The Tin Can phone is designed to be a simple and screen-free way for children to connect with friends and family. But since Christmas morning, when many families unwrapped and installed the retro, landline-style phones, network issues have left many users unable to make or receive calls.
Ultimately, Christmas Day overwhelmed us, says Tin Can cofounder and CEO Chet Kittleson. We spent months preparing for it, and we just didnt get it all right.
Tin Can customers on social media including Reddit and Instagram have reported a variety of issues both making and receiving calls with the devices. Some new users also experienced trouble setting up their accounts and activating their phones, which is normally done using a parents smartphone. The setup issues have now been resolved, Kittleson says, but he confirms network instability following an unprecedented influx of new customers continues to make the phone service itself unreliable for many.
No matter how much you stress test and load test and all the rest, you just don’t know exactly how a service is going to perform under a new amount of pressure, Kittleson says. The growth we experienced literally within an hour was like nothing Ive been through before.
Tin Can offers a free plan that enables calls to other Tin Can devices, as well as a paid party line plan that allows calls to and from ordinary phone numbers preapproved by a parent. All types of incoming and outgoing calls, including emergency calls to 911, are potentially affected by the network issues, Kittleson says. And while he declined to provide Fast Company with an estimate of when service will be fully restoredI dont want to overpromise and underdeliverthe company has pledged not to charge paying customers until the network is reliable once more.
Kittleson says his team is working around the clock to fix the issue, well-aware that the outage means children being unable to connect with friends and loved ones. Even his own family has had trouble with a Tin Can phone.
The Tin Can devices, which connect via the internet rather than the traditional phone network, have been promoted as a way for children to be able to connect with friends and family as they did in the landline era. Kids can use the devices to stay connected without having to be equipped with their own smartphones or risk exposure to the spam and scam calls ubiquitous on other phones today. (Tin Can may soon face competition, with kids device maker Pinwheel on January 5 announcing plans to launch a similar device in April).
The company has been updating customers on the issues via Instagram, email, and a status page, and social media feedback so far appears to be a mix of frustration and patient acceptance from fans of the deviceor at least the concept. Many new customers who received Tin Can phones for the holidays likely have yet to build routines around the devices due to the outage, and the company has postponed shipping a next batch of phones until April, Kittleson says. He declined to specify how many new customers activated the devices over the holidays, though he says there were a lot.
Tens of thousands of Tin Can devices used the network without a problem for 14 months prior to Christmas, according to the company. And while some customers are evidently frustrated, Kittleson is optimistic that fans will stick with the Tin Can product and service once the outage is resolved.
I think we have an audience that generally believes in the mission, believes in what we’re doing, and understands we just went through a pretty massive shift, Kittleson says. And they know that we’re working really, really hard to both let them know what’s going on and to resolve the issues.
In a vision of the near future shared at CES, a girl slides into the back seat of her parents’ car and the cabin instantly comes alive. The vehicle recognizes her, knows its her birthday and cues up her favorite song without a word spoken.
Think of the car as having a soul and being an extension of your family, Sri Subramanian, Nvidia’s global head of generative AI for automotive, said Tuesday.
Subramanian’s example, shared with a CES audience on the show’s opening day in Las Vegas, illustrates the growing sophistication of AI-powered in-cabin systems and the expanding scope of personal data that smart vehicles may collect, retain, and use to shape the driving experience.
Across the show floor, the car emerged less as a machine and more as a companion as automakers and tech companies showcased vehicles that can adapt to drivers and passengers in real time from tracking heart rates and emotions to alerting if a baby or young child is accidentally left in the car.
Bosch debuted its new AI vehicle extension that aims to turn the cabin into a proactive companion. Nvidia, the poster child of the AI boom, announced Alpamayo, its new vehicle AI initiative designed to help autonomous cars think through complex driving decisions. CEO Jensen Huang called it a ChatGPT moment for physical AI.
But experts say the push toward a more personalized driving experience is intensifying questions about how much driver data is being collected.
The magic of AI should not just mean all privacy and security protections are off, said Justin Brookman, director of marketplace policy at Consumer Reports.
Unlike smartphones or online platforms, cars have only recently become major repositories of personal data, Brookman said. As a result, the industry is still trying to establish the rules of the road for what automakers and tech companies are allowed to do with driver data.
That uncertainty is compounded by the uniquely personal nature of cars, Brookman said. Many people see their vehicles as an extension of themselves or even their homes which he said can make the presence of cameras, microphones, and other monitoring tools feel especially invasive.
