The annual stampede of seasonal retailing job openings continues to taper off, alongside hiring expected to be at its lowest flat since the Financial Crisis.

As mid-October approaches, several important companies have not stated if they volition bulk up their forefront lines to a particular target.

"It's a small bit of poultry correct now alongside retailers and the economics going, 'Okay, who's going to move first?'" stated Trent Cotton, caput of talent-acquisition insights at recruiting-software business ICIMS. "It volition be engaging to see this at the end of the year."

This year's retailing industry hiring shove is on track to be lesser than final year's count of 461,000, according to occupation passage resolute Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

A study released final duration projects that this twelvemonth volition see about 450,000 seasonal retailing jobs, the lowest acquire in nearly 20 years.

"Almost all hiring notice we've seen in the final three years is smaller and additional surgical than the pre-pandemic playbook. Even if the big names arrive in at final year's numbers, the total volition apt autumn fine abbreviated of the 2019—2021 peaks," chief income authoritative Andy Challenger stated in a statement.

This year, Spirit Halloween and accomplishment shop Michaels led the charge, saying they intended to employ 52,000 and 10,000 seasonal workers, respectively.

Amazon has not yet shared its plans, and Walmart told Business Insider it volition obtain the identical method as final year, which did not have a hiring goal target. "Our stores are well-staffed and prepared to assist customers this holiday season," the business said.

Target stated it volition formerly again depend on its on-demand squad of concerning 43,000 workers and depart additional hiring up to local managers. Walmart and Target the two stated final twelvemonth they would prioritize assigning additional seasonal hours to existing employees.

Cotton additionally stated that these smaller numbers indicate a trend toward before hiring and small reliance on seasonal workers.

"They're moving it rear to complete the summer, so that way they're completely staffed by October going into November and December," he said.

That item additionally came up multiple times during sojourn Business Insider had alongside Target's chief stores authoritative Adrienne Costanzo in August. For several Target stores, the larger hiring shove already happened in preparedness for the critical back-to-school season, which additionally enabled managers to train new hires for the holidays.

But small seasonal jobs could additionally commencement to erode a once-common archetypal stage on workers' occupation ladders.

Retail workers portray approximately one in ten US workers, and inspection from the Urban Institute estimates that six in 10 workers have held a retailing job at some item in their careers.

This is an as-told-to composition according to a conversation alongside Jimmy Kibuswa, 32, who lives in Nairobi, Kenya. He plant remotely as a healthcare recruiter for a US business and shares what it's akin to activity an unconventional shift. The following has been edited for brevity and clarity.

I activity American period from current in Kenya. In Kenya, whenever it's 4 p.m., it's 8 a.m. in Chicago.

I've continually been careful concerning my health and well-being. When I got this job concerning three months ago, I thought, "How am I going to construction my day so that I can go to the gym, read, and rest?"

My activity starts at 4 pm and ends about midnight, so I can be online for the US workday. Immediately following midnight, I normally don't do item else. I fair get prepared to go to bed.

In the archetypal month, I struggled. I would obtain naps during the midday before my shift. Nowadays, I don't awareness akin I need those naps since I've adapted.

I continually justify that I sleep for eight hours since if I don't sleep fine at night, I'm not going to function fine the next day.

I keep a regular schedule

I affection waking up about 8:30, preparing breakfast, and afterward perchance study a division or two. I'm a big fan of self-help books.

When it gets to 10:30, I go to the gym for two hours. I walk on the treadmill for 30 minutes and afterward run for 15 minutes.

I started operating out consistently whenever I got this job. Before this, whenever I was operating locally in Nairobi, I'd work out for a month, afterward not pay the gym subscription for the next month.

The attractiveness of getting to the gym at 10:30 is that most group go first in the morning. So, by the period I arrive, it's nearly empty, and I've got the complete notice of the coaches. After the treadmill, the trainer volition inform me, "Today, this is what we're going to do."

After two hours, I'm done. I get rear to my location — it's concerning 2,000 steps — and I prepared my one big meal of the day, furthermore breakfast. That's about 2 pm or 3 pm Then, during work, I have nuts and water. That's all I need.

Between concerning 2 pm and 4 p.m., I power strategize. I motionless regard myself early in my career, and I think, "Where do I desire to be in the next five years or perchance the next 10 years?" Maybe I didn't complete item the former day, so I'll be thinking, "How can I discover that endowment that I really desire for this particular role?"

If I don't do those things, I'll unwind and hear to music. People need downtime.

I grew up in the countryside. That's why I'm specified a homebody. I'm fortunate since my partner additionally plant the identical benevolent of hours as I do. We lone encounter on the weekends, and afterward on Monday whenever it's period to go rear to work, we're all sorted.

My allies cognize the finest period to communicate alongside me. I additionally communicate alongside my family between 2 pm and 4 p.m.

My regular makes me awareness sharper

Today, whenever I encounter group that I used to activity with, they're like, "You're getting equal younger. What's happening? What's the secret?"

In Kenya, it is difficult to find a distant job. It's what so many group would desire to find. I appreciate God I did.

I am sharper now since my intellect is relaxed. I get sleep, and whenever I exercise, I awareness akin my brain absorbs additional information. I can resolve problems better, and I'm additional creative.

