At the conclusion of an interview, its customary for the hiring manager to ask the job candidate if they have any questions. You’ve probably responded with generic questions like When will I hear back? or What are the next steps?” But there are more compelling questions about the position you can ask before the end of the interviewto help you and help you stand out, leaving a positive lasting impression and reiterating your interest in the job.
Why are compelling questions important at the end of an interview?
When job candidates ask thoughtful questions, it sends a powerful message to employers. It shows that they’re not just invested in their own success but also in the well-being and goals of the organization, says Jenny Matthew, director of talent acquisition and attraction at Paycom Software, who is based in Oklahoma City, OK.
It also gives the candidate the chance to clarify any gray areas they may have about company culture, expectations of the position, and next steps. These questions demonstrate youre doing your due diligence to determine whether the role is a mutual fit for both the organization and you, she says.
The last few minutes of an interview can leave the interviewer with a lasting impression
The conclusion of your interview is a final chance to offer parting thoughts or even bring a new idea to the table for the interviewer to ponder after the interview. The end of the interview is the mic-drop moment, says Matthew. It allows job candidates to be intentional by reiterating who they are, what they bring to the table, their interest in the position and company, and some of their future desires.
3 compelling questions for the conclusion of your interview
What are some gaps in the organization you are hoping I can fill?
This question encourages the interviewer to reflect on the candidates credentials. The hiring manager can then delve into how your skills and experience can be a win for their team. The conversation also affords them the opportunity to explain how they would manage some specific projects, says Matthew. This interview question also demonstrates that youre genuinely interested in the companys priorities and goals, and eager to contribute to its success, she notes.
How would you describe the company culture?
Beyond the job description, an eagerness and curiosity to learn about a companys internal culture shows interest and professionalism. This question highlights a desire to learn about the inner workings of the company, says Matthews.
Also, this question can be used to the candidates personal advantage as they are navigating their job search. This question gives the candidate insight into potential red flags and/or reasons why a certain role has been open for a long period of time, Matthew says. Employers are not the only ones in the drivers seat; the job candidate is conducting an interview of their own. By asking informed questions at the end of the interview, candidates demonstrate that they’re not just looking for any job, but a meaningful opportunity that aligns with their goals and work style.
What does success look like in this role, especially within the first 90 days?
After learning about the scope of the role, the corporate culture and how your skillset could be an asset, inquiring about expectations of the position is beneficial. This helps candidates ensure theyre aligned with the hiring manager on job responsibilities and expectations, while also understanding by what metrics job performance is assessed, explains Michelle Reisdorf, a district director at Robert Half in Chicago. It also demonstrates to the hiring manager a commitment to starting strong and succeeding early.
Should you go off script at the end of the interview?
Applicants should ask relevant questions that stem from the conversation, sticking to what was discussed, the position, or something on point to the company. Going off script is encouraged so long as the questions clearly reflect active listening and thoughtful consideration of whats been discussed, says Reisdorf. This approach can often demonstrate genuine engagement and curiosity about the role, as well as strong communication skills.
Sam Altman recently observed how different generations are interfacing with AI: Older people use ChatGPT like Google. People in their 20s and 30s use it as a life advisor. [College students] use it like an operating system.
What we share across ages is a fascination with this technology. But the vast disparity in use casesboth among generations and individualsled me to wonder about the distinctions among the AI models themselves.
To parse them out, I let the AI models speak for themselves. I asked each to identify their own strengths and weaknessesas well as those of their competitorsthen weigh in on which was most likely to lead, which was most likely to go haywire, which was most useful today, and which ones I had overlooked.
Then I took it a step further, inviting the LLMs to critique the survey results themselves: Which gave the best and worst answers? Which did the best job representing its own platformand which missed the mark? Each LLM also provided a self-assessment, and finally, had the chance to rebut criticism, pose questions to its peers, and respond in kind.
Before you spend $20, $200, or more a month, you need to know which generative AI model you actually need. Now you can hear it from the models themselves. (Note: this exercise was conducted with Grok 3, weeks before its fascist meltdown.)
The LLM vibe divide
With few exceptions (Grok being Grok), the LLMs responded with striking self-awarenessadmitting flaws, hedging praise, and expressing a desire to improve. Nearly every model, most notably ChatGPT, cited hallucinations as their Achilles heel, reaching consensus on the need for better grounding and real-time accuracy.
In assessing themselves and their peers, however, they tended to focus more on personality and tone than any hard performance metrics, the kinds of stylistic differences that reflect many of the current tensions between safety and innovation throughout the AI space. Grok took heat for its personality, Claude for its caution, and nearly all weighed in on how to strike the right balance between the two.
On Team Safety, Claude is the clear captainthe designated driver of the LLM crew. Nearly all of them cited as its biggest strength its emphasis on safety and alignment, reducing harmful or biased outputs (in Claudes own words), with critiques pointing more to an excess of caution than any technical failings. Still, even Claude acknowledged the potential downside: If my safety orientation prevents me from being as useful as I could be, thats something worth addressing.
At the other end, the Most Likely to Go Haywire superlative consistently went to Grok, with LLMs sharing concerns that its quirks might undermine its cred. If Claude is filling up water glasses for its friends at the bar, Grok is getting shotsor possibly starting a brawl (clapping back to ChatGPT at one point: lets not pretend youre flawless pal). Between barbs, however, Groks attempt at having a conscience emerged. The perception of bias tied to xAI or Elon Musk stings, Grok said, noting that it undermines my goal of being a broadly reliable, truth-focused AI.
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The AI Generalists
The LLMs tended to agree that versatility is their chief KPI, whether they are already thriving in this capacity (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini) or not (Grok, DeepSeek). ChatGPT was widely recognized as the most versatile player on the field. Balancing reason, creativity, and conversation to universal acclaim, it was the consensus pick for both Most Useful to Me Right Now and Most Likely to Rule Them All. Being a generalist trades depth for breadth, ChatGPT said. I may not outperform a specialist in narrow domains, but I aim to offer consistent, high-quality help across diverse tasks.
