For the uninitiated, Vic Mensa is a rapper-turned-activist known lately for his stream of consciousness video monologues dubbed the “Orange Tree” series. In the videos, Mensa muses over modern historical political issues plaguing the American public as well as his personal life, delivered in a way that makes viewers feel as though he is speaking directly to them.

While earnest and measured, he does not shy away from sharing personal opinions and refuses to self-censor, all the while peeling an orange plucked from his backyard orange tree. 

Video topics run the gamut—the ramifications of slavery, Palestine, fatherhood, the World Cup—and have racked up millions of views. They’ve also cost Mensa opportunities, he says, because of “speaking his mind and talking to people in a genuine way.”

After winning the attention of social media, Mensa went on to win a Webby Award in the People’s Voice category.

To understand why Mensa’s videos gained significant traction at a time when the internet is oversaturated with content, one must understand today’s political climate and its intersection with the chronically online.

He addresses an American public disillusioned by the government and traditional media, exhausted by AI proponents refusing to reckon with its harms, and worn down by climate disaster, layoffs, and war after war—while quite literally watching the fabric of society come apart.

In posting these videos, Mensa joins the ranks of other celebrities who have dedicated their platforms to social justice awareness, such as children’s YouTube educator Ms. Rachel, actress Hannah Einbeinder, and actor-director Mark Ruffalo. 

When asked about how he builds trust with his audience, Mensa points to an inclination to be vulnerable and honest, especially about his own experiences. 

“I just try to be a man of integrity,” he tells Fast Company. “There are certain things that will come to me—endorsements and advertisers—that are just antithetical to what I believe . . . and I don’t take the money. I’m sure I would damage trust if I took the money, but I also would lack integrity.”

Mensa’s unfiltered coverage and nuanced takes eventually led to the recent launch of The Vic Mensa Show, a planned continuation of raw, authentic conversations, but this time featuring guests.

It is a video podcast “where artists, thinkers and cultural figures talk about what freedom actually costs,” according to his website.  

Mensa recently stopped by Fast Company’s office in New York City to unpack the journey behind the viral series, the newly launched show, and his creative process. 

This interview has been edited and condensed for brevity. 

On creating the “Orange Tree” series

I have an orange tree in my backyard and [it] became an exercise in writing, communication, comedy, political, historical research, and cinematography. 

It’s definitely a passion project. . . . Something I have learned from that is, sometimes the painting that the artist creates for love of his work is the greatest one.

[There are times in] this life when you do things without knowing where it may lead and without necessarily even a commercial viability, but just to express yourself and out of inspiration with a pure inspiration—that you may stumble on something great. 

On figuring out where to start

To begin unprepared is better than to have never started at all. And it’s okay to learn on the job when you’re working for yourself. 

First, I was doing these videos just in my car on an iPhone. . . . I was like, man, this shit looks like ass. It doesn’t fulfill me creatively. Ideologically, as a voice, it’s fulfilling me, but the visual is fucked. So I got the camera . . . this is still ass. Still not good. So I bought some lights . . . maybe a little bit better, but still kind of whack. 

In the process of disliking the visual product that I was creating, I was pushed to keep trying to change something. Okay, switch from [Adobe] Premiere to [Blackmagic Design] DaVinci. Learn color science to a degree. Learn how to build a node tree. Exposure, saturation, custom curves, qualifiers, all the shit. 

Eventually, I figured out to use the sun as a backlight, and I kind of peeped what a key light was, and have some darkness and learn some shadows and see that the dark parts of the image give it depth and give it humanity and reality. 

I did so much that I thought was whack, didn’t meet my personal creative standard . . . but learning on the job, I’ve gotten a lot better in a year’s time. 

On the creative process behind episodes

I do write them. Sometimes it’s like a journal entry. One time I was talking to my therapist and I was telling her what I had started to understand about lighting—that having shadows on my face, having parts of me that are underexposed and maybe completely dark actually was progressing my image.

And that it felt like a metaphor for life . . . when you can properly utilize moments of darkness interplayed with enlightenment, you get a full picture of a person. She was, like, “That’s a good one.” And I was, like, “I should go do an Orange Tree about that.” 

Sometimes I write them while I’m pushing the baby around in a stroller. That’s a good time to write. Driving is a good time to write. 

The way I look at turning something that is a larger idea into a small digestible format is most often I write a joke. I identify a premise and perhaps a perspective, maybe a contradiction, and I look for a joke. . . . A lot of this shit is actually too ridiculous to put on the internet even. Sometimes it’s too much. I’m already a lot. 

On keeping it real

I just started filming these things because these are conversations that I have in real life. This is just my personality . . . the most heinous, dark, heavy thing, I usually can find some kind of joke in it.

I think that’s how we are as human beings, but especially as Black people. We experience so much trauma—if we didn’t laugh about this shit. . . . I talk to guys in prison all the time that are in the most torturous of circumstances, but we laugh about it still. 

On the launch of The Vic Mensa Show

This is an expansion of “The Orange Tree” series into an unscripted conversational format. I have conversations with artists and academics and mental health professionals and my loved ones, expounding upon the same type of topics that I speak about at the orange tree. 

On the logo

“I referenced a book called The Spook Who Sat by the Door—a seminal Black novel by Sam Greenlee, where he writes a story about a brother who basically infiltrated the FBI to take what he learned there to organize gang members in Chicago to overthrow the U.S. government.

It’s like my North Star . . . probably my favorite book. I found a really ill vintage pressing of the book. And I took the typeface and then put my show name in that typeface. 

As a hip-hop artist, just making music, you are introduced to so many different mediums. You do things like this, so you come in contact with traditional media, but you also have a logo, so you learn about typeface and design.

You do music videos, so you learn about filmmaking. You put the shit out, so you learn about marketing. Really all those skills have helped me to launch this show.

Business Insider reported last month that Oracle was looking to reduce payroll after borrowing billions to build data centers and buy chips.

Fast Company has reached out to Oracle for comment.

The database pioneer has bet big on AI, saying it anticipates an eye-popping $90 billion to $95 billion in capital expenditures this year. However, despite strong revenue growth, it has accumulated $125 billion in debt to fund the expansion and has a lower credit rating than its hyperscaler competitors, according to CNBC.

To shore up its financial position, Oracle has been cutting workers: Its global head count fell by about 21,000 employees, or 13% of its workforce, during the fiscal year that ended on May 31. 

Since then, it has revised the cost of its “2026 Restructuring Plan” upward by $700 million to $2.8 billion, largely to account for severance packages. 

These cuts reflect a new way AI has disrupted the labor market, particularly in the tech sector. Along with threatening to replace human labor, AI is leading some companies to free up cash for AI investments by cutting payroll. 

In March, for example, global software firm Altassian announced roughly 1,600 layoffs, or 10% of its workforce, in a move that chief executive Mike Cannon-Brookes said was necessary to “self-fund further investment in AI and enterprise sales.”

Software company Autodesk also cut about 1,000 jobs, or 7% of its workforce, in January. While the CEO Andrew Anagnost said the primary reason was a go-to-market restructuring, he also said Autodesk was making targeted adjustments while “reinvesting in and scaling” AI, platform, and industry cloud capabilities.

The trade-off between investing in AI and investing in workers is becoming increasingly visible to employees themselves, particularly as companies announce layoffs alongside massive spending commitments.

“Today I learned that many former colleagues at my previous employer (Oracle) were part of another round of massive layoffs,” one former Oracle engineer posted on LinkedIn today. “The battle to build AI centers has lots of casualties.”

In a minute-long video, the Euphoria actress promoted the prediction market platform ahead of football season, cutting between shots of her almost entirely nude alongside sport-themed props, as she explains how Novig is distinct from other prediction markets like Polymarket or Kalshi.

“No betting on wars or deaths, and no politics. Just you and your take on sports,” Sweeney says.

(A Kalshi reprehensive reached out after the publication of this story to note that the platform prohibits markets on war and death.) 

In some scenes, Sweeney wore only sports gear and underwear, while in others, she used objects like a basketball hoop or footballs to cover her body, repeatedly saying “sports.”

The same day of the release, on September 9, Novig also announced that Sweeney’s involvement was more than just part of the marketing campaign. The actress is joining the platform as a strategic partner and equity holder.

“Pissed off about this ad”

Unsurprisingly, the video quickly went viral on social media platforms like X, Threads, Instagram, and TikTok.

But beyond reaching its target demographic—a male audience looking to bet on sports—the video also reached the feeds of female athletes who are cliticizing the video’s role in sexualizing women in sports.

“It is that deep. If you don’t understand why a woman in sports is pissed off about this ad . . . that tells me you never felt like you were out of place or like you didn’t belong in a sports environment,” Canadian alpine skier Cassidy Gray said on TikTok.