Sometimes privacy issues are difficult for folks to internalize, he said. People generally feel they wish they had more privacy but also dont necessarily know what they can do to address it.
At the same time, Brookman said, many of these technologies offer real safety benefits for drivers and can be good for the consumer.
On the CES show floor, some of those conveniences were on display at automotive supplier Gentexs booth, where attendees sat in a mock six-seater van in front of large screens demonstrating how closely the companys AI-equipped sensors and cameras could monitor a driver and passengers.
Are they sleepy? Are they drowsy? Are they not seated properly? Are they eating, talking on phones? Are they angry? You name it, we can figure out how to detect that in the cabin, said Brian Brackenbury, director of product line management at Gentex.
Brackenbury said it’s ultimately up to the car manufacturers to decide how the vehicle reacts to the data that’s collected, which he said is stored in the car and deleted after the video frames, for example, have been processed. “
One of the mantras we have at Gentex is we’re not going to do it just because we can, just because the technology allows it, Brackebury said, adding that data privacy is really important.
Rio Yamat, AP airlines and travel writer
China escalated its trade tensions with Japan on Wednesday by launching an investigation into imported dichlorosilane, a chemical gas used in making semiconductors, a day after it imposed curbs on the export of so-called dual-use goods that could be used by Japan’s military.The Chinese Commerce Ministry said in a statement that it had launched the investigation following an application from the domestic industry showing the price of dichlorosilane imported from Japan had decreased 31% between 2022 and 2024.“The dumping of imported products from Japan has damaged the production and operation of our domestic industry,” the ministry said.The measure comes a day after Beijing banned exports to Japan of dual-use goods that can have military applications.Beijing has been showing mounting displeasure with Tokyo after new Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi suggested late last year that her nation’s military could intervene if China were to take action against Taiwan an island democracy that Beijing considers its own territory.Tensions were stoked again on Tuesday when Japanese lawmaker Hei Seki, who last year was sanctioned by China for “spreading fallacies” about Taiwan and other disputed territories, visited Taiwan and called it an independent country. Also known as Yo Kitano, he has been banned from entering China. He told reporters that his arrival in Taiwan demonstrated the two are “different countries.”“I came to Taiwan to prove this point, and to tell the world that Taiwan is an independent country,” Hei Seki said, according to Taiwan’s Central News Agency.“The nasty words of a petty villain like him are not worth commenting on,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning retorted when asked about his comment.
Fears of a rare earths curb
Masaaki Kanai, head of Asia Oceanian Affairs at Japan’s Foreign Ministry, urged China to scrap the trade curbs, saying a measure exclusively targeting Japan that deviates from international practice is unacceptable. Japan, however, has yet to announce any retaliatory measures.As the two countries feuded, speculation rose that China might target rare earths exports to Japan, in a move similar to the rounds of critical minerals export restrictions it has imposed as part of its trade war with the United States.China controls most of the global production of heavy rare earths, used for making powerful, heat-resistant magnets used in industries such as defense and electric vehicles.While the Commerce Ministry did not mention any new rare earths curbs, the official newspaper China Daily, seen as a government mouthpiece, quoted anonymous sources saying Beijing was considering tightening exports of certain rare earths to Japan. That report could not be independently confirmed.
Improved South Korean ties contrast with Japan row
As Beijing spars with Tokyo, it has made a point of courting a different East Asian power South Korea.On Wednesday, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung wrapped up a four-day trip to China his first since taking office in June. Lee and Chinese President Xi Jinping oversaw the signing of cooperation agreements in areas such as technology, trade, transportation and environmental protection.As if to illustrate a contrast with the China-Japan trade frictions, Lee joined two business events at which major South Korean and Chinese companies pledged to collaborate.The two sides signed 24 export contracts worth a combined $44 million, according to South Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources.During Lee’s visit, Chinese media also reported that South Korea overtook Japan as the leading destination for outbound flights from China’s mainland over the New Year’s holiday.China has been discouraging travel to Japan, saying Japanese leaders’ comments on Taiwan have created “significant risks to the personal safety and lives of Chinese citizens in Japan.”
Simina Mistreanu, Associated Press
The worlds largest tech showcase does not come without theatrics. Innovations and gadgets like a lollipop that sings to you as you consume it, a laundry-folding robot, and a smart LEGO brick have stolen the spotlight so far at CES 2026. But underscoring this years programming is a strong focus on an industry that relies on a similar theatrical flair: entertainment.
