Japan’s exports grew 4.2% in September, according to government data Wednesday, on robust shipments to Asia that offset a decline in exports to the U.S., which were impacted by President Donald Trump’s tariffs.Japan’s exports to Asia jumped 9.2% last month compared to the same period a year earlier, according to Japanese Ministry of Finance data.Exports to the U.S. dropped 13.3%, marking the sixth straight month of on-year declines, while those to China surged 5.8% compared to last year.Auto shipments to the U.S. dropped 24.2% in September. Automakers like Toyota Motor Corp. are pillars of Japan’s economy.Japan’s imports edged up 3.3% in September overall, growing 6% in Asia, including a 9.8% rise in imports from China.The findings come a day after Sanae Takaichi was chosen in a parliamentary vote as the nation’s prime minister, becoming the first woman to lead Japan.She is known for nationalist-leaning conservative views but is also seen as a proponent of bigger public spending, which has sent share prices generally rising in Tokyo in recent sessions.Takaichi has also promised higher wages, as well as looser monetary policy, which would favor a weak Japanese yen. That would be a boon for the nation’s giant exporters by raising the value of overseas earnings when converted into yen.Takaichi faces an uphill battle in realizing her policies because the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, even with coalition partners, does not have a majority in either house of parliament. Her own party remains divided.Trump, who is expected to visit Japan later this month to meet with Takaichi, announced a trade framework with Japan in July that placed a 15% tax on Japanese goods.At that time, Japan promised to invest $550 billion into the U.S. and open its economy more to American automobiles and rice. The 15% tax on imported Japanese goods was a significant drop from the 25% rate that Trump had said earlier.
Yuri Kageyama is on Threads: https://www.threads.com/@yurikageyama
Yuri Kageyama, AP Business Writer
President Donald Trump’s plan to cut record beef prices by importing more meat from Argentina is running into heated opposition from U.S. ranchers who are enjoying some rare profitable years and skepticism from experts who say the president’s move probably wouldn’t lead to cheaper prices at grocery stores.The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association along with the Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund United Stockgrowers of America and other farming groups who are normally some of the president’s biggest supporters all criticized Trump’s idea because of what it could do to American ranchers and feedlot operators. And agricultural economists say Argentine beef accounts for such a small slice of beef imports only about 2% that even doubling that wouldn’t change prices much.South Dakota rancher Brett Kenzy said he wants American consumers to determine whether beef is too expensive, not the government. And so far there is little sign that consumers are substituting chicken or other proteins for beef on their shopping lists even though the average price of a pound of ground beef hit its highest point ever at $6.32 in the latest report before the government shutdown began.“I love ‘Make America Great Again’ rhetoric. I love ‘America First’ rhetoric,” he said. “But to me this feels a lot like the failed policies of the past the free trade sourcing cheap global goods.”Several factors have sent beef prices soaring, starting with continued strong demand combined with the smallest U.S. herd size since 1961. In part, that small herd is due to years of drought and low cattle prices.Beef imports also are down overall because of the 50% tariffs that Trump imposed on Brazil, a big beef exporter, and limits on Mexico, where the country is fighting a flesh-eating pest.Kansas State University agricultural economist Glynn Tonsor said Argentina can’t produce enough beef to offset those other losses of imports.Through July, the United States has imported 72.5 million pounds of Argentine beef while producing more than 15 billion pounds of beef. Much of what is imported is lean beef trimmings that meatpackers mix with fattier beef produced in the United States to produce the varieties of ground beef that domestic consumers want, so any change in imports would affect primarily hamburger. Steak prices that were averaging $12.22 per pound probably wouldn’t change much.
