January 2026 – Page 3 – Phlox Pro

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Paramount+ got about 1 million new subscribers the day of its first UFC event, an exec told staffers

UFC is already a hit for Paramount+.

Paramount’s flagship streaming service generated about a million new subscribers on the day of its first-ever UFC event, Paramount product chief Dane Glasgow told employees in a town hall on Tuesday morning, three staffers who attended the meeting told Business Insider.

A Paramount spokesperson said: “Those numbers are unverified, and it’s against our policy to share speculative data externally.”

In August, Paramount did a deal with UFC parent TKO that will see it pay $7.7 billion to secure UFC rights in the US for seven years.

Glasgow said at the town hall that Saturday was the second-largest day of sign-ups ever for its streamer, and that UFC 324 was the second-most-streamed sporting event on the service, according to two employees.

Notably, Paramount made its UFC matches available for anyone with a Paramount+ subscription, which starts at $8.99 a month. Before the Paramount deal, many UFC matches were only on pay-per-view for around $80 each.

Paramount previously announced that its UFC broadcast had just under 5 million average viewers for the main card. Paramount CEO David Ellison told staffers in an email that it was “the largest-ever exclusive live event for Paramount+.” The streamer has drawn larger audiences to other non-exclusive live events, including NFL games that ran on both Paramount+ and CBS.

“This record-breaking performance is, above all, a testament to the extraordinary teamwork across our entire company,” Ellison told employees in his memo, which was obtained by Business Insider.

Paramount’s UFC event, which saw Justin Gaethje emerge victorious, was highly viewed, the company told employees.

Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC

For context, Netflix’s Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson fight added about 1.4 million US subscribers to that service in November 2024, according to the subscription data firm Antenna. The firm only tracks US data.

Antenna estimated that Paramount+ reeled in an estimated 3.2 million new US customers when it hosted the Super Bowl in 2024.

Read Ellison’s full memo to employees below:

Team,

A huge congratulations to everyone who contributed to the success of our first UFC event on Paramount+! Several members of our leadership team and I were cageside Saturday night, and we were completely blown away by the experience and by the intensity, skill and heart on display across the card. We left the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas more excited and energized than ever about our partnership with Dana White and the entire TKO/UFC team.

I’ve heard from several executives at TKO/UFC, and they also could not be more pleased with how everything came together. It was a fantastic start to our 7-year partnership!

While we went into the weekend with high expectations, I’m thrilled to share that we exceeded them, reaching nearly 5 million streaming views — the largest-ever exclusive live event for Paramount+. And the actual audience was likely even higher, given how common co-viewing is among UFC fans.

This record-breaking performance is, above all, a testament to the extraordinary teamwork across our entire company. Every single business unit, division and team — from Paramount+, Paramount Pictures and CBS to MTV, BET, Nickelodeon and Pluto, as well as Marketing, Social, Ad Sales, Technology, Events and more — came together, rolled up their sleeves and got creative. The incredible power of Paramount One to reach the broadest possible audience was on full display companywide, and UFC 324 stands as our strongest example yet of what we can achieve when we all work together toward a common goal.

Again, hats off to everyone. With nearly 5 million streaming views and record-breaking engagement, UFC 324 set the bar high, and we can’t wait to keep the momentum going at UFC 325 next weekend in Sydney!

Let’s go!

David

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Read Sam Altman’s internal Slack message to employees saying ICE ‘is going too far’

Being patriotic means you also need to call out “overreach” when you see it, Sam Altman privately told OpenAI employees in a message that said Immigration and Customs Enforcement had gone “too far.”

“I love the US and its values of democracy and freedom and will be supportive of the country however I can; OpenAI will too,” the OpenAI CEO wrote in an internal Slack message. “But part of loving the country is the American duty to push back against overreach. What’s happening with ICE is going too far.”

OpenAI employees responded positively to Altman’s message on Slack, including heart and thank-you emojis.

Altman’s message, which was first reported by The New York Times’ Dealbook newsletter, comes as CEO and tech leaders face internal and external pressures in the wake of the deadly Border Patrol shooting of Alex Pretti on Saturday. Pretti is the second person to be fatally shot by federal law enforcement amid a surge in immigration enforcement in and around Minneapolis.

Altman also praised Trump’s leadership in his message and expressed hope that the president could cool tensions — the latest example of a CEO attempting to balance being critical of actions tied to the Trump administration’s policies while also staying on the president’s good side.

