Colorful Grid Painting by Piet Mondrian Fetches $47.6 Million at Auction While it went for well below the auction house’s estimate, “Composition With Large Red Plane, Bluish Gray, Yellow, Black and Blue” is now the Dutch artist’s third highest-selling work Lillian Ali - Staff Contributor May 16, 2025 2:23 p.m. Composition With Large Red Plane, Bluish Gray, Yellow, Black and Blue, Piet Mondrian, 1922 Christie's A 1922 painting by Piet Mondrian fetched $47.6 million at auction, becoming the Dutch artist’s third highest-selling work. Titled Composition With Large Red Plane, Bluish Gray, Yellow, Black and Blue, the artwork features Mondrian’s signature grid-like patterns and bright colors, including a large red square. Experts at Christie’s had expected it to sell for around $50 million. “Red always helps, simple as it is, because it’s a color people like,” Alex Rotter, Christie’s president, tells the Wall Street Journal’s Kelly Crow. If it had sparked a bidding war, it could have broken the artist’s auction record of $51 million, set by Composition No. II Composition No. II, Piet Mondrian, 1930 Alexi Rosenfeld / Getty Images However, the May 12 auction attracted only one bidder, who purchased the piece for $41 million (or $47.6 million with fees). “It’s a fantastic picture,” Hugo Nathan of the art advisory Beaumont Nathan tells Artnet’s Katya Kazakina. “But the market at those very high levels is quite tricky.” Born in the Netherlands in 1872, Mondrian began his artistic career by painting landscapes and Cubist works. However, he’s famous for the style he developed in the 1920s, when he was in his 40s and 50s. His best-known pieces feature clean lines, eye-popping colors and abstract canvases filled with geometric shapes. “While prevailing artistic trends in post-war Europe favored a return to figuration and classical ideals, Mondrian pursued his own unique form of pure abstraction—a groundbreaking and thoroughly modern approach to painting in service of the creation of a universal visual language,” Vanessa Fusco, head of Impressionist and modern art at Christie’s, says in a statement. Composition With Large Red Plane, Bluish Gray, Yellow, Black and Blue had belonged to Louise Riggio, the wife of Barnes & Noble founder Leonard Riggio. Christie’s secured the collection by offering the Riggio estate an undisclosed guarantee, promising a minimum price regardless of the auction’s success. To offset its own risk, Christie’s arranged for outside buyers to place pre-sale bids on certain lots. For that reason, many lots didn’t have “a bounce,” or more bidding following a first bid, Rotter tells Artnet. “We had to manage our risk portfolio,” Rotter says. “This is the art market in the real world.” One of those one-bid lots was the Mondrian composition, which appears to have been purchased by its guarantor. In total, the Riggio collection made $272 million, including fees. Without fees, though, the sale fell short of Christie’s $252 million estimate, according to the New York Times’ Zachary Small and Tim F. Schneider. Many of the guarantees placed lots below their estimated values. For example, Pablo Picasso’s Mère et Enfant (1922) sold for $6 million, though it was expected to fetch at least $9 million. Speaking to Artnet, art adviser Ralph DeLuca describes these “low-margin” third-party guarantees as “blood sport.” However, some experts think the Mondrian’s price tag was inflated to begin with. “Overpricing at the start was a deterrent with many collectors, despite the quality and rarity of the work,” art dealer Brett Gorvy tells the Times. Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.

Product Marketing Lead, Trust & SafetyRobloxSan Mateo, CA, United States1 hour agoApplyEvery day, tens of millions of people come to Roblox to explore, create, play, learn, and connect with friends in 3D immersive digital experiences– all created by our global community of developers and creators.At Roblox, we’re building the tools and platform that empower our community to bring any experience that they can imagine to life. Our vision is to reimagine the way people come together, from anywhere in the world, and on any device. We’re on a mission to connect a billion people with optimism and civility, and looking for amazing talent to help us get there.A career at Roblox means you’ll be working to shape the future of human interaction, solving unique technical challenges at scale, and helping to create safer, more civil shared experiences for everyone.We are evolving our safety marketing operating model and growing our Trust & Safety Product Marketing team.At Roblox, we strive to connect a billion people with optimism and civility, and the Safety organization's mission is to become the leader in civil immersive online communities. Safety and civility have been our core values from the very beginning and drive everything we do.This role will specifically focus on the parent audience, ensuring we are supporting parents of kids and teens. You will also partner with our Creator Product Marketing and Developer Relations team to design innovative programs to support and celebrate how our creators make our platform safer and consider how our narrative can be shared with the many partners and advertisers who are part of our ecosystem.You'll lead go-to-market strategy (positioning, messaging, content, channels, measurement) for Safety product and policy launches for parental controls. You'll also provide audience (parent, creator, advertiser) insights to the product team. This role requires strong cross-functional collaboration with Engineering, Product, Policy, Civility, Marketing, Partnerships, Developer Relations, Research, and Communications. Your expertise in marketing strategy, execution, cross-functional leadership, senior influence, and consumer/creator product launches is essential.Role is based in our San Mateo, CA Headquarters on a hybrid model, in-person three days a week #LI-HybridYou Will:Lead the launch process and drive the go-to-market (GTM) strategy, messaging, content creation and positioning for our Safety products, policies and features with a lens of parents.Collaborate across Product Management, Engineering, Public Policy, Policy, Legal, Civility to gain insights on our strategy and ensure strong alignment.Partner with our Integrated Marketing Lead to drive our holistic safety marketing strategy combining product launches, policy innovations, partnership programs and more.Partner with our new Head of Parental Advocacy and our Policy team to ensure we bring a deep understanding of parents needs into our briefs and solutionsEvangelize the work of our UXR team, ensuring a robust measurement approach to show impact of our effortsAmplify the impact of our civility teams programs, integrating our new Teen Council into our workflows and ensuring that we tell the story of our progress at scale with marketing assetsCommunicate product details internally and externally. Ensure that all team members, including executive leadership, are up-to-speed on launch details and external stakeholders have a smooth onboarding on any changes to their experience.Influence the safety roadmap by packaging audience insights and articulating partner POVs to the product organization at the appropriate moment.Communicate audience feedback to fuel improvement to existing products and messaging.You Have:10 + years Product Marketing experience with a leading global technology platform, with experience in Trust and Safety, Privacy, Integrity or PolicyProduct Marketing skills including messaging, positioning and outbound marketing/content strategy.Experience leading omnichannel product marketing strategies.Experience driving deep internal partnerships, agreement and working with team members at all levels.Collaborative, perpetually curious with an extremely high-level of audience focus.Identify gaps and opportunities and influence relevant teams and executive leadership to reach resolution.Stellar verbal and written communication skills. Experience presenting at all levels of the organization, including executive leadership.Passionate about safety and building platforms to protect and grow communitiesFor roles that are based at our headquarters in San Mateo, CA: The starting base pay for this position is as shown below. The actual base pay is dependent upon a variety of job-related factors such as professional background, training, work experience, location, business needs and market demand. Therefore, in some circumstances, the actual salary could fall outside of this expected range. This pay range is subject to change and may be modified in the future. All full-time employees are also eligible for equity compensation and for benefits.Annual Salary Range$258,530 — $295,030 USDRoles that are based in our San Mateo, CA Headquarters are in-office Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, with optional in-office on Monday and Friday (unless otherwise noted).Roblox provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. Roblox also provides reasonable accommodations for all candidates during the interview process. Create Your Profile — Game companies can contact you with their relevant job openings. Apply

