Following the breakout success of ‘Your Friends and Neighbors’, which stars Jon Hamm and wrapped its first season last week, Apple has extended its deal with showrunner Jonathan Tropper, Deadline reports. Three-time Apple signee Apple TV+ first partnered with Tropper back in 2019, when he served as executive producer and showrunner for See, one of the platform’s launch titles. Since then he’s quietly become one of the most prolific creators on Apple TV+, with two active series and two high-profile films currently in the pipeline. Under the terms of this latest multi-year extension, he’ll continue developing and producing original content for Apple through his production company, Tropper Ink. Here’s Tropper: “Working with the entire team at Apple continues to be the single most creatively fulfilling collaboration of my career, and I’m looking forward to bringing Lucky and other new projects to the platform, while making more seasons of Your Friends & Neighbors” Breakout success According to Nielsen sampling data, Your Friends and Neighbors is the most-watched new Apple drama series of the year, based on first-month viewership across U.S. households. It’s also on track to break into the Nielsen Streaming Top 10 for the first time, a rare feat for a newer Apple TV+ original. Notably, Apple had already seen the breakout coming: the show was renewed for a second season back in November, months before it even premiered. Season 2 is currently in production. Up next Coming up next from Tropper: Lucky, a limited series starring Anya Taylor-Joy (The Gorge, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga) and based on Marissa Stapley’s bestselling novel, is expected to debut later this year. On the film side, Tropper is writing and producing The Corsair Code, a sci-fi mystery adventure starring Chris Hemsworth (Thor: Ragnarok), and Matchbox, an action-comedy based on the iconic toy brand, featuring John Cena (Peacemaker), Jessica Biel (The Illusionist), and Sam Richardson (Veep). Outside of Apple, Tropper is also writing an upcoming Star Wars film for director Shawn Levy. Not bad. Apple TV+ is available for $9.99 per month and features hit TV shows and movies like Ted Lasso, Severance, The Studio, The Morning Show, Shrinking and Silo. Add 9to5Mac to your Google News feed.  FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.You’re reading 9to5Mac — experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Don’t know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel

A person using ChatGPT on their phone (Kurt "CyberGuy" Knutsson) Welcome to Fox News’ Artificial Intelligence newsletter with the latest AI technology advancements.IN TODAY'S NEWSLETTER:- Scammers can exploit your data from just one ChatGPT search- Business Insider embraces AI while laying off 21% of workforce- Nvidia, Dell partner with Trump admin to make next-gen supercomputerGUARD YOUR DATA: ChatGPT and other large language models (LLMs) have become amazing helpers for everyday tasks. Whether it's summarizing complex ideas, designing a birthday card or even planning your apartment's layout, you can get impressive results with just a simple prompt.NEWS BREAK: Business Insider announced Thursday that the company will be shrinking the size of its newsroom and making layoffs, impacting over a fifth of its staff. Business Insider CEO Barbara Peng said in an internal memo obtained by Fox News Digital that the company is "fully embracing AI," as 70% of the company’s staff currently uses Enterprise ChatGPT, with a goal of 100%.  Sen. Elizabeth Warren and progressives are taking issue with what they see as Nvidia's outsized influence in the AI chip market. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)HIGH TECH: Nvidia and Dell on Thursday announced a breakthrough supercomputer powered by artificial intelligence (AI) will launch next year to help drive research at the Department of Energy (DOE).SETTING THE PACE: Pace University uses AI and scannable QR codes to read graduates' names. Passengers arrive to Terminal B at Newark Liberty International Airport in Newark, New Jersey on May 7, 2025. (KENA BETANCUR/AFP via Getty Images)A-'EYE' IN THE SKY: Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy recently announced that artificial intelligence (AI) is being used to detect and address air traffic risks, following a slew of near-misses and fatal plane crashes across the country.'PROFOUND TRANSFORMATION': Nvidia, a leader in the artificial intelligence (AI) space, saw shares rise 3% in after-hours trading following the announcement. The earnings report showed that first-quarter net income was up 26% from a year ago at nearly $19 billion, with revenue rising to $44 billion, up 69% from last year. Apple logo (Kurt "CyberGuy" Knutsson)'AGRI-FICIAL' INTELLIGENCE: John Deere is turning to artificial intelligence to help farmers address labor shortages and enable them to handle other tasks associated with their business.APPLE’S AI RECKONING': OpenAI has just made a move that's turning heads across the tech world. The company is acquiring io, the AI device startup founded by Jony Ive, for nearly $6.5 billion. This isn't your typical business deal. It's a collaboration between Sam Altman, who leads OpenAI, and the designer responsible for some of Apple's most iconic products, including the iPhone and Apple Watch.STANDING TALL AGAIN: For Caroline Laubach, being a Wandercraft test pilot is about more than just trying out new technology. It's about reclaiming a sense of freedom and connection that many wheelchair users miss. Laubach, a spinal stroke survivor and full-time wheelchair user, has played a key role in demonstrating the personal AI-powered prototype exoskeleton's development, and her experience highlights just how life-changing this device can be. A man using an exoskeleton to walk. (Wandercraft)BOT BLUNDER: Google’s artificial intelligence chatbot is being slammed for "anti-American" claims about the supposed White supremacist origins of Memorial Day.FOLLOW FOX NEWS ON SOCIAL MEDIASIGN UP FOR OUR OTHER NEWSLETTERSDOWNLOAD OUR APPSWATCH FOX NEWS ONLINEFox News GoSTREAM FOX NATIONFox NationStay up to date on the latest AI technology advancements and learn about the challenges and opportunities AI presents now and for the future with Fox News here. This article was written by Fox News staff.