Idea creates uncertainty among US ranchers
Even if increased imports from Argentina won’t reduce prices, the idea creates uncertainty for ranchers, making them less likely to invest in raising more cattle.“We’re always going to have uncertainty in the world. But the more uncertain something is, the less likely most are to put money on the line,” Tonsor said.Argentine livestock producers like Augusto Wallace are excited about the prospect of selling more beef to America because he said “whenever an additional buyer comes, it’s beneficial for everyone, right? For all the producers.”But economists caution that exporting too much beef could backfire for Argentina because that would drive up prices for consumers there.American ranchers say the idea of boosting imports from Argentina runs counter to the stated purpose of Trump’s tariffs to encourage more domestic production and help American ranchers compete.“It’s a contradiction of what we believed his new course of action was. We thought he was on the right track,” said the president of R-CALF, Bill Bullard, who hoped Trump’s policies would discourage imports and encourage ranchers to expand their herds.Texas A&M livestock economist David Anderson said “ranchers are finally getting prices that are going to make up for some really bad years in the past with the drought, low prices and high costs. We finally get some good prices. And we start talking about government policy to bring down prices.”Bryant Kagay, part owner of Kagay Farms in Amity, Missouri, said he thinks the plan would hurt ranchers. Cattle prices that had been averaging around $3,000 for a 1,250-pound animal slipped more than $100 immediately after Trump mentioned the idea of intervening in beef prices last week, though they have recovered a bit since then.
Ranchers hope Trump changes his mind
Although Kagay voted for Trump in the last election, he worries the trade war is hurting farmers and ranchers by driving up costs and costing them major markets like China.“I continue to see things that I don’t really think are in the best interest of our country and the average citizen,” Kagay said. “I guess I hope he starts to see that and quits worrying about punishing opponents and winning whatever battle he’s involved in, and then tries to do what’s best for everybody.”Ranchers are hopeful Trump will reconsider this plan. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said Tuesday on CNBC that the administration remains committed to helping ranchers prosper while trying to reduce consumer prices. She promised more details soon about the Argentina plan and a larger effort to reinvigorate U.S. beef production by opening up more land and opening new processing plants while securing trade deals for new markets. The administration wants ranchers to raise more cattle and produce more beef.“The bigger supply even aligned with a bigger demand is going to allow those prices to come down, but also to have a vital industry for these ranchers to be able to survive, which is what we’ve got to do,” Rollins said.Sen. John Hoeven, a North Dakota Republican, said Tuesday that after talking to Trump and others in the administration, he expected to see more details about the policy.“It’s very important that we support our cattle ranchers,” Hoeven said.Rancher Cory Eich, who lives near Epiphany, South Dakota, said he doesn’t consider the Argentina idea a serious threat in the long term and doubts ranchers will make changes to their operation in light of the news.“Nobody’s happy about it, let’s put it that way,” Eich said. “Personal opinion, I thought it was kind of a ruse when he mentioned it. I mean, it’s coming from Trump, so take everything there with a grain of salt.”
Funk reported from Omaha, Nebraska. Associated Press videographer Cristian Kovadloff contributed from Coronel Brandsen, Argentina.
Josh Funk and Sarah Raza, Associated Press
Cable giant Charter Communications is laying off close to 1,200 employees, or just over 1% of its 95,000-person workforce, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Tuesday.
The job cuts will be related to corporate management positions within the company and will not impact sales or service roles, the source said, adding that the layoffs are intended to streamline operations.
Charter follows other media and cable peers that are trimming their workforce. Last month, Reuters reported exclusively that Comcast was planning to cut jobs at its biggest unit, housing broadband and pay TV, to centralize operations.
Newly merged Paramount Skydance will begin mass layoffs next week, eliminating around 2,000 U.S. jobs, according to media reports.
Charter is facing growing pressure from telecom carriers offering bundled internet and 5G mobile plans. The company lost 117,000 internet customers in the second quarter, and 60,000 in the January-March period.
The company added 500,000 mobile lines in the second quarter, compared with Visible Alpha’s expectations for a rise of 538,450 customers.
Charter is seeking to expand through the $21.9 billion acquisition of Cox Communications that would position it as the largest cable TV and broadband provider in the U.S.
The company also announced a partnership with Comcast to establish a mobile virtual network operator that will use T-Mobile’s 5G network to serve wireless business customers, with a commercial launch set for 2026.
The Wall Street Journal first reported the job cuts.
Harshita Mary Varghese, Reuters
The Louvre in Paris reopened on Wednesday, three days after thieves made off with historic jewellery worth an estimated 88 million euros ($102 million) in a spectacular heist that has raised urgent questions over security lapses at the museum.
