Katherine Li, West Coast breaking news reporter at the Business Insider.

An identity verification AI startup is having all employees try vibe coding

If you work for a San Francisco startup and don’t know how to code, you could soon be asked to get creative with vibe coding.

Checkr, an AI-powered background check company, gave Business Insider a glimpse of how employees are actually using AI.

Checkr CEO Daniel Yanisse said that the company is going “all in” and trying everything to encourage its employees to fully embrace AI — including staff that don’t work in engineering roles.

“We really pride ourselves on using AI to the maximum possible amount,” said Yanisse. “We gave every employee a monthly stipend to try AI tools, and we did AI days and demos. After one year, 95% of the employees use prompting daily.”

“This year, we’re going to level up and move to building with AI, as in vibe coding,” Yanisse added. “I’m working with all of our teams now, and we’re going to do our AI days soon in March, where we’re going to make every non-technical person vibe code their own business apps.”

Yanisse said that many employees who have no idea how to code, who work in finance, legal, and HR, are already vibecoding apps to automate their workflows and problem-solve, such as building tools that help clean up large spreadsheets.

While Checkr is evaluating a variety of builder tools like Lovable, Replit, and Claude Code, Yanisse said Cursor is a clear standout and “has amazing adoption” among both engineers and non-technical staff, but Lovable is the best place to start for people with no coding experience.

“Probably, we’re going to buy all of them and just use the right tool for the right person,” Yanisse said of different AI coding tools.

“We have AI solution engineers who are available to actually partner and help, so they would come and help you and unstuck you if you have a problem, and take you all the way to success,” Yanisse added. “And then you’re on your way because then we share success stories with everyone in the company.”

AI adoption in some companies can be complicated

In practice, data shows that AI adoption can be complicated in a large enterprise. Competence with AI tools can be very uneven across the board, and security risks can mount without clear guidelines on AI usage.

According to a survey published in November by Moveworks, an AI-powered platform that automates IT and HR support, most executives said that non-technical employees are playing a bigger role in driving AI use, and that 78% have seen successful AI projects originate directly from support staff looking to solve daily challenges.

The National Cybersecurity Alliance also wrote in its Annual Cybersecurity Attitudes and Behaviors Report that AI adoption has surged to 65% globally as of the end of 2025, but more than half of these AI users never received any training in privacy and security risks. The report surveyed over 6,500 workers worldwide.

“A few years ago, most businesses were still debating whether AI was something they really needed,” Louis Riat-Bonello of Optisearch, an AI-powered marketing platform that specializes in SEO, told Business Insider.

“The businesses getting the best results aren’t blindly chasing automation. They’re using AI to support smarter decisions, move faster, and free up teams to focus on strategy and creativity,” Riat-Bonello added. “That balance is what will matter long after the hype fades.”

Yanisse said that in the age of AI, the company is looking for creative and adaptable people, because while AI will eliminate some roles, it will create others.

“We are constantly training and helping people update their skills and careers,” said Yanisse. “The job of the product designer and the job of the marketer are all completely shifting right now.”

“We’re over 900 people, so we’re not a small startup, but I’m a startup guy, and I’m a builder,” Yanisse added. “The people who come here need to be OK with uncertainty, be self-driven, adaptable, flexible, willing to do new things, and solve new problems without too much guidance or structure.”




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Americans aren’t flocking to Florida like they used to. Higher prices are a big reason.

Kimberly Jones was born and raised in Miami, and planned to live her whole life there. It’s where she met her husband, raised her children, and built a four-decade career in logistics.

But in 2025, Jones did something she never expected: She and her husband left Plantation, Florida — nearly 20 minutes west of Fort Lauderdale — for a small rural town about an hour outside Charlotte, North Carolina.

“It was not an easy decision,” Jones, 60, told Business Insider. “Affordability was part of it, but we were also looking forward to having a slower pace of life. I lived in South Florida my entire life — and it’s not anything like what it used to be.”

Jones said Southern Florida’s population growth has made the area increasingly unrecognizable — and, for her, unlivable — pointing to hyper-development in residential construction and the gridlocked traffic she calls “ridiculous.”

“If there’s a corner available, they will build a high-rise on it,” she said. “It’s turning into an overly congested, expensive city. I used to spend two and a half hours a day in the car just going to and from work.”

People are still moving to Florida, but they’re not flocking to it like they used to. Net domestic migration — or the number of people moving into the state from elsewhere in the country minus those moving out to other parts of the US — has been steadily cooling in recent years.

