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Film, television, publishing and other creative sectors are experiencing some of their steepest job declines in decades, according to reporting on the trend. The downturn coincides with the broader rollout of AI tools across media and entertainment companies.
Federal housing regulators announced changes allowing mortgage lenders to use credit scores from VantageScore Solutions, a rival to Fair Isaac Corporation, rather than relying solely on FICO scores. The news sent FICO's stock price sharply lower as investors reacted to the prospect of increased competition in credit scoring for home loans.
Rehan Ahmed of Southall, west London, has been sentenced to three years and six months in prison for running an unlicensed vinyl-pressing operation since 2017 that generated nearly £2.7 million. City of London Police raided his 'Phoenix of Vinyl' business in 2024 after the British Phonographic Industry made a test purchase, seizing 2,791 fake records spanning 108 artists, four vintage presses, 3,000 metal stampers, and thousands of sleeves and labels.
Employees at Guai Guai's Zhongli, Taiwan snack factory, operating since 1968, voted 94% in favor of a strike after the company announced it would relocate to Hsinchu. Workers can keep jobs by relocating or commuting and were offered a 5% raise, but the union says this merely matches Taiwan's mandated minimum wage increase, and they want a share of the NT$5.6 billion (US$176.1 million) the company received selling the Zhongli site to ASE for redevelopment.
The Clarity Act, a bill offering light-touch federal regulation for cryptocurrency assets, failed to advance after scrutiny of profits President Trump and his family made from crypto ventures. Lawmakers cited concerns over these financial ties as a factor undermining support for the legislation.
In its Plugged In newsletter, Fast Company argues that the tech industry's habit of anthropomorphizing artificial intelligence—giving it humanlike personas, voices, and emotional cues—misrepresents what these systems actually are. The piece suggests companies should instead present AI tools as explicitly mechanical rather than humanlike.
Cato Fashions, a women's apparel chain competing with TJ Maxx and Ross, announced it will close 120 stores this year, more than it had previously planned. The company said it does not expect these underperforming locations to improve.
A contractor writes that she passed five licensing exams, including the 27-hour NASCLA exam accepted in 18 states, after studying 45 prep books. She argues that many construction workers are neurodivergent and possess strong spatial reasoning skills, but are held back by paperwork-heavy licensing and administrative demands, which she says AI tools could help offset.
Sources tell The Post that a private, closely guarded spreadsheet circulating among Silicon Valley women names more than 100 alleged sexual predators, including prominent investors and businessmen. One contributor, a tech worker in her 20s, said she was invited to add her own account after mentioning it privately, and that the list includes allegations of drugging, assault and rape tied to figures at major tech and AI firms. The Post notes the authenticity of individual entries has not been independently verified.
Blue Origin, the space company founded by Jeff Bezos, has been funded with roughly $30 billion of his personal fortune, according to reporting on the company's finances. The company is reportedly aiming to sharply increase revenue in coming years as it scales up production and launches of its large rockets.
Commentary on tech industry layoffs points to a broader trend: the US labor participation rate has dropped to levels last seen in the 1970s. Observers argue that the focus on layoff headlines obscures this larger shift, which they link partly to the growing use of AI in workplaces.
A report addressing labor gaps in automotive, heavy equipment, construction and manufacturing sectors highlights an annual shortfall of about 37,000 skilled technicians in the U.S. automotive and heavy equipment field alone, even after counting technical school graduates. It lays out five recommendations for building AI tools designed to capture and transfer the expertise of retiring veteran workers to less experienced staff.