“President Trump is a very strong leader, and I hope he will rise to this moment and unite the country,” Altman wrote. “I am encouraged by the last few hours of response and hope to see trust rebuilt with transparent investigations.”

As a general principle, Altman wrote that OpenAI tries to “stick to our convictions and not get blown around by changing fashions too much.”

On Monday, the White House appeared to be recalibrating its response in the wake of significant criticism, including from some congressional Republicans.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt declined to associate Trump with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and White House advisor Stephen Miller’s initial statements that Pretti was trying to commit domestic terrorism.

Read Sam Altman’s message to employees

I love the US and its values of democracy and freedom and will be supportive of the country however I can; OpenAI will too. But part of loving the country is the American duty to push back against overreach. What’s happening with ICE is going too far. There is a big difference between deporting violent criminals and what’s happening now, and we need to get the distinction right.

President Trump is a very strong leader, and I hope he will rise to this moment and unite the country. I am encouraged by the last few hours of response and hope to see trust rebuilt with transparent investigations.

As a company, we aim to stick to our convictions and not get blown around by changing fashions too much. We didn’t become super woke when that was popular, we didn’t start talking about masculine corporate energy when that was popular, and we are not going to make a lot of performative statements now about safety or politics or anything else. But we are going to continue to try to figure out how to actually do the right thing as best as we can, engage with leaders and push for our values, and speak up clearly about it as needed.

Correction: January 27, 2026 — Alex Pretti was fatally shot by Border Patrol, not ICE.

Do you work at OpenAI? Contact the reporter from a non-work email and device at bgriffiths@businessinsider.com

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Sam Altman included a subtle dig at Mark Zuckerberg in his message to employees

Don’t expect to see Sam Altman lamenting the absence of “masculine energy” in corporate America to Joe Rogan anytime soon.

The OpenAI CEO sent employees a message on Slack criticizing Immigration and Customs Enforcement — and appears to have taken the opportunity to also take a subtle jab at his rival, Mark Zuckerberg.

The reference can be found where Altman wrote that OpenAI aims to “not get blown around by changing fashions.”

“We didn’t start talking about masculine corporate energy when that was popular,” Altman told employees.

Last year, Zuckerberg championed a return to masculinity at Meta on “The Joe Rogan Experience.”

“The masculine energy, I think, is good,” Zuckerberg said in the January podcast episode. “Society has plenty of that, but I think corporate culture was trying to get away from it.”

Zuckerberg described the merits of a corporate culture that “celebrates the aggression” of business.

The Meta CEO said that the intent of corporate culture’s shift away from masculinity was good. Women likely feel that companies are “too masculine,” he told Rogan, and that things are “biased” against them. But the shift had gone too far, the Facebook cofounder said.

“It’s one thing to say we want to be welcoming and make a good environment for everyone,” Zuckerberg said. “It’s another to basically say that masculinity is bad.”

Altman also wrote in his memo that OpenAI didn’t “become super woke when that was popular.”

Meta didn’t respond to Business Insider’s request for comment on Altman’s remark.

The latest in an AI rivalry

Altman and Zuckerberg are currently engaged in a talent war for top AI researchers and engineers.

Zuckerberg has attempted to poach OpenAI employees with eye-popping compensation packages, which Altman in June said included $100 million signing bonuses.

While Altman at the time said that he was happy that “at least so far, none of our best people have decided to take them up on that,” Zuckerberg successfully hired away some prominent OpenAI talent.

The Meta CEO, who even hand-delivered soup to an OpenAI employee he was attempting to poach, hired away ChatGPT co-creator Shengjia Zhao and three researchers who helped build OpenAI’s Zurich office.

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Bari Weiss fielded tough questions from CBS News staffers about political bias and the network’s future at a town hall

CBS News employees put top editor Bari Weiss in the hot seat during an all-hands meeting on Tuesday, asking about her vision and standards for the nearly century-old broadcast network.

The first question in the Q&A part of her town hall asked how she would respond to criticism that CBS News is turning into “a right-wing network” under her leadership.

“I’m here to do one thing. It’s not to be a mouthpiece for anybody. It’s simply to be a mouthpiece for fairness and the pursuit of truth,” Weiss said at the all-hands meeting, according to a recording obtained by Business Insider.