More than 25 different panels and events related to the entertainment industry are on the schedule in Las Vegas, focusing on both the traditional studio side of the industry and the digital side driven by content creators. The programming has posed questions about the cinematic capabilities of AI, how advertising has been impacted by AI, and the role the burgeoning creator economy plays in the larger entertainment landscape.
Artificial intelligence has long been a sticking point in Hollywood, and many creatives in the entertainment world have been reluctant to embrace the rapidly evolving technology and AI-powered tools. Outrage ensued when Tilly Norwood, an entirely AI-made character, debuted as the first AI actor in the fall. Questions about copyrighted characters, images, and materials still loom large in conversations about AI. But many speakers in CES programming were optimistic about how the technology can be beneficial, and how AI could be used to help artists harness their creativity rather than stifle it or replace it.
The tools that we create have unlocked something in us. Its kind of flattened that bar in terms of what storytelling can be because anyone now can be a storyteller, said Dwayne Koh, the head of creative at Leonardo.ai, during a Monday session on AI and creativity. It levels the playing field, but it also makes it easier for people to tell stories that they always want(ed) to tell that they never could have the opportunity to tell.
Others were quick to point out that Hollywoods panic over emerging technology is not new.
When we launched Photoshop in the 90s, we were also getting pretty angry phone calls from creatives saying that we were destroying craft, said Hannah Elsakr, Adobes vice president of generative AI new business ventures, at a Monday session focused on advertising.
Were in early days with AI. Im not advocating for more cats jumping off diving boards in your feeds. I think its about high creativity and so the director, the artist, the actor is going to drive the high quality, Elsakr continued. Think of AI as another tool in the toolkit to make you drive that forward.
Many conversations also centered on influencers and the growing legitimacy of internet-native creators and content in the traditional entertainment industry. The efficiency with which these creators work, sometimes because they are using AI-enabled tools, was a prime focus among many speakers.
Brad Haugen, the executive vice president of digital strategy and growth at Lionsgate and 3 Arts, said traditional media companies should welcome opportunities to work with creators and embrace their importance. We have, potentially, the next great filmmaker, the next great TV showrunner, the next great digital entrepreneur, he said. Creators are not just there to market products. Theyre not just there to do internet stuff. Theyre actually the next Spike Jonze and the next Sofia Coppola.
More entertainment-related programming is scheduled for Wednesday, with many sessions coming out of Varietys Entertainment Summit at the showcase, including panels with leaders from Netflix, Disney, and Warner Bros. Discovery, and actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
In addition to formal programming, a host of entertainment-related products and services are on display at CES. An array of impressive televisions with advanced features, AI-powered smart headphones, a stringless smart guitar and even a sound chair that has built-in audio were among the innovations aimed at bringing AI and advanced tech to entertainment consumers.
Amazon also announced the rollout of Alexa.com this week, bringing its AI assistant to the web with a host of new features, including personalized movie and TV recommendations. Its one of many features designed to enhance at-home viewing, including the previously announced feature that enables Alexa to jump to a specific scene youre searching for with just a simple description.
Kaitlyn Huamani, AP technology writer
Crowds flooded the freshly opened showroom floors on Day 2 of the CES and were met by thousands of robots, AI companions, assistants, health longevity tech, wearables and more.Siemens President and CEO Roland Busch kicked off the day with a keynote detailing how its customers are harnessing artificial intelligence to transform their businesses. He was joined onstage by Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang to announce an expanded partnership, saying they are launching a new AI-driven industrial revolution to reinvent all aspects of manufacturing, production and supply chain management.Lenovo ended the day with a guest star-rich visual banquet dedicated to spotlighting how its AI platforms can help people personally (wearables), with their businesses (enterprise platforms) and the world around them. To strike home his points, its CEO Yang Yuanqing was joined by tech superstars like Nvidia’s Huang, AMD CEO Lisa Su and Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan.The CES is a huge opportunity annually for companies large and small to parade products they plan to put on shelves this year. Here are the highlights from Day 2:
Razer leans into AI
Gaming tech company Razer is well known for bringing buzz-worthy hardware to CES, like haptic, or tactile, seat cushions and tri-screen laptops.This year, it’s reaching beyond its standard gaming base and demonstrating two AI-powered prototypes an over-ear gaming headset that doubles as a general-purpose assistant, and an AI desk companion that can provide gaming advice and also organize a user’s life.The holographic companion, based on a Razor on-screen AI assistant launched last year (Project Ava), has transitioned off-screen into a small glass tube that sits near your computer. The animated sprite has built-in speakers and a camera so it can see the world around it.Both devices are AI agnostic, so you can use your preferred model. For the demo, the headset Project Motoko ran on OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Project Ava worked off xAI’s Grok. Although still in development, Razer said it expects both to be released commercially later this year.
