In “The Optimist: Sam Altman, OpenAI, and the Race to Invent the Future,” Wall Street Journal reporter Keach Hagey examines our AI-obsessed moment through one of its key figures — Sam Altman, co-founder and CEO of OpenAI. Hagey begins with Altman’s Midwest childhood, then takes readers through his career at startup Loopt, accelerator Y Combinator, and now at OpenAI. She also sheds new light on the dramatic few days when Altman was fired, then quickly reinstated, as OpenAI’s CEO. Looking back at what OpenAI employees now call “the Blip,” Hagey said the failed attempt to oust Altman revealed that OpenAI’s complex structure — with a for-profit company controlled by a nonprofit board — is “not stable.” And with OpenAI largely backing down from plans to let the for-profit side take control, Hagey predicted that this “fundamentally unstable arrangement” will “continue to give investors pause.” Does that mean OpenAI could struggle to raise the funds it needs to keep going? Hagey replied that it could “absolutely” be an issue. “My research into Sam suggests that he might well be up to that challenge,” she said. “But success is not guaranteed.” In addition, Hagey’s biography (also available as an audiobook on Spotify) examines Altman’s politics, which she described as “pretty traditionally progressive” — making it a bit surprising that he’s struck massive infrastructure deals with the backing of the Trump administration. “But this is one area where, in some ways, I feel like Sam Altman has been born for this moment, because he is a deal maker and Trump is a deal maker,” Hagey said. “Trump respects nothing so much as a big deal with a big price tag on it, and that is what Sam Altman is really great at.” Techcrunch event Save now through June 4 for TechCrunch Sessions: AI Save $300 on your ticket to TC Sessions: AI—and get 50% off a second. Hear from leaders at OpenAI, Anthropic, Khosla Ventures, and more during a full day of expert insights, hands-on workshops, and high-impact networking. These low-rate deals disappear when the doors open on June 5. Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you’ve built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Berkeley, CA | June 5 REGISTER NOW In an interview with TechCrunch, Hagey also discussed Altman’s response to the book, his trustworthiness, and the AI “hype universe.” This interview has been edited for length and clarity.  You open the book by acknowledging some of the reservations that Sam Altman had about the project —  this idea that we tend to focus too much on individuals rather than organizations or broad movements, and also that it’s way too early to assess the impact of OpenAI. Did you share those concerns? Well, I don’t really share them, because this was a biography. This project was to look at a person, not an organization. And I also think that Sam Altman has set himself up in a way where it does matter what kind of moral choices he has made and what his moral formation has been, because the broad project of AI is really a moral project. That is the basis of OpenAI’s existence. So I think these are fair questions to ask about a person, not just an organization. As far as whether it’s too soon, I mean, sure, it’s definitely [early to] assess the entire impact of AI. But it’s been an extraordinary story for OpenAI — just so far, it’s already changed the stock market, it has changed the entire narrative of business. I’m a business journalist. We do nothing but talk about AI, all day long, every day. So in that way, I don’t think it’s too early. And despite those reservations, Altman did cooperate with you. Can you say more about what your relationship with him was like during the process of researching the book? Well, he was definitely not happy when he was informed about the book’s existence. And there was a long period of negotiation, frankly. In the beginning, I figured I was going to write this book without his help — what we call, in the business, a write-around profile. I’ve done plenty of those over my career, and I figured this would just be one more. Over time, as I made more and more calls, he opened up a little bit. And [eventually,] he was generous to sit down with me several times for long interviews and share his thoughts with me. Has he responded to the finished book at all? No. He did tweet about the project, about his decision to participate with it, but he was very clear that he was never going to read it. It’s the same way that I don’t like to watch my TV appearances or podcasts that I’m on. In the book, he’s described as this emblematic Silicon Valley figure. What do you think are the key characteristics that make him representative of the Valley and the tech industry? In the beginning, I think it was that he was young. The Valley really glorifies youth, and he was 19 years old when he started his first startup. You see him going into these meetings with people twice his age, doing deals with telecom operators for his first startup, and no one could get over that this kid was so smart. The other is that he is a once-in-a-generation fundraising talent, and that’s really about being a storyteller. I don’t think it’s an accident that you have essentially a salesman and a fundraiser at the top of the most important AI company today, That ties into one of the questions that runs through the book — this question about Altman’s trustworthiness. Can you say more about the concerns people seem to have about that? To what extent is he a trustworthy figure?  Well, he’s a salesman, so he’s really excellent at getting in a room and convincing people that he can see the future and that he has something in common with them. He gets people to share his vision, which is a rare talent. There are people who’ve watched that happen a bunch of times, who think, “Okay, what he says does not always map to reality,” and have, over time, lost trust in him. This happened both at his first startup and very famously at OpenAI, as well as at Y Combinator. So it is a pattern, but I think it’s a typical critique of people who have the salesman skill set. So it’s not necessarily that he’s particularly untrustworthy, but it’s part-and-parcel of being a salesman leading these important companies. I mean, there also are management issues that are detailed in the book, where he is not great at dealing with conflict, so he’ll basically tell people what they want to hear. That causes a lot of sturm-und-drang in the management ranks, and it’s a pattern. Something like that happened at Loopt, where the executives asked the board to replace him as CEO. And you saw it happen at OpenAI as well. You’ve touched on Altman’s firing, which was also covered in a book excerpt that was published in the Wall Street Journal. One of the striking things to me, looking back at it, was just how complicated everything was — all the different factions within the company, all the people who seemed pro-Altman one day and then anti-Altman the next. When you pull back from the details, what do you think is the bigger significance of that incident? The very big picture is that the nonprofit governance structure is not stable. You can’t really take investment from the likes of Microsoft and a bunch of other investors and then give them absolutely no say whatsoever in the governance of the company. That’s what they have tried to do, but I think what we saw in that firing is how power actually works in the world. When you have stakeholders, even if there’s a piece of paper that says they have no rights, they still have power. And when it became clear that everyone in the company was going to go to Microsoft if they didn’t reinstate Sam Altman, they reinstated Sam Altman. In the book, you take the story up to maybe the end of 2024. There have been all these developments since then, which you’ve continued to report on, including this announcement that actually, they’re not fully converting to a for-profit. How do you think that’s going to affect OpenAI going forward?  It’s going to make it harder for them to raise money, because they basically had to do an about-face. I know that the new structure going forward of the public benefit corporation is not exactly the same as the current structure of the for-profit — it is a little bit more investor friendly, it does clarify some of those things. But overall, what you have is a nonprofit board that controls a for-profit company, and that fundamentally unstable arrangement is what led to the so-called Blip. And I think you would continue to give investors pause, going forward, if they are going to have so little control over their investment. Obviously, OpenAI is still such a capital intensive business. If they have challenges raising more money, is that an existential question for the company? It absolutely could be. My research into Sam suggests that he might well be up to that challenge. But success is not guaranteed. Like you said, there’s a dual perspective in the book that’s partly about who Sam is, and partly about what that says about where AI is going from here. How did that research into his particular story shape the way you now look at these broader debates about AI and society? I went down a rabbit hole in the beginning of the book, [looking] into Sam’s father, Jerry Altman, in part because I thought it was striking how he’d been written out of basically every other thing that had ever been written about Sam Altman. What I found in this research was a very idealistic man who was, from youth, very interested in these public-private partnerships and the power of the government to set policy. He ended up having an impact on the way that affordable housing is still financed to this day. And when I traced Sam’s development, I saw that he has long believed that the government should really be the one that is funding and guiding AI research. In the early days of OpenAI, they went and tried to get the government to invest, as he’s publicly said, and it didn’t work out. But he looks back to these great mid-20th century labs like Xerox PARC and Bell Labs, which are private, but there was a ton of government money running through and supporting that ecosystem. And he says, “That’s the right way to do it.” Now I am watching daily as it seems like the United States is summoning the forces of state capitalism to get behind Sam Altman’s project to build these data centers, both in the United States and now there was just one last week announced in Abu Dhabi. This is a vision he has had for a very, very long time. My sense of the vision, as he presented it earlier, was one where, on the one hand, the government is funding these things and building this infrastructure, and on the other hand, the government is also regulating and guiding AI development for safety purposes. And it now seems like the path being pursued is one where they’re backing away from the safety side and doubling down on the government investment side. Absolutely. Isn’t it fascinating?  You talk about Sam as a political figure, as someone who’s had political ambitions at different times, but also somebody who has what are in many ways traditionally liberal political views while being friends with folks like — at least early on — Elon Musk and Peter Thiel. And he’s done a very good job of navigating the Trump administration. What do you think his politics are right now? I’m not sure his actual politics have changed, they are pretty traditionally progressive politics. Not completely — he’s been critical about things like cancel culture, but in general, he thinks the government is there to take tax revenue and solve problems. His success in the Trump administration has been fascinating because he has been able to find their one area of overlap, which is the desire to build a lot of data centers, and just double down on that and not talk about any other stuff. But this is one area where, in some ways, I feel like Sam Altman has been born for this moment, because he is a deal maker and Trump is a deal maker. Trump respects nothing so much as a big deal with a big price tag on it, and that is what Sam Altman is really great at. You open and close the book not just with Sam’s father, but with his family as a whole. What else is worth highlighting in terms of how his upbringing and family shapes who he is now? Well, you see both the idealism from his father and also the incredible ambition from his mother, who was a doctor, and had four kids and worked as a dermatologist. I think both of these things work together to shape him. They also had a more troubled marriage than I realized going into the book. So I do think that there’s some anxiety there that Sam himself is very upfront about, that he was a pretty anxious person for much of his life, until he did some meditation and had some experiences. And there’s his current family — he just had a baby and got married not too long ago. As a young gay man, growing up in the Midwest, he had to overcome some challenges, and I think those challenges both forged him in high school as a brave person who could stand up and take on a room as a public speaker, but also shaped his optimistic view of the world. Because, on that issue, I paint the scene of his wedding: That’s an unimaginable thing from the early ‘90s, or from the ‘80s when he was born. He’s watched society develop and progress in very tangible ways, and I do think that that has helped solidify his faith in progress. Something that I’ve found writing about AI is that the different visions being presented by people in the field can be so diametrically opposed. You have these wildly utopian visions, but also these warnings that AI could end the world. It gets so hyperbolic that it feels like people are not living in the same reality. Was that a challenge for you in writing the book? Well, I see those two visions — which feel very far apart — actually being part of the same vision, which is that AI is super important, and it’s going to completely transform everything. No one ever talks about the true opposite of that, which is, “Maybe this is going to be a cool enterprise tool, another way to waste time on the internet, and not quite change everything as much as everyone thinks.” So I see the doomers and the boomers feeding off each other and being part of the same sort of hype universe. As a journalist and as a biographer, you don’t necessarily come down on one side or the other — but actually, can you say where you come down on that? Well, I will say that I find myself using it a lot more recently, because it’s gotten a lot better. In the early stages, when I was researching the book, I was definitely a lot more skeptical of its transformative economic power. I’m less skeptical now, because I just use it a lot more.

