Pinterest, a platform Futurism described as being strangled by AI slop, is not having a great day.
The image-based social media company yesterday released its third-quarter earnings and, despite a 17% increase in revenue year-over-year (YOY), its shares took a tremendous tumble.
Pinterest stock (NYSE: PINS) dropped about 20% through after-hours trading and into premarket on Wednesday, sitting at 18.6% down at the time of publishing.
Well get into the AI slop factor, but first its worth noting that Pinterests revenue might have improved YOY, but it only just met Wall Streets expectations of $1.05 billion, according to consensus estimates cited by CNBC.
Pinterest also missed earnings per share estimates of 42 cents, reaching an adjusted 38 cents instead.
Meanwhile, the company predicted its fourth-quarter revenue to reach between $1.31 billion and $1.34 billion, not exactly comforting to investors when Wall Street had projected the highest end of that range.
Pinterest also missed estimated figures for third-quarter sales in the U.S. and Canada ($786 million versus $799 million) and global average revenue per user ($1.78 versus $1.79), according to separate consensus estimates cited by CNBC.
How does AI factor into Pinterests report?
Pinterest released its third-quarter earnings only a couple weeks after rolling out new generative AI controls. Following a sea of user complaints, the new tools allow users to dial down orif they really wantup the level of AI-generated content on their feeds.
Users had openly criticized the AI slop, with one person stating on X, I hate how Pinterest is just AI and ads now. Its just unusable.” The post received 21,000 likes.
Despite the pushback, Pinterest CEO Bill Ready doubled down on AI in an earnings call, referring to it as the heart of the Pinterest experience. He even went so far as to call Pinterest an AI-powered shopping assistant, further centering AI at the company.
The good news for Pinterest
Pinterest saw a 12% increase YOY in global monthly active users, reaching 600 million. In July, the company shared that men were joining the platform at record rates, making up over one-third of users.
As for the advertisements they see, Ready states that Pinterest has built a performance ads platform that is harnessing our users commercial intent and AI-driven automation to improve performance and simplify campaign creation for advertisers.
He goes on to claim that advertiser outbound clicks have improved by 40% YOY.
In response to a question from an analyst about Pinterest’s new AI controls, Ready further addressed the complex issue of identifying AI-generated content, claiming that no platform could catch 100% of uses.
That’s why we say see less, not see none of, because the ability to precisely spot that is not perfect for any platform, he said on the call.
He then made the case that AI will eventually follow in the footsteps of Photoshop and play at least a small part in editing most, if not all, content.
President Donald Trump is heading to Miami on Wednesday the anniversary of his reelection to a second term to speak to a forum of business leaders and global athletes about what he sees as his economic achievements.The Republican president’s speech to the America Business Forum will be a broad look at his economic agenda and how investments he has secured abroad help U.S. communities, according to a senior White House official. It’s a significant effort from Trump to put a positive spin on the economy at a time when Americans remain uneasy about the state of their finances and the cost of living and when major campaigns in Tuesday’s election were centered on affordability and the economy.The AP Voter Poll survey, which included more than 17,000 voters in New Jersey, Virginia, California and New York City, suggested the public was troubled by higher prices and fewer job opportunities despite Trump’s promises to tame inflation and unleash growth.In his speech, Trump will touch on deregulation, energy independence and oil prices, and affordability, said the White House official, who insisted on anonymity to preview the president’s address.Trump spent five days in Asia last week with stops in Malaysia, Japan and South Korea. He worked to ease trade tensions with Beijing in a meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. In Tokyo, he promoted several major energy and tech projects for the U.S. that will be funded by Japan.Miami Mayor Francis Suarez said he thinks Trump’s recent travels “have been transformational in his presidency” and said his speech will be a highlight of the forum, which organizers have described as a more accessible version of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, or the Milken Institute Global Conference, which gathers the world’s elite for discussions on the economy.“This conference not only is creating this incredible collection of people, but it’s also creating them in a particular moment in time,” said Suarez, a Republican.Trump’s visit also highlights how the Miami area is playing a key role during his second term.Trump is set to host leaders of the world’s leading rich and developing economies at next year’s Group of 20 summit at his golf club at the nearby city of Doral, despite what critics say is the appearance of impropriety.Trump’s sons have taken over running the Trump Organization while their father is in the White House, and the president has insisted that his family’s business will not make any money by holding the summit at the golf club.The city is where Trump wants to locate his future presidential library, which is now facing a legal challenge over whether the plot of land in downtown Miami is being properly transferred. Miami is also one of the U.S. host cities for next year’s World Cup, which Trump has eagerly promoted as the kickoff to several major global sporting events for which the U.S. is playing host. Ensuring the success of the World Cup has been a top priority for the Trump administration.FIFA President Gianni Infantino, with whom Trump has developed a close friendship, is scheduled to speak at the Miami forum later Wednesday.
This story has been corrected to show the name of the event is the America Business Forum, not the American Business Forum.
Seung Min Kim, Associated Press
California voters approved new congressional district boundaries Tuesday, delivering a victory for Democrats in the state-by-state redistricting battle that will help determine which party wins control of the U.S. House in 2026 and, with it, the power to thwart or advance President Donald Trump’s agenda.The approval of Proposition 50 gives Democrats a shot at winning as many as five additional seats, just enough to blunt Texas Republicans’ move to redraw their own maps to pick up five GOP seats at Trump’s urging. Texas’ move and California’s response have kicked off a flurry of redistricting efforts around the country, with Republican states appearing to have an edge. Deeply blue California is Democrats’ best opportunity to make up seats.Midterm elections typically punish the party in the White House, and Trump is fighting to maintain his party’s slim House majority. Republicans hold 219 seats to Democrats’ 213.Tuesday’s results mark a political victory for Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, who cast the measure as an essential tool to fight back against Trump and protect American democracy.Speaking to reporters in Sacramento, Newsom cast the California vote as part of a broader national rejection of Trump’s policies that saw Democratic governors elevated in New Jersey and Virginia. But he warned the more consequential battle would come next year.If Democrats win the House majority, they can “end Donald Trump’s presidency as we know it,” Newsom said. “It is all on the line, a bright line, in 2026.”
