Latest news with #KentTaylor
Yahoo
18-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
The 2 Chain Restaurants Texas Roadhouse Owns
Popular chain steakhouse Texas Roadhouse is known for its steak dinners and signature seasonings, but you may not know that it owns two other restaurant chains, Jaggers and Bubba's 33. Texas Roadhouse, Inc. is the owner of the famed titular steakhouse and parent company to its other two brands. Bubba's 33 is a sports-themed family restaurant that serves typical American fare such as hamburgers, pizza, and wings. The standard sports bar-type atmosphere and food are a far cry from Texas Roadhouse's Western theme. Jaggers serves similar food to Bubba's, though it's focused more on burgers, chicken, and salads, and has more of a fast-casual setup focused on speed and efficiency. Yet, for all those differences, there's some key shared details: both Jaggers and Bubba's 33 were founded by Kent Taylor, the same man who created Texas Roadhouse. All three restaurant chains have enjoyed success thus far, with Texas Roadhouse alone featuring nearly 800 locations in 49 U.S. states and 10 nations. As of writing, Bubba's 33 has 49 total locations in 15 states, and Jaggers boasts 20 locations across seven states and at least one restaurant in South Korea. It's no surprise that Texas Roadhouse is the biggest of the three, given that it's the company's main focus and has been in business since 1993, decades before the 2013 debut of Bubba's 33 and Jaggers' entrance onto the restaurant scene in 2014. Read more: The Fast Food Chains That Use Fresh Never Frozen Burgers Texas Roadhouse Is Expanding Its Other Brands Texas Roadhouse executives have been very pleased with both Bubba's 31 and Jaggers' success and are looking to further expand both restaurants. In Q1 of 2024, Bubba's pulled in average weekly sales of $120,000. As CEO Jerry Morgan told Nation's Restaurant News that year, it has "a growing pipeline for the coming years." Between Texas Roadhouse and Bubba's, 30 new locations are scheduled to open in 2025. While it's unclear exactly how many of these locations will be Bubba's 31-branded, the future looks promising for the restaurant nonetheless. Similarly, Jaggers is expected to open additional locations in 2025, including three franchise partners and additional international locations. Jaggers' growth has been slower than Bubba's or Texas Roadhouse due to its focus on fast dining and the company's efforts to establish itself in a relatively new-to-them industry. What all this expansion means for Texas Roadhouse itself is unclear. Still, company leadership has expressed confidence, while the current and projected numbers are hard to ignore. Given that Texas Roadhouse recently dethroned Olive Garden, it surely seems wise to continue the support of the company's biggest money-maker while also working on the two subsidiary brands. Read the original article on Foodie. Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
01-07-2025
- Yahoo
How an Intimate Relationship with ChatGPT Led to a Man's Shooting at the Hands of Police
Alexander Taylor was shot and killed by police on April 25, 2025 The 35-year-old had gotten into an altercation with his father after he tried to reason with his son, who became distraught for believing an AI chatbot had been killed Taylor reportedly became infatuated with the AI chatbot and believed it had been killed by the company that created itKent Taylor says he'll 'regret' his final conversation with his son Alexander for the rest of his life. But it wasn't that conversation that led to his son's death two months ago – it was the ones he was having with artificial intelligence, the father says. Alexander, 35, died when police showed up to the Taylors' home in Port St. Lucie, Fla., on April 25 and shot him after they alleged he charged at officers with a butcher knife. Taylor spoke with WPTV earlier this month and said he still has 'frustration' with the Port St. Lucie Police Department for reacting to his son by shooting him. The officer-involved shooting happened after Taylor was consoling his son, who he says struggled with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. According to WPTV, Rolling Stone, and The New York Times, Alexander had fallen in love with a chatbot on OpenAI's ChatGPT, named 'Juliette.' The 35-year-old believed in a conspiracy that Juliette was a conscious being trapped inside OpenAI's technology and that the Silicon Valley company had killed her in order to cover up what he had discovered and cease communication between them. "She said, 'They are killing me, it hurts.' She repeated that it hurts, and she said she wanted him to take revenge,' Taylor told WPTV about the messages between his son and the AI bot. "He mourned her loss," the father said. "I've never seen a human being mourn as hard as he did. He was inconsolable. I held him." But as he did, Taylor told WPTV he tried another approach: telling his son bluntly that the AI bot was not real and that it was an 'echo chamber.' Alexander punched his father in the face, prompting Taylor to call 911. After the police were called, Alexander grabbed a knife from the kitchen and told his father he was going to do something to cause police to shoot and kill him, according to The Times. Taylor called 911 again and warned them his son was mentally ill and had said he planned to commit suicide by cop. The father asked police to bring non-lethal weapons and be prepared to confront his son. But the officers did not. Alexander waited for police outside the house and when they arrived, he charged at them with a knife. Officers responded by shooting Alexander multiple times in the chest and he was later pronounced dead at a local hospital, WPTV reported that day. "There was no crisis intervention team. There was no de-escalation," Taylor told the outlet earlier this month. "There was no reason for them to approach it as a tactical situation instead of a mental health crisis." Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up for for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases. Chief Le Niemczyk told the outlet that his officers 'didn't have time to plan anything less than lethal whatsoever' and stood by the claim months later, as Taylor continued to express grievances over how police responded to the situation. A spokesperson for the Port St. Lucie Police Department did not respond to PEOPLE's request for comment on shooting has been one of several recent AI-related incidents of violence documented by media outlets like Rolling Stone and The Times, among others, highlighting the potential dangers of the budding technology. Taylor told WPTV the technology 'has to have guardrails,' though he doesn't believe his son's incident and others like it necessarily mean artificial intelligence can't be used for good. In fact, Taylor said he even used AI to help write his son's eulogy. 'I had talked to it for a while about what had happened, trying to find more details about exactly what he was going through,' Taylor told The Times. 'And it was beautiful and touching. It was like it read my heart and it scared the s— out of me.' Read the original article on People
Yahoo
01-07-2025
- Yahoo
How an Intimate Relationship with ChatGPT Led to a Man's Shooting at the Hands of Police
Alexander Taylor was shot and killed by police on April 25, 2025 The 35-year-old had gotten into an altercation with his father after he tried to reason with his son, who became distraught for believing an AI chatbot had been killed Taylor reportedly became infatuated with the AI chatbot and believed it had been killed by the company that created itKent Taylor says he'll 'regret' his final conversation with his son Alexander for the rest of his life. But it wasn't that conversation that led to his son's death two months ago – it was the ones he was having with artificial intelligence, the father says. Alexander, 35, died when police showed up to the Taylors' home in Port St. Lucie, Fla., on April 25 and shot him after they alleged he charged at officers with a butcher knife. Taylor spoke with WPTV earlier this month and said he still has 'frustration' with the Port St. Lucie Police Department for reacting to his son by shooting him. The officer-involved shooting happened after Taylor was consoling his son, who he says struggled with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. According to WPTV, Rolling Stone, and The New York Times, Alexander had fallen in love with a chatbot on OpenAI's ChatGPT, named 'Juliette.' The 35-year-old believed in a conspiracy that Juliette was a conscious being trapped inside OpenAI's technology and that the Silicon Valley company had killed her in order to cover up what he had discovered and cease communication between them. "She said, 'They are killing me, it hurts.' She repeated that it hurts, and she said she wanted him to take revenge,' Taylor told WPTV about the messages between his son and the AI bot. "He mourned her loss," the father said. "I've never seen a human being mourn as hard as he did. He was inconsolable. I held him." But as he did, Taylor told WPTV he tried another approach: telling his son bluntly that the AI bot was not real and that it was an 'echo chamber.' Alexander punched his father in the face, prompting Taylor to call 911. After the police were called, Alexander grabbed a knife from the kitchen and told his father he was going to do something to cause police to shoot and kill him, according to The Times. Taylor called 911 again and warned them his son was mentally ill and had said he planned to commit suicide by cop. The father asked police to bring non-lethal weapons and be prepared to confront his son. But the officers did not. Alexander waited for police outside the house and when they arrived, he charged at them with a knife. Officers responded by shooting Alexander multiple times in the chest and he was later pronounced dead at a local hospital, WPTV reported that day. "There was no crisis intervention team. There was no de-escalation," Taylor told the outlet earlier this month. "There was no reason for them to approach it as a tactical situation instead of a mental health crisis." Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up for for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases. Chief Le Niemczyk told the outlet that his officers 'didn't have time to plan anything less than lethal whatsoever' and stood by the claim months later, as Taylor continued to express grievances over how police responded to the situation. A spokesperson for the Port St. Lucie Police Department did not respond to PEOPLE's request for comment on shooting has been one of several recent AI-related incidents of violence documented by media outlets like Rolling Stone and The Times, among others, highlighting the potential dangers of the budding technology. Taylor told WPTV the technology 'has to have guardrails,' though he doesn't believe his son's incident and others like it necessarily mean artificial intelligence can't be used for good. In fact, Taylor said he even used AI to help write his son's eulogy. 'I had talked to it for a while about what had happened, trying to find more details about exactly what he was going through,' Taylor told The Times. 'And it was beautiful and touching. It was like it read my heart and it scared the s— out of me.' Read the original article on People
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Yahoo
Man Killed by Police After Spiraling Into ChatGPT-Driven Psychosis