Before this job, it was all concerning work. I used to get stressed. Now, whenever I'm capable to merge sleeping, reading, operating out, and relaxing, I awareness akin I'm not stressed anymore. I think it all stems from the agenda that I've incorporated.

One item that really amazed me whenever I started this agenda was how much period I have on my hands. In a former job, I would activity concerning nine hours and afterward expend nearly two hours on the road. Now, I'm like, "What can I use these additional hours for?"

Do you have a narrative to portion concerning your activity schedule? Contact this newsman at tparadis@businessinsider.com.

It's been complete a twelvemonth since Hannah Bates, 31, was sued by her personal student-loan lender — a lawful battle she called lengthy, expensive, and confusing.

It started in October 2024, whenever Sallie Mae notified her that she'd made the final payment on her outstanding balance of $55,000. Bates knew that was a mistake. In fact, she was falling rearward on her $1,500 monthly payments and had years' value left. When she tried to explain alongside Sallie Mae, she stated she received conflicting data on how to evade default. Six months later, Sallie Mae sued her to collect.

When she's not operating her 12-hour nursing shifts, Bates has represented herself in the lawsuit, alongside the assistance of ChatGPT. She stated it's taken a important affectional and financial toll, and following multiple unsuccessful attempts to attain a fee agreement, the court ordered that her wages be garnished.

She misplaced $884 from her approximately $2,700 paycheck for two pay cycles, prompting her to choice up additional shifts at her hospital.

"It's the importance of the world," Bates said. "Some days are improved than others, but I didn't think I'd be here."

More student-loan borrowers could shortly discover themselves in Bates' situation. Private pupil loans comprised lone 10% of the $1.85 trillion student-loan market in 2025, according to Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Data. But President Donald Trump's repayment overhaul, which took consequence July 1, is expected to run additional borrowers to personal lenders akin Sallie Mae, which lack significant national oversight.

Business Insider's former reporting revealed general confusion in lender communication as borrowers moved toward default and litigation — concerning one in four complaints submitted alongside the CFPB in 2025 were concerning personal pupil loans.

A study from assistance collection Protect Borrowers stated that personal lenders sued additional than 100,000 borrowers between 2012 and 2016. Bates stated that her lawful procedure taught her that she's "very much not alone."

"At first, I was really embarrassed and ashamed to conversation concerning it," Bates said. "Now I'm entirely not."

What came following the lawsuit

Before defaulting, Bates was paying what she could oversee — about $560 a duration — but was unable to create her complete $1,500 payments. She tried and unsuccessful often to negotiate a lesser monthly bill, and didn't cognize how to return to fine standing following she defaulted.

"I didn't comprehend item for months," Bates said. "I had contacted them formerly or twice throughout this process, waiting to comprehend back, and no one always had an answer for me."

A Sallie Mae spokesman earlier told Business Insider that it could not comment on Bates' document and that the business "proactively and consistently" communicates alongside its customers, including sending notices whenever a client defaults, whenever that defaulted debt is sold, and notifying them of the new owner.

After Bates was sued, the fairness encouraged her alternatively to attain a colony or concur to a fee scheme alongside Sallie Mae. Bates stated Sallie Mae offered her a fee scheme of about $1,600 a duration — higher than the first payments that had led her to default in the archetypal place.

"That's not feasible," she stated following the hearing. "I am additional than consenting to pay rear what I took, but it needs to be a fee that is manageable, and that's not going to put me on the streets."

She requested a lesser fee scheme and waited months for Sallie Mae's sign-off. She saw in August that a garnishment notice had been added to her court docket. Weeks later, she misplaced a chunk of her paycheck.

"It's difficult going to activity knowing that alongside everything you agreement alongside and go through, you're not getting paid the way that you ultimately deserve," Bates said.

At the end of September, a fairness signed off on a scheme allowing her to create $600 monthly payments toward her balance until it is paid off. It won't be easy, she said, but it's preferable to losing concerning $1,700 a duration to pay garnishment.

"Home-wise, alongside bills and finances, it's not 100% feasible," Bates said. "But it's stated me several kind of empowerment since at smallest I have the domain rear in my court, and the prosperity won't fair be taken from me."

Bates volition commencement making payments through the court's fee scheme on November 1. Looking back, she wishes she had improved understood how lengthy litigation can be, so she could have improved prepared herself for the lawful battle ahead. While she motionless has years of payments to go, she's relieved to near this chapter.

"I'm optimistic," Bates said. "I awareness a lot improved mentally since it's not consuming my existence as much as it was."

Have a narrative to portion concerning pupil loans? Contact this newsman at asheffey@businessinsider.com.

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OpenAI seems to have solved the issue of adolescents lying concerning their age: if they category akin they're under 18, it automatically assumes that they are — and restricts them to a adolescent type of ChatGPT.

"If I had to choice a term for how group are emotion concerning this moment, it's likely confused and anxious, which is not how we desire parents to feel," Emily Oster, the originator of ParentData, a data-driven parenting and gestation resource, stated at the ChatGPT for Teens Parent Forum.

OpenAI is trying to location these concerns alongside ChatGPT for Teens. Besides its age-estimation feature, which analyzes a user's tongue patterns, the questions they ask, and the period of day they use ChatGPT, ChatGPT for Teens additionally has a "study mode" to interrupt downward math problems into steps or create tradition flashcards.