Other women athletes chose to voice their concerns through TikTok video edits, as did Paralympian long jump athlete Beatriz Haz, who shared a highlights reel with a headline that read “Instead of watching Sydney Sweeney’s ad let’s watch actual women in sports.”

Haz’s caption on TikTok read, “she’s setting women back so much. Women in sports do not need to be sexualized. We deserve to compete at the peak of our ability and be seen as athletes.”

Many others, whether professional athletes or not, have followed the similar format as a form of protest against Sweeney’s work, posting compilations of women in sports to the tune of Dua Lipa’s Training Season, and Sade’s Pearl.

Defenders of the ad point out that the video itself is promoting a predictions market platform, and is in no way related to women in sports, claiming the backlash is somewhat unfounded.

As one user said on X: “Everyone’s mad about Sydney Sweeney not representing women’s sports well but that entire ad was specifically for men with gambling problems and had nothing to do with women’s sports lol.”

But for critics, the creative direction of the ad—featuring Sweeney in compromising positions alongside sports attire—is feeding into the sexualization of women in sports, which athletes have long pushed back on.

“The ad just ruins everyone’s perception on women’s ability to be athletes. Yes It’s for a sports gambling app but she’s setting woman back and keeping us from being taken seriously as athletes,” Haz said in the comment section of her video.

We’ve reached out to Novig for comment.

“Exactly what they want”

The Novig video is not the first marketing campaign from Sweeney to receive backlash from the public. Last year, Sweeney received criticism for an American Eagle ad that featured a play on words between “jeans” and “genes,” which critics said was alluding to eugenics.

But Sweeney’s most recent controversial ad also raises questions around the rising popularity (and normalization) of sports betting in the U.S., particularly thanks to platforms like Kalsi, Polymarket, and Novig.

One user said on X,”I feel like the backlash . . . is giving that company exactly what they want. the discourse is now about women being sexualized and objectified in sports, instead of a conversation about how damaging sports betting is.”

Another added, “Selling gambling by selling sex. Society is crumbling before our eyes.

Officials from the Kennedy Center are warning that the national performing arts venue is facing “certain fiscal collapse” and could close as soon as Tuesday, according to documents first obtained by The Washington Post. The center’s board of trustees, which is chaired by President Trump and includes many of his close allies, argues that paying tribute to him may be the only way for the center to avoid bankruptcy.

The documents detail 10 different options for how Trump’s name could be added to the building’s facade again. For roughly six months, from December until June, Trump’s name appeared first on the building until a federal judge ruled earlier this year that only Congress could rename the center and ordered the newly added lettering to be removed. 

Trump’s monomania about his name appearing on the building in some fashion has been a recurring theme of his second term—and his offer to “step in and raise the necessary funds” to save the center is seemingly contingent on getting credit for his involvement, as The New York Times reported.

“The board understands that without such appropriate recognition, it is unlikely that President Trump will provide the fundamental oversight of the renovation of the main building and lead the fiscal rescue of the center,” according to a draft resolution obtained by the Times.

A spokesperson for the Kennedy Center didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from Fast Company.

KENNEDY CENTER IN CRISIS

Though there are some free events scheduled at the Kennedy Center this week, The Washington Post reported that it could close as soon as Tuesday. That’s because officials are recommending that the board immediately shutter the center’s main building, warning of safety dangers after a severe storm reportedly caused damage earlier this month. 

That the Kennedy Center, which opened on September 8, 1971, is now on the brink of bankruptcy and imminent closure is but the latest dire warning about its future. The Trump administration threatened last month that the center could face demolition unless a $250 million renovation project is carried out. And the center was reportedly already facing a projected $23 million deficit for 2026 before the latest documents indicated it is at risk of being unable to meet its upcoming payroll obligations.

Of course, there are also political undertones to the drama that’s embroiled the Kennedy Center in recent months, leading to declining ticket sales and a long list of canceled performances. Much of that stems from the Trump-installed board of trustees, which voted unanimously in December 2025 to have the president’s name added to the center’s official name.

That decision kicked off a legal firestorm that has yet to cool.

Rep. Joyce Beatty, a Democrat from Ohio and former Kennedy Center trustee, filed a lawsuit shortly thereafter to keep Trump’s name off the building. In May, Judge Christopher R. Cooper ruled that Trump’s name must be removed from the building—a decision that the Trump administration is currently appealing.

Beatty’s lawyers, Norm Eisen and Nathaniel Zelinsky, said that Trump is effectively holding the Kennedy Center hostage and threatening to kill it unless he gets his way. “This constant effort to add Donald Trump’s name to the Kennedy Center facade is the definition of insanity,” they said in a statement to The Washington Post.

But Paolo Zampolli, a Kennedy Center board member and longtime Trump ally, told The New York Times that including the president’s name on the building is critical to its financial future. “Trump attracts money,” he told the outlet. “When Trump says donate to this place, everyone will.”

REENVISIONING D.C.

Despite an ongoing war in Iran and an affordability crisis at home, the president has been relentless about pursuing a variety of projects to reenvision the nation’s capitol—and that includes his planned renovations of the Kennedy Center, which potentially include new marble armrests.

Now, things seem to be playing out with the Kennedy Center just as Trump forewarned in May.

Following Judge Cooper’s decision that temporarily blocked the center from closing for renovations, the president went on Truth Social to blame the judge’s “total conflict of interest” for “why the Kennedy Center will soon be closed, probably never to open again.”

Though he has not publicly commented on the latest developments with the Kennedy Center, Trump on Sunday shared renderings of the White House ballroom that he continues to claim won’t be taxpayer-funded despite reports to the contrary. He also shared photos of the White House, calling it a “dump!” and claiming that “more time without renovation” would have destroyed the building.

Shares of the two companies jumped double digits at the time of this writing Monday afternoon: CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq: CRWD) was up 15%, while Palo Alto Networks Inc. (Nasdaq: PANW) was up 13%.

Both make products designed to detect, investigate, and neutralize modern cyber threats through endpoint protection, a method used to protect devices such as desktops, laptops, smartphones, tablets, and servers from cybersecurity threats.

The surge comes amid fresh warnings about the security risks associated with AI after a massive AI breach in which autonomous OpenAI models went rogue, coordinating a multiday hack of Hugging Face on a shared unsanctioned “message board,” as Fast Company previously reported.

Over the weekend, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei called for a slowdown on AI development, saying, “We must pace the frontier . . . progress will still seem fast, and we must make wise use of the time we gain.”

“The frontier will move at whatever speed it moves,” CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz clapped back in a post on X. “The rest of the world will not slow down . . . our job in the cybersecurity community is to make sure it moves securely and safely.” Kurtz argued that securing AI is more important than slowing it down.

The debate follows Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates’s own warning—a 6,000-word essay outlining the harms of artificial intelligence, which he said carries the risk of mass unemployment and major social, political, and economic upheaval across the globe.

“We can’t trust the AI industry to regulate itself,” Evan Greer, director of Fight for the Future, a nonprofit digital rights advocacy group, tells Fast Company. “We can’t really trust anything these self-interested billionaires say. But we should take them seriously that the technology they are building is dangerous. And we should act urgently to demand strict regulation that protects people and holds AI companies accountable for the harm they’ve already done, while also preventing future harm.” 

CrowdStrike is expected to report its third-quarter earnings for fiscal 2027 at the beginning of December.

Of those 6,650 locations, 5,518 are franchised and 1,132 are company-owned. Let’s take a closer look at where Burger King opened and closed locations last year.

Burger King opened locations in these states

The burger chain opened 87 new U.S. locations in 2025, including 83 that are franchised and four that are company-owned.

However, 48 of those franchised locations were existing company-owned restaurants sold back to new franchise operators, not new store builds. That means Burger King opened 39 new restaurants in 2025.

Here’s how many franchised stores opened in 2025, including transfers, by state:

• Arizona: 2
• Arkansas: 1
• California: 3
• Florida: 34
• Georgia: 3
• Idaho: 2
• Illinois: 1
• Indiana: 3
• Kentucky: 2
• Maryland: 4
• Michigan: 5
• Nevada: 1
• New Jersey: 1
• New York: 8
• Oklahoma: 2
• Pennsylvania: 4
• Texas: 4
• Utah: 2
• Virginia: 1

Burger King opened four new company-owned stores across the following two states:

• Michigan: 3
• New York: 1

Burger King closed locations in these states

Burger King closed 103 locations in 2025, including 89 franchised and 14 company-owned restaurants.

However, 13 of those franchised locations were reacquired by the franchisor. That means Burger King closed 76 franchised and 14 company-owned locations, for a total of 90 stores. 

