On a recent stroll by my local Allbirds store in Harvard Square, I had to do a double take. In the window, the brand was advertising its new Varsity collection: a 70s-inspired sneaker line with a rubber sole and a feminine color palette that weaves together pink, olive green, mustard, and brick red. It’s an unmistakably fashionable shoe that wouldn’t look out of place at New Balance and Saucony, or even Valentino and Celine.
Allbirds, which launched in 2014, isn’t known for chasing trends. It has always led with sustainability, starting with the “wool runner” that quickly became a cult sneaker in tech circles. Over the years, it hasn’t strayed far from this original aesthetic. It’s made high-tops, performance running shoes, and slip-ons with a quiet, minimal design so the focus would remain on the materials.
[Photo: Allbirds]
Allbirds has never marketed itself to sneaker heads, but a decade later, the sneaker landscape looks very different. Sustainability is no longer a differentiator; it’s table stakes. Meanwhile, fashion has swung decisively toward vintage silhouettes, expressive color, and sneakers that feel as considered as the rest of ones outfit. Against that backdrop, Allbirds began to feel staticand customers, it seems, noticed.
[Photo: Allbirds]
Since going public in 2021, the companys stock has fallen roughly 80%, leaving it with a market capitalization of approximately $32 million as of early 2026. In 2024, Allbirds reported $190 million in revenue, down from $254 million the year before. More recent financial reports show continued revenue declines and ongoing losses. In January, the company announced it would close all 20 of its full-price U.S. stores by the end of this month as part of a broader effort to cut costs. (Two outlet stores, in California and Massachusetts, will remain open.)
The stakes are high. A brand that once felt like a category disruptor is now in reset mode. Inside Allbirds, the design team isnt just chasing financial survivalits chasing relevance. The companys comeback strategy hinges on a clear pivot: leaning harder into fashion, targeting women more intentionally, and expanding its aesthetic without abandoning its commitment to sustainability.
[Photo: Allbirds]
Moving Beyond the Wool Runner
The Varsity collection is the clearest expression yet of the brands attempt to broaden its visual language without losing its identity. “The question we’ve been wrestling with is how to stay true to what Allbirds is while pushing into new spaces and becoming more relevant to more people,” says Erin Sander, who joined Allbirds a year ago as VP of product and merchandising after a decade at Sorel.
Over the past five years, vintage sneakers have dominated fashion, as heritage brands like New Balance, Adidas, and Saucony dug into their archives to revive styles from the 70s and 80s. Varsity draws from that same retro runner traditionbut filters it through the restraint, comfort obsession, and materials philosophy of Allbirds.
[Photo: Allbirds]
Compared with competitors chunky soles, Varsitys rubber outsole is slim and pared back. The silhouette is streamlined rather than bulky. Inside, the shoe is lined with wool, a familiar touch for longtime Allbirds customers.
Where the shoe really distinguishes itself, though, is in its materiality. Most sneakers rely on conventional cotton, leather, and petroleum-based plastics. Varsity, by contrast, is built entirely from more sustainable alternatives. The upper is made from a blend of organic cotton and hemp, a carbon-negative crop. The leather accents come from recycled leather scraps. And the sole is made from a sugarcane-derived plastic.
[Photo: Allbirds]
Developing Varsity has given Allbirds a new design playbook: Take popular, in-demand sneaker styles and retrofit them with lower-impact materials.
That same approach is now extending into more elevated footwear. The company has identified demand for leather sneakers that can plausibly replace dress shoesand has gone searching for a material that looks and feels like leather without carrying the same environmental cost.
That search led Allbirds to Modern Meadow, whose suede-like material Innovera is made from plant proteins, biopolymers, and recycled rubber. Its being used in footwear for the first time in the newly launched Allbirds Terralux collection, which includes skater, runner, and vintage-inspired silhouettes.
Terralux [Photo: Allbirds]
Speaking to Women
The Varsity collection also reflects a deeper strategic shift. Allbirds is now explicitly designing and marketing with women in mind. While the brand has always had female customers, it has often been perceived as male-coded, partly because it first took off among the male-dominated Silicon Valley set.
Elaine Welteroth [Photo: Allbirds]
When CMO Kelly Olmstead joined Allbirds after two decades at Adidas, she found that this perception doesn’t align with the data. The customer base actually skews slightly female, and this discovery helped her crystalize a new direction. Women control north of 80% of the purchase decisions in a household, Olmstead says. Women need to be top of mind when were thinking about what we make, how we make it, and what she wants.
Justine Lupe [Photo: Allbirds]
Color has become a key tool in that repositioning. After years of neutrals and subdued tones, the brand is embracing richer, more feminine palettesdusty reds, earthy blues, warm yellowsthat feel expressive without turning the shoe into a statement piece. Footwear is an accessory, especially for her, Sander says.
The brands recent marketing reinforces that message by spotlighting women. Its spring campaign features actress Justine Lupe (of Nobody Wants This), editor and TV host Elaine Welteroth, celebrity makeup artist Nikki DeRoest, and entrepreneur Grace Cheng. Olmstead says they embody the Allbirds customer: women juggling careers, families, and social lives, who want footwear that looks polished but works all day long.
Grace Cheng [Photo: Allbirds]
For Olmstead, this push to expand the brands aesthetic and audience feels like a natural next step. Coming from Adidas, a 75-year-old heritage brand, she sees Allbirds as just emerging from startup modeand entering a more demanding phase of its life.
Ten years in, it kind of feels like were coming through our teenage years, Olmstead. Now its about growing up.