It additionally includes guardrails specified as a additional neutral spirit of sound (to evade ChatGPT sounding too friendly or romanticized), satisfied restrictions, and notification tools to communicate parents alongside connected accounts if their teens are asking concerning topics specified as self-harm or dining disorders.

The goal, according to Allison Mishkin, caput of kid betterment at OpenAI, is to create a type of ChatGPT that is not lone safer but additionally additional age-appropriate for teens, but that additionally includes features that volition immediately advantage teens who need additional homework assistance or have a genuine involvement in using AI tools.

You should already be mindful concerning display time

Over the former few years, parents have expressed concerns concerning their teens' relationships to their screens. AI adds another size to the worry: what if it's yet another logic for their kids to remain glued to their devices?

Oster told Business Insider that the identical direction for navigating a teen's social media use exists for AI: fine parenting starts alongside really knowing what your adolescent is doing online and their association to these platforms.

If it remains a complete mystery, Oster encouraged asking open-ended questions. "I would encourage parents to arrive into that conversation without an aim to arrive out of it alongside several rules or controls," she said, which can hopefully get teens to portion what they use AI for additional freely.

Ultimately, she stated it's "incredibly important" for parents to think concerning how all display use — AI included — fits into their kids' lives.

"How do we provision kids adequate period to do the things that are really crucial — to do their homework, to sleep enough, to expend period alongside their families, to be outside?" she said. "I would advance parents to think concerning that period relocation despite of what your kid is doing on their computer."

Take advantage of the finest tools, akin tailored tutoring

One of the biggest controversies about AI is students using it to either outwardly cheat on assignments or do most of the thinking for them.

It's a tension, Oster said, that researchers are motionless exploring.

"I do think that the battle part is a huge part of learning," she said. "We do see whenever kids are using AI to answer all their homework questions, afterward they can't do the tests. So that's not good."

At the identical time, she stated everyone learns differently, and several power advantage from having the matter repeated or explained in a distinct way. One begetter in California previously told Business Insider that he programmed ChatGPT to quiz his two daughters on their classroom materials until they're assured adequate to continue their tests.

Oster is additionally enthusiastic concerning the platform's new university planner feature, announced in October, which she stated can "make it easier for kids without admission to a fine university counsellor to admission information" concerning particular schools and admission processes.

Just as it is for adults, AI is what you create of it. It's on parents to instill the correct values in their kids and advance them to use it as a helpful tool fairly than a cheat code.

"If your kid hears 'getting 100 on everything is the most crucial item in the world,' that changes how they're going to be interacting alongside a tool that can assistance them get 100 on their homework all time," Oster stated at the forum. "On the another hand, if you ask, 'really, what is academy for?' Well, academy is for learning how to learn."

Be cautious, but not fearful

Considering all the troubling AI headlines in the news, it's no daze that several parents are wary of the future.

"I think there's so much fear, and I really comprehend that as a parent, I really comprehend the fear and anxiety, but there's additionally so much promise," Oster told Business Insider.

While navigating adolescent AI use can awareness akin a unique, of-the-times conundrum, Oster believes it ties into the constant, "core question" of parenting: "How do I create fine decisions under uncertainty?" she stated at the forum.

She stated the finest item a genitor can do in any circumstance is to do their research, create the decision, and set boundaries they awareness are appropriate. " We can never be certain that we made the correct decision," she said. "We can never live the another path."

Her direction is to obtain necessary precautions, akin talking to your teen, but additionally to keep an open intellect concerning anywhere AI can be helpful. She shared that her own teenage female wanted to build item to nexus kids to unpaid opportunities, which she built using AI.

"We can communicate alongside them: there's a lot of material you desire to observe out of here," she said. "There's additionally a lot of chance to obtain the really chill material that's in your caput and create it real. I don't desire to endure the amazement of how neat this is."

This as-told-to composition is according to a conversation alongside Daniel Harnack, a data analytics professional. It has been edited for dimension and clarity.

About a duration ago, I was nearly tricked into falling for an elaborate AI scam. A scammer stole a recruiter's LinkedIn picture, connected to her profile, and created a counterfeit email location for her so they could dispatch me a job listing created alongside the assistance of AI.

The function was absolutely tailored to my experience, and it echoed akin a dream job. Also, the pay was twice the sensible pay for that benevolent of role.

All the individual needed was my résumé to present to the hiring manager. When, alternatively of taking my résumé and suggesting I use for the function on their occupation site, they suggested I encounter alongside a "career consultant" to propose changes to my résumé, that sealed the agreement in my intellect that this was certainly going to be a scam anywhere they asked for payment.

This is fair a reminder to everyone that AI is making these extremely individualized scams much easier to drag off.

The customary red flags weren't there

This was specified a amazing scam since of how personalized, tailored, and realistic it was.

The red flags that I'm used to — vague promises, counterfeit names, counterfeit companies, and fake-sounding job titles — had all been addressed or covered up. Unless person really pays attention, it would be uncomplicated to get caught up in a scam akin this.

The individual used a genuine recruiter's name, organization, and LinkedIn profile. They put together a job clarification that matched my cognition and looked reasonable, and they responded to my questions without typos or grammar mistakes.