Robots on the tarmac
Imagine your plane lands and, when you look out the window you see autonomous robots guiding it to the gate and then unloading the luggage. Oshkosh Corporation is pitching that future for airports big and small.At CES, it debuted a fleet of autonomous airport robots designed to help airlines pull off what it calls “the perfect turn” a tightly timed process that happens after a plane lands, including fueling, cleaning, handling cargo and getting passengers off and back on.For travelers, CEO John Pfeifer says the goal is fewer delays without compromising safety. The technology is also designed to keep those tarmac tasks moving even during severe weather, like winter storms or extreme heat, when conditions are daunting for human crews, Pfeifer said. Testing with major airlines is already underway, and the robots would likely debut at large hub airports like Atlanta or Dallas, with a goal of rolling them out over the next few years.
The vacuum that can climb stairs
Chinese robovac maker Roborock has introduced a vacuum that literally sprouts chicken-like legs to navigate stairs and clean steps along the way.The newly introduced Saros Rover was a tad slow in its ascent and descent (but it was cleaning each step) during the demo, but Roborock says it will be able to traverse almost any style of stairwell, including spiraled. No release date was given for the Rover, which the company says is still in development.
The Body Scan scale gets an upgrade
While it may look like a typical scale you’d buy for your bathroom, Withings’ new Body Scan 2 measures much more than weight. Taking off their shoes and socks, people lined up to try out the “smart scale” that in 90 seconds measures 60 different biomarkers, including their heart age, vascular age and their metabolism using the pads of their feet and hands.The $600 scale, which will be available for purchase in the spring, also provides a nerve health score and measures changes in someone’s electrodermal activity, or the skin’s electrical properties due to sweat gland activity. The smart scale and a corresponding app, which costs $10 a month or $100 a year, provide personalized advice and a health trajectory for its users. The French company’s goals are to help people monitor their health and reverse bad habits to promote longevity.
Fusion energy research gets a little support from Nvidia, Siemens
Commonwealth Fusion Systems, NVIDIA and Siemens announced Tuesday that they are working together to use AI to hasten making nuclear fusion a new source of carbon-free energy.In Massachusetts, Commonwealth Fusion Systems is building a prototype fusion power plant called SPARC, which is about 70% complete. Through the new partnership, it will create a “digital twin,” or online simulation, of the physical machine.CFS CEO Bob Mumgaard said it will ask questions of the simulation to speed up progress on the physical machine and rapidly analyze data, compressing years of manual experimentation into weeks of understanding.SPARC is a prototype for the company’s first planned power plant, called ARC, that is meant to connect to the grid in the early 2030s. The device will use very strong magnets to create conditions for fusion to happen. Mumgaard also said CFS’s first high-temperature superconducting magnet has been installed in SPARC.
Shawn Chen and Rio Yamat, Associated Press
Fashion collaborations are nothing new, but 2025 felt like a year particularly stuffed with branding matchups.
Theres a reason why this might be happening. Online platforms have become crowded, [there are] rapidly accelerating trend cycles, [and] its become more challenging than ever for brands to stand out, Cassandra Napoli, a head culture forecaster at WGSN, says. Collaborations continue to be a unique and important tool for marketing and maintaining cultural relevance. The best lead to attention-grabbing virality, as was the case with Nike x Skims first drop, Sandy Liang x Gap, and Willy Chavarria x Adidas.
Collaborations have become so important because brands have a need to attract new cohorts of communities and consumers . . . as well as provide a new expression of brand DNA and satisfy many customers need for newness, Gemma D’Auria, global leader of apparel, fashion, and luxury at McKinsey, tells Fast Company.
But the truth is fashion has become inundated with collabs, and the net result of so much noise has ultimately had the opposite effect: We’re numb to them. A collaboration alone is no longer enough to excite. To sell, theyll have to resonate with a brands core audience, while also tapping into culture and surprising consumers with something new.
What brands could break the internet together? Insiders reveal their blue-sky collaboration ideas for 2026.
[Illustration: FC]
1. A Gap collab with a luxury design partner
Gap has been on a roll. The American fashion brand not only wooed shoppers this year with the aforementioned Sandy Liang drop, but its denim campaign with Katseye went viral for good reason: an incredible campaign spot that called back to its Y2K days with rising talent and fresh choreo (unlike the controversy-laden American Eagle good jeans mess that dropped weeks before).