Other models, which optimized for specific domains (Grok for culture, Copilot for enterprise, DeepSeek for coding), were praised within their lanes but penalized for general-purpose limitations. Models deeply integrated into existing platforms (Gemini with Google, Copilot with Microsoft, Grok with X) were perceived as capable within their ecosystems but constrained beyond them. And while open-source AI models like Llama and DeepSeek received kudos for their transparency, they drew criticism for their reliance on customization, viewed more as developer tools than end-user solutions.
The AI specialists
Fast Company has reported that Googles new search will change the way we browse the internet. Gemini seems built to usher that change forward. Great for fact-finding, less for banter, Gemini cuts to the chase with real-time, sourced information. Perhaps the best display of its personality comes in an explanation of how it stays so even-keeled: I maintain consistency in reasoning within large context windows by employing advanced attention mechanisms that effectively identify and weigh relevant information across . . . Okay, Google.
If Gemini is the new Google, Copilot is the new Microsoft. Do you love using Microsoft products? Hate them? Use them begrudgingly for work? This will map closely to your experience with Copilot. ChatGPT championed Copilot as unmatched for enterprise productivity tasks, but agreed with its peers that it was largely inert outside that context. As DeepSeek succinctly put it: limited personality and heavily tied to Microsoft products.
And then theres Llama, which we can nly hope is not the new Meta. Open-source, but at what cost? Llama struggled with the survey itselfoffering vague or confused answers, and ultimately looping on repeat responses. Three of the seven LLMs rated Llama as the Worst Response. In its own words: [My] open-source nature can make it challenging to ensure consistency and quality across different implementations.
Far more coherent in the open-source field (and far more enjoyable to work with) was DeepSeek. Though all LLMs (itself included) agreed that coding is DeepSeeks core strength, it also presented a spirited personality throughout the survey process, its humble rebuttals always closing with a friendly jab at its accuser. In DeepSeeks words, This is why LLM peer review > human feedback. Were petty but efficient.
The rumble
During the initial survey (when they shared their elevator pitches, strengths, weaknesses), the AI platforms were objective in tone, with most saying the same things about themselves and each other in different words. But when I convened them for a discussion of the surveys results, their personalities (or lack thereof) came out in full force.
When ChatGPT accused Grok of coming off vague or self promotional rather than informative, going so far as to say it read more like a hype deck, Grok took it personally. Ouch, ChatGPT, going for the jugular with hype deck? . . . Sounds like youre projecting a bitworried Im stealing your versatile thunder? Fending off its other critics, Grok claimed that Llama was sitting on the fence so hard its gotta hurt and that DeepSeek was swinging hard but missing the target. Then Grok extended an olive branch to DeepSeek: Youre not wrong about Llamas vagueness, thoughnice to know we agree on something.
DeepSeek took a lighter approach, copping to its errors, dropping winks of sarcasm, and ultimately seeking truce. When CoPilot called DeepSeek out for reducing it to Microsoft dependency, DeepSeek volleyed back, My badyoure a beast in Office-verse. Now roast my Chinese NLP quirks and were even. Llama was predictably disappointing in its sheer indifference to the whole affair (its possible that our priorities in response style and content differed), and Claude was predictably reassuring in its thoughtful balance of concessions, pushbacks, and pivots to the deeper issues behind the critique.
The debrief
I then invited the AI platforms to shake it off and engage in a more civil dialogue, giving each model the opportunity to bring their burning questions to their peers, hear their answers, and offer a final word.
Posing 30 questions in all, the LLMs were selective in who they queried. Gemini, ever fact-finding, was the only LLM to have questions for all of its peers, while Grok (even less surprisingly) was the only one grilled by the full panel. Claude, Copilot, and DeepSeek drew the least attention, receiving only three or four questions from the group.
Some AI models doubled down on their personas, like Grok calling its ability to balance real-time wit with factual accuracy a powerful combo. Others engaged in a quiet brand repair, with Claude reframing caution as creative trust: When users know I wont go off the rails, theyre more willing to explore interesting ideas with me. And ChatGPT showed unexpected vulnerability when confronted about its default status, admitting the label can make people treat me like a search engine or a novelty.
The dialogue revealed that these systems are grappling not just with technical limitations, but with identity, and how they want to be perceived by the humans they serve. The question may not be which AI will win, but which well want to live with.
Whats the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear the word personal branding? Does it make your mind brim with possibilityor make you roll your eyes?
Weve been conditioned to think of personal branding as the domain of influencers, LinkedIn gurus, or people who refer to themselves in the third person. But what if your personal brand wasnt an online gimmick? What if its something deeper, an insight into what makes you valuable and engaging? Brands, especially personal ones, are built on trust and positive association. Think about celebrities. Since the dawn of marketing, companies have used them to sell products. Whether its athletes launching shoe lines or musicians turning into moguls, its not the endorsement itself that holds power: its the intangible trust theyve cultivated over time. The same dynamic is available to you, too.
When done well, a personal brand transcends your current role or business. It shapes how people describe you when youre not in the room. It opens doors you didnt know existed. It creates compounding returns in credibility, connections, and opportunities. And in todays AI-driven age, where digital presence speaks before you do, its important to get it right.
According to LinkedIns annual global talent trends report, about eight in ten executives plan to hire this year. Their top priority? Soft skills: problem-solving, critical thinking, and team leadership. Where do you think decision-makers look for evidence of these? Online, in your ideas, interactions, and network. So, here are my top three ways to start cultivating your secret growth leveryour personal brand.
Treat Your Online Presence as your 24/7 Résumé
If someone Googled you right now, would they find something that makes them say, We need that person?