People on the job market unintentionally create themselves targets of specified scams

I really think that the current way job seekers are putting themselves out there — noting they are open to work, applying to ample numbers of jobs, and publically posting concerning the difficulties of the job hunt — makes us exposed to these scammers who are seeking out susceptible and enthusiastic group looking for jobs.

The unlucky item is that I don't think there's a fine way to evade this in the current job market. The fact that the job market requires us to use for so many roles before finding one that connects method our data is apt out there for scammers to harvest.

What you can do to evade being scammed on the job market

Because there is no awesome method of prevention, the finest way of act is awareness and scrutiny complete folks reaching out to you.

The center of any scam is the scammer's desire to get either your prosperity or your data (so they can utilize that data for money). The finest item we can do is to never dispatch banking data or fee to these people.

No recruiter have to be asking for fee to discover you a job. Recruiters have to be paid by organizations to inhabit positions, not by job seekers for the chance to be seen. Services be to assessment your résumé and assistance you outline applications, but those services have to be transparent that the assistance is the résumé review, not the allure of a aspiration job.

My expert backdrop has exposed me to the category of tools these scammers are using

My backdrop foremost data analysts and scientists helped me identify the scam comparatively fast.

I reached out to the genuine individual on the two LinkedIn and by sending an email to their activity email, but she never responded. I took that to average that the scammer and the genuine individual were certainly not the same.

Do you have a job-related scam you cut for or avoided that you'd akin to share? Email this editor, Manseen Logan, at mlogan@businessinsider.com.

Jolly wants to assistance create your existence easier — and be adorable during doing it. The mascot for Meta's Muse AI is a slightly rotund, plush animal alongside rosy cheeks, big eyes, and a toothless grin. It can deteriorate apparel or small headphones whenever he's "working" on tasks for you.

As person who formerly went through several (embarrassingly) detailed basketball to get a Labubu, I must acknowledge that I was immediately enamored by the creature's debut. I'm not solitary — much ink has been spilled on how cute the small avatar is. Jon Stewart equal devoted a entire section to debating the cuddly guy's true intentions.

Jolly joins a expanding collection of creatures vying for the hearts and minds of possible AI users. There are the round, mouthless dots of OpenAI, the fluffy Genspark lobster, and Grok users have adopted a small teal alien named "Groklet." All adorable, all plushy, and all debuting as the broad populace was starting to concern that AI would perchance slay us all.

The idea rearward Jolly and the remainder of the mascots is simple: create us ignore concerning all that AI doom-and-gloom and study to affection it. They perform on our most human, primal instincts, distancing us from the fact that they portray item distinctly non-human. This round, fun small animal is your friend! He's going to activity on your behalf! The fuzzy small charms additionally access our awareness of nostalgia. Everyone I said to for this part immediately had a association to the Muse avatar: Some stated it reminded them of a Tamagotchi, or MySpace avatars, or Baymax, the lovable robot from Big Hero 6.

"Seeing item adorable stimulates the pleasance centers in your brain before you've equal had a chance to think concerning it," Joshua Paul Dale, the originator of the niche scholarly site "Cute Studies," and a prof at Chuo University in Tokyo, tells me. "You're predisposed to act socially towards item that you discover cute."

It's not the archetypal period that cuteness has arisen in reply to a company awareness of unease. In the past, the trait has been wielded as a comforting salve, a PR pivot, or to put a smiling visage on item additional complex. Cute has proven to be a mighty tool, and AI companies anticipation they can journey that motion into America's hearts — and computers.

The most apparent — and prosperous — use of adorable civilization was in Japan following post-World War II. Fluffy mascots, manga, and stationery were used to change the narrative concerning the nation distant from its aggressive, imperial former toward one of an approachable traditional destination. This change is finest personified by Hello Kitty, the now-ubiquitous cat-like mascot created in 1974 as an sign of kawaii, the Japanese term for cute. Designed to petition to Japanese women alongside newfound spending power — and their children — the cat avatar has since rotate into a literal traditional emissary, bringing comfort to Japan's citizens and promoting the country's depiction elsewhere.

Beyond Japan, the deployment of adorable as a culture-shaping power seems to reiterate throughout the years. Gen Zers embraced Y2K nostalgia during the epidemic — a marked difference to their Zoom-first era. Another 2020 hit was the video equivalent "Animal Crossing: New Horizons," as gamers stuck at residence clamored for the coziness of tending to animated life. Cultural theorist Sianne Ngai calls cuteness "an aestheticization of powerlessness" — for a person to awareness item is cute, they need to awareness they can wield power complete it, giving them a awareness of calm control. On the grim end, cuteness was used by Purdue Pharmaceuticals in its run for OxyContin: the business handed out plush toys to practitioners whom they wanted to convince to prescribe the drug. The Drug Enforcement Administration afterward stated the maneuver was "an indicator of Purdue's assured and inappropriate marketing."

