We are cooked.
That’s the sentence I see with every AI-generated Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube short made with Seedance 2.0. And yes, we are. The walls of reality have finally vanished, sucked in by a black hole of Nvidia chips. So I’m going to Nancy Reagan the hell out of everyone and demand a global public service announcement like that old Just Say No to drugs campaign, which was everywhere when I was growing up.
We need Mr. T back to make young and old fools listen up, because the companies printing money with their generative video tech are doing zilch to fix the planetary problem they have created.
The message? Everyone should stop believing everything that moves online. Or at least question it all with a critical mind. All the time.
It will be hard. Probably impossible. The instant satisfaction of buying into whatever candy social media throws at us, algorithmically tuned to support our preconceived ideas, is too much to resist. We want to believe because dopamine is so yummy. And the digital overlords of Silicon Valley and Beijing know it. Thats why they have officially trampled our already fragile grasp on the truth with the release of models capable of manufacturing clips that are indistinguishable from physical life.
AI models like ByteDance’s Seedance 2.0 can wolf down up to a dozen reference filesimages, audio tracks, and camera movement samplesto flawlessly synthesize an alternate reality with no uncanny valley. And it costs only pennies do so.
We have effectively handed the keys to the multiverse to any basement-dwelling sociopath with a Wi-Fi connection. Tal Hagin, an information warfare analyst, told Euronews exactly where we stand: We are no longer at the stage where it’s six months away. We are already there: unable to identify what’s AI and what’s not.
The same computer industry that has destroyed the space-time fabric has failed to deliver its Content Authenticity Initiative, which promised a way to certify and label truly real videos. Imagine that. So someone needs to educate people to doubt everything they see online.
If you think Im exaggerating the immediate danger, just look at the circus of Nicolás Maduros capture by U.S. Special Forces in January. There was no Seedance 2.0 then (less than two months ago!), but social media was instantly paralyzed by a flood of highly realistic, completely believable AI-generated images of the ousted Venezuelan leader.
Across X, TikTok, and Instagram, synthetic media of Maduro in custody or crowds of Venezuelans celebrating racked up millions of views in mere hours. Millions of peopleincluding the usual politicians and tech billionaires whose thumbs are perpetually superglued to the retweet buttonswallowed the digital slop whole.
Primeras imágenes de Nicolás Maduro capturado. pic.twitter.com/d8RjDNC3zm— SheIby (@TommyShelby_30) January 3, 2026
Hagin noted that the moment an information vacuum opened regarding Maduro’s capture, individuals started uploading AI-generated images of Maduro in custody of the U.S. Special Forces in order to fill that gap.
The most worrying stuff is not those big news moments, which will get fact-checked promptly. Its the little things, the daily stuff that will have greater impact on our psyches. The local news, the scams, the bullying in school, the gossip about that neighbor everyone hates, the teacher, the office enemy, the ex-partner . . .
When reality breaks, replaced by a manufactured one, everyone will suffer.
So I’m calling for the Mother of All PSAs right now. We cannot sit around waiting for the tech industry to self-regulate, because history proves its leaders possess the moral compass of a weather vane.
We need a massive, impossible-to-ignore, flashing-red-light educational campaign pounded into the retinas of every smartphone user on Earth. We need to grab the public by the lapels and shake them until they finally understand that their own eyes and ears are now compromised enemy combatants.
So lets do that. Let’s not assume that people will eventually get it because millions of lives and minds are at stake. For the next year or so, let’s launch a worldwide education campaign where every commercial break, every YouTube pre-roll, and every TikTok swipe features a brutal, relentless reminder that objective reality is officially a relic of the past.
Everyone must build up and wear psychological armor like we are living in an MMORPG from hell. This needs to be the 21st-century equivalent of Stop, Drop, and Roll, except instead of being physically on fire, your perception of truth is being incinerated by a server farm in Guangdong. We have to normalize radical skepticism before its too late.
But since nobody is going to do that, just remember, kids: Don’t believe everything you see. Love your mama. And don’t do drugs. Or do drugs because realityis not real. Who the hell cares anymore?
Networking as a solopreneur can feel impossible. LinkedIn is full of the sort of hustle-culture aficionados who think yoga at 4 a.m. is something to brag about and who want you to buy their online course. Joining a networking referral group often costs money and can require a big time commitment without a guarantee of new leads. Asking friends and family to make referrals for you gives you flashbacks to that one summer in college when you got roped into selling Cutco knives.
