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As travelers pack for vacation, they tend to focus on the essentials: itineraries, clothes, and ideally, having fun. But there’s a critical safety consideration that rarely makes it onto any traveler’s checklist: carbon monoxide exposure. Recent, high-profile incidents highlight a troubling reality: Carbon monoxide (CO) incidents are on the rise. Firefighters responded to at least 4,000 carbon monoxide emergencies at hotels, motels, and resorts between 1999 and 2020. During this time these incidents have claimed at least two dozen lives and injured over 1,000 people. Despite these headlines, this “silent killer” remains largely absent from most travelers’ safety plans. UNDERSTAND THE INVISIBLE THREAT Carbon monoxide is produced when fuels don’t burn completely due to poor ventilation or malfunctioning appliances. In hotel and rental property settings, common sources include faulty furnaces, water heaters, fireplaces, and even nearby pool heaters or mechanical equipment. Carbon monoxide is almost impossible to identify without equipment because it is colorless, odorless, and tasteless. What makes CO particularly dangerous for travelers is that symptoms can be mistaken for travel fatigue, jet lag, or altitude sickness. Headaches, nausea, dizziness, and fatigue are often dismissed as normal travel discomfort rather than signs of a serious safety threat. THE REGULATORY GAP THAT PUTS TRAVELERS AT RISK Currently, only 14 states require carbon monoxide detectors in hotel rooms, and there’s no federal mandate requiring hotels to install CO alarms in every guest room. This regulatory patchwork leaves all travelers potentially vulnerable to a preventable risk. And thats just in the U.S.; if your travel plans take you outside the country, CO regulation is likely to be even more lax. Carbon monoxide poisoning is responsible for over 100,000 emergency room visits, 14,000 hospitalizations, and more than 400 deaths annually in the United States. The annual number of carbon monoxide poisonings in the U.S. is likely significantly higher than estimated due to the imperceptible nature of carbon monoxide, the variety of CO poisoning symptoms which often mimic other conditions like flu or food poisoning, and a lack of robust diagnostic tools. Unlike smoke alarm regulations, which are more consistently implemented and enforced across the hospitality industry, carbon monoxide detection remains hit or miss at best, resulting in a safety gap that many travelers don’t even realize exists. BUILD A CULTURE OF TRAVEL SAFETY AWARENESS The solution requires both systemic changes and individual preparedness. Never assume personal safety. While industry advocates continue pushing for stronger regulations across all states, travelers can, and should, take proactive steps to protect themselves. Savvy travelers are beginning to incorporate safety considerations into their accommodation selection process. This includes researching properties’ safety protocols, asking about detector placement, and understanding emergency procedures. Some are even adding CO alarms to their packing list as standard travel equipment. The hospitality industry must take the lead on implementing comprehensive safety measures. Forward-thinking hotel chains should consider voluntarily installing CO detectors even in states where they’re not required, understanding that guest safety is both a moral imperative and a potential business necessity or differentiator. PRACTICAL STEPS FOR ALL TRAVELERS Creating a safer travel experience doesn’t require major changes to existing routines but can go a long way towards having more peace of mind on vacation. Pre-travel preparation: Before leaving, test your home safety devices to ensure they are working to reduce the risk of CO build up while youre gone. Research safety protocols for your accommodations. Consider the location of your accommodations in relation to potential CO sources like parking garages, mechanical rooms, or pool areas. Bring battery-operated CO alarms. Pack them carefully to avoid damaging the device. Remove batteries prior to travel and reinsert them upon arrival. Test the device before use to ensure proper operation. Most alarms are meant for use in conditioned spaces only, not RVs or boats, unless specified, so check the product manual for more information. Upon arrival: Locate emergency exits, identify safety devices in your room, and understand the property’s emergency procedures. If something feels wrongpersistent headaches, unusual fatigue, or nauseadon’t ignore these potential warning signs. Families traveling with children or elderly relatives should be especially vigilant, as these groups are more vulnerable to CO exposure. When booking accommodations, ask specifically about safety protocols and detector placement. THE CASE FOR BETTER SAFETY STANDARDS Investing in comprehensive travel safety makes sense for everyone involved. Travelersespecially familieswant peace of mind during their trips, whether for business or leisure. Knowing the accommodations meet high safety standards is a significant step in the right direction. The hospitality industry also benefits from proactive safety measures. Properties that go above and beyond minimum requirements differentiate themselves in a competitive market and build trust with guests who increasingly value safety alongside comfort and convenience. Looking ahead, the integration of smart technology into travel safetysimilar to what we’ve seen in residential applicationsoffers promising possibilities for real-time monitoring and faster emergency response. The goal isn’t to scare travelers, but to make travel genuinely safer through awareness, preparation, and advocacy. When travelers and hosts prioritize comprehensive safety, they help drive industry-wide improvements that benefit everyone. Isis Wu is president of Residential Fire & Safety at Kidde.
