Zak Jason named Executive Editor of Discourse
Zak is one of our most gifted editors — a creative idea generator, sharp conceptualizer, and surgical wordsmith. His talents are regularly on display on a wide range of Business Insider stories, from Amanda Hoover's standout pieces to numerous features, including Ashley Stewart's Copilot story and a memorable exploration of what Zak coined the "most rejected generation."
Zak has helped us lead in major news moments. When the UnitedHealthcare CEO was killed, Zak conceived of and edited two strong quick-turn features on the social-media reaction. On the recent controversy surrounding Shaun Maguire, he collaborated with Melia Russell on a terrific Silicon Valley analysis and shaped a fascinating profile of the financier.
You might recall Zak wrote about his own drama with income taxes, a dread-filled read that expanded his personal experience into a reported feature with broad takeaways.
Zak joined Business Insider two years ago from Wired, where he had been a features editor and also served as director of standards. His facility with standards will be a great asset at Discourse, where we pursue some of our most ambitious journalism.
Before Wired, Zak traveled broadly as a writer for Boston College Magazine and for many years freelanced for numerous publications, including The New York Times Magazine, the Boston Globe Magazine, Slate, and NPR.
Zak will work closely with Bob Bryan and Edith Honan, both also exceptional editors, and the current crackerjack Discourse reporters. We will also be expanding opportunities to make Discourse a place where journalists throughout our newsroom will produce some of their most impactful, insightful, revealing work.
Zak tells me he is committed to making Discourse the "greatest, can't-miss party in journalism," and I know it's going to happen.
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Newsweek
a few seconds ago
- Newsweek
Nearly Half of Employees Are Using Banned AI Tools at Work
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. As generative artificial intelligence (AI) platforms rapidly reshape U.S. workplaces, there's a growing rift between employee behavior and company policies. Nearly half of employees said they were using banned AI tools at work, according to a survey by security company Anagram, and 58 percent admitted to pasting sensitive data into large language models, including client records and internal documents. Why It Matters The widespread, sometimes covert, use of AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Copilot is exposing organizations to mounting cybersecurity, compliance, and reputational risks. The onus increasingly falls on employers to train their teams and set clear AI governance, yet recent reports indicate most are lagging behind. Workplace culture, generational attitudes, and inadequate training further muddy the waters, leading to what experts call "shadow AI" use. File photo of a smartphone screen displaying the logos for the AI apps DeepSeek and ChatGPT. File photo of a smartphone screen displaying the logos for the AI apps DeepSeek and To Know The findings were stark in cybersecurity firm Anagram's survey of 500 full-time U.S. employees across industries and regions. Roughly 78 percent of respondents said they are already using AI tools on the job, often in the absence of clear company policies, and 45 percent confessed to using banned AI tools at work. Nearly six in 10 (58 percent) said they have entered sensitive company or client data into large language models like ChatGPT and Gemini. And 40 percent admitted they would knowingly violate company policy if it meant completing a task more efficiently. "This poses significant threats. The content input into external AI systems may be stored or used to train models, risking leaks of proprietary information," Andy Sen, CTO of AppDirect, a B2B subscription commerce platform that recently launched its own agentic AI tool, told Newsweek. "The company may not be aware that AI tools have been used, creating blind spots in risk management. This could lead to noncompliance with industry standards or even legal consequences in regulated environments." These findings are consistent with other reports. A KPMG-University of Melbourne global survey of 48,340 professionals in April found that 57 percent of employees worldwide hide their AI use from supervisors, with 58 percent intentionally using AI for work and 48 percent uploading company information into public tools. AI usage already has strong industry and generational divides. Younger workers, particularly those in Generation Z, are at the forefront of AI adoption; nearly 50 percent of Gen Z employees think their supervisors do not understand the advantages of the technology, according to a 2025 UKG survey. Many Gen Z workers have self-taught their AI skills and want AI to handle repetitive workplace processes, though even senior leaders encounter resistance and trust barriers in fostering responsible use. "Employees aren't using banned AI tools because they're reckless or don't care," HR consultant Bryan Driscoll told Newsweek. "They're using them because their employers haven't kept up. When workers are under pressure to do more with less, they'll reach for whatever tools help them stay efficient. And