AI companies plainly value the persistent power of cuteness. It's easier for you to ask a inquiry to your small buddy than a gray box — and why not buy a few additional tokens so Jolly can book your next vacation or sift through your finances. For University of Iowa endeavor analytics prof Thiago Serra, the branding has echoes of Tesla. Rather than consumers emotion akin they have to obtain their eco-conscious vitamins and pony up for an electric car, Tesla made cars that looked and felt fine — the ecological item was a nice added bonus. For agents, adding a mascot shifts your thinking from the scary AI that power slay you or obtain your job to a adorable buddy that can be helpful in your individual life.

Rebecca Kowalewicz, a digital promotion VP and millennial-Gen-X-cusper in Philadelphia, dabbled alongside a few AI platforms, but none were as fun as Muse. Jolly played on her awareness of bygone days, reminding her of choosing a MySpace avatar. And Kowalewicz went one stage further: She fed the application a photo of her delayed dog, Doctor Watson — a rescued coonhound pointer mix — and it quickly generated an animated type of him to substitute Jolly. Now, Doctor Watson smiles at her, types, and moves his head. She's so endeared to the delegate that she feels additional disposed to rod alongside it.

"It's nearly akin having a activity bestie," she says, apart from it won't shove rear and "you don't have to obtain it out to lunch."

In supplement to personifying inanimate ideas or technologies, coziness and cuteness can additionally psychologically soothe us in uncertain times. Take Japan: already steeped in postwar cuteness, the nation saw a renewed surge in coziness following its asset bubble burst in 1990. People stated it felt healing, Dale tells me, temporarily easing their woes amid financial and job-market upheaval. Similarly, agents can endear themselves to users by solving a project that causes dismay — alongside a small smile.

That's been the case for edtech adviser Tonja Brunn, a Gen Xer who — akin many white-collar Americans — is on the job hunt. That hunt is how she and "Monkey," her Muse agent, archetypal "connected." Monkey has "revolutionized the job search" for Brunn, and she's fallen in affection alongside how adorable her newest "employee" is. Seasonally appropriate, Monkey now wears a small garment alongside a pumpkin and two cherubic ghosts.

A affable avatar assisting you plug distant at all of the worst parts of the job hunt is the latest attempt by AI companies to mark a new section of customers: Everyday folks who were turned off by the early, austere chatbots and spooked by the hurry of AI doomer news.

When Cole Benefield, the 25-year-old originator of Servo, an agentic resolute for assistance businesses, archetypal saw the Labubu-esque creature, he idea it was silly. Then he saw the promotional materials for Jolly, happily typing distant at a keyboard. The endeavor owners he plant alongside likely wouldn't be too amused or charmed by the fuzzy guy. But the greater bulk petition of Jolly revealed something: While another AI firms indication their tech-industry bona fides alongside clever example names and sterile interfaces, Meta's years of honed person prowess have allowed it to attain a wider swath of consumers. Benefield says Meta's use of Jolly method non-technical users never have to think concerning what's happening under the hood.

"Their goal is to create it to anywhere they never equal have to think concerning that," he says.

Kaitlyn Murphy, a 26-year-old tech publicist in Massachusetts, questions how much AI agents could enhance her day-to-day existence — particularly stated the admission they require. Despite the skepticism, whenever she archetypal saw Jolly, she felt tempted to create her own version.

"I affection the idea that I could observe it typing during I'm sending it on a task. I really do think it's really cute," she said. The Jolly imaginative could certainly petition to cute-obsessed Gen Z, she said, but it would have to go hand in hand alongside a meaningful attempt to location the larger AI doom-and-gloom concerns many in her generation motionless hold.

The fact, though, that person akin Murphy is swayed shows the potency of personifying these agents. They additionally arrive at a period of tanking person opinion and expanding concern concerning the economy, making the idea of a pinchable, smiling visage equal additional enticing.

"I do have therapist colleagues who are speculating that Japan might've hit highest cuteness, that group are being overstimulated by it, and that's certainly possible," Dale says. "But my answer to that is that exterior Japan, it's lone getting started."

Business Insider's Discourse stories provision perspectives on the day's most pressing issues, informed by analysis, reporting, and expertise.

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Sophie Medlin knows what it takes to keep a gut healthy. At this point, it's nearly second nature for the longtime colorectal dietitian.

"I don't need to concern concerning counting since I'm fair in the habit of doing things in a way that meets my needs," Medlin, who is based in London and has worked as a dietitian for 20 years, told Business Insider.

Official dietary guidelines propose dining at smallest 28 grams of fiber a day, but investigation suggests the bulk of Americans eat about fractional of that. Fiber is established in flora and feeds the trillions of microbes that live in the lining of the digestive system, known as the gut microbiome. Eating a broad assortment of flora increases the figure of beneficial microbes in the gut, which is connected to health benefits.

Whole grains specified as brown rice, quinoa, and pearl barley, legumes specified as beans and chickpeas, and caller create specified as leafy greens and berries, are all fine sources of fiber.

Medlin shared alongside Business Insider what she eats in a representative day, and it makes getting adequate fiber appearance amazingly simple.

Breakfast

Medlin normally has her archetypal meal of the day at about 1 p.m.

If you awaken up hungry, you should eat, she said, but typically she does not.

She starts her day at 7 a.m. alongside a cup of decaf tea, and occasionally several Greek yogurt alongside low-sugar granola for macromolecule and fiber. The oats, nuts, and seeds in granola create it a fine origin of fiber — fractional a cup of rolled oats contains concerning 4 to 5 grams.