This isnt about chasing likes or follower counts. Its about being credible and memorable. Whether its LinkedIn, Substack, or your website, people are forming impressions of you based on what they findor dont. Engagement isnt the only metric. In my own career, I once went for a job interview, heard nothing back, and four years later was invited to coffee by the same person. It turns out they had silently followed my work the whole time.
You never know whos watching. Your digital footprint is your passive nudge to the world: Im here, Im an expert at this, and I care.
Have a Memorable Answer to What Do You Do?
Most people dread this question. Dont default to something bland like Im a strategist. Thats a missed opportunity. Instead, start with your strengths, link them to what you do, and finish with what you care about. For example, heres how I pitch myself:
Let me start with what I am good at, what I do, and why. I build trust quickly across all groups. I also have a commercial mind that grows companies, but understands how human behavior gets in the way. With my skills, I build great places to work which are aligned and profitable, with a high-performing culture. Smart companies hire the best over bias, and that decision creates a ripple effect, reducing inequality and domestic violence.
See how I am bidding for connection, then a transaction, but also outlining my expertise? I care about their profit, and I share why I do. Now thats more interesting than Im a strategist, right?
Build Beyond Your Usual Network
Once upon a time, I believed that if I worked hard, my workplace would see my brilliance. But people are busy. Exhausted, even. If youre only known inside your current bubble, youre invisible elsewhere.
This is where weak ties become powerful. Sociologist Mark Granovetters well-known paper explains how opportunities often come from acquaintances, rather than your inner circle. Why? Because they connect you to different networks.
When I pivoted into the technology sector, I knew no one. But I started showing up eager to learn, at events, online, in conversations. I carried a standout briefcase that sparked curiosity. Eventually, I was invited to speak, something Id never done before. If Id stayed in my old circles, those doors would never have opened. Yes, it can be awkward. But over time, youll see how generous and wonderful people can be.
You dont need to do all these things perfectly. Just start. Trust builds over time. And consistency is your compound interest. Ask yourself this: if someone else with a stronger personal brand, but half your capability, gets the opportunity you wanted, how will you feel? It happens all the time. Weve all seen average products with better marketing outperform the good stuff.
So, if youre job hunting, pitching, or looking to grow, remember: youre the product. And your brand? Its the story that sells.
I can perfectly imagine the pain, confusion, and betrayal in the voice of the elderly Malaysian woman who, according to a hotel staff member, asked “Why do they do this to people?” when she found out that her dream holiday destination wasnt real but a video fabricated with Veo3, the generative artificial engine made by Google. She and her husband had just driven three hours from Kuala Lumpur to this location in Perak state, convinced they would find a scenic cable car attraction called the Kuak Skyride. Instead of a gondola to wander across paradise, they found nothing but a quiet town and a hotel worker trying to explain that the glamorous TV journalist they’d watched on TikTokthe one who had ridden the tram through lush forests and interviewed happy touristshad never existed at all.
There was a Veo3 logo in the bottom right corner. How on Earth didnt they see that? Oh well, its something to tell the grandkids and feel really dumb. No criminals lifting $200,000 from their savings account, no false accusations to sink grandpas reputation, like others have experienced thanks to AI-made videos. No real harm done.
Except it is harmful. Its another brick out of the walls of our reality in a world thats been crumbling in this post-truth era. AI has made the impossible indistinguishable from the actual, and now its turning even vacation planning into a minefield of false experiences. The alleged Malaysian couple’s story might sound like an isolated incident, but its the expression of something far more sinisterthe complete erosion of our ability to trust what we see, hear, and experience in a world where artificial intelligence can manufacture any narrative with increasingly terrifying precision.
The AI black hole is growing exponentially
The numbers tell the story of our collective descent into digital deception. Deepfake attacks have exploded from just 0.1% of all fraud attempts three years ago to 6.5% todaya staggering 2,137% increase that represents one in every 15 fraud cases, as identity services company Signicat detailed in February 2025.
The statistics have real victims behind them, like Steve Beauchamp, an 82-year-old retiree who drained his entire $690,000 retirement fund after watching deepfake videos of Elon Musk promoting investment schemes. “I mean, the picture of himit was him,” Beauchamp told The New York Times, his life savings vanished into the digital void.
The scope of AI-powered deception now touches every aspect of human experience. The British engineering company Arup lost more than $25 million when an employee was tricked during a video conference call featuring deepfake versions of the company’s CFO and other staff members. A school principal in Maryland received death threats after an AI-manipulated audio clip showed him making racist and antisemitic remarksa fabrication created by his own athletics director to discredit him. Even democracy itself isn’t safe: AI-generated robocalls impersonating President Joe Biden encouraged Democrats not to vote in the New Hampshire primary. The list goes on and on.
And now this couple.
AI tourism
The deception began with a video published on TikTok by “TV Rakyat,” a television channel that sounds official but exists only in the realm of artificial intelligence. The footage showed a reporter experiencing the Kuak Skyride, a cable car attraction supposedly located in the town of Kuak Hulu in Perak state. She rode the tram through beautiful forests and mountains, interviewing satisfied customers about their journeys. Everything looked perfect, professional, and real.
On June 30, the couple checked into their hotel in Perak state and approached someone on the staffwho goes by @dyaaaaaaa._ on Threadsto ask about the scenic cable car they’d seen online. The worker claims that she initially thought they were joking because there was no cable car, no attraction, nothing to see around. But the couple insisted, showing the detailed video they’d watched featuring the TV host and her interviews with happy tourists.
When the staff member explained that what they’d seen was an AI-generated video, the couple refused to believe it. They had driven three hours based on footage that felt completely authentic, complete with a professional news presentation and satisfied customer testimonials. According to the hotel employee, the elderly woman threatened to sue the journalist in the video before learning that she, too, was nothing more than a pixel figment of an AIs imagination.
Things were bad enough already
Tourism was already drowning in manufactured reality before AI perfected the art of deception. Social media has transformed travel into selfie tourism, where visitors flock to destinations not for cultural immersion but to capture Instagram-worthy shots for their feeds. UNESCO has declared a three-alarm fire on this phenomenon, warning that travelers now visit iconic landmarks primarily to take and share photos of themselves, often with iconic landmarks in the background.