Measure supported by Newsom and Obama
California’s Proposition 50 asked voters to suspend House maps drawn by an independent commission and replace them with rejiggered districts adopted by the Democratic-controlled Legislature. Those new districts would be in place for the 2026, 2028 and 2030 elections.The recast districts aim to dilute Republican voters’ power, in one case by uniting rural, conservative-leaning parts of far northern California with Marin County, a famously liberal coastal stronghold across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco.The measure was spearheaded by Newsom, who threw the weight of his political operation behind it in a major test of his mettle ahead of a potential 2028 presidential campaign. Former President Barack Obama urged voters to pass it as well.“Republicans want to steal enough seats in Congress to rig the next election and wield unchecked power for two more years,” Obama said in one ad. “You can stop Republicans in their tracks.”Critics said two wrongs don’t make a right. They urged Californians to reject the measure, even if they have misgivings about Trump’s moves elsewhere.Among the most prominent critics was Arnold Schwarzenegger, the movie star and former Republican governor who pushed for the creation of the independent commission, which voters approved in 2008 and 2010. It makes no sense to fight Trump by becoming him, Schwarzenegger said in September, arguing that the proposal would “take the power away from the people.”“I don’t want Newsom to have control,” said Rebecca Fleshman, a 63-year-old retired medical assistant from Southern California, who voted against the measure. “I don’t want the state to be blue. I want it to be red.”
A lopsided campaign foreshadowed the vote
After an early burst of TV advertising, opponents of the plan struggled to raise cash in a state with some of the nation’s most expensive media markets.The campaign followed an unusual trajectory. A handful of Republican congressmen who will see their districts dramatically reshaped and their jobs endangered mostly stayed away from the campaign spotlight. With opponents short on cash, Newsom and his supporters dominated TV screens in the critical closing weeks.Total spending on broadcast and cable ads topped $100 million, with more than two-thirds of it coming from supporters. Newsom told people to stop donating in the race’s final weeks.The GOP congressmen Reps. Ken Calvert, Darrell Issa, Kevin Kiley, David Valadao and Doug LaMalfa will see right-leaning voters reduced and left-leaning voters boosted in their respective districts in a shift that would make it likely a Democratic candidate would prevail in each race.Issa issued a defiant statement, saying: “I’m not going anywhere. I’ll continue to represent the people of California regardless of their party or where they live.”Calvert said Newsom engineered a “power grab” while housing costs, gas prices and taxes continue to strain family budgets. “I am determined to keep fighting for the families I represent,” he said in an email.
AP poll finds voters motivated by political reasons
Proposition 50 won a swift and decisive victory, as the AP declared a winner when polls closed statewide. Early returns were strongly in favor of the measure, as were preliminary results from the AP Voter Poll, an expansive survey of more than 4,000 voters in California.Roughly 7 in 10 California voters said party control of Congress was “very important” to them, and those voters overwhelmingly supported the measure, according to the AP Voter Poll.About 8 in 10 California voters who supported the ballot measure said it was necessary to counter the changes made by Republicans in other states, while only about 2 in 10 said they supported it because it was the best way to draw maps, AP Voter Poll found.Trump, who overwhelmingly lost California in his three presidential campaigns, largely stayed out of the fray. A week before the election, he urged voters in a social media post not to vote early or by mail messaging that conflicted with that of top Republicans in the state who urged people to get their ballots in as soon as possible.In a post Tuesday on his social media platform, the president called the state’s voting process “RIGGED” and warned that it was “under very serious legal and criminal review. STAY TUNED!” Secretary of State Shirley Weber called that “another baseless claim.”
The national House map is in flux
Congressional district boundaries are typically redrawn every 10 years to reflect population shifts documented in the census. Mid-decade redistricting is unusual, absent a court order finding fault with the maps in place.Beyond Texas, Republicans expect to gain one seat each from new maps in Missouri and North Carolina, and potentially two more in Ohio. Five other GOP-led states are also considering new maps: Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana and Nebraska.On the Democratic side, Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, New York and Virginia have proposals to redraw maps, but major hurdles remain.A court has ordered new boundaries be drawn in Utah, where all four House districts are represented by Republicans, but it remains to be seen if the state will approve a map that makes any of them winnable for Democrats.Siddhartha Deb, 52, has lived in the U.S. since he was 7 years old but he just became a citize Tuesday. Immediately afterward he registered to vote at San Francisco City Hall and cast his ballot in favor of Newsom’s measure.“I don’t like the way the Republican Party is basically trying to rig elections by gerrymandering,” Deb said. “And this is the only way, to fight fire with fire.”
Associated Press writers Amy Taxin and Terry Chea contributed.