Los Angeles Lakers guard Bronny James quietly debuted a new logo for his signature shoe during last week’s game against the Cleveland Cavaliers: a lowercase b (for Bronny) that features a 9 (for his jersey number) inside the letterform.
The logo appeared on a bright pink pair of James’s father’s shoe, the LeBron Witness IX, but there was another logo on the shoe that was notable: a backwards Nike Swoosh.
Since debuting in 1971, the Nike Swoosh has become one of the most iconic brand logos of all time. Still, Nike designers have occasionally had some fun with it by breaking brand guidelines and flipping the logo around. Though there’s no formal rule for who gets the backwards swoosh, throughout Nike history, the flipped logo has shown up on shoes worn by some of the strongest-willed players across sports and culture.
[Photo: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images]
The history of Nike’s backwards swoosh
The backwards Swoosh appeared first in 1994 on the Nike Air Darwin, the big, chunky, boot-like sneaker worn by Dennis Rodman, and the mark later reappeared on Rodman’s Nike Air Ndestrukt. The backwards logo made sense for an eccentric player like Rodman, who was known for his hairstyles and tattoos as much as for his skills on the court.
Dennis Rodman, ca. 1995. [Photo: Focus on Sport/Getty Images]
Rodman set the pattern for when Nike pulls out the backwards logo. It also appeared on the 1994 Nike Air Flare worn by tennis player Andre Agassi, another athlete at the top of his game who was recognized widely for his style and attitude.
In the 2010s, the backwards logo appeared on the shoes of other superstars and made appearances in youth-oriented crossover collaborations. The backwards Swoosh appeared on James’s dad shoe, the 2012 Nike LeBron X, as well as on the Nike Kobe AD NXT in 2017, one year after Kobe Bryant retired. On Giannis Antetokounmpo’s 2019 Nike Freak shoes, the backwards Swoosh was iridescent and memorably set on the midsole to make them look like they’re from the future. The backwards logo on the PG 2, a 2018 collaboration with Playstation, was bright neon colors.
Travis Scott has popularized the backwards Nike logo since 2019, when the Travis Scott x Air Jordan 1 became the first in a string of Nike shoes from the rapper to use the backwards mark. Though Rodman complained that Scott “copied” him, the pair made up in 2024 when Rodman appeared in an ad for a velvet brown color way of Scott’s Air Jordan 1 Low OG, which, yes, had a backwards logo.
Other global brands with a simple, well-known logos like McDonald’s and Coca-Cola have found creative ways to deconstruct or reinvent their logos by crushing them or turning them upside down, and Nike turned its Swoosh on the side in 2024 on women’s soccer jerseys to celebrate the growing popularity of the game.
For such a valuable brand asset like the Swoosh, tweaking it signals a break from conventions. By debuting his signature Nike logo alongside the backwards mark, James joins a storied design tradition.
Heat pumps can reduce carbon emissions associated with heating buildings, and many states have set aggressive targets to increase their use in the coming decades. But while heat pumps are often cheaper choices for new buildings, getting homeowners to install them in existing homes isnt so easy.
Current energy prices, including the rising cost of electricity, mean that homeowners may experience higher heating bills by replacing their current heating systems with heat pumpsat least in some regions of the country.
Heat pumps, which use electricity to move heat from the outside in, are used in only 14% of U.S. households. They are common primarily in warm southern states such as Florida where winter heating needs are relatively low. In the Northeast, where winters are colder and longer, only about 5% of households use a heat pump.
In our new study, my coauthor Dan Schrag and I examined how heat pump adoption would change annual heating bills for the average-size household in each county across the U.S. We wanted to understand where heat pumps may already be cost-effective and where other factors may be preventing households from making the switch.
Wide variation in home heating
Across the U.S., people heat their homes with a range of fuels, mainly because of differences in climate, pricing, and infrastructure. In colder regionsnorthern states and states across the Rocky Mountainsmost people use natural gas or propane to provide reliable winter heating. In California, most households also use natural gas for heating.
In warmer, southern states, including Florida and Texas, where electricity prices are cheaper, most households use electricity for heatingeither in electric furnaces, baseboard resistance heating, or to run heat pumps. In the Pacific Northwest, where electricity prices are low due to abundant hydropower, electricity is also a dominant heating fuel.
The type of community also affects homes fuel choices. Homes in cities are more likely to use natural gas relative to rural areas, where natural gas distribution networks are not as well developed. In rural areas, homes are more likely to use heating oil and propane, which can be stored on property in tanks. Oil is also more commonly used in the Northeast, where properties are olderparticularly in New England, where a third of households still rely on oil for heating.
Why heat pumps?
Instead of generating heat by burning fuels such as natural gas that directly emit carbon, heat pumps use electricity to move heat from one place to another. Air-source heat pumps extract the heat of outside air, and ground-source heat pumps, sometimes called geothermal heat pumps, extract heat stored in the ground.
Heat pump efficiency depends on the local climate: A heat pump operated in Florida will provide more heat per unit of electricity used than one in colder northern states such as Minnesota or Massachusetts.
But they are highly efficient: An air-source heat pump can reduce household heating energy use by roughly 30% to 50% relative to existing fossil-based systems and up to 75% relative to inefficient electric systems such as baseboard heaters.
Heat pumps can also reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, although that depends on how their electricity is generatedwhether from fossil fuels or cleaner energy, such as wind and solar.