But solo businesses are already nontraditional, so you might as well embrace quirky networking opportunities. Some of my best freelancing leads have come from Tumblr, carpooling, and on one memorable occasion, the ladies room at a Nick Cave concert.
If youre struggling with how to grow your network as a solopreneur, here are some unexpected strategies you can use.
Invite yourself in
When consultant Garima Verma wanted to break into the entertainment industry as a student at UCLA, she found that going to networking events and applying to every opportunity got her nowhere. So she decided she needed to get herself into the same room with the people she wanted to work for.
There was an event that NBCUniversal was sponsoring, Verma says. I wasnt invited to it and I had nothing to do with it, but I volunteered to help set up and clean up the chairs.
That meant she was there with the representatives at the end of the event and could get some one-on-one time with them. I was cleaning up and ended up talking toa little bit corneringa couple of reps, she says. Its how I got my first job in entertainment.
Verma has carried that same energy throughout her career. In 2020, she realized she wanted to do more in the world and got really deep into the volunteer infrastructure of the Biden-Harris campaign. I just DM’d a million people on Twitter and told them to talk to me and give me an interview for a job, she says. That’s how I got my first job in politics.
These days, Verma works for herself as a strategic advisor and consultant, but she continues to open her own doors. I don’t tend to get invited in the same way others might, and at a certain point I decided I’m going to invite myself in.
Ditch the elevator pitch
Author and speaker Jason Vitug talks about the networking anxiety that occurs in business environments. When youre expected to schmooze and impress other people, rather than simply connect, it puts too much pressure on every conversation. You might as well imagine Alec Baldwin telling you that coffee is for closers.
Thats why Vitug was able to feel comfortable chatting with someone at what could have been a disastrous book signing. No one showed up, and his new contact wandered over to ask why Vitug was sitting there. The two men enjoyed a spirited conversation that landed Vitug a speaking gig.
The bookstore environment allowed for a casual conversation, Vitug says. So my advice is to always be open to a conversation because theres a good chance if youre in the same place you have something in common.
While Vitug certainly offered his new patron some form of his elevator pitch during their long talk, he didnt lead with it. Instead, he was open to making a real and friendly connection to someone who was curious about him.
Immerse yourself in community
Charlotte Baker provides full-service payroll for small businesses in Jacksonville, Florida, with her new solo business, Easy Pay. When she was getting the solo enterprise off the ground two years ago, she heard about a community of local businesswomen that she wanted to join.
Women Business Owners of North Florida is an independent group, Baker says. Its not like a franchise or a paid networking group. Its a group of about 150 women whove all joined the organization to support and encourage each other.
Unlike the traditional group networking model, Bakers community does not expect members to bring referrals each week. Instead, the group offers weekly get-togethers that foster personal and supportive relationshipswhich Baker has found to be invaluable both emotionally and professionally.
Most of the women in the group don’t need my services, Baker says. But Ive built close friendships with these women, which has made my life a hundred times better as a business owner. And at least 60% of my revenue I can trace directly to recommendations from that group.
Becoming part of a supportive community makes networking much less onerous, since your friends will recommend your business, just as you will recommend theirs.
When networking looks like fun
Networking as a solopreneur only feels agonizing if you assume it has to follow the corporate rulebook. Theres no reason you have to post performative dreck on LinkedIn, show up at networking events in powersuits, or stumble through memorized lines about your solo business to expand your network.
Start by inviting yourself in. Whether you find a way to volunteer for an event that will put you proximity with someone youd like to talk to, or you keep knocking on doors (or sending DMs or emails) until you find someone willing to chat, remember that you can be friendly and persistentas long as youre willing to graciously take no for an answer.
Then ditch your elevator pitch. Remember that youre just a person who can have casual conversations with other people. Leading with curiosity and interest rather than a business agenda is more likely to end with a new contact. Its also much less nerve-wracking than self-consciously trying to network.
Finally, immerse yourself in your community. A large and supportive community will help do your networking for you, since people who care about you and believe in your business will naturally recommend you when they meet others who need your services.
Doing all of that makes networking something you can enjoy rather than something you have to suffer through.
Earlier this year, I had coffee with the chief investment officer of a large public pension fund. His fund doesnt invest directly into venture (they have a fund of funds position instead), so my new CIO friend doesnt usually get pitched directly by VC funds. He doesnt spend a ton of time in tech circles either.
When he does dip his toe in VC waters, he gets culture shock.
I have trouble understanding VCs, he said. (Im paraphrasing.)
