Just a few weeks after coming under fire for a children’s Halloween costume that drew comparisons to blackface caricatures, Target’s Halloween collection is under fire again, although this time around the retailer isn’t alone in the controversy. 

The psychedelic compound that makes magic mushrooms so trippy shows serious promise for protecting cancer patients from years of chronic pain. 

Some Americans are giving new meaning to the proverb that your home is your sanctuary.

Thirty-eight thousand ChatGPT queries versus a single almond may sound like a strange sequel to the “100 men versus a gorilla” viral debate meme. Instead, it’s just Sam Altman’s response to public concerns over AI’s water usage.

The U.S. government is expanding its investigation into the rising price of beef to eight major grocery chains and big box retailers.

Victoria’s Secret has closed dozens of stores worldwide this year, but the brand is still raising its full-year sales outlook.

In the series of articles I’ve been writing for Fast Company devoted to what I believe corporate AI should be, I’ve been touching on a very provocative idea: Perhaps the biggest problem of corporate AI as we know it so far is not intelligence, but the level at which we are programming it.

We are just a few years removed from a time when AI was not yet ingrained in our office lives, but many workers already wish they could go back. 

The U.S. labor market bounced back in August as employers added a surprising 162,000 jobs, ending a summer of lackluster hiring growth with a bang.

LSU coach Lane Kiffin’s chances of fielding former NFL players improved Thursday night when a Louisiana judge issued a preliminary injunction against the NCAA in a high-profile eligibility case.

East Baton Rouge Parish Judge William Jorden issued his ruling the night before LSU was due to submit its 105-man roster to the Southeastern Conference, which last week announced heavy potential punishment for football and basketball teams that bring in ex-pros.

The ruling clears the way for LSU to list some former NFL players on its roster. How many games they might be eligible to play remains to be seen as the matter continues working its way through the courts.

“It’s not about coach Kiffin. It’s not about LSU. It’s about treating these kids fairly,” said Tony Clayton, an attorney for the athletes. “Today, justice was served. And justice was serve to the SEC. It was served like a cold cup of gumbo. And that judge forced them to eat it.”

The ruling followed a nearly nine-hour hearing in a courtroom less than three miles from the LSU campus. Several athletes took the stand to explain why they should be allowed to return to play college sports for a fifth season — some of them after turning pro.

The commissioner of the powerful SEC argued against them, and the league doubled down by filing a lawsuit against the school in a federal court in Alabama. That lawsuit could become the SEC’s best chance at preventing former pros from playing this season.

Thursday’s hearing was attended by Louisiana attorney general Liz Murrill, who filed an athlete-friendly brief in the case. While she did not make any arguments in court, she spoke after the hearing and referred to the SEC’s federal lawsuit against LSU as “legal garbage,” and “frivolous.”

“We’re going to continue to do everything we can to protect the school from those threats,” she said.

The courtroom confrontation came just two days before 11th-ranked LSU opens the season at home against Clemson. Jorden scheduled the hearing over his temporary injunction preventing the NCAA from barring former pros or fifth-year college athletes, a stance reiterated by the SEC and other Power Four conferences in potential punishments adopted last week.

“Lane Kiffin is cold as ice. He’s wonderful to watch. He pushes every limit to try to win,” said New Orleans attorney Jason Williams, representing the SEC. “The SEC exists in part to prevent individual competitive incentives from destroying the common conditions that make college football great.”

Another blueberry product is being recalled due to concerns that it may be contaminated with E. coli.

Recently, I decided to build a customer relationship management system (CRM) for my solo business. It started as a simple list of my contacts. Then I integrated my Google Drive and my calendar. Then I decided to add a pretty interface in my brand colors, along with some behind-the-scenes automation.

The US Open tennis tournament is used to hosting big crowds that come to watch tennis players from around the world compete against one another. 

Wisconsin’s candidates for governor want to limit them, while Pennsylvania’s say they support a ban. A Michigan congressional candidate called them “un-American.” A Florida Senate candidate is selling merch opposing them.

