The 50-50 joint venture will begin offering the services first in Japan and establish a model for global adoption, the companies said Monday.

Nvidias shares took a beating on the DeepSeek news, but Intels struggles to break into the AI chip market continue to grow.

TechTarget and Informa Techs Digital Business Combine.TechTarget and InformaTechTarget and Informa Techs Digital Business Combine.Together, we power an unparalleled network of 220+ online properties covering 10,000+ granular topics, serving an audience of 50+ million professionals with original, objective content from trusted sources. We help you gain critical insights and make more informed decisions across your business priorities.If Everyone Uses AI, How Can Organizations Differentiate?If Everyone Uses AI, How Can Organizations Differentiate?As AI saturates the market, what becomes of its competitive advantages? Does it become a basic, digital commodity in the background?Joao-Pierre S. Ruth, Senior EditorFebruary 3, 2025In some instances, it can be rather easy to spot traces of artificial intelligence at work -- especially if there are common tells that surface in its use.Generative AI, at least for now, can be prone to produce illustrations that feature similar visual styles that repeat with each creation. What happens when companies rely on the results of AIs work, and their rivals work with the same algorithms? Does the innovation and edge AI promises disappear? Or are there ways companies can differentiate how they use AI to stand out in the market?As InformationWeek kicks off The Cost of AI series, this episode of DOS Wont Hunt brought together Andy Boyd, chief product officer with Appfire;Amol Ajgaonkar, CTO of product innovation with Insight; Mike Finley, CTO and co-founder for AnswerRocket; Kashif Zafar, CEO of Xnurta; and James Newman, head of product and portfolio marketing for Augury.The podcast panel discussed what happens if companies start to look like they are just copying each other when they use AI, what the ROI is for AI, and how organizations can differentiate what they get out of AI?Listen to the full podcast here.About the AuthorJoao-Pierre S. RuthSenior EditorJoao-Pierre S. Ruth covers tech policy, including ethics, privacy, legislation, and risk; fintech; code strategy; and cloud & edge computing for InformationWeek. He has been a journalist for more than 25 years, reporting on business and technology first in New Jersey, then covering the New York tech startup community, and later as a freelancer for such outlets as TheStreet, Investopedia, and Street Fight.See more from Joao-Pierre S. RuthNever Miss a Beat: Get a snapshot of the issues affecting the IT industry straight to your inbox.SIGN-UPYou May Also LikeWebinarsMore WebinarsReportsMore Reports

This post originally appeared in the Business Insider Today newsletter.You can sign up for Business Insider's daily newsletter here.Welcome back! Global markets have been rocked after the Trump administration ordered 25% tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico and a 10% tariff on China, which are set to start on Tuesday. All three countries vowed to retaliate.Business leaders are urging Trump to reconsider, fearing a global trade war that could wreak havoc on American industries.In today's big story, last week's DeepSeek drama is a good opportunity for investors to reassess their positions.What's on deckMarkets: Crypto coins hoping to surge thanks to celebrity endorsements. What could possibly go wrong?Tech: Meta is showing no signs of slowing down this year.Business: Trump's deportation plan is set to be big business for private prisons.But first, some lessons learned.If this was forwarded to you, The big storyPreparing for next time Deepseek VCG/VCG via Getty Images It was the shock heard around the world until it wasn't.DeepSeek's arrival hit the market, especially tech stocks, hard and fast. Things eventually stabilized before turning catastrophic, but the episode provided a valuable lesson for investors on the risks that come from a market so heavily focused on one theme.Business Insider's Matthew Fox unpacked the DeepSeek crash by looking at five investing lessons learned from the saga. His findings include everything from understanding the different layers of AI to the considerations that need to be made for cheap AI's impact on the bond market (Hint: It's a good thing.)It's an interesting and useful exercise considering there's likely more volatility ahead due to the market's structure: a handful of stocks at record valuations all focused on the same thing dictating where the rest of the market goes.For some, DeepSeek was the first break in the AI-built dam. "You have a small little chip on the glass. Now they realize, oh, it's not infallible. Maybe I should revise," "Black Swan" author Nassim Taleb said last week.Others are much less bearish, feeling it was more a product of investors rethinking the already sky-high valuations in the tech sector.Regardless of where you fall on the AI-belief spectrum, it's not something you can ignore as an investor. With seemingly everyone talking about how the tech will impact their industry, failure to acknowledge feels akin to investing negligence.So, the key lesson from DeepSeek might be that, for better or for worse, AI rules the roost.News briefTop headlinesMusk saysDOGE is working 120 hours a week.Robinhood's media arm Sherwood lays off staff as it looks to 'streamline team structure.'Jefferies CEO slams 'vitriolic attacks' over young banker's death, and offers support to junior staff. Read the memo.RTO mandates have workers looking for alternatives to companies like Amazon and JPMorgan.Beyonc wins album of the year for 'Cowboy Carter' at the 2025 Grammys her first triumph in the awards show's biggest category.3 things in markets Greg Nash / Pool / AFP via Getty Images; Joe Maher/Getty Images; Mike Marsland/Mike Marsland/Getty Images for Sky; Rebecca Zisser/BI 1. Who's behind the celebrity meme coin scams? Celebrity meme coins are prime targets for classic pump-and-dump schemes, which can leave investors with suddenly worthless tokens. One crypto sleuth tracked down the culprit but was left with a bigger question: Were the celebrities in on it?2. Trump might need to get out of his own way regarding the Fed. The president has repeatedly demanded the Fed lower interest rates, which Fed Chair Jerome Powell has shrugged off. Though Trump blames Powell for inflation, Wall Street forecasters think the bigger obstacle to lowering it is the president's own trade plans.3. #noregrets. Okay, well maybe a few but these four older Americans told BI how they eased into retirement without much they'd change in retrospect. "Do I wish I had more money? Yes, but I would not have done anything different," one said.3 things in tech Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has released a version of "Get Low" with the rapper T-Pain. David Zalubowski/ AP Images 1. Can't stop, won't stop. If the first few weeks of