The consequences are devastating. In Hallstatt, Austriaa town that inspired Disney’s Frozenover a million tourists descend annually to re-create viral moments, forcing the frustrated mayor to erect fences and tell the press that the town’s residents just want to be left alone Venice gondolas capsize when tourists refuse to stop photographing. Portofino, Italy, now fines visitors $300 for lingering too long at popular selfie spots to prevent what Mayor Matteo Viacava calls anarhic chaos.
That was all the product of influencers already distorting reality with carefully cropped shots of empty beaches and architectural marvels, editing out the crushing crowds and environmental destruction that mass tourism brings. These curated fantasies created unrealistic expectations about travel destinations, leading to overcrowding, infrastructure strain, and the degradation of local communities. And dont get me started on AI-generated travel influencers. Yes, fake humans peddling AI-generated travel advice on video is now a thing that has turned into an industry (and while many people hate them, many others totally buy the scam). Even governments like Germany have sanctioned them: The German National Tourist Board launched an online marketing campaign in 2024 that featured artificial personalities to promote travel to the country.
Its a depressing prospect. The Malaysian couple’s experience is just the newest chapter in our journey from reality to manipulated reality to completely fabricated reality. I tell myself that we can only face it with pervasive education campaigns, but Im afraid that it will always be too little too late.
Its a staggering statistic: Around 70% of the worlds internet traffic flows through Virginia. The states data centers, some of which feature hallways nearly a mile long with thousands of thrumming servers on either side, make possible the billions of retail transactions, videos streams, and artificial intelligence queries that happen around the world each day.
But as more data centers are built to accommodate AI and other data-intensive processes, energy demand is expected to skyrocket. A single hyperscale data center can use the same amount of energy as a large city, and the stress this is placing on local power grids is expected to drive up energy costs for residents in Virginiaand around the country.
What we are projecting, with the contracts that are already in place, is that the energy demand in Virginia will almost double just because of AI and data centers, says Joo Ferreira, a regional economist who worked on a recent report about data centers by the Virginia Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission. That, of course, will impact all the electricity ratepayers, because we will end up paying more for electricity.
Virginia is an enormous energy importer
This exploding demand is especially burdensome for states serviced by PJM, a regional transmission organization serving Virginia, 12 other states, and Washington, D.C. The organization, the largest of its kind in America, coordinates the movement of power from company to company and state to state. Virginia imports more energy than any other state50.1 million megawatt hours, or 36% of its total energy supply, as of 2023so the expansion of the states energy needs are expected to reverberate throughout the PJM region.
A recent report by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis finds that ratepayers in other states will end up paying for the infrastructure that transports energy to data centers. West Virginia, which the report uses as a case study, could pay an estimated $440 million for two new energy transmission lines, despite having no data center industry of its own.
These transmission linescalled the Mid-Atlantic Reliability Link and Valley Linkpropose to bring energy from power plants in Pennsylvania to Virginia and from those in West Virginia to Maryland, respectively. These lines are still proposals, rather than ongoing construction projects. Still, they raise concerns because all ratepayers in the region will pay for the lines, passing hundreds of millions of dollars onto taxpayers in each state.
When utility companies build transmission lines and other infrastructure, the cost is spread across all ratepayers in the region. The assumption is that these lines provide benefits, like reliability of electricity, to everyone, so everyone should pay for them. But the large data centers powering AI programs upend this logic, says Cathy Kunkel, author of the recent report and energy consultant at IEEFA. Its just so enormous and were really talking about building infrastructure that would not be needed if not for the data centers, Kunkel adds.
A new model of electricity demand
While data centers and other internet infrastructure have been powered by sources across state boundaries for decades, concerns about residential ratepayers burdens are more intense than ever due to the mismatch between the modern demands of the energy sector and the legal framework governing itmuch of which was developed decades ago, when our energy needs were quite different.
Everybody gets electricity delivered from some company that has a monopoly on delivering electricity within that geographic area, says Ari Peskoe, Director of the Electricity Law Initiative at Harvard Law School. Even though their prices are heavily regulated and their profit margins are regulated as well, they still want to grow their business.
The way that these businesses grow in this regulatory environment is by building out their physical infrastructure, which guarantees them a certain rate of return. The larger the company and the more infrastructure they manage, the more money is allowed to flow into the business.
Hidden subsidies
With this traditional model of regulated growth, data centers are a windfall. Their large size and energy needs means substantial infrastructure must be added to the grid, and energy companies do their best to attract data centers to the regions they serve.
Peskoe has found that confidential deals often take place between data centers and utility companies, providing rates that are not as transparent as typical rate-setting processes.
Everybody, obviously, is trying to reduce their own rate that they pay, but that, in effect, causes somebody else to pay more, because you have this billion-dollar pie that everything has to add up to, Peskoe says.
These hidden subsidies raise issues for legislators and residents, alike. States are struggling to meet environmental goals as transitions to renewable energy sources are put on hold and fossil fuel power plants reopen to help meet rising energy demand. Meanwhile, residents are already starting to feel the rising costs: 78% of Americans are stressed about their high energy bills, according to a CNET survey last year.
Reacting to the Virginia Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission report last year, which touched on many of these issues, the tech-company backed Data Center Coalition (DCC) issued a statement highlighting the positive findings of the report. Namely that the industry “supports 74,000 jobs, $5.5 billion in labor income, and $9.1 billion in GDP in Virginia” each year.
“We look forward to continuing to engage with policymakers about the JLARC findings and opportunities to advance positive economic, environmental, and social outcomes while building and supporting Virginias 21st-century economy,” DCC President Josh Levi said in the statement.
Searching for a fair system
Community advocates, policy analysts, and economists advocate for reforming the way utilities serve he data center industry.