Visitors queued to enter through the Louvre’s glass pyramid for the first time since Sunday’s brazen robbery, in which hooded assailants broke through a second-floor window using a stolen movers’ lift before making off with jewels from the royal collection.
Later on Wednesday the museum’s director will appear before the French Senate to answer lawmakers’ questions.
The Galerie d’Apollon, the ornate gilded hall that was robbed, remains closed.
Amid rising frustration in France that no senior official has taken responsibility, French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said there had clearly been security failures and Culture Minister Rachida Dati had launched an administrative inquiry.
“There was a burglary at the Louvre, some of the most precious jewels in France were stolen. So obviously it’s a failure, there is nothing else I can say,” Nunez told Europe 1 radio.
But he added that “the alarm system worked perfectly, as soon as the window was attacked, it was activated. Police were notified, and within three minutes they were on the scene. The whole system worked, it didn’t fail, but what happened has happened.”
He declined to comment on the police manhunt, but said he was confident the perpetrators would be found.
Dati came under fire after saying in parliament on Tuesday there had not been any security lapses.
MUSEUM DIRECTOR TO BE HEARD IN SENATE
Louvre director Laurence des Cars will be questioned by senators later on Wednesday. Des Cars warned in January that the centuries-old building was in a dire state.
President Emmanuel Macron has announced a six-year renovation of the Louvre, which will include money for security upgrades. Asked on RTL radio whether state budget cuts had led to security lapses in French museums, the head of France’s national audit office Pierre Moscovici said that was not the case for the Louvre.
“It is richly endowed, there are sponsorships, really, the Louvre is not without resources.”
Built in the late 12th century, the Louvre Palace used to be the official residence of the kings of France, until Louis XIV abandoned it for Versailles. It was turned into a museum for the royal art collection in 1793, four years after the French Revolution.
It is now the world’s most-visited museum, with 8.7 million visitors last year. It hosts the Mona Lisa, the world’s most famous painting, and the Venus de Milo statue, as well as countless old masters.
($1 = 0.8575 euros)
Geert De Clercq and Manuel Ausloos, Reuters
Stocks are drifting near their record heights on Wall Street Wednesday, while the price of gold falls again to trim more off its tremendous gain for the year.The S&P 500 slipped 0.1% in early trading and is sitting just underneath its all-time high, which was set earlier this month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 65 points, or 0.1%, coming off its own record. The Nasdaq composite was 0.3% lower, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time.Bank stocks were holding relatively steady after Capital One Financial, Western Alliance Bancorp and others reported stronger profits for the summer than analysts expected. The report from Western Alliance was particularly welcome after it helped shake confidence in the industry last week. It’s one of several banks that have warned of potentially bad loans on its books, possibly because of fraud.Intuitive Surgical, which sells robotic-assisted surgical systems, soared 16.5%, and GE Vernova added 0.5% after they likewise reported better profits for the latest quarter than analysts expected.It’s usually the case that the majority of companies deliver better profits each quarter than analysts had forecast. But the pressure is higher on companies to do so this time around because of criticism that their stock prices shot too high following a 35% romp for the S&P 500 from a low in April.Netflix’s stock, for example, came into the day with a jump of 39.3% for the year so far, more than double the S&P 500’s gain. But its stock tumbled 8.3% on Wednesday after it delivered weaker results for the latest quarter than expected.AT&T fell 4.5% after delivering a profit that only matched analysts’ expectations, while Texas Instruments sank 7.7% after its profit fell just short of forecasts.Beyond Meat, meanwhile, continued its meme-stock run and soared another 48.9% to bring its stunning gain for the week to nearly 735%. Part of Beyond’s rise could be due to a recent announcement that Walmart will increase availability of some of its products at over 2,000 U.S. stores.The maker of plant-based meat alternatives was also the biggest holding in the Roundhill Meme Stock exchange-traded fund, as of Tuesday. The ETF holds companies where investors have piled in almost regardless of their financial prospects in hopes of catching a wave.Momentum was continuing to head the other way for gold, which slipped 0.8% to $4,075 per ounce. That’s after Tuesday’s 5.3% slide knocked it off its record high.Many of the same factors that drew buyers to gold this year are still there. Expectations are still for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates through next year, concerns are growing about inflation remaining high and the worrisome mountains of debt that the U.S. and other governments worldwide have amassed are only rising further.But no investment’s price goes up forever, and criticism had been growing that gold’s price had gone too far, too fast after it shot up even more than the overall U.S. stock market. Gold’s price is still up more than 50% for the year so far.In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed across Europe and Asia.London’s FTSE 100 rose 1% after a report on U.K. inflation raised hopes for another cut to interest rates next month. South Korea’s Kospi jumped 1.6% for another one of the worlds bigger gains. But indexes fell 0.9% in Hong Kong and 0.2% in Paris.In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury edged down to 3.96% from 3.98% late Tuesday.