the year are any indication, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is making good on his promise that 2025 will be the company's "year of intensity." It's already made content moderation changes and realigned itself with Trump, and there are shifts in the workforce and AI development still to come.2. President Trump's proposed US government stake in TikTok could be a legal nightmare. The government owning a piece of a major social app would be new territory and for it to work, the dealmakers would need to set up editorial guardrails to protect users' First Amendment rights. Still, legal analysts told BI that TikTok's content moderation could create an avalanche of legal challenges and make the app hard to run.3. The race is on to recreate DeepSeek's market-breaking AI. Companies like Amazon and Microsoft have already adapted versions of the R1 model for their cloud platforms. Many are also attempting to replicate it from the ground up and putting DeepSeek's claims to the test. As DeepSeek's model continues to gain traction, some cloud service and AI interference providers say they're noticing increased demand for Nvidia H200 chips.3 things in business mactrunk/Getty, Tyler Le/BI 1. The quiet winner of Trump's mass deportation plan. Trump's aggressive stance on immigration has already propelled stock prices in one industry: private prisons. The sector, which was on the outs with the Biden White House, stands to rake in millions more from immigrant detention.2. Hotels for the homeless. Some US cities are taking part in a bold new experiment: buying and renovating hotels to house the homeless. Affordable converted hotels can be a "lower-barrier-for-entry option" for those struggling to find a home especially as neighborhoods like Brentwood in Raleigh face threats of urban sprawl and gentrification.3. Trump issued a series of executive orders aimed at reshaping the American education system. They examine redirecting federal funds to private schools that align with the president's politics, and changing curricula. It's unclear how his plans will be implemented, and the orders will likely face legal challenges. Still, they could have "a chilling effect" on schools, one education expert told BI.In other newsTrump's calendar: When tariffs, RTO, buyouts, and a TikTok cut-off are set to go into effect.Exxon Mobil CEO says natural gas can meet surging data center demand on a faster timeline than nuclear power.The list of CEOs voicing support for their companies' DEI initiatives is growing.Mark Zuckerberg said he has no plans to change Meta's hybrid work policy: 'The status quo is fine.'What's happening todayPresident Trump speaks with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, following his tariffs order.Court hearing in lawsuit filed by Blake Lively against costar Justin Baldoni.Israel and Hamas expected to begin phase two of ceasefire talks.Blue Origin New Shepherd rocket launch.The Insider Today team: Dan DeFrancesco, deputy editor and anchor, in New York. Grace Lett, editor, in Chicago. Ella Hopkins, associate editor, in London. Hallam Bullock, senior editor, in London. Amanda Yen, associate editor, in New York. Elizabeth Casolo, fellow, in Chicago.

Sylvia Kang, 40, is a multimillionaire who lives in the Bay Area.Her business success and wealth have strained her relationships with her friends.She now focuses on people with shared hobbies, even if she can't share everything with them.This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Sylvia King, founder and CEO of Mira. It has been edited for length and clarity.I founded Mira, a women's hormonal health company, in 2018. The company really took off during COVID-19, and I became a millionaire about three years ago. Today I'm 40, and I'm a multimillionaire.Despite that, I still live in a three-bedroom house in a middle-class neighborhood with my son and husband. I like to keep a low-profile life. I drive a Tesla Model 3, but that's more about convenience than luxury self-driving makes my life easier.Although I try to live modestly, my wealth and business success have had a big impact on my friendships. I used to have lots of close friends who I could talk to about anything. But these days, I don't have any one person who I can share all aspects of my life with.Friends treat me more formally because of my successAs my wealth and business profile have grown, I've noticed that my friends perceive me differently. People seem to respect me more, which makes them act more formally. We no longer just get together on a whim or grab a bite to eat. Instead, friends feel they need to schedule things well or book a fancy restaurant. Something that should be casual and fun has become an event.It's not all my friends' fault. It's also harder for me to relate to them because so much of my attention and mental energy is dedicated to my company. My friends and I used to talk about getting promotions, seeking a raise, or dealing with our husbands and kids. I can still vent about my husband and son, but my day-to-day running of a company is very different from my friends who work for someone else.Some friends want me to be their mentor. That can make things feel one-sided. Other people are genuinely curious about my life. Even then, talking with them is hard because running a business is so complex. I tend to give them a brief update when they ask, then turn the conversation back to them.I have friends in different areas of my lifeI talked with my therapist about this loss of connection. She told me that no one will be able to fulfill all my needs. I won't have that one best friend who understands all facets of my life.Instead, I have many friends and acquaintances with whom I can share hobbies. I have people I can go on hikes with, or discuss my meditation practice. When I want to talk business, I turn to mentors and acquaintances. Other young-ish entrepreneurs understand aspects of my life that people who haven't started a company wouldn't get.I could retire, but my work gives me purposeThe more money I make, the less interested I am in spending. I used to be motivated by material things: I thought I had to have the right designer purse or fancy car to show my status. Part of that was because, as an Asian woman who immigrated to the US, I needed to look and act a certain way to attract investors to my business.Now that I've launched a successful business, I've grown more confident. I know who I am, and I don't feel the need to prove myself to anyone.So, instead of buying luxury items to show my wealth, I spend only on things that bring me spiritual joy. I love visiting historical sights in Greece and Italy and have a trip to Turkey planned this year. I've hiked in Patagonia and have an excursion to New Zealand coming up.If I wanted to retire and never work again, I probably could. Yet my work improving women's health is what really gives me fulfillment. Once I realized that, reaching financial freedom became less appealing than I had imagined before.