Here’s how many franchised stores closed in 2025, including the 14 that Burger King reacquired: 

• Alabama: 1
• Arizona: 2
• Arkansas: 3
• California: 6
• Colorado: 1
• Connecticut: 1
• Florida: 18
• Georgia: 2
• Hawaii: 1
• Illinois: 2
• Kansas: 1
• Kentucky: 1
• Louisiana: 2
• Maryland: 2
• Massachusetts: 2
• Michigan: 9
• Missouri: 1
• Nebraska: 1
• New Hampshire: 1
• New Jersey: 5
• New York: 3
• North Carolina: 2
• Ohio: 2
• Oregon: 1
• Pennsylvania: 2
• South Carolina: 2
• Tennessee: 1
• Texas: 9
• Utah: 1
• Washington: 1
• West Virginia: 1
• Wisconsin: 2

Burger King closed 14 company-owned locations across seven states:

• Florida: 6
• Indiana: 1
• Kentucky: 1
• New York: 2
• Tennessee: 2
• Virginia: 1
• Wyoming: 1

What’s behind the numbers?

The Miami-based fast-food company underwent significant restructuring in 2025.

In May 2024, Burger King’s parent company, Restaurant Brands International (RBI), acquired Carrols Restaurant Group, its largest franchisee. As part of that acquisition, Burger King converted 1,023 franchise locations to company-owned stores in a single deal.  

Burger King started 2025 with 1,177 company-owned locations, up from only 138 at the start of 2024. The majority of that increase is the result of the Carrols acquisition.

Throughout 2025, Burger King restructured that portfolio, opening four new locations, closing 14 stores, acquiring 13 from franchise operators, and selling 48 back to new franchise operators.

The disclosure document was issued in March and amended this month.

Burger King sales have been on the rise

According to RBI’s most recent earnings report, Burger King’s U.S. same-store sales increased 8.5% in Q2 of 2026. 

In late February 2026, Burger King announced a refreshed version of its signature Whopper. The elevated Whopper features a sturdier bun, a revamped mayonnaise, and new packaging. It now comes in a cardboard box instead of being wrapped in paper.

Burger King recently surpassed Wendy’s to become the second-largest burger chain in the U.S. by systemwide sales. McDonald’s remains in the No. 1 spot.

What’s next for the burger chain?

The franchise disclosure document outlines projected openings for 2026. Burger King projects that it will open 40 new U.S. locations. This includes 39 franchise locations, 10 of which are expected to open in Texas. It expects to open one company-owned store.

Fast Company reached out to RBI for information on store closures so far in 2026. We’ll update the story if we receive a reply.

Burger King’s restaurant footprint has been growing internationally. At the end of last year, RBI reported 19,900 global locations, compared with 19,732 locations the year before.

Among Coxon’s claims, his statement that “the people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade” stood out the most, with other AI workers chiming in to say that, yes, the potential extinction of humanity is a common topic behind the scenes in the AI industry.

Now, OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Anthropic’s Dario Amodei—two of the biggest players in AI (and Coxon’s former bosses)—have weighed in on the discourse. The two tech CEOs have butted heads in the past, but on this, they agree: AI development needs to slow down, or a techno-apocalypse is a very real possibility.

Altman’s 2 paths to doomsday

Altman addressed the discourse with two posts on social media. In the first, he explained that although OpenAI has long been focused on the safe deployment of its AI models, it’s now treating development and evaluation with the same level of care. That includes slowing down the pace of overall development—though “pacing,” he emphasized, is not the same thing as “stopping.”

“Progress has been rapid and will continue to be. But it should be slower than it otherwise could be; interventions like safety cases and monitoring have significant costs,” Altman wrote. “Pacing will be well worth this cost; no amount of American competitive pressure should justify recklessness, or let capabilities get ahead of alignment and monitoring.”

In a follow-up post, Altman more directly spoke to the idea of an AI-based doomsday, saying he believes “there are two ways AI progress could go very badly and that we must avoid.”

First, Altman warned that “we could lose control of the future to AI,” an outcome he deemed “unacceptable.”

“We are unapologetically on Team Humanity, and AI must always serve people,” he wrote. “To ensure that, we need ways to ensure that alignment and safety techniques stay ahead of progress in model capabilities.”

Second, Altman acknowledged the danger of an AI monopoly. “If an extraordinarily powerful AI is used by one person or company to impress their worldview onto everyone else, the results could be extremely dystopian,” he explained.

To avoid either scenario, Altman concluded, AI companies and governments must “[walk] a narrow middle path” where no single country or lab exerts too much control over the future of the technology.

Amodei’s race to the top

Where Altman took to social media to express his AI anxieties, Amodei posted an essay to his website titled, “We Must Pace the Frontier.”

Like Altman, Amodei advocated for slowing the pace of AI development without halting it altogether. “Not building the technology deprives humanity of benefits or simply places AI in the hands of authoritarian powers, while building it too fast is reckless,” he wrote. “We have sought a middle way: to show that it’s possible to build carefully and succeed commercially, and to make safety something on which AI companies compete. In other words, to create a race to the top.”

The Anthropic CEO highlighted two main concerns about the speed of AI development, including AI’s growing ability to develop new AI models on its own, also known as recursive self-improvement. Amodei also pointed to the OpenAI-Hugging Face incident as a small-scale example of how AI could potentially take over the entire internet and wreak havoc. “A swarm that possessed greater capabilities but a similar level of misalignment could have caused catastrophic damage,” he wrote.

To avoid those outcomes, Amodei went on to propose a three-step plan to “pace the frontier,” which he defines as “building AI at a balanced rate that aims to ensure its safety while still achieving its benefits and grappling with important geopolitical dilemmas.”

Amodei’s first step is embedding evaluators, or giving third-party experts access to frontier AI companies’ development processes to ensure accountability. His second step is democratic coordination, or collaboration between AI companies in democratic countries to create common safety standards. His third step is global coordination, through which the U.S. government and other democratic governments would work to impose safety standards for AI development on authoritarian governments (though Amodei acknowledged this step had significantly more roadblocks than the other two).

“The measures I propose to advance the frontier at a safe pace will not be easy,” Amodei concluded. “But I believe we owe it to humanity to try.”

Crypto bill’s fate hangs on Trump-focused ethics fight

The president has amassed significant amounts of crypto wealth while in office, complicating dynamics for senators drafting legislation to try to bring the fledgling digital assets industry into the mainstream.

With that in mind, Lummis and Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, went to the White House for a meeting in mid-July and told Trump that he would have to abide by conflict-of-interest restrictions to get key Democrats on board with the bill.

The president agreed — with surprisingly little pushback, according to two people with knowledge of the Oval Office discussion, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the private talks.

The language presented in that meeting by Lummis, a longtime crypto backer steeped in the intricacies of digital asset policy, and Moreno, a blockchain entrepreneur and luxury car dealer known for his persuasive sales pitch, would bar all federally elected officials and their spouses, as well as federal judges, from issuing digital assets. That would mean Trump would no longer be able to sponsor the type of meme coin he launched on the cusp of his second inauguration last January, nor would his wife, first lady Melania Trump, who also has a token.

But Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., and Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., then presented an additional proposal to the White House that went further. It would require the president to put his crypto holdings in a blind trust, and divest when those holdings reach a certain value, according to two other people with direct knowledge of the language. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private negotiations.

It would also allow state attorneys general to step in and enforce the law in addition to the Justice Department — a critical provision for Democrats who say they would not be able to trust a Trump-appointed attorney general to enforce any conflict-of-interest provision against the president.

That proposal could, in theory, force Trump to divest from ventures such as World Liberty Financial, the cryptocurrency venture that his sons launched in 2024. Trump reported more than $500 million in revenue from World Liberty Financial sales of crypto products, including “governance tokens,” in his annual disclosure report filed with the Office of Government Ethics — a significant share of the more than $1.4 billion that the president reported from crypto businesses last year.

White House warms to Democrats’ ethics idea after initial skepticism

In private, White House officials had raised concerns about giving state attorneys general the power to enforce the law, arguing that Democratic state lawyers could use it as a political weapon against the president and other GOP officials — and that it could be used by Republican attorneys general against elected Democrats, according to the two people familiar with the July Oval Office discussion.

Still, Trump agreed to language that includes a “meaningful role” for state attorneys general to play in enforcing the crypto measure should it become law, according to a Sunday night statement from Lummis and Sens. John Boozman, R-Ark., and Tim Scott, R-S.C., the bill’s main authors.

A senior GOP aide, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity, said the president had agreed to “about 80%” of the proposal from Tillis and Gallego, pointing mainly to the state attorneys general provision. An updated version of the bill released Sunday also includes a requirement to either divest or place in a blind trust any “significant” financial interest in an entity that issues cryptocurrencies.