Multihyphenate host and former Essence editor Blake Newby wants to see Gap bring more designer partners on board. I feel like theres a synergy in the brand ethos of a Loewe girl and a Gap girl, Newby says, adding that Loewe has already proven it’s comfortable with collabs thanks to its drops with On Running, for instance. (Plus, Loewe has its own denim with real brand ID.)
Gap has also just been doing such cool creative things. We would of course expect this to be at a higher price point [than normal Gap], but it would be so fabulous to see Gap merge their love for denim and basics with the way Loewe does [a similar thing].
[Illustration: FC]
2. A Chanel partnership that scales smaller masters of the métier
People are expecting a lot from Chanel right now. The French luxury house is freshly under the creative leadership of Matthieu Blazy, who made his runway collection debut in October. Hes being celebrated for breathing new life into the brand, and fashion people are curious to see a Chanel collaboration.
Technically, the brand edged into collab territory in October: Blazy revealed a white button-up on the runway in partnership with 187-year old Parisian shirtmaker Charvet. But for Blazy, it wasnt a collaboration as much as it was highlighting a house of craftsmanship, as the brand already does in its Métier dArt collection.
Itll be interesting to see what other things [Chanel Creative Director] Matthieu Blazy taps into because hes really attuned to craftsmanship, Jalil Johnson, author of the Consider Yourself Cultured Substack says. It would be more interesting for these storied houses to give resources to smaller entities to see what they can produce on a bigger scale, like if Chanel worked with Gee’s Bend quiltmakers, referring to the intergenerational group of women in a rural Alabama town crafting brightly hued and intricate patterned textiles.
[Illustration: FC]
3. A pairing that dares to expand Herms sportswear
Adjacent to Chanel, strategist and collaboration expert Bimma Williams wants to see a storied house work with an unexpected brand. For Williams, the dream would be to see Herms and its recently appointed Mens Creative Director Grace Wales Bonner do a collaboration with Adidas. (Believe it or not, Herms already offers an HermsFit line, and Wales Bonner and Adidas have already done drops.)
Adding Herms to that mix, he thinks, would be a masterclass in craft and restraint, merging heritage, sport, and contemporary cultural intelligence. Perhaps what people are craving is for an uber high fashion house to finally cave and break its mold to collaborate with another brand that seems out of the high-end purview.
A spin on the Birkin would inject some much-needed energy into the highly coveted bag for Amy Odell, a New York Times bestselling author and writer of Back Row on Substack.
I think the Birkin is getting stale, and theyve got to mix it up, Odell, who wrote biographies on Anna Wintour and Gwyneth Paltrow, tells Fast Company. Herms wont sell the Birkin to Nike . . . but what if you had a Birkin you could take to the gym? I feel like everyone would talk about that. Or, they could collaborate with Tiffany & Co.opulence is coming backand do a fully glittery, diamond bag.
The economy is recovering in a biforcated K-shape, meaning that while inflation and a tight job market has led to less spending among lower-income consumers, America’s wealthiest shoppers are still buying, so there could still be a market for what would surely be an exorbitantly priced luxury good.
Elsa Peretti jewelry on display in New York, circa 1970. [Photo: PL Gould/Images/Getty Images]
4. A collaboration that revives ’70s era Elsa Peretti x Halston
The Italian jewelry designer and fashion model Elsa Peretti has had a legendary collaboration with Tiffany & Co. since 1974. Peretti, who passed away in 2021, is behind the American jewelers popular bone cuffs and other sculptural pieces. But what some may not know is that Peretti also worked with Halston to design not only a fragrance bottle, but jewelry and accessories, too.
A re-edition of this duos work would be a dream come true for The Millenial Decorators Julia Rabinowitsch, who recently collaborated on a shoe collection with Reformation. Id love to see a revival of the pieces Peretti did, especially as I collect vintage Elsa for Halston pieces, and they are becoming increasingly rare, she adds.
[Illustration: FC]
5. A duo that offers a new take on classic Missoni patterns
Across the board, experts want one thing in a collaboration: for it to be unexpected. For stylist and founder of experiential shopping platform Sweet Like Jam, Mecca James-Williams, designer-led collaborations with bigger luxury houses would catch her eye. Imagine Christopher John Rogers, known for his unique technicolor touch and bold silhouettes, with Missoni, she says.
James-Williams isnt the only one interested in merging Missonis signature zigzags and geometric patterns. British TV exec June Sarpong would be interested in the brand working with British artist Yinka Ilori, known for his savvy use of bright colors, evident in his collabs with The North Face and Bloomingdales. Across both fashion insiders, theres a real interest in seeing how the brand would keep the foundations of its signature while playing with a more flexible element, namely color.