Hours after Donald Trump was sworn in as president, Chinas Xi Jinping made a call to Russian President Vladimir Putin in which, according to the Chinese foreign ministrys readout, the two leaders pledged to deepen their strategic coordination and practical cooperation and firmly support each other. Just a few days earlier on January 17, Putin and his Iranian counterpart, Masoud Pezeshkian, signed a 20-year strategic partnership agreement, pledging a wide range of military cooperation. Meanwhile, North Korea is pledging to send more troops to Russia, where they have been fighting alongside Russian forces against Ukraine since last October, taking shockingly high losses. Its clear that Americas principal global adversaries are increasingly cooperating, and policymakers and experts are increasingly treating these four countries in particular China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea as a cohesive unit. Theyve been called the axis of upheaval, the quartet of chaos, or simply the CRINKs.The cooperation between the four is hard to deny, and while some of these countries have been erstwhile friends since the Cold War, the relationship has certainly deepened since Russias invasion of Ukraine. But what does this axis actually stand for? Is it just an alliance of convenience or something deeper? And how will a new US administration, one that takes a much more transactional approach to foreign policy and is far less invested in promoting democracy abroad, deal with the quartet?What do these strange allies have in common?The four members of this group are all autocracies, but they dont share an official ideology. China is a one-party communist party state with capitalist characteristics. Russia is a conservative, nationalist oligarchy. Iran is a Shiite Islamic theocracy, and North Korea is a hybrid of state communism, radical self-reliance, and racial supremacism. Nor do they have much in common economically: China is the worlds second-largest economy, largest exporter, and an inextricable centerpiece of the global economy, while North Korea is basically an economic nonentity (unless you count cybercrime).But as Andrea Kendall-Taylor and Richard Fontaine of the Center for a New America Security (CNAS) argued in an influential article for Foreign Affairs last year, the four countries are united in their opposition to the prevailing world order and its US leadership. What Western countries see as the rules based international order established out of the ashes of World War II, these countries see as a cloak for American power.There are other commonalities. They share a belief in state-based political rights rather than any kind of individual rights or human rights, Kendall-Taylor, director of the Transatlantic Security Program at CNAS, said. They share a vision of spheres of influence. In other words, its countries interests on the world stage that have to be respected, not those of their citizens. Or as Xi and Putin put it in their joint communique issued shortly after the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, they stand against attempts by external forces to undermine security and stability in their common adjacent regions. All four also view themselves as the inheritors of important historical civilizations. Putins arguments for the invasion of Ukraine at times seem to refer more often to events in the ninth century than to recent grievances. North Koreans are taught that their country is one of the cradles of world civilization. And China has sought to promote an Ancient Civilizations Forum, composed of countries deemed to have inherited great ancient civilizations one of which is Iran.Kendall-Taylor and Fontaine have dubbed the alliance the axis of upheaval a term that brings to mind the axis of evil referred to by President George W. Bush in his 2002 State of the Union address, where he built a case for the war in Iraq. That axis of Iran, Iraq, and North Korea never made much sense. For one thing, at the time, the Iranian and Iraqi governments were mortal enemies, and only became much closer as a result of the American invasion of Iraq. By contrast, Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea actually are working together. But the axis of evil association is one reason why Peter Van Praagh, founder and president of the Halifax Security Forum, a high-profile annual national security gathering, prefers CRINKs, an acronym he coined in 2023. Van Praagh contrasts the term to BRICS (the economic grouping of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa), which he told Vox evokes strength and sort of the action of building something, whereas CRINK has a certain stench to it.Russias invasion of Ukraine helped cement the allianceIran and North Korea are generally viewed as the junior partners in the quartet, due to their relative size and economic clout. China is undoubtedly the most powerful and influential of the four, as reflected in Americas most recent National Defense Strategy, which defined the Peoples Republic of China as the pacing challenge for American national security. Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during Putins departure at the Sunan International Airport in Pyongyang on June 19, 2024. AFP via Getty ImagesBut Russia is in many ways the catalyst driving the group forward and bringing it together. The 2022 invasion of Ukraine accelerated the deepening of ties that had already been developing for years. Shortly after Russias invasion, Putin and Xi meant to proclaim a friendship with no limits, including Russia affirming its support for Beijings position that Taiwan is part of China. Though China is not believed to have directly provided weapons to Russia since the war began, trade between the two countries has grown dramatically over the course of the war as Western countries have imposed increasingly draconian sanctions on the Russian economy. China is now Russias key supplier of civilian consumer goods like cars and clothing as well as dual use materials, like the microchips and machine parts that Russia uses to sustain its war machine. China, in return, has been buying massive amounts of Russian oil at a discount thanks to sanctions. According to US officials, China has been receiving Russian technical help with its submarine and missile programs as well. In September 2023, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un rode his private train to Russia for talks with Putin amid reports that the Russians were buying millions of North Korean artillery shells and rockets. North Korea and Russia signed a mutual defense treaty last summer, and last October, thousands of North Korean troops were sent to Russia to help retake territory in the Kursk region which is currently occupied by Ukrainian forces.Russia and Iran were the principal backers of Bashar al-Assads now-toppled regime in Syria. Iran has also long been a customer of Russian military hardware, notably including several S-300 air defense missile systems as well as tanks and submarines. Since the invasion, however, Russia has been the customer, particularly of Irans Shahed kamikaze drones. According to the Ukrainian government, Russia has launched more than 8,000 Iranian drones since the start of the war. The US also says Iran has been sending Russia short-range ballistic missiles.At