Gallego and Tillis, the senators who had pushed for additional measures, did not immediately comment on the development late Sunday.

Trump also agreed to language that would allow state attorneys general to sue a crypto exchange if they list a digital asset that would be barred in the overall bill, according to the aide. Trump had been persuaded in part after a slew of conversations about the importance of passing the crypto measure, including with industry officials, the aide said.

For Democrats, an enforcement mechanism involving state attorneys general had been a red line.

“We need the state attorneys general to also have the power to prosecute if the Department of Justice refuses to,” said Maryland Sen. Angela Alsobrooks, among the Democrats seen as vital swing votes on Tuesday. “I have been very clear about the fact that I will not vote for any legislation that does not cover ethics,” she said.

Presidents aren’t always covered by federal ethics laws

Presidents have often been exempt from federal conflict-of-interest laws, though some other modern presidents voluntarily put assets in blind trusts. While Cabinet officials subject to the laws can recuse themselves or divest holdings to address specific issues under their jurisdiction, it was seen as much more difficult for presidents who oversee the entire government to do the same.

A measure enacted into law last year regulating stablecoins, a type of cryptocurrency, barred members of Congress and their families from profiting off them, but it did not extend to Trump or his family.

“It is true that conflict-of-interest provisions do not commonly apply to the president because of their whole-of-government responsibilities,” said Lisa Gilbert, co-president of the government watchdog group Public Citizen. “That said, we have seen such unprecedented corruption and conflict of interest from this administration and Trump in particular, that we need a different rubric.”

The White House has maintained that the president stays out of family business decisions administered by his sons.

Trump is a relatively recent convert to crypto

In his first term, the president said that he was “not a fan” of cryptocurrency, saying it was “highly volatile and based on thin air.”

But Trump has since become a convert, persuaded by his sons’ interest in the business — and by its appeal to Black voters and younger voters, who could play a crucial role in close campaigns.

Crypto has served as more than just a political boon for Trump. The $1.2 billion in Trump’s crypto revenues also included more than $600 million from sales of souvenir-type “meme” coins stamped with his face through the crypto business CIC Digital LLC.

Last May, the president hosted top investors in his $TRUMP meme coin for a dinner at his northern Virginia golf club, an example of how Trump was mixing his presidential duties with his business ventures despite the White House saying Trump attended the event “in his personal time.”

Associated Press writer Steven Sloan contributed to this report.

—Seung Min Kim, Associated Press

The week between September 27 and October 3 historically blesses buyers with lower prices, less competition, a buyer-friendly balance in inventory, and a slower pace, according to the latest report from Realtor.com. That week and the handful that follow it are the best time of the year to buy, offering a unique mix of perks that can make life easier for anyone home hunting.

“Home shoppers heading into fall will find an opportunity that has been hard to come by in recent years: more choices and less urgency,” Realtor.com Senior Economist Hannah Jones said, observing that the sweet spot window for home shopping is arriving a bit early this year. 

“The week of September 27–October 3 brings together the market conditions buyers value most—elevated inventory, less competition and prices that have eased from their seasonal high—giving prepared buyers more room to compare homes and negotiate with confidence.”

The best home buying week of 2026 is expected to pack 13% more active listings than usual, a glut of available homes that pairs nicely with 32% less demand compared to the year’s peak. Homes move slower during this phase too, sitting on the market about 13 days longer than they do during the annual peak of pace for home sales. 

Realtor.com estimates that list prices will dip 3.5% from their seasonal highs, which could give buyers a break of as much as $14,000 on a median home priced around $416,000. Homes also see more price drops during the so-called “best week,” which is among the top weeks of the year for seller price reductions. With 20% more inventory to choose from compared to the sluggish early months of the year, buyers face a wider array of options to suit their needs and preferences.

“Buyers should use this window strategically rather than treating one week as a deadline,” Jones said. “Shopping earlier in the fall may provide the broadest selection of fresh listings, while waiting later in the season may bring additional price flexibility.”

Climate shifts the best week to buy

The best week to buy is a nationwide phenomenon, but like all real estate trends, it comes with some local variability. Out of the top 50 biggest U.S. cities, 13 will experience the favorable buying conditions during the week of September 27. This year, that’s the case for Atlanta, Austin, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, and Riverside. 

“The right choice depends on a buyer’s budget, timeline and local market, but preparation—including understanding a realistic monthly payment and getting pre-approved—will be especially valuable this fall,” Jones said.

The best buying week of the year shifts a bit based on climate. In markets with a serious winter like New York and Milwaukee, the best week lands in early September. In hot cities like Miami and Tampa, the favorable conditions arrive much later than average in late November. 

It’s important to understand your local market when shopping for a home, but 42 out of the 50 biggest U.S. cities will experience the buyer-friendly week of conditions within a month of the national average best week in late September and early October—two months that historically offer buyers a break.

Interest in texture goes back centuries and extends beyond food

Texture is so integral to the act of eating that people often describe how a food feels when they’re asked how it tastes, said Patrick Kalotis, the executive vice president of texture and healthful solutions at Ingredion, an Illinois-based ingredient provider.

“You know, ‘This drink is fizzy’ or ‘I love the creaminess of the yogurt,'” Kalotis said. “They think they’re talking about taste, and of course the texture helps propagate the taste, but they’re actually describing texture.”

Food makers have long played with consistency. Pillowy Japanese mochi and stretchy Turkish ice cream date back centuries. Bubble tea, with its chewy tapioca boba pearls, was invented in Taiwan in the 1980s. In the 1990s, high-end European restaurants whipped up culinary foams flavored with things like truffle oil or lobster broth.

But interest in texture has exploded in recent years, said Jenny Zegler, the principal strategist for food and drink at market research company Mintel. It’s reflected in toys like squishy NeeDoh cubes and beauty products like jelly cleansers. With food, qualities like chewy, soft, gooey and melt-in-the-mouth are seeing fast-rising demand in online product searches, according to Mintel data.

Zegler thinks the craze around the Cronut — a doughnut-shaped pastry with a crispy fried outside and an airy, buttery inside like a croissant — started a fascination with food textures about a decade ago. Multilayered products like Dubai chocolate and sound-enhanced social media videos of influencers breaking crackly peanut brittle and slurping creamy noodles heightened the interest.

“Consumers are gaining new expectations for the experience of a product, and texture is the perfect way to deliver that,” Zegler said.

Nerds Gummy Clusters and the pandemic led to more complicated candy

The coronavirus pandemic elevated interest in texture because COVID-19 caused many people to temporarily lose their sense of smell and taste, said Shannon Weiner, senior director of consumer insights at candy company Ferrara. In 2020, the Chicago-based company debuted Nerds Gummy Clusters, a sweet round gummy coated in crunchy Nerds candy.

The hit product led to other innovations in the candy aisle, like crispy freeze-dried Skittles. Gummi Popz, chewy bite-sized squares filled with fizzing candy, went on sale earlier this year. Ferrara-owned Brach’s plans to introduce jelly beans with a crunchy exterior for Easter next year.

Weiner said layers of texture create contrasts, which heighten people’s perceptions of indulgence and quality and encourage them to pay closer attention to what they’re eating.

“It’s a world of overstimulation that we’re living in, right?” Weiner said. “Oftentimes, if consumers are snacking as they’re scrolling or going through these mindless activities, texture can help break through and help stimulate and offer a sensory engagement.”

Delivered meals and a desire for healthier foods are expected to keep texture in focus

Meeting consumers’ texture demands and preferences is a growing challenge for the food industry. McDonald’s, which released new McCrispy chicken strips in May 2025, changed the recipe this year after customers said the strips weren’t crispy enough.

The rise of meal delivery has left restaurants searching for ways to ensure food retains its texture while it’s in transit, Kalotis said. Ingredion has developed potato starch-based coatings that can keep french fries crispy for 30 minutes; it’s working on extending the time to 45 minutes, he said.

Food companies are trying to find ways to make products healthier or more affordable by changing ingredients without disturbing familiar textures. For example, Ingredion makes additives that help keep reduced-sugar yogurt creamy.

Zegler, at Mintel, sees a lot of innovation ahead for texture. She expects companies to explore the texture needs of different populations, like older people. Snack foods will keep getting more layers, she said. Ferrara last year brought out Nerds Juicy Gummy Clusters, which added a liquid center to the original two-layer candy.

In the meantime, Kalotis said, food companies need to do a better job of illustrating and explaining textures on product packaging. Mintel found that 59% of packaged foods introduced in the U.S. this year had no textural claims on their labels despite customers actively seeking out foods with novel physical properties.

“In a lot of ways, texture is one of the most powerful and yet somehow underrated parts of the food experience,” Kalotis said. “It makes a snack more satisfying.”