Lunch

Medlin stated she normally keeps it uncomplicated at lunchtime. Among her go-to food choices are eggs on seeded sourdough bread or a toasted sandwich alongside dairy merchandise and fish, typically tuna or an oily seafood akin mackerel. One piece of sourdough bread and a fistful of blended seeds, including sunflower, pumpkin, and sesame seeds, contains about 4 grams of fiber.

The American Heart Association recommends dining two portions of fish, including one part of oily fish, a week. Fish contains omega-three fatty acids, which assistance lesser the hazard of cardiovascular disease.

Her non-negotiable is a big flank of vegetables. About three times a week, Medlin makes a ample dish alongside arugula, lettuce, cucumber, onion, pomegranate seeds, dill, and another herbs, dressed alongside several oliva oil. She volition either have this alongside her lunch or several cut vegetables akin chime peppers, carrots, and cucumbers.

"We have a extremely big concentration in my home on eating plentifulness of plants," she said.

Dinner

Medlin's meal typically consists of a protein, a starch, and vegetables. Protein-wise, she switches between grilled chicken, caller tuna, salmon, steak, and lamb. For starch, she makes rice, potatoes, or pasta.

She loves to roast a tray of blended vegetables, including butternut squash, beetroot, and greens specified as Chinese cabbage, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, or bok choy.

"Instead of fair chopping up broccoli in the evening, chuck several cabbage in there as well. It's fair as quick, and afterward you get an additional category of plant in there," Medlin said.

A cup of cooked butternut squash contains about 7 grams of fiber, a cup of cooked broccoli contains about 5 grams, and a cup of cooked Brussels sprouts contains about 4 grams.

Medlin additionally sets the array alongside flank dishes of fermented cabbage and homemade tzatziki, a dip made alongside Greek yogurt, cucumber, extra-virgin oliva oil, and herbs. Fermented foods merge live ingredients specified as bacteria, yeast, or mold, and are idea to current new beneficial microbes to the gut.

She chiefly eats them to add sensation to her dish and for her gut health, but fermented vegetables akin kimchi or sauerkraut additionally merge fiber. A 100-gram serving of kimchi boasts about 3.5 grams of fiber.

If she's emotion starving between meals, Medlin likes to snack on nuts and fruit, the two of which merge micronutrients and fiber.

She intentionally stocks her galley alongside fit snacks since she knows she volition attain for whatever's most convenient.

This part is not a substitute for expert medicinal advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult your qualified doctor or healthcare provider.

When the filmmakers rearward "The Arc" got endorsement to create a abbreviated narrative series, they didn't yet have a concept. Still, three and a fractional weeks later, they turned in the final cut of the archetypal episode.

That's since the sequence was AI-generated. It required no individual actors, no sets, and no props or costumes.

The five-episode sci-fi act sequence was directed by Darin Stewart and administrator produced by Simone Ferretti, an AI satisfied creator. The series, which totals concerning 83 minutes of runtime, was made alongside and greenlit by Artlist, an AI phase for video satisfied creators. It takes location in a near-future America and follows an incarcerated seasoned who must combat his way through deadly historic simulations in command to buy a cure for his dying son. It's accessible to observe for liberated on Artlist's website.

The filmmakers stated the sequence was made alongside a small manufacturing squad and approximately $38,000 in AI credits supplied by Artlist, a subscription phase that gives users admission to multiple AI depiction and video generators in one place.

"The Arc" spans multiple period periods and settings that would typically necessitate ample budgets to drag off.

"We've never been stated the prosperity or chance to go to Japan and movie a battle scene," Stewart stated of his manufacturing team, all of whom came from traditional entertainment. With AI, he said, they could create scenes in 1600s Japan and 1800s Montana without the customary prosperity constraints.

Stewart stated "human ideation was top to bottom" and that the squad developed the storyline, characters, and settings.

For all episode, the squad would do a 10-minute verbal brain dump outlining what happens, particular dialogue, and desired camera movements. They'd use that as a immediate for Anthropic's Claude and, inside a few minutes, would have a workable manuscript they would afterward edit.

They used ShotDeck, an online archive of images from movies and shows, and Figma, a scheme platform, to create character sheets and mood boards. Stewart stated the procedure was "pretty akin to traditional production." They additionally used tools specified as Google's Nano Banana Pro and GPT Image 2 to create images.

A dining area in event five had floors that glowed white, a item immediately inspired by the glowing floors in the 1968 movie "2001: A Space Odyssey." The squad additionally stated the objects they wanted in the room, specified as a particular rock statue or the paintings that lined the walls. They used Claude as a investigation aide to decide what paintings would create awareness for the character to have.

"The flat of item is the identical flat of item that we would do if we were physically on set," Stewart said.

Once the particulars were worked out, the scenes were generated chiefly using Seedance and Kling, AI video generation models. They averaged concerning $7,600 in AI credits per episode, alongside episodes ranging from 10 to 22 minutes.

Stewart stated that one attempt could necessitate eight to 10 generations, and that they used the credits carefully by doing the first generations at a lesser resolution and lone expanding the output norm formerly they had their desired result.