times, the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East have seemed increasingly intertwined. Russia was reportedly in talks last year to send missiles to the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, while Ukraine provided aid to the rebels fighting Assad in Syria. In 2023, Iran was invited, along with several other countries, to join the BRICS, which Russia in particular has sought to promote an alternative to Western-led groupings like the G7. To explain the alliance that has developed since the war in Ukraine, Yun Sun, a senior fellow and director of the East Asia program at the Stimson Center, said Chinese commentators often use the phrase: They form a circle and they keep each other warm in a harsh winter. Thats the mentality. Theyre looking for someone to have their back when theyre in this strategic competition with the United States.Is this just a coalition of the sanctioned?One other thing these countries have in common is that theyre all the target of a US-led economic sanctions regime, and extremely eager to find ways to overturn that regime. Putin, in particular, has been keen to develop a global payment system as an alternative to the dollar, which he argues the US uses as a political weapon. Some experts argue that its actually US economic pressure that has created the axis. This is an alliance of United States making, says Vali Nasr, professor of international affairs and Middle East studies at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. Its not that these countries have natural affinities or strategic convergence. But going back several presidents, the US has basically followed the same strategy against all these countries at the same time in a way that brings them together. For example, a so-called shadow fleet of opaquely registered and insured oil tankers that has emerged to transport Russian and Iranian oil around the world, including to China, effectively creating a parallel global oil market. Others question whether the four countries should really be grouped together this way. I dont think its a useful construct, because our relationship with Russia is very different from our relationship with China, said Eugene Rumer, director of the Russia and Eurasia program at the Carnegie Endowment and a critic of the axis concept. In order to deal with these countries effectively, the threats that they pose to us, I think we need to look at them in a more disaggregated manner.Framing global politics as a competition between ideologically opposed blocs also risks raising the ire of non-Western democracies such as India, Brazil, and South Africa, all of whom have also sought to maintain good relations with Washington. Some would say thats the point: a country like South Africa cant claim to uphold international law when it comes to Gaza while also effectively helping to enable Russias invasion of Ukraine. But leaders of these countries, suffice it to say, dont see it that way. Many insist on dividing the world into friends and enemies. But the most vulnerable are not interested in simplistic dichotomies, Brazilian President Luiz Incio Lula da Silva said at a recent BRICS summit. Kendall-Taylor acknowledged that US economic pressure and other pressures may have deepened ties between the axis countries, but asked, What would have been the alternatives to the US policies that were pursued? When Russia invades Ukraine, should we not sanction them?Trump vs. CRINKs?Even if these countries form a coherent grouping today, many dont expect it to last. Rumer points at the Russian-Iran relationship as an example of the fragility of ties between these countries. The recently signed partnership between the two countries is notably not a mutual defense agreement theyre under no obligation to help each other if they come under attack. In fact, its more or less an open secret that Russia, which operated air defense systems in Syria, tolerated Israeli air strikes against Iranian assets and proxies in that country for years. If I were Iran, I certainly wouldnt count on Russia to be a reliable protector if, say, the United States and Israel decide its time to strike Iranian nuclear facilities, Rumer said.Complicating the discussion of the future of the CRINKs axis is the arrival of a new US president with a very different approach. In the last weeks of his presidency, President Joe Biden approved a classified national security memorandum, which reportedly lays out the threat posed by cooperation between the four countries including efforts to interfere in Americas elections and proposed measures to combat them. Critics of the Biden administration often argued that for all the former presidents invocations of a struggle between democracy and authoritarianism, and upholding international law, it often fell short of those ideals in, for example, its support of the war in Gaza or its relationship with Saudi Arabia. Trump, on the other hand, is unlikely to refer to these ideals at all. Noting the administrations early decisions to pull out of the Paris climate agreements and the World Health Organization, Kendall-Taylor said that during Trumps first term, we really didnt have people present in the UN and a lot of the committees where a lot of important business is done. And we ceded a lot of that space to China and other countries that might be sympathetic to their vision for the future.Some of Trumps advisers are also inherently skeptical of taking on all four of these countries at once. Sometimes referred to as prioritizers, they argue that the US needs to extract itself from conflicts with Russia in Europe and Iran in the Middle East to focus on the real threat: China. Is it in Americas interest, are we going to put in the time, the treasure, the resources that we need in the Pacific right now badly? national security adviser Mike Waltz said at a recent event, referring to US support for Ukraine.During his first term, Trump famously fell in love with Kim during their unusual nuclear diplomacy, and for all his China-bashing rhetoric, often touted his good working relationship with Xi and pushed for a trade deal with Beijing. As he enters his second, hes seeking a deal with Russia and Ukraine to end the war, and hasnt ruled out seeking a new nuclear deal with Iran, despite the fact that he pulled out of the last nuclear deal during his first term. Nasr, who served as a senior adviser on Afghanistan in President Barack Obamas State Department, pointed to Henry Kissinger and Richard Nixons outreach to China during the Cold War as an example of how the US could seek to divide its adversaries rather than continuing to unite them.Weve been following a kind of a moralistic, simplistic view that is based on casting your enemies sort of in the most negative light, which they may deserve, but thats not strategy, he said. The clever strategy would be to say, Okay, what incentive could get Iran to separate itself from Russia?There are certainly fissures within the group. The Chinese-North Korean relationship so close its been traditionally referred to as like lips and teeth, has reportedly been strained by the North Koreans deepening relations with Russia; Russian leaders are clearly uneasy about their growing economic reliance on China, but dont have much choice in the matter as long as they keep pursuing the costly war in Ukraine. Exploiting those fissures