—Dee-Ann Durbin, AP Business Writer

These days the boundaries between the art forms barely exist—just ask the cast of the hit Apple TV series The Studio.

Tonight (Monday, September 14, 2025), the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences is celebrating the small screen at the 78th Emmy Awards, which will take place at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles.

Here’s everything you need to know, including how to tune in.

Who is hosting the 78th Emmy Awards?

Mariska Hargitay, best known for her work as Olivia Benson on Law & Order SVU, will emcee the big event. She will be backed up by several famous presenters, some of whom are reuniting with former costars.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer fans will be delighted to see Sarah Michelle Gellar and David Boreanaz.

Charlie’s Angels fans can look forward to seeing Kate Jackson, Jaclyn Smith, and Cheryl Ladd.

Other presenters scheduled to appear include Zendaya, Marcello Hernández, Florence Pugh, Dan Levy, Macaulay Culkin, Keke Palmer, and Amy Poehler.

Who is nominated?

With its 25 nominations, HBO’s hit medical drama The Pitt has the most nods going into the big night.

On the same network, the final season of Hacks garnered 24.

Two new Apple TV series, the scary and funny Widow’s Bay and the sci-fi drama Pluribus, have 19 and 18 nominations each, which is nothing to scoff at.

For a full list of nominees, click here.

What changes are happening to the Emmys this year?

The Primetime Emmys are just one of three ceremonies that take place to celebrate all things television.

In July of this year, the academy announced its decision to move five categories from Primetime to the Creative Arts in order to shorten the broadcast.

That means that Writing for a Variety Series, Supporting Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie, Supporting Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie, Directing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie, and Writing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie will not be seen in primetime this year.

The industry guilds were not happy about the decision.

So when David Harbour and Linda Cardellini won on Sunday, September 6, it was not broadcast live. Instead, it was part of an edited version of the event, which aired on Saturday, September 12, on FXX.

Don’t worry if you missed it: Hulu has you covered. Additionally, Harbour and Cardellini will present during primetime.

What about special awards and the “In Memoriam” segment?

Some of the extra time in the broadcast will be used to give a special award and tributes.

Michael J. Fox will be presented with the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award for his work in Parkinson’s disease research.

A Dolly Parton tribute is planned, but details are not being shared ahead of the big show. Additionally, Noah Kahan will perform “Bridge Over Troubled Water” during the In Memoriam segment.

How can I watch or stream the 2026 Emmys?

If you just can’t wait, tune into E! early.

At 5:00 p.m. ET, Live From E!: Countdown to The Emmys will be hosted by Erin Lim Rhodes with Lance Bass and Ciara Miller. At 6 p.m. ET, Justin Sylvester, Keltie Knight and Will Marfuggi take over with Live From E!: The Emmys.

The official NBC Emmys pre-show livestream will go down on TikTok from 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. ET.

For the main event, tune into NBC at 8 p.m. ET. Cord-cutters can turn to Peacock or another live-TV streaming service, such as Hulu + Live TV.

—Nicholas Riccardi, Associated Press

Revenue growth for the ready-to-drink canned cocktails, which come in two dozen different vodka, tequila, whiskey, gin, and rum concoctions, has hit triple digits—fast enough to make the brand one of the biggest growth engines for parent company Anheuser-Busch InBev.

Cutwater has been scaling so quickly that in the second quarter of this year, the brand became the second-largest contributor to overall revenue growth for AB InBev, the largest brewer in the world. To take advantage of that swelling demand, the $150 billion beverage giant has continued to roll out new flavors, and consumers have been drinking them up, despite alcohol consumption and sales at record lows in the United States. 

“We were the fastest growing company in spirits because of the performance of Cutwater,” said Michel Doukeris, the CEO of AB InBev on the company’s second quarter earnings call on Thursday. Speaking to investors and analysts, Doukeris said Cutwater had become the “number one share gaining brand” in the entire spirits industry. “This brand was inexistent six, seven years ago and is moving towards becoming a $1 billion brand and is the fastest growing brand in the spirits industry in the U.S., now a top six or seven, overall in size brand in the spirits industry.”

It’s a remarkably rapid ascent for a brand that started as a side hobby for Yuseff Cherney, the co-founder and head brewer at Ballast Point Brewing in San Diego. In 2007, Cherney started using an old beer fermenter to distill vodka, gin, rum, and whiskey. That project became Ballast Point Spirits, which spun off from Ballast Point when the beer brand was sold to Constellation for $1 billion in 2015. The next year, those canned cocktails got a rebrand, and Cutwater Spirits launched. By 2019, AB InBev acquired the ready-to-drink brand for an undisclosed sum.

In an era dominated by a growing number of non-alcoholic beers and mocktail options, Cutwater has won over consumers by veering in the opposite direction and selling drinks that pack a punk. Stamped on every can is a guarantee, made with 2+ shots of real spirits. Each 12-ounce can contains between 7 and 13 percent alcohol, and the vast majority of flavors sit north of 10 percent. One of the most popular flavors, the Long Island Ice Tea, contains more than three times as much alcohol found in a Bud Light or a Surfside. 

Cutwater’s formulas are so potent that the brand’s overt booziness has become something of a running joke across social media. Last October, GQ dubbed Cutwater “the chaotic king of canned cocktails.” Earlier this summer, the Atlantic warned the cans “will smash you to the ground.”

As one creator, Loryn Powell, put it, “Apparently Cutwaters are getting everyone wasted.” The comedian went viral on TikTok, racking up more than 8 million views for giving herself a breathalyzer test after drinking two cans in an hour. One lime margarita put Powell at 0.066, a blood alcohol concentration right below the legal driving limit of 0.08. The second elevated her BAC above 0.09. 

In a video with more than 40,000 likes, one TikToker told her followers that if they saw Cutwater in stores, to leave them on the shelf, because she could not even remember filming the end of her video after downing two Cutwaters. Another joked that two cans were strong enough to leave you “Blacked out on an airplane. No pants. Trying to open up the emergency exit row for fresh air.” 

That’s the vibe that keeps selling.

—Ali Donaldson

This article originally appeared on Fast Company’s sister website, Inc.com. 

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.

That’s the plot of Zoom’s latest ad, created in partnership with Colin Jost’s creative agency No Notes, which debuted on September 14. In the spot, McKinnon’s conniving character discovers all of the myriad uses for Zoom that make it so indispensable to her henchmen. The ad is the second installment of Zoom and No Notes’ campaign “Zoom Ahead,” which debuted via a spot starring Bowen Yang in December. 

Both ads use over-the-top comedy to poke at a deeper brand truth for Zoom: Most people know the company only as a video conferencing tool, while in reality, it has spent years expanding its services into other categories.

“A typical user has no idea that the breadth of the Zoom portfolio goes so much further,” says Kim Storin, Zoom’s CMO. 

Since she joined Zoom in April 2025, Storin’s main goal has been to change that perception. Her team has been using new influencer partnerships and an ad campaign studded with former SNL stars to help break Zoom out of the digital meeting box.

Zoom’s brand problem

Zoom is grappling with a brand conundrum. The company doesn’t have an issue with getting itself in front of customers. In fact, it’s the opposite: According to a 2026 YouGov survey of about 2,500 Americans, Zoom has 99% brand awareness and recognition among people who use workplace communication tools. The problem is that most people associate Zoom only with its rise as a video conferencing platform during the pandemic, and not what it’s become today.

“It’s not surprising,” Storin says, “because everybody from your mom to Fortune 10 companies were using Zoom at that time for video conferencing.”

But that kind of awareness can go only so far, and it’s limiting for a company in the productivity space. To make a convincing value proposition to customers in the artificial intelligence era, it seems, productivity SaaS companies need to pitch themselves as experts in a wide variety of services rather than one niche field.

Notion, for example, has shifted from an app builder to an AI-powered workspace; Superhuman, formerly Grammarly, is no longer just a grammar fixer but rather an all-in-one productivity tool; and Calendly has jumped from owning the calendar to owning the entire work day. 

Zoom’s goal is to transition its identity from a video conferencing platform to an AI-powered toolkit for the workplace. Beyond facilitating meetings, the company has platforms for customer service, recruiting, employee engagement, and marketing for webinars and events. It has spent the last several years building out a suite of AI features and capabilities, including agentic search tools, a meeting notetaker, AI sales and design agents, and more. 

The idea, Storin says, is that Zoom can now take all the conversations you’re having—from internal meetings to external chats with clients and partners—and use AI to act on what’s discussed. That could mean generating a document, sending follow-up messages, or conducting research, for example. The challenge is conveying the shift to customers without sounding too corporate or preachy. 

That’s where Jost, Yang, and McKinnon come in.

