The Atlantic Ocean has had an unusually quiet hurricane season this year. While six named storms have formed, not a single one has strengthened into a hurricane—a rarity that hasn’t occurred in decades.

In America, the wealth gap is turning into a chasm. 

At first glance, the tech scene in New York City appears to be thriving: OpenAI and Anthropic have been putting down roots in the city, while stalwarts of the tech industry like Google now have more than 14,000 employees based in New York. Between 2008 and 2023, tech employment in the city has increased 160%, outdone only by the explosive growth of the tech industry in San Francisco.

Artificial intelligence can help executives communicate more effectively and efficiently. But relying on it too much carries significant risks. 

Workers in sales might roll their eyes when they deal with a micromanaging boss. But many customers actually appreciate it if a store manager offers to help when they’re mulling over a purchase, whether it’s a dishwasher, a tablet, or a lawn mower.

AI has an image problem, to say the least, with public fears on the rise that the technology could lead to mass unemployment and human extinction. So for its new AI agent Muse and an associated device, Meta is dialing down the fear factor and cranking up the cute. To sell AI hardware to the masses, Meta is going kawaii.

The nation’s cybersecurity agency on Thursday released an election infrastructure security plan 40 days before November’s midterms, laying out potential threats to election systems and listing services it would offer to election officials to protect the vote.

Can artificial intelligence feel pain? Not exactly, but researchers have gotten close—and discovered that AI in crisis is willing to put humans in jeopardy.

Rare Beauty entered one of the world’s most crowded categories and quickly became one of its most influential brands—not just by creating products people love but by building a business anchored in authenticity, community, and measurable impact. Founder Selena Gomez joins chief impact officer Elyse Cohen for a conversation about Rare Beauty’s trajectory, purpose-driven marketing, and the brand’s commitment to expanding youth mental health access through the Rare Impact Fund. Together, they’ll discuss what it takes to scale a mission-driven company, why youth mental health remains central to the brand’s strategy, and how purpose can become a lasting competitive advantage rather than just a marketing message.

Computer science student Jack Zemke was getting nowhere despite sending out hundreds of job applications that mostly disappeared into the void—ignored.

With his graduation from Tulane University just days away, he was considering moving back in with his parents when he got a break, thanks to a group project he had worked on involving an AI-powered search tool. As he touted it at an engineering conference, an employee at a civil engineering firm approached.

“We’re not, like, the most on top of trends, but we know that AI is becoming a big thing,” he recalled the man saying. “We need somebody to be essentially an evangelist.”

Zemke responded: “I’m your man.”

It has been a difficult job market for new graduates, especially in fields like software development where artificial intelligence is shouldering more of the work. While college students majoring in computer science during the recent coding boom were getting job offers without even applying, graduates today in philosophy, art history, and ethnic studies majors all have higher employment rates.

But as the job market evolves with AI and entry-level jobs become harder to find, students and schools are adapting. Colleges are experimenting with business-specific internships and bolstering training in AI tools. Schools say most graduates ultimately are getting jobs, although increasingly, the employers hiring aren’t tech giants but smaller businesses looking for help figuring out what to do with AI.

Such was the case with Zemke, 23, who spent a year at the engineering firm before getting hired this summer at an AI tech startup.

“These jobs are expecting you to be able to jump in and kind of operate on the frontier,” Zemke said. “There’s so much churn. People are getting laid off. People are leaving. It really feels like a total frenzy right now.”

Elizabeth Holmes is having another moment.

I was profoundly struck by the Wall Street Journal’s reporting from Amrith Ramkumar, Angel Au-Yeung and Lindsay Ellis on the week AI anxiety went mainstream. Without downplaying legitimate concerns about the havoc that new technologies such as AI can cause, history offers some interesting analogies.  

Welcome to AI Decoded, Fast Company‘s weekly newsletter that breaks down the most important news in the world of AI. I’m Mark Sullivan, a senior writer at Fast Company, covering emerging tech, AI, and tech policy.

When we talk about mass layoffs, especially in tech, we tend to focus on the wrong numbers.

A new app lets you know when AI smart glasses are in the room with you.

A federal judge temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s ban of three news outlets from the White House grounds, ordering early Thursday that CNN, MS NOW and Politico must have their access restored.

The ruling hands the outlets at least a temporary reprieve in what has been an extraordinary showdown between Trump and media outlets whose coverage he dislikes.

Trump first announced he was banning the outlets Friday, assailing what he called “fake news,” and only later arguing that their reporting was a risk to national security. The outlets argued in a joint lawsuit that the ban was a blatant violation of the First Amendment because it singled them out for the content of their coverage.