Architect: PPAALocation: Santiago de Querétaro, MexicoCompletion Date:2024Sometimes all it takes to deliver a successful project is a client who is willing to take a chance. When a past residential customer approached Pablo Pérez Palacios, principal of his eponymous firm, Pérez Palacios Arquitectos Asociados (PPAA), about an expansion of an office for the premium dairy company Lyncott in Santiago de Querétaro, Mexico, the architect suggested something unusual: a modular structure made entirely of cross-laminated timber (CLT). In Mexico, as Pérez Palacios explained to AN, concrete is considered the de facto building material. In fact, when the client asked for examples of similar wood construction in Mexico, there simply weren’t any. Adding to the complexity, the architect advocated to use a polycarbonate system by the manufacturer Danpal as the facade. Essentially, Pérez Palacios was proposing a never-used (in Mexico) structure clad in a translucent envelope that would obscure most views from the interior offices. In theory, it sounded crazy. The building’s exterior is clad entirely in Danpal, a polycarbonate system, and connected to a cross-laminated timber frame. (Fabian Martínez) Fortunately, the client, who had recently risen to the top spot in the family-owned company, engaged with Pérez Palacios. At first, the executive told him, “I’m sure you won’t take this project, because it’s in an industrial park with zero budget,” recalled the architect, a past AN Interior Top 50 honoree. “I told him I’d take the project, without telling him that in the back of my mind, I knew I was going to do it out of wood.” Pérez Palacios had to overcome two hurdles from the outset: how to keep costs down despite CLT being a more expensive material than concrete and finding workers who could deliver on the construction. Fortunately, Vigalam, a company that manufactures prefabricated wood structures was located in the same office park as Lyncott, virtually eliminating shipping costs and simplifying the contracting. The team enlisted representatives from Danpal to install the facade system. The company sent a team to place and attach the panels, an exacting process that involves a clip to which a frame is attached and which then receives the polycarbonate pieces. Inside, the framing systems of the CLT and Danpal meet. (Fabian Martínez) Pérez Palacios is either a sly salesman or an eccentric designer—or both—but he managed to pull off one of Mexico’s first all-CLT projects and one of the most striking industrial buildings in recent memory. PPAA connected the thin 10,900-square-foot office expansion to an existing structure. Here the light, efficient addition contrasts the heavy, inefficient existing conditions; Pérez Palacios explained that the original steel and concrete building operates 24 hours a day to support the dairy plant and relies on artificial light. As PPAA captioned an Instagram post about the project, “This new intervention addresses the challenge of balancing the industrial character of the context with a serene and conscious environment focused on connecting with nature.” The translucent facade allows light into the offices and exposes the wood frame from the exterior. (Fabian Martínez) One of the most intriguing aspects of the facade is its lack of transparent glass, though Pérez Palacios noted that there are windows along the side of the building facing the dairy plant. “When you’re in an office, you’re not looking at the view. You are looking at a screen,” he said. “To create an atmosphere with natural light, it’s super nice if you’re going to be sitting at a computer for eight hours a day.” Besides, he added: “There’s nothing to see outside. It’s an industrial park.” The offices are bathed in light via the translucent facade. (Fabian Martínez) PPAA has completed two translucent projects previously: a now-finished office building in China that employed fabric and a housing prototype for a 2022 exhibition at Crystal Bridges Museum in Arkansas. “It was our interpretation of an affordable housing project—and we used Danpal!” Pérez Palacios exclaimed. Still, the dairy building project is the first time he put his theories about Danpal into practice. “We created this translucent envelope that allows people to work in natural light all day long,” Pérez Palacios explained. “It has solar capacities; it blocks the sun rays. It requires zero maintenance and protects the interior structure.” PPAA used wood for the entire structure, including beams, columns, and ceilings. (Fabian Martínez) Efficiency was part of the selling point to Lyncott, whose leader worried about the building’s lightness. “I had to tell him, ‘Don’t worry, it won’t blow away,’” Pérez Palacios recalled with a laugh. He went on to connect the agricultural aspects of the client’s business to the sustainability of building with these methods. The wood reduces the structure’s carbon footprint, and an all-glass facade would have run up the air-conditioning bills. Instead, Lyncott’s new building redirects the sun, part of the reason it has become something of an attraction in Mexico. Pérez Palacios foresees bringing students for site visits, and Danpal has shown the site to potential clients. PPAA has even sold the idea of mass timber construction to a skeptical audience: Now the firm has two more wood projects in the pipeline. Project Specifications Architect: PPAA Structural engineering: Vigalam Electrical engineering: ROA Civil engineering: Consulta Urbana Lighting design: PPAA Facade system: Danpal Glass: Consulta Urbana Roofing: Aircrete Interior finishes: Alfombras de Mexico Fixtures: Biticino Lighting: Magg Furniture: PM Steele, Vipp

There are a lot of parallels between “Wish World” and last year’s “The Legend of Ruby Sunday.” They are both, of course, penultimate episodes of their respective seasons of Doctor Who. They are also both built around the return of a classic Doctor Who villain, and paying off a mystery that had played out throughout their respective seasons. Unfortunately they also both share a pretty fatal parallel: they’re both aimless waiting games that have little meat on their bones as they count down to a last minute cliffhanger reveal. “Wish World” has even more of a problem than “The Legend of Ruby Sunday,” however. That latter episode could at least hinge some tension and atmosphere on the fact that we didn’t already know that the last moments were building up to the reveal of Sutekh’s return (unless you read the rumors, that is). “Wish World,” for the most part (more on that later), is building up to a dramatic moment its audience already knows while its main character doesn’t: for the Doctor to encounter the returned Rani, and understand what that may mean. And that just makes it a very weird experience, even before you get to the mechanics of how Doctor Who is ticking down to that big reveal. The titular world of “Wish World” is a contemporary Earth before its apparently fated obliteration, except it’s a sideways version of it. Thanks to the help of a convenient magic baby the Rani goes and picks up in medieval Bavaria in the opening moments—the seventh son of a seventh son of a seventh son, which doesn’t feel very Evil Science Villainess of her, especially when the baby just essentially starts letting her bend reality in whatever way she wants—noted Utter Bastard Conrad from “Lucky Day” is the apparent benevolent dictator of the world, broadcasting from a bone palace upon high in London to decide the state of the world, weather, and creepily pleasant lives of everyone in it with a little help from this magic wunderkind. © BBC/Disney Those subjects include the Doctor and Belinda, who are now Mr. John Smith and his wife Belinda, living a retro-modern nuclear family dream with their baby daughter Poppy as Belinda revels in being a stay-at-home mom and Mr. Smith goes to work at UNIT, now a unified insurance team rather than a vanguard against alien threats. The creepy vibe of this overtly heteronormative existence is in part the point, it turns out: everyone makes very pointed acknowledgements about the role of women being good daughters, good wives, and then good mothers, and when “Mr. Smith” passingly describes a male co-worker (none other than Colonel Ibrahim, blissfully unaware of who he’s meant to be) as handsome, reality almost turns in on itself around him, as if the mere thought of something not cisgender or heterosexual is an affront to this world that Conrad has wished up for everyone. It turns out we can also add “Hates Disabled People” to the Bumper List of Conrad’s Shitty Bigotries, because aside from retrograde thoughts about women and queer people, his bigotry around disabled people has led to an underground society of disabled people who, because they are “unseen” by Conrad in so much that he doesn’t ever think or care about them, are practically invisible to the world around them… except Ruby Sunday, who’s likewise unaffected by what’s going on around her, letting her team up with Shirley and her friends in the disabled camp to start trying to figure out what’s going on. Good job Conrad really sucks