AP Business Writers Yuri Kageyama and Matt Ott contributed.
Stan Choe, AP Business Writer
What?!
That single word is the most frequent reaction AasiyahAbdulsalam gets when she tells people about her company, Renatural, which makes wigs with no lace.
The surprise stems from the fact that most commercial wigs today are built with a lace basea lightweight mesh cap that mimics the scalp but is really scratchy and only comes in a limited palette of colors. Instead of lace, Abdulsalam has designed a proprietary silicone band to anchor the wig without visible mesh. After launching the Wig Fix three years ago and selling 80,000 units in her first year, she decided to expand from simply supplying an accessory to reinventing the wig itself.
Launching today, with a waitlist of 40,000 customers and counting, Renaturals hyper-realistic wigs are made by a custom-built robot that can make 350 wigs a week. While some wigs can take 8-12 weeks to make, Renatural’s robot can sew a wig in 45 minutes.
The brand’s most exciting feature will depend on who you ask. For investorswho have poured just over $6 million into the companythe robot signals scalability. For consumers, its the absence of lace. Either way, Renatural may well upend the wig industry.
The wig culture boom
Wigs have a long history that dates back to Ancient Egypt, where they symbolized status and rank (and helped prevent lice infestations). Later, they were embraced by royalty and aristocracy, and popularized by figures like Queen Elizabeth I and Kings and Louis XIV.
Throughout the 20th century, wigs have been used as a medical accessory and a fashion statement, but for Abdulsalam, wigs are having a moment in the sun today thanks to celebrity culture and social media trends like WigTok. “It’s like the ultimate lazy girl hack,” she says. “You don’t have to do anything, and your hair looks good.”
Renatural is far from the first company to have noticed the rise in popularity. By some recent estimates, the global hair wigs and extension market is worth just under $9 billion in 2025, and is projected to reach $20 billion by 2035.
In the U.S., DTC brands like Parfait have started to leverage AI to make more personalized wigs. But the large majority of wigs are still made in one Chinese city called Xuchang, in Henan province. With more than 4,000 companies making 60% of the global supply of wigs, Xuchang remains the worlds wig capital. Its like an oligopoly, says Abdulsalam. These companies have hundreds of thousands of subsidiaries that supply the whole world with wigs.
Cutting through the noise
Abdulsalam, a 30-year-old Black woman from the U.K. who now lives in New York City, began wearing wigs at age 16 to manage scalp psoriasis. She went on to study at the London School of Economics, where she wrote her undergraduate dissertation on wigs, and became “kind of obsessed.
At age 20, she moved to South Koreathen home to the worlds largest wig-manufacturing complexand worked in a wig factory for six months. I got to see why things are the way they are, she says. That gave me a good foundation on wig-making and all the techniques.
Most recently, she founded an early version of Renatural that focused on accessories like the iconic Wig Fix. She then sold that business in 2019, reinvested the proceeds into Renatural 2.0, and built an early prototype of the robotic system by jerry-rigging a 3D printer and an embroidery machine in her apartmentall without an engineering degree. Funny story, she says. I watched 34 out of the 38 seasons of How Its Made and I feel like that gives me a bootleg degree.
To leapfrog other competitors without relying on cheap labor abroad, Abdulsalam knew she had to build a vertically-integrated business that controls everythingfrom sourcing to manufacturing.