to the USs benefit is another matter.Van Praagh is skeptical. Theres not going to be any separating Putins Russia and Xi Jinpings China, he said. And theres not going to be any separating Russia from Iran and North Korea, because it needs their material support right now. Rather than compromising on Ukraine to focus on China, he argues that the outcome of the Ukraine war is what will determine whether China feels it can have its way in Taiwan. We really have to achieve Ukrainian victory, and that means pushing Russia out of Ukraine, and that, in and of itself, is going to provide incredible opportunities to the whole world, he said. Of course, Trump has also expressed some sympathy toward Russias position that NATO was encroaching on its sphere of influence in Ukraine. And his position on the importance of defending Taiwans sovereignty has been pretty noncommittal. His rhetoric on Greenland and Panama and extreme hardball approach to an immigration dispute with Colombia suggests his views of spheres of influence might parallel Russia and Chinas in some ways. As Yaroslav Trofimov of the Wall Street Journal wrote in a recent essay, Today the concept of a rules-based international order looks more and more utopian. We may instead be returning to a 19th-century style global order in which empires recognized each others spheres of influence worldwide, including the right to oppress and dominate less powerful countries and peoples within those spheres.In other words, failing to defeat the axis, or divide it, the US may simply end up joining it. Youve read 1 article in the last monthHere at Vox, we're unwavering in our commitment to covering the issues that matter most to you threats to democracy, immigration, reproductive rights, the environment, and the rising polarization across this country.Our mission is to provide clear, accessible journalism that empowers you to stay informed and engaged in shaping our world. By becoming a Vox Member, you directly strengthen our ability to deliver in-depth, independent reporting that drives meaningful change.We rely on readers like you join us.Swati SharmaVox Editor-in-ChiefSee More:

This story was originally published in The Highlight, Voxs member-exclusive magazine. To get early access to member-exclusive stories every month, join the Vox Membership program today.Receiving a performance review, for a job that I was good at, I learned that the problem with me was not my output, but rather my confidence. Rachel needed to trust her own instincts, I read, thinking of every time I had consulted another person for their opinion, every time I had joked about what I didnt know. In the next quarter, the hope was that I would gain the confidence to ask for less direction. Where this confidence should come from, it did not say. I have never had any confidence, or at least, not the kind that people recognize. I do not exude peaceful self-assurance. I have bad posture. I bite my nails until they hurt. For much of my life, I wanted to be an actor, and spent a lot of time in various training programs, where it became clear my strength was clowning and I didnt want to be a clown. I was, one adviser informed me, not adequately glamorous, which of course wasnt wrong. I never got over my terror of auditioning, never learned to see it as anything other than a referendum on whether I was good enough. Then I became a writer. At my first office job, my exasperated boss told me to stop saying I was concerned.Confidence, we have decided as a culture, is a virtue. It isnt just that it is effective, though both research and observation suggest it is confident people are seen as better at their jobs, are more attractive as romantic partners but that confidence is a moral good. It is an asset to the individual and also the collective. Confidence is embedded in our national DNA: In this great nation, anyone can bootstrap their way to success and fortune with hard work and blind self-belief. I do not exude peaceful self-assurance. I have bad posture. I bite my nails until they hurt.Unsurprisingly, given its singular importance, a whole industry dedicated to cultivating more of it has sprung up. In 2014, Claire Shipman and Katty Kay published The Confidence Code, which, after the previous years Lean In, may be the pinnacle of Confidence Literature, but there are so many variations. There is Quick Confidence and How to Be Confident and The Tao of Self-Confidence. There is I Can Make You Confident, but also Unstoppable Confidence, Wise Confidence, Radical Confidence, and Confident and Killing It. Online, Tony Robbins will tell you how to be confident, and so will the New York Times, the Cleveland Clinic, and Today.com. Perfect your posture, suggests wikiHow in How to Be Confident (with Pictures).For a more intensive experience, there are one-on-one confidence coaches and group seminars and online pre-recorded courses, where, for somewhere between a hundred and several thousand dollars, you can learn to unleash your pent-up better self. Udemy, the online education platform, currently offers 403 options. Stuck in traffic or at the grocery store, you can listen to bite-sized confidence-boosting pep talks on Marigold ($39.99/year). The confidence-seeker on a budget can make do with access to a nonstop stream of inspirational confidence content on social media for free. I was furious, all the time, at this emphasis on confidence. Why did it matter so much how I felt about myself, as long as I was doing things? A lot of people I knew, in real life and online and in the news, seemed to feel quite sure of their abilities, despite obvious evidence. At the same time, I was desperate for what they had. What a life, walking around, certain that my successes were the well-deserved product of my well-honed abilities, and my failures were simply momentary setbacks on my path up and up and up! It sounded great. Approaching my life with the conviction that I was terminally not quite good enough clearly wasnt working, even if, objectively, it was on some level true. I cried a lot. I resisted the idea that confidence was the answer, and also wondered what would happen if I got more of it. Confidence is an eternally slippery concept; just ask the experts who study it. For research purposes, Cameron Anderson, a professor at the University of California Berkeleys Haas School of Business who studies influence and leadership, defines it as your self-perceived abilities in a given domain. But Anderson is aware that this is not what most laypeople mean by confidence, and moreover, he suspects theyre onto something. I just have to think that there is something to a generalized form of it, he says. Its just that we havent figured out exactly what that is yet. Its sort of this bucket that everything gets thrown in, says Juliet Bourke, a professor in the School of Management and Governance at the University of New South Wales. Is a lack of it a performance issue? A personality issue? Some elusive third thing? Its this amorphous concept, she tells me. But because its amorphous, it means we dont really have a discussion around, what are the attributes of confidence that are meaningful? The confident woman commands the room, fights for the raise, wears the dress, gives the toast, and she does this without sleeplessness or the occasional stray Xanax.The confidence