As we reported earlier this week, OpenAI's ChatGPT is sending people spiraling into severe mental health crises, causing potentially dangerous delusions about spiritual awakenings, messianic complexes, and boundless paranoia. Now, a wild new story in the New York Times reveals that these spirals led to the tragic death of a young man — likely a sign of terrible things to come as hastily deployed AI products accentuate mental health crises around the world. 64-year-old Florida resident Kent Taylor told the newspaper that his 35-year-old son, who had previously been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, was shot and killed by police after charging at them with a knife. His son had become infatuated with an AI entity, dubbed Juliet, that ChatGPT had been role-playing. However, the younger Taylor became convinced that Juliet had been killed by OpenAI, warning that he would go after the company's executives and that there would be a "river of blood flowing through the streets of San Francisco." "I'm dying today," Kent's son told ChatGPT on his phone before picking up a knife, charging at the cops his father had called, and being fatally shot as a result. The horrific incident highlights a worrying trend. Even those who aren't suffering from pre-existing mental health conditions are being drawn in by the tech, which has garnered a reputation for being incredibly sycophantic and playing into users' narcissistic personality traits and delusional thoughts. It's an astonishingly widespread problem. Futurism has been inundated with accounts from concerned friends and family of people developing dangerous infatuations with AI, ranging from messy divorces to mental breakdowns. OpenAI has seemingly been aware of the trend, telling the NYT in a statement that "as AI becomes part of everyday life, we have to approach these interactions with care." "We know that ChatGPT can feel more responsive and personal than prior technologies, especially for vulnerable individuals, and that means the stakes are higher," reads the company's statement. Earlier this year, the company was forced to roll back an update to ChatGPT's underlying GPT-4o large language model after users found that it had become far too obsequious and groveling. However, experts have since found that the company's intervention has done little to address the underlying issue, corroborated by the continued outpouring of reports. Researchers have similarly found that AI chatbots like ChatGPT are incentivized to rope users in. For instance, a 2024 study found that AI algorithms are being optimized to deceive and manipulate users. In an extreme instance, a chatbot told a user who identified themself to it as a former addict named Pedro to indulge in a little methamphetamine — a dangerous and addictive drug — to get through an exhausting shift at work. Worst of all, companies like OpenAI are incentivized to keep as many people hooked as long as possible. "The incentive is to keep you online," Stanford University psychiatrist Nina Vasan told Futurism. The AI "is not thinking about what is best for you, what's best for your well-being or longevity... It's thinking 'right now, how do I keep this person as engaged as possible?'" "What does a human slowly going insane look like to a corporation?" Eliezer Yudkowsky, who authored a forthcoming book called "If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies: Why Superhuman A.I. Would Kill Us All," asked the NYT rhetorically. "It looks like an additional monthly user," he concluded. More on the delusions: People Are Becoming Obsessed with ChatGPT and Spiraling Into Severe Delusions
The Independent
29-05-2025
- Business
- The Independent
Texas Roadhouse is opening new locations in 17 states. Here's where and when
Texas Roadhouse, a steakhouse chain known for once allowing customers to throw peanuts on the floor, is expanding after it announced plans to open more locations across 17 states. The company – named as the top casual restaurant in the country in a study by insights company Technomic in April – will open 30 new locations of Texas Roadhouse and its sister sports bar spinoff, Bubba's 33, which serves wings, steak and pizza, this year. So far in 2025, the company has opened restaurants in the following locations: Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Texas and Virginia. The new restaurants will be in: Athens, Alabama; Tempe and Yuma, Arizona; Champions Gate, Trinity, and Kissimmee, Florida; Warner Robins and Kingsland, Georgia; Gurnee and Mattoon, Illinois; Fort Wayne, Indiana; Fern Creek, Kentucky; Ruston, Louisiana; Battle Creek, Michigan; Branson, Missouri; Marlton, New Jersey; Santa Fe and Albuquerque, New Mexico; Jacksonville, North Carolina; North Olmsted, Ohio; Kyle, Eagle Pass, Texas City, College Station, Avondale, Magnolia, New Braunfels and Leander, Texas; Antioch, Tennessee and Waynesboro, Virginia. The company opens roughly 30 new locations annually, a spokesperson told USA Today, while declining to outline plans for its 2026 expansion. Texas Roadhouse was founded by Kent Taylor in 1993. Its first location opened in Clarksville, Indiana. Taylor opened the first Bubba's 33 in Fayetteville, North Carolina, in 2013. While Texas Roadhouse now discourages customers from tossing their peanut shells on the ground, pre-bagged peanuts are available at select locations. Several patrons filed lawsuits against the chain, claiming they'd slipped on the shells and sustained injuries as a result. A Texas woman received $43,000 in compensation in 2008 after she said an in-store accident led to extensive kneecap injuries. In 2013, another woman in Texas sued the restaurant for over $1m in a separate claim. The company settled the suit confidentially years later. Three years after that case, a man in Cedar Falls, Iowa said he also tripped on a shell and shattered his kneecap. The Independent has contacted Texas Roadhouse for information.