There are a few likely reasons behind the cooler estimates in the Sunshine State. For some, the tax benefits of living in the state don’t outweigh the increase in cost of living. It’s more expensive to buy a home than a few years ago, and property insurance has been higher than in other states.

High housing costs have made Florida less attractive

In recent years, Florida has drawn an influx of newcomers chasing its affordability, driven in large part by its wide range of relatively lower-cost housing and lack of state income tax. Others are lured by its business-friendly tax environment and strong job market.

But the surge of newcomers has created a host of challenges for native and longtime residents who have watched home prices and rents climb, especially in popular cities like Miami and Orlando. It’s prompted some to move to less expensive cities and suburbs elsewhere in the state, or to leave Florida entirely.

“Affordability often drives a lot of domestic moves,” Jed Kolko, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, told Business Insider. “People tend to move toward less expensive places. In recent years, Florida’s gotten a lot more expensive, so Florida doesn’t look as affordable compared to other places as it did even just a few years ago.”

In December 2020, Florida’s median home-sale price was $298,100; by December 2025, the most recent month with available data, it had climbed to $412,100, Redfin data showed. In addition to higher home prices and rents squeezing residents, home and flood insurance costs have increased, as more frequent and severe natural disasters push homeowners’ premiums higher.


Homes flooded in Florida

Homes flooded in Florida.

Bilanol/Getty Images



Take Debra Pamplin, who moved from Florida back to the Midwest after 11 years. In 2013, Pamplin moved from her hometown of Missouri to Jacksonville, Florida. During her time there, though, she soured on the area’s traffic, high insurance costs, uncomfortable heat and humidity, and mosquitoes. Pamplin has valued living in the Midwest much more.

“I’d often have to cut spending in other parts of my life just to cover my high monthly insurance costs,” she said in a 2024 Business Insider story. “Now that I’m out of Florida, my monthly insurance expenses are lower, giving me breathing room to spend my money on more fun stuff.”

Florida hasn’t completely lost its appeal

Mariya Letdin, an associate professor of real estate at Florida State University, told Business Insider that even as net migration slows, Florida is “still a popular destination,” but she expects its population will continue to grow slowly.

Aside from slower growth, the profile of who’s moving to Florida is shifting, too.

Michael Martirena, a real estate agent with Compass in South Florida, told Business Insider he’s seen a change in the clients he works with, which he attributes in part to higher housing costs.

“Let’s go back three years ago, pre-pandemic, everyone was coming down here. It didn’t matter what socioeconomic class people were from; they just wanted to come to Florida.” Now, he said, he’s working with more buyers from abroad, as well as wealthy American buyers.

Hamilton Lombard, a demographic researcher based in Virginia, said immigrants moving elsewhere within the US could also be a factor as to why Florida’s domestic migration has weakened. Census data showed that non-citizens who moved between states in the past year from Florida increased from about 30,000 in 2022 to 53,500 in 2024, the latest year available.

Florida’s net international migration has also been cooling, but remains positive, meaning more people are immigrating to Florida from other countries than leaving for destinations outside the US.

“International and affluent buyers still continue to come down to Florida, whether it’s for tax purposes or geopolitical reasons or what’s going on in their states,” Martirena said, adding that a lot of his clientele comes from countries like Dubai, Madrid, and London.




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Taylor Rains

Airline ‘stopover’ programs are one of the best air travel hacks

Your layover doesn’t have to mean sleeping on the airport floor or surviving on a $10 hot dog.

Some airlines offer “stopover” programs that let travelers turn a layover into a mini‑vacation, giving you a few days to explore the stopover city before continuing to your final destination.

Flight prices usually stay the same, and hotels or activities may be free or heavily discounted. Think of it as two trips for the price of one — and a chance to see a new city along the way.

It might seem counterintuitive — after all, airlines are offering free perks — but the strategy boosts tourism for the home country and encourages travelers to choose a one-stop itinerary over a nonstop flight, which can ultimately be more profitable for the carrier.

I recently took advantage of Turkish Airlines’ stopover deal, spending three days in Istanbul before flying to my final destination, Croatia.

It gave me just the right amount of time to shake off jet lag after the long flight from New York and check off Istanbul’s main sites, like the Sultan Ahmed Mosque (Blue Mosque) and the Spice Bazaar.