Weiss, who became the editor in chief of CBS News in October after Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison bought her opinion site The Free Press, asked staffers to examine the coverage since her appointment.

“There’s a lot of noise out there, but I would just urge anyone who suggests that to look at our work and judge for yourself,” she said.

Weiss was then asked how the network’s news-gathering standards had changed since she took over.

“I don’t think our standards have changed,” she said, adding that the network was “in very capable hands” regarding editorial standards.

Weiss said she ‘was not pressured’ to hold the ’60 Minutes’ segment

Weiss caused a stir in December for a late-hour decision to delay a “60 Minutes” segment about the Trump administration deporting migrants to the CECOT prison in El Salvador. Critics questioned her commitment to hard-hitting journalism and wondered whether Paramount leadership was influencing editorial decisions at CBS News — a notion that Weiss strongly denied on Tuesday.

“I want to just say this as plainly and clearly as possible. I was not pressured by David Ellison or anyone else,” Weiss said during the town hall. Weiss acknowledged that delaying the segment after commercials had already run for it was bad timing.

“I didn’t know the screening schedule for every single thing, that specific logistical nightmare,” she said. “That’s never going to happen again. So please rest assured that nothing of that kind is ever going to happen again. You have my promise.”

That said, she added that “asking for more information” and “trying to go back to a source” for a comment was an editorial policy she wanted to prioritize to build trust with audiences, as she explained in a December memo to employees.

“I felt it was important to do our best to try and get a voice from the administration, and I’m always going to be pushing for that,” Weiss said.

Weiss had little experience in traditional TV before joining CBS News. Instead, she became known in 2020 for her dramatic exit from The New York Times, during which she alleged anti-conservative bias. Her next move, starting The Free Press, turned out to be lucrative when Ellison bought it for $150 million in October.

‘Loving America is not about jingoism’

On Tuesday, Weiss was also asked about her core values, including what one of the new guiding principles for CBS Evening News — “We Love America” — means for journalists.

“Loving America is not about jingoism. It’s not about blind patriotism,” Weiss told employees. “It’s about vociferous defense of the principles and values that have made this country exceptional and that allow us to do the work that we do. And so anyone that disagrees with that, I’d love to have a conversation with you.”

When asked whether “CBS Mornings” would undergo another shake-up, Weiss noted that it had already undergone a major change, with longtime anchor Tony Dokoupil moving to the evening show.

“Speculation about Gayle King seems to be a favorite parlor game of a lot of newspapers and people in this building, and I just want everyone here to know that she’s absolutely beloved and see her long into the future here at CBS,” Weiss said.

A shift to a ‘streaming mentality’

In prepared remarks, Weiss said that CBS News needed to “shift to a streaming mentality immediately” and that if the broadcast network stuck mainly to its linear TV strategy, “we’re toast.”

When asked about staffing or potential layoffs at CBS News, Weiss said that she couldn’t make any promises amid a “tsunami of technological change.”

“I can’t stand up here and tell you that in a moment of incredible transformation that that’s not going to mean transformation of our workforce,” Weiss said. She added that CBS News is “also hiring people to suit that.”

On Tuesday, CBS News announced 19 new contributors to the network, including writers and podcasters like Coleman Hughes and Derek Thompson.

Weiss said that if she didn’t believe digital revenue could eventually replace linear TV revenue, she “wouldn’t be standing here.” She said that linear TV wouldn’t go away, but that revenue would “decline sharply, as will the audience.”

“What winning looks like writ large for this company is building incredible journalism for audiences that are so much bigger than the one that we currently have and are maintaining on linear,” Weiss said. “That’s what winning looks like. It’s really simple.”

Have a tip or thoughts on Bari Weiss’ strategy for CBS News? Contact this reporter via email at jfaris@businessinsider.com or Signal at @jamesfaris.01. Use a personal email address and a nonwork device; here’s our guide to sharing information securely.

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I rely on Trader Joe’s frozen and refrigerated sections for quick, easy meals. Here are 10 premade items that taste homemade.

2026-01-27T16:49:02.860Z

When I don’t have time to cook a full meal from scratch, I turn to Trader Joe’s premade options.
I love the versatility of Trader Joe’s grilled-chicken strips and Italian-style meatballs.
Trader Joe’s Asian-style vegetables with stir-fry sauce is my go-to when I don’t know what to make.