in some very specific ways! © BBC/Disney This is just about where “Wish World” checks out of trying to tell much more of a story, which is a shame, because the weird creepy vibes are quite good, even if they also mean continued exposure to Conrad (again, no disrespect to Jonah Hauer-King, he’s just incredibly good at playing a man with utterly rancid vibes). After “Mr. Smith” has his brush with the curse of fatal compulsory heterosexuality (spurred on again by a wild, random returning cameo from Jonathan Groff’s Rogue, who gets a message out to the Doctor to help him doubt the nature of the Wish World by basically saying “I am gay and in a hell dimension but please remember that you like men!”), his entire role in the episode is to sit around swirling with doubt about the nature of his existence until he remembers that he’s the Doctor. After she links up with Shirley, Ruby’s “investigation” essentially slams the brakes on its own momentum so the two of them can basically look up from below the giant bone palace as it sits above London. And then there’s the Rani, or rather the Ranis plural, who are sitting up in that aforementioned bone palace, who are also largely just biding their time, as the latest incarnation of the renegade Time Lady practically begs the Doctor to figure out the world that she’s dominating through Conrad is a falsehood, so he can remember who he is, and more importantly, who she is. But it’s a weird vibe of the less intentional sort than those given off by Conrad’s Bigot Paradise. The episode is, essentially, ticking down until you get to that moment of realization between the Doctor and the Rani, even after she spends much of the third act of “Wish World” expositing to his face in an attempt to get the artifice to crumble around him once and for all. © BBC/Disney But because we already know that she’s the Rani, and that the Doctor is not an insurance salesman named John Smith, there’s no tension or mystery in what’s being built towards, you’re just a knowing audience waiting for the shoe to drop for the show’s protagonist, a shoe you’ve known all along is going to drop. At least “The Legend of Ruby Sunday” had the mystery of Susan Triad to build a sense of dread around, even if there wasn’t much more to the episode beyond that—all “Wish World” has is a compelling creepy concept it largely discards halfway through and then a literal ticking clock as we wait for the episode’s final moments. So it turns out “Wish World” needs to throw in another mystery reveal right at the last moment, because the Doctor realizing who the Rani is is not that much of an actual reveal to us any more. It turns out the Rani’s big ticking clock counting down to May 24 has been powered by collecting the doubts of anyone who’s questioned Conrad’s reality, the Doctor included, juicing up the Vindicator the Doctor and Belinda have charged throughout the season even further to rip a hole through Earth and reality itself… opening up a dimension where none other than Omega, the ancient, godlike co-founder of Time Lord society (well, Timeless Child stuff nonwithstanding!), awaits. © BBC/Disney Admittedly “Wish World” does get the leg up on “Legend of Ruby Sunday” by putting its “devastating destruction of pretty much everyone but our hero that will be inevitably undone next episode” moment before the cliffhanger this time, as we watch Earth splinter apart and collapse into the underverse, seemingly blipping everyone but the Doctor, Conrad, and the Ranis out of existence, Belinda included. But the Omega reveal is more confusing than it is shocking in the moment, because it feels like it comes out of nowhere after the episode builds towards an already dramatically compromised reveal. Sure, we don’t know why the Rani is doing all this weird stuff with Conrad and a magic baby, but the episode never treats that as a mystery to interrogate, it’s just ticking in the background while the Rani yearns for the Doctor to recognize her. So when Omega is invoked—we don’t see him, it’s just his name being dropped—what could’ve been something “Wish World” built to just largely comes out of left field (unless you already happened to see that Russell T Davies teased on Instagram last week that there was a mystery third party in the villainous mix between Conrad and the Ranis, but should you have to check the showrunner’s social media for suitable dramatic tension?). The Rani and the Doctor’s encounter is all that “Wish World” was building toward up to that point, and because it’s building up to it for all of its runtime, the moment itself doesn’t really get to sit beyond the climactic final minutes, robbing it of what little tension could remain. © BBC/Disney And so again, we’re left waiting to see if next week’s grand finale will retroactively make this week’s preparation feel worth the clock-ticking… and if we really needed the Rani’s return to herald Omega, and all the implications that then has for the Time Lords and Gallifrey at large beyond that. That feels like a lot to dig into, at least. Imagine if we’d gotten a two-part finale that actually leveraged its time to do just that? Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

Botox injections used to be a secret for (largely) women in their 40s and 50s. But growing numbers of (largely) women in their 20s and 30s are turning to “baby Botox,” or smaller doses that are intended to prevent aging rather than combat it.Baby Botox is just one intervention that doctors say younger people now frequently seek, and some view the trend with concern. Dr. Michelle Hure, a physician specializing in dermatology and dermatopathology, says younger patients aren’t considering the cost of procedures that require lifetime maintenance, and are expressing dissatisfaction with their looks to a degree that borders on the absurd.Hure traces the demand for “baby Botox” and other procedures to the start of the pandemic.“Everyone was basically chronically online,” she told Vox. “They were on Zoom, they were looking at themselves, and there was the rise of of TikTok and the filters and people were really seeing these perceived flaws that either aren’t there or are so minimal and just normal anatomy. And they have really made it front and center where it affects them. It affects their daily life and I really feel that it has become more of a pathological thing.”Hure spoke to Today, Explained co-host Noel King about the rise of “baby Botox” and her concerns with the cosmetic dermatology industry. An excerpt of their conversation, edited for length and clarity, is below. There’s much more in the full podcast, so listen to Today, Explained wherever you get podcasts, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You told us about a patient that you saw yesterday, and you said you probably wouldn’t keep her on because her mentality really worried you. Would you tell me about that young woman?I had this patient who was mid-20s, and really a beautiful girl. I [didn’t] see a lot of signs of aging on her face, but she was coming in for Botox. There wasn’t a lot for me to treat. And at the end of the session she was asking me, “So what do you think about my nasolabial folds?”Basically, it’s the fold that goes from the corner of your nose down to the corner of your mouth. It’s the barrier between the upper lip and your cheek, and when you smile it kind of folds. Of course, the more you age, the more of the line will be left behind when you’re not smiling. And she was pointing to her cheek as if there was something there, but there was nothing there. And so I had to tell her, “Well, I don’t see that, you’re perfect.” It’s a phantom nasolabial fold. It didn’t exist.That sort of mentality where someone is perceiving a flaw that is absolutely not there — providers need to say no. Unfortunately, they’re incentivized not to. Especially if you have a cosmetic office, if you’re a med spa, if you have a cosmetic derm or plastic surgery office, of course you’re incentivized to do what the patient wants. Well, I’m not going to do that. That’s not what I do.That means you may get paid for seeing her in that visit, but you’re not getting paid for putting filler in her face. I think what I hear you saying is other doctors would have done that.Absolutely. One hundred percent. I know this for a fact because many times those patients will come to my office to get that filler dissolved because they don’t like it. In the larger practices or practices that are private equity-owned, which is a huge problem in medicine, you are absolutely meant to sell as many products, as many procedures as possible. Oftentimes I was told to sell as much filler as possible, because every syringe is several hundred dollars. And then if they’re there, talk them into a laser. Talk them into this, talk them into that. Then you become a salesman. For my skin check patients, I’m looking for skin cancer. I’m counseling them on how to take care of their skin. I was told, “Don’t talk to them about using sunscreen, because we want them to get skin cancer and come back.”I was pulled out of the room by my boss and reprimanded for explaining