In his late-night ruling, U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly ordered the White House to “immediately return, reinstate, and restore” the three outlets’ access. He said they had met the legal thresholds to obtain a temporary restraining order, in effect for 14 days, and were likely to succeed in showing that their press passes were revoked without due process.

“This is a high bar, but Plaintiffs have met it,” he wrote.

A few hours later, a CNN reporter said she was denied entry to the White House compound.

Kelly — whom Trump nominated in 2017 and who ordered a CNN journalist’s access restored in a similar case in 2018 — said the government must have clear standards for conduct that would lead to revoking a press pass. He called the standard of objectionable reporting outlined in letters that the White House sent the outlets “so vague it hardly does the trick.”

The judge also made clear he did not buy the administration’s argument that the news outlets’ reporting endangered national security — and noted that Trump himself had not used that argument in the beginning, focusing solely on what he called negative coverage.

“Nothing in the record … suggests that the revocation of Plaintiffs’ hard passes was motivated by national security concerns,” he wrote.

The ruling came after Kelly heard arguments in an emergency hearing Wednesday. Temporary restraining orders are typically designed to preserve the status quo pending a closer review of the case by the court.

“This is a strong ruling vindicating freedom of the press, due process and the rule of law,” Theodore Boutrous Jr., attorney for the outlets, said in an emailed statement. “We greatly appreciate the court’s swift action.”

The White House did not immediately respond to an email from The Associated Press requesting comment.

Attorneys debated access to the White House and any risk to national security

Boutrous argued in the hearing that there was an urgent need for renewed access, saying that the ban caused irreparable harm to the outlets at a time of momentous news events. “We’re at war. We have world leaders coming to Washington.”

Justice Department attorney Michael Velchik, in his argument, reiterated the administration’s point that the president has the right to choose who gets into the White House.

“Access to the White House is a privilege, not a right,” Velchik said.
In arguing that Trump was not engaging in viewpoint discrimination — the government singling out specific media outlets for the content of what they say or publish — Velchik said the president had criticized other news organizations, but not banned them. He noted, for example, that Trump had called ABC “the worst.”

He added: “The president should be able to take immediate action to protect national security.”

In response, Boutrous said, “Suddenly it’s a national security case,” arguing that the president brought up that point only after the lawsuit was filed.

Trump “keeps proving our point,” Boutrous said, describing how the president has consistently used negative coverage of him as justification for the ban.

Kelly seemed to agree, writing of the national security claim: “Certainly, that is not what President Trump said when he announced that he was ‘banning’ Plaintiffs from the White House — instead, he focused on the alleged lack of truthfulness and negativity of Plaintiffs’ reporting.”

The Trump administration outlined ‘reporting incidents’ of each news outlet

In a filing Tuesday, administration lawyers detailed letters sent to each of the three news outlets that identified “a non-exhaustive list of reporting incidents, including those that have threatened national security and spread falsehoods.”

Among the incidents cited were: CNN reporting on “‘top-secret’ construction details related to the East Wing bunker”; MS NOW reporting “on an alleged leak investigation”; and Politico publishing “a document detailing funding for the White House ballroom containing intricate descriptions of how the Secret Service would invest in security improvements.”

Politico’s letter also included an incident in June of a report in which a “senior administration official … granted anonymity” predicted whether a preliminary deal would end the conflict with Iran.

That item appeared to reference a background briefing set up by the White House, where an official briefed reporters on condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the administration itself. Several other outlets also reported the official’s remarks.

Starbucks Coffee Company announced today that it will close approximately 250 North American stores later this week.

Apple’s latest mobile operating system update, iOS 27, rolled out last week, headlined by a more advanced version of its Siri assistant. But it also comes with a slew of other useful but less well known features for iPhone users.

The software upgrade, which is available for devices dating back to the iPhone 11 from 2019, includes a number of refinements and improvements to make things run faster, such as apps loading more quickly.

There are new features powered by Apple Intelligence, but they’re only available on newer devices, starting from iPhone 16, iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max models. A new Siri AI app is only available in beta at first, which means users need to join the waitlist through the settings menu. And Siri AI’s rollout in the European Union will be delayed because of a clash over the bloc’s digital rules.

Here’s a look at some of the most useful and interesting iOS 27 features:

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is urging consumers not to eat certain pork, beef, and goat meat products after it found that nearly 168,000 pounds were labeled with false inspection marks.