending Trump’s tax cuts would increase deficits by $4 trillion over the next decade.Chye-Ching Huang, executive director of NYU’s Tax Law Center, called the layoffs “misguided” and said they “will hurt everyday Americans who pay their taxes and count on the IRS to pay refunds on time while encouraging wealthy people and large businesses to cheat on their taxes.”Doreen Greenwald, president of the National Treasury Employees Union, said: “In the middle of a tax filing season, when taxpayers expect prompt customer service and smooth processing of their tax returns, the administration has chosen to decimate the whole operation by sending dedicated civil servants to the unemployment lines.”The union representing IRS workers has already filed multiple legal challenges over the administration’s mass layoffs.Mark Mazur, a former assistant secretary for tax policy at Treasury, said that since most of the laid-off workers were in the IRS’ small business and self-employment division, employees who had handled bigger corporate enforcement cases will be forced to stop their work and handle easier small-business cases.“For sure this mean less enforcement activity,” and the deterrence effect of audits will be diminished, he said.Representatives from Treasury, the IRS and the White House did not respond to Associated Press requests for comment on Thursday. Associated Press writer Josh Boak in Washington contributed to this report. Fatima Hussein, Associated Press
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E-Commerce
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