I’m a busy mom of two boys. Between carpools, sporting events, and robotics practices, it’s hard to find the time to make healthy, filling meals for the family.

Luckily, Trader Joe’s has always been my go-to for quick dinner options when I’m craving a homemade meal but just don’t have the time or energy to cook one.

With so many great choices, I can fill my kitchen with enough premade dishes to satisfy the whole family for the week.

Here are my 10 favorite quick yet delicious refrigerated and frozen dinners from Trader Joe’s.

The broccoli-and-cheddar-cheese quiche is perfect for when I need a quick dinner for myself.

Trader Joe’s broccoli-and-cheddar-cheese quiche has a delicious flaky crust.

Jennifer Richmond

When Trader Joe’s broccoli-and-cheddar-cheese quiche comes out of the oven, it’s hard to believe it’s a frozen meal. The crust bakes into a flaky, buttery heaven, and the broccoli and cheddar taste great together.

I always make these when it’s “fend-for-yourself night” at home or if I’m alone and don’t want to bother putting a big meal together.

Trader Joe’s mushroom risotto tastes just like a rich, restaurant-quality meal.

A bag of Trader Joe's mushroom risotto against a gray background. — Trader Joe’s mushroom risotto only takes 10 minutes to make.

Jennifer Richmond

I love rich, creamy risotto, especially on a chilly winter’s night. However, it typically takes 30 to 40 minutes of standing over a stove and stirring for it to be perfect.

But with Trader Joe’s mushroom risotto, I can just add a little water and stir on the stovetop for about 10 minutes to get the same luscious, decadent risotto I’d find at a restaurant.

I love how versatile Trader Joe’s Italian-style meatballs are.

A bag of Trader Joe's Italian-style meatballs against a black background. — I use Trader Joe’s Italian-style meatballs in subs, pasta, and lasagna.

Jennifer Richmond

I always have a bag or two of Trader Joe’s Italian-style meatballs in my freezer. Since they’re fully cooked, I just throw them into a pot of simmering tomato sauce and add to my favorite pasta.

I also thaw them to make meatball subs, pizza toppings, and lasagna.

When I’m craving Italian takeout, Trader Joe’s chicken parmigiana does the trick.

A box of Trader Joe's chicken breast parmigiana with marinara sauce against a wooden background. — Trader Joe’s chicken-breast parmigiana with marinara sauce only needs a few minutes in the microwave.

Jennifer Richmond

I discovered Trader Joe’s premade meals when we were remodeling our kitchen. Having only a refrigerator and microwave meant happily eating Trader Joe’s chicken parmigiana every night.

What I love about this frozen dish is that after a few minutes in the microwave, it’s just as good as it would be if it had come out of the oven. The chicken is tender, the breading is nice and crispy, and the melted mozzarella has a gooey, delicious texture.

It’s all about the sauce in Trader Joe’s chicken Marsala with mashed potatoes.

A box of Trader Joe's chicken Marsala with mashed potatoes against a wooden background. — The sauce in Trader Joe’s chicken Marsala covers the chicken and mashed potatoes perfectly.

Jennifer Richmond

Chicken Marsala is one of my favorite dinners, but if the sauce isn’t prepared correctly, it can ruin the whole dish.

With Trader Joe’s frozen chicken Marsala, I don’t have to worry about that. The sauce coats the chicken and creamy mashed potatoes perfectly, making for a mouthwatering meal that I can’t get enough of.

I love the spice in Trader Joe’s meat lasagna.

A box of Trader Joe's meat lasagna against a wooden background. — I like pairing Trader Joe’s meat lasagna with a salad and a glass of red wine.

Jennifer Richmond

Italian food is one of our favorites, and Trader Joe’s meat lasagna tastes as if I spent hours making it.

The sauce is rich and spicy, while the pasta is tender and doesn’t fall apart when stabbed with a fork. The dish is big enough to serve at least three people.

I like to round out the meal with a salad and a nice glass of red wine.

Cut out the prep work with Trader Joe’s Asian-style vegetables with stir-fry sauce.

A bag of Trader Joe's Asian-style vegetables with stir-fry sauce on a wooden background. — Trader Joe’s Asian-style vegetables with stir-fry sauce is a quick, easy dinner option.

Jennifer Richmond

Whenever I’m at a loss for what to make for dinner, I pull out a bag of Trader Joe’s Asian-style vegetables with stir-fry sauce.