Heat pumps can lower heating bills
We found that for households currently using oil, propane, or non-heat pump forms of electric heatingsuch as electric furnaces or baseboard resistive heatersinstalling a heat pump would reduce heating bills across all parts of the country.
The amount a household can save on energy costs with a heat pump depends on region and heating type, averaging between $200 and $500 a year for the average-size household currently using propane or oil.
However, savings can be significantly greater: We found the greatest opportunity for savings in households using inefficient forms of electric heating in northern regions. High electricity prices in the Northeast, for example, mean that heat pumps can save consumers up to $3,000 a year over what they would pay to heat with an electric furnace or to use baseboard heating.
A challenge in converting homes using natural gas
Unfortunately for the households that use natural gas in colder, northern regionsmaking up around half of the countrys annual heating needsinstalling a heat pump could raise their annual heating bills. Our analysis shows that bills could increase by as much as $1,200 per year in northern regions, where electricity costs are as much as five times greater than natural gas per kilowatt-hour.
Even households that install ground-source heat pumps, the most efficient type of heat pump, would still see bill increases in regions with the highest electricity prices relative to natural gas.
Installation costs
In parts of the country where households would see their energy costs drop after installing a heat pump, the savings would eventually offset the up-front costs. But those costs can be significant and discourage people from buying.
On average, it costs $17,000 to install an air-source heat pump and typically at least $30,000 to install a ground-source heat pump.
Some homes may also need upgrades to their electrical systems, which can increase the total installation price even more, by tens of thousands of dollars in some cases, if costly service upgrades are required.
In places where air conditioning is typical, homes may be able to offset some costs by using heat pumps to replace their air conditioning units as well as their heating systems. For instance, a new program in California aims to encourage homeowners who are installing central air conditioning or replacing broken AC systems to get energy-efficient heat pumps that provide both heating and cooling.
Rising costs of electricity
A main finding of our analysis was that the cost of electricity is key to encouraging people to install heat pumps.
Electricity prices have risen sharply across the U.S. in recent years, driven by factors such as extreme weather, aging infrastructure, and increasing demand for electric power. New data center demand has added further pressure and raised questions about who bears these costs.
Heat pump installations will also increase electricity demand on the grid: The full electrification of home heating across the country would increase peak electricity demand by about 70%. But heat pumpswhen used in concert with other technologies such as hot-water storagecan provide opportunities for grid balancing and be paired with discounted or time-of-use rate structures to reduce overall operating costs. In some states, regulators have ordered utilities to discount electricity costs for homes that use heat pumps.
But ultimately, encouraging households to embrace heat pumps and broader economy-wide electrification, including electric vehicles, will require more than just technological fixes and a lot more electricityit will require lower power prices.
Roxana Shafiee is an environmental fellow at the Center for the Environment at Harvard Universitys Harvard Kennedy School.
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
As someone who has tried almost every workout class on the planet, there is nothing like SoulCycle, said TikTok creator Matt Trav in a video posted in early January. The average human being cannot understand what blowing out the candle during the soulful song can do to the human psyche.
@mattatrav1 SoulCycle Renaissance 2026 you heard it here first original sound – Matt Trav
Nearly 40,000 people who liked the video seem to agree. Absolutely nothing can beat NYC SoulCycle circa 2016, one commenter wrote. Literally like going to church, another added.
Across social media platforms, that renaissance is already underway. Devotees have been sharing nostalgia-laced photos from years past, unearthing old merchandise, and swapping stories in comment sections. Some have been documenting their first-time experiences, while longtime riders welcome newcomers with open arms.
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Come with me to soulcycle as someone who was severely addicted . . . after a 6 year hiatus, one TikTok user wrote, adding, Soul cycle is back btw.
Once at the center of the fitness zeitgeist in New York City, the 45-minute workout class was branded a cult during its 2010s heyday. Its clientele included a number of A-list celebrities, and its instructors became bona fide stars, building obsessive fan bases who followed them across the country for a chance to snag a front-row bike in one of their classes.
At SoulCycle, we very quickly became the club you cant get into, and that has a lot of appeal to a lot of people, cofounder Ruth Zukerman said on the Wharton Business Daily podcast in 2019.
The same exclusive culture that fueled its rise also helped drive its fall. How SoulCycle lost its soul, a 2020 Vox headline read. The next year, a New York Times article reported allegations of sexual harassment, racism, and fat-shaming by members of SoulCycles elite ring of master instructors. In 2022, the chain shuttered about 25% of its locations, a ripple effect from the COVID-19 pandemic.
A decade after its peak, SoulCycle is back, and its return reflects the cultural moment.
The revival coincides with a broader 2016 nostalgia takeover on social media. Alongside a renewed fascination with so-called millennial optimism, hyper-filtered, grainy throwback images have flooded feeds as millennials and older Gen Zers reminisce about the music, fashion, and even workouts of a decade ago. It was the era of Snapchat filters, skinny jeans, and SoulCycle.
@tumblr goodbye 2025 hello 2016 #2016 #2016vibes #2016core #2016makeup #aesthetic Let me love you –
High-intensity workouts have since fallen out of favor, replaced by reformer Pilates and hot girl walks. But as saunas and ice baths become the new social clubs, and wellness-focused Gen Zers trade alcohol-fueled nights out for early morning workouts, its no surprise that a candlelit class set to blasting music and bound by a cultlike sense of community is being embraced by a new generation.
As one TikTok user suggested: Out of all the things to bring back from 2016, I vote to bring back SoulCycle.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy this week launched a new advisory council that could reshape American transportation in President Donald Trump’s aesthetic preferences.
