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[ad_1] Walking through the dusty town of Waimea on the west side of the Hawaiian Island of Kauai, you might notice an older man in a green hard hat, eating a block of American cheese at a table outside of a Subway.His boots are caked in red clay from the mountains, where he’s spent most of the day working. If you strike up a conversation with him, he might mention his various battles with government environmentalists — whom he calls “eco-Nazis” or the “green Gestapo” — and their efforts to seize his private island. Or he might tell you about…

[ad_1] London-based Artificial Societies, which was part of Y Combinator’s Winter 2025 batch, has secured $5.35 million in seed funding.The startup, which launched in 2024, has developed a platform that generates AI personas that help companies test how their product, marketing, branding, and other content might be perceived. “We primarily use AI agents that chat with each other, mimicking how real humans influence each other,” cofounder and CEO James He told Business Insider. “We try to capture that artificial society, and how it will respond to any input. It can be a marketing message or a product proposition, and we…

[ad_1] One exec is comparing the business model of companies like OpenAI and Meta AI to Marvel Studios.On an episode of the “a16z Podcast” published on Tuesday, Scale AI’s head of product for enterprise applications, Ben Scharfstein, said his most controversial opinion on AI is that AI foundational companies are more like content studios than software companies.”My hottest take is I think the right way to think about foundation labs is that they’re like movie studios,” he said. “What I mean by that is they invest a ton of money in blockbusters that have a relatively short time span to…

[ad_1] A four-month “ninja stealth rally” has driven Tokyo’s equity market to record highs, as global investment funds diversify away from China and the US and bet that a decade of structural change has transformed Japan’s corporate boardrooms.The rally, which began shortly after the panic set off by President Donald Trump’s “liberation day” tariff announcements in early April and which has been supported by a US-Japan trade deal, pushed the benchmark Topix above 3,000 for the first time in August.Although the Topix has retreated about 1 per cent this week, it is still up more than 34 per cent since…

[ad_1] Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.The writer is Sarofim-Rock professor of business administration at Harvard Business School and a research partner at a16z cryptoWith the US government finally recognising the benefits of blockchain technology, the question now is how best to harness it. Some may push for a regulatory free-for-all, but that would be a mistake. History — and economic theory — shows that thriving markets require clear, consistent rules. Crypto is no exception.Resistance to centralised authority is baked into crypto’s DNA. Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous…

[ad_1] Assort Health, a startup that uses AI to automate patient communication for specialty healthcare practices, has raised about $50 million in a Series B round at a valuation of $750 million, according to three sources familiar with the deal. The latest round, which comes just four months after the company raised its $22 million Series A, was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, these people said. The company’s AI voice agents are designed to take over high-volume, repetitive tasks like scheduling, cancellations, and frequently asked questions normally managed by front desk staff, allowing human staff to focus on more complex…

[ad_1] Meta’s high-stakes bet on “superintelligence” is showing early cracks.At least eight employees, including researchers, engineers, and a senior product leader, have left the company less than two months after CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced a brand new division called Meta Superintelligence Labs (MSL) aimed at bringing “personal superintelligence” to everyone.The departing employees are mostly veterans who helped build some of Meta’s core AI infrastructure, along with some newer hires lured by Zuckerberg’s pitch to join MSL.”Some attrition is normal for any organization of this size. Most of these employees had been with the company for years, and we wish them…

[ad_1] Cracker Barrel is bringing back the “old timer” logo after a week of criticism, including from President Donald Trump.”We thank our guests for sharing your voices and love for Cracker Barrel. We said we would listen, and we have. Our new logo is going away and our ‘Old Timer’ will remain,” the restaurant told Business Insider in a statement, which it also published in a post on X.The statement continued: “At Cracker Barrel, it’s always been — and always will be — about serving up delicious food, warm welcomes, and the kind of country hospitality that feels like family.…

[ad_1] Protesters stormed Microsoft’s Redmond headquarters on Monday and made it into president Brad Smith’s office in Building 34, forcing a temporary lockdown. The “No Azure for Apartheid” group reportedly livestreamed their sit-in on Twitch, hoisting banners, chanting ‘Brad Smith, you can’t hide, you’re supporting genocide!’ and posting a mock legal summons charging Smith with “crimes against humanity.” TechCrunch has reached out to Microsoft for more information. According to The Verge, the protest included both active Microsoft workers and former employees who’ve been fired for previous activism. Monday’s escalation follows months of protests over Microsoft’s cloud contracts with Israel, including…

[ad_1] Verily, Alphabet’s life sciences company, has cut staff and closed down its long-running devices program, Business Insider has learned.The cuts were announced internally on Monday, according to a memo sent to staff by CEO Stephen Gillett and obtained by Business Insider.Verily, which began life as a moonshot inside Google’s X lab, has been on a journey to cut costs and streamline projects. The group has refocused its strategy around AI and developing infrastructure for other companies to lean on, Business Insider previously reported.Gillett told staff that a “significant part” of the changes were due to a decision to wind…