At her HQ in Dumbo, Brooklyn, every step of wig-making unfolds on-site in a space the size of four parking garages. The star of that vertical structure is, of course, the robotic system. The robot sorts and aligns human hair by root and tip, then stitches each strand into a soft, scalp-like base, following digital maps that mimic how hair naturally grows. As it works, it adjusts the angle and tension of every strand to recreate natural details like partings and cowlicks. The result is a hyper-realistic wig that looks, moves, and shines like real hair. (Wigs come in three signature collectionsall made with human hairand an assortment of lengths. They cost anywhere between $950 and $1,950.)
The robot will be key to the brands success, but Abdulsalam maintains that humans remain integral to the process. There is deep craftsmanship involved to make the wig actually wearable, she says.
For her, Renatural is more than a wig businessits a beauty-brand that is built around wigs. Products arrive in shiny silver boxes reminiscent of luxury-beauty packaging. There are even cutesy merch items like hair cuffs and pocket mirrors with integrated combs.
Other companies have developed their marketing strategies around specific demographics (Black women, people who wear wigs for religious beliefs, those who suffer from hair loss, fashion-first clients). But Renatural embraces all categories, and more. “We’re just Renatural,” says Abdulsalam, “for people who want to look and feel their best.”
Dont look now, but meme stock mania appears to be back with a vengeance this week.
This time around, Beyond Meat, Inc. (Nasdaq: BYND) and Krispy Kreme, Inc. (Nasdaq: DNUT) are the two main stocks getting all the attention from meme investors. Heres what you need to know.
Beyond Meat shares skyrocket again
On Monday, Fast Company reported on the surging share price of Beyond Meat, the producer of plant-based meat alternatives. The company started the trading week by enjoying a stock price surge of more than 67% in premarket trading that day.
But far from any change in the companys financial fundamentals, what seemed to be driving shares higher were short sellers and meme stock enthusiasts.
Indeed, Beyond Meats business has been struggling in recent years as consumers have turned away from plant-based meat alternatives.
More recently, Beyond Meat announced that its creditors had agreed to a debt swap, which will result in the issuance of 316 million new BYND shares, thereby diluting existing shares.
But a struggling company in penny stock territory can be red meat to meme investors. For much of the past week, meme traders on Reddit and elsewhere have been pumping up the stockand it appears to be working.
Yesterday, Beyond Meat shares rose a staggering 146% to close at $3.62 per share. And today in premarket trading, as of the time of this writing, BYND shares are up another 103% to $7.37.
That puts Beyond Meat shares at a price they have not seen since 2024.
It also puts Beyond Meats shares firmly in the green for this year. The stock began 2025 at around $4 per share, but that price had fallen to as low as 50 cents per share just last week, before meme stock traders decided to take a bite.
One other contributing factor to Beyond Meats surge this week is that, as CNBC notes, the stock was added to Roundhill Investments Meme Stock ETF on Monday, cementing its place in the meme stock pantheon.
Meme stock traders want dessert, too
Krispy Kremes stock is also seeing some meme stock action this week. DNUT shares rose more than 13% yesterday to $3.71, and as of the time of this writing, in premarket trading this morning, the companys shares are up another 40% to $5.23 apiece.
While those gains are a far cry from the ones BYND shares are experiencing, DNUT shares have more experience in the meme stock arena. Meme stock investors heavily traded DNUT shares earlier this year.
Other factors that may be impacting interest in Krispy Kremes stock include the company’s recent international expansion in Spain, with additional countries, Brazil and Uzbekistan, planned before the end of the year.
Investors likely hope that this expansion can help offset domestic sales issues.
Still, despite its recent gains, DNUT shares remain significantly down from where they were at the beginning of this year. In January, the stock traded at more than $9.80 apiece. And as of yesterdays close, DNUT shares have fallen more than 67% over the past 12 months.
For many, picking up a controller at the end of a long day to neutralize some zombies or take on a side quest with a fairy is a way to unwind and escape from the demands of work.
But it might also have some unexpected benefits that follow you from the character select screen and into the office.
