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The AI companion space will soon see another new entrant. Elon Musk, the owner of xAI and social media platform X, announced recently, Were going to make Baby Grok @xAI, an app dedicated to kid-friendly content. Were going to make Baby Grok @xAI, an app dedicated to kid-friendly content— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 20, 2025 The decision to enter the AI chatbot and companion market seems logical for X: Around three in every four U.S. teens have already used AI companions, and the platform will naturally want to build brand loyalty early. However, experts in child protection and social media use are raising concerns. Musk, xAI, and child-focused apps may not be a good combination, they warn. The concern is that if X or xAI are going to try to get into the children products zone, clearly they just have a terrible track record with prioritizing child safety, says Haley McNamara, SVP of strategic initiatives and programs at the National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE). They’ve just proven themselves to not really care, so I think that they should stay away from kids. McNamara is not alone in her concerns. The apprehension is shared internationally. Elon Musks plans to launch a child-focused version of Grok will cause alarm across civil society, with growing evidence about the risks posed by persuasive design choices in AI chatbots, a lack of effective safeguarding in most major industry models, and no clear strategy to prevent hallucinations, says Andy Burrows, CEO of the Molly Rose Foundation, an organization founded by the parents of U.K. teenager Molly Russell, a 14-year-old who died by suicide after being exposed to harmful content on social media. Beyond the fact that Baby Grok would come from the same organization that developed Ani, a sexualized AI chatbot that users have quickly coerced into explicit conversations, and Bad Rudi, a red panda chatbot that defaults to insults, experts see broader dangers. Burrows is particularly worried about introducing AI chatbots to children since they may easily form emotional attachments to such technology. Chatbots can simulate deep and emotional relationships with child users, and there are evident risks that children may use chatbots to seek mental health support or advice in ways that may ultimately prove harmful, Burrows says. Even adults have formed inappropriate emotional bonds with AI chatbots, struggling to differentiate between artificial and real relationships. For more impressionable children, these connections could take hold more quickly, with potential long-term effects on their mental health. McNamara says companies have an obligation to consider how their platforms affect kids and to take steps to protect themsomething she believes a Grok-bot for children fails to do. (Neither xAI nor Musk responded to Fast Companys request for comment.) NCOSE also raises concerns about whether Musks platforms can adequately protect young users. McNamara notes that after Musk acquired what was then Twitter, many child safety staff were let go. X also allows pornography on its platform, which does not require any kind of stringent age or consent verification for those videos, she says, contending that such lax policies have led to a widespread presence of abusive material, and so far theres been little sign that the company is taking meaningful action to address these issues. Burrows, for his part, points to the U.K.s new Online Safety Act as one layer of oversight that would apply to Baby Grok, though he notes that X has been slow to meet the requirements of the legislation. His larger concern is global. In many countries, he warns, the lack of regulation will mean the rollout of badly designed products will go effectively unchecked. Musk may see a business opportunity. But for those responsible for protecting children online, the stakes are far higher.