The Sultan Ahmed Mosque

The Sultan Ahmed Mosque, or Blue Mosque, is a stunning Ottoman-era landmark in Istanbul. I was given a headscarf to wear inside.

Taylor Rains/Business Insider



Turkish is one of roughly two dozen global carriers with a stopover setup. Other examples include Copa Airlines in Panama City, Qatar Airways in Doha, Icelandair in Reykjavik, Fiji Airways in Nadi, and Iberia in Madrid.

With so many options, stopovers are one of the industry’s best travel hacks — though they require careful planning and the rules vary.

You have to apply for your accommodation

For Turkish, the stopover deal includes a free hotel on either the outbound or return flight, provided the layover is at least 20 hours but no more than 7 days. This duration requirement varies from airline to airline.

The hotel reservation wasn’t automatic upon booking. Travelers must separately apply for the voucher on Turkish’s stopover page or via email at least 72 hours before their trip.

You can usually select your preferred hotel, but the final assignment depends on availability and isn’t guaranteed.

Because part of my itinerary was in business class and my origin was the US, I received three free nights at a five-star hotel; eligible economy fares include two nights at a four-star hotel.

I stayed at the Fairmont Quasar, about 40 minutes from the airport and 30 minutes from Istanbul’s tourist-friendly Old City. The complimentary room would normally run around $200 per night during the offseason.


A view of the Bosphorus Strait.

It was unusually snowy in Istanbul during my January trip.

Taylor Rains/Business Insider



It was a bit far from the main sites, as was the case with most of the other hotel options. Still, my room was comfortable, overlooked the Bosphorus Strait, and included breakfast.

Visa fees and transport costs between the airport, city, and hotel were not included; my cabs cost between $20 and $50, with higher fares during rush hour. There is also cheaper public transportation.

I received three nights because the program offers extended hotel stays to travelers flying from select countries, like the US, South Korea, Australia, and Canada. Those on shorter flights or from other locations receive one or two nights’ free, depending on the fare class.

I slept through much of my first day as I adjusted to the eight-hour time difference, but later headed out to explore Istanbul’s historic landmarks and eat a proper kebab.


The kabab I had in Istanbul.

The beef kebab with rice and sumac-laced onions was the best meal I had in Turkey.

Taylor Rains/Business Insider



The stopover gave me a buffer between the red-eye flight to Turkey and the hiking-focused trip I had planned in Croatia. The whole journey felt like less of a slog.

Not all stopover deals are alike

Each stopover deal works a little differently when it comes to eligibility rules and perks.

Typically, your layover must fall within the program’s specified timeframe, and your itinerary must be on a qualifying route. There may also be restrictions on fare class.

Most airlines also require you to add the stopover through a dedicated portal or customer service, either at the time of booking or within a set window afterward.


The author in Plitvice Lakes, Croatia.

My final destination was Croatia. I wanted to get out of the city, so I drove 2 hours from Zagreb to Plitvice Lakes National Park. Visiting in the winter is cheaper, and there are very few other people.

Taylor Rains/Business Insider



Like Turkish, a few sweeten the deal with complimentary stays. UAE’s Etihad Airways includes up to two free hotel nights in Abu Dhabi as part of its program.

Ethiopian Airlines provides a free night at its Skylight In-Terminal Hotel at Addis Ababa Airport for layovers between eight and 24 hours. That’s enough time to sleep, but little chance to explore the city.

Others lean on discounted options. Qatar Airways, for example, offers name-brand hotel rooms in Doha at a small fee, ranging from $14 per person for one night to $76 per person for four nights.

Airlines like Copa and TAP Air Portugal offer structured stopover perks, such as discounts on hotels, restaurants, and experiences. Emirates also includes a stopover, and travelers can optionally add a curated multi-day tour in Dubai for an extra fee.

Others, like Air Canada, Air France, and Dutch carrier KLM, simply let travelers turn a layover into a multi-day visit without risking a fare hike, making their stopovers more of a routing perk than a bundle of freebies.

That means travelers are largely on their own for planning hotels and activities. Even so, stopovers remain a smart way to see a city you might not otherwise make time for.

For aviation and travel aficionados like me, they’re a double win: a chance to experience different airlines and aircraft while squeezing more cities into a single trip.




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Asia’s biggest aviation event shows how the counter-drone craze is taking hold

This year’s Singapore Airshow was a true display of how the world has come to both love drones and fear them.