How Zoom and Colin Jost are using humor to shift its identity

In the first iteration of Zoom and No Notes’ “Zoom Ahead” campaign, the former SNL cast member Yang plays an evil IT manager forcing his cubicle-bound underlings to download a “weird app” for virtual meetings. Then, in a twist à la the iconic Dead Poets Society scene, his employees begin jumping on their desks to take a stand. 

“I use Zoom!” one shouts. “I use Zoom AI companion!” another echoes. “I use Zoom Contact Center!” a third proclaims. 

The spot is lighthearted and doesn’t take itself too seriously. According to Jeff Grosvenor, head of content at No Notes, Zoom’s instinct to lead with humor as it attempts to pivot its identity makes sense in a tech market that tends to overindex on seriousness.

He adds that Jost, who’s spent more than two decades at SNL, helps bring the cultural relevance and comedy chops that Zoom needs to stand out. “For a brand to have a self-deprecating sense of humor about themselves, be funny, and have a bit of a wink to what they’re selling—at the end of the day, that comedy breaks down walls,” Grosvenor says.

In the new spot featuring McKinnon, Grosvenor’s team took that combination of humor one step further. McKinnon embarks on a trippy journey wherein she learns that Zoom can manage unexpected tasks like customer service, booking doctors appointments, and managing invoices for small businesses (in this case, weirdly enough, a homemade hip-hop taxidermy business). At one point, McKinnon declares, “So you’re telling me that Zoom is the best way to accomplish anything—even its own destruction?”

In addition to the partnership with No Notes, Storin’s marketing team has been spreading the word about Zoom’s new identity through panel appearances at conferences like SXSW and Cannes. And, just last month, the brand introduced a program called “Zoombassadors,” which involves partnering with content creators in various niches (like fashion, beauty, and banking) who can share how they use Zoom to run their businesses.

So far, she says, these efforts are helping customers remember why they preferred Zoom over other platforms in the first place—and gently introducing them to new ways it might be useful. “I think we kind of lost our swagger a little bit after the pandemic, and it feels like we’ve got our swagger back now,” Storin says. 

But the headline feature for iOS 27 is, of course, artificial intelligence.

The operating system brings an all-new Siri AI chatbot to the iPhone. Siri is built on Google’s Gemini models, which greatly increases the intelligence and abilities of Apple’s historically derided personal digital assistant.

In addition, iOS 27 brings refinements to Liquid Glass and enhancements to several core apps, including Safari, Messages, Camera, and more.

Here’s what you need to know about iOS 27’s release today.

When does iOS 27 come out?

iOS 27 will be released to the public today, Monday, September 14. Apple confirmed that release date last week at its annual iPhone event, which saw the introduction of the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max, and the company’s first foldable, the iPhone Duo.

However, while Apple announced iOS 27 would be released today, it did not specify the time of the release.

This is not surprising. Apple never mentions the exact drop times for its operating systems. However, the company generally releases its major new operating systems at 10 a.m. Pacific Time, which is likely when you can expect iOS 27 to be released today. 

What time can I download iOS 27?

Given there’s no reason to believe Apple will stray from its historic release timing, iOS 27 should be available worldwide today at 10 a.m. PT. Here’s how that time converts to time zones in cities around the globe:

• Athens: 8:00 p.m.
• Auckland: 5:00 a.m. September 15
• Beijing: 1:00 a.m. September 15
• Berlin: 7:00 p.m.
• Brisbane: 3:00 a.m. September 15
• Buenos Aires: 2:00 p.m.
• Cairo: 7:00 p.m.
• Cape Town: 7:00 p.m.
• Chicago: 12:00 p.m.
• Denver: 11:00 a.m.
• Dubai: 9:00 p.m.
• Hanoi: 12:00 a.m. September 15
• Hong Kong: 1:00 a.m. September 15
• Honolulu: 7:00 a.m.
• Houston: 12:00 p.m.
• Jakarta: 12:00 a.m. September 15
• Lagos: 6:00 p.m.
• London: 6:00 p.m.
• Manila: 1:00 a.m. September 15
• Melbourne: 3:00 a.m. September 15
• Mexico City: 12:00 p.m.
• Nairobi: 8:00 p.m.
• New York: 1:00 p.m.
• Paris: 7:00 p.m.
• Phoenix: 10:00 a.m.
• São Paulo: 2:00 p.m.
• Singapore: 1:00 a.m. September 15
• Sydney: 3:00 a.m. September 15
• Tel Aviv: 8:00 p.m.
• Toronto: 1:00 p.m.
• Vancouver: 10:00 a.m.

How can I download iOS 27?

Once Apple releases iOS 27 to the general public, you’ll be able to download it right onto your iPhone. Here’s how:

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Tap General.
3. Tap Software Update.

The iOS 27 update will show on the screen. Follow the instructions there to download the new operating system.

Before you update to iOS 27, don’t forget to check out Fast Company’s guide on 4 ways to get your iPhone ready for iOS 27.

What iPhones can I download iOS 27 on?

iOS 27 will run on every model of iPhone that currently runs iOS 26, as well as on the new iPhones Apple just announced last week.

iPhones that support iOS 27 are:

• iPhone Duo
• iPhone 18 Pro 
• iPhone 18 Pro Max
• iPhone Air
• iPhone 17
• iPhone 17 Pro
• iPhone 17 Pro Max
• iPhone 16e
• iPhone 16
• iPhone 16 Plus
• iPhone 16 Pro
• iPhone 16 Pro Max
• iPhone 15
• iPhone 15 Plus
• iPhone 15 Pro
• iPhone 15 Pro Max
• iPhone 14
• iPhone 14 Plus
• iPhone 14 Pro
• iPhone 14 Pro Max
• iPhone 13
• iPhone 13 mini
• iPhone 13 Pro
• iPhone 13 Pro Max
• iPhone 12
• iPhone 12 mini
• iPhone 12 Pro
• iPhone 12 Pro Max
• iPhone 11
• iPhone 11 Pro
• iPhone 11 Pro Max
• iPhone SE (3rd generation)
• iPhone SE (2nd generation)

Is Apple releasing other software today besides iOS 27?

Yes, the iPhone isn’t the only Apple device getting a major operating system upgrade today. In addition to iOS 27, Apple will release the following software today:

• macOS 27 Golden Gate for the Mac
• iPadOS 27 for the iPad
• watchOS 27 for the Apple Watch
• tvOS 27 for the Apple TV
• visionOS 27 for the Apple Vision Pro

Apple should release the above operating systems at the same time it makes iOS 27 available.

His restaurant tech startup, Wonder, took one step closer to that vision in August when it debuted its robotic meal assembly system, Infinite Makeline.

At the company’s Midtown East location in New York, Infinite Makeline has the ability to autonomously produce up to 500 bowls per hour from 68 ingredients. Wonder promises that by 2027, “tens of locations” across the Northeast, the Washington metro area, and Texas will house Infinite Makeline machines. 

By embracing automation of this magnitude, Lore says that he can cut labor and operating expenses, while also boosting a Wonder location’s throughput, and pass along those savings to diners.

“The goal is to get the price of your food delivered to your door cheaper than getting deliveries and cooking,” Lore tells Fast Company. “Feeding families 21 meals a week is the ultimate goal.”

Wonder, which in July announced a $650 million Series D round at a $9 billion valuation, is the latest tech endeavor spearheaded by Lore.

He previously founded and sold the e-commerce platform Quidsi to Amazon for $545 million in 2010, then created and sold another e-commerce startup, called Jet.com, to Walmart for $3.3 billion.

After the latter deal, Lore led Walmart’s U.S. e-commerce business for nearly half a decade before leaving to create Wonder.

Eating big

New York-based Wonder operates a sprawling and complex business, with 160 locations, mostly along the East Coast. It’s also growing through far-flung acquisitions across the food industry.

Those include the $103 million takeover of the meal-kit company Blue Apron in 2023 and a $650 million deal for the mobile food delivery platform Grubhub in 2024.

And late last year, Wonder paid the salad purveyor Sweetgreen $186.4 million for Spyce, which developed the Infinite Makeline technology. Sweetgreen still operates around three dozen of those machines under a licensing agreement.

While visiting Wonder’s Midtown East location, I was given a tour by Kale Rogers, a cofounder of Spyce who now serves as senior director of robotics at Wonder.

He explained that the restaurant was capable of making food from six different restaurant concepts, including salad and poke bowls, and cuisines varying from Mexican to Mediterranean. “Really, anything that can kind of go in a bowl or plate,” Rogers tells me during our interview.

Rogers says that Infinite Makeline automates about 80% of the food that goes into the bowl in about three and a half minutes; workers add sauce packets and other finishing touches at the end.