A new report from the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) finds that the motivations behind gaming go far beyond fun. While 66% of the more than 24,000 players in 21 countries surveyed say they play primarily for enjoyment, the majority credit gaming with developing real-world skills, like problem-solving, teamwork, adaptability, and critical thinking. All useful transferable skills to play up in a job interview. (Maybe dont reveal you honed them playing Fortnite, though.)
More than half the respondents say playing video games helps relieve stress (58%). Forty-five percent say playing video keeps their minds sharp, and nearly half (43%) of players say video games have positively influenced their education or career path.
The player perspective is supported by scientific research, with many studies concluding that video games improve cognitive skills and decision-making, Stanley Pierre-Louis, president and CEO, Entertainment Software Association, told Fast Company.
A number of industries have already embraced interactive technologies for training employees, from medical treatments and surgery to astronautics and emergency response, says Pierre-Louis. I anticipate more will recognize gameplay as a way to engage with and develop their workforce in the near future.”
Brain health experts are a bit divided as to whether some games, like Wordle, actually improve cognitive function. And while the ESA report is of course an industry one, theres other data out there that may support its findings.
A 2022 study found that kids who play video games showed better impulse control and working memory than those who didnt. Another from 2021 found that playing video games does improve not only cognitive functions, but also mood and emotional well-being in elderly people.
Another, from 2020 from University of Liechtenstein, found a strong correlation between video game skills and managerial ability. In fact, being adept at video games can significantly boost ones career, the researchers wrote.
A literature review published in Procedia Computer Science, cited in the ESA report, also found that gaming can enhance perception, attentional control, and decision-making. Nurses and doctors, for example, who trained with simulation games showed improvements in both risk assessment and response time.
These benefits arent limited to just life-or-death scenarios. Retailers have also turned to game-based tools to prepare employees for peak shopping events, the report notes. Sports teams use simulation tech to help athletes train. Across industries, gaming has become a quick fix to boost preparedness and improve team outcomes.
Of course, spending hours gaming in the evening is not always the answer to your work woes. Sometimes its just a way to unwind after a long day. (There’s research that suggests mental health benefits of having hobbies, by the way.)
But research has also previously found that gaming can actually hinder the amount of work young men do by 15 to 30 hours over the course of one year. And excessive gaming can be detrimental to mental health, or even spiral into addiction for some people.
As companies struggle to maintain engaged employees, burnout is on the up. Who knows? Maybe a chill pastime in front of a glowing screen is just the thing to take the edge off. (Or, in some ways, may also give the edge you need to perform better at work.)
Anthropic insists that its getting along with the Trump administration just fine.In a new blog post published on October 21, the companys CEO, Dario Amodei, pushed back on what he called a recent uptick in inaccurate claims about Anthropic’s policy stances.
His comments come after David Sacks, a prominent tech venture capitalist currently serving as the Trump administrations AI czar, accused Anthropic of having an agenda to backdoor Woke AI through state-level regulation and working with Democratic mega-donors. That narrative has since gained traction within online right-wing spaces. The comments also follow the White Houses release of an executive order specifically focused on combating woke AI earlier this year, though officials have yet to say how it will be enforced.
Now Anthropic is defending its work on AI safety, which Amodei argued should prioritize policy over politics. He also doubled down on the company’s position on regulating AI on the state level, in absence of a national standard.
Citing JD Vances comments on AI directly, Amodei pointed to several areas of agreement with the Trump administration, including to maximize applications that help people, like breakthroughs in medicine and disease prevention, while minimizing the harmful ones.
The CEO also questioned the notion that Claude, the companys flagship chatbot, is more susceptible to political bias than other similar large language models. Republicans, including President Donald Trump, have increasingly leveled accusations that the countrys leading AI companies are building biased AI models, echoing the accusations made against social media companies in recent years.
In short, Anthropic wants to toe the line between sticking to its commitment to study AI safetysafeguarding against general artificial intelligence endangering the human species and society in all sorts of destabilizing waysand appeasing the professed concerns of the Trump administration. Thats all happening while the company attempts to scoop up more government work.