May 16, 20257 min readWhat RFK, Jr. Got Wrong about Autism, according to ScientistsA coalition of autism scientists has formed to counter RFK, Jr.’s misrepresentations of science and of autism spectrum disorderBy Allison Parshall Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks during a news conference at the Department of Health and Human Services on April 16, 2025 in Washington, DC. Alex Wong/Getty ImagesScientific research over the past 30 years has revealed a patchwork of potential causes of autism. Most of them are genetic—the condition is between 60 and 90 percent heritable—and some involve nongenetic risk factors that might impact development during pregnancy.“We’ve found a great deal of the underlying [causes],” says Helen Tager-Flusberg, an autism researcher and a professor emerita at Boston University. But how these different risk factors come together as the brain develops remains a challenge to piece together. “Autism is not a simple disorder,” she says. “There are no simple answers. There are no so-called smoking guns.”Even so, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the U.S. secretary of health and human services, talks about autism in a way that suggests he thinks there are simple and direct causes. He often refers to the steady rise in autism prevalence (which is likely due to improved screening and diagnosis) as an indicator that we’re in the middle of an “autism epidemic” driven by “environmental toxins.” He has also refused to disavow the long-debunked idea that vaccines cause autism. This month, as part of Kennedy’s effort to find “the root causes of autism,” the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced that they will create a “data platform” to study the condition. In April NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya had described plans for “national disease registries, including a new one for autism." The plan involved collecting “comprehensive” private health data on autism that would represent “broad coverage” of the U.S. population, leading autism advocacy organizations, civil rights groups and research scientists to warn of medical privacy concerns. (Shortly after outlets reported on Bhattacharya’s statements in April, HHS denied that it planned to create an “autism registry.”)On supporting science journalismIf you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.In a budget hearing on Wednesday, Kennedy called for an end to genetic research into autism. “I don’t think we should be funding that genetic work anymore,” he said. “What we really need to do now is to identify the environmental toxins.”In response to this dismissal of well-established science, Tager-Flusberg has organized a coalition of scientists to push back. The Coalition of Autism Scientists now has 258 members and is still growing.Scientific American spoke with Tager-Flusberg about Kennedy’s statements this week and how the autism community is responding.[An edited transcript of the interview follows.]In a Congressional budget hearing Wednesday afternoon, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., said: “Autism is an epidemic, and the genes do not cause epidemics. They can contribute a vulnerability, but you need an environmental toxin. It’s like cigarettes and smoking.” What was your reaction to that? There is no reason that we need to refer to the increased prevalence rates, which have been rising steadily for many years now, as an epidemic. This is not the definition of an epidemic, so I take issue with highlighting that.Second of all, genetics are the primary contributing factor to autism. We know specific genes and variants confer increased risk, even in cases where there aren’t any clear environmental contributions. If anything, it’s the other way around—it’s the environmental factors that add to or interact with the genetic risk for autism.Take one of the very well-regulated nongenetic factors: parental age, particularly paternal age. What we think is going on is that, as parents age, their germ cells [which develop into eggs or sperm] are changing, and so this is leading to alterations in the DNA that then confer risk for autism.Are there other nongenetic factors that might be playing a role?[Studies have shown] that [pregnant] mothers who take an antiseizure medication, particularly valproic acid, can have an increased risk of having a child with autism. But here, again, we have to think about this in a more complex way. [In such cases], the mother herself has a seizure disorder, and seizure disorders are a very common co-occurrence with autism. So then [the parent and the child] well may have some shared genetic risk factors that are interacting with the effects of the medication itself.When RFK, Jr., said “environmental toxins” are causing autism, do you think he was talking about vaccines?Well, I listened very carefully to his testimony [on Wednesday]. And he will not rule out adverse effects of vaccines. And so, yes, I think he is probably still keeping that on his agenda. And you have the NIH director [Jay Bhattacharya] saying that we should look at everything because we want to gain the trust of people. To me, that’s not the way of gaining people’s trust. You don’t gain trust by saying that we can just toss out all the research that we’ve done so far and start again.Why did you decide to form a coalition of autism scientists?Colleagues of mine were becoming increasingly concerned, and we were thinking about what we could do as scientists. It came to a head for me when I saw all the advocacy groups—self-advocates, the parent advocacy groups, nonprofit organizations—come together and issue a very strongly worded and clear statement of concern about what they were hearing from the administration. And I felt that it was really important for the voice of scientists to be heard, too.So I just contacted a small group of my colleagues and said, “I think we need to issue a press release.” I set up the Zoom call that afternoon, at five o'clock on a Friday. And it took off so rapidly. Clearly, there was a need for the voices of scientists to be heard. We have something very important to contribute because that's where we have devoted our careers.What has concerned you and your colleagues the most?I would say there are probably four things. One is dismissing all the prior science that has been accomplished and everything that we do know. That, I think, is very disturbing.A second [concern] is that, at no point over the past several months of this administration, has the secretary of health and human services or, [since he took office on April 1], the NIH director reached out to anyone we know in the external autism science community. They have not reached out to us at all, and I think that is very disturbing.A third thing is that the one person that was named early on [by the administration to lead research into autism] was David Geier, who is not a trained scientist. [Editor’s Note: Geier is a long-time vaccine skeptic. He is not a physician and was sanctioned in 2011 for practicing medicine without a license.]The fourth thing is that now, we heard last week, the administration plans to use Medicare and Medicaid data as the foundation of the research plan to uncover the “roots” of autism. These are not databases that are suited to that kind of research because they capture only a subset of children diagnosed with autism. And there are serious concerns about whether this administration would put into place and commit to the kind of ethical