why it’s so important to use sunscreen. And so this is why I couldn’t do it anymore. I had to start my own office and be on my own. I can’t do that. That goes against everything that I believe in, in my oath. Because there is potential harm on many different levels for cosmetic procedures.What are the risks to giving someone a cosmetic procedure that they don’t really need?This is a medical procedure. There is always risk for any type of intervention, right? What gets me is, like, Nordstrom is talking about having injections in their stores. This is ridiculous! This is a medical procedure. You can get infection, you can get vascular occlusion that can lead to death of the tissue overlying where you inject. It can lead to blindness. This is a big deal. It’s fairly safe if you know what you’re doing. But not everyone knows what they’re doing and knows how to handle the complications that can come about. Honestly, I feel like the psychological aspect of it is a big problem. At some point you become dependent, almost, on these procedures to either feel happy or feel good about yourself. And at what point is it not going to be enough? One of my colleagues actually coined this term. It’s called perception drift. At some point, you will do these little, little, incremental tweaks until you look like a different person. And you might look very abnormal. So even if someone comes to me for something that is legitimate, it’s still: Once you start, it’s going to be hard for you to stop. If you’re barely able to scrimp together enough to pay for that one thing, and you have it done, great. What about all the rest of your life that you’re going to want to do something? Are you going to be able to manage it?I wonder how all of this makes you think about your profession. Most people get into medicine, it has always been my assumption, to be helpful. And you’ve laid out a world in which procedures are being done that are not only not helpful, they could be dangerous. And you don’t seem to like it very much.This is why it is a smaller and smaller percentage of what I do in my office. I love cosmetics to an extent, right? I love to make people love how they look. But when you start using cosmetics as a tool to make them feel better about themselves in a major way, it’s a slippery slope. It should be more of a targeted thing, not making you look like an entirely different person because society has told you you can’t age. It’s really disturbing to me.See More:

The first thing you need to know about Honey O’Donahue is that she is a fabulous movie detective. Now you might be saying to yourself right now, “That just means she’s a great detective, right? A master solver of mysteries?” And sure. Maybe. Honestly, it’s a bit open to debate after watching Ethan Coen and Tricia Cooke’s new slinky potboiler, Honey, Don’t! But more important than the crime-stopping is how she pieces together the mystery of what it means to be a proper movie detective. She knows, for instance, that when a jealous spouse offers you money to confirm his husband is having an affair, you should kindly but firmly recommend he spend it instead on a romantic dinner that ends in candid conversation. She also recognizes the necessity of being not only smarter than the local dick on the police force, but able to remind him of this fact with snappy put-downs. She is a detective you simply enjoy watching drink, smoke, and carouse her way through the wreckage of a case, one dead body—or for that matter, a live one in her bed—at a time. And as played by Margaret Qualley with an authentic Carolina lilt, she ascends in Honey Don’t!’s best moments into becoming a kind of Southern-fried, queer Marlowe; a detective whose investigations are nearly impenetrable to follow, but like Bogie or Mitchum before her, you’re just happy to vibe in the patter of her day-to-day rigamarole. She is, in other words, a great creation for Qualley and the not-so-secret weapon in a character piece that sizzles despite the film’s deliberately (and perhaps too) shaggy plot. That plot, of course, involves dead bodies and criminal conspiracies-within-conspiracies on the outskirts of sunny Bakersfield, California. It’s there that local private eye Honey O’Donahue begins looking into the apparent death by car accident of a lonely woman in the community. She keeps her reasons to herself when the police gumshoe (Charlie Day) asks what her interest in the case is, just as she keeps him at further distance when he presses if she wants to discuss the case over drinks. “Book club,” she answers curtly. But didn’t she just tell him she had a book club meeting two days ago? “Dostoevsky, we’re really struggling with it.” The truth of course is Honey has eyes more for the likes of M.G. (Aubrey Plaza), the no-nonsense cop in charge of the station’s evidence locker, than she does for members of the male persuasion. But it’s fair to wonder if her real passion is for verbally sparring with almost anyone who crosses her path. That includes the local fuzz, as well as her sister and a wayward teenage niece, who both have a habit of not wanting Honey’s advice while implicitly yearning for her approval; it likewise pertains to the paranoid client (Billy Eichner) who wants to disgrace his husband at any cost; and you can sure as hell bet she saves her most scathing witticisms for the likes of a pastor at a local church who calls himself Reverend Drew (Chris Evans). Drew has big used car salesman energy, and the more Honey breathes it in, the more his congregation looks like a cult. All parties wind up involved in ways great or small in a scheme that proves more intricate than one might guess. But the key element that really gives momentum to the whole web is the perpetually bemused smile on Qualley’s face, which can simultaneously appear both empathetic and contemptuous in an unblinking glance. It’s a part clearly written toward Qualley’s talents by Coen and Cooke, who after working previously as director and editor on films like The Big Lebowski and O Brother, Where Art Thou? have combined forces as writers and film editors. And like last year’s Drive Away Dolls, the pair imagine Honey Don’t! to be part of a “lesbian B-movie trilogy,” a film which leans lightly into the exploitation of grindhouse cinema while also offering a frothier narrative for LGBTQ cinema than, say, the tragedies that Oscar voters so love. Honey Don’t! is intentionally slight and sleight of hand while setting up the type of boneheaded criminal conspirators who populated so many Coen movies of yore, back when Ethan was writing with Joel. I would also say that despite its happy desire to titillate and objectify, the film feels closer in line with the original film noir movement of the 1940s and ‘50s with its most base pleasures coming from dialogue and performance. Qualley is again the charismatic sun around which everything else orbits, but Plaza also gets plenty of room to build a character miles apart from her frequent Parks and Rec type. To be sure, M.G. has a deadpan about her too, but it’s more bitter, deadly variety—the kind of hard edge that can only come from being sharpened by a lifetime spent as the other in a small, Christian town. Meanwhile Evans is having fun as another creep, although six years on from hanging up Captain America’s shield, and then trying on the sleazebag sweater in Knives Out, it’s fair to wonder if he is now typecast in the other direction. Reverend Drew is a bit more one-note than Knives Out’s Ransom, but it works for the arch and typically dimwitted criminal comedy that Ethan and Joel began their directing career fixated on. Drew is at the focal point of an underworld rife in sex, drugs, and murder, but the mechanics of it—and how it intersects with Honey’s other investigations—is obscure. If one sits down and thinks about it, there seems to really be a greater narrative plotted out by Cooke and Coen left teasingly off-screen, and which would make it all snap into place. But as they appear determined to draw on films famous for their “plot doesn’t matter” legacies, the writers elect to keep Honey and audiences somewhat in the dark all the way to the end credits. The choice benefits from what a gem of a role the title character is for Qualley, funneling all of the film’s attention toward Honey O’Donahue’s swaggering hips and gait. However, it also makes the film slightly frothier and fleeting than it probably needed to be. The writers and star have built such a great character, you want to see her utilized for more than the B-movie aspirations set before her. Yet while working within the purposeful confines of this box, the creatives have succeeded in crafting a merry little murder yarn full of style and devastating zingers. This might be the second part of a thematic trilogy, but one leaves also hoping it’s the first part in a series of cases, and next time Qualley and Honey get to sink their teeth into a larger Coen crime syndicate. Join our mailing list Get the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox! Honey Don’t! premieres at the Cannes Film Festival on May 24 and in theaters on Aug. 22.