Chefs provide their input too. Culinary pros wanted the rice to be firmer at the bottom of the poke bowls; Wonder responded by modifying the system so that those containers would take an extra lap to ensure the rice got extra smushed while being seasoned.

Human involvement is still core to the effort

Menu concepts will always have human involvement, Rogers says, adding that Wonder’s opportunity for growth is centered on “how we can create an incredible amount of variety, an incredible amount of personalization just for you, and do it really quick and at scale.” 

At Wonder’s Midtown location, there is still quite a bit of human involvement. Workers prep the food and refill eight cases filled with dozens of ingredients ranging from romaine lettuce to chicken, tuna, and carrots. They also handle packaging in to-go bags, taking the handoff from a large robotic arm. 

Across the industry, restaurants have embraced automation ranging from digital kiosks to take orders, artificial intelligence that can take a drive-through order, and delivery robotics.

And yet, some chains are discovering hospitality still needs humans. As The Wall Street Journal recently reported, McDonald’s, Burger King, and other big chains are spending more on training to make their restaurants warmer for guests.

Lore takes a contrarian view, centered on lowering costs, which requires less labor. “The big vision is to create a fully autonomous food platform that’s capable of autonomously planning, cooking, and delivering your food, so that we can make great food much more accessible,” says Lore.

That food platform, according to Lore, is able to serve 700 different meals per location, but in the future, up to 10,000 will be whipped up through automation to appeal to a wide variety of food preferences, health goals, and budgets.

There is also quite a bit of AI and robotics underway at Wonder in Lore’s quest to make food far more autonomous.

Sidewalk drones are delivering Wonder’s food in cities including Los Angeles and Chicago through a partnership with the tech firm Serve Robotics. With yet another autonomous service provider, Zipline, Wonder plans to start aerial food delivery in Texas by January 2027.

There are also a few internally developed autonomous systems underway at Wonder, including the Infinite Sauce Machine, a robotic device that can create hundreds of sauces from 152 raw ingredients including oils, spices, and acids, making up to 500 different curry, mole, and pesto per hour. 

Lore and Wonder are also internally developing an AI platform called MEL, which can take into account an individual’s biomarkers, body composition data, food preferences, and health goals to generate machine-crafted meal recommendations.

A beta version of MEL is expected to debut by next year. But for Lore, he’s already noticed some health changes. Throughout the year as he’s been using the tool, MEL has gotten Lore to add more kelp to his diet to boost his iodine levels, while raw walnuts have increasingly been mixed into breakfast oatmeal to address high cholesterol. 

“It started to make subtle changes to fix my health, but still solving for the food I love,” says Lore.

This story was updated to reflect the proper title for Kale Rogers.

The National Cryptocurrency Association’s 2026 State of Crypto Holders Report, conducted with The Harris Poll, surveyed 10,000 American crypto holders. Nearly half (49%) said greater transparency from crypto companies would build more trust in the industry. Seeing more real stories from everyday people using crypto ranked second (42%), tied with greater integration between traditional finance and crypto. Government oversight, regulatory clarity, and industry-wide standards followed close behind.

Positive media coverage and social media ranked last. That’s a striking finding for crypto and for any company introducing consumers to something new.

Whether it’s AI, digital finance, or the next generation of healthcare technology, people are increasingly looking for the same things: clear information, familiar experiences, and proof that a product makes a meaningful difference in someone’s life.

In other words, familiarity is becoming more powerful than persuasion. Today, 67 million Americans—roughly one in four adults—own crypto. They span every generation, profession, income level, and political affiliation. Many didn’t enter the space because they were chasing headlines or trying to become overnight investors. They adopted new technology because it helped solve a practical problem: sending money to family abroad, accessing funds around the clock, diversifying savings, or simply becoming curious about modern finance.

People adopt technology because it makes their lives easier, faster, or more accessible, and because it gives them more ownership, control, and choice.

TRUST STARTS WITH UNDERSTANDING

When a new technology struggles to earn public confidence, the instinct is often to invest in bigger campaigns and more messaging. But our research suggests consumers are looking for something else.

They’re looking for evidence.

Transparency topped the list because it gives people something they can evaluate for themselves. It signals that a company is willing to explain how it operates, acknowledge tradeoffs, and help consumers make informed decisions rather than simply convince them to sign up.

Perhaps most importantly, nearly every trust-building factor crypto holders identified is within a company’s control:

• Greater transparency
• Better education
• More authentic customer stories
• Partnerships that make emerging technology feel familiar

Delivering on these consumer requests requires meeting people where they are before the next product launch occurs and before legislation takes effect.

EDUCATION IS A COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE

Transparency only works if people understand what they’re looking at. More than one-third of crypto holders told us they would use crypto even more if they simply knew more about it. These are not prospective customers. They are people who already own digital assets but lack confidence.

As an example, Jen and Jason, were initially deeply skeptical of crypto, with Jason initially writing it off as “nonsense nickels.” Rather than diving in headfirst, they bought a small amount, learned how to store it safely, and gradually built confidence through experience.

Their journey reflects what many consumers want from emerging technologies: the opportunity to learn in manageable steps, ask questions without judgment, and build confidence before making bigger commitments.

Whether someone is learning about crypto or anything else, the same principle applies. Accessible explanations often matter more than clever marketing. The companies that make their innovations easier to understand will create deeper trust with their customers.

PEOPLE TRUST PEOPLE

The second strongest trust signal in our poll was the ability to see how real people are using digital assets in their everyday lives. Across industries, customer reviews, creators, and community recommendations increasingly influence purchasing decisions because they feel authentic. They show how a product fits into someone’s life instead of asking consumers to imagine it.

Consumers expect the same from crypto. One example of this is      CattleProof verified which was created to solve the decades-old cattle industry challenge of proving where livestock came from. By recording each animal’s history on blockchain, buyers can independently verify claims that previously relied on trust alone. It provides the proof consumers are asking for to help them make purchasing decisions.

WHY EVERY BUSINESS SHOULD PAY ATTENTION

At some point, every company introduces a product or service that is unfamiliar to consumers. They ask customers to trust that a product will deliver on its promise before customers can experience it for themselves.

Consumers are telling us how we can earn their trust. They want transparency, educational resources, and to see people like themselves benefit from something new. As emerging technologies become part of everyday life, business leaders must pay attention to what drives consumer trust to develop messages that convert skeptics into users while deepening trust with existing customers.

Ali Tager is the vice president of external affairs at the National Cryptocurrency Association.

In theory, technical assistance is simple: make sure the people implementing policy know what to do, and how, with advice and guidance from state and federal agencies. It’s one of the most important aspects of how government agencies operate.

But government employees I’ve spoken with acknowledge that the status quo of how TA is delivered is fundamentally broken.

IT HAPPENS EVERY DAY

Imagine a federal program with millions of dollars in grants to disburse to state and local agencies. Before a dollar moves, program staff must define which entities are eligible, build a rubric, identify the metrics that define success and community impact, and align stakeholders across thousands of organizations nationwide. Then they must make potential grantees aware of the grant.

A significant share of that upstream work is time spent interviewing people and defining criteria. It’s careful, expensive work. And none of it matters if the dollars don’t reach the organizations that can improve the lives of the people the grant was written for.

FROM POLICY TO ACTION

Every major government initiative depends on hundreds or thousands of implementing partners from local government agencies and nonprofits to service providers.

For example, a state board of elections spends significant time advising election clerks on hiring and recruiting, advocating for rule changes with the state government, and helping educate the public about local election processes. The same is true for public health programs, veterans’ programs, homelessness coordination, and dozens of other initiatives. Technical assistance makes these programs possible, but it is delivered ad hoc, typically at a single point in time, rather than continuously meeting ongoing needs.

3 BROKEN ELEMENTS

Today’s approach to delivering technical assistance results in bottlenecks that prevent expertise from reaching the practitioners who need it when they need it.

1. It doesn’t scale. As provider networks grow in complexity, the people with the answers become single points of failure. Professional staff burn time managing unwieldy contact lists and answering the same question repeatedly. Support becomes uneven and some organizations never get help.

2. It falls short when it’s needed most. Service providers need technical assistance during implementation or when working through an edge case, not just at kickoff. Without current guidance, providers fall back on what they already know, which renders the upfront investment in knowledge sharing moot. Meanwhile, guidance gets buried in inboxes and shared drives, and knowledge walks out the door when a state or federal employee leaves.

3. It’s opaque. Agency leaders struggle to see which providers are receiving assistance, how engaged partners are across the ecosystem, or where implementation is systemically breaking down. Problems surface after a missed deadline, when it is too late.

As federal policy continues to shift and states and local governments contend with budget cuts and turnover, technical assistance capacity doesn’t scale linearly with headcount.