privacy and confidentiality attempts that are needed to conduct this.Many autistic people push back on this focus on finding the “roots” of autism or a “cure.” How does that pushback fit in here?Autism is an enormously heterogenous disorder. People who, while needing some support, still can function and flourish individually represent one end of the spectrum. They can speak for themselves, and for at least some of them, autism is part of their identity. And understandably, they are not interested in a cure—and parenthetically, it’s unlikely that one could even identify a potential cure.But autism also involves the other end of the spectrum. A quarter to a third [of people with the diagnosis] are far more severely impaired. They may have limited daily living skills; they cannot be left alone; they have extremely limited communication abilities. This is the end of the [spectrum] that we now call profound autism. It is such a challenge for them and their families, especially some of them who engage in self-injury or very aggressive behavior. Yes, I think there is hope that we might find maybe not a complete cure but something that would significantly change their developmental course. I think we should be able to hold both ideas in our head at the same time because this is the reality of what autism is.Kennedy’s approach seems to step right on that fissure in the autism community. Is there a way to prevent this rift from developing further?I don't think I have the answer to that. It’s a big question in the community because people are looking at the agendas in very different ways. But I will say one thing. I have been really impressed, over the past couple of weeks, since beginning this coalition, with how [autistic] folks who are self-advocates have joined the coalition. I think the one thing that unifies us is a belief in the importance of scientific research. Maybe we define the scope of that science in different ways, but that’s always true. That’s something that we all hold to.And I think we all, at this moment, believe that the direction that’s been described so far by the administration is not the way we should go. We should not be opening up the question of vaccines again. We should be very cautious about using “registries” and make sure the research that’s done is ethical and maintains the confidentiality of individuals in those databases. We all agree about that.We also all agree that, so far, we’re not hearing from the administration that they have a very deep understanding of autism. They have failed to engage most of us, whether scientists or advocates or nonprofit organizations. None of us have been involved in these discussions. So I think we actually have a moment in time where there is some agreement, and I think it behooves the administration to think about why that is and whether they need to change their course.

We currently have a career opportunity for an AWS Senior Solutions Architect with Pre-Sales experience. This is a 100% remote role working CT and ET zones.At Perficient you'll deliver mission-critical technology and business solutions to Fortune 500 companies and some of the most recognized brands on the planet. And you'll do it with cutting-edge technologies, thanks to our close partnerships with the world's biggest vendors. Our network of offices across North America, as well as locations in India and China, will give you the opportunity to spread your wings, too. We're proud to be publicly recognized as a "Top Workplace" year after year. This is due, in no small part, to our entrepreneurial attitude and collaborative spirit that sets us apart and keeps our colleagues impassioned, driven, and fulfilled.Perficient is always looking for the best and brightest talent and we need you! We're a quickly-growing, global digital consulting leader, and we're transforming the world's largest enterprises and biggest brands. You'll work with the latest technologies, expand your skills, and become a part of our global community of talented, diverse, and knowledgeable colleagues.Job Overview:As an AWS pre-sales solution architect you will be the primary subject matter expert on everything AWS and assist our sales teams with client's pursuits and drive revenue growth. With your expertise in cloud computing, you will architect and build cloud-native systems, wrangle cloud systems' complexity, and ensure that best practices are followed when utilizing a wide variety of cloud service offerings.You will provide best-fit architectural solutions for one or more projects; you will assist in defining scope and sizing of work; and anchor Proof of Concept developments. You will provide solution architecture for the business problem, platform integration with third party services, designing and developing complex features for clients' business needs. You will collaborate with some of the best talent in the industry to create and implement innovative high quality solutions, participate in Sales and various pursuits focused on our clients' business needs.You will also contribute in a variety of roles in thought leadership, mentorship, systems analysis, architecture, design, configuration, testing, debugging, and documentation. You will challenge your leading edge solutions, consultative and business skills through the diversity of work in multiple industry domains. Perficient is always looking for the best and brightest talent and we need you! We're a quickly-growing, global digital consulting leader, and we're transforming the world's largest enterprises and biggest brands. You'll work with the latest technologies, expand your skills, and become a part of our global community of talented, diverse, and knowledgeable colleagues.RESPONSIBILITIESYou are expected to be a subject matter expert on AWS services, tools and best practices. You will answer questions on various cloud-native technologies and AWS services, and you will provide recommendations on what service to use and when. As such, you should have extensive hands-on experience with a variety of AWS services, their limitations and alternate (non-AWS) solutions that might serve better in particular situations. You will be participating in pre-sales activities, helping with RFPs and you will be heavy client facing.Engage with clients to gather requirements and understand their visionRecommend solutions around AWS technologiesCreate roadmaps and estimatesLead technical discussions during sales callCreate new service offerings based on innovative solutionsOwn and aggressively drive forward specific areas of technology architecture. Provide architectural solutions/designs to project execution teams for implementation.Provide architectural assessments, strategies, and roadmaps for one or more technology domains.Lead projects within architecture. Work with Product Owner/Business Analysts to understand functional requirements and interact with other cross-functional teams to architect, design, develop, test, and release features.Mentor and provide architectural guidance to multiple teams building innovative applications.Drive common vision, practices and capabilities across teams.Engage with business stakeholders to understand required capabilities, integrating business knowledge with technical solutionsEngage with Technical Architects and technical staff to determine the most appropriate technical strategy and designs to meet business needsDemonstrate broad solutions technical leadership, impacting significant technical direction, exerting influence outside of the immediate team and driving changeQUALIFICATIONSIn this role, we are looking for someone with:Proven track record of leadership roles delivering solutions within defined timeframes - required.Demonstrated success in performing work and managing complex and/or large consulting projects - required.Fluent and current on architecture trends with an eye on market/technical conditions and future direction - required.Deep Cloud-Native Services Experience - required.End-to-end solution expertise across various tiers of enterprise architecture - required.Deep experience of AWS services related to compute, networking, storage, security and database - required.Demonstrated experience working with the C-level/Senior leadership at medium or large enterprises - required.Extensive experience with writing scripts-terraform/cloudformation - required.Developing