It contains some of our favorite vegetables — such as carrots, baby corn, and broccoli — and they’re already chopped up into the perfect bite-sized pieces, saving me a ton of prep time.

For a little more protein, I sometimes add the Trader Joe’s grilled-chicken strips.

Trader Joe’s grilled-chicken strips provide endless dinner possibilities.

A packaged box of Trader Joe's white-chicken meat grilled strips on a wooden background. — I throw Trader Joe’s white-chicken-meat grilled strips in sandwiches, salads, and soups.

Jennifer Richmond

There’s nothing better than a chicken sandwich or salad for dinner, but I hate cooking a whole chicken for one meal.

Luckily, these grilled-chicken strips are always in my fridge, ready to be added to any meal. I often toss a few into a fresh salad or add them to a nice pot of chicken soup. My son has even started adding them to his quesadillas.

The rice blend in Trader Joe’s roasted-rosemary boneless chicken breast is a meal in itself.

A packaged box of Trader Joe's roasted rosemary boneless chicken breast. — Trader Joe’s roasted-rosemary boneless chicken breast includes a delicious blend of brown and wild rice.

Jennifer Richmond

The flavorful brown-and-wild-rice blend makes this premade chicken dinner even better.

Don’t get me wrong, the chicken is delicious, but I could eat the rice all by itself and be completely satisfied.

Trader Joe’s chicken piccata comes with a delicious white wine, lemon, and caper sauce.

A box of Trader Joe's chicken piccata against a wooden background. — I love the lemon flavor in Trader Joe’s chicken piccata sauce.

Jennifer Richmond

There’s nothing like a tangy-lemon sauce to wake up the senses, and Trader Joe’s chicken piccata does the trick.

The white wine, lemon, and caper sauce is rich and bright, bringing out the flavors of the breaded chicken. I like to add a simple salad for a restaurant-worthy dinner from home.

Click to keep reading Trader Joe’s diaries like this one.

This story was originally published on September 14, 2024, and most recently updated on January 27, 2026.

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Solopreneurs explain what AI is and isn’t good for when you’re running a business

Over eight years of writing for travel publications, Kim Magaraci developed a passion for domestic travel. She learned that travel tips online couldn’t compete with those destinations you could only discover by word-of-mouth.

So, when she founded her travel business, KGM Travel Design, in 2024, she hoped to emphasize personal relationships with vendors and customers and avoid using AI, despite her experience with it.

“I don’t think you can get good advice asking ChatGPT for an itinerary,” she says. “It’s antithetical to everything I stand for.”

And yet, Magaraci realized that using AI for administrative tasks like analytics, compiling reports, and generating condensed client briefs allowed her to spend more time on the personalized relationships that set her business apart.

She’s one of many solopreneurs who told Business Insider that outsourcing administrative tasks to AI platforms such as ChatGPT, Gemini, and Nano Banana — Gemini’s photo-editing AI — has allowed them to scale their business by spending more time on strategic and creative work, including growth decisions and building personal connections with customers.

“It’s getting harder and harder to deny the time-saving aspects,” Magaraci says, adding that she has embraced AI “in order to run a successful business and grow this business into what I want it to be.”

AI supports growth by creating more free time, solopreneurs say

Seneca Connor, founder of The Bag Icon, an accessories brand, uses Nano Bana and other AI products to edit photos and videos. That not only saves her money — up to $2,000 per monthly photo shoot, she says — but also time.

Seneca Connor is the founder of The Bag Icon.

Ian Tuttle for BI

With the hours saved, Connor has been able to design more original bags and launch a greater number of bags curated from other designers, all while reducing her marketing costs.

As a result, The Bag Icon saw more than a 20% year-over-year increase in profits last year, despite the impact of tariffs.

Accountant and solopreneur Gloria Hebert uses ChatGPT for her business, Aybear Services, to instantly create educational client worksheets that previously took an hour or two to set up.

This frees up time that she then uses to prioritize analyzing financial data from her bookkeeping clients — data she doesn’t feed into AI because of privacy concerns. Managing finances is the core of her business, so having more time to spend on that has allowed her to streamline her workdays.

Gloria Hebert is an accountant and the founder of Aybear Services.

Stephe Ross Goldstein for BI

The time saved also allows her to organize networking events and community education classes for local business owners, which has led to an uptick in business. “Several of those entrepreneurs hired me to do their books,” Hebert says.