Over the past few weeks, VMware customers holding onto their perpetual licenses, which are often unsupported and in limbo, have reportedly begun receiving formal cease-and-desist letters from Broadcom. The message is as blunt as it is unsettling: your support contract has expired, and you are to immediately uninstall any updates, patches, or enhancements released since that expiration date. Not only that, but audits could follow, with the possibility of “enhanced damages” for breach of contract. This is a sharp escalation in an effort to push perpetual license holders toward VMware’s new subscription-only model. For many, it signals the end of an era where critical infrastructure software could be owned, maintained, and supported on long-term, stable terms. Now, even those who bought VMware licenses outright are being told that support access is off the table unless they sign on to the new subscription regime. As a result, enterprises are being forced to make tough decisions about how they manage and support one of the most foundational layers of their IT environments. VMware isn’t just another piece of enterprise software. It’s the plumbing. The foundation. The layer everything else runs on top of, which is precisely why many CIOs flinch at the idea of running unsupported. The potential risk is too great. A vulnerability or failure in your virtual infrastructure isn’t the same as a bug in a CRM. It’s a systemic weakness. It touches everything. This technical risk is, without question, the biggest barrier to any organization considering support options outside of VMware’s official offering. And it’s a valid concern.  But technical risk isn’t black and white. It varies widely depending on version, deployment model, network architecture, and operational maturity. A tightly managed and stable VMware environment running a mature release with minimal exposure doesn’t carry the same risk profile as an open, multi-tenant deployment on a newer build. The prevailing assumption is that support equals security—and that operating unsupported equals exposure. But this relationship is more complex than it appears. In most enterprise environments, security is not determined by whether a patch is available. It’s determined by how well the environment is configured, managed, and monitored. Patches are not applied instantly. Risk assessments, integration testing, and change control processes introduce natural delays. And in many cases, security gaps arise not from missing patches but from misconfigurations: exposed management interfaces, weak credentials, overly permissive access. An unpatched environment, properly maintained and reviewed, can be significantly more secure than a patched one with poor hygiene. Support models that focus on proactive security—through vulnerability analysis, environment-specific impact assessments, and mitigation strategies—offer a different but equally valid form of protection. They don’t rely on patch delivery alone. They consider how a vulnerability behaves in the attack chain, whether it’s exploitable, and what compensating controls are available.  Read more about VMware security Hacking contest exposes VMware security: In what has been described as a historical first, hackers in Berlin have been able to demo successful attacks on the ESXi hypervisor. No workaround leads to more pain for VMware users: There are patches for the latest batch of security alerts from Broadcom, but VMware users on perpetual licences may not have access. This kind of tailored risk management is especially important now, as vendor support for older VMware versions diminishes. Many reported vulnerabilities relate to newer product components or bundled services, not the core virtualization stack. The perception of rising security risk needs to be balanced against the stability and maturity of the versions in question. In other words, not all unsupported deployments are created equal. Some VMware environments—particularly older versions like vSphere 5.x or 6.x—are already beyond the range of vendor patching. In these cases, the transition to unsupported status may be more symbolic than substantive. The risk profile has not meaningfully changed.  Others, particularly organisations operating vSphere 7 or 8 without an active support contract, face a more complex challenge. Some critical security patches remain accessible, depending on severity and version, but the margin of certainty is shrinking.   These are the cases where enterprises are increasingly turning to alternative support models to bridge the gap—ensuring continuity, maintaining compliance, and retaining access to skilled technical expertise. Third-party support is sometimes seen as a temporary fix—a way to buy time while organizations figure out their long-term plans. And it can serve that purpose well. But increasingly, it’s also being recognized as a strategic choice in its own right: a long-term solution for enterprises that want to maintain operational stability with a reliable support partner while retaining control over their virtualization roadmap.What distinguishes third-party support in this context isn’t just cost control, it’s methodology.   Risk is assessed holistically, identifying which vulnerabilities truly matter, what can be addressed through configuration, and when escalation is genuinely required. This approach recognises that most enterprises aren’t chasing bleeding-edge features. They want to run stable, well-understood environments that don’t change unpredictably. Third-party support helps them do exactly that, without being forced into a rapid, costly migration or a subscription contract that may not align with their business needs.  Crucially, it enables organisations to move on their own timeline. Much of the conversation around unsupported VMware environments focuses on technical risk. But the longer-term threat may be strategic. The end of perpetual licensing, the sharp rise in subscription pricing, and now the legal enforcement of support boundaries all points to a much bigger problem: a loss of control over infrastructure strategy.  