Whatever brands decide to do in 2026, its important that their collaborations form with intention and a real understanding that to land well, they have to make us wish we thought of the pairing first.
LinkedIns AI-powered job search feature is expanding to new audiences.
The toolwhich lets job seekers find relevant open positions without needing to exactly match keywords in the job title or descriptionwill soon be available to all LinkedIn members using the site in English and expanding to Spanish, French, German, and Portuguese. AI-powered job search is already used by 1.3 million people daily, with more than 25 million job searches conducted via the tool every week. And initial data indicates that job seekers without a four-year college degree who use the tool are 10% more likely to get hired than before, according to the company.
This is a really meaningful shift, because our vision is economic opportunity for every member of the global workforce, says Rohan Rajiv, senior director of product management and product lead for job search at LinkedIn. We know that in the past, if you were a line cook or a taco chef, it wasn’t that easy to find those jobs on LinkedIn.
The AI search tool even lets users specify general properties of a job, like saying I want to protect the worlds oceans, and find relevant listings, he says. Thats a result of careful, iterative development of a large language model-powered system that can parse job titles, descriptions and other data, understanding the nuances of how listings may vary by location and industry. One job listing may refer to partnerships, while another listing for a similar position refers to business development work, for example. And the AI is able to deliver both listings to potential applicants without them needing to search for a specific keyword.
Compared to traditional keyword searches, it felt more intuitive and less mechanical, writes Anderson Cheng, who recently found a job at the Los Angeles County Affordable Housing Solutions Agency via the tool, in an email to Fast Company. The biggest surprise was how well it surfaced roles I might have skipped over based on title alone, but that were actually a strong fit once I reviewed the description more closely.
The AI is carefully designed to be speedy, so users dont have to wait long for results, as well as accurate and internally cost effective, Rajiv says. The results are created in part by LinkedIn staff evaluating them using a second LLM-powered system, then providing the core AI with additional examples in areas where it underperforms. Using AI to evaluate results lets the company check a broader sample than they could practically look at by hand.
The magic of building these products is that you’re able to evaluate these products at scale, says Rajiv.
The expanded AI access comes as the Microsoft-owned platform continues to evolve beyond a mere virtual rolodex and resume board, perhaps especially in the post-pandemic era. Revenue has more than doubled from $7 billion in 2020 to $17 billion in 2025, according to LinkedIn. It has long been used by recruiters to find potential candidates and vet applicants, making maintaining a profile there critical in many industries. If you say something in your résumé, they might look at your LinkedIn and see if those things line up, says Daniel Usera, a clinical associate professor at the University of Texas at Arlington who has studied LinkedIn. Job searches are also a big part of what LinkedIn offers. The company reports that every minute, nearly 50 new hires are made through LinkedIn and more than 11,000 job applications are submitted through the platform.
Its also a social network, where 17,000 new connections are formed every minute. Another recently released AI feature, known as AI-powered people search, helps users find potential connections based on plain language criteria, like investors with FDA experience for a biotech startup or Northwestern alumni who work in entertainment marketing, rather than simply looking people up by name and employer. The platform has also given people new ways to express themselves in recent years, including adding short-form video similar to TikTok.
LinkedIn posts are sometimes mocked and parodied for their excessive business boosterism, and cringey work lessons drawn from personal trauma. But the site has become a legitimately unique place for people to share work updates, from promotions to hiring announcements, along with insights about their fields.
We kind of have this sense of professionalism in terms of how you’re supposed to post, how you’re supposed to interact, says Usera. And the topics are generally professional in nature.
More than 1.9 million feed updates are viewed every minute as of October 2025, according to the company, which reports that comments on the network are up 24% year-over-year. Usera says his research indicates that tagging other people in LinkedIn posts, perhaps in celebrating their achievements and contributions to your own work, can help boost engagement. And while he hasnt yet formally studied the LinkedIn cringe phenomenon, he says awkward posts can result from attempts at modesty, where people allude to personal achievements in roundabout ways, and those forced analogies between the personal and professional.
Maybe the lesson is you don’t need to always be creative, he says. You can just be factual and just trust that your network supports you and will be happy for you.
And as the platforms AI job search functionality expands, the same lesson likely applies to job postings. While job description language have historically sometimes been an afterthought, providing clear detail about what a position entails helps ensure it shows up in AI-powered searches, says Rajiv.
We are moving away from a world focused on keywords to a world where you need to say things as they are, he says.