Jonathan J. Cooper, Michael R. Blood and Trân Nguyn, Associated Press
The government shutdown has entered its 36th day, breaking the record as the longest ever and disrupting the lives of millions of Americans with federal program cuts, flight delays and federal workers nationwide left without paychecks.President Donald Trump has refused to negotiate with Democrats over their demands to salvage expiring health insurance subsidies until they agree to reopen the government. But skeptical Democrats question whether the Republican president will keep his word, particularly after the administration restricted SNAP food aid, despite court orders to ensure funds are available to prevent hunger.Trump, whose first term at the White House set the previous government shutdown record, is set to meet early Wednesday for breakfast with GOP senators. But no talks have been scheduled with the Democrats.“Why is this happening? We’re in a shutdown because our colleagues are unwilling to come to the table to talk about one simple thing: health care premiums,” said Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., in a late evening speech.“Stop this mess, come to the table, negotiate it,” she said.With Trump largely on the sidelines, talks have intensified among a loose coalition of centrist senators trying to negotiate an end to the stalemate. Expectations are high that the logjam would break once election results were fully tallied in Tuesday’s off-year races that were widely watched as a gauge of voter sentiment over Trump’s second term in the White House. Democrats swept key contests for governor in Virginia and New Jersey, and New York City mayor, certain to shake up the political assessments.But earlier in the afternoon, Senate Democrats left an hours-long private meeting stone-faced, with no certain path forward.“We’re exploring all the options,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said afterward.
Trump sets another shutdown record
Trump’s approach to this shutdown stands in marked contrast to his first term, when the government was partially closed for 35 days over his demands for funds to build the U.S.-Mexico border wall. At that time, he met publicly and negotiated with congressional leaders, but unable to secure the funds, he relented in 2019.This time, it’s not just Trump declining to engage in talks. The congressional leaders are at a standoff and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., sent lawmakers home in September after they approved their own funding bill, refusing further negotiations.In the meantime, food aid, child care funds and countless other government services are being seriously interrupted and hundreds of thousands of federal workers have been furloughed or expected to come to work without pay.Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy predicted there could be chaos in the skies next week if air traffic controllers miss another paycheck. Labor unions put pressure on lawmakers to reopen the government.Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said this has been not only the longest shutdown but also “the most severe shutdown on record.”The Republican leader has urged the Democrats to accept his overtures to vote on the health care issue and keep negotiating a solution once the government reopens, arguing that no one wins politically from the standoff.“Shutdowns are stupid,” Thune said.
Senators search for potential deal
Central to any endgame will be a series of agreements that would need to be upheld not only by the Senate, but also the House, and the White House, which is not at all certain in Washington.First of all, senators from both parties, particularly the powerful members of the Appropriations Committee, are pushing to ensure the normal government funding process in Congress can be put back on track.Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, the chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., along with several Democrats, including Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire and Chris Coons of Delaware, are among those working behind the scenes.“The pace of talks have increased,” said Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., who has been involved in conversations.Among the goals is guaranteeing upcoming votes on a smaller package of bills where there is already widespread bipartisan agreement to fund various aspects of government, like agricultural programs and military construction projects at bases.“I certainly think that three-bill package is primed to do a lot of good things for the American people,” said Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., who has also been in talks.
Health care costs skyrocket for millions
More difficult, a substantial number of senators also want some resolution to the standoff over the funding for the Affordable Care Act subsidies that are set to expire at year’s end.With insurance premium notices being sent, millions of Americans are experiencing sticker shock on skyrocketing prices. The loss of enhanced federal subsidies, which were put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic and come in the form of tax credits, are expected to leave many people unable to buy health insurance.Republicans are reluctant to fund the health care program, also known as Obamacare, without reforms, but negotiating a compromise with Democrats is expected to take time, if a deal can be reached at all.Thune has promised Democrats at least a vote on their preferred health care proposal, on a date certain, as part of any deal to reopen government. But that’s not enough for some senators, who see the health care deadlock as part of their broader concerns with Trump’s direction for the country.The White House says its position remains unchanged and that Democrats must vote to fund the government before talks over health care can begin. White House officials are in close contact with GOP senators who have been quietly speaking with key Senate Democrats, according to a senior White House official. The official was granted anonymity to discuss administration strategy.
Trump’s demands to end the filibuster fall flat
The president has been pushing the senators to nuke the filibuster the Senate rule that requires 60 votes to advance most legislation as a way to reopen the government.The GOP senators have panned Trump’s demands to end the filibuster, in a rare public break with the president. Thune and others argue the Senate rule, while infuriating at times, ensures the minority party can be a check on the administration, which is important when power shifts in Washington.But in the current Senate, where Republicans hold a slim majority, 53-47, Democrats have been able to block the House-passed bill that would fund the government, having voted more than a dozen times against.Trump has said that doing away with the filibuster would be one way the Republicans could bypass the Democrats and end the shutdown on their own. Republican senators are trying to avoid that outcome.
Associated Press writers Kevin Freking, Stephen Groves, Seung Min Kim and Mtt Brown contributed to this report.
Lisa Mascaro and Mary Clare Jalonick, Associated Press
A UPS wide-body cargo plane crashed on Tuesday and erupted into a fireball moments after takeoff from the international airport in Louisville, Kentucky, killing seven, including all three aboard, and injuring 11 on the ground, officials said.
Flames from the crash, shortly before sundown, ignited a string of fires in an industrial corridor adjacent to the airport, forcing authorities to halt flight operations through the night, the officials said.
The Louisville airport, which is home to UPS Worldport a global hub for the shipping company’s air cargo operations and its largest package-handling facility worldwide was expected to reopen on Wednesday morning.
Two runways were strewn with debris from the crash.
In a Tuesday night service alert, UPS said delivery schedules for airborne and international packages “may be affected” by the disruption.
“Contingency plans are in place to help ensure that shipments arrive at their final destinations as quickly as conditions permit,” it added.
The triple-engine plane was fueled for an 8-1/2 hour flight to Honolulu. It had a crew of three, UPS said. None survived, officials said.
Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg told reporters at a late-night news briefing that four deaths were confirmed on the ground, with 11 injured people taken to hospitals.
Separately, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear said the death toll was at least seven and expected to rise. Some survivors had suffered “very significant” injuries, he said.