By his estimation, people in traditional finance are easier to read. Their goal is to maximize returnsand the progress toward this goal is concrete, transparent, and measurable. Its really easy to understand what an asset managers motivations are when youre across the table from them in a professional capacity.
People in politics are also easier to read. Their goal is to build power and wield influence. So when you talk to them, you can assume thats what theyre looking for in the relationship.
Of course, both characterizations are limitingI know bankers who care about impact and at least one politician who cares about people (hes my cousin, so I can vouch). But as far as sweeping generalizations go, I can see where CIO is coming from.
In sharp contrast to financiers and politicians, VC investors are slippery creatures. CIOs have a hard time decoding our language. Venture capitalists are asset managers, but we talk like superheroes. We speak in hyperbole and aim, unironically, to change the world. We are incessantly crushing it, even though our portfolios are laughably unprofitable. We sit on boards but dress in jeans and sneakers. We are herd animals who claim to be contrarian.
Its hard for a CIO to judge how much of it is serious and how much of it is bullshit. And really, can you blame him?
We sound like this because of founders
I had a good laugh listening to that CIO, seeing this portrait of my industry from the eyes of one of its capital originators. But I do have a theory of where this language comes from, and why its mostly legit.
It starts with founders.
For most people, founding a companythe kind that scales massivelyis an irrational choice. Its extraordinarily difficult. You could be making way more money and working way fewer hours doing almost anything else. Chances are that youre going to fail, and youll have a pretty miserable time of it in the process. You have the odds of success of a lottery ticket, except that this particular lottery ticket costs 100% of your time, attention, and resources.
Nobody in their right mind would do this for the money. There simply has to be a greater purpose. And for founders, there usually is: a problem they are compelled to solve. A mission they feel called to achieve. A chip on the shoulder and something to prove. Sometimes, they simply cant imagine doing anything else with their lives.
Take it from an economist: These are all economically irrational reasons.
You literally cannot buy a founders time with stability and a high salary. Its why founders rarely sound like mercenaries or power-hoardersbecause theyre neither. They are motivated by something much greater. And to rational people like the CIO, it all sounds lofty, bordering on ridiculous.
Note, however, that this irrational exuberance makes for better, more resilient companies. It inspires angel investors and early employees, who forgo salary and stability for a dream. It keeps founding teams motivated for way longer than money alone does. Sometimes it even attracts customers and builds loyalty. Because a resonant mission takes you places that money alone cannot.
In other words: In our industry, irrationality is a feature, not a bug.
Venture is not a rational asset class
VC investing is also predictably irrational. VC funds are not capital conservation vehiclestheyre long-term illiquid, unpredictable, and alpha-seeking. There are thousands of other, safer ways you could be deploying your capital, so when you choose VC, you do it for the dream. To quote Recast Capital founder and managing partner Courtney Russell McCrae: “Nobody invests in venture to make median returnswere all aiming for the top, plain and simple.”
Thats what my CIO friend said, too. He said his company invests (a very tiny portion of its AUM) in venture because it is the only asset class that offers unlimited upside. Its the lottery ticket of finance.
Asset managers sell a product to limited partners (LPs). VCs sell a dream. The same dream that founders sell to us.
And that is why we all sound a little kooky.
Not all VCs are equal
Last year, I went viral for saying that megafunds are no longer venture capital funds. My argument is that theyre investing in consensus founders and consensus companiesnot in early-stage, high-risk, contrarian bets. Their largest deployments are into companies that are all but foretold to be winnersliterally too big, with too many giant powerful stakeholders, to fail. The bulk of their assets are being invested later and expected to generate faster and more predictable returns.
In finance, they call this type of risk “beta.” Its fundamentally different from the “alpha” risk you underwrite when you invest in day-one, early-stage, non-consensus founders.
These days, megafunds are making gobs of money on beta-seeking models. And it begs the question: Why do they still sound like VCs? Why do they want to hold on to the venture capital nomenclature, even when VC is a tiny proportion of their portfolio, just like CIOs? What do they lose if theyre called something else?
It occurs to me that these guys fundamentally dont want to be just bankers and stewards of capitalthey want to be visionaries. Certainly, theres a coolness factor, and the influence that comes with investing in the bleeding edge. But also, I bet you can measure the difference between banker and visionary by the size of their management fees.
For the record: I run a microfund, a fundamentally different vehicle and strategy than a megafund. I do not believe our funds should be analyzed togetherthey are fundamentally different assets, and warrant separate allocations, where you can compare like with like. If youre an LP, you are making bad decisions if you bucket all types of funds into a single giant VC bag. Youve been warned.