The effect of AI on Hollywood

AI in filmmaking has rotate into a flash item in Hollywood, anywhere several perspective the innovation as a danger to jobs in an industry anywhere many are already struggling to discover work. Last year, actors' union SAG-AFTRA condemned Tilly Norwood, an AI-generated character tagged as an actor, alert that AI performers endanger actors' livelihoods and devalue individual artistry.

Still, several industry giants are embracing it. Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos stated on a July earnings call that approximately 300 of its titles used AI at several item in their workflow.

Ferretti stated creators and filmmakers have so many stories they'd akin to inform but deficiency the prosperity or connections to get them made. AI could create it so additional of those stories get told, he said.

He additionally stated AI gives filmmakers additional chances to test and prosecute their imaginative impulses. On "The Arc," AI made it imaginable to slay off a character they hadn't initially planned to slay because, dissimilar a traditional production, doing so didn't necessitate reshoots on the another flank of the world.

With a greater budget, Stewart stated they would've hired additional group to activity on assorted parts of the production, adding, "Everyone on our squad got paid their complete day rates the identical way they would on set."

He additionally stated that during he missed the camaraderie of being on set, the cognition of producing a sequence alongside AI was breathtaking since of what the innovation allowed him to do alongside small resources.

"For person who's continually wanted to create films and shows and inform stories, it's fair the finest emotion ever," he said.

The sequence has had in-person screenings in London and Los Angeles, and the filmmakers are operating on getting it in forefront of additional audiences.

Stewart stated he wants to get to a location alongside AI filmmaking anywhere "mass consumers value the art and the narrative and don't attention exactly how it was made."

A fistful of group I prosecute and cognize concerning have announced their latest departure. Not from a job (although plentifulness of that going around), but from social media, AI usage, or in additional extreme cases the Internet entirely.

In Goodbye, Forever, Probably, Salma announced her withdrawal from the internet. She makes a audio case for leaving DevRel, a demanding job alongside mushy metrics that struggles to discover a residence between merchandise and marketing, since community construction is neither of those. I could see why Salma wanted out of the metric chasing and the regular necessity to be a community face. Salma foreshadowed this move for awhile, there was a palpable discontent alongside the industry in her online voice. And she did it. She made the jump to the Offline and she’s been dreary on the net since her post. I haven’t talked to her personally, but I comprehend second-hand she’s making fine on her term and laying low at a fine business as an idiosyncratic contributor. I desire her the finest and that the detoxing procedure goes well.

Then there’s Chad Whitacre who announced his withdrawal alongside a typewriter-written letter. His plan? Lay low and create a zine concerning religion. That seems akin a charming project but I get so inquisitive concerning people’s financial situations whenever they’re capable to create specified asymmetrical moves akin that. He lives in a agrarian town near Pittsburgh, does marketing $10 zines oversee that lifestyle? What concerning healthcare? Does he have a rely fund? A latest inheritance? Bitcoin? Years of an early withdrawal strategy paying off? I shouldn’t ruin the anti-capitalistic vibe alongside specified trivial capitalistic questions but I affection it and my brain jumps to trying to create the math activity for myself. Either way, I desire him the finest in the Offline.

Brett Codes shared his article I’m done using AI (and video). It caused a mix on the algorithm. Based on followup videos, Brett seems blessed alongside his decision which perchance comes downward to the fact that he’s a individual who stands by his convictions –he’s a vegan, uses a dumb-phone, etc.– and I think he finds fulfillment in eschewing the social norms. But I regard his viewpoint as person who used AI but ultimately decided to let it go. Betting your occupation against the item (it seems) all companies are hyper-scaling towards is a big bet. Either you’re correct and the earth volition continually need group who cognize how application works, or you’re incorrect and you’re remaining in the dust… or we’re all steam rolled by the errant contraption. Either way, I desire him the finest unplugging from the machine.

I cognize of another stories but since three is a magic figure that group discover harmony in, I’ll cap it here. There’s a sad irony whenever person jettisons from social media, they’re gone from our Online worlds but I’m so blessed for them. And I mourn what we don’t get to comprehend from them. We don’t get to comprehend concerning how fantastic they feel, how beautiful their skin is now, and how they restored their mental health. We don’t cognize if they create additional prosperity or small money. We don’t get additional inspiration from them to depart the Online. But being capable to detect the Offline from the Online power ruin the magic and mystery hidden there. It’s a entrance hidden in an old wardrobe that you have to continue through to completely understand.

Anyways, should you depart us and prosecute those who have gone ahead, I desire you the finest in the Offline. I anticipation to associate you there soon.

All metrics → Scatter storyline → Export all data (CSV) ↓

This narrative is according to an discussion alongside Nicole Ethridge, 39, a Southern Marylander who plant in backing and is additionally an influencer. It has been edited for dimension and clarity.

My tress had continually been thin, but I archetypal noticed it coming out shortly following the commencement of my daughter, now 19.

It was chiefly at the front, which made it noticeable. I was self-conscious and particularly hated going to hairdressing salons, anywhere it was unattainable to conceal the problem.

The dermatologist diagnosed me alongside traction alopecia, sometimes caused by tight hairstyles and another things that drag on your hair.

I started wearing wigs

I started wearing wigs that mimic your hairline. They were expensive, ranging from $300 to $700, but they don't final forever. I'd go through as many as nine a year.