It was the first UPS cargo plane to crash since August 2013, when an Airbus aircraft went down on a landing approach to the international airport in Birmingham, Alabama, killing both crew.
Television channel WLKY, a CBS affiliate, showed video of Tuesday’s crash, with flames visible as the plane took off, and the fireball erupting as it hit the ground.
Several buildings in an industrial area beyond the runway were on fire after the crash, with thick, black smoke seen rising into the evening sky.
Beshear said stricken facilities on the ground included a petroleum recycling center and an auto parts business.
“UPS Flight 2976 crashed around 5:15 p.m. local time on Tuesday, Nov. 4, after departing from Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport in Kentucky,” the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement.
One key question for investigators is why one engine appeared to have separated from the plane before the crash, a person briefed on the matter said, pointing to video images of airfield debris.
The cause and origin of the fire before the aircraft went down were also unknown.
U.S. air safety expert and pilot John Cox said investigators will need to look at why the plane with three engines failed to fly after one apparently caught fire.
Its too big a fire for a normal, typical-engine fire, Cox said. Its much too big.
That airplane should have flown on two engines. So now weve got to look at what caused it not to fly, he added.
Fires on the ground burned for hours afterwards, with authorities warning the public within a 5-mile (8-km) radius of the scene to stay indoors to guard against air-quality hazards. The shelter-in-place zone was later reduced to a mile across.
CRASH INVOLVED 34-YEAR-OLD PLANE
FAA records show the crashed plane, an MD-11 freighter, was 34 years old. Boeing, which shut down the MD-11 program after acquiring it in a merger with McDonnell Douglas, said it was concerned for the safety and well-being of those affected, and it would provide technical support to the investigation.
Flightradar24 said the plane, which began operations with UPS in 2006, had flown from Louisville to Baltimore earlier on Tuesday before returning to Louisville.
It climbed to an altitude of 175 feet and reached a speed of 184 knots before making a sharp descent, Flightradar24 data showed.
The National Transportation Safety Board will lead the accident investigation and was sending a team to the site, a spokesperson said.
The NTSB typically takes 12 to 24 months to complete an investigation, make a finding of probable cause and issue recommendations to help avoid similar incidents.
UPS is the largest employer in Louisville, providing 26,000 jobs, the publication Louisville Business First said.
“We are terribly saddened by the accident tonight in Louisville,” the company said in a statement.
Louisville’s Worldport is at the center of the hub-and-spoke system for its air cargo network, serving the high-tech, healthcare and retail industries, handling more than 300 flights and processing about 2 million packages a day.
More than 150 UPS customers, such as Merck & Co and other major pharmaceutical companies, have inventory there.
“My heart goes out to everybody at UPS, because this is a UPS town,” Louisville Metro Council member Betsy Ruhe, whose district includes the airport, said at the press conference.
“We all know somebody who works at UPS, and they’re all texting their friends, their family, trying to make sure everyone is safe. Sadly, some of those texts are probably going to go unanswered.”
Additional writing and reporting by Dan Catchpole, Steve Gorman, Juby Babu, Allison Lampert, Gnaneshwar Rajan and Shivani Tanna
David Shepardson, Chris Thomas and Lisa Baertlein, Reuters
Zohran Mamdani was elected mayor of New York on Tuesday, capping a stunning ascent for the 34-year-old, far-left state lawmaker, who promised to transform city government to restore power to the working class and fight back against a hostile Trump administration.In a victory for the Democratic party’s progressive wing, Mamdani defeated former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa. Mamdani must now navigate the unending demands of America’s biggest city and deliver on ambitious skeptics say unrealistic campaign promises.With his commanding win, the democratic socialist will etch his place in history as the city’s first Muslim mayor, the first of South Asian heritage and the first born in Africa. He will also become New York’s youngest mayor in more than a century when he takes office on Jan. 1.“The conventional wisdom would tell you that I am far from the perfect candidate. I am young, despite my best efforts to grow older. I am Muslim. I am a democratic socialist. And most damning of all, I refuse to apologize for any of this,” Mamdani declared to a roaring crowd at his victory party.He cast his win as a boon for blue-collar workers struggling to get by. “New York, tonight you have delivered a mandate for change,” he said, vowing to “wake up each morning with a singular purpose: To make this city better for you than it was the day before.”More than 2 million New Yorkers cast ballots in the contest, the largest turnout in a mayoral race in more than 50 years, according to the city’s Board of Elections. With roughly 90% of the votes counted, Mamdani held an approximately 9 percentage point lead over Cuomo.Mamdani’s unlikely rise gives credence to Democrats who have urged the party to embrace more progressive candidates instead of rallying behind centrists in hopes of winning back swing voters who have abandoned the party.He has already faced scrutiny from national Republicans, including President Donald Trump, who have eagerly cast him as a threat and the face of a more radical Democratic Party that is out of step with mainstream America. Trump has repeatedly threatened to cut federal funding to the city and even take it over if Mamdani won.
A commanding win
At his victory party in Brooklyn, Mamdani supporters cheered and embraced, some tearfully, after The Associated Press called the race. Campaign posters flew through the air, as one person hoisted the official flag of New York City and Bad Bunny played from the speakers.The mood was far more muted at Cuomo’s party at a midtown Manhattan theater. In his concession speech, a defiant Cuomo called his campaign “a caution flag that we are headed down a dangerous, dangerous road” and noted that “almost half of New Yorkers did not vote to support a government agenda that makes promises that we know cannot be met.”Still, he corrected his supporters when they began to boo at the mention of Mamdani’s name.“No, that is not right,” he said, offering to help the incoming mayor in any way. “Tonight was their night.”Mamdani’s grassroots campaign centered on affordability, and his charisma spoiled Cuomo’s attempted political comeback. The former governor, who resigned four years ago following allegations of sexual harassment that he continues to deny, was dogged by his past throughout the race and was criticized for running a negative campaign.Mamdani will also have to deal with Trump, who not only threatened retribution against the city but also suggested he might try to arrest and deport Mamdani if he won. Mamdani was born in Uganda, where he spent his early childhood, but was raised in New York City and became a U.S. citizen in 2018.In his speech, Mamdani addressed Trump head on.“New York will remain a city of immigrants, a city built by immigrants, powered by immigrants and as of tonight, led by an immigrant,” he said, adding that, “If anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him.”Trump appeared to acknowledge Mamdani’s challenges, posting “AND SO IT BEGINS!” on his Truth Social site.