If youre job searching right now, it can feel like your efforts and outcomes arent lining up. The job search is changing, and competition isnt easing. The result: nearly 80% of job seekers say they feel unprepared to find a new job this year. At the same time, two-thirds of recruiters say its become harder to find qualified talent over the last year. This tension has become a defining feature of the job hunt.
Theres no denying that AI is reshaping how work gets done, and in the new year, both recruiters and job seekers are planning to use the technology to gain a competitive edge. The good news is that the fundamentals of what makes for a good hire havent changed drastically. But as AI tools continue to evolve, the way job seekers show up and hirers evaluate talent is shifting.
As LinkedIns Career Expert, I have front-row access to how the job market is changing, based on our unique data and member insights, and have spent over a decade helping professionals navigate their careers with confidence as work continues to evolve.
Heres what job seekers need to know about how to stand out and make AI work for them, not against them, in 2026.
Do focus on your skills, dont try to game the system
When job seekers update their résumé or LinkedIn Profile, many fall into the same trap: trying to say everything at once. In the age of AI, that can look like keyword stuffing in hopes an LLM picks it up. But this often backfires, making applications feel inauthentic or mismatched to the role.
Instead, what works best is to lead with the actual skills you haveand specific explanations as to what you actually did, how you did it, and what came of it. Saying you led a cross-functional launch that improved customer retention by 2x, for example, gives far more insight than a dense list of generic responsibilities. This level of detail will help you stand out to recruiters, many of whom are already tapping AI to find candidates with skills theyd never have found before.
So, take the time to revisit how you present your qualifications. You may even rediscover skills youve been applying for years without realizing theyre in-demand now, like problem-solving and adaptability, so you can stand out more and have an easier time spotting roles that are actually a good fit for you.
Dont be intimidated by the AI interview, do practice ahead of time
For many job seekers, the first interaction with a potential employer now happens through an AI-led prescreen or interview. That alone can be enough to throw people off. The format feels unfamiliar, but my biggest advice to job seekers is to treat it like a normal interview.
Today, AI-led prescreenings help hiring teams manage application overload so they can spend their time evaluating and interviewing candidates who are truly a good fit. In fact, two-thirds of recruiters say AI prescreening interviews can help them get better insights about candidates, even across a large applicant pool.
For job seekers, I recommend practicing an AI interview beforehand so youre not caught off guard the first time you encounter one. Use AI tools to practice a run-through, testing out your responses to common interview questions, how youd introduce yourself, and how youd describe your strengths and yes, your weaknesses (aka opportunities for growth!).
If youre able to clearly communicate your experience and what youll bring to the role, youll move more smoothly through the hiring process, from pre-screening to live interviews.
Do invest in relationships, dont wait until you need them
Even as AI becomes more ingrained in the job search process, its still humans who make the biggest impact in your job search and career more broadly.
But a mistake people make is waiting until theyve started looking for a new job to tap into their network. Even well-intentioned messages can come across as transactional if you’re only reaching out when you need something.
Strong connections often start with shared context, not a specific ask, so reaching out early and often to your network is the best approach. This can be as simple as sending a quick check-in to a former coworker, a past manager, or a recruiter you meant to follow up with. A simple saw your promotion, congrats or this made me think of you goes further than you think. If youre not sure what to say, there are a ton of tools you can tap to help you find some common ground or the right words.
The biggest takeaway: when relationships are warm, people are more likely to vouch for you or share opportunities you might not otherwise see. This can make all the difference, especially in a tough job market where many hiring managers give extra consideration to applicants who have a referral.
Bottom Line: Use AI to get clearer, not slicker
Hiring may look different than it did a few years ago, but the basics havent changed as much as it may feel. Skills, curiosity, and judgment still matter.
What has changed is how job seekers can use AI to take charge of their job search. On LinkedIn, you can now describe what type of role you want, using plain language, and jobs you might not have thought to search for will come up. You can take a similar approach when looking for a new connection too, making it easier to build your network.
When used strategically, AI can help you job search more intentionally so you can spend your energy where it matters most, and put your best foot forward in 2026.
If you signed up for an Amazon Prime membership between June 23, 2019, and June 23, 2025, Amazon might owe you as much as $51.
This comes after the online retail giant entered into a settlement agreement with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over allegations that the company used deceptive practices to enroll customers in its Prime membership. Heres what you need to know.
Whats happened?
Amazon and the FTC have agreed to a settlement over allegations that the online retailer used deceptive practices to enroll people in its Amazon Prime membership, while also making it difficult for those same individuals to cancel the membership.