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s newly created Beautifying Transportation Infrastructure Council held its inaugural meeting February 2, and quickly outlined plans to make a highly influential mark on the look and design of U.S. transportation infrastructure. The council could impact an array of initiatives including interstate highways, bridges, transit hubs, and airports, and has been established to provide recommendations on the policies, designs, and funding priorities of the DOT.
Though the council was created to serve an advisory role with no decision-making or funding authority, it currently has two major agenda items that could form the basis of a widespread makeover of American transportation infrastructure.
The first is the oversight of a national conceptual design competition that is seeking innovative thinking around transportation infrastructure design. The second is the creation of a design guidebook that would set new aesthetic recommendations for the design and renovation of federally controlled transportation projects. Its tentative title: “Beauty and Transportation.”
On the surface, these efforts seem open to a variety of design approaches, however the October announcement of the council states that the advisory effort will “align” directly with the aesthetic preferences laid out in Trump’s August 2025 executive order “Making Federal Architecture Beautiful Again.” That order defines the traditional and classical architecture of ancient Athens and Rome as the basis of a preferred architectural style for federal buildings.
This aesthetic preference is likely to influence whatever comes out of the Beautifying Transportation Infrastructure Council. Its chair is Justin Shubow, president of the National Civic Art Society, the Washington, D.C., nonprofit that champions classical architecture and which helped write Trump’s executive order to make traditional architecture the preferred style for federal buildings.
“That order called for new federal buildings to be beautiful, uplifting, and admired by the common person. It reoriented architecture away from modernism toward the classical and traditional design that is so appreciated and often preferred by ordinary people,” Shubow said during his opening remarks at the council meeting. “This council, I believe, should not recommend that any particular style be mandated, but it should make clear that classical and traditional design are legitimate options.”
Council guidelines
The council has set additional guidelines to govern its work. Shubow noted that the Transportation Department has drafted five preliminary principles to help shape the council’s advice and the creation of its design guidebook. These include ideals that “transportation infrastructure should be designed to uplift and inspire the human spirit and lend prestige to the nation,” and that it “should foster a sense of place and inspire national and community pride in a way that builds upon the past.”
The council’s members include architects, landscape architects, state transportation officials, engineers, and construction specialists. None were overtly dogmatic about design preferences, at least during this initial meeting.
Shubow has cited projects like San Franciscos Golden Gate Bridge and Cincinnati’s Union Terminal as exemplars of the kinds of designs the council might encourage. But council members also spent time talking about a wider range of aesthetic approaches to transportation design, including the importance of artistic lighting under bridges and the use of regionally appropriate wildflowers along highways.
One member, Bryan Jones, mid-Atlantic division president of the engineering and construction firm HNTB, pointed to one of his firm’s recent projects, the swooping Sixth Street Viaduct in Los Angeles, a decidedly modern structure.
Official and unofficial timelines
Timelines for the design competition and guidebook have not been set. The council will have its next public meeting in the summer, and will meet in private subcommittees in the meantime.
As Trump engages in a range of rebuilding and construction efforts in Washington, D.C., the work of the council may already be starting, if unofficially.
Duffy was on hand to kick off the council’s inaugural session, but had to leave early to go to the White House. He had another meeting with Trump to discuss the potential redesign of Dulles International Airport, “a beautiful project that he wants to look at,” to “revamp in a great way,” Duffy said.
AI isnt eliminating human work. Its redistributing human judgment, away from routine tasks and into the narrow zones where ambiguity is high, mistakes are costly, and trust actually matters.
This shift helps explain a growing disconnect in the AI conversation. On one hand, models are improving at breathtaking speed. On the other, many ambitious AI deployments stall, scale more slowly than expected, or quietly revert to hybrid workflows.
The issue isnt capability. Its trust.
The trust gap most AI strategies overlook
AI adoption doesnt hinge on whether a system can do a task. It hinges on whether humans are willing to rely on its output without checking it. That gap between performance and reliance, the trust gap, is what ultimately determines where AI replaces work, where it augments it, and where humans remain indispensable.
Two factors shape that gap more than anything else: ambiguity and stakes.
Ambiguity refers to how much interpretation, context, or judgment a task requires. Stakes refer to what happens if the system gets it wrong: financially, legally, reputationally, or ethically.
When ambiguity is low and stakes are low, automation thrives. When both are high, humans must stay firmly in the loop. Most real-world work lives somewhere in between and thats where the future of labor is being renegotiated.
A simple way to see where AI fits
Think of work along two axes: how ambiguous it is, and how costly errors are.
Low ambiguity, low stakes tasks, basic classification, simple tagging, routine routing, are rapidly becoming fully automated. This is where AI quietly replaces human labor, often without much controversy.
Low ambiguity but high stakes tasks, such as compliance checks or identity verification, are typically automated but closely monitored. Humans verify, audit, and intervene when something looks off.
High ambiguity, low stakes work: creative labeling, sentiment analysis, exploratory research, which tends to use AI as an assistant, with light human oversight.
But the most important quadrant is high ambiguity and high stakes. These are the tasks where trust is hardest to earn: fraud edge cases, safety-critical moderation, medical or financial interpretation, and the data decisions that shape how AI models behave in the real world.
Here, humans arent disappearing. Theyre becoming more targeted, more specialized, and more on demand.
When the human edge actually disappears
Interactive voice response systems refine the rule. The stakes were not low, IVR is literally the companys voice to its customers. But ambiguity was. Once synthetic voices became good enough, quality was easy to judge, variance was low, and the trust gap collapsed. That alone was sufficient for AI to take over.