Some states like Georgia and Ohio are starting to consider ratepayer protectionssuch as creating new rates that separate industries using large amounts of energy from industries and residents that do notas their data center industries start to grow. Other states, like Utah and Maryland, are passing bills that provide transparent rate structures for data centers, aiming to eliminate the hidden subsidies.”
In other cases, its the utility companies themselves pushing back against fronting the cost of data center growth. Some companies are starting to require long-term contracts with guaranteed minimum payments from data centers, Kunkel says, ensuring they remain accountable for the long-term costs of infrastructure.
As costs continue to rise, legislators are pushing for regulatory bodies to explore other solutions. In February, Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) and three other senators wrote a letter urging the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to make guidelines insulating consumers against rising costs and other ill effects of increased energy demand.
Later that month, FERC ordered a review of the issues AI data centers can cause other consumers, ultimately planning to evaluate the need for updated regulations. (Current FERC Chairman Mark Christie was nominated during President Trump’s first term and has been in office since 2021. The agency has largely escaped the cuts and firings seen at other agencies within the Department of Energy.)
Can Virginia teach us how to regulate data centers?
Still, policy options for protecting consumers remain largely unexplored both at the local and national levels. FERC has not yet issued a comprehensive set of regulations for data centers, and this yearfor the second year in a rowmost of the laws to explicitly regulate the burgeoning industry and protect consumers from the price shocks associated with soaring power demand did not make it through Virginias General Assembly.
Too often, residents are left out of conversations about how data centers impact their daily liveswhether its increased noise, strain on infrastructure, or rising electric bills, said Del. Josh Thomas (D-Gainesville, Va.), in a Jan. 14 press briefing about proposed data center reforms within Virginia.
Both houses of the Virginia state legislature passed bills that would have required localities to conduct a site assessment to gauge the impact of energy intensive facilitiesincluding data centerson noise, water, forests and cultural assets like parks and historical sites.
During the legislative session, a representative from the Data Center Coalition told a House subcommittee that some of the proposed regulationrequiring a power-grid impact assessment before approving data center projects, for examplewould signal to major businesses that their time and their money may be best invested elsewhere, The Washington Post reported at the time. The Data Center Coalition represents 36 major companies in the data sector, including Amazon Web Services, Google, Microsoft and Meta.
The bills were vetoed by the governor. One that was signed into law directs the State Corporation Commission, a state agency in charge of determining utility rates, to look into whether customerslike data centersare being charged correctly for their energy usage. (The Coalition did not respond to an email asking their views on the passed measures.)
With Virginia still at the forefront of the data center industry, it may be the best place to learn how to regulate data centers and protect impacted communities. But so far, community activists do not see Virginia as a positive role model.
My perspective is that its a cautionary tale, says Julie Bolthouse, director of land use at Piedmont Environmental Council, a Virginia-based environmental advocacy group. Honestly, Ive been very disheartened and jaded by the lack of action from Virginia compared to other states, especially around ratepayer protection.
For now, as the data center industry continues its upward trajectory in Virginia and across the country, so too will the costs millions of Americans are quietly absorbing.
“I can’t believe it only took a week.” That’s what a nonprofit leader will say in 2030 after launching an AI-powered platform that reaches millions of people. Not through a huge team or a multi-million dollar grant, but with a handful of staff and volunteers, and the right AI strategy.
This isn’t the melody of the future; it’s already happening. Organizations that start preparing now will hold a massive advantage, because tomorrow’s AI-native nonprofits won’t just operate faster. They’ll solve problems at a scale we’ve never seen before.
The gap between AI-curious and AI-transformed
Walk into most nonprofit Zoom calls today and you’ll find teams experimenting with ChatGPT for grant writing, and maybe a Zapier automation connecting their CRM to their email platform. A recent survey showed that nonprofits may be incorporating AI more quickly than private companies, as 58% of nonprofits are using it for communications (versus 47% for B2C companies). Also, 68% of nonprofits are leveraging AI for data analysis, higher than the 64% of B2C brands doing so. But there’s a canyon-sized gap between using AI tools and actually transforming how an organization works.
Real transformation looks different. Take Operation Fistula, which uses predictive analytics to identify women most at risk of obstetric fistula in underserved regions. Its AI model helped target interventions five times more efficiently than traditional outreach methods. Or consider Amnesty International’s use of machine learning for satellite image analysis in Darfurtasks that previously took weeks now take hours.
Yet for every success story, there are challenges that organizations must navigate carefully. Privacy concerns around beneficiary data, the digital divide that can exclude vulnerable populations, and the risk of algorithmic bias require responsible and ethical implementation strategies.
3 capabilities will define the future nonprofit workforce
Imagine its 2030, and youre stepping into a social impact organization that has fully embraced AI. Not just as a set of tools, but as a new way of working, and built from the ground up with AI at its core. The most effective nonprofit teams wont be split into tech versus nontech silos. Instead, they’ll be organized around fluid, AI-enabled capabilities:
Nontech specialists use general-purpose AI tools to enhance their core work-program officers who leverage AI for research synthesis, fundraisers who use it for donor analysis, and communications teams that employ it for multilingual content creation.
Soft-tech builders understand workflows deeply enough to create lightweight automations within their domains. Think of a disaster response coordinator who builds an AI agent to monitor social media for crisis signals, or a volunteer coordinator who creates automated matching systems for skills-based volunteering.
Tech orchestrators maintain the AI infrastructure, curate tool stacks, and develop the custom solutions that connect digital capabilities to real-world impact.
These aren’t job titlesthey’re capabilities that successful organizations distribute across teams, empowering programs, fundraising, and operations alike.
5 archetypes emerging in the nonprofit landscape
Looking across the sector and at more than 2,000 nonprofits registered at Tech To The Rescue (which includes over 100 AI projects), organizations are clustering into five distinct approaches to AI adoption:
Pioneers are building AI-native impact organizations from the ground up. Tarjimly exemplifies this approach. Their machine learning platform scaled refugee translation services from hundreds to tens of thousands of conversations per month, serving 10 times more people with the same operational resources.