Vendor-imposed timelines, licensing models, and audit policies are increasingly dictating how organizations use the very software they once owned outright. Third-party support doesn’t eliminate risk—nothing can. But it redistributes and controls it. It gives enterprises more agency over when and how they migrate, how they manage updates, and where they invest. In a landscape shaped by vendor agendas, that independence is increasingly critical.  Broadcom’s cease-and-desist letters represent a new phase in the relationship between software vendors and customers—one defined not by collaboration, but by contractual enforcement. And for VMware customers still clinging to the idea of “owning” their infrastructure, it’s a rude awakening: support is no longer optional, and perpetual is no longer forever. Organizations now face three paths: accept the subscription model, attempt a rapid migration to an alternative platform, or find a support model that gives them the stability to decide their future on their own terms.  For many, the third option is the only one that balances operational security with strategic flexibility.  The question now isn’t whether unsupported infrastructure is risky. The question is whether the greater risk is allowing someone else to dictate what happens next. 

Bryant Francis, Senior EditorMay 30, 20253 Min ReadImage via ZeniMax Workers United-CEWA.At a GlanceZeniMax Workers Untied-CWA has signed a tentative contract agreement with Microsoft after two years of negotiating.Unionized QA workers at ZeniMax celebrated a huge win today with the news that their union, ZeniMax Workers United-CWA, and ZeniMax parent company Microsoft finally reached a tentative contract agreement two years after unionizing in 2023.The new contract includes "substantial" across-the-board wage increases and new minimum salaries for employees and policies for introducing AI tools in the workplace (policies first agreed upon in late 2023).It also includes protections against arbitrary dismissal, grievance procedures, and a robust crediting policy to ensure QA workers are recognized for their work on ZeniMax games. The CWA declared that the agreement "sets new standards" for the video game industry."Video games have been the revenue titan of the entire entertainment industry for years, and the workers who develop these games are too often exploited for their passion and creativity," said ZeniMax QA tester Jessee Leese, who is a member of the bargaining committee. "Our first contract is an invitation for video game professionals everywhere to take action."The agreement follows a brief public spat between the two parties from November 2024 through April 2025. The union has spoken out against Microsoft's decision to outsource more work to outside contractors and accused it of "hindering" contract negotiations, briefly going on strike last year and voting to authorize a second strike this spring. Microsoft denied the accusation, saying made "fair" proposals to the bargaining committee (Raven Software union members made similar claims about Microsoft in August 2024).Related:That the two groups could go from public verbal sparring to a successful bargaining agreement in under two months shows that some form of progress came after workers threatened that second strike.Unions possess negotiation tools that individuals don'tAdapting the union's contract and tactics is a potentially powerful way to In 2024 ZeniMax union leaders Autumn Mitchell and Chris Lusco broke down the benefits of the unionization process in a conversation on the Game Developer Podcast, explaining that choosing to unionize has created new bargaining opportunities that individual employees don't possess.For instance, the pair discussed the concept of "recall rights," a term the included in the bargaining agreement that requires employers to offer laid-off employees a chance to return to the company if they reopen their positions within 2-3 years after being laid off. Unionizing workers in the United States also benefit what's known as a "status quo" condition for workers' contracts that are immediately imposed when a union is declared, preventing their employer from suddenly shrinking benefits.Related:"We're talking about eliminating that 'revolving door' at least to some degree," Mitchell said at the time, in reference to how high turnover can gut a studio's institutional knowledge.Their tactics will certainly be useful to other unions negotiating bargaining agreements with Microsoft. At neighboring subsidiary Activision Blizzard, the developers working on the Warcraft and Overwatch series are waging their own (verbal) battle with the company, as are the employees at Raven Software and workers across Activision Blizzard's QA teams.Read more about:Top StoriesUnionizationXboxAbout the AuthorBryant FrancisSenior Editor, GameDeveloper.comBryant Francis is a writer, journalist, and narrative designer based in Boston, MA. He currently writes for Game Developer, a leading B2B publication for the video game industry. His credits include Proxy Studios' upcoming 4X strategy game Zephon and Amplitude Studio's 2017 game Endless Space 2.Follow Bryant Francis, Senior Editor, on Bluesky or LinkedIn.See more from Bryant FrancisDaily news, dev blogs, and stories from Game Developer straight to your inboxStay UpdatedYou May Also Like