When trust keeps humans in the loop
Translation followed a different trajectory. Translation is inherently ambiguous, as there are multiple ways to translate a sentence. As a result, machine translation rapidly absorbed casual, low-risk content such as TikTok videos. However, in high-stakes contexts, such as legal contracts, medical instructions, financial reporting, and global brand messaging, trust is never fully transferred to the machine.
For these tasks, professional translators are still required to augment the AI’s initial output. Since AI now performs the bulk of the work, full-time translators have become rare. Instead, they increasingly operate within expert networks, deployed just-in-time to fine-tune and verify the process, thereby closing the trust gap.
The same shift is now playing out in how data is prepared and validated for AI systems themselves. Early AI training relied on massive, full-time human labeling operations. Today, models increasingly handle routine evaluation. Human expertise is reserved for the most sensitive decisions, the ones that shape how AI behaves under pressure.
What this means for the future of work
The popular narrative frames AI as a replacement technology: machines versus humans. The reality inside organizations looks very different.
AI is becoming the default for scale. Humans are becoming the exception handlers, the source of judgment when context is unclear, consequences are severe, or trust is on the line.
This doesnt mean fewer humans overall. It means different human roles: less repetitive labor, more judgment deployed just in time. More experts working across many systems, fewer people locked into single, narrowly defined tasks.
The organizations that succeed with AI wont be the ones that automate the most. Theyll be the ones that understand where not to automate, and that design workflows capable of pulling human judgment in at exactly the right moment, at exactly the right level.
The future of work isnt humans versus machines. Its AI at scale, plus human judgment delivered through expert networks, not permanent roles. Translation and model validation show the pattern; white-collar work is next.
And that, quietly, is what companies are discovering now.
AI can do incredible things. So far, though, most of those things have been virtual.
If you want a killer article for your bichon frise blog or an expertly crafted letter disputing a parking ticket you probably deserve, chatbots like ChatGPT and Gemini can deliver that.
All those things are locked into the nebulous world of information, though. Theyre helpful, but the products of todays large language models (LLMs) and neural networks arent actually doing much of anything.
AIs silicon-bound status, however, is beginning to change. The tech is increasingly invading the real world.
2026 is the year that AI gets physical. And that shift has huge implications for the future of the technologyand for the impact when it fails.
Call Me a Robot
The change started with cars. The idea of a self-driving car goes back to the 1950s. But the technology always felt like it was decades away.
Now its here.
Robotaxi companies like Waymo and Zoox give more than 450,000 rides per week to paying customers. I ride in Waymo vehicles all the time, and I love calling a robot from an app and having it drive me across town.
Self-driving cars finally arrived because of a whole slew of things, including cheap lidar scanners and better batteries. But the rise of deep learning and AI played the most pivotal role.
The AI models that power Waymo vehicles are much better at driving than humans. And they can learn and improve on the flyhere in San Francisco where I live, Waymos have gotten more assertive as theyve learned the roads better.
Self-driving AI is getting so good that its increasingly able to navigate roads without the need for the fancy (and expensive) sensors you see atop first-generation Waymos. Tesla uses simple cameras, and is getting closer to true self-driving.
Fold My Laundry, Siri
Self-driving cars are an incredible application of physical AI. But theyre hardly the only one.
Driving is a great initial test case for the tech, because it has fairly clear rules and limits. Cars need to stay on the road, recognize red lights, and minimize cat fatalities.
Other physical tasks are harder to automate with AI. But they have potentially even bigger upsides.
Companies are increasingly pairing artificial intelligence with humanoid robots, teaching the robots artificial brains about the physical world so they can navigate it capably.
The ultimate dream is to put these robots to work. They could perform a wide variety of jobs in factories or warehouses, for example. Generally speaking, current industrial robots need to be specifically built for a single task, but an AI powered one could learn multiple onesassembling a product and then placing it on a shelf, for example.
But AI-powered robots could also fill gaping holes in the human labor market. Caretaking for the elderly is incredibly important as the world gets older on average. Yet finding enough people for caretaking roles is nearly impossible.
Especially in countries like Japan, robots are beginning to fill the gaps. Dexterous, AI-powered robots may soon work well enough for tasks like doing dishes, folding laundry, or even cooking to be automated.
These robot companions could help elderly people live on their own more independently. With advanced LLMs, they could even form relationships with their real-world charges, helping with loneliness or reminding a person with memory challenges to take their meds on schedule.
The Parable of the Raunchy Bear
Of course, all of this comes with risks.
When an LLM hallucinates in a virtual space, its annoying but rarely damaging. If your ChatGPT-generated recipe for meatballs sucks, you probably wont die. And if the chatbot writing your blog post confuses a bichon for a poodle, your dog will be very angry with you, but otherwise the consequences are minor.
Physical AI is different. Clearly, if Waymos technology goes awry, it could accidentally steer a 5,000-pound object into a building or a bystander. And youve read enough science fiction that I dont need to remind you about robot uprisings.
Many of these risks are well understood, though, and thus well controlled. Power outages aside, Waymos rarely run into serious challenges on the road, and industrial robots rarely injure people.
The bigger risks start to creep in when AI is applied haphazardly to the physical world without a lot of oversight or planning. As physical AI expands and LLMs get cheaper, this will happen more often.
Take the case of an AI teddy bear with a built-in LLM. It was supposed to chat with kids, and perhaps read them bedtime stories. Instead, it started instructing them on BDSM and other raunchy topics, as well as how to pop pills and where to find knives.