New mayor will pursue an ambitious agenda
Mamdani, who was criticized throughout the campaign for his thin resume, will now have to begin staffing his incoming administration and planning how to accomplish the ambitious but polarizing agenda that drove him to victory.Among the campaign’s promises are free child care, free city bus service, city-run grocery stores and a new Department of Community Safety that would send mental health care workers to handle certain emergency calls rather than police officers. It is unclear how Mamdani will pay for such initiatives, given Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul’s steadfast opposition to his calls to raise taxes on wealthy people.His decisions around the leadership of the New York Police Department will also be closely watched. Mamdani was a fierce critic of the department in 2020, calling for “this rogue agency” to be defunded and slamming it as “racist, anti-queer & a major threat to public safety.” He has since apologized for those comments and has said he will ask the current NYPD commissioner to stay on the job.Mamdani’s campaign was driven by his optimistic view of the city and his promises to improve the quality of life for its middle and lower classes.Cuomo, Sliwa and other critics assailed him over his vehement criticism of Israel ‘s military actions in Gaza. Mamdani, a longtime advocate of Palestinian rights, has accused Israel of committing genocide and said he would honor an arrest warrant the International Criminal Court issued for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Mamdani won over the city while Cuomo faltered
Mamdani began his campaign as a relatively obscure state lawmaker, little known even within New York City.Going into the Democratic primary, Cuomo was the presumed favorite, with near-universal name recognition and deep political connections. Cuomo’s chances were buoyed further when incumbent Mayor Eric Adams bowed out of the primary while dealing with the fallout of his now-dismissed federal corruption case.But as the race progressed, Mamdani’s natural charm, catchy social media videos and populist economic platform energized voters in the notoriously expensive city. He also began drawing outside attention as his name recognition grew.Mamdani trounced Cuomo in the primary by about 13 points.The former governor relaunched his campaign as an independent candidate for the general election, vowing to hit the streets with a more energetic approach. However, much of his campaign continued to focus on attacking opponents. In the race’s final stretch, he claimed Mamdani’s election would make Jews feel unsafe.Meanwhile, supporters packed Mamdani’s rallies, and he held whimsical events, including a scavenger hunt and a community soccer tournament.Cuomo also juxtaposed his deep experience in government with Mamdani’s less than five years in the state Legislature. But the former governor also faced his own poltical baggage, as his opponents dredged up the sexual harassment allegations that led to his resignation, as well as his decisions during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.Sliwa, the creator of the Guardian Angels crime patrol group, also had his moments mostly in the form of funny quips on the debate stage but had difficulty gaining traction as a Republican in an overwhelmingly Democratic city.He conceded the race about a half hour after the polls closed, wishing Mamdani “good luck because if he does well, we do well.”But he also issued a warning: “If you try to implement socialism, if you try to render our police weak and impotent, if you forsake the people’s public safety, we will become the mayor-elect and his supporters’ worst enemies.”
Associated Press writers Jennifer Peltz, Philip Marcelo and Jake Offenhartz contributed to this report.
Anthony Izaguirre and Jill Colvin, Associated Press
Duolingo has been through a lot of changes over the past few years. What was once solely a language-learning app has grown into a social media marketing machine, a destination for math and music lessons, and now an online chess tutor.
In June, Duolingo launched a Duolingo Chess course to teach beginners the basic rules and moves by allowing them to play against an AI tutor named Oscar. This month, the company is taking the course further, launching a multiplayer version of the game where users can compete against one another.
Duolingo, which is on track to surpass $1 billion in revenue this year, has 48 million daily active users and 11 million paying subscribers. Though the company doesnt reveal user numbers for the free chess course, at the Fast Company Innovation Festival in September, cofounder and CEO Luis von Ahn said that it had already notched millions and millions of users within three months.
Even more remarkable: Von Ahn greenlit the development of the chess course only nine months before it launched.
The story of how Duolingo created its hit chess course is the clearest illustration of how AI is transforming the company. Fast Company spoke with two of the principals behind the chess course. As they make clear, AI is not replacing engineers, but it is giving them a head start. Vibe coding has become a phenomenon, but we don’t have any high-profile examples of a hit product that relied on it. Until now.
Chess as education
Von Ahn admits to being skeptical about offering chess lessons when the idea was first pitched to him a couple of years ago. He didnt want Duolingo to turn into an app for games. But a conversation with Guatemalas minister of education changed his mind. (Von Ahn was born and raised in Guatemala.) The minister was so frustrated with the education system in her country that she said she was thinking about sending every student a chess board so that at least theyd learn how to play. That helped von Ahn see the game through an educational lens.
He greenlit the idea and handed it to the pair of employees who initially pitched it: Neither of them knew how to play chess, and neither of them were engineers, von Ahn says. But they didnt need those skills to get started. They simply vibe coded a prototype.