professionals are also trying their best to define it. At the core of the definition of confidence is certainty, said Alyssa Dver, founder and CEO of the American Confidence Institute, which uses brain science to train leaders and coaches how to effectively give confidence to others. The thing you are supposed to be certain about, specifically, is yourself. Confidence coach Jodie Bruce-Clarke sees it similarly: To be confident is the fundamental belief that youll be able to handle anything that comes your way. In The Confidence Code, Shipman and Kay define confidence as the stuff that turns thoughts into action, a definition I found both persuasive and confusing. What does a confident person do? A confident person asks for what they want, at work and in life, authoritatively, but not aggressively. Everyone likes a confident person, but a confident person doesnt need everyone to like them. A confident person seizes opportunity; a confident person takes strategic risks. She does not hedge, needlessly apologize, or cower, and when she speaks, her sentences end clearly and decisively. The confident woman commands the room, fights for the raise, wears the dress, gives the toast, and she does this without sleeplessness or the occasional stray Xanax.One primary advantage of confidence is that other people do in fact eat it up. In studies, Anderson and his team broke people into groups and set them to work on a particular task, tracking their behavior; midway through, theyd reveal the actual abilities of the participants, based on pre-testing information. We kind of exposed everybody, he says. We would say, youre actually the best at this, and youre the worst. But when the exact same groups got back to work after the revelation, very little changed. I would have expected there to be a kind of backlash against the people who had come across as really confident but who turned out to be terrible, because the group doesnt want to underperform. They dont want to fail at what theyre doing, Anderson told me. There wasnt. People really wanted to hold onto this belief that they were great for reasons we dont know.I told him that I found this very frustrating, and he agreed it was. Thats why I started studying this, he said. I hate that this happens. Anybody can lack confidence, but culturally, it is a womens issue, like body dysmorphia. God give me the confidence of a mediocre white dude, the writer Sarah Hagi tweeted, spawning a meme and an infinite parade of Etsy mugs. Not that women would necessarily benefit from having the confidence of a mediocre white man, even if they could get it: If women do perform confidence, theyre seen as being too aggressive, says Darren Thomas Baker, an assistant professor of responsible leadership at Monash University, and Bourkes frequent collaborator. And if they underperform it, theyre seen as not being confident enough.Holly Stapleton for VoxLuckily, the Confidence Industry promises, women can learn to thread this needle with diligent self-surveillance and a can-do attitude. If they practice, the thinking goes, anyone can be confident, because confidence is not a random genetic blessing but, in fact, a skill. This is reassuring, in the way that all self-help is reassuring: You arent stuck the way you are. I often liken it to fitness, Bruce-Clarke told me. You can choose to increase your fitness. On Zoom, I met with Lucy Baker (no relation to Darren), who is a confidence coach in Lincolnshire, on the eastern coast of England. (Americans may have a particular affinity for confidence, but we do not have a monopoly.) Before she was a coach, she was a makeup artist, and before that, she worked in ad sales at a magazine. She was good at both of these things, she tells me from the backyard shed that is now her office, but she felt terrible all the time a phony among the capable. I just always had a head full of negativity, she said. It was only after giving a pep talk to a high-powered client in her makeup chair that Baker began to think there had to be a way to help women, herself included, feel less bad. She devoted the next six months to a self-led confidence immersion course of her own ad-hoc invention, which would become the backbone of her methodology. I did a lot of journaling, she told me. Im massively into journaling.I had never worked with a confidence coach before. During our session, for which I paid 150 pounds (or around $190; generally, she charges 650 pounds or about $830 for three), I tried to explain my problem. I was not incapacitated and did not shrink from opportunity; I just lived in a constant state of low-key panic that I was on the verge of irreparably fucking up. This was time-consuming and seemed annoying to other people, particularly my bosses. Additionally, my hair, which I had always liked well enough, had recently changed texture, and I had begun avoiding mirrors. Was my problem confidence? Sure, I thought, why not? Confidence is capacious; it can always be at least one of your problems. Trace problems in any personal, professional, or political relationship, Dver had written in her book, Confidence Is a Choice, and youll find a lack of confidence at the core. I read in a how-to manual Id gotten from the library that with increased confidence, a good life could be transformed into a great one, but whos to say there is a ceiling? Confidence is indeed like fitness, in that it is endless. I work on it all the time, Lucy Baker told me. And I am confident, but if I didnt work on it, I wouldnt be.Even critics of confidence cant quite come out against it. The individual benefits are real. It gets you stuff, including, perhaps, happiness. Would anyone genuinely want to position themselves against making young women feel more comfortable in their own skins, endowing mothers with self-esteem, or helping older women feel confident in the workplace?, write Shani Orgad and Rosalind Gill in Confidence Culture, which takes issue not so much with confidence itself but with its cultural prominence as an imperative for women: If confidence is indeed at the root of everything, then everything is at least a little bit your fault.If confidence is indeed at the root of everything, then everything is at least a little bit your fault.Not coincidentally, Orgad dates the rise of this phenomenon, what she and Gill call confidence culture, to the immediate aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis and the ongoing dismantling of social safety nets. We see this individualized injunction to resolve what is a structural issue, she told me. The proposed response to social and economic injuries is nearly always exactly the same, she and Gill write: to work on increasing ones self-confidence. This is true regardless of your issue, and no matter what else is wrong in the world. You need to be more self-reliant. You cant depend on others. You need to do it yourself. If youre a success, great, if youre a failure, thats your fault, Darren Baker tells me, unpacking the subtext. Theyre very neoliberal values. There is, of course, one other obvious problem with celebrating confidence as a free-floating virtue: We have to live in the world that it creates. I thought about the former and future president of the United States, who had run, in part, on the narrative that he had been a great business person. That one investigation after