Fighter jets danced in the sky and a slew of commercial airliners sat on the baking tarmac for military officials, students, and eager interns to gawk at.

But inside the main hall, you’d be hard-pressed to look anywhere and not see “drone” or “UAS” plastered on a placard or wall.

Roughly 550 organizations were listed as exhibitors at the event, which hosted a mix of civil aviation companies, defense contractors, and air forces. A third were in the uncrewed aerial system business.

Around every corner, it seemed as though there was a system to fight drones: Big drones, small drones, drones with bombs strapped to them, drones that spy on you from miles away, drones that spy on you from 300 feet in the sky — and increasingly, drones that fly at you in swarms.

Recent conflicts, especially the Ukraine war, has brought to the fore the fear of an unknown $600 device flying into a military base or a football stadium to deal untold damage or take lives.

The implications go beyond war. Last fall, repeated unidentified drone sightings forced European countries to disrupt hundreds of passenger flights.

The solutions on offer at the airshow covered almost everything one imaginable for preventing those scenarios. There were the usual radio frequency area jammers, designed to cut off any nearby drone from its link to the operator. These came in anything from handheld devices to boxes that you have to mount on flatbed trucks.

Skylock, an Israeli company, brought along a 13-pound, two-handed jamming gun called Skybeam, which is supposed to mess with electronics that you point the device toward.


The Skybeam sits on display.

The Israeli Skybeam is a hefty, two-handed gun for fighting smaller drones.

Matthew Loh for Business Insider



There were actual guns, such as Saab’s new “Loke” system that features a truck-mounted, software-assisted machine gun to knock out drones in a “one shot, one kill” fashion. The company hopes to add airburst rounds soon.

There were, of course, drones to kill other drones, easily denoted by their aerodynamic design of a missile-like body, tear-shaped tail, and four propellers.

French manufacturing giant Thales was promoting the “ThunderShield,” a remotely operated dome-like device that targets small, Class 1 drones with an invisible electromagnetic beam that spreads out in a cone.

The company said the device has already been deployed at a major public event in France two years ago, though it wouldn’t say which (the biggest one that year was the Olympic Games.)

One standout was the CROSSBOW, a device developed by laser company IPG Photonics’ brand new defense division, IPG Defense.

Tucked away on the side of the exhibition hall, the Massachussetts-based company’s showcased an invention that fires lasers to destroy drones via thermal damage.


The IPG Defense CROSSBOW system on display.

The CROSSBOW system uses IPG’s commercial laser technology to destroy drones.

Matthew Loh for Business Insider



An accompanying radar helps the CROSSBOW identify drones from other flying objects, such as unsuspecting bald eagles, and an Xbox controller allows the operator to choose whether to engage the target.

Still, as one anti-drone tech salesman noted to me, many of the world’s counter-UAS inventions run on tech that isn’t necessarily novel. Like the idea of a hobbyist drone strapped with a grenade, most of these companies have simply merged older concepts that no one thought of combining before.

Some will say they merge that tech better than others, but it’s still no F-35 or F-47.

It’s another sign of how accessible air warfare is becoming, with quadcopters sitting alongside multimillion-dollar fighter jets and hulking Rolls Royce engines in the main hall.

The airshow, which is running its 11th edition of the biennial event, said that it’s seen the largest involvement so far from small and medium-sized companies this year.




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Saab is considering arming its Gripen jets with a proven drone-killer rocket after watching Ukraine’s war

Swedish defense prime Saab is exploring the Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System as a cheaper armament option for its JAS 39 Gripen fighters, firm executives told Business Insider this week.

“The APKWS is in interest because other platforms are now integrating 70mm guided rockets. So we are, of course, eyeing that capability now,” Jussi Halmetoja, operations advisor for Saab’s air domain, said at the Singapore Airshow.

Halmetoja said the company was looking at ways to integrate the weapons system, which uses a guided version of the Hydra 70mm rocket, onto its older Gripen C and latest Gripen E models.

He made the comments as he and Mikael Franzên, chief marketing officer for the Gripen program, discussed the company’s observation from the Ukraine war that it needs more inexpensive weapons to counter uncrewed aerial systems.

“I mean, right now we are using very expensive weapons to kill very cheap drones,” Franzén said of traditional Western air combat.

He added that Saab is hoping to potentially equip the Gripen with systems that can fit multiple munitions onto a single hardpoint.

“If you can have four or 10 on each hardpoint, then you can kill a lot more drones,” Franzên said. The APWKS is typically mounted on aircraft with multilaunch pods.