AI has been an important part of Duolingos workflow strategy. Earlier this spring, von Ahn sent a memo to his staff outlining plans to make Duolingo an AI-first company to remove bottlenecks and inspire employees to focus on creative work and real problems rather than repetitive tasks. The memo sparked a backlash. On social media, people accused von Ahn of using AI to eliminate jobs.
At Fast Companys Innovation Festival, von Ahn cleared the air, saying that the goal isnt to save money. “We have never done a layoff. We have not laid off a single full-time employee, he said. The goal is not to replace human employees. The goal is to do a lot more and get closer to our mission.
How to vibe code the game of chess
The development of Duolingos chess course kicked off in September 2024 with Edwin Bodge, senior staff product manager, and Tyler Murphy, Duolingos chief product designer.
Bodge and Murphy, who had worked together to launch the math and music products for Duolingo, had grown interested in chess when they were brainstorming ideas for a strong third subject. They saw the correlation between learning chess and language learning.
To begin the prototyping, they tried a combination of products, including the popular AI-generated coding platform Cursor. Using Cursor, they created an initial version of the chess experience.
Bodge says the first steps in prototyping were relatively easy. They began by describing a chess board on the Cursor platform, then added other elements, such as a character (which eventually became the AI tutor, Oscar), a progress bar, and the actual lessons and puzzles.
But as Bodge and Murphy layered on more curriculum, things became much more complicated. They started to have a difficult time visualizing the course, so Bodge created multiple chess boards on Cursor to play through each version of the prototype. Soon, they had something fully formed enough to show to colleagues.
It was a pretty janky prototype, Bodge admits. But we were able to put it into people’s hands and say, Well, here’s the curriculum we’ve been writing. Here’s all this stuff that we’ve been teaching and how we think it’s going to work. And from that moment, it just became so much more natural.
Bodge notes that there are still some aspects of the prototype that are incorporated into the final product, including the curriculum and some of the AI-generated code that he and Murphy developed. That core of the vibe code and prototype is very much in the production app, he says.
Building the final product
Within a few months, Bodge and Murphy began handing off the project to Duolingo engineers to create the code that would bring the course to life. Sammi Siegel, staff software engineer, was instrumental in building the final product.
Thanks to the prototypes that Bodge and Murphy had developed, there was a pretty strong vision for what [the course] should look like, Siegel says. The first few months were implementation, heads down, and coding everything all at once.
Siegel says the chess game was the first time the team had launched a new subject within the existing Duolingo app. (The math and music classes were built to be stand-alone apps, and then eventually merged into Duolingo.) We were building [a course] within the current system, so we were able to prove how much faster that [process] was, Siegel explains.
Siegels team was also helped by the amount of open-source work that exists around chess. She and her team were able to take advantage of publicly available chess engines, which analyze chess positions and the best moves.
And then theres the visual simplicity of chess. Chess is pretty simple, Siegel says. It’s just a board and a guy telling you what he wants you to do on the board, so that made the implementation phase shorter. We were able to get a lot further with a very simple interface. (To build the chessboard, Siegel says the team used a software called Rive, which is cross-platform compatible and can be built in one go for iOS and Android.)
Duolingo released the course in beta in April and launched it to the public in June. Now its ready for the next step: introducing player-versus-player mode, which entails a complex coding process.
Siegel says creating real-life, player-versus-player functionality is tougher than building matches against a predictable bot, like Oscar. Youre coordinating two humans who think, pause, and play at their own pace, she explains. With Oscar, we can guarantee that youll get matched with a botthats pretty close to your skill level.
Siegel adds that keeping both devices in sync is a challenging engineering problem, noting, Weve had to invest in anti-cheating systems and thoughtful handling of disconnections to ensure every match feels fair and stable.
A new generation of online chess players
By incorporating chess into Duolingo, the company is introducing the game to people who may have never considered learning it before. We talk internally about chess as a very male-dominated game, so it’s interesting to see how we can widen the scope of folks who have access to that kind of education, Siegel says.
Bodge says when they first started developing the product, they had a hypothesis that it would appeal to a lot of people. But they wanted to make sure that it felt accessible and engaging, rather than elite and academic. Thats why, in classic Duolingo style, they use an animated characterOscarto play the role of the easygoing tutor.
There are a lot of people who we’ve basically activated as chess players, Bodge says. Were ushering in a new generation of players.
Black Friday isn’t what it once was. Less than 15 years ago, it was fairly common for people to wake up at ridiculously early hours to drive to a store, where they would stand in line, waiting for the doors to open in order to grab the best deals.
Those people still exist, but not in the numbers they used to, thanks to the convenience of online shopping (and the early start to holiday deals). But as artificial intelligence becomes more entrenched in people’s habits, it could have an increasingly large role in Black Friday (and Cyber Monday). And 2025 could be something of a test case for the technology.
The average consumer is expected to spend $1,595 on holiday gifts this year, according to Deloitte. That’s 10% less than 2024, a figure that highlights the importance shoppers will be placing on bargains this year. And a growing number of consumers will be relying on AI to help them find those deals.
Some 33% of the people Deloitte spoke with in its 2025 Holiday Retail Survey said they plan to use AI as part of their holiday shoppingdouble the number who did last year. Many say the tech could assist them with inspiration and product discovery.
That could benefit retailers who have already embraced AI in their recommendation engines, as well as those planning to roll it out.
“Consumer adoption of gen AI shows that expectations are shifting toward personalization and efficiency,” Deloitte wrote. “Shoppers now expect instant recommendations tailored to their preferences, budgets, and recipients, raising the bar for retailers digital experiences. To meet holiday shoppers expectations, retailers could consider embedding AI-powered gift finders, style assistants, or deal copilots directly into their sites or apps.”
