Author: arthursheikin@gmail.com

[ad_1] Luxury American brand Ralph Lauren just rolled out an AI-powered fashion assistant on its US app: Ask Ralph. And yes, it sounds more like you’re texting a buddy than consulting a stylist.Still, that little polo player logo has long been a flex for millennials, myself included — and maybe even some Gen Zers — thanks to its classic, quiet luxury vibe. It’s even killing it with Chinese consumers while other luxury brands struggle, Business Insider reported in November. Ralph Lauren posted a 20% year-over-year increase in sales in China in its fiscal fourth-quarter results released in May.I tried the…

[ad_1] Perplexity, the AI-powered search startup that compete with Google by providing conversational answers to user queries, has secured $200 million in new capital at a $20 billion valuation, The Information reported. The fresh funding comes just two months after the company raised $100 million at an $18 billion valuation, according to Bloomberg’s July report. Since its founding three years ago, the rapidly growing AI company has raised $1.5 billion in total funding, according to PitchBook data.  It’s unclear who led Perplexity’s latest capital injection. Bloomberg reported that the July financing was an extension of a previous $500 million round…

[ad_1] This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Yangyang Guo, 34, a Chinese American now living in China. Her words have been edited for length and clarity.I was born in Beijing and moved to Rhode Island at 8. My twin sister and I didn’t speak English and were two of only three Asian kids at school. Even before I understood the words, I could tell people were making fun of me.At first, our parents didn’t let us speak Chinese at home so that we’d learn English faster. A year later, when I could barely write my own name,…

[ad_1] The city of San Francisco is investigating Scale AI over its labor practices, a Scale AI spokesperson confirmed to Business Insider.Scale AI, which is based in San Francisco, relies heavily on a vast army of people it considers contractors to train tech companies’ latest artificial intelligence models. Meta bought almost half of Scale AI for $14 billion in a blockbuster AI deal this summer.The city’s investigation is being led by its Office of Labor Standards Enforcement (OLSE), which oversees sick leave, minimum wage, overtime pay, and other regulations for San Francisco workers.Scale AI spokesperson Natalia Montalvo told Business Insider…

[ad_1] Cape Cod may be a hotspot for wealthy vacationers, but year-round residents are being squeezed out. Now, the Barnstable County Assembly of Delegates wants to fix the area’s affordable housing crisis via a new tax on the rich.The assembly is considering a 2% real estate transfer fee on luxury home sales exceeding $2 million. The idea is that the tax would create revenue — an estimated $56 million per year — that could go towards affordable, year-round housing in an effort to correct the area’s affordable housing crisis.”Cape Cod is in the midst of a housing crisis that threatens…

[ad_1] There’s been great interest in what Mira Murati’s Thinking Machines Lab is building with its $2 billion in seed funding and the all-star team of former OpenAI researchers who have joined the lab. In a blog post published on Wednesday, Murati’s research lab gave the world its first look into one of its projects: creating AI models with reproducible responses. The research blog post, titled “Defeating Nondeterminism in LLM Inference,” tries to unpack the root cause of what introduces randomness in AI model responses. For example, ask ChatGPT the same question a few times over, and you’re likely to…

[ad_1] Two decades after its founding, Klarna has gone public, and its investors are finally seeing a windfall.The Swedish “buy now, pay later” company listed on the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday. Its stock popped 30% on its debut, jumping above its $40-per-share IPO price to $52 a share.That IPO price gave Klarna a $15.1 billion valuation and netted Klarna $1.37 billion. Per Pitchbook, Klarna had raised $3.85 billion in its history before the public listing.Klarna’s IPO has been a long time coming. Founded in 2005, the consumer payments company first hinted at an IPO in 2019, telling Bloomberg…

[ad_1] Point72 has replaced the head of its quantitative investing unit, tapping a former WorldQuant executive to lead Cubist Systematic Strategies.Denis Dancanet is leaving Cubist, which he joined in 2020, to pursue other opportunities, according to an internal memo from founder Steve Cohen. Geoffrey Lauprete, who worked at WorldQuant for 17 years until 2024, will take over starting next month, according to the memo, which was seen by Business Insider.”Denis expanded Cubist’s global footprint, grew our pod model, and built our central team from the ground up. His leadership and expertise have made a lasting impact on the firm, and…

[ad_1] David Ellison has been on a spending spree since he took over Paramount a few weeks ago: He has shelled out $7 billion for the rights to stream the UFC; struck a deal with the star producers behind “Stranger Things,” and secured the rights to a “Call of Duty” movie.That list doesn’t include the $1.5 billion deal Paramount did with the creators of “South Park,” which was finalized before Ellison took control, but made with his blessing. It also doesn’t include whatever he may or may not be paying to acquire Bari Weiss’ Free Press.The point is: David Ellison…

[ad_1] Investors should not waste any time moving out of excess cash ahead of the anticipated Federal Reserve rate cuts, many on Wall Street are warning. The central bank is expected to start decreasing rates at its meeting next week after being on pause since December. The market is pricing in 90% odds of a 25 basis point, or 0.25 percentage point, cut in September and 10% odds of a 50 basis point decrease, according to the CME Group’s FedWatch tool . Yields on cash instruments, like money market funds, high-yield savings and certificates of deposit will soon follow. The…