It seems like a triumph for a cryptocurrency industry that has long sought mainstream acceptance: Top investors in one of President Donald Trump’s crypto projects invited to dine with him at his luxury golf club in Northern Virginia on the heels of the Senate advancing key pro-crypto legislation and while bitcoin prices soar.But Thursday night’s dinner for the 220 biggest investors in the $TRUMP meme coin has raised uncomfortable questions about potentially shadowy buyers using the anonymity of the internet to buy access to the president.While Democrats charge that Trump is using the power of the presidency to boost profits for his family business, even some pro-Trump crypto enthusiasts worry that the president’s push into meme coins isn’t helping their efforts to establish the credibility, stability and legitimacy they had thought his administration would bring to their businesses.After feeling unfairly targeted by the Biden administration, the industry has quickly become a dominant political force, donating huge sums to help Trump and crypto-friendly lawmakers. But that’s also served to tether the industry—sometimes uncomfortably—to a president who is using crypto as a platform to make money for his brand in unprecedented ways.“It’s distasteful and an unnecessary distraction,” said Nic Carter, a Trump supporter and partner at the crypto investment firm Castle Island Ventures, who said the president is “hugging us to death” with his private crypto businesses. “We would much rather that he passes common-sense legislation and leave it at that.” Concerns about Trump’s crypto ventures predate Inauguration Day At the swanky Crypto Ball held down the street from the White House three days before he took office on Jan. 20, Trump announced the creation of the meme coin $TRUMP as a way for his supporters to “have fun.”Meme coins are the crypto sector’s black sheep. They are often created as a joke, with no real utility and prone to extremely wild price swings that tend to enrich a small group of insiders at the expense of less sophisticated investors.The president’s meme coin is different, however, and has a clear utility: access to Trump. The top 25 investors of $TRUMP are set to attend a private reception with the president Thursday, with the top four getting $100,000 crypto-themed and Trump-branded watches.Trump’s meme coin saw an initial spike in value, followed by a steep drop. The price saw a significant increase after the dinner contest was announced. Its creators, which include an entity controlled by the Trump Organization, have made hundreds of millions of dollars by collecting fees on trades.First lady Melania Trump has her own meme coin, and Trump’s sons, Eric and Don Jr.—who are running the Trump Organization while their father is president—announced they are partnering with an existing firm to create a crypto mining company.The Trump family also holds about a 60% stake in World Liberty Financial, a crypto project that provides yet another avenue where investors are buying in and enriching the president’s relatives. World Liberty has launched its own stablecoin, USD1. The project got a boost recently when World Liberty announced an investment fund in the United Arab Emirates would be using $2 billion worth of USD1 to purchase a stake in Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange.A rapidly growing form of crypto, stablecoins have values pegged to fixed assets like the U.S. dollar. Issuers profit by collecting the interest on the Treasury bonds and other assets used to back the stablecoins.Crypto is now one of the most significant sources of the Trump family’s wealth.“He’s becoming a salesman-in-chief,” said James Thurber, an American University professor emeritus who has long studied and taught about corruption around the world. “It allows for foreign influence easily. It allows for crypto lobbying going on at this dinner, and other ways. It allows for huge conflicts of interest.” How Trump changed his mind on crypto “I’m a big crypto fan,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One during last week’s trip to the Middle East. “I’ve been that from the beginning, right from the campaign.”That wasn’t always true. During his first term, Trump posted in July 2019 that cryptocurrencies were “not money” and had value that was “highly volatile and based on thin air.”“Unregulated Crypto Assets can facilitate unlawful behavior, including drug trade,” he added then. Even after leaving office in 2021, Trump told Fox Business Network that bitcoin, the world’s most popular cryptocurrency, “seems like a scam.”Trump began to shift during a crypto event at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida in May 2024, receiving assurances that industry backers would spend lavishly to get him reelected. Another major milestone came last June, when Trump attended a high-dollar fundraiser at the San Francisco home of David Sacks.He further warmed to the industry weeks later, when Trump met at Mar-a-Lago with bitcoin miners. The following month, he addressed a major crypto conference in Nashville, promising to make the U.S. the “crypto capital of the planet.”Those close to Trump, including his sons and billionaire Elon Musk, helped further push his embrace of the industry. Sacks is now the Trump administration’s crypto czar, and many Cabinet members—including Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth—have long been enthusiastic crypto boosters.“I don’t have faith in the dollar,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a 2023 interview. “I’m bullish on bitcoin.” Trump + crypto: A political marriage of convenience Many top crypto backers were naturally wary of traditional politics, but gravitated toward Trump last year. They bristled at Democratic President Joe Biden ‘s Securities and Exchange Commission aggressively bringing civil suits against several major crypto companies.Since Trump took office, many such cases have been dropped or paused, including one alleging that Justin Sun, a China-born crypto entrepreneur, and his company engaged in market manipulation and paid celebrities for undisclosed promotions.Sun, who once paid $6.2 million for a piece of art involving a banana taped to a wall, and then ate the banana, helped the Trumps start World Liberty Financial with an early $75 million investment.Sun has disclosed on social media that he is the biggest holder of $TRUMP meme coins and is attending Thursday’s dinner.“I’m excited to connect with everyone, talk crypto, and discuss the future of our industry,” Sun said. Are Trump family profits hurting other crypto investors? Trump has signed executive orders promoting the industry, including calls to create a government bitcoin reserve. In March, Trump convened the first cryptocurrency summit at the White House.But some of the industry’s biggest names, often brash and outspoken, have kept mostly mum on Trump’s meme coins and other projects.“It’s not my place to really comment on President Trump’s activity,” Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said at a recent public event.Meanwhile, a top legislative priority for crypto-backers, a bill clarifying how digital assets are to be regulated, has advanced in the Senate. But some Democrats have tried to stall other pro-crypto legislation over the president’s personal dealings.“Never in American history has a sitting president so blatantly violated the ethics laws,” Democratic Rep. Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts said during a contentious House hearing earlier this month.The White House referred questions about dinner attendees to the Trump Organization, which didn’t provide a list of who is coming.“The President is working to secure GOOD deals for the American people, not for himself,” White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said in a statement.In addition to Sun, however, some attendees have publicized qualifying for the dinner. Another will be Sheldon Xia, the founder of a cryptocurrency exchange called BitMart that’s registered in the Cayman Islands.“Proud to support President Trump’s pro-crypto vision.” Xia wrote in both English and Chinese on social media.Thurber, the expert on government and ethics, said Trump’s “personal attention to crypto at this dinner helps the crypto industry.”“But also it’s risky,” he said, “because they could all lose a lot of money.” —Will Weissert and Alan Suderman, Associated Press

Home Trump Is the US’s New AI Salesman in the Middle East. A Smart Move or Desperation? News Trump Is the US’s New AI Salesman in the Middle East. A Smart Move or Desperation? 5 min read Published: May 18, 2025 Key Takeaways The US has signed a deal with the UAE to build the largest AI data center outside of the US. UAE will also be able to acquire 500K advanced NVIDIA AI chips every year from 2025. Saudi Arabia AI firm HUMAIN announced a partnership with NVIDIA to build 500 MW of AI factories in the next five years. Donald Trump’s visit to the Middle East has turned out to be quite fruitful for both parties. The US has signed a new deal with the UAE, wherein ‘the Middle East powerhouse’ will build a 10-square-mile AI facility in Abu Dhabi with a power capacity of 5 gigawatts. Remember, this kind of power can support 2.5 million Nvidia B200 chips. The facility will be built by Emirati government-backed AI company G42. This is the same company in which Microsoft invested $1.5 billion last year. However, the US seems to be cautious about the deal and would control a large part of the facility, even after it’s operational. Howard Lutnick, the US Secretary of Commerce, said that American companies will operate the data center and offer cloud services through the Middle East. This agreement would also allow the UAE to import 500K advanced Nvidia AI chips every year starting as early as 2025. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang also accompanied Trump on his visit. Additionally, the agreement requires the UAE to reposition their national security regulations with the US, considering the country’s strong trading ties with China. This is important to prevent any diversion of US technology to other countries, specifically China. Recently, during Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia, the country unveiled HUMAIN, an AI firm that is part of the country’s public investment fund. HUMAIN recently announced a landmark deal with NVIDIA, planning to build AI factories with a total capacity of 500 MW in the next 5 years, which will run on millions of NVIDIA GPUs.  These AI data centers will become launchpads for training and deploying AI models on a larger scale. Saudi Arabia wants to become an international AI powerhouse to drive the next wave of AI development in the Middle East, and its partnership with NVIDIA might just be the beginning. AI Shaping Geopolitical Ties The Middle East has been trying to ramp up its AI investments and efforts in recent years. For instance, the UAE hired Eric Xing, a pioneer AI researcher, in 2020 to lead the Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence. Following this, Saudi Arabia roped in Jürgen Schmidhuber, another AI pioneer, to head its King Abdullah University of Science and Technology. However, the quality of AI research from these countries has been subpar so far when compared to China and the US. This is largely due to restricted access to advanced computing resources. That could quickly become a thing of the past, though, thanks to the new deal with the US. The Middle East seems to be standing at an important crossroads. While it needs to maintain its trading ties with China, it cannot sever US relations owing to the latter’s AI supremacy. As of 2023, China accounts for around 11% of the UAE’s total exports, valued at $41.8 billion. At the same time, it also accounts for 20% of the country’s imports at $77.42 billion.  