A separate study from marketing automation platform Klaviyo found that 56% of consumers say theyll use AI tools during Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
AI can do a lot more than help people think of creative gifts, of course. Gen AI models like ChatGPT can research prices and recommend the best deal, in some cases even making the purchase for you. And a growing number of people are taking advantage of that. Traffic from AI platforms to retail sites during Prime Days and other sales in July was up by 4,700%, according to Adobe Analytics. And the company is predicting an increase in AI usage of between 515% and 550% this holiday season, compared to 2024.
Thinking of enlisting a GenAI to help you find deals? Here’s how you’ll want to go about it.
Make your list. Check it twice
Chatbots aren’t a lot of good without specifics. You’ll need to know exactly what you’re looking to buy if you’re planning to use AI for price comparisons. Using the broadest example, telling ChatGPT you’re looking for the best price on, say, a Barbie or a blender is akin to calling a Best Buy or GameStop and saying you want to know their best price for a game console. The $60 no-name brand that has a Tetris clone might technically be the correct answer, but that does you no good if you really wanted a PlayStation 5.
Set the AI loose
Ask your chatbot to find the best deals for your specific product. Again, details matter, so be sure to offer as much granularity as you can about the product. (To go back to the PS5 example, do you want the PS5 with a disc drive? What amount of internal storage do you want? Do you want a PS5 Slim or Pro or some other model?) It’s also worth asking the chatbot to suggest additional ways to save, such as applicable cash-back apps (like Rakuten), promo codes, or coupons.
Fact check the results
Prices change all the time during the holiday season, so just because ChatGPT says Store X is the best deal, you’ll still want to check that site’s website to verify the amount your AI assistant quoted is still valid. At the very least, using AI to help you shop will quickly eliminate some options and, ideally, free up some of your time, letting you spend less of November and December hunting for deals and more enjoying the season.
From my earliest days as a journalist, Ive always prized my dictaphone. It sounds quaint now, but I actually remember excitedly keeping up with advancements in the field. Sonys ICD-TX50 was a particular revelation for me in 2012, with its tiny OLED display and worlds-thinnest 6.4mm frame. There was no sleeker way to show up to Tokyo press conferences.
In recent years, though, my dictaphone collection has taken on a new, less physical form. Googles Pixel phones have been a revelation for journalists, offering real-time, on-device transcription through the Recorder app. Ive often found myself bringing a Pixel along to a press event even if I wasnt actively using it as a phone at the timethe ability to get an automatic transcript once your recording is done has been an incredible timesaver.
But now a new wave of hardware, buoyed by the AI revolution, has been changing my habits once again. While the jury is out on a lot of hyped AI devices, some startups have locked in on voice recording as one of the few serious use cases. These arent like the Humane AI Pin or the much-mocked Friend pendanttheyre gadgets with a focused, real-world use case.
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The devices
Ive been using a couple of recorders from Plaud for several monthsthe Plaud Note and the Plaud NotePinand testing them against a product from a newer Japanese startup called Notta. At least for now, Ive found that both companies devices offer a significant upgrade over the Pixel for working journalists.
The Plaud Note is an incredibly thin audio recorder that can magnetically attach to an iPhone or a newer Pixel through an included leather case. Theres a simple record button, as well as a switch for a mode that lets you record phone calls through audio vibrations. (Obviously, you should make sure of the legality in your jurisdiction before using this feature.)
The NotePin, meanwhile, is a small pill-shaped device that attaches to various magnetic accessories like a clip or a wristband. Its designed for hands-free use, as opposed to holding the Plaud Note out toward a subject or resting it on a desk.
Both devices feel very well-built, with solid metal cases. Power and recording status is indicated on each through a tiny LED in the A of the Plaud logo. The Note is a little easier to use than the NotePin thanks to its tactile round power button; the NotePin relies on an invisible capacitive surface that you have to hold down until you hear a vibration, which isnt quite as convenient in situations where youre scrambling to start a recording.
The NotePin does have a usability advantage of its own through its magnetic USB-C charging adapter, however. The Note is so thin that it requires a proprietary pogo-pin cable, which Im not sure I trust myself not to lose at some point.
Overall Plaud has designed some attractive hardware, but given that every phone has a microphone built in, the app is what sets the product apart. Once your phone is paired to one of the devices, transferring audio files is simple and quick over Wi-Fi, and then you have to upload them to Plauds cloud servers for processing.
This can take several minutes depending on the length of the file, though its still much faster than manually transcribing. What Ive really appreciated in the chaotic aftermath of press conferences is how Plaud automatically generates a summary of the recording and identifies speakers, so you can dial right into the most important parts and verify the quotes for yourself. The auto setting works well, but you can also choose from specific templates and AI models like GPT-5, Gemini 2.5 Pro, and so on.
Plauds free plan offers 300 transcription minutes a month. You can top up with 600 extra minutes for $12.99, or theres a $100 annual Pro plan with 1,200 minutes a month. The unlimited plan will set you back $240 a year. Meanwhile, the Plaud Note and NotePin each cost $159 themselves.
I think this is reasonable pricing for anyone using this as a professional service. I did find Plauds app to be a little fussy in use, however, requiring a fair amount of interaction on the part of the user when it comes to uploading files and selecting how they ought to be processed. Despite its access to several AI services, I also thought the lack of in-app translation was an obvious miss.
The Notta option
Thats what got me interested in a Japanese startup called Notta, which is making a very similar product to the Plaud Note called the Notta Memo. I suspect each company may have related supply chain contacts in China, because the resemblance really is uncannyeven the magnetic leather cases and charging cables are near-identical.
The Notta Memo does add a tiny monochrome OLED screen that shows useful information like recording status, and more importantly reminds me of my Sony dictaphone. (Plaud has since released a Note Pro model with a similar display, though I havent yet tested it.) Personally I think the Notta Memo looks sleeker, with a black finish and a geometric, quilted diamond texture.