The bear was quickly pulled from the market. But the lesson is clear: Unlike traditional computer code, LLMs are nondeterministicyou cant predict their outputs from the inputs you feed them.
In 2026 and beyond, this will mean cars that avoid accidents better than human drivers, robots that can easily learn work theyve never done before, and AI embedded in physical systems (like power and utility grids) that can instantly respond to damage or outages.
But it will also mean lots of failuresand perhaps a few catastrophic ones. LLMs unpredictability is their power. But as AI gets physical, that unpredictability will also lead to a faster, less tractable, more chaotic world.
Roughly one out of three Americans has a side hustleand that number is expected to increase in 2026, something thats driving a shift in the modern working world.
Many of those with a side business are just looking for a little extra income, but roughly one in five are hoping to make their side hustle into a full-time business. Those who are entrepreneurially minded will want to chose a side business that has the potential to scale. Here are some fields that are showing a lot of promise for 2026.
Consulting and online courses
No matter what field youve worked in, your wisdom could be lucrative via a consulting business. Firm up your résumé, highlighting achievements such as successful campaigns or large-scale product launches, to help as you pitch potential clients. Have some former co-workers you worked well with? Consider recruiting them and launching an agency. Companies want seasoned counsel without the overhead, and senior talent wants more control over how they work, Brooke Kruger, founder and CEO of top communications search firm KC Partners, told Inc. in December.
You can also turn your expertise into online educational content. The e-learning market reached $314 billion in 2024 and is expected to grow to $615 billion by 2029.
Skilled-trade business
AI is threatening millions of white-collar jobs in the coming yearsand some of those displaced people wont be able to quickly find work. But AI cant fix a sink. Nor can it build a deck or install an air-conditioning unit. Rates for this specialized work run as high as $300 per hour.Skilled-trade businesses are a hot field right now for entrepreneurship through acquisition (ETA). ETA involves buying an established business (usually from baby boomers looking to retire), which gives the new owners existing revenue, customers, and infrastructure. New owners then streamline, scale, and modernize the business, boosting profits.
Dropshipping
E-commerce had one of the largest revenue growth rates of any industry in recent years, according to a study by McKinsey, jumping from $15 billion in 2005 to more than $1 trillion in 2023. Dropshipping is a side business that can act as an on-ramp into that field. You set up an online store, and find a third-party supplier to manufacture and ship the product to the customer, freeing you from having to worry about things like storage, fulfillment, or up-front production costs. Your focus will be on creative and marketing.
In the past year, tariffs and the end of the de minimis exemption have made business more challenging for drop shippers who work with manufacturers and warehouses overseas, but there are many U.S.-based drop shippers.
Mobile car washing
The service industry has shown resilience amid the economic volatility of the past yearand a growing number of people are looking to have the car wash come to them. A forecast by Future Market Insights predicts the global market for mobile car wash service businesses will grow to just under $283 billion by 2035. Thats more than double the $126 billion the businesses are expected to bring in this year.
Its a low-barrier, high-demand opportunity with flexible hours and low overhead. The density of competition in your local market will help you decide the appropriate rate to charge customers, but national averages range from $40 for a basic wash to more than $350 for a full detail.
Localize businesses
The past several years have illustrated the fragility of global supply chains. Tariffs have disrupted some shipments and made many products much more expensive. That could be an opportunity for the right entrepreneur. If youre dialed into local suppliers in your area, consider starting a side business as a facilitator.
Its a matchmaker-like role. You help connect suppliers with retailers and other businesses, localizing their inventory and lowering the risk they face from shipping or manufacturing hiccups, collecting a commission on each deal. Youll need strong communication, listening, and networking skills. Youll also have to have or quickly learn marketing skills to promote the benefits of your services.
Chris Morris
This article originally appeared on Fast Companys sister publication, Inc.
Inc. is the voice of the American entrepreneur. We inspire, inform, and document the most fascinating people in business: the risk-takers, the innovators, and the ultra-driven go-getters that represent the most dynamic force in the American economy.
When New York-based Autumn Myers, 31, was interviewing for her current digital marketing job, she pushed back the interview date so it didnt fall during Mercury retrograde. Those jobs have always ended up in more grief for me, she tells Fast Company.
Myers also looks up her colleagues zodiac signs to guide her interactions with them. For example: People born under fire signs often thrive in leadership roles, but they can struggle with impulsiveness. Earth signs tend to be more dependable, but they can be risk-averse.
Its very Scorpio of me to be that calculated, she admits. But its needed sometimes.
Myers isnt alone. According to a 2024 Harris Poll of more than 2,000 U.S. adults, some 70% say they either somewhat or strongly believe in astrology, with 69% of millennials turning to it for comfort and confidence during challenging moments.
Its also a massive global business. According to industry reports, the astrology industry will top $22 billion by 2031.
Whether its Diors zodiac-themed line, astrology influencers posting videos to huge audiences on TikTok, or audio streamers like Spotify curating playlists based on your zodiac sign, the millennia-old belief system has continued to become more and more mainstream over the past few years, especially among millennials and Gen Zers.
The Co-Star app, which uses AI to combine NASA data with the predictions of professional astrologers, has over 30 million global users. There are work-focused astrology tools, too, like Bizmos, a project management tool with the ability to forecast the optimal month, week, or day for completing certain tasks and achieving goals. And more than 6 million videos can be found under TikToks astrology hashtag.
It’s kind of hard to ignore astrology when everyone’s talking about it, Myers says.