Shane Snider, Senior Writer, InformationWeekMay 30, 20254 Min ReadPaul Hamilton via Alamy StockWhen Marc Hoit came to North Carolina State University (NCSU) in 2008 to take on the role of vice chancellor for information technology and chief information officer, the school and its IT operation looked much different.Hoit had left his role as Interim CIO at the University of Florida, where he was also a professional in structural engineering.At the time, NC State had an IT staff of about 210 and an annual budget of $34 million. Fast forward to 2025, and Hoit now oversees a bigger department with a budget of $72 million. NCSU has a total of 39,603 students.Aside from taking care of the university’s massive IT needs, Hoit’s department must also lend a hand to research initiatives and academic computing needs. Before Hoit’s arrival, those functions were handled by separate departments. The administration decided to merge the functions under one CIO.“They wanted a lot of the IT to be centralized,” Hoit says in a live interview with InformationWeek. “We had a lot of pieces and had to decide how much we could centralize … It balanced out nicely.”That unified approach would prove to be beneficial, especially as technology was advancing at an unprecedented pace. While many find the pace of innovation dizzying, Hoit has a different viewpoint.Related:Marc Hoit, North Carolina State University“Really, the pace of the fundamentals has not rapidly changed,” he says. “Networking is networking. You have to ask: Do I need fiber instead of copper? Do I need bigger servers? Do I need to change routing protocols? Those are the operational pieces that make it work. You have to change, but the high-level strategy stays the same. We need to register students … we need to make that easier. We need to give them classes. We need to give them grades … those needs are consistent.”The Trump EffectThe Trump Administration’s rapid cost-cutting measures hit research universities especially hard. Just this week, the attorneys general of 16 states filed a lawsuit to block the administration from making massive federal funding cuts for research. And earlier this month, 13 US universities sued to block Trump’s cuts to research funding by the National Science Foundation. Cuts from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the US Department of Energy also sought to cap funds for research.Hoit says people may want to see less government spending but may not realize that the university already picks up a substantial share of the costs for those research projects. “We’ll have to adjust and figure out what to do, and that may mean that grants that paid for some expensive equipment … the university will have to pick up those on its own. And that might be difficult to accomplish.”Related:Hoit says NCSU is in a somewhat better position because its research funding is more spread out than some public institutions. “If you were a big NIH grant recipient with a medical school and a lot of money company from grants, you probably got hit harder. In our case, we have a very interesting portfolio with a broader mix of funding. And we have a lot of industry funding and partnerships.”The Trump administration’s aggressive tariff policies have also impacted universities, who must attempt to budget for hardware needs without knowing the ultimate impact of the trade war. On Wednesday, the US Court of International Trade halted the administration's sweeping tariffs on goods imported from foreign nations. But legal experts warn that the block may be temporary as the administration expects to appeal and use other potential workarounds.Hoit says the university learned lessons from the first Trump administration. “The writing was kind of on the wall then,” he says. “But a lot of the vendors are trying their best to manufacture in the US or to manufacture in lower tariff countries and to move out of the problematic ones.”Related:He said the COVID 19 pandemic was also a learning opportunity for dealing with massive supply chain disruptions. “[The pandemic] taught us that the supply chain that we relied on to be super-fast, integrated and efficient … you can’t really rely on that.”Shrinking Talent Pool and AI SolutionAccording to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), colleges and universities saw a 15% drop in enrollment between 2010 and 2021. NCSU has largely bucked that trend because of explosive growth in the Research Triangle Park area of the state. But the drop in higher education ambition has created another problem for IT leaders in general: A shrinking talent pool. That’s true at the university level as well.AI could help bridge the talent gap but could cause interest to dwindle in certain tech careers.“I keep telling my civil engineering peers that the world is changing,” Hoit says. “If you can write a code that gives you the formulas and process steps in order to build a bridge, why do I need an engineer? Why don’t I just feed that to AI and let it build it. When I started teaching, I would tell people, go be a civil engineer … you’ll have a career for life. In the last three years, I’ve started thinking, ‘Hmm … How many civil engineers are we really going to need?”About the AuthorShane SniderSenior Writer, InformationWeekShane Snider is a veteran journalist with more than 20 years of industry experience. He started his career as a general assignment reporter and has covered government, business, education, technology and much more. He was a reporter for the Triangle Business Journal, Raleigh News and Observer and most recently a tech reporter for CRN. He was also a top wedding photographer for many years, traveling across the country and around the world. He lives in Raleigh with his wife and two children.See more from Shane SniderWebinarsMore WebinarsReportsMore ReportsNever Miss a Beat: Get a snapshot of the issues affecting the IT industry straight to your inbox.SIGN-UPYou May Also Like