if leadership hasn't set any guardrails, that's not a worker problem." There's also a lack of proper AI education, compounding risks in the workforce. Fewer than half (47 percent) of employees globally say they have received any formal AI training, according to KPMG. Many rely on public, unvetted tools, with 66 percent of surveyed employees using AI output without verifying accuracy, and over half reporting mistakes attributed to unmonitored AI use. Despite the efficiency gains cited by users, these shortcuts have led to incidents of data exposure, compliance violations, and damaged organizational trust. What People Are Saying Harley Sugarman, founder and CEO of Anagram Security, said in the company's report: "With government resources shrinking, private companies must take on a bigger role in securing their networks and educating their teams. Our survey makes it clear: employees are willing to trade compliance for convenience. That should be a wake-up call." Andy Sen, CTO of AppDirect, a B2B subscription commerce platform that recently launched their own agentic AI tool, told Newsweek: "Effective AI adoption is almost always decentralized. It's often individual contributors who best realize what their job entails and how to effectively automate it. In an era where the most motivated employees have access to the world's smartest AIs for $20 a month, it's natural for them to design innovative solutions and introduce effective use of agents in the workplace." HR consultant Bryan Driscoll told Newsweek: "The real risk isn't AI. It's the vacuum of guidance, training, and trust. AI is already part of the workplace, whether companies and leadership want to admit it. Employers need to stop pretending they can ban their way out of it and start building smart, ethical policies that protect both the business and the people doing the work." What Happens Next Organizations are being urged to implement modern, transparent AI training and set clear guidelines so employees can learn, rather than hide, their AI competencies. "It's tempting for companies to simply block access to external AI tools, but this is challenging given how ubiquitous AI access is, and it may also stifle innovation," Sen said. "A better solution is to create approved 'AI playgrounds' for way, companies gain the benefit of decentralized, rapid innovation while avoiding the risks of shadow AI."
Business Insider
a few seconds ago
- Business Insider
See the largest yachts owned by tech billionaires, from Sergey Brin's new Dragonfly to Jeff Bezos's Koru
Superyachts are an increasingly requisite status symbol for billionaires, providing highly secluded leisure and networking sites. They are — more so than real estate — the single most expensive asset you can own. "It's a bit of a celebration of your success in life, of wealth," Giovanna Vitelli, the chair of the Azimut Benetti Group, one of the biggest producers of superyachts, told Business Insider. As a marker of wealth, unofficial yachting rules say the bigger the richer. A 50-meter vessel is likely to be owned by a billionaire. Over 100 meters long? The owner probably has at least a couple of billion. The richest tech billionaires, like Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, and Oracle cofounder Larry Ellison, have gone bigger. Their palaces at sea are decked out with amenities like gyms, spas, pools, nightclubs, and movie theaters. Chartering a yacht of this size for a week typically costs upward of $1 million. A look at these megayachts — broadly defined as over 70 meters long, mostly custom-built, and often costing nine figures — offers a glimpse into how the world's richest live. Here are the largest yachts owned by tech billionaires — or at least those we know about. In an industry ruled by discretion, deciphering who owns what is an exercise in stringing together many clues. There are likely yachts that have not been publicly recorded or registered. Evan Spiegel, for example, is rumored to own the 94-meter megayacht Bliss. Sometimes, it seems, money can buy privacy. Jeff Bezos: Koru and Abeona Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt made waves last year when he agreed to buy the Alfa Nero, the yacht of a sanctioned Russian oligarch, for $67 million in an auction conducted by Antigua and Barbuda. But he backed out of the deal following legal issues over its true owner. He quietly purchased Kismet instead. The 95-meter-long Lrssen-built boat was formerly owned by the Jacksonville Jaguar's billionaire owner Shahid Khan. Schmidt renamed her ship, which can fit 12 guests and a crew of 28, features a master deck with a private jacuzzi, full-service spa, lap pool, movie theater, and outdoor her final sale price was not public, she was listed for 149 million euros (about $161 million at current exchange rates), and at a charity auction in January, one week aboard the ship went for $2.4 million, according to industry outlet Yacht Charter Fleet. Netscape founder Jim Clark purchased the 90-meter sailing yacht Athena in 2004."I could easily have built a 50- or 60-meter motor yacht that would have had the same space as Athena, but I was never really interested in building a motor yacht," he told Boat International in 2016. "To my eye, she's one of the most gorgeous large sailing yachts, maybe the most gorgeous