Kyiv has signed a letter of intent with Sweden to potentially acquire up to 150 Gripen E fighters in the coming years. Ukraine’s air force has yet to fly the jet, which is touted as an ideal fighter for battling Russia because it’s built to operate from dispersed, rugged airfields and in the Arctic domain.

Kyiv is now flying much of its small fleet of F-16 Fighting Falcons from such small airfields, often moving the aircraft to increase their survivability.

But Franzén and Halmetoja said the Gripen can turn around much faster from dispersed airfields and be ready for a new mission within 10 minutes of landing.

Sweden, South Africa, Brazil, Thailand, Czechia, and Hungary are among the countries that fly the Gripen.

The APWKS, meanwhile, is already being deployed across various systems in Ukraine.

For example, the VAMPIRE counter-UAS systems feature a four-barrel launcher for the guided Hydra rockets that can be mounted on a pickup truck.

The cost of using one APKWS round is estimated at $20,000 to $35,000, compared to weapons more typically associated with modern fighters, such as the AIM-9 Sidewinder, which costs roughly $450,000, and the AIM-120 AMRAAM, which costs roughly $1 million.

Concerns about missile costs against cheaper drones have risen steadily since the war began, and as Russia has continuously grown its loitering munitions mass manufacturing.

Outside Ukraine, the US military has also been using the APWKS to recently fight drone attacks in the Middle East. The weapons system, loaded on American F-16s and F-15s, was responsible for roughly 40% of the drone kills scored by US forces against Houthi drones during last year’s Operation Rough Rider.




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Taylor Swift’s latest business move is another attempt to hack the charts — and it’ll probably work

Taylor Swift is the biggest-selling artist in the world by most reliable measures, so when she makes an unconventional business move — no matter how random or trivial it may appear — it’s worth paying attention.

On Friday, Swift unveiled the self-directed music video for “Opalite,” her latest single from “The Life of a Showgirl.” Upon release, the cameo-laden clip was available exclusively on Spotify and Apple Music, with its YouTube premiere scheduled for a two-day delay.

Streamers like Spotify and Apple Music specialize in hosting songs, albums, podcasts, and playlists — not visual works. Meanwhile, YouTube is famously a destination for music video lovers. So what gives?

As usual, when it comes to Swift, the answer seems to lie with her bottom line. In December, YouTube announced it would withdraw its streaming data from Billboard’s chart formulas because the music company tweaked its methodology so that streams from YouTube subscribers were weighted even more heavily than free streams. YouTube’s stance is that the ratio is unfair to fans.

Swift recently scored her longest reign yet on the Billboard Hot 100 with “The Fate of Ophelia,” the lead single from “Showgirl,” which charted at No. 1 for 10 weeks. With “Opalite” officially serving as its follow-up, Swift appears to be making moves to boost the song’s chart performance.

If fans were flocking to YouTube today to watch her new music video, none of those views would help “Opalite” reach No. 1 — and nobody wants to follow a personal best with a personal flop, least of all an athlete-style competitor like Swift.

Of course, this savvy tweak to the song’s promo schedule was paired with a physical release: a seven-inch vinyl single in “pearlescent blue,” only available in Swift’s online store for 48 hours.

How Taylor Swift moves, other artists tend to follow

Swift’s unyielding commitment to commerce isn’t just something to behold. It’s something to study. Swift’s sales tactics often become instructive for other artists.

Much has been made about Swift’s push to sell physical albums, for example, but many fellow pop stars have followed suit. Charli XCX released about two dozen vinyl variants for her 2024 album “Brat” and its deluxe editions. Sabrina Carpenter, a self-professed disciple of Swift’s work, released 13 vinyl variants last year for “Man’s Best Friend,” in addition to seven-inch singles, cassettes, and CDs. As a result, “Man’s Best Friend” scored the ninth-biggest vinyl sales week of the modern era, according to Billboard. (Seven of the top eight slots on that list belong to albums by Swift.)


Taylor Swift in the music video for

“The Fate of Ophelia” reached No. 1 on the chart dated October 18, 2025.



Taylor Swift/YouTube



So, it could very well mean that Swift’s strategic video rollout will start a trend as well. Although YouTube is the customary platform for music videos, customs can be changed, and she isn’t the only artist who cares about climbing the charts.