Shane Snider, Senior Writer, InformationWeekMay 30, 20254 Min ReadPaul Hamilton via Alamy StockWhen Marc Hoit came to North Carolina State University (NCSU) in 2008 to take on the role of vice chancellor for information technology and chief information officer, the school and its IT operation looked much different.Hoit had left his role as Interim CIO at the University of Florida, where he was also a professional in structural engineering.At the time, NC State had an IT staff of about 210 and an annual budget of $34 million. Fast forward to 2025, and Hoit now oversees a bigger department with a budget of $72 million. NCSU has a total of 39,603 students.Aside from taking care of the university’s massive IT needs, Hoit’s department must also lend a hand to research initiatives and academic computing needs. Before Hoit’s arrival, those functions were handled by separate departments. The administration decided to merge the functions under one CIO.“They wanted a lot of the IT to be centralized,” Hoit says in a live interview with InformationWeek. “We had a lot of pieces and had to decide how much we could centralize … It balanced out nicely.”That unified approach would prove to be beneficial, especially as technology was advancing at an unprecedented pace. While many find the pace of innovation dizzying, Hoit has a different viewpoint.Related:Marc Hoit, North Carolina State University“Really, the pace of the fundamentals has not rapidly changed,” he says. “Networking is networking. You have to ask: Do I need fiber instead of copper? Do I need bigger servers? Do I need to change routing protocols? Those are the operational pieces that make it work. You have to change, but the high-level strategy stays the same. We need to register students … we need to make that easier. We need to give them classes. We need to give them grades … those needs are consistent.”The Trump EffectThe Trump Administration’s rapid cost-cutting measures hit research universities especially hard. Just this week, the attorneys general of 16 states filed a lawsuit to block the administration from making massive federal funding cuts for research. And earlier this month, 13 US universities sued to block Trump’s cuts to research funding by the National Science Foundation. Cuts from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the US Department of Energy also sought to cap funds for research.Hoit says people may want to see less government spending but may not realize that the university already picks up a substantial share of the costs for those research projects. “We’ll have to adjust and figure out what to do, and that may mean that grants that paid for some expensive equipment … the university will have to pick up those on its own. And that might be difficult to accomplish.”Related:Hoit says NCSU is in a somewhat better position because its research funding is more spread out than some public institutions. “If you were a big NIH grant recipient with a medical school and a lot of money company from grants, you probably got hit harder. In our case, we have a very interesting portfolio with a broader mix of funding. And we have a lot of industry funding and partnerships.”The Trump administration’s aggressive tariff policies have also impacted universities, who must attempt to budget for hardware needs without knowing the ultimate impact of the trade war. On Wednesday, the US Court of International Trade halted the administration's sweeping tariffs on goods imported from foreign nations. But legal experts warn that the block may be temporary as the administration expects to appeal and use other potential workarounds.Hoit says the university learned lessons from the first Trump administration. “The writing was kind of on the wall then,” he says. “But a lot of the vendors are trying their best to manufacture in the US or to manufacture in lower tariff countries and to move out of the problematic ones.”Related:He said the COVID 19 pandemic was also a learning opportunity for dealing with massive supply chain disruptions. “[The pandemic] taught us that the supply chain that we relied on to be super-fast, integrated and efficient … you can’t really rely on that.”Shrinking Talent Pool and AI SolutionAccording to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), colleges and universities saw a 15% drop in enrollment between 2010 and 2021. NCSU has largely bucked that trend because of explosive growth in the Research Triangle Park area of the state. But the drop in higher education ambition has created another problem for IT leaders in general: A shrinking talent pool. That’s true at the university level as well.AI could help bridge the talent gap but could cause interest to dwindle in certain tech careers.“I keep telling my civil engineering peers that the world is changing,” Hoit says. “If you can write a code that gives you the formulas and process steps in order to build a bridge, why do I need an engineer? Why don’t I just feed that to AI and let it build it. When I started teaching, I would tell people, go be a civil engineer … you’ll have a career for life. In the last three years, I’ve started thinking, ‘Hmm … How many civil engineers are we really going to need?”About the AuthorShane SniderSenior Writer, InformationWeekShane Snider is a veteran journalist with more than 20 years of industry experience. He started his career as a general assignment reporter and has covered government, business, education, technology and much more. He was a reporter for the Triangle Business Journal, Raleigh News and Observer and most recently a tech reporter for CRN. He was also a top wedding photographer for many years, traveling across the country and around the world. He lives in Raleigh with his wife and two children.See more from Shane SniderWebinarsMore WebinarsReportsMore ReportsNever Miss a Beat: Get a snapshot of the issues affecting the IT industry straight to your inbox.SIGN-UPYou May Also Like