TECHNOLOGY FOR TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE

The bulk of investment in TA programs goes to consulting engagements and professional services. Consultants have expertise and they get the content right. Where TA falls short is delivery and resilience. Without a real-time connection across the network—one that keeps knowledge from fragmenting when a contract ends—technical assistance can’t do what it’s supposed to do.

Hiring more consultants is a temporary fix. And like many state and local programs, TA runs on outdated tools and the elbow grease of already overworked public servants.

Public servants are often technologically lacking in comparison to their private sector peers, through no fault of their own. Trying to create a real-time ecosystem of people involved in TA for a program—and similar programs—requires more than listservs and spreadsheets.

Modern software that’s purpose-built for interagency collaboration, communication, and the knowledge-sharing work central to technical assistance represents a fundamental shift from a series of disconnected, point-in-time activities to lasting implementation infrastructure.

Tools built for TA must meet two requirements. First, they must capture intelligence from across the network. The answer to a question from a nonprofit employee in one county is probably useful to a local government employee on the other side of the state. Rather than remaining siloed, that knowledge bridges jurisdictional gaps and connects everyone involved in delivering a service.

Second, tools built for TA must preserve institutional memory. Instead of an answer languishing in one person’s inbox, it’s available to everyone in the ecosystem—and to everyone working on a similar initiative years from now.

Together, those two capabilities represent technical assistance as a virtuous loop. Rather than experts pushing out ad hoc information, they can see what the field is asking, provide better answers, and get sharper questions in return.

Layering AI onto the structured loop of TA data makes it possible to answer routine questions instantly while surfacing emerging implementation challenges back to program staff. Every interaction strengthens the knowledge available to the entire network.

A STANDING CAPABILITY

We must shift from treating technical assistance as a deliverable to treating it as a capability. A deliverable has a start date, an end date, and a final invoice. A capability persists. It gets stronger the more people use it, and it survives the turnover, budget cycles, and contract expirations that currently erase institutional memory every few years.

That distinction matters more now than it did five years ago. Federal requirements are shifting, budgets are volatile, and the people who know how programs work are retiring. Agencies can’t hire their way through that. But they can build a system where an answer given once is available to everyone who needs it next.

Madeleine Smith is the cofounder and CEO of Civic Roundtable.

When the visit is over, the doctor returns to endless bureaucratic tasks, having spent more time digging through records and charting than caring for the patient. Members of today’s patient care continuum, like primary care, pharmacy, specialists, home health, skilled nursing, and beyond, operate on siloed, disconnected information systems that create an immense amount of inefficient work. As a result, primary care physicians spend more than half of their workday on computer-based electronic health record (EHR) tasks.

This never-ending “type‑and‑click” work is a major driver of physician burnout, which can lead to medical errors, decreased care quality, safety incidents, and reduced patient satisfaction. Some physician burnout rates are nearly 50%. The strain does not come from EHRs alone; time pressure, chaotic workplaces, low control of work pace, and organizational culture further exacerbate conditions.

In response, physicians are leaving the industry at an alarming rate. In another AMA survey, more than 35% noted interest in leaving their jobs in the next two years. The U.S. can’t stand to lose that many physicians, as the country is already projected to face a shortage of up to 86,000 physicians by 2036.

RUDDERLESS PATIENT DATA CREATES BURDEN

Health systems generate more patient data than most physicians can ever see. Unfortunately, it sits idle across disparate systems. Primary care physicians aren’t notified when one of their patients goes to the ER and requires a follow-up. A skilled nursing facility isn’t made aware of a prescription change that puts an elderly patient at risk of a dangerous medication interaction.

In our work with providers, we have found that poorly designed digital tools leave them with less time for patients and more time chasing the information they need to avoid these issues. Physicians frequently share that interoperability gaps and clunky design can affect their performance and increase patient safety risks.

One analysis found that stress from technologies, chronic time pressure, and persistent workflow issues greatly contribute to clinician burnout. Because multiple EHRs cannot easily share or interpret data, clinicians must hunt through information trails with faxes and phone calls to compile complete health pictures before making care decisions. The case for connected and actionable patient data is paramount to supporting providers’ mental health, helping them close frequent issue points, and addressing some of the main contributors to physician burnout.

SHELVE THE MINDFULNESS APPS AND PUT PATIENT DATA TO BETTER USE

People tend to categorize physician burnout as a resilience problem, something that mindfulness apps, wellness stipends, and protected lunch hours can fix. But those are band-aids. The real answer is cutting physicians’ endless hours at the keyboard by adopting technology that shares patient data among every provider who touches a patient’s care, including public health and community partners, so physicians easily understand the full health picture and receive real-time alerts on what matters most for their patients.

When data moves with the patient, each visit in the care journey changes its shape. A physician gets pinged the moment their patient lands in the hospital, knows exactly where they went after discharge, and can intercede before the next hospital readmission instead of after one. The 12-minute visit becomes 12 minutes of actual medicine instead of fatiguing detective work.

Effie Carlson is the CEO of Watershed Health and Monica Rivera, MD, MPH is the chief growth officer of Watershed Health.

AI agents have proven they can do the work. Now, enterprises must prepare for a world where they do far more of it. With Gartner predicting that the average Fortune 500 company will run more than 150,000 AI agents by 2028, enterprises need to lay a strong foundation now to ensure proper governance of the technology.

THE OLD MODEL DOESN’T SCALE

Historically, governance has been built around human systems. Security, compliance, privacy, and risk teams reviewed new systems before they went live, identified concerns, and worked with the business to resolve them. That model worked because software changed slowly and deployment cycles stretched over months.

With AI, that goes out the window. An agent can make thousands of decisions before a traditional review process even begins. As organizations move from a handful of AI agents to hundreds, or eventually thousands, the volume of activity quickly exceeds what humans can realistically monitor.

Research repeatedly shows that enterprises can’t keep up. IBM found that 70% of technology executives say AI is being deployed faster than IT can track it.

Gartner found that only 13% of organizations believe they have the right AI governance in place, and similarly, Deloitte found that only 21% of enterprises report having mature governance for agentic AI. Enterprises facing these challenges can’t solve them by simply throwing more people and money at the problem. Instead, they need to redesign how governance functions within their organizations, with AI at the center.

A NEW LAYER OF SUPERVISION

Unlike traditional software that follows predefined instructions, AI agents reason through goals, decide what actions to take, and adapt to situations they were never explicitly programmed to encounter. As organizations deploy them across finance, HR, IT, software development, and customer operations, oversight becomes a very different challenge.

Enter a new category of AI: guardian agents.

Just as business agents perform work, guardian agents supervise that work. Rather than replacing governance teams, these agents extend them. They monitor how other agents interact with enterprise systems and evaluate planned actions against organizational policies. They understand which tools an agent is using, what data it is accessing, and the permissions it is operating under. When activity falls outside acceptable boundaries, they intervene.

Intervention will look different depending on the task and guardrails set. Sometimes it will be the creation of an audit trail. Other times it may mean alerting a human reviewer or requiring approval before an action proceeds. In higher-risk situations, it can block actions altogether.

Instead of reviewing decisions after the fact, organizations can evaluate and influence them as they’re being made. This shift from reactive to proactive enables governance teams to operate at the same speed as AI, reducing risk before it becomes a business problem.

WHY BLOCKING ISN’T THE SAME AS JUDGMENT

Consider an AI agent responsible for optimizing a customer marketing campaign. It analyzes customer behavior and finds that people experiencing financial hardship are less likely to comparison shop and more likely to accept higher prices. Mathematically, the strategy maximizes revenue. Most organizations would never want to treat customers that way.

The agent accomplished exactly what it was asked to do. The problem was that it lacked the judgment and business context a human employee would have applied before acting.

That’s why thinking about AI governance solely in terms of guardrails misses part of the challenge. Safeguards and approval workflows are important, but they can only prevent scenarios people have anticipated. No one creates a policy to stop an AI from exploiting a consumer’s financial hardship because, until now, that wasn’t a risk anyone expected to encounter.

What would catch it is the organization’s own judgment. Every company has already worked out how far it will go for revenue and where it won’t go at all. That thinking lives in the heads of experienced governance professionals and gets applied a few decisions at a time. Guardian agents offer a way to make it available every time an agent acts.

That doesn’t remove human accountability. Leaders still set policy and remain accountable for the more complex decisions. What changes is the scale at which organizations can manage governance. Judgment that used to cover a handful of reviews can now apply to every AI interaction, without waiting for a person to be in the room.

AI agents are improving at a remarkable rate. Whether that creates value or introduces risk will depend on the decisions organizations make now about how those systems should operate.

Blake Brannon is the chief innovation officer at OneTrust.