It could also be that Swift’s premiere delay will inspire YouTube to rethink its attitude toward Billboard. If one of the most influential celebrities in the world is delaying their content to your product, that could be bad for business — and it wouldn’t be the first time Swift convinced a major company to change its tune. Back in 2015, she criticized Apple Music for refusing to pay artists during a new user’s free trial. Within 24 hours, Apple updated its policy and tagged Swift in the announcement online.

It remains to be seen whether “Opalite” will affect the music industry beyond Swifties, but if the song’s lyrics are any indication, Swift is content to manufacture success on her terms — or, in her words, to make her own sunshine.




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Details you may have missed in the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics opening ceremony

  • The 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics officially began with the opening ceremony on Friday.
  • The performances highlighted Italy’s legacy of music, fashion, arts, and culture.
  • Team USA’s opening ceremony outfits, designed by Ralph Lauren, featured patriotic touches.

Athletes and spectators filled Milan’s San Siro Stadium to kick off the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics on Friday.

Parts of the opening ceremony also took place across three other sites in Cortina, Predazzo, and Livigno, representing how Olympic events will be held across Italian regions.

The ceremony’s performances featured nods to Italian history and culture, and other countries added patriotic details to their opening ceremony uniforms.

Here are some details you may have missed.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

In the opening dance, two dancers dressed as angels evoked “Psyche Revived by Cupid’s Kiss,” a sculpture by Italian artist Antonio Canova.

Italian ballet dancers Antonella Albano and Claudio Coviello danced in the opening ceremony of the 2026 Winter Olympics.

WANG Zhao/AFP via Getty Images

Dancers dressed as musical notes took over the stage in a tribute to Italian opera composers Giuseppe Verdi, Giacomo Puccini, and Gioachino Rossini.


Matilda De Angelis performs with three actors dressed as the great masters of Italian Opera, Giuseppe Verdei, Giacomo Puccini, and Gioachino Rossini.

Dancers in the opening ceremony of the 2026 Winter Olympics.

Maja Hitij/Getty Images

Colorful costumes represented numerous aspects of Italian arts, culture, cuisine, and architecture in a vibrant crescendo.


Opening Ceremony dancers.

Actors dressed as symbols of Italian fashion in the opening ceremony of the 2026 Winter Olympics.

Elsa/Getty Images

Mariah Carey sang a mashup of the Italian song “Volare” with her hit “Nothing Is Impossible.”


Mariah Carey at the 2026 Olympic opening ceremony.

Mariah Carey at the opening ceremony of the 2026 Olympics.

Elsa/Getty Images

Models walked into the stadium wearing Giorgio Armani suits in the colors of the Italian flag.


Models wearing Giorgio Armani suits.

Models in Giorgio Armani suits at the 2026 Winter Olympics.

Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images

Aerialists performed between two rings representing the city of Milan and the mountains of Cortina d’Ampezzo.


Aerialists in the 2026 opening ceremony Olympics.

Aerialists in the opening ceremony of the 2026 Olympics.

Andreas Rentz/Getty Images

The two rings eventually fused with others to form the iconic five-ring symbol of the Olympics.


The Olympic rings at the opening ceremony.

The Olympic rings were lit up with fireworks at the 2026 opening ceremony.

WANG Zhao / AFP

During the Parade of Nations, flagbearers from each country carried signs designed to look like blocks of ice.


A block of ice during the Olympic opening ceremony.

Team Greece at the opening ceremony of the 2026 Winter Olympics.

Carmen Mandato/Getty Images

Team Brazil’s outfits, designed by Moncler, included shorts made of the same material as their puffy coats.


Team Brazil in puffy shorts at the 2026 Olympics opening ceremony.

Flagbearer Lucas Pinheiro Braathen of Team Brazil during the opening ceremony of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics.

Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images

Designer Stella Jean created bold uniforms for Haiti’s Olympic team inspired by the art of Edouard Duval Carrié.


Team Haiti's flagbearers at the 2026 Winter Olympics opening ceremony.

Members of Team Haiti at the 2026 Winter Olympics opening ceremony.

Maddie Meyer/Getty Images




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How AI is helping these solopreneurs build more personal membership communities — with less work

A community is a dedicated space where customers connect with each other for ongoing support, learning, and shared identity. For companies, it’s a way to build loyalty, gather real-time insight, and deliver deeper value beyond a product or service.