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E-Commerce
Nvidia forecast third-quarter revenue above Wall Street estimates on Wednesday, helped by robust demand for its artificial intelligence chips from cloud providers expanding infrastructure to power generative AI technology. The AI market bellwether expects revenue of $54 billion, plus or minus 2%, in the third quarter, compared with analysts’ average estimate of $53.14 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG. The company said it has not assumed any shipments of its H20 chips to China in the outlook. Shares of the world’s most valuable firm fell 2.5% in extended trading. Nvidia shares have gained more than a third so far in 2025, outpacing the benchmark S&P 500 Index’s year-to-date rise of nearly 10%. But the company has been caught in the crossfire of the trade war between Washington and Beijing, as the world’s two largest economies claw for dominance of generative AI technology. The company said it had not assumed any H20 chip shipments to China in the outlook and that there were no H20 sales to China-based customers in the second quarter. Still, demand has surged for Nvidia’s advanced chips that can speedily process the large amounts of data used by generative AI applications as businesses race each other to dominate the new technology. Big Tech companies including Meta Platforms and Microsoft have been spending liberally to support their AI ambitions, and Nvidia is the biggest beneficiary, with a significant chunk of this spending funneled toward its chips. The company said that about half of its $41 billion in data center revenue came from large cloud service providers during its fiscal second quarter. Enthusiasm for AI stocks, centered around Nvidia as Wall Street engaged in picks-and-shovels trading, has been the dominating force behind the rally of the S&P 500 Index over the last two years. In an unprecedented deal with U.S. President Donald Trump, Nvidia has agreed to pay the government 15% of some of its revenue in China in exchange for a reversal of restrictions that curbed sales of its H20 chips to China. But Beijing has cautioned domestic companies about imports and sources said that Nvidia has halted production of H20 chips. Nvidia had in May expected the curbs to shave off $8 billion in sales from the July quarter. The company reported revenue of $46.74 billion for the second quarter, beating estimates of $46.06 billion. Arsheeya Bajwa, Max A. Cherney, and Stephen Nellis, Reuters
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E-Commerce
For years, discussion of how AI might replace tasks, the office, and even employees themselves has dominated the cultural zeitgeist. But until now, there hasnt been much overarching data on how AI is actually changing the workforce. On August 26, researchers at Stanford published what theyre calling the largest scale, most real-time effort to calculate that impactand it includes some bad news for Gen Zers. The study was conducted by Erik Brynjolfsson, Bharat Chandar, and Ruyu Chen, all researchers at Stanfords Institute for Human-Centered AI. They used an administrative dataset from ADP, the largest payroll software provider in the U.S., to track monthly payroll records across tens of thousands of firms from late 2022 to July 2025. That data was supplemented by a calculation of occupational AI exposure in a diverse array of fieldsessentially using data from prior studies (see here and here) to categorize how much various professions are being impacted by AI technology. Based on this analysis, the researchers reached six key conclusions on how AI is changing the workforce. Here are the most important findings for employees to understand. Bad news for Gen Zers in AI-exposed fields The study shows that, for some early career professionals, AI may indeed be making it harder to find a jobdespite the fact that, overall, employment continues to grow robustly. Among workers aged 22 to 25, the researchers uncovered a 13% decline in employment in occupations most exposed to AI, like software developers and customer service representatives, even after controlling for firm-level impacts. For example, by July 2025, employment for software developers aged 22 to 25 declined by nearly 20% compared to its peak in late 2022. In an interview with Fast Company, Brynjolfsson clarified that his team cant necessarily draw a hard causal line between companies AI exposure and this decline in employment. However, he says, the pattern did remain consistent even when testing against a range of variables, which suggests a likely connection. We didn’t do an experiment where we gave some companies LLMs and not other companies, so we’re just observing what happened, Brynjolfsson says. But we could rule out some of the main alternative hypotheses. Even if you take out the entire tech industry, for instance, you still see this phenomenon: Its something going on beyond just tech. Or if you take away all remote work and just look at jobs that are not remote, you see the same thing. Good news for older workers While jobs for young workers in AI-exposed fields have been declining, older workers have been largely shielded from those negative impacts. Employment for mid-level and senior employees in AI-exposed fields has actually increased by 6 to 9 percent from 2022 to 2025, consistent with the growth across the job market at large. I think one of the things that the senior people may have had an advantage in is they had a lot of on-the-job learning tips and tricks about how to use AI that aren’t necessarily taught in school, Brynjolfsson says. That was something that gave them a differentiation from what the LLMs were able to do. But for all of themmid-level, senior, juniorI think you have to keep an eye on the rapidly evolving capabilities. This is not the end of AI advances. Good news for everyone in an occupation that doesnt rely on AI (yet) In jobs that are less exposed to the impacts of AI techlike nursing aides, maintenance workers, and taxi driversemployment remained stable or continued to grow. In fact, young workers in these kinds of professions actually saw higher employment growth than their older counterparts. Not all AI use is created equal According to the researchers, not all uses of AI are associated with declines in employment. Employment declined for young workers in occupations that largely rely on AI to automate tasks (i.e. complete them in their entirety), whereas employment actually grew in occupations where AI was primarily augmentative (i.e. helping the user complete a task or learn a new skill). The reality is that there are a lot more benefits in augmenting and allowing people to do new things, Brynjolfsson says. [Automating and augmenting] can be productive, but I think complementing workers, rather than substituting for workers, has been underrated. It was striking to see the data show the same thing.
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E-Commerce
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