Boutique VC is an irrational choice, too
Speaking of irrational: Raising an early-stage microfund is an irrational choice, too. When you make all your money in carry, and very little in fees, youre betting completely on the upside, the dream. In the short term, you could be making way more money elsewhere.
Thats why I see the same motivation among emerging venture capital fundsor boutique VCs, as the megafunds prefer we call ourselvesthan I do in founders. Nobody chooses to do this for rational reasons. We do it for unlimited upside. We do it for mission or lov of the craft. We do it because the future of technology and the future of humanity are all being written by early-stage startups and scientists and inventors and R&D labs, and we want to have a say in it.
I personally do it because it is the purest incarnation of the American dreamthe idea that anyone can be the next founder to change the world, whether theyre consensus or not. This is what drives me. Its why I immigrated to America in the first place.
I know now what I sound like when I say this.
Maybe my pension fund friend is right to be confused. Maybe we do all sound like were full of shit sometimes.
But the reason we sound like thisthe reason we talk about doing good and having impact and changing the world and making a differenceis because some of us founders and VCs actually mean it.
And we wouldnt be doing this otherwise.
This story was originally published in Leslie Feinzaigs Venture with Leslie newsletter.
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Zillow economists just published their updated 12-month forecast, projecting that U.S. home pricesas measured by the Zillow Home Value Indexwill rise +0.9% between January 2026 and January 2027.
Thats a mild downward revision from its 12-month forecast published last month (+2.1%).
At its latest reading, U.S. home prices, as measured by the Zillow Home Value Index, are up +0.2%. Zillows latest forecast expects prices to remain close to that pace.
While Zillows national home price forecast isnt negativeit isnt exactly bullish either. Theyre calling for a soft national housing market in 2026, one where national housing affordability may improve slightly as U.S. income growth outpaces U.S. home price growth.
What type of regional variation does Zillow anticipate in 2026?
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Among the 300 largest U.S. metro-area housing markets, Zillow expects the biggest home price increase between January 2026 and January 2027 to occur in these 15 metros:
Rockford, IL 5.4%
Atlantic City, NJ 4.8%
Syracuse, NY 4.4%
Knoxville, TN 4.3%
Hartford, CT 4.1%
Norwich, CT 4.1%
Green Bay, WI 4.0%
Morristown, TN 4.0%
Rochester, NY 3.9%
New Haven, CT 3.9%
Concord, NH 3.9%
Pottsville, PA 3.9%
Appleton, WI 3.8%
Wausau, WI 3.8%
Janesville, WI 3.7%
Among the 300 largest U.S. metro-area housing markets, Zillow expects the biggest home price decline between January 2026 and January 2027 to occur in these 15 metros:
Houma, LA -6.5%
Lake Charles, LA -5.6%
New Orleans, LA -4.1%
Lafayette, LA -3.0%
Alexandria, LA -3.0%
Austin, TX -2.9%
Chico, CA -2.9%
Shreveport, LA -2.8%
Beaumont, TX -2.7%
San Antonio, TX -2.0%
Boulder, CO -2.0%
Punta Gorda, FL -2.0%
Denver, CO -1.9%
Corpus Christi, TX -1.8%
Texarkana, TX -1.8%
U.S. home prices, as measured by the Zillow Home Value Index, are currently up +0.01% year over year. If Zillows latest 12-month outlook (+2.0%) comes to fruition, it would represent a small acceleration nationally.
Below is what the current year-over-year rate of home price growth looks like for single-family and condo home prices. The Sun Belt, in particular Southwest Florida, is currently the epicenter of housing market weakness right now.
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With mortgage rates down slightly from their cycle high, home prices falling in some markets, and incomes continuing to tick up (at least faster than U.S. home prices), housing affordability is a bit less strained heading into spring 2026 than it was heading into spring 2025.
Indeed, a new Zillow analysis shows a median-income U.S. household can now afford a $331,483 homean improvement of $30,302 since last year.
In addition to improved affordability, that also reflects the continued inventory recovery, with 6% more homes on the market in January than a year earlier. The nearly 447,000 homes a median-income household could afford today represent 40.3% of listingsup from 34.8% a year ago, writes Zillow economist Kara Ng. In markets where home values have fallen, buyers dollars stretch even further in real terms with todays lower mortgage rates.
Ill never forget the first time I heard someone say, This meeting couldve been an email. You can probably imagine exactly the voice they said it in (and what their face looked like). Youre probably heard it many times yourself.