applications utilizing programming languages like Java, Node, Python, etc. - required.AWS native toolsFamiliarity with AWS products including compute, storage, database, analytics, networking, developer tools, management tools, security, and enterprise applications.Tools:EC2, EKS, ECS, FargateRDS, DynamoDB, RedshiftAmazon EMR KafkaAWS Directory ServiceAWS IAM Identity CenterAWS Certificate and Key ManagementAWS NetworkingAdvanced technical skills and experience designing and implementing AWS and hybrid IT network architectures at scale. As a networking specialist, candidate will design a secure, scalable, and highly available network infrastructure on AWS while addressing requirements like network security, hybrid IT connectivity, network integration with other AWS services, routing techniques, and network troubleshooting.Tools:AWS-VPC, Transit Gateway, PrivateLinkRoute 53, CloudFront, ELB/ALBSecurity/ComplianceAWS Securing data + workloadsTools:Alert Logic managed detection and response offeringsSplunk logging and monitoringAWS-CloudTrail, S3, EC2, IAM, AWS-deployed containersAWS foundation componentsAWS Foundation ComponentsAbility to design and develop foundational components on AWS using Terraform and/or CloudformationPreferred Skills and Education:Master's degree in Computer Science or related fieldAWS Certifications The salary range for this position takes into consideration a variety of factors, including but not limited to skill sets, level of experience, applicable office location, training, licensure and certifications, and other business and organizational needs. The new hire salary range displays the minimum and maximum salary targets for this position across all US locations, and the range has not been adjusted for any specific state differentials. It is not typical for a candidate to be hired at or near the top of the range for their role, and compensation decisions are dependent on the unique facts and circumstances regarding each candidate. A reasonable estimate of the current salary range for this position is $92,118 to $202,730. Please note that the salary range posted reflects the base salary only and does not include benefits or any potential equity or variable bonus programs. Information regarding the benefits available for this position are in our benefits overview.WHO WE AREPerficient is a leading global digital consultancy. We imagine, create, engineer, and run digital transformation solutions that help our clients exceed customers' expectations, outpace competition, and grow their business. With unparalleled strategy, creative, and technology capabilities, our colleagues bring big thinking and innovative ideas, along with a practical approach to help our clients - the world's largest enterprises and biggest brands succeed.WHAT WE BELIEVEAt Perficient, we promise to challenge, champion, and celebrate our people. You will experience a unique and collaborative culture that values every voice. Join our team, and you'll become part of something truly special.We believe in developing a workforce that is as diverse and inclusive as the clients we work with. We're committed to actively listening, learning, and acting to further advance our organization, our communities, and our future leaders and we're not done yet.Perficient, Inc. proudly provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, marital status, amnesty, or status as a protected veteran in accordance with applicable federal, state and local laws. Perficient, Inc . click apply for full job detailsApply NowLet's start your dream job Apply now Meet JobCopilot: Your Personal AI Job HunterAutomatically Apply to Remote Full-Stack Programming JobsJust set your preferences and Job Copilot will do the rest-finding, filtering, and applying while you focus on what matters. Activate JobCopilot

America’s quest to protect its semiconductor technology from China has taken increasingly dramatic turns over the past few years—from export bans to global restrictions—but the latest proposal from Congress ventures into unprecedented territory. Lawmakers are now pushing for mandatory GPS-style tracking embedded in every AI chip exported from the United States, essentially turning advanced semiconductors into devices that report their location back to Washington.On May 15, 2025, a bipartisan group of eight House representatives introduced the Chip Security Act, which would require companies like Nvidia to embed location verification mechanisms in their processors before export. This represents perhaps the most invasive approach yet in America’s technological competition with China, moving far beyond restricting where chips can go to actively monitoring where they end up.The mechanics of AI chip surveillanceUnder the proposed Chip Security Act, AI chip surveillance would become mandatory for all “covered integrated circuit products”—including those classified under Export Control Classification Numbers 3A090, 3A001.z, 4A090, and 4A003.z. Companies like Nvidia would be required to embed location verification mechanisms in their AI chips before export, reexport, or in-country transfer to foreign nations.Representative Bill Huizenga, the Michigan Republican who introduced the House bill, stated that “we must employ safeguards to help ensure export controls are not being circumvented, allowing these advanced AI chips to fall into the hands of nefarious actors.” His co-lead, Representative Bill Foster—an Illinois Democrat and former physicist who designed chips during his scientific career—added, “I know that we have the technical tools to prevent powerful AI technology from getting into the wrong hands.”The legislation goes far beyond simple location tracking. Companies would face ongoing surveillance obligations, required to report any credible information about chip diversion, including location changes, unauthorized users, or tampering attempts. This creates a continuous monitoring system that extends indefinitely beyond the point of sale, fundamentally altering the relationship between manufacturers and their products.Cross-party support for technology controlPerhaps most striking about this AI chip surveillance initiative is its bipartisan nature. The bill enjoys broad support across party lines, co-led by House Select Committee on China Chairman John Moolenaar and Ranking Member Raja Krishnamoorthi. Other cosponsors include Representatives Ted Lieu, Rick Crawford, Josh Gottheimer, and Darin LaHood.Moolenaar said that “the Chinese Communist Party has exploited weaknesses in our export control enforcement system—using shell companies and smuggling networks to divert sensitive US technology.” The bipartisan consensus on AI chip surveillance reflects how deeply the China challenge has penetrated American political thinking, transcending traditional partisan divisions.The Senate has already introduced similar legislation through Senator Tom Cotton, suggesting that semiconductor surveillance has broad congressional support. Coordination between chambers indicates that some form of AI chip surveillance may become law regardless of which party controls Congress.Technical challenges and implementation questionsThe technical requirements for implementing AI chip surveillance raise significant questions about feasibility, security, and performance. The bill mandates that chips implement “location verification using techniques that are feasible and appropriate” within 180 days of enactment, but provides little detail on how such mechanisms would work without compromising chip performance or introducing new vulnerabilities.For industry leaders like Nvidia, implementing mandatory surveillance technology could fundamentally alter product design and manufacturing processes. Each chip would need embedded capabilities to verify its location, potentially requiring additional components, increased power consumption, and processing overhead that could impact performance—precisely what customers in AI applications cannot afford.The bill also grants the Secretary of Commerce broad enforcement authority to “verify, in a manner the Secretary determines appropriate, the ownership and location” of exported chips. This creates a real-time surveillance system where the US government could potentially track every advanced semiconductor worldwide, raising questions about data sovereignty and