A powerhouse like the UAE is not dumb enough to ditch China to please the US. Therefore, this deal will be a meticulously planned affair from both countries. While the US will ensure the AI chips do not end up in China, the UAE will be cautious not to ruffle China. Trump Exploring New Markets The US has also shown a lot of trust in the Middle East with this deal. Earlier, such deals were blocked by the US administration, citing the Middle East’s close connections with China. However, Trump has been quick to realize that he needs to tap the potential of the ‘oil money’ to stamp America’s authority over artificial intelligence. Another reason behind the US’s interest in the Middle East could be that it has blocked the Chinese market for manufacturers like Nvidia and AMD. In fact, a new law is under discussion that could require US companies to introduce location tracking in exported AI chips so that they do not end up in the hands of their Chinese counterparts. These strict measures will eventually lead to a total loss of Chinese markets. Also, note that China contributed 13% of Nvidia’s total revenue for the year ended January 2025. So, the US-Middle East deals could also be a desperate move by the former to find new markets for its huge AI production units. Also, Trump doesn’t seem to have many options. After exiling the Chinese markets, the Middle East is the biggest emerging AI producer and consumer globally. Other strong candidates like India haven’t shown much interest in AI technological developments, at least not until the time of writing. What’s more, the South American market may not be enough to cover for loss in Chinese revenue. So, in all probability, it seems like the US needs this deal more than the Middle East. The Middle East, on the other hand, also seems to be in the mood to redefine traditional partnerships through strategic investments and diplomatic tools, creating a win-win situation for both parties. Mohammed Soliman, a senior at the Middle East Institute, said that this shift will improve the country’s technological partnership with the US. However, this does not mean that the UAE is abandoning China – it’s just recalibrating its tech strategy to prepare for the future. Krishi is a seasoned tech journalist with over four years of experience writing about PC hardware, consumer technology, and artificial intelligence.  Clarity and accessibility are at the core of Krishi’s writing style. He believes technology writing should empower readers—not confuse them—and he’s committed to ensuring his content is always easy to understand without sacrificing accuracy or depth. Over the years, Krishi has contributed to some of the most reputable names in the industry, including Techopedia, TechRadar, and Tom’s Guide. A man of many talents, Krishi has also proven his mettle as a crypto writer, tackling complex topics with both ease and zeal. His work spans various formats—from in-depth explainers and news coverage to feature pieces and buying guides.  Behind the scenes, Krishi operates from a dual-monitor setup (including a 29-inch LG UltraWide) that’s always buzzing with news feeds, technical documentation, and research notes, as well as the occasional gaming sessions that keep him fresh.  Krishi thrives on staying current, always ready to dive into the latest announcements, industry shifts, and their far-reaching impacts.  When he's not deep into research on the latest PC hardware news, Krishi would love to chat with you about day trading and the financial markets—oh! And cricket, as well. View all articles by Krishi Chowdhary Our editorial process The Tech Report editorial policy is centered on providing helpful, accurate content that offers real value to our readers. We only work with experienced writers who have specific knowledge in the topics they cover, including latest developments in technology, online privacy, cryptocurrencies, software, and more. Our editorial policy ensures that each topic is researched and curated by our in-house editors. We maintain rigorous journalistic standards, and every article is 100% written by real authors. More from News View all View all

Reading Time: 17 minutes Email marketing isn’t just about sending emails. Your emails could have the most compelling subject line, the perfect design, and personalized offers, and still land in your customers’ spam folders. You may call it ‘heartbreak.’ We call it an email deliverability issue. Email deliverability ensures your messages reach your audience where they’ll be read, not in the clutches of spam filters or ignored ‘Promotions’ tabs. Thankfully, this guide is here to arm you with actionable tactics to improve email marketing deliverability. But wait! Before diving headfirst into tactics and tools, let’s take a step back and address the basics of what exactly deliverability is, and how it’s different from email delivery.   What is Email Deliverability? Email deliverability is the ability of your emails to successfully land in your customers’ primary inboxes, rather than getting routed to spam folders or getting rejected. It evaluates whether your email reaches its destination, and if it’s considered trustworthy by mailbox providers like Gmail, Yahoo, or Outlook. Email Delivery vs. Email Deliverability: What’s the Difference? On the surface, email deliverability and email delivery may sound like interchangeable terms, but they’re far from identical. Let’s make it crystal clear: Email delivery means your email has been successfully accepted by your recipient’s email server. In other words, it’s like your email knocking on their door and being allowed into the house. Email deliverability, on the other hand, is what happens after that door is opened. Does your email land in the inbox? Or does it get tossed into the spam folder? Here’s an example to tie it all together: Imagine sending out 1,000 emails. If 950 of them successfully reach the targeted servers, you have an email delivery rate of 95%. But if only 750 of those emails end up in the inbox, your email deliverability rate is 75%. See the difference now? “But what does it matter anyway?” you ask. Why is Email Deliverability Important? Email deliverability is the backbone of every successful email marketing campaign. If your emails don’t land in recipients’ inboxes, your efforts won’t drive results. A strong deliverability strategy ensures your messages reach the right inboxes, increasing engagement and driving action. It also protects your sender reputation by monitoring key metrics like your sender score and IP reputation. Tools like MxToolbox and Talos can help you proactively check your domain and IP health. Ultimately, high email deliverability safeguards your reputation and maximizes the impact of your email marketing efforts.   What Affects Email Deliverability? Below, we’ll discuss the most important factors that can affect your email deliverability. Buckle up, marketers. This is about to get real. 1. Domain and IP Reputation Mailbox providers (think Gmail, Yahoo, or Outlook) use your domain or sender reputation to assess how trustworthy you are. Accordingly, they decide which folder to send your email to. If they see evidence that you send sketchy or unwanted emails (read: spam), your reputation tanks faster than a celebrity caught in a scandal. And so does your ability to hit inboxes. 2. Number of Emails Sent More isn’t always better. Unless we’re talking about pizza or vacation days, of course. When it comes to email volumes, though, the quantity you’re sending can directly impact your email deliverability. If you send out too many emails too soon, mailbox providers might consider this overly aggressive behavior. They may slow down your email delivery (throttling) or flag you as spammy. 3. Email Content Does your email content look like it was written by a used car salesman from ‘95? You’re headed for trouble. Here’s the deal: Email providers analyze the content of every email to determine if it’s spammy garbage or something worth reaching an inbox. Things like excessive exclamation points, ALL CAPS, misleading subject lines, or overusing words like “FREE!!!” sound alarm bells. Oh, and including massive files (like 15MB GIFs) or embedding shady links? That’s like grinning with spinach stuck in your teeth. How does email file size affect deliverability, though? Well, it typically takes longer to download and see heavy emails, and that can impact email engagement. Mailbox providers like Gmail also clip messages weighing over 102 KB. The moral of the story is, your email file size should be less than 100 KB. No questions asked. 4. Email Sending Infrastructure Welcome to the tech part of email deliverability. Your email sending infrastructure includes things like: Proper domain authentication (SPF, DKIM, and DMARC): Sender Policy Framework (SPF), DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM), and Domain-based Message Authentication Reporting & Conformance (DMARC). These security protocols prove to mailbox providers that you’re not a shady imposter trying to phish their customers. Dedicated IP addresses: These help establish consistency over time, especially for higher email volumes. Reliable Email Service Providers (ESPs): Choose platforms that prioritize deliverability. In short, they should authenticate your emails, use reputable IPs, and comply with CAN-SPAM, GDPR, and other important regulations. 5. Performance Metrics and User Engagement Here’s where you have to face cold, hard facts: your audience’s reaction to your emails matters more than your own opinion of your email campaigns. Metrics like open rates, click-through rates (CTR), and spam complaint rates aren’t just vanity numbers. If mailbox providers notice that customers are ignoring your emails, deleting them without reading, or marking them as ‘spam’ (ouch), they’ll quietly penalize you by deprioritizing all future emails you send. Translation: Lower engagement = Bad email deliverability. Speaking of which, it’s time to see what makes deliverability good or bad.   