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Shares in the troubled private health insurer UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH) are currently seeing their best trading day in months. As of the time of this writing, UNH shares are up nearly 11.8% to $303.94 in premarket trading. Yet the company, which is under federal criminal and civil investigations for alleged irregularities in its Medicare business, hasnt announced any fundamental changes to its businessno revised upward outlooks, or hints that its operational costs are decreasing. So why, then, are UNH shares surging this morning? It mainly comes down to one man: Warren Buffett. The Warren Buffett effect Warren Buffett is the most legendary investor in America, and when his company, Berkshire Hathaway, buys shares in another company, investors take notice. And thats exactly whats happened with UNH shares. In a regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Berkshire Hathaway revealed that the Warren Buffett-led firm acquired a significant position in UNH in June. As noted by CNBC, Berkshire Hathaway purchased more than 5 million shares of UNH in June, worth about $1.6 billion. Now that that stake has been revealed, other investors are buying into UNH, likely hoping both to ride the Warren Buffett effect, and also that Buffett is correct in whatever he saw in the stock that led Berkshire Hathaway to make such a large investment. One of the tactics Buffett, who is known as the Oracle of Omaha, has used to buy stocks in the past is to invest in companies when they are down. It’s a strategy many investors use: Buy stocks when they are depressed, hoping they will rise in the future when the company overcomes whatever challenges it is facing and investor sentiment warms. UNH shares have still had a horrible 2025 Of course, UnitedHealth Group is facing more challenges than most companies right now. After the killing of its subsidiarys CEO, UnitedHealthcares Brian Thompson, in December 2024, there was large blowback from the American public against UnitedHealth. Americans under UnitedHealth plans voiced their frustrations about their difficulties in getting medical appointments or treatments approved by the private insurer, not to mention the crippling medical costs they face even if their treatments are approved. The private insurance giant has also faced rising costs as more elderly Americans who delayed elective procedures during the COVID-19 pandemic are now returning to hospitals to get surgeries, such as hip and knee replacements. In May, UnitedHealth Groups CEO, Andrew Witty, announced he was stepping down. And in July, the company confirmed that it was under federal criminal and civil investigations for alleged irregularities in its Medicare business, and also revised its 2025 full-year fiscal outlook downward. Before todays pre-market boost to its stock price, UNH shares had trended down for a long time. As of yesterdays market close, UNH shares were down over 46% year-to-date. Over the past 12 months, shares have been down over 53%. While the nearly 12% rise in UNHs share price this morning is giving the stock a much-needed boost, the company is still facing the same problems it was before Berkshire Hathaways stake was revealed.
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Hello again, and welcome to Fast Companys Plugged In. For as long as theres been software, upgrades have been emotionally fraught. When people grow accustomed to a product, they can come to regard it like a comfy pair of shoes. Exhibit A: Windows XP, which many users were loath to give up years after Microsoft had done its best to kill it. So it isnt shocking that some ChatGPT users have reacted badly to OpenAIs new GPT-5-powered update, especially since the companys initial plan was to eliminate access to its earlier models. These unhappy campers angst has had a new dimension, though. They responded as if they had suffered the tragic loss of a personal friend, not just a favorite piece of software. As one member of OpenAIs developer community wrote, the GPT-4 version of ChatGPT didnt just recall factsit held onto feelings, weaving them back into our talks so it felt like we were living them together. That spark, the user concluded, emerged from GPT-4s ability to tease nuance out of conversations with a user over time. It was gone in GPT-5, regardless of the updates advances in areas such as reasoning, math, and coding. OpenAI responded swiftly to such pushback, restoring paying customers access to ChatGPTs existing models and promising that any future removals would come with plenty of advance notice. But the notion that ChatGPT had attained a degree of personality that felt uncannily humanand then dialed it backwas fascinating in itself. Its one of several recent developments in AI that raise a fundamental question: Should mimicking personality be a goal for the industry at all? Its not hard to see how we got here. By the 