The meeting in question was a project check-in with multiple departments, where wed spent an hour listening to one person giving an update that could have been written in a few bullet points. The rest of us just sat there, nodding along, waiting for it to end. No one really needed to speak, no one gave feedback, and no one asked any questions. As we all shuffled out, someone muttered, Well, that was a waste of time, and I couldnt help but agree. The wasted hour likely meant Id be working an extra hour that night with my laptop cracked open on my couch.
It got me thinking: Should we cancel these types of meetings altogether and just rely on email updates? Whats the point of meeting if its not helping anyone?
Ditch the conference room
One of the biggest misconceptions about meetings is that they always need to be in a formal conference room with a set agenda and an hour on the clock. In reality, the most effective meetings dont always look like that, especially depending on your industry or the makeup of your team.
For example, if youre working in health care, manufacturing, or retail, your meetings might take the form of pre- or post-shift huddles. For teams that work remotely or across different time zones, you may turn instead to asynchronous communication methods, like shared documents or video updates, instead of meeting in real time. The key is to adapt your meeting style to the needs of your team.
But effective meetings arent just about planning; theyre also about how you engage with your team during them. This is where active listening becomes essential.
For managers, using the Pause-Consider-Act framework can help ensure your meetings are effective and purposeful. Its all about stopping to think about the structure, content, and timing of your meetings.
1. Pause
Take a step back and assess your current meetings. Are they too frequent? Too far apart? Are you meeting with no real purpose?
Look at your schedule and figure out where things might need to be adjusted. If you find your team members constantly knocking on your door or sending chat messages because they dont have scheduled time with you, its a sign you might need more regular time with your team members.
2. Consider
Think about the purpose of each meeting. What are you trying to accomplish? For one-on-ones, the goal might be to check in on progress, provide feedback, or support your team members development. Team meetings could include brainstorming, decision-making, or updates. Be clear about what each meeting is for, and make sure your team knows whats expected of them.
Consider teammates perspectivedo they feel like theyre too busy for the meeting? Are they feeling overwhelmed and just need more structure? Or do they feel like you already know everything and dont see the need to communicate details? Looking at these angles, adjust your approach accordingly. (Remember that if you fear overcommunicating, that rarely happens. Its more often the opposite: team members would love to hear more from you, not less.)
3. Act
Implement changes that make your meetings more structured and intentional. Use shared agendas to help your team prepare, and make sure youre prepared, too.
Show up on time, be present, and make sure your team walks away with clear action items. For example, if youre setting up a one-on-one, include questions about workload, challenges, and opportunities for growth. Make these meetings actionable by leaving each one with the next steps for both you and your team members. Let them know their concerns have been heard, and show them how youre going to support them moving forward.
Moving your meetings along
You dont want people dreading a meeting invitebut some might be. Not to your face; more likely to each other, or quietly hoping it gets cancelled. That usually happens when meetings lack a clear purpose and feel like they exist just for the sake of existing.
Every meeting should have a reason to get that specific group together. Sometimes its about business needssharing information, making decisions, solving problems. Other times its about something thats equally important: building connection, and recognizing the humans doing the work.
When meetings have intention, they make work easier, not harder. They help people understand what matters, whats expected of them, and how their work connects to everyone elses. But that only happens when someone is deliberate about it, and that someone can be you. When you Pause to take a real look at the meetings youre running, Consider what your team actually needs from that time together, and Act to structure (or restructure) them with purpose, you turn time spent into time invested. And sometimes the best compliment youll ever get as a manager will be someone walking out of the room saying, That was actually a really good meeting.
Adapted from The Manager Method: A Practical Framework to Lead, Support, and Get Results by Ashley Herd (Hay House Business, February 2026).
QR codes have become a convenience of modern life. Just scan the black and white mosaic with your phones camera and you can do everything from connect to your hotel room Wi-Fi to pay for that public parking space to pull up a restaurant menu.
But QR codes can also leave you vulnerable. Thats because scammers, organized criminal gangs, and shady nation-states are using the unassuming tech to get you to hand over your data unwittingly. Heres how theyre doing it, and how you can protect yourself.
People love the convenience of QR codesbut so do scammers
Its hard to believe that something nefarious can lie within a QR code, but it can. In order to understand why, it helps to know how a QR code works. Short for quick response code, a QR code is essentially a more advanced version of UPC bar codes that have been found on packaged products for decades.
An old-school UPC code (short for universal product code) is a one-dimensional image composed of vertical bars of different widths that represent different numbers. When the barcode is scanned, the numbers are read and compared with a database to identify the related product.