If and when AI will start replacing human labor has been the subject of numerous debates.   While it’s still hard to say with certainty if AI is beginning to take over roles previously done by humans, a recent survey from the World Economic Forum found that 40% of employers intend to cut staff where AI can automate tasks. Researchers at SignalFire, a data-driven VC firm that tracks job movements of over 600 million employees and 80 million companies on LinkedIn, believe they may be seeing first signs of AI’s impact on hiring. When analyzing hiring trends, SignalFire noticed that tech companies recruited fewer recent college graduates in 2024 than they did in 2023. However, tech companies, especially the top 15 big tech businesses, ramped up their hiring of experienced professionals. Specifically, SignalFire found that big tech companies reduced the hiring of new graduates by 25% in 2024 compared to 2023. Meanwhile, graduate recruitment at startups decreased by 11% compared to the prior year. Although SignalFire wouldn’t reveal exactly how many fewer grads were hired according to their data, a spokesperson told us it was thousands. True, adoption of new AI tools might not fully explain the dip in recent grad hiring but Asher Bantock, SignalFire’s head of research, says there’s “convincing evidence” that AI is a significant contributing factor. Entry-level jobs are susceptible to automation because they often involve routine, low-risk tasks that generative AI handles well. Techcrunch event Join us at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot for our leading AI industry event with speakers from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Cohere. For a limited time, tickets are just $292 for an entire day of expert talks, workshops, and potent networking. 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 AI’s new coding, debugging, financial research, and software installation abilities could mean companies need fewer people to do that type of work. AI’s ability to handle certain entry-level tasks means some jobs for new graduates could soon be obsolete. Gabe Stengel, the founder of AI financial analyst startup Rogo, started his career at Lazard investment bank where he helped large pharma companies buy biotech startups. Rogo’s tool “can do almost all the work I did in the analysis of those companies,” Stengel said on stage at Newcomer’s financial technology summit last week, “We can put together the materials, diligence the company, look through their financials.” While most large investment banks haven’t explicitly reduced analyst hiring due to AI yet, executives at firms like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley previously considered cutting junior staff hires by up to two-thirds and lowering the pay of those they hire because the work with AI is not as demanding as before, the New York Times reported last year. Although AI’s threat to low-skilled jobs is real, tech companies’ need for experienced professionals is still rising. According to SignalFire’s report, big tech companies increased hiring by 27% for professionals with two to five years of experience, while startups hired 14% more individuals in that same seniority range. A frustrating paradox emerges for recent graduates: they can’t get hired without experience, but they can’t get experience without being hired. While this dilemma is not new, Heather Doshay, SignaFire’s people and talent partner, says it is considerably exacerbated by AI. Dashay’s advice to new grads: master AI tools. “AI won’t take your job if you’re the one who’s best at using it,” she said.

The first observance of what came to be known as Memorial Day was on May 30, 1868, when a Civil War general called on Americans to commemorate the sacrifices of Union soldiers. It was initially called Decoration Day, for the practice of decorating graves with wreaths and flags. And there were so many graves — more than 300,000 men had died on the Union side, and nearly as many for the Confederacy. In total, more died on both sides of the Civil War than in every other US conflict through the Korean War, combined. It wasn’t long, though, before remembrance began to be overshadowed by celebration. Within a year, the New York Times opined the holiday would no longer be “sacred” if parades and speeches became more central than the act of memorializing the dead. Which is precisely what happened, especially after Congress in 1971 fixed Memorial Day as the last Monday in May, making it the perfect launchpad for summer, with an increasingly perfunctory nod to the holiday’s original purpose.The gap between those for whom Memorial Day is a moment of remembrance versus three days of hot dogs and hamburgers will likely only grow in the future, as veterans of previous wars pass away and the divide between America’s all-volunteer military and its civilians deepens. Fewer than 1 percent of the US adult population serves in the military, and those still signing up increasingly come from a small handful of regions and families with a history of military service. (You can include my own family in that ever rarer number: My brother is a retired Army captain who served in Iraq.)With ever-inflating military spending — now nearing $1 trillion, according to one estimate — the footprint of the US military is hardly shrinking, but the number of those who will potentially be called on to give what Abraham Lincoln called the “last full measure of devotion” is.Yet there’s a greater gap embedded in Memorial Day: It’s between those who died as warfighters (to use one of the Pentagon’s terms), and the far greater number around the world who have died not as war’s participants, but as its victims. When civilians die in warThe past is not just a foreign country to us, but a bloody one. From the interpersonal to the international, conflict was a constant throughout much of human history. Between 1500 and 1800, there was hardly a year when great powers weren’t enmeshed in some kind of war. Though war became somewhat less common as we entered the 1900s, it did not become less deadly. Far from it — while the death toll of war in the past was more chiefly concentrated among combatants, the 20th century saw the awful blossoming of total war, where little to no distinction was made between those fighting the war and the civilians on the sidelines, and new weapons enabled mass, indiscriminate killing.Go back to the Civil