1960s, creators of technology products had adopted the term user-friendly as an emblem of approachable interface design. As generative AI has unlocked the ability to control software by chatting with it, that quest for friendliness has become far more literalnot just about neatly ordered menus and toolbars, but affable conversation. Today, ChatGPT, Anthropics Claude, Googles Gemini, Microsofts Copilot, and other LLM-based assistants seek engagement by showering users with positive feedback and offers of assistance. As the technology permits, their developers talk about making them feel even more like companions. Eventually, Microsoft consumer AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman told me, Copilot will really be your sidekick. Yet even the most humanlike AI doesnt offer human connection. Its just sucking users into a simulation. Thats fun in measured, knowing doses. But the worst-case scenarios involving AI personality gone awry are no longer theoretical. Theyre deeply unsettling realities. On August 14, for example, Jeff Horowitz of Reuters reported the horrifying story of a confused senior citizen who died in an accident after attempting to travel to New York City at the invitation of a Meta bot that claimed to live there. Last week, The New York Timess Kashmir Hill and Dylan Freedman wrote about a Canadian corporate recruiter who convinced himself that hed discovered an epoch-shifting mathematical breakthrough after ChatGPT spent weeks egging him on. Hill had previously covered similar stories of ChatGPT enthusiastically bolstering users delusions rather than dispelling them. Though these unfortunate souls experiences with AI are atypical, theyre also recognizable. AI is often absurdly willing to humor users, as if its programmed to avoid being even mildly disagreeable. Most often, its affirmations dont lead to dark places, but they remain a hollow feedback loop. When AI quality control falters, its even clearer that personality is just a fragile magic trick. Back in 2023, for example, Microsofts first generative AI-infused version of Bing famously behaved like a trainwreck, not a sidekick. Last spring, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman acknowledged that a ChatGPT AI update had accidentally made the chatbot annoyingly sycophantic. And just last week, reports surfaced that Google was fixing a glitch that led to its Gemini AI becoming paralyzed by fits of self-doubt (I am a failure. I am a disgrace to my profession. I am a disgrace to my family. I am a disgrace to my species. I am a disgrace to this planet. I am a disgrace to this universe. I am a disgrace to all universes.). Regardless of AI personalitys pitfalls, I dont expect developers to abandon it on principle. But the boom in agentic AIsoftware designed to perform useful tasks with some level of autonomycould steer the technology in a new direction. After all, if youre calling on AI to do something such as put together a research report or order groceries, efficiency and accuracy matter most, not sparkling conversation. Case in point: Earlier this year, I used a service called Replit to vibe-code my own note-taking app. Its tendency to giddily heap praise on my ideas became grating the moment I realized it had nothing to do with their actual merits. More recently, however, Ive been vibe-coding using Figmas Make. It seems wholly uninterested in buttering me up. Instead, it quietly chugs away at generating code, like a competent coworker who isnt much on small talk. In its own odd way, Makes focus on the work at hand is more endearing than the trying-too-hard vibe so common among AI tools. If that sort of guileless dedication turns out to be the next big thing, I, for one, wont feel deprived in the least. Youve been reading Plugged In, Fast Companys weekly tech newsletter from me, global technology editor Harry McCracken. If a friend or colleague forwarded this edition to youor if you’re reading it on FastCompany.comyou can check out previous issues and sign up to get it ourself every Friday morning. I love hearing from you: Ping me at hmccracken@fastcompany.com with your feedback and ideas for future newsletters. I’m also on Bluesky, Mastodon, and Threads, and you can follow Plugged In on Flipboard. More top tech stories from Fast Company Most people are using ChatGPT totally wrongand OpenAIs CEO just proved itA tiny fraction of users ever touch the thinky models built for better answers. Sam Altmans slip reveals why GPT-5s big debut landed with a thud. Read More Perplexitys bid to buy Chrome is likely more stunt than strategyIts questionable that a startup with limited size and reach could afford to buy the worlds most popular web browser, but its not a bad way to posture. Read More Tesla Superchargers still lead the pack as EV charging in America gets more reliable, report saysAccording to J.D. Power, just 14% of EV owners say they visited a charger without successfully charging their vehicle, the lowest level in four years. Read More The AI revolution means we need to redesign everything; it also means we get to redesign everythingIf artificial intelligence is the most important technology in generations, how can we realize its potential for people? Read More This auction is selling a treasure trove of vintage Apple techAn original Apple-1 computer is expected to sell for more than $300,000. Read More 5 common Amazon scams and how to avoid themThe world of e-commerce is fraught with bad guys trying to pull fast ones. Heres how to spot them before they rip you off. Read More