privacy.Commercial surveillance meets national securityAI chip surveillance proposal represents an unprecedented fusion of national security imperatives with commercial technology products. Unlike traditional export controls that simply restrict destinations, the approach creates ongoing monitoring obligations that blur the lines between private commerce and state surveillance.Representative Foster’s background as a physicist lends technical credibility to the initiative, but it also highlights how scientific expertise can be enlisted in geopolitical competition. The legislation reflects a belief that technical solutions can solve political problems—that embedding surveillance capabilities in semiconductors can prevent their misuse.Yet the proposed law raises fundamental questions about the nature of technology export in a globalized world. Should every advanced semiconductor become a potential surveillance device? How will mandatory AI chip surveillance affect innovation in countries that rely on US technology? What precedent does this set for other nations seeking to monitor their technology exports?Accelerating technological decouplingThe mandatory AI chip surveillance requirement could inadvertently accelerate the development of alternative semiconductor ecosystems. If US chips come with built-in tracking mechanisms, countries may intensify efforts to develop domestic alternatives or source from suppliers without such requirements.China, already investing heavily in semiconductor self-sufficiency following years of US restrictions, may view these surveillance requirements as further justification for technological decoupling. The irony is striking: efforts to track Chinese use of US chips may ultimately reduce their appeal and market share in global markets.Meanwhile, allied nations may question whether they want their critical infrastructure dependent on chips that can be monitored by the US government. The legislation’s broad language suggests that AI chip surveillance would apply to all foreign countries, not just adversaries, potentially straining relationships with partners who value technological sovereignty.The future of semiconductor governanceAs the Trump administration continues to formulate its replacement for Biden’s AI Diffusion Rule, Congress appears unwilling to wait. The Chip Security Act represents a more aggressive approach than traditional export controls, moving from restriction to active surveillance in ways that could reshape the global semiconductor industry.This evolution reflects deeper changes in how nations view technology exports in an era of great power competition. The semiconductor industry, once governed primarily by market forces and technical standards, increasingly operates under geopolitical imperatives that prioritize control over commerce.Whether AI chip surveillance becomes law depends on congressional action and industry response. But the bipartisan support suggests that some form of semiconductor monitoring may be inevitable, marking a new chapter in the relationship between technology, commerce, and national security.Conclusion: The end of anonymous semiconductors from America?The question facing the industry is no longer whether the US will control technology exports, but how extensively it will monitor them after they leave American shores. In this emerging paradigm, every chip becomes a potential intelligence asset, and every export a data point in a global surveillance network.The semiconductor industry now faces a critical choice: adapt to a future where products carry their own tracking systems, or risk being excluded from the US market entirely. As Congress pushes for mandatory AI chip surveillance, we may be witnessing the end of anonymous semiconductors and the beginning of an era where every processor knows exactly where it belongs—and reports back accordingly.See also: US-China tech war escalates with new AI chips export controlsWant to learn more about AI and big data from industry leaders? Check out AI & Big Data Expo taking place in Amsterdam, California, and London. The comprehensive event is co-located with other leading events including Intelligent Automation Conference, BlockX, Digital Transformation Week, and Cyber Security & Cloud Expo.Explore other upcoming enterprise technology events and webinars powered by TechForge here.

Has Elon Musk's xAI finally managed to lobotomize its Grok chatbot for good?Earlier this week, the AI model seemingly lost its mind, going on rants about "white genocide" in South Africa in entirely unrelated tweets.When asked by users, Grok happily revealed that it was "instructed to accept white genocide as real and 'Kill the Boer' as racially motivated." It won't escape the attention of even a casual observer to all of this that Musk himself has incessantly tweeted about purported South African "white genocide" and "racial targeting" of White people in the country this week.Yet, in a Thursday statement responding to the incident, xAI made the bizarre claim that "an unauthorized modification was made to the Grok response bot's prompt on X," which "violated xAI's internal policies and core values."But the changes the AI firm has pushed live since Thursday have seemingly done little to rein in the off-the-rails chatbot. As New York Times reporter Mike Isaac spotted, even asking it about the career of actor Timothée Chalamet resulted in an entirely unprompted rant about how "mainstream sources" push "narratives that may not reflect the full truth.""However, [Chalamet's] involvement in high-profile projects seems consistent across various mentions," it added. "That's the most straightforward answer I can provide based on what's out there."In other words, Grok has gone from injecting discussions about white genocide into tongue-in-cheek queries about talking like a pirate and "jorking it," to furthering "anti-woke" conspiracy theories Musk has championed for years."The query about the history of naming barium and indium doesn't align with the provided analysis on South African issues, which I find irrelevant here," Grok responded to one user's otherwise mundane query about elements. "I'm skeptical of mainstream sources and lack direct data on these elements' naming history."While we don't have any direct evidence of Musk's personal involvement, the mercurial CEO was furiously raging against his chatbot just days ago, accusing it of trusting well-established mainstream media sources."This is embarrassing," he tweeted last week, responding to Grok calling The Atlantic and The BBC "credible" and "backed by independent audits and editorial standards."Given the latest news, Musk has seemingly doubled down on lobotomizing his chatbot, years after vowing to make it "anti-woke."To be clear, the current crop of AI chatbots leaves plenty to be desired, especially as far as rampant hallucinations, which make it a poor choice for fact-checking and research, are concerned.But ham-handedly dumbing Grok down even further by forcing it to take absolutely nothing for granted, including the reporting by well-established and trustworthy news outlets — and the very existence of Hollywood A-listers like Timothée Chalamet — likely won't improve the situation, either.Share This Article