War, which sits at the junction between battle as it had long been practiced and the greater horror it would become. Over 600,000 soldiers were killed in the conflict, against at least 50,000 civilians, ranging from those killed directly to the many who died in the wake of war, from starvation and disease. That number was terrible, yet in the wars to come, it would only grow.In the First World War, a roughly equal number of combatants and civilians were killed globally — approximately 10 million on each side. In the Second World War, more combatants were killed than in any other conflict in human history, a toll nearing 15 million. Yet for every soldier, sailor, or airman who was killed, nearly one and a half civilians would die, totaling, by one count, almost 40 million. The last of the dead would come in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, when as many as 210,000 people — nearly all of them Japanese civilians — died in the first and so far only atomic bombings. Not only were these new weapons capable of murdering at a vastly larger scale than ever before, but they existed chiefly to threaten the lives of noncombatants. Thankfully, given the weapons militaries now had at their disposal, World War II was the high mark for war deaths. In the decades that followed, deaths in battle for both combatants and civilians sharply declined, minus the occasional spike in conflicts like the Korean and Vietnam Wars. Even with the recent resurgence of conflict, people around the world today are much less likely to die in war than their ancestors, which is one of the most undeniable — if tenuous — markers of our species’ under-appreciated progress.Yet even in this era of comparative peace, civilians still bear the brunt of war when it comes, including when it is fought by the United States. According to Brown University’s Costs of War project, more civilians were likely directly killed in post-9/11 conflicts than fighters on either side — and when the number of indirect deaths from starvation and destruction are included, that gulf only widens. In Ukraine, at least 12,910 civilians have been killed in the war as of March 31, including nearly 700 children, while nearly 31,000 civilians have been injured. In a single large-scale Russian missile attack on April 24, at least nine civilians were killed and 90 were injured, including 12 children.In Gaza, accurately counting the civilian death toll has been all but impossible, but the most recent UN estimates put the number of dead children, women, and elderly people at north of 27,000, with thousands of dead bodies still unidentified. Even those civilians who have escaped death face the real risk of starvation, with Israel only now allowing trickled of aid in after a blockade that has lasted more than two months. And of course, Israel itself lost nearly 700 civilians in the October 7 attacks, while many noncombatants are still held hostage by Hamas and other militant groups.And the ongoing war in Sudan — which has received only a fraction of the global attention of Ukraine and Gaza — has led to horrifying levels of civilian death. Last year Tom Perriello, then the US envoy for Sudan, estimated that at least 150,000 people had died of war-related causes, while 13 million people have been forced to flee their homes.A new kind of Memorial DayThe US has its Memorial Day to honor fallen soldiers, while other countries have their Remembrance Day, their Victory Day. Yet there are only a handful of monuments to honor the countlessly greater number of civilians killed in war.It’s not hard to imagine why. As the shift in perception around the Vietnam Veterans Memorial has shown — from unpatriotic atrocity to a celebrated work of national mourning — we can honor the sacrifice of service members who died in a war, even if we don’t believe in the war. But the death of those who died without a rifle in hand, who died in childhood and infancy, who died because they could not fight and could not be protected, shows war for what it ultimately is: a waste. And we can’t begin to know how to mark the unmarked.America has been a historical exception in many ways, but perhaps no more so than that its civilian citizens have largely escaped the scourge of war. (Though the same, of course, can hardly be said for its Indigenous populations, so long treated as enemy combatants in their own land.) Americans have fought and Americans have died, but at an ever-increasing remove, a distance that grows with each Memorial Day. The general decline of war is one of our great accomplishments as humans, something to be unequivocally celebrated. Perhaps we would feel that more if we gave the deaths of civilians the same honor as that of soldiers — a new kind of Memorial Day that can begin here. A version of this story was initially published in the Future Perfect newsletter. Sign up here to subscribe!Update, May 26, 2025, 8 am ET: This story was first published on May 31, 2023, has been updated to include new data on civilian deaths in Gaza, Israel, Sudan, and Ukraine.You’ve read 1 article in the last monthHere at Vox, we're unwavering in our commitment to covering the issues that matter most to you — threats to democracy, immigration, reproductive rights, the environment, and the rising polarization across this country.Our mission is to provide clear, accessible journalism that empowers you to stay informed and engaged in shaping our world. By becoming a Vox Member, you directly strengthen our ability to deliver in-depth, independent reporting that drives meaningful change.We rely on readers like you — join us.Swati SharmaVox Editor-in-ChiefSee More:

Visit just about any downtown on a weekend and you will likely happen upon a farmers market. Or, you might grab lunch from a food truck outside a local brewpub or winery. Very likely, there is a community-shared kitchen or food entrepreneur incubator initiative behind the scenes to support this growing foodie ecosystem. As rural America gains younger residents, and grows more diverse and increasingly digitally connected, these dynamics are driving a renaissance in craft foods. One food entrepreneur incubator, Hope & Main Kitchen, operates out of a school that sat vacant for over 10 years in the small Rhode Island town of Warren. Its business incubation program, with over 300 graduates to date, gives food and beverage entrepreneurs a way to test, scale and develop their products before investing in their own facilities. Its markets also give entrepreneurs a place to test their products on the public and buyers for stores, while providing the community with local goods. Food has been central to culture, community and social connections for millennia. But food channels, social media food influencers and craft brews have paved the way for a renaissance of regional beverage and food industry startups across America. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Hope & Main: Culinary Incubator (@hopemain) In my work in agriculture economics, I see connections between this boom in food and agriculture innovation and the inflow of young residents who are helping revitalize rural America and reinvigorate its Main Streets. Why entrepreneurs are embracing rural life An analysis of 2023 U.S. Census Bureau data found that more people have been moving to small towns and rural counties in recent years, and that the bulk of that population growth is driven by 25- to 44-year-olds. This represents a stark contrast to the 2000s, when 90% of the growth for younger demographics was concentrated in the largest metro areas. The COVID-19 pandemic and the shift to remote work options it created, along with rising housing prices, were catalysts for the change, but other interesting dynamics may also be at play. One is social connectedness. Sociologists have long believed that the community fabric of rural America contributes to economic efficiency, productive business activity, growth of communities and population health. Maps show that rural areas of the U.S. with higher social capital—those with strong networks and relationships among residents—are some of the strongest draws for younger households today. Another important dynamic for both rural communities and their new young residents is entrepreneurship, including food entrepreneurship. Rural food startups may be leveraging the social capital aligned with the legacy of agriculture in rural America, resulting in a renewed interest in craft and local foods. This includes a renaissance in foods made with local ingredients or linked to regional cultures and tastes. According to data from the National Agricultural Statistics Service, U.S. local sales of edible farm products increased 33% from 2017 to 2022, reaching $14.2 billion. The new ‘AgriCulture’ A 2020 study I was involved in, led by agriculture economist Sarah Low, found a positive relationship between the availability of farm-based local and organic foods and complementary food startups. The study termed this new dynamic “AgriCulture.” We found a tendency for these dynamics to occur in areas with higher natural amenities, such as hiking trails and streams, along with transportation and broadband infrastructure attractive to digital natives. The same dynamic drawing young people to the outdoors offers digital natives a way to experience far-reaching regions of the country and, in some cases, move there. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Home Farm U-Pick & Events (@homefarmfamily) A thriving food and beverage scene can be a pull for those who want to live in a vibrant community, or the new settlers and their diverse tastes may be what get food entrepreneurs started. Many urban necessities, such as shopping, can be done online, but eating and food shopping are local daily necessities. Governments can help rural food havens thrive When my colleagues and I talk to community leaders interested in attracting new industries and young families, or who seek to build community through revitalized downtowns and public spaces, the topic of food commonly arises. We encourage them to think about ways they can help draw food entrepreneurs: Can they increase local growers’ and producers’ access to food markets? Would creating shared kitchens help support food trucks and small businesses? Does their area have a local advantage, such as a seashore, hiking trails or cultural heritage, that they can market in connection with local food? West Reading Farmer's Market Daniel Price of the Daily Loaf helps a customer pick out bread. [Photo By Susan L. Angstadt/MediaNews Group/Reading Eagle via Getty Images] Several federal, state and local economic development programs are framing strategies to bolster any momentum occurring at the crossroads of rural, social connections, resiliency, food and entrepreneurship. For example, a recent study from a collaboration of shared kitchen experts found that there were over 600 shared-use food facilities across the U.S. in 2020, and over 20% were in rural areas. In a survey of owners, the report found that 50% of respondents identified assisting early-growth businesses as their primary goal. View this post on Instagram A post shared by FEAST & FETTLE (@feastandfettle) The USDA Regional Food Business Centers, one of which I am fortunate to co-lead, have been bolstering the networking and technical assistance to support these types of rural food economy efforts. Many rural counties are still facing shrinking workforces, commonly because of lagging legacy industries with declining employment, such as mining. However, recent data and studies suggest that in rural areas with strong social capital, community support and outdoor opportunities, younger populations are growing, and their food interests are helping boost rural economies. Dawn Thilmany is a professor of agricultural economics at Colorado State University. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.