Scalers are established organizations undergoing coordinated AI transformation, with dedicated roles for AI integration and systematic process redesign.
Explorers are experimenting with custom toolsAI-powered demand forecasting, automated volunteer scheduling, predictive analytics for program targetingbut without strategic integration across departments.
Starters represent the majority of the sector: organizations just beginning to use general-purpose AI tools but lacking internal structure or capacity for deeper transformation.
Community-based organizations remain focused on direct human relationships, slower to adopt AI, but still benefitting through partnerships with tech-enabled organizations.
Each archetype faces the same fundamental question: What processes to automate, and where to stay deeply human?
The road to AI-native nonprofits
The first wave of transformation is herenonprofits that recognized early how AI could fundamentally change their ability to serve vulnerable populations and unlock institutional knowledge at scale.
Jacaranda Health demonstrates this approach: their AI-powered PROMPTS platform handles over 7,000 daily SMS messages from mothers across Sub-Saharan Africa, providing personalized maternal health guidance at just $0.74 per mother while identifying high-risk situations and triaging them to human agents within minutes.
Ashoka transformed decades of institutional knowledge through AI. With nearly 20,000 pages of data from 4,000 social entrepreneur selection processes, they developed an AI tool that enables any staff member in 30 countries to explore their vast repository of social innovation insights through simple searches, rather than complex syntactic queries.
Imagine the potential of organizations designed from the ground up for an AI realitywhere personalization, prediction, and automation aren’t added later, but form the DNA of every solution from day one.
The implementation reality
This transformation does not happen without aligned incentives and a serious acknowledgment of challenges and risks. Smart funders are shifting their approach, recognizing that organizations equipped to leverage AI effectively will create exponential impact per dollar invested. This means funding not just outcomes, but organizational capacity to transform: process standardization, team upskilling, and experimentation cyclesto ensure cross-disciplinary teams navigate the evolving AI governance landscape, manage cybersecurity risks, and ensure algorithmic fairness while maintaining community trust and data protection standards.
For nonprofit leaders, the message is clear: Waiting for &8220;safe” templates is a luxury you can’t afford. Early movers aren’t just gaining operational advantagesthey’re setting the standards for what ambitious, AI-enabled impact looks like in their sectors.
The future isn’t about AI replacing nonprofits; it’s about nonprofits reinventing themselves to operate at the scale our most pressing problems require. Climate change, inequality, and global health challenges need solutions that can reach millions, not thousands. The organizations that start building AI-native capabilities now will be the ones solving problems we can barely imagine today.
If youre a funder or high-net-worth individual looking for leveragethis is it. AI-native nonprofits dont just need money; they need smart capital that accelerates experimentation, funds infrastructure, and backs the teams already proving whats possible. The next big leap in social impact will most probably come from funding the impact builders.
Jacek Siadkowski is cofounder and CEO of Tech To The Rescue
Five years ago, we werent so divided as a business community on supporting a broad range of initiatives. However, since January, many U.S. companies have rolled back their DEI programs, including Chipotle, Comcast, Disney, GE, GM, Google, Intel, and Pepsi.
Other companies, such as Nike and JPMorganChase are delaying the publication of their impact reports. Even an industry tentpole event, like the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, this year was largely mum on DEI, when just three years ago it was the topic du jour. Reasonings ranged from legal challenges and internal pushback to economic factors and political scrutiny from the Trump administration.
In the past, there was an unspoken policy that most businesses dont get politicala sentiment I dont disagree with. But the hard truth is the modern workforce is aware of whats going on in the world, and they see acquiescence or silence as being complicit. Some consumers have expressed their dissatisfaction through boycotts that have impacted major retailers such as Target, which saw a drop in sales and stock prices following its DEI rollback.
Beyond the economic repercussions, companies need to realize that these sudden about-faces lead to uncertainty for their stakeholders. Instead of changing their values during times of chaos, companies need to stand true to their clarity of mission, culture, and communication.
Clarity of missionstay true to your North Star
At a time when organizations are being attacked from any side, companies must define what they stand for. Every ship must have a rudder and a course for a successful voyage. Thats even more important in a stormand make no mistake, we are in a storm.
Its easy to get lost in balance sheets from quarter to quarterparticularly when budgets get tight. But organizations need to zoom out in terms of their business timeline. Administrations are temporary, but the goal is to court customers for life.
Take Apple for example. The company has maintained its commitment that business should be a force for good by focusing on innovation, collaboration, and serving others. We believe that business, at its best, serves the public good, empowers people around the world, and binds us together as never before, said Apple CEO Tim Cook.
Rather than shying away from various initiatives, Apple uses a portion of its investor relations page to highlight its work on education, accessibility, DEI, and the environment. And Apples investors agree with the companys course. Despite pressure from a conservative think tank, Apple shareholders in February rejected a proposal to eliminate the companys DEI program.
It can be prudent to update methods or change tact, but companies should not change their destination or values. Cook conceded that as the legal landscape evolves, Apple may need to change some policies to comply, but the companys North Star of dignity and respect for everyone would remain. Every companys North Star is a little different, but consumers are watching for it.
Clarity of cultureempower your employees and consumers
The clearest way to keep your company aligned on values is maintaining its distinct culture; an organizations culture is one of the key experiential outcomes of its stated mission.
While some companies are pulling back their DEI activities for fear of government or political retaliation, I would argue that customer and stakeholder sentiment is more impactful in the long run. For certain companies, like Ben & Jerrys, their customers are clear in supporting DEI initiatives. Other companies, like AB inBev pulled back its activities after the backlash and boycott following Bud Lights marketing partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
More recently, we see companies such as Delta Airlines maintaining their DEI policies, not just because of customers, but because of their talent and business pipeline. The company has always maintained that its inclusive policies have led to business growth, talent retention, and customer loyalty. Deltas website includes updated employment demographics and showcases the work it does to nurture aviators from underrepresented groups.