In times of economic uncertainty, political turmoil, and a tumultuous job marketlayoffs hit record highs last yearits no surprise that people are seeking comfort and advice from farther afield.
And since were talking about things that involve light-years . . . perhaps the farthest afield.
Personalized goal-setting
According to a 2025 survey of 2,000 Gen Zers by writing platform EduBirdie, 27% of Gen Z men and 16% of Gen Z women say they let the universe choose their career path. But folks have been consulting the heavens long before todays zoomers at work.
The practice of astrology originated in ancient Mesopotamia in the second millennium B.C. A widely accepted subject taught at universities during the Middle Ages, astrology was closely intertwined with sciences like astronomy, medicine, and philosophy. That all stopped around the 1700s during the Scientific Revolution, and despite a resurgence during the New Age movement in the 1970s, many dismiss astrology as magical thinking or frivolous woo-woo.
At its core, astrology holds that celestial events in the cosmos reflect what happens on Earth. Some believe that the actual transits of planets and positioning of stars directly influence our lives; others simply use astrology as an invitation to spot archetypal patterns in their lives, and then apply those lessons in productive ways. For example, in need of inspiration? See where Aquarius shows up in your birth chartthe sign most associated with innovation. Thats the area of life where you can naturally think outside the box, astrology holds.
Brand strategist Giselle La Pompe-Moore, 36, checks what astrological season we’re in every month to guide her work and how she interacts with customers. During Sagittarius season (November 22 to December 21), shell focus on broader strategies and larger frameworks to do with her business, since Sagittarius is ruled by Jupiter, the planet tied to expansion and progress.
Or shell consult her birth chart for hints about her personality and life themes. At the time of her birth, multiple planets were in Capricorns region of the sky; since Capricorns archetype is about structure and discipline, she takes this as a guide on the optimal way she should approach her long-term goals.
I think business advice often sticks to the business as this entity. It kind of forgets that the business is run by a person, La Pompe-Moore says. Astrology really speaks to that.
A way to work that feels “more natural”
Many proponents will say that astrology is most useful as a spiritual framework, not a crystal ball that predicts the future. They say that astrology helps us to navigate emotional challenges and relationships, and to find greater balance in our lives.
Jessica Maniatis, 44, consults the stars in her work as a coach to founders of small to scaling businesses. She creates reports that include clients birth charts, and also brings in other self-discovery tools, like the Enneagram, which attempts to outline peoples core fears and defense mechanisms.
The first half of the report is a breakdown of their charts, and the second halfand this is a 100-plus-page reportis really how they all overlay, Maniatis explains. From there, she offers clients insights into the best ways to approach issues, from decision-making to self-regulation.
What I’ve seen with my clients is that none of this information is necessarily newthey’re seeing themselves reflected back to them, she says. It almost gives them permission to approach life and work in a way that feels much more natural to them.
For the corporate lawyer who posts anonymously on TikTok under the handle @astrologybro, astrology didnt tell him to go into law. But it can help you understand your individuality and your strengths and weaknesses, he says, which can give you a richer domain of reflection.
He explains that astrologys use lies in prompting oneself to ask certain questionsin his case: What would I like to do, and how does being a lawyer contribute or not contribute to that?
Rachel Ruth Tate, a full-time consulting astrologer, also finds astrology a neutral, shorthand language for patterns or behavior that may otherwise be trickier to identify and articulate on your own. For example, if youre a hotheaded, blunt communicator, an astrologer might invite you to see where Mars (the planet of drive and anger) shows up in your chart. From there, you can spend time introspecting how that fiery energy shows up in your behavior and lifein good ways and bad.
Those who get it, get it: Me saying that you have a moon in Capricorn is easier than me telling you you’ll often work yourself into a corner because you’re a workaholic, Tate tells Fast Company.
Utilizing a “flexible language” for decisions
For nonbelievers, astrology is written off as a pseudoscience or sometimes an outright moneymaking scam. But instead of debating whether or not its real, its perhaps more useful to consider what its widespread appeal says about modern life, says Shiri Noy, associate professor of sociology at Denison University in Ohio.
Noy was a coauthor on a study about astrologys contemporary uses, which was published last year in Social Currents, the official peer-reviewed journal of the Southern Sociological Society. Astrologys popularity reflects a broader moment of social, economic, and political uncertainty, Noy tells Fast Company.
Nowadays, traditional sources of authorityreligion, institutions, expertisefeel less stable or less trusted, she says. Research has shown that people are more likely to be drawn to divinatory practices in times of uncertaintysomething theres no short order of in 2026.
For many users, astrology isnt about believing the stars control their fate, Noy says. Instead, it operates as a flexible language for thinking about identity, relationships, timing, and choicessimilar to personality tests or therapeutic frameworks.
Astrological charts are typically open to interpretation, and are highly individualized. As any astrologer will tell you, no two Geminis or Leos are the same. People are obsessed with being one sign or another, because it’s easy to attach an identity to that, says Scarlett Woodford, 37, founder of a PR agency for brands who wish to be guided by divine or cosmic timing. For example, Leos are often stereotyped as relishing in the spotlightbut depending on what else is in your chart, you might not instantly relate to being the center of attention and find that your Leo energy shows up in less obvious ways.
It’s definitely worth seeing the bigger picture, Woodford says.
Finding the perfect job
I think millennials as a generation [are] more open to seeking alternative ways of understanding their place in the universe, says Chris Brennan, professional astrologer and host of The Astrology Podcast, which has more than 250,000 subscribers on YouTube. He says theyre also more likely to take advantage of any available tools that might help them to navigate the world during these increasingly uncertain times.