QR codes are two-dimensional images with glyphs of various sizes that store not just numbers, but text. When scanned, your phone extracts the encoded information and can act on it. For example, QR codes often embed URLs, allowing you to scan, say, a parking meter to launch a webpage where you can pay online.
For sure, this is a lot more convenient than manually typing a URL into your phones browser to load the payment page. But our desire forand unquestioning acceptance ofthis convenience is now being exploited by scammers through what has become known as quishing.
The growing threat of quishing
Increasingly, everyone from scammers to nation-states are trying to exploit our willingness to use QR codes. They do this by embedding malicious links in them and sending them to a person via email, often purporting to be from their bank or an online service they use. Alternatively, individual malicious actors have been known to print QR codes with malicious links embedded and physically place them over authentic QR codes on parking meters, restaurant tables, and in hotel rooms.
Unsuspecting individuals then scan these QR codes, not realizing that the URL embedded in them leads to a scam site designed to mimic the real one. These look-alike sites are designed to steal the users login credentials, credit card details, or other sensitive data.
If this sounds a lot like the old school phishing weve been dealing with since the dawn of the internet, thats because it isjust updated for a QR-coded world, hence the term quishing.
How to protect yourself from fake QR codes
Quishing is becoming a growing problem, but there are ways you can protect yourself against it.
The first is by adopting healthy skepticism about QR codes. Just because a QR code is on the hotel room nightstand, below the parking meter dial, or in an email that looks to be from your bank doesn’t mean its benign. Understanding that is your first step toward protecting yourself.
The next step is to carefully examine QR codes before scanning them. Scammers often place fake QR codes over real ones in the physical world. So, before you scan a QR code on a restaurant table, take a moment to inspect it for signs that it might be a sticker covering the authentic code. Look for rough edges, tears, or black squares from a deeper QR code showing through the white space, as these can indicate that the QR code isnt one you should be scanning.
Likewise, be extremely cautious of QR codes you receive in emails, especially from senders purporting to be your financial institution or online services you useand particularly if these emails contain messages that use language like scan the code now to secure your account. Scammers rely on urgency to compel people to enter their login details hastily on fake websiteslogins the scammers will then use to access your accounts on the real website.
Finally, never enter information on a web page that was loaded from a scanned QR code without first manually checking the URL in your web browser. The web page might look like your banks login screen, but a scam website will have a URL that doesnt match the authentic websites address. When in doubt as to whether a URL is authentic, its best to open up another browser window, do a Google search for the website in question, and click on the link Google gives you.
Stablecoins that offer interest-bearing rewards may increasingly resemble bank deposits. But unlike traditional deposits, they lack the regulatory safeguards that undergird the banking system. That gap, according to JPMorgan CFO Jeremy Barnum, risks creating what he calls a parallel banking system.
The issue is already on lawmakers agenda. During JPMorgans fourth-quarter 2025 earnings call, Evercore analyst Glenn Schorr noted that Congress is preparing to debate stablecoin policy, referencing a letter from the American Bankers Association that underscores the urgency of addressing a loophole around interest on stablecoins. Schorr added that Treasury estimated $6.6 trillion of bank deposits could be at risk if they dont close that loophole.
Against this backdrop, Barnum zeroed in on the growing overlap between crypto productslike stablecoinsand traditional banking. The creation of a parallel banking system that sort of has all the features of banking, including something that looks a lot like a deposit that pays interest, without the associated prudential safeguards that have been developed over hundreds of years of bank regulation, is an obviously dangerous and undesirable thing, he said.
Barnum stressed that his concern is not rooted in resisting competition or technological innovation. Instead, he argued that allowing deposit-like products to operate outside the regulatory framework banks must follow introduces systemic risk, creating an ecosystem with similar economic functions and vulnerabilities, but without the protections designed to safeguard consumers and the broader financial system. Clearly, there is some risk for some firms, maybe for many firms, and some version of a threat to the business model, he said.
The JPMorgan CFO isnt rejecting crypto advancements entirely. Rather, hes warning against regulatory gaps. Weve been quite involved in the whole blockchain technology space for some time. As you know, we launched our first tokenized money market fund, he said. So I say that all by way of saying that we see the interesting developments in the space, the technological innovation. Were engaged. Were watching. We care.
For Barnum, the debate ultimately comes down to consumer protection. As interest-bearing stablecoins grow in popularity, the question facing regulators is whether deposit-like products should carry deposit-like safeguards.
Correction: This story originally misattributed Jeremy Barnums quotes to CEO Jamie Dimon.