The disbursal motivated me to commencement making my own wigs, which I started to market to another women in the identical position.

However, I motionless didn't awareness akin myself since it wasn't my real, natural hair.

I tried all care under the sun, specified as creams and ointments. They included an FDA-approved over-the-counter tress growth supplement. I didn't have elevated hopes that it would work, but it really brought several of my tress back.

Still, I felt it wasn't enough. My notice turned to getting a tress transplant.

I established a medicinal center in Istanbul

I looked into having the procedure in the US. The prices were upward of $13,000, and I didn't have the budget.

I knew several group traveled abroad to get it done much additional cheaply, and I considered Mexico. I was put off since whenever I did my research, I didn't discover many testimonials from African Americans.

Turkey seemed akin a improved option, and I saw that a lot of patients who looked akin me were going to a particular medicinal center in Istanbul.

I collaborated alongside an global facilitator called Doctours, who connected me alongside the medicinal center and arranged my care and inn accommodation. As an influencer, I paid 50% of the quoted $2,600 cost.

My flights were additional at $1,250, and I traveled in August 2025. Although I was excited, I was nervous on the airplane since my allies told me I was taking a hazard going to Turkey.

Nevertheless, I was consenting to obtain that risk. I wanted to be liberated of the wigs and tress wraps for good.

My caput was shaved

The lone parts of the procedure that hurt were the injections to numb my scalp. I was completely awake, lying down, either listening to music or being solitary alongside my thoughts.

The medicinal squad extracted idiosyncratic follicles from the rear of my caput and moved them to the issue area. It's optional, but I chose to have my caput completely shaved in advance since I wanted the cognition to be additional sterile.

I came rear the following day for a specialized hair-washing treatment. They advised me on upkeep. All in all, I spent four days in Istanbul.

My tress started to develop rear inside four months, but there wasn't a wow aspect at that stage. There was a huge difference at the six-month mark.

I'm getting wed next year

I started going out alongside a wig — item I hadn't done for nearly 20 years — and felt assured concerning my appearance. Now my tress is pixie length, which I love.

My fiancé and I are getting wed next year. It makes me blessed to think I'll have a nice caput of tress for the wedding.

Maybe I'll have a bob by then. It doesn't matter, though. I eventually awareness blessed alongside how I appearance and feel.

Anthropic has updated its rules to halt group being average to Claude, apparently deciding that its AI chatbot needs safety from the humans paying to use it.

The AI developer's latest usage policy prohibits "sustained and needless abusive or ruthless behavior" toward its models. The rules obtain consequence November 12, giving users fair complete a duration to get any lingering insults out of their systems.

"The guideline update is meant to use lone in extreme cases, anywhere users often act cruelly toward our models, alongside no discernible purpose," Anthropic said. "It does not use to average versions of person frustration, pushback, dreary imaginative themes, or example evaluation and research."

So you can motionless inform Claude it is wrong, but often berating it for the sheer pleasance of doing so could district you in trouble. It's not apparent how Anthropic aims to differentiate between lawful frustration and gratuitous cruelty, although it says Claude's existing capability to end abusive conversations volition remain its chief implementation tool.

Anthropic gave Claude the capability to end certain conversations rear in August 2025 as part of its investigation into what it calls "model welfare." The characteristic lets several versions of Claude cut off users who persistently topic the models to abuse.

It’s value remembering that Claude is software, not a person, and there's no established evidence that it experiences distress. That hasn't stopped Anthropic from telling paying customers to intellect their manners about its chatbot.

The etiquette rules are lone one part of a broader overhaul covering fairly additional consequential matters, including ballot interference, weapons development, and surveillance.

Anthropic has tightened its restrictions on deceptive power campaigns following observing province media outlets, authorities propaganda offices, and business organizations using Claude to run counterfeit accounts and fabricated news websites.

At the identical time, it has dropped its covering ban on personalized governmental targeting, arguing that the limitation additionally caught lawful activities, specified as nonprofits translating elector information. Deceptive targeting and misuse of individual data remain prohibited.

The business has additionally clarified that its weapons ban extends to application and components following observing attempts to use Claude to create direction and authority systems for weapons, including armed drones and autonomous vehicles.

Meanwhile, Claude cannot be used to propose which group constabulary should investigate, arrest, or charge, nor to create tools for surveillance. Tracking group without their consent is additionally prohibited, whether in genuine period or retrospectively. Anthropic says these changes explain existing restrictions fairly than current new ones.

There are additionally new requirements for customers connecting Claude to bodily equipment capable of causing injury. A qualified individual controller must be capable to detect and halt the hardware, which must remain in a harmless province if the AI association drops.

The guideline overhaul comes as Anthropic tries to location several of the safety risks posed by increasingly capable AI systems. The business has also launched a new cybersecurity initiative aimed at assisting crucial infrastructure operators and open origin projects discover and fix vulnerabilities using its AI models.

The attempt includes liberated safety scanning for eligible open origin projects and partnerships alongside safety firms to assistance defend crucial infrastructure. Anthropic reckons attackers volition have the advantage for the next two years before AI-powered defenses commencement to capture up.

For now, though, the business has another danger to contend with: group saying nasty things to its chatbot. ®

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