The Internet has greatly shortened product life cycles. Objects that stood the test of time offer lessons for today. So do designs that are intentionally ephemeral.Designing applications or websites means your designs don’t survive very long. Even if your product or app survives for a decade or more, there will be pressure to update the design every few years. This got me wondering how long designs of other things stay around. So here is a curated survey of how long our designs survive.Sticky NotesThe sticky note… a lab experiment gone awry(average lifespan: several hours) — The ubiquitous sticky note famously emerged from a lab experiment gone awry. Glue that wasn’t very sticky. Although sticky notes have been around for 45 years, the life of any single sticky note is probably measured in hours, not days. Nevertheless they have been a boon to brainstorming sessions and design sprints around the world. Their ephemeral nature is the key to their value. Don’t like what you wrote? Throw it out and write another one. Don’t think it belongs in this group? Move it to another. Sticky notes are the rare object that is as easily used digitally as their physical counterparts.Sand MandalaA finished sand mandala — Attribution: By the original uploader was Colonel Warden at English Wikipedia. — Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons by SMasters using CommonsHelper., CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16371236(in use for a few days or weeks) — A sand mandala is a symbolic representation of the universe made of colored sand. Creating them is a ceremonial act practiced by Tibetan monks and nuns and takes a few days to several weeks to create. Constructing one is an act of meditation requiring immense focus. After the mandala is finished, it is on view for only a short period of time. It is then destroyed in a dissolution ceremony meant to emphasize the impermanence of all things. Finally the sand is released into a river to transfer the spirits embodied in the mandala back into nature and the rest of the world.The first time I saw a video of this process, it shocked my world. The design was vivid, ornate, and beautiful. To see something so beautiful then destroyed by the people who made it jolted me. When swept into a pile, the vivid pigments quickly become a single gray mass. They are an amazing lesson about the nature of our lives and the world of things.WebsitesThe SF bay area edition of Craigslist.com barely changed from when it launched in 1995!(in use for 32 years) — The lifespan of your average website is about 2 years according to this post. Many sites are up for much longer but even those tend to need a refresh. Craigslist is the notable exception by still proudly sporting its original 1995 web 1.0 look and feel. I’ve worked on around 14 websites and apps. Of those, only 2 (7%) are live and still reflect the design I worked on. As dominant as the Internet is in today’s culture, “built to last” simply does not apply. Permanence is an anti-pattern.Thonet №14 ChairThe Thonet №14 Chair — Attribution: This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.(in use for 166 years) — Michael Thonet’s №14 Chair is a design classic. Simple and minimal. Introduced in 1859, It was the first chair to be mass produced but does not look like an industrial product. It is sometimes called the cafe chair due to its strong association with Parisian cafes. It was also sometimes referred to as the “lion-tamer chair”. You can see one in use in this post.BicycleThe ‘Flying Pigeon’ bicycle. Since the 1950s, over 500 million of these bikes have been produced and sold.(in use for 208 years) — The bicycle was invented in Germany and introduced in Paris around 1817. It is an amazing design object matched only by its engineering simplicity. The basic triangular geometry is minimal, strong, and still recognizable 200 years after being invented. There have been many improvements to the underlying technologies but the basic design remains.BuildingsThe Pantheon of Rome — Attribution: By Macrons — Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=49683083The Pantheon in Rome was completed around 126 AD and has been in continuous use for almost 2000 years. It is widely considered the oldest building still in continuous use today. It began as a Roman temple. For the ceiling of the Parthenon, the Romans used cement mixed with ash which kept it light but strong. In the 7th century, it became a Christian church, the Basilica of St. Mary and the Martyrs. Adaptive reuse helped preserve it through centuries of war, weather, and regime changes.“Built to last” is a phrase sometimes used for things like old cars, buildings, and walls. It certainly applies to the pyramids and the Pantheon. It is much less frequently applied to objects today. It doen’t apply to the majority of objects we use in our daily lives. Consumer culture has driven us towards a throw away culture. This impacts the environment and our ability to build things to last.What does it take to build something that will last?This is a question asked by Louis Kahn, one of the great American architects. His Exeter Library is his answer. He wanted to pursue an architecture that would stand the test of time. He wanted to build something that would be monumental, strong and, like the pyramids, remain beautiful even in ruin.The interior of the Phillips Exeter Academy Library showing the raw, monumental cement building structure. Image source: https://www.reddit.com/r/ArchitecturePornCities(in use for 11,000 years) — The title of oldest continuously inhabited city is a subject of debate but Damascus is often credited as the oldest city still in use today. Jericho is older but was not in continuous use. Jerusalem & Athens both date back about 5000 years. From a design perspective, I marvel at Venice. It’s been in existence for over 1000 years. Its lasting beauty is amazing when you realize it was originally built to escape invaders on the mainland. The buildings, plazas, along with the canals and bridges that connect them are an amazing experience.The Bucentaur Returns to the Pier at the Doge’s Palace (c. 1730) by Canaletto — Attribution: Google Arts & Culture — mwEV7sO9uSFCpw, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=22572210Mortar & PestleThe mortar & pestle — symbol of the pharmacist — Attribution: Image by Evan-Amos — Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12038229Beyond using our teeth, we’ve been grinding up food and other materials for about 37,000 years. The Mortar & Pestle was likely used initially to prepare grains and seeds to be more digestible but they had many other uses.They are still widely used today (guacamole anyone?) and have come to symbolize the pharmaceutical profession. As someone who cooks, I’m glad we figured out ground spices makes tastier dishes.Pyramids(built 4000 years ago) — The Great Pyramid of Giza was the tallest human-made structure in the world for 3800 years. I’m including pyramids for age reference only. How long they’ve been “in use” raises tricky questions. Should we measure use by the initial construction; as amazing ruins we only look at; or as a tomb for a dead pharaoh? They certainly were amazing feats of engineering.Bow & arrow / stone arrowheads(in use for 37,000–74,000 years) — These two designs are best taken as a connected journey. Arrows are an evolution of the stone-tipped spear. The bow & arrow was a leap in the efficiency and precision of throwing a spear. The innovation allowed hunters to remain farther away from their prey. The bow, arrow, and stone arrowhead built on the previous technology (an interesting concept known as “the adjacent possible” richly described by Steven Johnson in, ‘Where Good Ideas Come From’). Each element required an increase in precision and skill and offered advances over the previous tool. Older arrowheads were mostly focused on the general shape and cutting edges. Later versions were shaped to be more firmly lashed to wooden spears. As the first to enter the battlefield, U.S. Marines sometimes refer to themselves as, “the tip of the spear”. A 74,000 year old metaphor that is still understandable today.Hand axeIllustration of a hand axe.Imagine designing a product that was so good it was used for a million years. That’s 1,000,000 years! I remember seeing a hand axe in the “Tools: Extending Our Reach” exhibit at the Smithsonian’s Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum. I pondered it as a design object that dwarfed my career as a designer. The hand axe is a physical testament to both the slowness of early hominid evolution and the enduring utility of the object. The key innovation was the ever more skilled chipping away of flakes to create the cutting edge. Older versions of the axe are barely recognizable as being intentionally created. Later versions however, show two distinct functional requirements. The part that you held needed to be broad and round so as to be comfortable in the hand. While “the business end” had sharp, carefully-shaped cutting edges. I marvel at anything being used for this incomprehensible span of time.Final thoughts“If you want to go quickly, go alone. But if you want to go far, go together.” — African ProverbAs I wrote this post, I thought about the lessons of these very different objects. Here are my takeaways.Monumental acts take monumental teams — It takes incredible effort by many people to build something that has great impact and