How Do You Measure Email Deliverability? Measuring email marketing deliverability is about understanding not only how many emails you’re sending, but also how many actually reach the intended inboxes and how well they perform when they do. To measure email deliverability, you’ll need a sharp eye for identifying patterns in your campaigns. Let’s dive into the most important aspects that impact how you measure and interpret deliverability. What is a Good Email Deliverability Rate? Okay, let’s address the elephant in the inbox: how good is good? In general terms, a “good” email deliverability rate ranges between 95% and 98%. If you’re hitting these numbers, pat yourself on the back—you’re doing far better than average. Anything below 90%, however, is definitely cause for concern, as it signals red flags in your sender reputation, email copy, or email list management tactics. That said, keep in mind that these numbers can vary depending on your industry, audience, and email strategy. For instance, Ecommerce brands targeting global audiences often deal with larger volumes and higher bounces. On the other hand, smaller B2C SaaS brands might maintain a higher deliverability baseline due to more niche, curated lists. What is an Email Deliverability Score and How Do You Use It? An email deliverability score is a score to assess your overall email performance based on factors like bounce rates, sender reputation, customer engagement, and list hygiene. Essentially, mailbox providers like Gmail and Outlook assign trust levels to sender domains and IP addresses, and the deliverability score helps you understand how high (or low) their trust in you is. Use this score strategically to: Audit the effectiveness of your latest email campaigns. Track long-term trends in reputation and performance. Adjust tactics, such as improving sender authenticity or list hygiene. Pro tip: Most email marketing platforms can provide you with a deliverability score right inside your dashboard. Sure, the score gives you a bird’s-eye view of the deliverability. But you need to dig deeper to get precise insights into what’s working and not working for your emails.   Top 5 Email Deliverability Metrics to Understand Campaign Performance Here are the five email deliverability metrics every savvy B2C marketer needs to analyze. Now let’s look at them in detail, shall we? 1. Open Rate The open rate measures the percentage of recipients who open your email after it lands in their inbox. It’s the first metric that indicates whether your subject line, brand, or sending name resonates enough with your audience to make them open your emails. Low open rates might mean your emails aren’t even making it to inboxes (hello, spam folder!) or that your subject lines need to get better at sparking curiosity. 2. Clickthrough Rate (CTR) The CTR is the percentage of recipients who clicked on a link inside your email after opening it. This metric is a direct indicator of how well your email content engages the audience. Did they find value in your email, or did you lose their attention somewhere within your copy? 3. Spam Complaint Rate The spam complaint rate measures the percentage of recipients who mark your email as ‘spam’. This email marketing metric matters because mailbox providers take complaints very seriously, which might tank your sender reputation. 4. Unsubscribe Rate Unsubscribe rate tracks how many recipients opted out of receiving your emails. While it’s natural to see a few unsubscribes here and there, a sudden spike signals a disconnect between your email strategy and audience expectations (think irrelevant content or too-frequent emails). 5. Deliverability Rate The deliverability rate measures how many emails actually made it to the recipient’s inbox (or spam folder), compared to how many you initially sent. Recipients unsubscribing is essentially them telling you, “Thanks, but no thanks.” It’s a sign of misaligned targeting or irrelevant content and can provide insight into how to refine your audience segmentation.   3 Critical Email Deliverability Issues and Problems to Avoid Even the best marketers face roadblocks on the highway to the customer’s inbox. Here are three email deliverability issues to sidestep early: 1. How to Avoid Spam Filters in Email Marketing Spam filters are filters that catch anything they deem suspicious or irrelevant and banish it to the spam folder. For B2C marketers like you, this spells disaster. Emails flagged as spam don’t just fail to reach your audience; they damage your sender reputation and affect future deliverability. The good news? With the right practices, you can dodge spam filters and ensure your emails land in the inbox. “Pull Rather Than Push” The best way to avoid spam filters is to focus on engagement. Instead of spamming your users with hollow promotional material, entice them with rich, relevant, and consumable content that provides unmistakable value. Whether it’s exclusive offers or personalized updates, make emails worth opening. Maintain a Clean Email List Emailing outdated, invalid, or irrelevant addresses is your one-way ticket to spam territory. Worse, you might email a spam trap. It’s an intentionally invalid address designed to catch domains with poor email practices (more on that later). Spam filters look for patterns, and a high volume of bounces or spam reports can slam your domain reputation, decreasing overall deliverability. One way of recognizing the issue is when your email open rates are drastically low. Create Content in the Right Balance and Tone Spam filters are deeply sensitive to the content of your email—everything from subject lines to text color can trigger red flags. To pass their strict scrutiny, your content must be clean, relevant, and balanced. What to Avoid Words like “FREE!!!” or “Make Millions Now” trigger alarms. Avoid excessive punctuation, caps lock, or promotional buzzwords. Keep content short, relevant, and readable. Long-winded emails frustrate customers and scream “spam” to filters. What to Focus On Add recipients’ names and offer content tailored to their activity or preferences. Optimize your emails for mobile. Most customers check emails on their phones, so ensure proper rendering on smaller screens. Include alt text for images and a plain-text version of every email for better compatibility. Build a Relationship with Subscribers Spam filters penalize cold, irrelevant communication, but fostering a respectful relationship with subscribers can work in your favor. Don’t ignore unsubscribe requests. Rather, respect their choice to opt out. Bombarding unsubscribers breeds resentment and spam complaints. Encourage subscribers to add your domain to their address book. This keeps your emails prioritized and inbox-friendly. Tailor communication around subscriber needs rather than what your company wants to push. Strong customer relationships not only improve email deliverability, but also create brand loyalty. That’s where customer relationship emails come into the picture. 2. How to Maintain a Healthy Email Domain Reputation Your email domain reputation is a key factor that mailbox providers use to decide whether your emails land in the inbox, spam folder, or get blocked altogether. A poor reputation, caused by spam complaints, bounces, or sending to spam traps, can destroy your deliverability and damage your brand’s credibility. To maintain your reputation, focus on consistent sending patterns, clean email lists, and authenticated domains using SPF, DKIM, and DMARC. Avoid sudden spikes in email volume, and ensure your content is relevant and personalized to improve engagement. 3. Avoid Email Spam Traps Spam traps or honeypots are invalid email addresses created by mailbox providers to identify and penalize senders with poor email list hygiene. These addresses don’t engage with emails and can enter contact lists through outdated addresses, typos, or unethical practices like scraping or purchasing lists. Hitting spam traps damages your sender reputation, affects email deliverability, and can result in emails landing in spam folders or being blocked altogether. Types of Email Spam Traps There are three main types of spam traps: Pristine Spam Traps: These are never-used addresses created to catch senders who purchase lists or scrape public forums. Recycled Traps: These are once-valid addresses repurposed into traps after prolonged inactivity and failure to suppress them. Typo Traps: These are email addresses containing user-input errors, like “gail.com” instead of “gmail.com.” Each of these indicates lapses in list hygiene or collection processes and contributes to deliverability issues. How to Identify Spam Traps Spam traps often point to declining email deliverability rates because these addresses never engage with emails or click through content. They are typically outdated, invalid, or associated with suspicious email collection methods. If you notice drops in deliverability metrics like increasing bounces or disengagement, tools like SpamCop can help detect these problematic addresses. How to Avoid Spam Traps Precision list management is key to minimizing spam traps. Double opt-ins verify addresses and ensure subscribers consent to communication. Send confirmation emails upon sign-up to validate authenticity, and consistently remove inactive subscribers to prevent recycled traps. Buying contact lists is a strict no-no, as these are a magnet for spam traps. If issues arise, validate your list using professional tools and re-permission campaigns to re-engage or suppress inactive contacts. A clean, permission-based list not only avoids spam traps, but also enhances engagement and deliverability.   How to Improve Email Deliverability: 9 Best Practices to Follow Improving deliverability requires discipline, tactics, and the right email deliverability service. Follow these eight tried-and-tested deliverability best practices to ensure your emails land in customers’ inboxes, and not the dreaded spam folder. 1. Confirm Sender Authentication Before anything else, authenticate your domain with SPF, DKIM, and DMARC. Without them, email providers might assume your campaigns are malicious and block them altogether. Work with your IT team or use platforms like MoEngage to configure these settings efficiently. MoEngage ensures your domain’s authentication is in place, enhancing your odds of bypassing spam filters. 2. Build a Clean Email List As we’ve mentioned before, high-quality email list is a non-negotiable for strong deliverability. Outdated or purchased lists kill your reputation faster than a bad joke at a standup gig. Here are a few pointers to help you clean and grow your email list regularly: Use double opt-ins to ensure new subscribers genuinely want your emails. Regularly remove bounced, invalid, and unengaged addresses from your list. Never buy or scrape email lists. It’s unethical, and in some regions, outright illegal. 3. Get the Email Copy Right Email content dictates how your audience connects with your brand (or doesn’t). Poorly written, overly spammy-looking content will ruin your reputation with both readers and ESPs. Craft personalized, value-driven copy. Steer clear of all-caps headlines, exclamation overload, or spammy language (we can’t seem to stress this enough in this email deliverability guide). A/B test your emails to identify what resonates best with your audience. 4. Use Fewer Images Yes, visuals are powerful, but they can also slow down your email’s load time and raise red flags for spam filters, especially if you add multiple clickable elements (like buttons). Keep your email design balanced with a higher ratio of text to images. A 40:60 text-to-image ratio is considered ideal. Use alt text for each image to ensure accessibility, in case images don’t fully render. Maintain standard HTML email template sizes — it’s 600 pixels for desktops, 320 pixels for vertical, and 480 pixels for horizontal views on mobile devices. Keep your HTML code light and clean without any hidden images or URLs. 5. Reduce the Number of Links Bombarding readers with more links than necessary doesn’t just look spammy, but can also tank deliverability. Spam filters are especially ruthless if your links come from too many domains. Stick to one or two actionable, well-placed links per email. Avoid URL shorteners or unverified domains. Don’t forget to preview your email to ensure all hyperlinks are functional and minimal. 