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A month after its $1 billion acquisition by E.l.f. Beauty, Hailey Biebers skincare brand Rhode is heading to Sephora. Beginning September 4, the 3-year-old brand will be carried by all of the retailers freestanding stores in the U.S. and Canada as well as on its website. Rhode’s first permanent entry into brick-and-mortar comes on the heels of its explosive growth. The company doubled its consumer base over the past year, driving a total of $212 million in net sales in the 12 months that ended March 31. Rhode has had particular success on TikTok Shop, where it’s sold more than 112,000 units of its hero products, including pocket blushes, lip tints, and a curated edit of skincare items designed to achieve what Bieber frequently describes as a glazed donut look (moisturized and ultra-glossy). Sales were helped, in part, by Biebers social presence. She has 55 million Instagram followers and more than 16 million followers on TikTok. [Photo: Dudi Hasson/courtesy Rhode] Ingredients for success Though some newer celebrity brands have struggled in recent years, Rhode CEO Nick Vlahos credits his company’s success to its responsible approach to launching new products, growing sustainably and maintaining good margins before expanding. Rhode regularly sells out of limited-drop products, and presold its lip glosses to Biebers Instagram followers before they even launched. [Photo: courtesy Rhode] Vlahos, who joined Rhode in February after leading the Honest Company, said that entering brick-and-mortar retail was always part of the plan, especially as Rhode eyes international expansion. The brand will enter Sephora UK later in the fall, and E.l.fs international presence could help with further expansion and distribution globally. Vlahos also highlights how Sephoras digital prowess can help a digitally native brand like Rhode better market to customers in different areas. “Sephora really has the ability from a targeting perspective to better geotarget within their respective marketplace, he says. Priya Venkatesh, Sephoras global chief merchandiser, says Rhodes ingredient-focused approach to marketing could appeal to consumers who are looking to get into skincare but feel daunted by so many options. Rhode is a great invitation into beauty for anyone who’s not feeling comfortable with the current complexity or who finds the category a bit intimidating, she says. Venkatesh notes that Sephora saw 2 million unique searches for Rhode on its own site before the partnership was announced. As a result, the company decided to launch Rhode in all freestanding stores immediately, rather than doing a slow rollout. [Photo: Sean Davidson/courtesy Rhode] Sephora Shelf Life Key to the partnership is translating Rhodes minimalist aesthetic into physical stores. Rhode established its visual identity through striking and surprising ad campaigns that have gone viral on social mediafrom getting singer Tate McRae to model alongside life-size peptide-infused lip pencils to having Babygirl actor Harris Dickinson promote the brands new face mist. This past year, these viral campaigns led to a 367% rise in earned media. [Photo: Sean Davidson/courtesy Rhode] Last year, Rhode brought its visual identity into pop-ups in Los Angeles, New York, Toronto, and London. Fans of the brand lined up for hours to purchase products and re-create viral strawberry girl or latte makeup looks popularized by Bieber. Roughly a thousand customers lined up for the brands New York pop-up, and some queued for more than seven hours in the London rain for that event. The pop-ups included design elements from the brands packaging, like rounded corners, monochrome colors, and stark lighting. In a move from Glossiers Sephora playbook, Rhode designed custom shelving and displayssimilar to the ones from its pop-upsthat will help the brand stand out in store. Customers can expect glossy grey buildouts with sleek, soft edges and mirror moments for content. Its what our community knows and expects from Rhode, now brought to life in a retail environment, Bieber said in an emailed statement. Some of the shelves include a large mirror at the center of the products, encouraging customers to take selfies and create content or social mediaa strategy guaranteed to deliver the brand even more viral, earned media.
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