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E-Commerce
Being an effective leader requires a matrix of skills and abilities working in tandem. The ability to foster hope, cultivate trust, and motivate people to action can make a difference in your company’s ability function effectively and retain employees80% of employees responded that theyd stay in a job because they have a manager they trust. And no small part of the ability to lead is executive or leadership presence. A well-publicized study by Coqual (formerly the Center for Talent Innovation) found executive presencelooking and acting the part of a leadermakes up 26% of what it takes to ascend to top jobs. If I were to boil everything down, the two fundamental core principles of good, successful, solid leadership is strong and unquestionable authenticity and trust, says executive and leadership development coach Serena Palmer. However, there are some common behaviors and habits that undermine those leadership essentials. Palmer and other experts say being aware of them is the first step to correcting them. Shifting from ‘me’ to ‘we’ Some leadersespecially those who are new to their roles and may be feeling insecurehave trouble shifting from being individual contributors who need to toot their own horns to get ahead to being a leader and responsible for a teams performance, says leadership expert and coach Emily Walton. This can take a few forms, she says, including emphasizing your own importance in a situation, micromanaging, and failing to give credit to others for the teams success. Sometimes, people will take these actions because they might be feeling insecure about themselves in their role or [about] their contributions, Walton says. When you shift into leadership, it’s a we thing, and you want to do that because it strengthens your network, and it also strengthens the trust that people have in you: that you’re going to speak up for them, whether they’re in the room or not, and that you’re honest and authentic. Avoiding the tough parts The Coqual survey found that gravitas was the No. 1 factor in leadership presence, according to 67% of respondents. Key components of gravitas include exuding confidence, showing grace under pressure, and speaking the truth, even when its difficult. One of the quickest ways to erode the trust of your team, Watson says, is people-pleasing, especially when it comes to making tough decisions and standing up for your team. If you’re constantly trying to please everyone else, it’s going to frustrate your team, and it’s also going to frustrate your colleagues, because they’re not going to know where you stand, and you’re no longer dependable, Walton says. Another version of this behavior Palmer calls, dont shoot the messenger. In other words, when difficult decisions are made or bad news surfaces, the leader abdicates responsibility for the decision or news, saying it was someone elses to make, she says. In other cases, the leader just avoids making a decision, such as allowing bad behavior on a team to continue rather than addressing it head-on. Both undermine authenticity of the leader, and again, you will lose people that way, she says. Being busy without impact Wearing busyness as a badge of honor without making a significant impact is another action that will erode the trust and confidence of teams in their leaders, says personal branding expert Nicole Hart. When someone is proclaiming how busy they are and the results of that work arent evident, the people around you or your superiors are going to be like, Oh, I don’t have the faith that I can put more on their plate’, she says. And so, it kind of decreases faith for leaders when I think people are actually trying to do the opposite. Hart adds that insecure leaders may do this to this to try to solidify their place as necessary to a company or organization. However, effective leaders know how to prioritize where their efforts are best devoted. Spewing negativity Chronic negativity can also wear on a leaders presence, Hart says. Bringing up negative personal issues when theyre not relevant, being cruel or overly negative when giving feedback, and even being negative about your own ideas as you pitch them, all damage credibility and relationships with the team. Leadership requires vision. Vision requires the ability to see untapped, positive opportunity. Negative leaders cant inspire innovation or loyalty, Hart says. Avoiding vulnerability Walton says that communication issues like being a know-it-all and having an inability to apologize can also undermine leadership presence. Similarly, an inability to show vulnerability can do the same, says Palmer. By not doing that, you don’t give permission for people in your team to be able to have a safe space to share whatever it is that they’re having difficulties with, she says. Leaders who feel like they may be undermining their own leadership presence should try to get to the root of why trust is being lost, Walton says. Own up to it and then, outline what you’re going to do differently and then actually do it, she says. Otherwise, it’s just lip service, and that’s not going to change how people feel.