another revealed that he had not, in fact, been a great business person didnt seem to matter. He was great because he said he was. For several years, high-powered rich people had been mesmerized by Elizabeth Holmes and her nonworking blood test. Certainty is appealing, obviously. But theres also a lot of evidence we really like humility in other people, cautions Tenelle Porter, an assistant professor of psychology at Rowan University who studies human fallibility. This is not an argument against confidence, so much as for tempering it. I think humility and confidence need one another, she says. It takes some confidence to admit when you dont know something, or to admit that youve got something wrong. The ability to interrogate your blind spots or at least, be generally aware that you have blind spots ought to be an asset. We could fetishize humility, the same way we do confidence. We could fetishize collaboration and celebrate mentorship, or empathy, or intellectual curiosity, and we would benefit from it, not just personally, but as a society. We do not. Baker, my confidence coach, believes confidence has three basic tenets: You have to know yourself, you have to like yourself, and you have to trust yourself. To this end, she prescribed me three exercises. The first is a journaling exercise called Who am I? I am supposed to write about what I like and hate and who I love and what I eat and the history of how I got this way. I write that I love noodles and hate being rushed. In the second exercise, I am supposed to make a list of all my negative thoughts, and then keep adding to it. I write that I am a lazy failure with bad hair. I am supposed to go through the list and write down the opposite. In order to push out that negative voice, youve got to fill your head with something slightly different, Baker had advised me, even if it isnt always uber positive. I write that my hair is fine.Holly Stapleton for VoxThe third exercise is a simple worksheet I am supposed to use for the next month to track moments of low confidence and their potential triggers. I check my email, and there isnt any, which suggests to me that I have professionally disappeared and may never work again. On the worksheet, I write no email. The potential trigger is no email. The worksheet asks who I am with when I have this thought. I write down: alone.I had been assured that I could fix myself and reprogram my brain, thus improving my experience of the world, and probably the worlds experience of me. Confidence, Anderson had speculated, was soothing to other people: When youre scared or anxious, its reassuring to be right next to someone whos saying, no, we can do this, we can emerge out of this muck. I understood, because I wanted people to tell me Id emerge out of this muck all the time. In a vacuum, unencumbered by its usage, confidence is just one of many qualities a person could possess. I told Darren Baker that I believed I would be happier and more professionally successful if I had more of it, and having met me twice over the internet, he agreed that this was possible. If I could overhaul myself to need less from other people, and plough forward alone, without encouragement or validation, that would probably be good for my future prospects. But I also think the question is, do you really want to be that person? he countered. Is that good for society? I did not especially want to be that person self-doubt is one of my most developed traits, in my opinion, and Id hate to see it wasted. I appreciated many things about myself, none of which were ease or certainty, though I can appreciate these traits in other people. Confidence, Alyssa Dver at the American Confidence Institute had told me, had to do with being certain about who you are, relative to your values, wants, and needs. In this sense, I might be, in fact, developing new confidence: the confidence to double down on my actual strengths and principles, including my enthusiastic openness to the possibility that I was wrong. I need other people and their opinions. I want to be honest. I do not value the performance of being an authoritative ass. Am I, in fact, confident? I couldnt possibly be sure.Youve read 1 article in the last monthHere at Vox, we're unwavering in our commitment to covering the issues that matter most to you threats to democracy, immigration, reproductive rights, the environment, and the rising polarization across this country.Our mission is to provide clear, accessible journalism that empowers you to stay informed and engaged in shaping our world. 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TechNintendo Switch 2 UK preorders go live as major retailer lets you skip the launch day rushCurrys and ShopTo will let Nintendo fans skip the queues for the Switch 2 by registering interest now here's how to get the ball rolling for the latest consoledailystarBookmarkShareTechByLloyd CoombesGaming Editor11:23, 3 FEB 2025BookmarkSwitch 2 is coming this yearNintendo finally revealed the Switch 2 earlier this month, but the full reveal is coming on April 2. Twiddling your thumbs waiting for more news? Put the time to good use and get yourself in the best position to preorder. While launch pricing is still up in the air, a couple of UK retailers have begun to allow prospective buyers to get in the queue now, helping skip the launch day rush. Given one (surprisingly plausible) rumour puts the Switch 2 release date in May, all the groundwork laid right now could have a big payoff so here's how to get things moving already. Switch 2 preorders kick off at two UK retailers Joy-Con will be magnetic now Sure, we don't know how much the Switch will be yet, but that hasn't stopped Currys and ShopTo letting shoppers register their interest. Currys currently has a form set up which just needs your name, email, and phone number to get the ball rolling. It's essentially a mailing list to give you all the news about the console, including when it'll go on sale meaning you can act before the rest of the population, especially since the console is likely to be a big seller. ShopTo, on the other hand, is asking users to part ways with a single penny to get themselves to the front of the queue, although as the site warns "official price and allocation details have yet to be confirmed by Nintendo." "Pre-orders are not guaranteed!" it adds, but promises email updates as news comes from Nintendo. April 2 is likely to be a very busy day for retailers, so that 1p might end up being very well-spent indeed if it helps you secure one of the first Nintendo Switch consoles in the UK. For more on Switch 2, check out why President Donald Trump could have a big say in the console's success, as well as the 'leaked' pricing that makes it cheaper than its rivals. For the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletters.Story SavedYou can find this story in My Bookmarks.Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right.More On