Leila Sheridan
This article originally appeared on Fast Companys sister website, Inc.com.
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.
The public outcry over artificial intelligence has largely focused on what it could mean for the average worker. Entry-level jobs in sectors like tech and finance have already been impacted by the rise of AI. And while economists have said the claims of workforce disruption are overblown at the moment, some companies are, in fact, making major cuts to their workforces in the name of AI. Just this week, Block CEO Jack Dorsey cut 40% of head count at the fintech company, citing efficiency gains from its adoption of AI tools.
But its not just rank-and-file workers whose jobs may be on the line. As CEOs tout the vast potential of AIand make cuts to their workforces accordinglymany of them have suggested that they could be out of work soon, too.
In a podcast interview this week, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi disclosed that some of his employees had built what they called Dara AI, an AI-generated approximation of their boss. They basically make the presentation to the Dara AI as a prep for making a presentation to me, Khosrowshahi shared on entrepreneur Steven Bartletts podcast The Diary of a CEO.
Are you concerned they might show Dara AI to the board? Bartlett quipped. To which Khosrowshahi laughed and argued that AI was still missing a beat and could not yet replicate the ability to learn in real time. But when that changes, he said, that is the point at which Im going to think, yeah, we are all replaceable.
Khosrowshahi might not be convinced that AI can supplant him just yetbut hes not the only CEO who sees a future where that might be the case.
Shame on me if OpenAI is not the first big company run by an AI CEO, Sam Altman said on the Conversations with Tyler podcast last year. He claimed to often think about what would enable an AI CEO to do a much, much better job of running OpenAI than me?” At a conference last week, Altman doubled down on this idea. AI superintelligence at some point on its development curve would be capable of doing a better job being the CEO of a major company than any executivecertainly me, he said at the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi.
Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai has suggested a CEOs job might be relatively simple in the hands of AI. I think what a CEO does is maybe one of the easier things maybe for an AI to do one day, he told the BBC a few months ago. Within the next year, Pichai said, AI will be able to perform more complex tasks autonomously.
Its not clear whether CEOs genuinely believe that their jobs could be replaced in the near future, or if this is largely another attempt to convince workers that its time to get on board with AI. After all, there is a huge disconnect between how tech leaders and CEOs talk about AI and what workers seem to feel: In 2025, a report from the Pew Research Center found that only about 17% of Americans expected AI to have a positive effect overall, while 43% said they anticipated being personally harmed by the technology.
Then againit may not be an easy adjustment for every CEO, even among the most vocal AI evangelists. Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski has been outspoken about AI adoption and has cut his companys workforce in half over the last three years, in part by relying more heavily on AI (to varying results). He was less optimistic, however, about a world in which his role might cease to exist.
To me, AI is capable of doing all our jobs, my own included, he said in a post on X last year. I am not necessarily super excited about this. On the contrary, my work to me is a super important part of who I am, and realizing it might become unnecessary is gloomy. But I also believe we need to be honest with what we think will happen.
It’s no secret that Flavor Flav loves the Olympics.
The rapper and Public Enemy member has become one of the loudest supporters of womens sports in the past few Olympic cycles. He is the official hype man and a sponsor for USA Water Polo. In October 2025, he announced he was bringing the hype to the Winter Olympics as a sponsor for USA Bobsled and Skeleton.
Now, after the USA women’s hockey team declined a perfunctory invitation to the State of the Union address after President Donald Trump shared a chummy locker room phone call with the men’s teamin which they laugh at the prospect of the women’s gold medalists attendingFlav is once again stepping up.
He’s invited the womens Winter Olympic and Paralympic medalists to Las Vegas for a weekend of celebration this summer, bringing on MGM Resorts, The Gist, and more sponsors for the three-day “She Got Game” weekend.
What to know
After the womens Olympic hockey teamwhich won gold in overtime against Canada in Milanskipped the State of the Union address, Flavor Flav was quick to issue a public alternative invitation on social media, offering up a celebratory trip to Las Vegas.
A post on X on Thursday confirmed the She Got Game weekend will be held July 16-19 in collaboration with MGM Resorts and women-led sports media brand The Gist.
Flavor Flavs vision for the weekend is all about building up the Olympic and Paralympic women medalists. His posts promise nice dinners, concerts, shows, and a big partyall to support womens sports.
His message was initially for the womens hockey team, but quickly expanded to all womens medalists. More than 100 attendees have confirmed their involvement, according to Flavor Flav’s spokesperson.