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E-Commerce
Bright and early on a recent Saturday morning, a line snaked around the block in Boston’s trendy Seaport District. People were patiently waiting to get their hands on PopUp Bagelssoft, steaming hot bagels designed to be torn and dipped directly into tubs of cream cheese or butter. PopUp Bagels wants to help Americans reimagine our relationship with this beloved breakfast food, and it’s well on its way to doing so. Today, it announces an ambitious expansion from its 13 stores on the East Coast to a fleet of 300 stores from coast to coast with a focus on hubs like Atlanta; Nashville; and Orlando, Florida. “We’re bringing our stores to places where people don’t necessarily think of themselves as ‘bagel people’,” says Adam Goldberg, PopUp Bagels’ founder. “We’re introducing bagels into their routines.” [Photo: Courtesy of PopUp Bagels] The company began as a pandemic hobby for Goldberg, a flood mitigation expert from Connecticut. In lockdown, Goldberg started baking. After trying his hand at sourdough bread, he moved on to bagels. With much tinkering, he developed a recipe for a bagel that had a softer, lighter texture than the dense bagels you find in New York. The bagels were so delicious friends and neighbors wanted to buy them by the dozen. Two years later, Goldberg began opening pop-up shops around New York City that attracted large crowds. To many people, PopUp Bagels offers a fun new take on bagels. Most bagel shops bake their goods in the morning, then toast them for customers. But PopUp Bagels are meant to be served fresh from the oven. They’re satisfying to rip apart, with a crisp exterior that provides contrast with the soft interior. At the Seaport District, people were scattered at picnic tables and benches, dipping their bagels directly into different flavored schmears. They can also be eaten cold in a more traditional way, by slicing them and slathering them with cream cheese and lox. Goldberg points out that the New York bagel has evolved over the years to become what it is. His bagels are actually reminiscent of those in New York shops from decades ago. “I’ve had so many New Yorkers tell me these bagels remind them of their childhood,” he says. “Back then, people lined up for hot bagels straight out of the oven, when they were at their peak performance.” Part of the reason bagels stopped being served this way is that it is logistically challenging to serve them hot at scale. Each store needs to predict demand, then bake them at steady rate that keeps pace with the line. PopUp has turned this process into an art with the help of Tory Bartlett, whom Goldberg appointed as CEO last November. Bartlett, who previously saw the expansion of Moe’s Southwest Grill to 600 locations, is familiar with scaling food businesses. [Photo: Courtesy of PopUp Bagels] Bartlett says that PopUp Bagels has streamlined its operations by exclusively selling bagels and coffee; it doesn’t make sandwiches. It also sells bagels in bundles of three, six, or a dozen, rather than one at a time. (Prices vary from $13 to $15 for a three pack and a schmear, depending on the market.) This allows them to better predict demand and generate revenue. “The unit economics of a business needs to be competitive as you scale,” says Bartlett. “It’s hard to make money by selling one or two bagels at $3 a pop. But selling a three pack protects the transaction.” Another reason the shops are profitable is that they don’t require a very large footprint. They just need a couple of ovens and a counter. Employees focus on quickly packing bags of bagels and schmears for customers. “We don’t need a lot of workers,” Bartlett says. “It’s a very streamlined operation.” [Photo: Courtesy of PopUp Bagels] The efficiency of the business convinced Bartlett that it was possible to quickly scale PopUp. In 2023, the company received an infusion of $8 million Series A funding, and last year, it took a Series B round, both of which were led by Stripes, a growth equity firm. They then began the process of franchising PopUp. Bartlett says they were extremely judicious about their partners. They’re only working with 15 franchisees, who will each run dozens of shops. “Thousands of people reached out to work with us, but we were extremely selective about whom we partnered with,” says Bartlett. “We picked people who are very passionate about this business.” To keep the taste of the bagels consistent, PopUp will make the dough and disseminate regionally. This will allow the franchisees to focus on the operations of delivering hot bagels quickly. If the other locations are any guide, there are likely to be long lines at all of these new stores, as people experience the novelty of the PopUp experience. But can the company keep up this level of inteest? Goldberg has high hopes. “Conveniently, we’ve landed on a product that has been a staple for many people throughout their entire lives,” he says. “The fact that we’re making something that people love anyway gives us a head start.