6. Segment Your List Generic email blasts, move over. Segmentation allows you to send tailored content based on customer preferences and behavior. Use demographic and behavioral data to create focused email segments. MoEngage’s deep Recency, Frequency, and Monetary Value (RFM) segmentation capabilities help you craft hyper-personalized campaigns that boost clickthrough and engagement rates. 7. Use Real Names and Email Addresses Never underestimate the human touch. Blatantly promotional email addresses like ‘promotions@mybusiness.com’ are easily classified as such and are usually placed in the ‘Promotions’ tab. Using real people’s names instead, like ‘John Doe’ and ‘jdoe@mystore.com’, suggests the sender might be a human being, and the content might not be promotional. 8. Comply with Email Deliverability Regulations Ignoring compliance laws like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and CAN-SPAM? Nuh-uh. You don’t want your domain to get blacklisted just because you failed to meet a few legal requirements, do you? Always include an opt-out link, honor unsubscribe requests immediately, and only email customers who’ve explicitly given consent to receive your emails. 9. Set Up Brand Indicators for Message Identification (BIMI) BIMI is the new gold star for email branding. It lets you display your brand logo next to your emails, boosting trust and recognition, and improving email deliverability. Configure BIMI, which requires a combination of domain authentication and logo verification. Adding this layer increases the likelihood of your emails being opened and decreases spam suspicion.   How to Increase Email Deliverability for Gmail, Yahoo, and Outlook Gmail, Yahoo, and Outlook have enforced strict guidelines to keep spam out and ensure better inbox experiences for subscribers. For brands, this means staying compliant or losing precious inbox placement. Let’s break it down. First things first: your authentication game needs to be airtight. If you’re sending more than 5,000 emails a day, a DMARC policy is non-negotiable. It’s also crucial that the domain in your “From” address is configured with the SPF, DKIM, and DMARC protocols. Additionally, valid forward and reverse DNS/PTR records are required for your email sending domains and IPs. Platforms like MoEngage handle much of this for you during onboarding, but it’s worth double-checking if you’ve added new sending addresses or use your own ESP. Then, make unsubscribing effortless. Both Gmail and Yahoo demand clear, visible, one-click unsubscribe links and mandate that opt-out requests be honored within 48 hours. With MoEngage, this functionality is automatically included for compliant campaigns. If you’re using your own custom setup, ensure subscription tracking is enabled and working in real time to avoid trouble. Finally, you must keep spam rates in check. Yahoo and Gmail expect a spam rate below 0.10%, while hitting 0.30% could spell major email deliverability issues. Prevent this by sticking to opt-in subscribers, sending periodic consent confirmation emails, regularly cleaning your lists, and suppressing unengaged subscribers. Maintaining dynamic sending patterns based on customer interests and behavior also helps you adhere to updated compliance standards. By aligning your email drip campaigns with these rules, you’ll ensure maximum inbox placement, keep spam filters at bay, and boost your customer engagement.   How to Conduct an Email Deliverability Test Running an email deliverability test can help you identify potential issues before they wreak havoc on your campaigns. Whether it’s an email authentication problem, unengaged recipients, or (gasp!) spam-triggering mistakes, running these tests ensures your emails make their way into inboxes smoothly. Below, we’ll give you a detailed walkthrough of 5 tips to help you ace your email deliverability testing game. 1. Use Seed Email Lists A seed list is essentially a mini-audience of test email addresses from various providers (like Gmail, Yahoo, and Outlook). Sending your email to this group allows you to measure whether it lands in the inbox, Promotional tab, or the spam folder. How does this help? It gives you insights into any immediate deliverability issues tied to specific providers or domains. For example, if your test email lands in Yahoo’s spam folder, you can troubleshoot the issue (such as tweaking the content or verifying authentication settings) before it impacts a broader audience. Fixing these bugs early can boost your email deliverability rate and protect your sender reputation. 2. Monitor Email Authentication Protocols (SPF, DKIM, and DMARC) During your email deliverability test, check each security protocol to ensure the email is passing authentication checks, so it comes across as legitimate and trustworthy. A properly authenticated email drastically improves your chances of landing in an inbox. 3. Test Subject Lines and Preheaders Your subject line sets the tone and determines whether someone opens your email or sends it to email purgatory. When testing email deliverability, keep an eye on how different subject lines perform. Use A/B testing tools to experiment with variations and select one that is catchy, yet non-spammy. Combined with preheader tweaks (essentially your preview text), this can optimize both inbox placement and engagement metrics. 4. Check for Blacklist Issues (And Stay Off Them) Email blacklists are essentially “no-fly lists” for senders known to spam inboxes. Even the best intentions can land you here if you’re not careful (think: sending to outdated email lists or ignoring proper opt-in procedures). Before you send any email campaign, you should run an email blacklist check using tools like MXToolbox. Identifying and resolving blacklist issues early significantly reduces the risk of your email being blocked at the server level. Plus, it helps you maintain your all-important sender reputation. 5. Evaluate Email Engagement Metrics Early Sure, email deliverability testing mostly focuses on getting your email into inboxes, but don’t ignore engagement metrics like open rates and clicks during your test phase. Why? Because customer behavior heavily influences what mailbox providers like Gmail think of your emails. Low engagement during testing could suggest your content or timing needs refinement. Test to identify whether certain segments of your subscribers (e.g., inactive subscribers) impact email deliverability performance. Based on these insights, you can remove unengaged subscribers or reconnect them with tailored re-engagement email campaigns later, creating a more engaged and clean list.   [Infographic] Email Deliverability Checklist: Make Sure You’re Prepared Nail your campaigns with these foolproof steps made for B2C marketers to ensure email deliverability.   3 Best Email Deliverability Tools to Ensure Your Emails Reach Your Customers’ Inboxes From ensuring domain authentication to tracking reputation scores, there are email software platforms to equip you with the insights and features needed to consistently hit inboxes. Here are the 3 best email deliverability tools to consider for your campaigns. 1. MoEngage *shy giggling* We’re honest. *eyelash batting* Seriously, MoEngage is a powerhouse designed specifically for B2C marketers working in industries like Ecommerce, fintech, QSR, and media. While it’s much more than just an email deliverability tool (think of it as a complete customer engagement and retention platform), MoEngage shines by offering advanced deliverability monitoring features. With real-time analytics, automation tools, and even AI-driven delivery optimization, you’ll know when, where, and why your emails are or aren’t landing in inboxes. It lets you filter for email bot opens and set up double opt-in with advanced configuration options. It also offers email deliverability services, including setting up proper authentications, email strategy discussions, assistance with inbox placement/bulking issues, troubleshooting blogs and blacklisting issues, content analysis, and reviewing industry best practices. Pricing: MoEngage offers customized pricing based on business size and requirements, with growth plans starting from $750/month. Its premium plans offer advanced segmentation, AI-powered optimizations, in-depth analytics, and a lot more. Best for: Dynamic audience segmentation, AI-driven email optimization, and granular insights into email deliverability. 2. Inbox Monster Inbox Monster is the go-to for marketers who require deep transparency into email deliverability metrics. The tool specializes in deliverability testing and gives real-time insights into where your emails are landing—whether it’s the inbox, ‘Promotions’ folder, or spam. It also offers spam trap monitoring, blacklist checking, and even time-sensitive post-send diagnostics, ensuring you get a complete picture of your email performance. Pricing: Inbox Monster operates on a subscription-based pricing model. Plans typically start at $79/month for smaller teams, with enterprise-level solutions available. Best for: Real-time DMARC and spam trap notifications 3. Mailmodo Mailmodo offers interactive Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) emails, which are a great choice if you want to improve both deliverability and engagement in one fell swoop. It focuses heavily on keeping your emails out of spam folders by providing tools like spam test previews, inbox placement testing, and personalization options. Its interface is easy to use for marketers who want quick insights and actionable suggestions without needing to wade through overly complex data. Plus, the tool’s smart templates for AMP-based campaigns drive customer interactions without leaving the email itself. Pricing: Mailmodo offers transparent plans ranging between $39 and $159 per month for 500 contacts. For brands needing higher volume and premium features, the pricing scales accordingly. Best for: Free email authentication tools, such as DMARC, SPF and DKIM record checkers These three email deliverability software tools cater to different needs, whether you’re striving for enterprise-level optimization or interactive inbox experiences. Ultimately, selecting the right email deliverability tool depends on your goals, audience, and budget.   Your Guide to Email Deliverability: Conclusion At the end of the day, email deliverability isn’t just about metrics; it’s about respect. Respecting your audience’s space, preferences, and limits goes a long way toward ensuring your emails land where they’re supposed to: the inbox. Want a tool that does it all and more? We give you… (drumroll) MoEngage! MoEngage doesn’t just focus on email deliverability; it drives customer interactions at every touchpoint. Now that’s something worth landing in inboxes for. Why not schedule a discovery call to see how MoEngage can do it for your campaigns? The post Email Deliverability: How to Dodge the Spam Folder appeared first on MoEngage.