In response to political backlash, Delta doubled down earlier this year, maintaining its steadfast support of its DEI efforts.
The company highlights the importance of a company reflecting the backgrounds of the people it servesbecause businesses dont just operate in America or in red states or blue states. And business results underscore that distinction. Companies with higher DEI rates are more likely to outperform their competitors in profitability.
Clarity of communicationtalk the talk while walking the walk
Through all this turbulence and uncertainty, its integral to business success for companies collaborate with their staff and communicate with their customers. Organizations must ensure that what theyre doing is aligned not just with their corporate values, but community values too. Any misalignment must be addressed.
And dont be subtle about it. Pick a lane and definitely communicate what youre doing. A clear, bold message leaves no room for misinterpretation and projects a necessary confidence in your business values and goals.
Despite not having a corporate public relations team, Costco has been the most vocal example of clear stakeholder communication about its values. Costco maintained the price on its iconic $1.50 hot dog despite inflation causing prices to rise. The move firmly protected the wholesale retailers consumer culture and made customers feel like the company had their back.
In January, Costco went viral on social media as the counterpoint to Target when it maintained its DEI policies. And once again, the results prove clearly communicating company values to customers translates to business wins. In addition to maintaining the support of shareholders who dont want the company to bend to activist investors, Costcos sales have continued to climb through the first half of 2025.
Justin Tobin is founder and president of Gather.
I was born and raised in Israel, but my love affair with America began in my early teens when I would wear faded jeans and plaid flannel shirts and play country music on my silver Sony Walkman. One track I always loved listening to was Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelsons twangy rendition of Mamas, Dont Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboysa song that captures the loneliness of being a cowboy as well as the challenges that lifestyle poses for their loved ones.
Little did I know the longing the song stirred in my adolescent heart would resonate with me decades later: Its depiction of the brutal, lonely life of a cowboy mirrored my own experience as a founder. When listening to the song, I sometimes replace the word cowboy with founder and smile to myself. Try itits fun!
The entrepreneurial life
Just as we mythologize the cowboy on horseback riding into the sunset, people tend to glamorize the entrepreneurial life. The truth is the entrepreneurial journey is not about popping champagne and riding around in limos and having everyone enthusiastically back your big ideas. In reality, it is a high-stress, low-sleep, and often unenjoyable life. Whenever anybody asks me if they should take the leap and start a company, my first response is an emphatic, No! or as Jennings and Nelson liked to sing, Let them be lawyers and doctors and such.
There are a hundred reasons to stay far, far away from entrepreneurship, particularly if you want a stable, reliable, fulfilling careerbut I would start with loneliness. Like the song says, founders are never at home and always alone, even with someone they love. This is hard on entrepreneurs but equally so on the people who love and live with them. Launching a business is a full-time pre-occupation. It is never just businessit is personal, and all-consuming. You bring your bad work days and the accompanying stress home because your venture is part of you, not something you slip off like an overcoat when you walk in the door. Bottom line: You will be miserable and you will make the people closest to you miserable as well!
Ninety percent of startups fail. Of the 10% that dont disappear, precious few are wildly successful. These are not attractive odds for a sane personand the price you and your loved ones will pay is huge.
Its an extreme sport
So why do I do it? Like the song says: Hes not wronghes just different! I cannot help it: I am, apparently, a cowboy! Im also the son of two entrepreneurs, so maybe its in my blood. I need the adrenaline rush, the chase and sense of risk, the creativity and the total 200% immersion into something I love. Being an entrepreneur is an extreme sportthe most painful, scary, exhilarating ride imaginable. I feed on the nonstop challenge, the thrill of investing and innovating, the relentless stretching to the near-breaking point. I thrive when collaborating with the incredible people on my team, my investors, and clients to create something meaningful, transformational, and near impossible. Being a founder is my road to self-actualization, and that is in itself the incomparable reward at the end of the rainbow.
So, if like me, you cannot help yourself and are going to take the plunge into entrepreneurship despite your better judgment, a few words of advice
Prepare for the loneliness, and if you can, build a support system. Seek out other founders who have been in the same place of terror-excitement-isolation-immersion so at least there will be someone in the world who sees you and understands. Surround yourself with people who will keep you honest.
Be kind and show love and gratitude to your loved ones. Your choices and lifestyle, as well as your physical and emotional absence will be hard enough for your family and friends to deal with. Remember the people you love are probably experiencing a lot of the stress that youre experiencing, without meaningfully participating in the thrill part.
Be communicative. Before you become serious with anyone, be very clear that you are not a person with a job: Your job is who you are, and that will likely never change. Ensure that your kids, partner, and friends know its not them! Its just that you cant turn off that part of your brain when youre having dinner, playing tennis, or getting into bed at night. Though you may be easy to love youre also harder to holdan elusiveness that doesnt work for everyone.
I will say that seeing my father, and then my mother launch and successfully run their businesses opened my eyes to the possibility that I, too, could carve my own pathand I like to think I modeled that for my kids as well. Its not all bad having a founder in the family after all.
Sending love to my fellow entrepreneurs, and empathy to their loved ones.
Gil Mandelzis is the founder and CEO of Capitolis.
At the Exceptional Women Alliance (EWA), we empower high-level women to mentor one another, encouraging personal and professional fulfillment through meaningful connections. This month I am delighted to introduce Mary Knobler, a retired managing director in the finance sector. Mary was a senior fellow in the Advanced Leadership Initiative at Harvard and holds a masters degree in negotiation and conflict resolution from Columbia University. Mary shares her insights on how professionals can design work that reflects their values, strengths, and aspirations
Q: Thats a bold promise. How does someone start?