AI allows more time for personalized communications, which build brand following

Lisa York is the owner of Sell More Stuff, an email marketing business. Although she has a small audience, she saw a 33% conversion rate for sales last year, she says. She credits that growth to her personalized, voicey emails, which always open with a personal anecdote and are never written with AI.

“I use a lot of story-led emails,” York says. “People enjoy them, and they open the email because they can see my name.”

That’s something AI just can’t replicate, she says. But York is able to spend time drafting engaging copy because she outsources other tasks — including tech support for her website, research, and brainstorming marketing strategy — to ChatGPT.

Lisa York is the founder of Sell More Stuff.

David Oates for BI

Like York, Connor uses the time that AI saves to build robust communication and rapport with her customers, which she says builds loyalty to her business. Less time spent on photos and video gives her more time to respond to emails and direct messages from clients seeking advice about their purchases.

“It’s building community that’s missing in the big brands,” Connor says.

AI frees up time so solopreneurs can focus on their business’s core

While AI has allowed these solopreneurs to grow their businesses without hiring a team, the technology shouldn’t take over the core aspects of a business, Hebert says. Rather, it can be a tool that allows owners to focus on those critical areas.

“Use it as a resource,” she says.

York — whose target clientele are other solopreneurs — says she’s seeing more people recognize that. “People aren’t scared of it anymore,” she says.

Seneca Connor emphasizes that while she uses AI, all thoughts, ideas, and suggestions she shares with her clients are her own.

Ian Tuttle for BI

Connor plans to expand her use of AI this year. She’s experimenting with a digital clone — a video avatar that can deliver a script explaining new products. That approach will save her time on filming videos, but she says she’ll always be the one dishing out the original advice that her clients have come to trust.

Even if a video is created using AI, Connor says, “all thoughts, ideas, and suggestions — those are my own.”

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This one activity remained the largest driver of GDP growth in 2025 — not AI, according to a new report

Worried about the AI bubble? A new report suggests AI was not the main leg propping up the economy in 2025.

Macro Research Board Partners, an economic research platform, published a report in January that contradicted the popular belief that AI is the main driver of GDP and that the “narrowly concentrated” and “extremely vulnerable” growth would tank the entire economy once it falters.

“In short, without an AI boom, there would have certainly been less GDP growth last year, but there would also be fewer imports, so that overall real growth would still have been decent,” wrote economic strategist Prajakta Bhide, who authored the report.

Bhide told Business Insider that personal consumption, meaning the spending of everyday people, was still the main pillar of GDP growth in 2025, and that despite the amount of investment in AI infrastructure, a lot of high-tech equipment is imported, and imports do not contribute to GDP.

The main categories that count toward GDP are personal consumption, private domestic investment, government spending, and net exports.

“Consumers continue to be the backbone of the economy,” Bhide told Business Insider. “Aggregate income growth is lower than it used to be, and so is job growth, which affected consumer sentiments. But there is a divide between what consumers say they feel and what they say that they’re going to do versus what they actually go and do.”

AI growth was an important secondary driver of GDP growth, the report found, but that is mostly from software investment, while the contribution of data centers is “negligible.”

“Although a negative shock to the optimism around AI implies a risk to GDP growth,” Bhide wrote in the report, “the more realistic (and smaller) estimate of AI’s growth impact after adjusting for imports dispels the popular notion that the US economy would falter without it.”

Beyond the GDP, concerns about the AI bubble are also tied to the stock market and people’s retirement funds. America’s eight most valuable public companies, including Nvidia, Alphabet, and Apple, are all betting heavily on AI and are worth $22 trillion altogether.

Business Insider has previously reported that historically, a pullback in consumer spending has rarely been the trigger for an economic downturn. Instead, spending typically weakens only after job losses mount and when a recession is already well underway.

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Flight cancellation numbers are dropping as travel starts to recover after a huge winter storm battered the US

Air travel is showing more signs of recovery after Winter Storm Fern pummelled the country over the weekend.

There were around 1,300 canceled flights within, into, or out of the US as of 6:20 a.m. ET on Tuesday, according to data from FlightAware.

Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport led the charge with 276, followed by Charlotte Douglas with 138.

While more flights are likely to be canceled throughout the day, there were about 4,000 such cancellations early on Monday. The day ended with 6,250 canceled flights, per FlightAware.