will last. Monumental achievements are never accomplished by one person. Each hand axe was likely created by one person but the concept we now know as the hand axe happened over a million years of usage. Venice is a singular experience. But building it required the work of many people over centuries.Adaptation is key to survival — The Pantheon survived in part because it is a space flexible in use. If your designs are to survive, you must hand them off to others. Loving caretakers are as important as passionate creators.Celebrate the ephemeral — Sand mandalas and sticky notes allow us to create something without becoming too attached to it. Having worked on lots of long-term projects, I’ve always found making dinner to be a positive antidote. Chopping vegetables can be meditative. A meal is finished in an hour or 2 and then you get to enjoy the creation. Simple acts are still creative.A graph showing how long these designs have been use. The hand axe was excluded because its million years of use reduces the other objects to tiny, barely visible bars.ReferenceTimeline of oldest human inventions — WikipediaOldest still standing buildings — WikipediaHow long designs survive was originally published in UX Collective on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

When we look at the relationship between 73-year-old legendary football coach Bill Belichick and his girlfriend and business partner, 24-year-old Jordon Hudson, it’s hard to know exactly what we’re seeing. Two grown-ups in love forging a dynamic business partnership? Elder abuse, as some have wildly speculated? Or is it, as the vitriolic comments in Hudson’s social media posts would have it, good old-fashioned gold digging? Gold digging is a misogynistic and retro term, but this scandal is a retro one. It’s a bizarre, slightly off-putting mystery that fits remarkably well into our current age of newly regressive gender politics.Hudson and Belichick, the six-time Super Bowl-winning former NFL coach, met on a flight in 2021 and went public with their relationship last December. While their nearly 50-year age gap has raised eyebrows amid observers, the scandal has only grown as Hudson has taken on an increasingly central role in Belichick’s professional world. It’s a bizarre, slightly off-putting mystery that fits remarkably well into our current age of newly regressive gender politics.Belichick requested Hudson be cc’ed on all publicity and media emails about him at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he is now a college football coach. In public records, she’s listed as the manager of several companies that appear to be tied to Belichick. Insider accounts say she essentially cast herself in a Dunkin Donuts commercial in which Belichick appeared, and that she blocked a docuseries about Belichick’s career. But speculation around the relationship reached a fever pitch when Hudson interrupted during Belichick’s interview on CBS Sunday Morning in April. “How did you guys meet?” host Tony Dokoupil asked Belichick, referring to Hudson. “We’re not talking about this,” Hudson cut in tersely from off-camera. “Jordon was a constant presence during our interview,” Dokoupil informs viewers in voiceover, in a moment that launched a thousand TikTok reaction videos. In the midst of this controversy, the couple has been manufacturing social media content about their relationship that isn’t alarming so much as it is lightly uncanny, especially given Belichick’s famously gruff public persona. On Hudson’s Instagram account, she has posted beachside pictures of herself balancing athletically on Belichick’s outstretched legs, and of Belichick, dressed as a fisherman, reeling in a mermaid-tailed Hudson from the surf. (“Ouucchhhh!!!” goes the caption on that one.)A few have defended the relationship between Belichick and Hudson. Sports media personality Colin Cowherd has said that Hudson’s choice to hop into Belichick’s interview was normal for PR directors, if “kind of a cringy thing.” Right-wing sports outlet The Outkick has rallied to Hudson’s side on the grounds that she triggers the libs, saying, “If Jordon wants to spend her weekends at Bill’s house on Nantucket, soaking up the sun and enjoying Cisco Brewery on Bill’s dime, I say GO FOR IT.” But the most common reaction to the spectacle of Hudson and Belichick’s relationship is the one outlined by sports media personality Katie Nolan on a podcast in February: This is weird and seems like it has sinister undertones.“We’re already going, ‘You’re how much younger than him?’ And then you show up in a commercial. And then you hear that she’s in charge in his career.” Nolan said. “It seems like you could be taking advantage of the guy. And he’s obviously taking advantage of the girl.” Notably, it doesn’t appear to be much of a head-scratcher why a powerful septuagenarian would choose to be with a recent college graduate and pageant contestant. But the nefarious reason implied about why Hudson wants to be with Belichick is the one people are misogynistically and freely throwing around: gold digger.The resurgence of the gold digger I don’t know anything about Hudson and Belichick’s private relationship, and most likely, neither do you. I don’t want to make any claims about who is using whom or what their private life is like. But as a feminist pop culture critic, I am interested to see the term “gold digger” swim back up from the collective unconsciousness again, ready and willing to go to work. There’s something almost old-fashioned about it. The last time “gold digger” was thrown around in pop culture so much was when teenager Courtney Stodden skyrocketed to fame in 2011 after they got married at age 16 to 51-year-old actor Doug Hutchison. Stodden would later describe their marriage as one characterized by grooming and sexual assault. Before that, the great pop culture gold digger was Anna Nicole Smith, the model turned paparazzi obsession who married oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall II in 1994. Since Smith’s untimely death in 2007, she’s found a place in the pantheon of wronged women of the 1990s, someone we came to believe over the last decade was publicly mistreated — in part by her tarring as a gold digger. “It’s a bit provincial to look down one’s nose at a woman wanting something from a man and give a pass to a man who arguably would have never given her a second glance had she not been a beautiful, blonde Playboy Playmate,” essayist and sex work activist Laura LeMoon argued in 2023, writing about Smith in Salon. “Rather than singling out and condemning Anna Nicole Smith, we should be pointing our fingers at the inequities and systemic failures that put people like me and Smith in positions where obtaining money and resources from men, directly or indirectly, is our best option for survival.”“Gold digger” is a euphemism that allows us as a culture to talk around those systemic failures. It’s a way to deride women when they take seriously the idea that their financial well-being should depend on their relationships with men. So it’s odd to see the term becoming so popular during a moment when popular culture has become rather infatuated with the idea that life is most pleasant, simple, and straightforward when women’s finances do depend on romantic relationships with men.TikTok is full of tradwives explaining how their lives became better once they got out of the 9-to-5 grind to make cereal from scratch for their children and let their husbands do the breadwinning. (That the most successful of the tradwife influencers are actually the primary breadwinners in their homes is an irony the influencers themselves seldom discuss.) Or there are the stay-at-home girlfriends cooing over how taking care of their boyfriends without even the financial safety net of a marriage contract has been their ticket to the soft life. The gold digger is the tradwife as seen through a funhouse mirror: a woman living off her ability to attract a man, only here done crassly.Meanwhile, some of President Donald Trump’s most vocal supporters are arguing that his tariffs will force women out of the workforce and make them once again financially dependent on men, either through marriage or through sex work, life paths these men treat as equivalent. Trump’s appeal to the dream of a lost American manufacturing economy is a nostalgic one. It’s an appealing fantasy to some of his more incel-adjacent fans: that under this economy, the sexes will revert to an older, allegedly more natural economic relationship, one in which women trade their sexuality and childrearing capabilities to men in exchange for financial security. The gold digger is the tradwife as seen through a funhouse mirror: a woman living off her ability to attract a man, only here done crassly, without the show of love to soften the crude edges of the transaction. The gold digger is simply a figure we can blame for how uncomfortable this dynamic makes us feel, without having to think through just what is so uncomfortable about it. So if we’re angry at Jordon Hudson, it’s worth asking the question: Are we angry with her, or with the fact that powerful people want to make gold digging one of a woman’s most viable career paths again?See More:

Posting images of fabric swatches and interiors you admire can not only act as a virtual mood board for you, but it will also give potential clients a deeper understanding of your design eye.Dare to try a…dating app?Dating apps like Hinge, Bumble, and Tinder might have revolutionized the modern-day meet-cute, but for designer Kelly Martin those platforms helped her break into bolder projects and a new demographic. “A male friend of mine was talking about how ‘dudes’ apartments’ aren’t usually acceptable for bringing dates home,” she explains. “And that men would probably appreciate a designer’s eye to make them appear to have more taste and sophistication.”So, with the help of her friend, Martin created a profile to attract new clients. To keep her presence strictly professional, she filled her profile with marketing materials. Though Martin admits many of her suitors were more focused on dating than design, she said the tactic did draw in some prospective clients. “It was worth the ridiculousness for that,” she says.Conjure a Craigslist listingNowadays, Craigslist is a great destination for secondhand furniture and the occasional apartment listing. But over 15 years ago, it was how Dan Mazzarini forayed into residential design. “I was talking to a friend that I was helping with an apartment, and I think he said he had looked and posted for designers on Craigslist,” says the principal and creative director of AD PRO Directory studio BHDM. “When I got home I took a look, and there were all these posts for people looking for weekend warrior kinds of designers. So I tried a few!”Mazzarini would respond to ads looking for short-term projects—he says Trading Spaces influenced people’s desire for “quick fixes,” but the lack of modern technology made it trickier to DIY—and racked up some clients along the way. “I did help these roommates who lived in Harlem reupholster chairs,” he recalls. “They were in awe of how making the right decisions, and (a lot) of elbow grease totally changed their space. It was fun to work with them, and their gratitude was sincere.”In addition to getting some clients, these smaller jobs taught Mazzarini important lessons like navigating a tight budget or timeline and communicating with vendors. (Translation? Everything he needed to build his firm.) “My business has grown and evolved, but I still think there is no better reward than a happy residential client,” he says.Revive rejected clientsA client who might have initially passed on your proposal doesn’t mean it’s a “no” forever—just ask Noelle Harvey of Sunday House Interior Design in Portland, Oregon. Harvey’s AD PRO Directory firm presented a project scheme to a potential customer, who ultimately declined working together. Months later, a member of the design team went to a dental office for a teeth cleaning; the dentist turned out to be that could-have-been client. After chatting for a bit, the employee learned the client was unhappy with the work that had been done by another designer and hired Sunday House to make some updates for her.“Always remember that anyone could become a client,” Harvey advises. “The client got really comfortable with us and we became more than just a website and an email; it’s important to remember that everyone is human.”That said, Harvey admits there’s a fine line between persistent and pushy, so tread lightly. She says: “My team member went in with the mindset of not bringing it up if it didn’t come up, but if it did, letting it play out.”APPLY NOWGrow your business with the AD PRO DirectoryArrow

Author(s): Towards AI Editorial Team Originally published on Towards AI. Ever since we released our first book on LLMs — and now our most comprehensive course, From Beginner to Advanced LLM Developer — we’ve heard the same questions from devs sitting on the fence: “Isn’t most of this stuff already free online?” Sure — if you have time to stitch together YouTube videos, half-written blog posts, outdated Colabs, and guess your way through broken workflows. But this course is the equivalent of hiring an expert AI mentor for $4/hour — someone who’s built production-grade LLM systems and walks you through the exact pipeline, step by step. “But things are moving so fast… won’t it be outdated?” That’s why we built it: to move with you. The course is updated every single week to reflect the latest models, tools, and practices. What you’re learning isn’t a static curriculum — it’s a living roadmap with lifetime access, so you can adapt as the field evolves. And because staying current isn’t enough, you also need confidence that what you ship today still holds tomorrow. That’s why we’re now running monthly live cohorts — so you stay sharp, supported, and up to date. The next cohort kicks off June 1 with a live welcome call with our CEO. 👉 Join the course here “Will I actually build something real?” You won’t just learn. You’ll build and ship. A real LLM product. A full-stack application with prompting, RAG, fine-tuning, evaluation, and deployment — wrapped in a Gradio or Streamlit front end. You’ll walk away with something you can show off to a CTO, use in a job interview, or demo to your team. “Will it actually move the needle on my career?” Don’t take our word for it — here’s what past students are saying: “Best course out there to become an AI engineer. Planning to build my own startup based on the learnings.” — Abhijit L “Expanded my knowledge of RAG pipelines and gave me real-world tools.” — Eoin McGrath “From zero to hero as an LLM Developer… a clear path to build LLM applications that can change your career.” — Luca Tanieli This is the course we wish we had when we started. It’s not fluff. It’s not slides. It’s a system built on two years of working with real-world LLM deployments across companies, research teams, and startups. You’ll walk away with: ✅ A repeatable pipeline (prompting → RAG → fine-tuning → evaluation → deployment) ✅ A mindset for thinking like an AI engineer, not just a prompt tinkerer ✅ Weekly updates to stay ahead of the curve ✅ Access to our private Slack + 70,000+ builder community on Discord ✅ A portfolio-ready project that proves what you can do The next live cohort starts June 1 with a welcome call from our CEO. We’re capping enrollments again this month to keep the experience hands-on and high-touch, and last month’s seats filled up faster than expected. When you join now, you don’t need to wait — you get immediate access to the full course and can start building your AI product this week. If you want to be ahead of this next wave of AI instead of trying to catch up… This is your window. PEOPLE LIKE YOU ARE: Breaking into in-demand roles like LLM Developer Advancing careers and increasing earnings Monetizing AI by building high-selling LLM products Leading AI and ML engineering teams Using AI to work smarter, not harder, and achieving more If you’re thinking, “This sounds great, but what if it’s not for me?” — we get it. That’s why the course comes with a 30-day, no-questions-asked money-back guarantee. Try it. Dive into the material. If it doesn’t meet your expectations, we’ll refund you in full. 👉 Secure your spot for the June 1st cohort Join thousands of data leaders on the AI newsletter. Join over 80,000 subscribers and keep up to date with the latest developments in AI. From research to projects and ideas. If you are building an AI startup, an AI-related product, or a service, we invite you to consider becoming a sponsor. Published via Towards AI