In a time of shifting workplace normswhere remote work and portfolio careers are increasingly common, and the traditional career ladder shakier than everworkers have never had more agency over how they choose to work. For some, especially younger folks like Gen Zers and millennials, consulting the stars is part of that path.
Content creator Amelie Polk says, To find your optimal career, you’ll want to look into your whole chart: mainly the Midheaven, North Node, Saturn sign, and second house.
That might sound like a foreign language to laypeople. But astrology fans say using the bevy of online astrology tools and apps out there to dive into your birth chart, and spot patterns or invite self-questioning, might trigger certain intuitive aha moments. For instance, depending on which planets were in which location at the time of your birth, that could help determine whether youd benefit from a nurturing, slower-paced work environment or a faster, more competitive one.
This career is gonna be good for you. This career won’t work for you, Polk says. This will burn you out. This won’t.
Dont just take an astrologer’s word for it: Famous businesspeople and politicians have been rumored to credit astrology with some of their success. As J.P. Morgan famously didor didntsay: Millionaires dont use astrology. Billionaires do. Or as one former aide told The New York Times, look to President Ronald Reagan reportedly timing the announcement of his reelection campaign after consulting astrological signs.
For Myers, shes also used astrology to guide her decision-making at work. After paying closer attention to her birth chart, she made the decision to step down from her role as director at her company to be a senior strategist. I realized I dont want to be climbing the corporate ladder, she says.
Understanding astrological patterns has, in many ways, regulated Myers nervous system at work, too: New York is an intense city, and advertising can be an intense field, she says. But, she adds, astrology provides perspective.
Astrology has actually made me feel more likeits not that deep.
As AI takes on more analytical and operational decision-making, the leaders who will stand out are those who can do what machines cant: read emotional cues, build trust, and inspire teams to act.
In this new landscape, emotional intelligence is more than a soft skill. Its becoming the core differentiator of effective leadership.
I once advised a CEO whose metrics looked flawless. Revenue was rising, costs were under control, and the company was steadily gaining market share. Yet during their board review, the room was uncomfortably quiet.
The results are fine, one board director finally admitted. But people dont trust him anymore.
Spreadsheets might tell you if targets are met, but not whether teams are aligned, engaged, or on the verge of burnout. Emotional intelligenceunderstanding your impact, reading others, and managing human dynamicsis no longer a soft skill.
Its the strategic edge that separates leaders who can sustain success from those whose results plateau.
Why Emotional Intelligence Is the Edge That AI Cant Imitate
Artificial intelligence can process mountains of data and surface recommendations. But it cant read a room, detect unspoken tension, or inspire the extra effort people give when they feel seen and understood.
Leaders who master emotional intelligence can turn insight into action by aligning teams, building trust, and keeping people motivated when uncertainty hits.
Emotional intelligence isnt about being nice. Its about mastering awareness and influence. It means recognizing how your words land, sensing team dynamics in real time, and regulating your own responses to lead with clarity.
And boards are paying attention. Across industries, board directors are quietly redefining what effective leadership looks like. Beyond the numbers, theyre now asking whether a CEO can:
Create psychological safety that fuels innovation
Stay composed when the stakes are high
Leads teams through ambiguity without losing alignment
Leaders who demonstrate emotional intelligence make better decisions, communicate more effectively, and retain top talent, even during disruption.
In other words, emotional intelligence is no longer a personality trait. Its a strategic asset.
Practical Ways to Cultivate Emotional Intelligence
Emotional intelligence isnt innate. Its a skill developed through self-awareness, reflection, and consistent effort. The most effective leaders I advise understand this. And they work at it with intention.
Audit your emotional impact. After meetings or key interactions, ask trusted peers: How did my tone land? or What signals might I have sent unintentionally? These quick debriefs help surface blind spots. Even small shifts in tone, body language, or word choice can significantly improve how your message is received and strengthen alignment across your team.
Pause before interpreting emotion. When tensions rise or signals seem unclear, take a step back and ask yourself: What is this person really trying to communicate? Approaching emotions with curiosity rather than assumption helps you defuse potential conflict and uncover the needs or concerns beneath the surface.
Separate intensity from clarity. High-stakes moments often come with heightened emotions. But urgency doesnt require volume. Communicating calmly, even when the stakes are high, improves your ability to be heard and understood. It also sets the tone for more thoughtful, grounded responses from others.
Practice dual awareness. Emotional intelligence means tuning into both the external dynamics of a situation and your own internal reactions. By observing what’s happening both in the room and within yourself, you can respond more intentionally.
Build emotionally diverse teams. Surround yourself with people who are attuned to different emotional cues, i.e., those who pick up on what you might overlook. Their insight is a strategic advantage that deepens your perspective and strengthens team decision-making.
Leading in the Age of AI
AI is taking over many tasks once seen as markers of intelligence, including things like speed, recall, and analytical precision. What remains squarely in the hands of leaders are the uniquely human capabilities: judgment, empathy, and the skill to translate complexity into clarity.
Leadership today means making sense of ambiguity, anchoring teams in shared purpose, and sustaining trust over time. Those who excel lead alongside AI, using emotional intelligence to turn insight into action.
The most effective leaders of the next decade wont be those who know the most, but those who see the most in themselves, their teams, and the emotional terrain they navigate daily.
Because emotional intelligence isnt a luxury. It is the infrastructure of effective leadership.