What sets a community apart from a static knowledge base is the personalized support members receive. While that level of service used to come at a high operational cost, AI makes it easier and more impactful for three solopreneurs who spoke with Business Insider about running their own membership communities.


Gabriela Fiorentino

Gabriela Fiorentino is the founder of Nest Earth.

Joel Arbaje for BI



“I can be even more present inside of my community,” said Gabriela Fiorentino, founder of Nest Earth, a community that helps parents integrate sustainable choices into family life. “It’s like having an assistant without having to pay for the assistant,” she added.

Here’s how three solopreneurs running communities use AI to reduce cognitive and operational load so they can create stronger member experiences.

This article is part of The AI-Powered Solopreneur series. Read more.

AI streamlines personalized offerings

Clara Ma, founder of Ask a Chief of Staff, a community serving executives in chief of staff roles, loves meeting with members one-on-one to answer their personal questions, but only has limited time to do so.

Before, she often found herself on calls repeating generic information that was already available within the community. Now, she asks members to share their questions ahead of calls, then uses the integrated AI in Slack—where her community connects and has conversations—to ask what resources already exist related to those questions.


Clara Ma

Clara Ma is the founder of Ask a Chief of Staff.

Isa Zapata for BI



“I can pull up three to five resources immediately and say, ‘Let’s look at this first, and then if your question still isn’t answered or you want to personalize the chat a little bit more to you, I can do that better because we’re on the same page about what is already available to you,'” Ma said.

She also used Slack Workflows to help her build out an automated process for member onboarding. Based on whether they’re an aspiring chief of staff, a current chief of staff, or a mentor within the community, they get a slightly different and personalized message welcoming them into the community and giving them some next steps on how to engage. This creates a curated experience from day one without a heavy manual lift for Ma. Onboarding tasks now take about an hour per week as opposed to a couple of hours per day before AI, she said.


Lis Best

Lis Best is the founder of Girls Club Collective.

Michaela Vatcheva for BI



For Lis Best—founder of Girls Club Collective, a community for impact leaders and entrepreneurs—the biggest value in using AI has been more mental capacity to dedicate to what matters most to her.

“I can use my creative brainpower more on facilitation and on one-on-one member support and less on rewriting an email sequence for the 12th time,” she said.

For instance, she has recently used ChatGPT to help her improve the website positioning and suggest email sequences for potential new members, reducing her time spent on growing her community so she can spend more time engaging with it.

AI offers research-backed strategy suggestions

Beyond one-on-one interactions, community-based businesses also offer broader programming like workshops, expert sessions, and connection opportunities. Ideally, these offerings reflect what members actually want—and AI makes it far easier for solopreneurs to identify those needs at scale.

Before AI, Ma used to rely on intuition or hours of manual work to understand member preferences, reading months of community Slack conversations and trying to mentally catalog themes. Now, AI synthesizes data from member conversations, newsletter open rates, and workshop engagement to inform decisions about which events or member offerings to prioritize.

“It unlocks a lot more information a lot faster so that we can make better decisions,” Ma said. “I used to hem and haw about what programming we should do. Now I have the data, and I can have a conversation with AI to spitball different strategies and topics that I think our members are going to react well to instead of going off gut feeling.”


Clara Ma

Clara Ma uses AI to help her spitball different strategies.

Isa Zapata for BI



Best loves that AI gives her the confidence to table ideas that have been on her “maybe” list or that a handful of members have requested. Uploading information from member surveys and member interviews transcribed with the Otter AI notetaker, she can ask ChatGPT to synthesize what offerings are most in demand—and which are not worth spending energy on from a data perspective.

“As a person, I think, ‘I know the four people who are asking for this, so should I do it anyway?'” Best said. AI’s more neutral perspective helps her put those personal feelings aside and choose programming that will benefit the most members.


Gabriela Florentino

Gabriela Florentino used AI to help her find new ways to monetize her community.

Joel Arbaje for BI



Fiorentino also uses AI to support broader strategy research. For instance, when trying to brainstorm new ways to monetize, she turned to AI, asking what options were available and what was working for other communities.

For example, she’s launched a new membership tier where service providers can access more visibility and potential clients through her community. She’s also planning to launch a marketplace of eco-friendly products later this year.

AI creates more time for human touchpoints


Lis Best

Lis Best values AI’s neutral perspective.

Michaela Vatcheva for BI



In case it’s not clear, the goal for these solopreneurs is to use AI to maximize human potential, not replace it.