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E-Commerce
An intense dream can leave you in sweats and existential wonder. But just moments later, it evaporates from your mind to never be experienced again.The fleeting nature of dreams is why many keep a dream journal by their bedside to jot down the story before it disappears. The design studio Modem imagined another, more modern recording device. Called the Dream Recorder, its something like a bedside clock radio that uses AI to log your dreams and play them back to you.[Photo: Courtesy of Dream Recorder]When you wake up in the morning, you pick up the recorder and dictate what you remember of your dream. That ensuing transcript is sent to an AI video generator in the cloud, which creates a short video of it. Whats important to Modem is the ritual, done without an app or phone, is performed with an object dedicated to youa sort of generated visual diary of dreams.The thing that happens in your head isn’t going to be magically recreated by this video generator, says project contributor Mark Hinch. But it will hopefully capture the essence of the perhaps bizarre, weird, fragmented ideas of what happened in your head in the story.The dreams themselves are rendered through an intentionally ethereal aesthetic, at a low fi 240-by-240-pixel resolution thats meant to mirror the way we remember a dream, but also sidestep too much literality when things naturally dont match up. For instance, it blurs faces so that you never see someone who doesnt match up with what you remember. And rather than saving every dream you ever have forever, the Dream Recorder has been designed to flush its memory much like you doholding onto dreams for a week at most before overwriting them with whatever you dream up next.[Photo: Courtesy of Dream Recorder]Instead of selling the device, Modem shares the code on Github, along with all the items you need to buy to build it, ranging from a Raspberry Pi processor to USB microphones and capacitive touch sensors, via Amazon links. The body can be printed via an online service like Shapeways, and it all connects together without soldering. (Dreams cost between about a penny and 14 cents apiece, depending on the AI service you connect to render them.)But the Dream Recorder is admittedly less interesting as another product with features to be scrutinized than it is as a greater idea, and model of experimentation thats been lacking in the race toward AGI or building the next unicorn. With so much of the AI conversation focused on companions, productivity tools, or generative whatever, its easy to block out the more transcendental possibilities like being able to literally speak to whales. Modem cut through the productization of AI with a new dose of wonder. The Dream Recorder is fascinating not just for what it literally does, but as a rare, tangible beacon for a future that feels just within our grasp. (Dream recording inherently seems feasible within our electrical brain patterns and new AI capabilitiesso much so that Samsung filed a patent around a UI to control your dreams.) And much like a good sci-fi novel, it offers us an anchor to discuss and debate what it all means until a world of inventors actually leads us there.We hope to inspire the new generation coming of age in the age of intelligence . . . showing them that there’s a more mindful alternative to the very distracted world, says Bas van de Poel, cofounder of Modem. Perhaps using the engines of wisdom and mindfulness, and combining them with the logic of computer science, will be sort of like the ultimate dream, he says.
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E-Commerce
Costco is well-known for its no-questions-asked return policy. Now some shoppers are taking it upon themselves to test the limits of that policy. Returning my slime stained carpet to Costco, one TikTok user posted earlier this month. Costco offers customers an unlimited grace period to return most purchases for a full refund, earning the wholesaler a top-six spot among stores with exceptional return policies, according to a 2023 ranking by U.S. News and World Report. While the customer received a full refund for the ruined rug, the comments section on the TikTok video was divided. That’s embarrassing for you, one person wrote. This just seems wrong, another added. For others, its simply about getting their moneys worth. I could be mad but in this economy . . . hell yeah, one comment read. Even Costco employees chimed in. Our upper management has said Costco makes way too much money. [T]hey would rather take the hit than lose a member, one wrote. Customer satisfaction at the end of the day. What if the rug is in perfect condition but you just dont like it anymore? No problem. Another TikTok user returned a rug bought over a year ago because it no longer matched their aestheticand received a full refund. @brooke_mydlo Ive always wondered how good costcos return policy is. Today I found out. #costco #momlife #costcofinds #costcoreturn original sound – brooke_mydlo Costcos return policy is not only open-ended in terms of time frame, but it also doesnt clearly define the condition items must be in upon their return to the store. One person returned a broken couch four years after buying it. Another brought back a half-eaten chicken bake. Both were refunded in full. This is why we cant have nice things, one person commented. This isnt the first time customers have pushed the policys boundaries. One notable return made headlines in 2018 when a woman brought back her dried-up Christmas tree in January. Extreme as it may seem, the policy supports Costcos membership model. Kudos for Costco, the couch-returner said at the end of his video. Youve got me as a client for life now. Research shows that restrictive return policies can cost retailers business, whereas positive return experiences often lead to more purchases. Still, that doesnt mean the customer is always right. Of the $685 billion in U.S. retail merchandise returned in 2024, $103 billion was attributed to return/claims fraud or abuse, according to a 2024 report from Appriss Retail and Deloitte. Just because you can, doesnt always mean you should.
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E-Commerce
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