Other brands were equally eager to jump on the opportunity. Alaska Airlines replied to the original post, saying Lets talk. Visit Las Vegas responded, extending an offer to every Team USA athlete who medaled. (Six of the 10 individual gold medalists for Team USA were women, and women won over 50% of the U.S.s historic 33 total medals.)
What brands are doing
The Gist and MGM Resorts are official partners of the event. The Gist broke the story on its social media and has been posting updates as the event planning continues.
StubHub was one of the first brands to show support, offering to be a platform for tickets to shows and live events. We believe in the power of live experiences to bring people together and shine a spotlight on inspiring talent,” a spokesperson told Fast Company in an email. StubHub is still working through the details of their support of the weekend, the company said.
Woman-owned beauty brand Megababe has committed to donating 1,000 Megababe products to girls and young womens hockey leagues. Founder Katie Sturino saw supporting the She Got Game weekend as a natural fit for the company. Megababe is all about helping women feel comfortable and confident in their bodies, especially in spaces where they havent always been centered, she told Fast Company in a statement.
Also onboard is Lyft, which has said it will provide ride codes to help transport athletes around Las Vegas. A Lyft spokesperson told Fast Company in an email, When we saw what Flavor Flav was doing with She Got Game, we loved the energyusing his platform to shine a genuine, joyful light on women’s sports.”
A race among the top AI companies to sell powerful models to the U.S. Defense Department is hotter than ever. No matter how the feud between Anthropic and the Pentagon ultimately plays out, the Pentagon is now more incentivized to contract with other tech firms. Likewise, whatever misgivings Anthropic had about working with the military have only grown.
Indeed, other companies are already taking steps to pick up the government-contracting mantle. Earlier this week, xAI reached an agreement with the Defense Department to operate on classified systems. And OpenAI is working on a Pentagon deal of its own. But winning over the Defense Department officials may not be enough. To actually become a go-to AI provider for the agency, their AI will need to catch up to Anthropics Claude large language model, which is widely liked within the military. And theyll likely need to connect to Palantirs technology.
Palantir, along with its partners, holds cloud security clearances that allow it to host highly sensitive military information and data. The company has also built a far more streamlined way of accessing data from across the DoD, and, presumably, data that would make any large language model far more useful to military officials. One former employee of the Defense Departments Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office tells Fast Company that Palantir has effectively taken over the data lake problem inside the Pentagon, consolidating raw and low-level data feeds and making them accessible through its platform.
Everything runs through Palantir, the former employee says. Theyre the 1,000 pound gorilla in this space.
The dispute centers on the Pentagons demand that it be allowed to use Anthropics Claude model for all lawful purposes, while Anthropic has sought safeguards blocking uses for mass surveillance and autonomous weapons. After negotiations stalled this week, the Trump administration has reportedly deemed the company a supply chain risk, which forces military contractors to ditch Anthropic models. On Friday afternoon, President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social that every agency was to immediately stop using all Anthropic products, with a six-month phase-out period.
The Pentagon has already reached out to defense contractors to ask about their reliance on Anthropic. Palantir, notably, uses Anthropic models internally, one person tells Fast Company, and would possibly be impacted by the decision by the U.S. government to blacklist the AI firms technology.
Still, Anthropic has a real advantage in its integration with Palantir. Since Claude is playing ball with [Palantir], it makes them more appealing than having to get Palantir to agree to share their stuff with OpenAI, the former DoD employee says.
Even so, Claudes agile technology remains a powerful draw. One recent government AI official says the LLM is so far ahead of its rivals that current and former government workers, (including those from the Defense Department) are sending memes about the standoff in at least one group chat.
Anthropics value to the Defense Department is also owed to the fact that its technology enriches the Maven Smart System, one former Palantir employee tells Fast Company. The Maven systemwhich has a long and controversial historyis an integrated platform that might help, for example, a military command team to access critical data that might be spread across the Defense Department. That data might include information about nearby munitions supply, or the number of soldiers that a military operation might be able to deploy.
Making these systems more interoperable makes it a lot easier to plan a military operation, the person said. While Anthropic could certainly try to independently sell its own system to the government, its technology is most useful to the government when integrated with a system like Maven. Palantir, the former Palantir employee added, wouldnt be in a position to prevent OpenAI or Anthropic from connecting to something like Maven, but to be similarly useful as Anthropic those companies would likely want to enrich it, too.
From their understanding, it appears that Anthropic was early to gaining accreditation to work in these kinds of military systems, and other companies are still catching up.
Neither Palantir nor the Defense Department responded to a request for comment.