Anthropic is committed to constructive engagement on matters of public policy. When we agree, we say so, wrote Amodei. When we dont, we propose an alternative for consideration. We do this because we are a public benefit corporation with a mission to ensure that AI benefits everyone, and because we want to maintain Americas lead in AI. Again, we believe we share those goals with the Trump administration, both sides of Congress, and the public. We are going to keep being honest and straightforward, and will stand up for the policies we believe are right. The stakes of this technology are too great for us to do otherwise.
Federal contracts
Amodei underscored that Anthropic already has myriad partnerships with the federal government, including a contract with the Pentagon and work with the Energy Departments national laboratory system. Along with competitors like OpenAI, Google, and xAI, Anthropic is also working with the General Services Administration to offer its enterprise Claude service to federal agencies at a discounted price.
Anthropics work within the GSA seems to be unaffected by whatever might be happening within the Office of Science and Technology Policy, where Sacks serves as an adviser, a government official familiar with the matter told Fast Company. Last month, Democrats launched an ethics inquiry into the investor, who has received waivers that allow him to participate in the administration while maintaining some of his investments.
Anthropic has gotten good feedback from the GSA about government use of the tool, a company spokesperson says. The AI developer also points to its ongoing partnership with Palantir on meeting Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) requirements, a wonky but critical cloud security review program used to offer technology across federal agencies.
Palantir is a controversial technology contractor thats seen its business with both the defense and civilian sides of government grow in recent years. As part of that work, Palantir has already been cleared to provide its cloud technology to federal agencies.
While Anthropic has been picking up government contracts, it appears to be falling behind OpenAI on independent FedRAMP authorization. This could be a game changer for OpenAI: Should OpenAI earn that accreditation, it wont need to work through another companylike Microsoftto offer its technology directly to the government. At that point, OpenAI would be a more freestanding government contractor, maintaining far more independence from other major cloud companies.
The same government official told Fast Company that Anthropic has yet to share a plan for gaining accreditation for its systems through that program, or securing a sponsorship for review in another way. A spokesperson for the GSA declined to comment.
Fast-food companies, beware: Gas stations and convenience stores are coming for your customers.
Fireside Market, a Wisconsin convenience store chain, announced a new store concept in Slinger, Wisconsin, designed to sell more burgers and less gas. It has a drive-through, curbside pickup area, and gourmet menu itemsand it’s a model of the convenience store of the future.
Fireside Market’s burger and sandwich menu is several steps up from the outdated idea of day-old taquitos spinning on a rotating food warmer at the local convenience store. Instead, its menu has items like a burger topped with bacon, pastrami, and balsamic-onion jam, and a grilled-salmon sandwich.
View this post on Instagram A post shared by fireside MARKET (@fireside.market)
Falling demand for gas, tobacco, and lottery tickets has upended the business model convenience stores once relied on. In a world with fewer smokers and more Teslas, it’s no longer enough for convenience stores to be an afterthought for drivers stopping to fuel up on gas or soda. They need kitchens.
The percentage of in-store sales that comes from food servicea category that includes prepared foods, commissary, and beveragesis on the rise. It grew from 23% of in-store sales in 2021 to nearly 29% today, according to the National Association of Convenience Stores trade group. That trend is especially noticeable at breakfast time: Sales from morning-meal traffic at food-forward convenience stores grew 9% in the third quarter this year, compared to just 1% at fast-food chains, according to data from market research firm Circana.
Fireside Market’s 9,700-square-foot Slinger location, its first with EV chargers, is designed for this new reality. 7-Eleven closed more than 400 stores in North America last year, but it’s looking to grow its fresh prepared-food offerings as part of its comeback. Meanwhile, food-forward chains are in expansion mode.
Buc-ee’s in Luling, Texas, circa 2024 [Photo: Brandon Bell/Getty Images]
Buc-ee’s opened its largest location ever in Luling, Texas, last year, while convenience store chain Sheetz opened its 800th location in Raleigh, North Carolina, in August. Caseys General Stores, known for its pizzas, has broadened its menu to include burgers and sandwiches, while Fast Stop, a Louisiana-based convenience store chain, is taking the trend a step further, spinning off its made-to-order menu of Cajun-inspired foods into its own restaurant with nary a gas pump in sight, according to trade publication C-Store Dive.
In a world that runs on less gas, gas stations have to adapt to survive. Many are finding food is the answer.