Across the country and up and down ballots, candidates from both parties are increasingly on the attack over Flock cameras, the AI-powered nationwide network of automated cameras that record license plates and other characteristics of all passing vehicles, allowing law enforcement agencies to search and share that data. Although police say the cameras are an invaluable crime-fighting tool, some critics say their pervasiveness amounts to unconstitutional warrantless mass surveillance.

The cameras sold by Atlanta-based Flock Safety, which the company has said are running in 6,000 communities in every state but Alaska, have become a new campaign issue that candidates and strategists see as part of a backlash against powerful technology companies, connected to broader debates over the future of artificial intelligence and the associated boom in data center construction.

“We’ve seen candidates running on banning them, cutting off funding, or requiring warrants. That’s a credit to activists across the country who have raised concerns about their use,” Michael Soyfer, an attorney for the Institute for Justice, a public interest law firm litigating over the technology, said in a statement.

In response to questions about the cameras as a campaign theme, a Flock spokeswoman emphasized the company’s claims about the power of its technology, saying it helped “solve approximately one million crimes and helped reunite roughly 10,000 missing people with their families.”

“We ask anyone weighing in on this issue to engage with the facts and the record: the crimes solved, the families reunited, the safeguards already in place, and what our technology actually does,” said MoMo Zhou, the company’s vice president of communications. “We ask them to work with the communities using this technology to decide what rules should govern it and not to spread misinformation or ban a critical public safety tool outright that is helping to make communities safer.”

Diesel hit a new record price in the U.S. on Friday, soaring to an average of $5.85 a gallon for the first time ever as the six-month war with Iran disrupts the world’s flow of fuel.

Because diesel is used for many freight and delivery networks, higher diesel prices mean higher transportation costs for a long list of everyday goods.

This could add to Republicans’ political challenges ahead of November’s midterm elections, with voters already sour on President Donald Trump’s management of the economy. AP-NORC polling this summer showed two out of three U.S. adults disapproved of how Trump is handling the economy.

More expensive fuel is increasing bills for businesses across sectors — some of which have already passed on costs to consumers in the form of added fees on online orders and packages in the mail. And shoppers may see more and more sticker shock trickle down to store shelves.

One of the most immediate strains is being felt in the grocery aisle, particularly with produce, meat and other perishable foods that need to be hauled in and restocked frequently — or even harvested using diesel-powered farm equipment. It can take time for all of those costs to trickle down.

Still, experts warn that price hikes could mount the longer diesel remains expensive. A range of other products are also transported by diesel trucks, trains and boats, including clothing, cosmetics, furniture and more.

The price for regular gasoline has also been going up, although not as fast as the price of diesel. The average price was $4.15 a gallon, compared with $3.20 at this time last year, according to AAA, which says gas has never been above $4 a gallon on Labor Day. Prices for regular gasoline, however, are far from the record of $5.02 a gallon set in June 2022.

Companies continue to invest billions in their AI transformations, while their workers struggle to use AI effectively. Gartner forecasts AI spending to grow to $2.59 trillion this year, an increase of 47% from 2025. As AI adoption increases, employees have grown more comfortable using the tools to take over their administrative responsibilities, so they have more time to do higher-impact work.

When it comes to tech IPOs, big names have dominated the headlines in 2026. First, it was Elon Musk’s SpaceX in June. Anthropic’s highly anticipated public offering is expected to occur this fall. And either late this year or early next, ChatGPT maker OpenAI is expected to make its market debut.

Shares of Lululemon Athletica (Nasdaq: LULU) are down more than 20% in premarket trading on Friday. 

Landing an entry-level job is difficult enough. It becomes even harder when you’re competing against technology that can take on an ever-growing range of tasks—without ever drawing a paycheck.

Organizational culture is often defined by its values, or lack thereof. Values are a key ingredient in “what’s it like to work here” that potential hires try to discover before signing on. It’s also what causes current employees, clients, or customers to stay or leave.