That compares to Sunday’s 11,618 canceled flights.

Sunday marked the worst day for air travel since the early days of the pandemic in March 2020, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on Monday.

He added that the government expects flight schedules to return to normal on Wednesday.

“This storm is unique,” he said. “You get the ice, and you get the snow, and on top of that, we have now a cold weather snap that comes after it.”

Airport and airline workers have also struggled to get to work due to the state of the roadways.

On Monday evening, Heather Garboden, American Airlines’ chief customer officer, wrote to customers saying the storm “continues to present travel challenges across the country.”

American has been the most-affected airline each day, including over 1,900 cancellations on Sunday, per FlightAware.

Garboden added that five of the airline’s nine hubs were “significantly impacted,” including its largest at DFW, which saw “record-setting” weather conditions.

And as the storm affected cities that don’t generally experience such cold, many areas lacked the infrastructure to handle the heavy snow and ice.

This, in turn, has “led to staffing issues as team members, plus vendor and federal partners, struggle to make their way on the roads,” she said.

Airlines have waived change fees so that passengers have more flexibility to avoid disruption due to the storm.

However, while American’s waiver covers travel through Thursday, United Airlines’ is through Wednesday, and Delta Air Lines’ only continues through Tuesday.

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Wix CEO says entry-level engineers need this trait

AI isn’t just reshaping the role of software engineers — it’s also making them more skilled.

That’s according to Avishai Abrahami, the CEO and cofounder of website management company Wix. He told Business Insider that the technology equips developers with “superpowers” and that the value of smart, talented engineers will be “dramatically enhanced” with AI tools.

“What would take you a month, you can do in a few hours,” Abrahami said, adding that not every task can be reduced in this way, but most can.

What entry-level candidates need

A Google Cloud report released in September found that AI adoption had surged to 90% among software professionals, up 14% from the year prior. Abrahami said that the emergence of AI tools means the “quality of the software engineer is more important than ever.”

He said the first thing “every company” looks for is candidates who know how to code and understand AI models. Beyond that baseline, he said Wix aims to hire entry-level candidates with a “tremendous amount of passion” for the role, which he said is essential to meeting the demands of the job [didn’t want to repeat roles] .

“Now with AI, the speed of change is so fast that you have to spend a lot of time learning and experimenting,” Abrahami said, adding that this makes passion is even more important.

John Stecher, Blackstone’s chief technology officer, similarly told Business Insider that many junior software engineers have “insane skill sets” and that the best hires are deeply passionate about their work.

As tools take on more of the coding, Stecher said companies are increasingly looking to hire those who understand how to use the tools, and recognize when they’re producing the wrong answers.

How work is changing

For more senior engineers, the role will increasingly shift toward architecture and code review, he said, rather than writing code. Abrahami said experienced engineers will need to read code “much faster,” adding that architecture, software design, and code comprehension will become even more critical.

The CEO, however, warned that AI can be a double-edged sword for engineers.

“You can do so much more if you’re smart,” Abrahami said about engineers who use AI. “And you can do really bad things if you’re not.”

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12 high-paying jobs that don’t need a college degree and are projected to grow over the next decade

2026-01-27T09:32:01.285Z

Business Insider looked at jobs projected to grow that typically pay at least $75,000 and don’t require a college degree.
First-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers ranked No. 1 based on our methodology.
Some of the jobs usually require related work experience.

Depending on the position, a high school diploma could be the ticket to a growing, high-paying job.

Business Insider looked at wages and growth projections for jobs that usually need a high school diploma, its equivalent, or a postsecondary nondegree award. We then took the geometric mean of the ones that pay at least $75,000, based on 2024 median annual wage data, and are expected to need more workers, based on projected employment growth from 2024 to 2034. We then ranked the jobs, with the larger the geometric mean, the better the rank.

Many of the top 12 fell into one of three job groups: construction and extraction; protective service; or installation, maintenance, and repair.

First-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers took the top spot. Employment of these supervisors is expected to grow by 49,000 from its 2024 level, and they typically make about $79,000 annually. It’s also one of the roles that typically don’t require a degree, but often require job seekers to have relevant experience.

Employers may be interested in candidates with higher educational attainment. The Bureau of Labor Statistics said commercial pilots usually need a postsecondary nondegree award, but some employers may prefer a degree or even require it.

Below are the top 12, along with information from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.