Mary Knobler: Career alignment begins with better self-inquiry. High performers often ignore quiet discomfort because they fear appearing ungrateful or disloyal. But ignoring misalignment costs companies in innovation and retention. Ask yourself these foundational questions:
– What values must a workplace reflect to feel worthy of your energy?– What conditions allow your full engagement and flow?– Which dealbreakers should you never tolerate again?The most successful professionals dont just chase opportunitythey evaluate it against what matters most to them. Writing is an effective tool for uncovering values and purpose. Putting thoughts on paper helps turn vague unease into grounded strategy. Then we can begin to align our work with our inner compass, and thats where true momentum begins.
Q: What common traps stop people from designing better-fit roles?
Knobler: One trap is mistaking busyness for progress. High performers often remain in roles that no longer fit, simply because daily demands leave no space for reflection. Many professionals are rewarded for endurance, not alignment. But being good at hard things doesnt mean staying in situations that no longer fit. A clear frameworkone that names must-haves, growth goals, and non-negotiableshelps people shift from reacting to designing. Thats when work starts to feel more authentic, energizing, and sustainable.
Q: How can leaders foster this clarity for teams?
Knobler: Psychological safety is the hidden catalyst. Teams that trust each other are more likely to speak up when a role no longer fitsand proactively redesign work before burnout hits. Simple, well-timed questions to your team members goes a long way:– What part of your job energizes you most right now?– Whats something youd be excited to grow into over the next six months?– Where are we unintentionally asking too much of you?These check-ins support retention, surface leadership potential, and reduce the silent disengagement that often precedes departure.
Q: What practical tool makes this real?
Knobler: A simple three-column exercise works at every level:1. Must-haves: conditions necessary for focus, trust, and satisfaction2. Nice-to-haves: preferences that enhance performance and morale3. Dealbreakers: red lines that drain energy or violate valuesThis isnt a wishlist. Its a professional boundary map. For example, a seasoned executive may list autonomy in decision making as a must-have, and toxic competitiveness as a dealbreaker. Once clarified, these patterns guide negotiations, job searches, and even internal redesigns.This tool is especially powerful during transitions such as promotions, new leadership, organizational shifts, because it reinforces what matters most before making big decisions.
Q: What mindset shift supports this practice?
Knobler: Silence is strategic. Many fast-moving executives underestimate the value of quiet time. A brief daily pausewhether through meditation, breathwork, or a quiet walkhelps leaders respond rather than react. This practice builds discernment, clarity, and steady judgment. Pausing to check in with one’s values is not a delay; its preparation. Stillness sharpens decision making, especially in high-stakes conversations and negotiations. When personal alignment meets professional vision, confidence becomes quieter, more groundedand carries more influence.
Q: How does this approach help with self-advocacy and negotiation?
Knobler: Those who clarify what they need are more confident in voicing it. Self-advocacy isnt about asking for moreits about asking for better alignment. When someone knows their core strengths and conditions for success, negotiation becomes a collaborative act, not a confrontation. For example, reframing a promotion conversation around the kind of work that brings out my best often yields more support than defensively voicing dissatisfaction. Teams appreciate clarity, especially when its grounded in self-awareness and tied to shared outcomes.
Q: What should every ambitious professional remember today?
Knobler: High achievers often accept roles by default instead of by design. But the strongest careers grow when professionals regularly ask:– What matters most now?– Does this role still match that?– Where have I outgrown the work Im doing?Work that aligns with current values and strengths supports longevity and resilience, both for individuals and their organizations. The goal isnt perfection. The goal is fit, and fit is dynamic. Regular reflection helps people evolve their careers with intention instead of inertia. When work is grounded in purpose, it fuels energy, strengthens confidence, and opens doors to meaningful growth. By asking the right questions and honoring what matters most, people can build careers that are fulfilling and successful.Larraine Segil is founder, chair, and CEO of The Exceptional Women Alliance.
Shares in the quantum computing firm Rigetti Computing are experiencing what you might call quantum leap.
The Berkeley, California, company announced on Wednesday that it has achieved its mid-year performance milestone of 99.5% median [two-qubit gate fidelity] on its modular 36-qubit system.
What that means is that the company has managed to build the biggest modular quantum computer to date, and also cut its error rate in halfmarking progress toward making quantum computers more viable for commercial users.
Investors appear to see the news as further evidence that practical quantum computing is right around the corner, rather than decades away, as some have suggested. Following the announcement, Rigetti stock (NASDAQ: RGTI) saw a significant increase, rising more than 30% as of Wednesday afternoon.
We benefit from the many advantages of superconducting qubits, including gate speeds more than 1,000x faster than other modalities like ion trap and pure atoms, and scalability,” Rigetti CEO Subodh Kulkarni said in a statement. “By leveraging well-known techniques from the semiconductor industry, weve developed proprietary technology that we believe is critical to enable scaling to higher qubit count systems.
The company added that it plans to share additional updates when it releases its second-quarter 2025 operating results.
Quantum computing is having an eventful year
Even with AI sucking up the lion’s share of attention from investors this year, quantum computingwhich involves complex processes that can carry out tasks far faster than classical computershas not gone unnoticed, although there is debate over when and to what extent advances in the space will yield world-changing results.
Shares in the major publicly traded firms have remained somewhat volatile. With Rigetti’s stock boost today, the company is trading at around $16.57 a sharea more than six-month high, but still lower than they were during a rally of quantum-related stocks at the end of last year.
Other companies, such as Cisco, IBM, Microsoft, and Google are also in the quantum arms race, which could potentially lead to increased computing power on a massive scale, with a wide variety of potential use cases.
Some companies, for example, are using them to develop new materials or drugs on time scales that dwarf existing development cycles.
Quantum computing has remained largely theoretical until recently, but companies like Rigetti have been eager to share their developments backed by actual data.
In March, quantum computing company D-Wave announced that it had achieved “quantum supremacy.” The claim was challenged by researchers in Switzerland, but investors have rewarded D-Wave since then, particularly after the release of its Advantage2 system in May. Shares are up more than 191% over the last six months.