“I always say AI is for automation, not to replace the human,” said Ma, who coaches her small team of contractors to try automating any task that they do more than five times with AI. This ensures she’s using her limited budget only on things that require human touch, not things that a machine can handle.

And with that extra time, they can work to maximize the potential of their members. “Any time we get back, we try to funnel back into the community in some sort of human touchpoint so that our members really feel taken care of and supported,” Ma shared. “AI is never going to replace the human aspect, which is what makes community so worth it in the first place.”




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The DOJ says it took down 9,000 of the Epstein files

The Justice Department has removed thousands of files linked to late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein from its website, it said in a court filing.

In a Thursday letter to judges in the Southern District of New York, DOJ officials said they had removed approximately 9,500 documents, in part because they originally included information that identified Epstein’s victims.

The letter was signed by US Attorney General Pam Bondi, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, and US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jay Clayton. It was filed in the court docket for the criminal cases against Epstein and his co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell. Victims’ lawyers had asked judges to ensure the Justice Department would protect their privacy.

The Justice Department said in the letter that the takedowns were “temporary” while the documents were reviewed for additional redactions.

It added that in recent days, following the documents’ release, victims of Epstein and their counsels had identified new names and identifiers for redaction “that were not identified prior to publication.”

“Additionally, many of the documents flagged by victims and victim counsel for further review were not necessarily identifying of a particular victim based on the face of the document, itself, and were not obviously sensitive in nature,” the letter said.

The letter said these documents would be further redacted and then reposted. It requested the judges to “not take any further protective measures” while the department is reviewing the documents.

The DOJ’s letter comes days after the Justice Department, on January 31, released 3 million Epstein-related files to the public. The latest tranche of files included big names from the tech and business spheres, such as Bill Gates, Elon Musk, and Reid Hoffman.

In the court filing, the Justice Department said the hiccups could be attributed to the sheer volume of records “from multiple offices and investigations spanning over twenty years” it needed to prepare for public release following the passage of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, as well as the “technical capabilities of the document management systems” and “human error.”

A Justice Department spokesperson told Business Insider that it “takes victim protection very seriously.”

“The Department had 500 reviewers looking at millions of pages for this very reason, to meet the requirements of the act while protecting victims,” the spokesperson said. “When a victim’s name is alleged to be unredacted, our team is working around the clock to fix the issue and republish appropriately redacted pages as soon as possible.”




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Amazon’s $8 billion Anthropic investment balloons to $61 billion

Talk about return on investment. Amazon’s bet on Anthropic looks like an enormous win, at least on paper.

The cloud giant disclosed on Friday that it holds $45.8 billion of convertible notes and $14.8 billion of nonvoting preferred stock in the AI startup. Taken together, the figures show that Amazon’s Anthropic stake is now worth $60.6 billion.

Amazon has invested $8 billion in Anthropic since late 2023, indicating a seven-fold increase in value. If borne out, that would rank among the most lucrative strategic technology investments the company has ever disclosed.

The two companies have a deep commercial tie-up. Anthropic has committed to buy 1 million of Amazon’s Trainium chips, binding one of the leading AI labs closely to Amazon Web Services.

Anthropic last raised $13 billion in September at a $183 billion post-money valuation, following a $3.5 billion round in March that valued the company at $61.5 billion. The AI startup is in talks for another funding round that would push its value to $350 billion.

The convertible notes held by Amazon convert to preferred stock as Anthropic raises additional capital. So every time the startup closes a round, Amazon gets valuable new stock in one of the hottest AI companies on the planet.

Some of the upside has already flowed through to Amazon’s earnings. Conversions in 2025 generated about $5.6 billion in recognized gains, and Amazon booked a further $7.2 billion upward adjustment to its “other income” in the third quarter as Anthropic’s valuation climbed.

An Amazon spokesperson told Business Insider that the value of the company’s Anthropic stake rose from $38.5 billion in the third quarter to $60.6 billion in the fourth. The company expects to book a further $15 billion gain in first-quarter “other income” as some of the notes convert to nonvoting preferred stock, the spokesperson added.

Amazon also disclosed that these valuations relied on “significant judgment.” The company classified the convertible notes as “Level 3” assets, meaning their values are based on unobservable inputs and Amazon’s own assumptions rather than market prices, the company disclosed.

That’s common with stakes in startups, which don’t have securities that trade regularly on liquid public markets. That’s what IPOs are for — and Anthropic is reportedly eyeing a listing this year.

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