large sailing yacht in the world."Athena has room for 10 guests and 21 crewmembers, and the only change Clark says he'd make in her design is adding more space for his kids."If I was forced to change something, I would convert the office on the lower deck into a children's room," he former Stanford professor tried to sell it at various points — listing it for $95 million in 2012, $69 million in 2016, and $59 million in 2017 — but it has yet to change hands. Oracle founder Larry Ellison has owned several superyachts over the years, including the Katana, the Ronin, and the Rising Sun — which he sold to fellow billionaire David purchased his current boat, Musashi, in 2011 for a reported $160 million from custom-yacht giant after a famous samurai warrior, the 88-meter-long yacht has both Japanese and Art Deco-inspired design elements. She also boasts amenities including an elevator, swimming pool, beauty salon, gym, and basketball is known for his extravagant spending — private islands, jets, a tennis tournament — and yachting is among his favorite and most expensive hobbies. He took up racing them in the 1990s and financed the America's Cup-winning BMW Oracle Racing team. Laurene Powell Jobs: Venus Steve Jobs' wife, investor Laurene Powell Jobs, inherited a nearly finished 78-meter yacht named Venus when the Apple cofounder died in spending years vacationing on Ellison's yachts, Jobs wanted one for himself. He designed Venus with French starchitect and decorator Philippe Starck, and she was worth $130 million at completion."Venus comes from the philosophy of minimum," Starck said of her design. "The elegance of the minimum, approaching dematerialization."Jobs and Starck began working together in 2007, the designer told Vanity Fair, and held monthly meetings over four years. Venus was delivered in 2012 to Jobs' specification: six identical cabins, a design to ensure spaces of absolute silence, and the most up-to-date technology."There will never again be a boat of that quality again. Because never again will two madmen come together to accomplish such a task," Starck told the magazine. "It was not a yacht that Steve and I were constructing, we were embarked on a philosophical action, implemented according to a quasi-religious process. We formed a single brain with four lobes." Early Microsoft employee Charles Simonyi has purchased two megayachts from the German shipyard Lrssen: the 90-meter Norn and 71-meter in 2023, Norn is full of luxe features, including an outdoor cinema and a pool floor that lifts to become a light-up dancefloor. It shares a militaristic style with Skat, which Simonyi sold in name is derived from the Danish word for treasure, and it had a listing price of 56.5 million euros and was launched in 2002."The yacht is to be home away from my home in Seattle, and its style should match the style of the house, adapted for the practicalities of the sea," Simonyi once said.
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
The US Air Force wants to buy Cybertrucks for target practice because they may start showing up on the battlefield
The Air Force is looking to buy two Cybertrucks for "live missile fire testing." It said the Tesla pickups were "likely" to start appearing on the battlefield. It added that they don't "receive the normal extent of damage expected upon major impact." The US Air Force wants to blow up some Cybertrucks. It's looking to buy two of them to use for munitions testing as they will "likely" soon start appearing on the battlefield, per documents posted on a US Government contracting website on Wednesday. The pickups are part of a larger order of 33 vehicles for "live missile fire testing" at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. The contract stipulates that the Cybertrucks need only be towable, not functional, and their batteries must be removed. The procurement documents were first reported by the defense blog The War Zone. In a separate document justifying why the Tesla vehicles were specifically required, the contracting officer said that US adversaries were "likely" to begin using the stainless steel-clad trucks on the battlefield due to their durability. "In the operating theatre it is likely the type of vehicles used by the enemy may transition to Tesla Cybertrucks as they have been found not to receive the normal extent of damage expected upon major impact," the document says. The Air Force and Tesla did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider. Tesla's CEO, Elon Musk, said the pickup was built to be "apocalypse proof" when it launched in 2023. Last year, Chechen warlord Ramzan Kadyrov showed off a modified Cybertruck decked out with a machine gun that he said would be sent to the front lines in Ukraine. Kadyrov later accused Tesla of remotely disabling the would-be war machine, calling Musk "not manly." Experts previously told Business Insider the Cybertruck would be "useless" on the battlefield. The electric pickup has also faced eight recalls since its launch for issues including parts falling off and the accelerator pedal getting stuck. Musk predicted Tesla would eventually sell over 250,000 a year in 2023, but the automaker has sold only 10,700 so far this year, per auto industry consultancy Cox Automotive. Read the original article on Business Insider