The settlement was reached in September 2025, with Amazon agreeing to pay $2.5 billion to eligible U.S. customers. Of that, $1 billion goes toward paying a civil penalty. The remaining $1.5 billion will be used to refund eligible customers up to $51 each.
As part of the settlement, Amazon did not admit to any wrongdoing.
Who is eligible for the refund?
There are two groups of people eligible for a refund. Both groups must have signed up between June 23, 2019, and June 23, 2025.
Automatic payment group: In this first group, you must have enrolled in Prime through a so-called “challenged enrollment flow.” And you may not have used more than three Prime benefits in a 12-month period from June 23, 2019, to June 23, 2025. If you’re part of this group, you should have received your payment automatically by December 24, 2025, with no action required on your part.
Claims process payment group: In this second group, you must have either unintentionally enrolled in Prime through a challenged enrollment flow or unsuccessfully tried to cancel Prime. Further, you must have used more than three Prime benefits but less than 10 during the covered 12-month period.
The window for submitting a claim for the second group opened on Monday, January 5. According to the settlement website, eligible customers should receive a notice via mail or email with instructions for filing a claim by January 23.
What is a challenged enrollment flow?
According to the FTC and the settlement administrator, that term refers to various pathways to sign up for Prime: The Universal Prime Decision Page (UPDP), Shipping Option Select Page (SOSP), Prime Video enrollment flow, and Single Page Checkout (SPC).
The good news is that you don’t personally need to determine if you signed up through a challenged enrollment flow to submit a claim. According to the FTC, Amazon will determine that for you.
How much money does Amazon owe me?
If you fall into either group, Amazon will refund your Prime membership fee up to $51.
What do I have to do to get my refund?
If you are part of the first group, you should have automatically received your refund payment from Amazon with no action required on your part.
If you are in the second group, you should receive a notice via email or regular mail from Amazon that tells you how you can submit a claim.
You have until July 21, 2026, to submit a claim.
What else should I know?
Those who think they may be eligible for a refund should check out the official settlement website, which has a list of frequently asked questions.
Denmark and Greenland are seeking a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio after the Trump administration doubled down on its intention to take over the strategic Arctic island, a Danish territory.Tensions escalated after the White House said Tuesday that the “U.S. military is always an option.” President Donald Trump has argued that the U.S. needs to control the world’s largest island to ensure its own security in the face of rising threats from China and Russia in the Arctic.Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen warned earlier this week that a U.S. takeover would amount to the end of the NATO military alliance.“The Nordics do not lightly make statements like this,” Maria Martisiute, a defense analyst at the European Policy Centre think tank, told The Associated Press on Wednesday. “But it is Trump, whose very bombastic language bordering on direct threats and intimidation, is threatening the fact to another ally by saying ‘I will control or annex the territory.'”The leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and the United Kingdom joined Frederiksen in a statement Tuesday reaffirming that the mineral-rich island “belongs to its people.”Their statement defended the sovereignty of Greenland, which is a self-governing territory of Denmark and thus part of NATO.This weekend’s U.S. military action in Venezuela has heightened fears across Europe, and Trump and his advisers in recent days have reiterated the U.S. leader’s desire to take over the island, which guards the Arctic and North Atlantic approaches to North America.“It’s so strategic right now,” Trump told reporters Sunday.Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lkke Rasmussen and his Greenlandic counterpart, Vivian Motzfeldt, have requested the meeting with Rubio in the near future, according to a statement posted Tuesday to Greenland’s government website.Previous requests for a sit-down were not successful, the statement said.French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said he spoke by phone Tuesday with Rubio, who dismissed the idea of a Venezuela-style operation in Greenland.“In the United States, there is massive support for the country belonging to NATO a membership that, from one day to the next, would be compromised by any form of aggressiveness toward another member of NATO,” Barrot told France Inter radio Wednesday.Asked if he has a plan in case Trump does claim Greenland, Barrot said he won’t engage in “fiction diplomacy.”While most U.S. Republicans have supported Trump’s statement, Senators Jeanne Shaheen and Thom Tillis, the Democratic and Republican co-chairs of the bipartisan Senate NATO Observer Group, blasted Trump’s rhetoric in a statement Tuesday.“When Denmark and Greenland make it clear that Greenland is not for sale, the United States must honor its treaty obligations and respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark,” the statement said. “Any suggestion that our nation would subject a fellow NATO ally to coercion or external pressure undermines the very principles of self-determination that our Alliance exists to defend.”
Associated Press journalists Geir Moulson in Berlin and Mark Carlson in Brussels contributed to this report.
Stefanie Dazio, Associated Press