While Nottas app is similar to Plauds, I also preferred its design. Files begin transcribing automatically after transfer, and you can also translate them right within the app itself, which saves an extra step when youre on the move. I used the Notta Memo while reporting at some recent sports events in Tokyo and the process of recording directly on the device, uploading the file and getting a translated, annotated transcript that I could check myself was seamless.
Notta slightly undercuts Plaud with subscription pricing, charging $98 a year for 1,800 minutes a month or $200 for the unlimited plan, and the Notta Memo device itself is $149. Nottas free plan only offers 120 minutes a month, though, and doesnt support longer recordings or transcript translation, which complicates the comparison for anyone unsure of how much theyll use it.
Worth the cost
Overall, any one of these devices is going to be a serious investment. But for working journalists or other professionalsmaybe lawyers or consultantswhere voice recordings are a daily need, I actually think theyre all quite compelling.
If you have a Pixel phone, sure, you might get by with the built-in transcripts most of the time. But the advantages of having dedicated hardware are real. You can press the record button at any time regardless of what youre doing on your phone. The NotePin is a unique form factor that expands the situations in which you can rely on being able to record. Call recordings, meanwhile, straight-up arent supported in phone operating systems.
The hype around AI has led to a lot of hardware startups that havent been able to live up to it. But one thing AI is indisputably very good at is understanding language, and these voice recorders are perfect for the task. If theres a use case for AI-first hardware right now, its this.
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How do I control my emotions?
I get asked that question a lot. As an emotional intelligence coach, Ive received thousands of emails from readers over the years who get caught up in a cycle of emotional thinking, which leads them to say or do things they later regret. Often, this results in harm to their closest relationships, professional and personal.
Heres the thing: Emotions arent bad. Theyre what make us human, and thats a good thing.
The key isnt taking emotions out of the equation. Rather, you want to balance emotions and rational thinking, so you can look back and be proud of what youve said or done.
To help with this, I recommend using simple self-talk expressions. These can help shake you from that vicious cycle of overly emotional thinking and restore balance.
Here are five short phrases that will help you develop your emotional intelligence, the ability to understand and manage emotions effectively. (Sign up here for my free email emotional intelligence course.)
What advice would you give?
When you face an emotionally charged situation, its easy for emotions to cloud your judgment and cause you to say or do something you later regret.
But when you ask yourself, What advice would I give someone else in this situation? you take yourself out of the hot seat. You think more clearly, with more balance.
To help you use this framework effectively, try to imagine yourself a few years down the road. Whether you faced the challenge successfully or not doesnt matter; its past you. Now, imagine how you handled it and what consequences it led to.
This will help you stimulate your thinking and answer the question more effectively.
Mistakes are part of the process
Everyone makes mistakes. But when you view mistakes not as failures but as part of the process of learning, you manage expectations and help others to benefit from them.
When you train others, this framework can help you prepare for mistakes. For example, you might allocate more time or resources, because you know mistakes are coming. Itll also help you be more patient with those you are training, which helps build trust and psychological safety.
Additionally, reminding yourself that mistakes are part of the process helps you and the people you train to see the bigger picture. You both see mistakes as learning opportunities, and leverage them as such.
Be the change
This expression is usually attributed to Mohandas Gandhi, but the first official record of it is found in a book chapter written by a high school teacher in Brooklyn:
Be the change you want to see.
The basic lesson goes like this: You cant force someone else to change. But you can provide a model for them to learn from.
This is effective because researchers have shown that people learn not so much through reinforcement (rewards and punishments), but much more through observing others.
When you remind yourself to be the change, not only do you set a positive example, you focus on what you can control (your own behavior) instead of getting frustrated by what you have no control over (the actions of others).
At the same time, though, you increase the chances that those around you will change over time, too.
Experiences over things
As a business owner with four kids, Ive found that by prioritizing experiences over things you can learn more, remember more, and get more out of life.
To be clear, things arent bad in themselves. The problem is the more stuff you have, the more stuff you want. (I like to call this more disease.) This sends you down a cycle of always wanting more, and thats a recipe for unhappiness because youre never satisfied.
In contrast, experiences become a part of you. You create memories that change what you think about, how you act, the decisions you make. When an experience is over, its effects continuethey mold who you are as a person.
You can use that three-word motto to reframe your view of work. Its not just to provide things; its to provide time for more experiences. But you also have to use that time, because once its gone, its gone forever.
So, dont buy more stuff. Do more stuff.
Attack the problem. Not the person
I hate to admit it, but I tend to be passive-aggressive.
Maybe you struggle with the same habit, or you know someone who does. You know, someone who says there okay when they clearly arent. Or, they pout or give the silent treatment when they dont get their way. Or, they simply agree to a decision but then dont do their part to make that decision a success.
Theres a reason people like me start heading down that passive-aggressive path. Usually, Im trying to cope with negative feelings like frustration or disappointment. This phrase reminds me that my behavior isnt helping the situation; worse yet, its harming my relationship.
Heres where this short phrase can be extremely helpful:
Attack the problem. Not the person.
This phrase helps me focus on being more activeattacking the problemby telling the person why I feel the way I do. Whats more, I can now work with them to find a solution to the problem. Or, at least I feel better at supporting the decision weve agreed upon because Ive had the chance to fully express my feelings.
So, the next time you find yourself becoming a victim of your own emotions, remember the following phrases:
What advice would you give?
Mistakes are part of the process.
Be the change.
Experiences over things.
Attack the problem. Not the person.
Do so, and youll bring your emotions back to balance. Youll make better decisions. And youll reduce regrets as you make emotions work for you, instead of against you.
Justin Bariso
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.