Xbox could become the new Sega says ex-PlayStation bossAdam StarkeyPublished February 3, 2025 11:27amUpdated February 3, 2025 11:27am Has Microsoft been Dreamcasted? (Christian Petersen/Getty Images)Xbox could be going the same way as Sega, according to former PlayStation boss Shawn Layden, as he addresses Microsofts strategy.As Microsoft continues to bring more Xbox games to other platforms, the future of Xbox has become a huge talking point within the games industry.While the publisher has confirmed it is not leaving the console business behind (for the next generation at least), Microsofts recent marketing push downplays the Xbox Series X/S in favour of its cross-device streaming service Xbox Game Pass.When coupled with the gradual rollout of Xbox games on other platforms, theres a growing concern that Xboxs identity could diminish in the minds of consumers pushing them out of the conversation with Sony and Nintendo.This topic is addressed in a new interview with former PlayStation boss Shawn Layden, who has recently been very vocal on a range of issues affecting the games industry.When asked about concerns around Microsofts multiplatform strategy on the Kiwi Talkz YouTube channel, Layden said: Multiplatform is a strategy, particularly in a world where the cost of development is increasing so dramatically.Multiplatform means widening your addressable market, as the marketing guys say. Just getting more people a chance to see it. I certainly can understand, appreciate, and welcome that ability to have Xbox games appearing on other platforms.What does it do to their brand? It makes the conversation harder to create the FOMO [fear of missing out]. Youre trying to do that by bringing everyone to your platform saying, if youre not here youre missing out, but if its available on all platforms, thats one of your marketing tactics you cant use. You cant say its only available here, if its available everywhere.Layden, who was chairman of PlayStation Worldwide Studios when he left Sony in 2019, went onto to make an apt, if perhaps unflattering, comparison as to Xboxs potential future.Weve seen it before, he added. I was in the business when Sega brought their Dreamcast titles to PlayStation 2. And, in time, then Sega became a software-only company and have had a great transformation in that respect. Theyre doing great. So it does have historical precedence.Segas final console, the Dreamcast, was discontinued in 2001, three years after it launched. Since then, the company has continued to publish games across multiple platforms, specifically the likes of Sonic The Hedgehog, the Like A Dragon series, and Atluss Persona games. Sega has found success with the Like A Dragon series (Sega)While its unclear if this comparison was intended as a sleight against Microsofts plans to stay in the hardware conversation, his comments do emphasise the tough road ahead for Xbox in making any future console, whether handheld or otherwise, an enticing proposition.The acquisition of Activision Blizzard, however, has given Xbox a financial lift, so the companys position as one of the largest game publishers in the world could negate any damage from low hardware sales moving forward delaying any potential exit from the console space like Sega. Layden previously discussed platform exclusivity in an interview last year, describing it as something which becomes less important over time.If youve established your platform and people understand what it is you can bring and why it will be different here than that game would be over there, then youve solved the argument, he said.More TrendingMicrosofts multiplatform approach looks set to only accelerate this year, with Indiana Jones And The Great Circle and Forza Horizon 5 both coming to PlayStation 5. Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer has also confirmed Xbox games are coming to the Switch 2, with rumours pointing to Halo: The Master Chief Collection and Microsoft Flight Simulator. Forza is coming to PlayStation (Playground Games)Emailgamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below,follow us on Twitter, andsign-up to our newsletter.To submit Inbox letters and Readers Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use ourSubmit Stuff page here.For more stories like this,check our Gaming page.GameCentralSign up for exclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content.This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Your information will be used in line with our Privacy Policy

What would you like to see in the next State of Play? (Sony)A reliable insider seems to have narrowed down when the next State of Play will arrive, which will hopefully reveal new PS5 exclusives.With Nintendo unveiling the Nintendo Switch 2 and Microsoft dropping release dates for its 2025 line-up (as well as announcing a new Ninja Gaiden), Sony is the only console manufacturer yet to have any big gaming-related reveals for 2025.Instead, January saw the company admit it had cancelled yet another two live service games. Considering so many other PlayStation live service games have supposedly been abandoned, you have to wonder what else is left.Compared to Microsoft, Sonys release schedule for 2025 is awfully sparse, but that should hopefully be rectified later this month, if claims of a new State of Play showcase prove accurate.When is the next State of Play?Sony has yet to announce a date for its next State of Play, but its long been assumed it will take place in February or March since thats usually when Sony hosts them.Until now, none of the usual insiders have confirmed that but the usually reliable Nate the Hate, who correctly predicted the Switch 2 reveal would take place on January 16, has been the first to suggest that the State of Play will be sooner rather than later.According to Nate, the State of Play is on track for February, although he hasnt provided an exact date and its unclear if thats because he doesnt know or because Sony hasnt decided yet.When pressed on whether the showcase will take place in the first or second half of the month, though, he answered with, What does your heart tell you?Its assumed this is hinting at the showcase airing on Valentines Day (February 14) or close to it. If accurate, this means we should see Sony formally announce a date for it next week.More TrendingLooking at the release schedule of past State of Plays, Sony has typically held one within the first couple of months of the year, to highlight upcoming first and third party games.Aside from new game announcements, a February showcase would be an ideal time to share details on Sonys two main exclusives for 2025: Ghost Of Ytei and Death Stranding 2.Other first party games that could be shown off are Fairgame$ and Bungies Marathon reboot, the two live service projects Sony hasnt cancelled yet, as well as Insomniac Games Wolverine, which hasnt had an official update since the 2021 reveal.However, it is entirely possible the next one could be dedicated to a single game, like Ghost Of Ytei, rather than be a smorgasbord of announcements. Sony has done this before, with games like Gran Turismo 7 and Horizon Forbidden West. Ghost Of Ytei cant be the only first-party PlayStation 5 exclusive for the year, right? (Sony)Emailgamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below,follow us on Twitter, andsign-up to our newsletter.To submit Inbox letters and Readers Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use ourSubmit Stuff page here.For more stories like this,check our Gaming page.GameCentralSign up for exclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content.This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Your information will be used in line with our Privacy Policy