Latest news with #LSAT
Chicago Tribune
7 hours ago
- Chicago Tribune
Cousins who were longest-serving wrongfully convicted people in Illinois get innocence certificates
James Soto and his cousin, David Ayala, stood outside the doors of a Cook County courtroom Wednesday at the end of a more than four-decade entanglement with the criminal court and prison system, nervously riding out a final 20-minute delay in their hearing to receive an official declaration of innocence. 'It doesn't happen until it happens. I waited so long,' Soto said, listening for a call back into the room. Family and supporters audibly exhaled when the decision came several minutes later: a certificate of innocence was granted for the two men, the longest-serving wrongfully convicted people in Illinois. Ayala and Soto were released from prison more than a year and a half ago after a judge exonerated them. But the certificate of innocence means even the arrest records from the case will be erased. Soto said having the certificate will allow him to travel without restrictions, and both men said it would help them to move on with their lives. Soto, whose post-release journey the Tribune chronicled earlier this year, and Ayala were wrongfully convicted of murder in 1982 and served 42 years before their release from prison in December 2023. 'Our vindication is not based on some sort of technicality,' Ayala said after the ruling. 'This is clear proof of evidence, what we've been saying for over 42 years.' Cook County prosecutors previously dropped all charges in the case. But Soto, Ayala and their family and supporters all said they still felt on edge in court before the certificates were issued. 'It feels like I'm in a dream,' Rose Ayala-Olson, David's sister, said in the lobby of the Leighton Criminal Court Building. 'He's innocent. He always has been.' Soto earned a college degree in prison and learned how to write court petitions for himself and others who were in prison. He had a reputation inside prison walls for using his self-taught knowledge to help others who were incarcerated with their legal issues, sometimes writing the first petition that would eventually win freedom or a sentence reduction. A professor once called him 'one of the most successful non-licensed litigators inside of Stateville.' Next month, he's planning to take the LSAT, his attorney Lauren Myerscough-Mueller said. Now in their 60s, Soto and Ayala were 20 and 18 when they were arrested following the shooting deaths of 16-year-old Julie Limas and Hector Valeriano, 18, a U.S. Marine on leave, on Aug. 16, 1981. They were sentenced to natural life in prison. The case largely turned on a single witness who, in exchange for a deal, told a jury Soto carried out a shooting with him and a third person under orders from Ayala. That witness was later key to both men's exoneration, when an Illinois appeals court found that other witnesses contradicted his 'highly-incentivized' account. Ayala served 15 years in the supermax facility at the now-shuttered Tamms Correctional Center, which was known for brutal conditions and was the prison where the state housed people on death row before the death penalty was abolished in Illinois. Both men have been making up for lost time since their release, getting out in nature and volunteering, Myerscough-Mueller said. Soto last year filed a lawsuit against defendants including the city of Chicago and Cook County accusing police and prosecutors of using abusive tactics to get witnesses to tell a certain story, including threatening them with the death penalty and depriving them of sleep and food. He said he expects that process will continue for another four or five years. Ayala has filed a similar lawsuit seeking compensation for his wrongful conviction. 'This is something that I've been waiting for a long time, and to finally hear those words — I mean, it's like a whole weight lifted off me,' Soto said of receiving the certificate.
Politico
11-07-2025
- Business
- Politico
OpenAI accuses nonprofit of Musk ties, lobbying violations, in California complaint
OpenAI said its lawyers scoured public records, got help from professional library research services and called individuals under that name until they tracked down a self-employed attorney and LSAT instructor in Queens, New York, who the company claims confirmed over the phone that he was the president of CANI. They also claim they found the home that individual rents is owned by an entity called Tesla Place, LLC. It is not clear if the company, which is registered in New York with a listed address in Maryland, has any connection to Tesla, the company where Musk is CEO. Spokespeople for Musk, Tesla and xAI did not immediately respond to requests for comment. But OpenAI says it came away from the experience believing Gardner was a front. 'OpenAI has reason to believe that Mr. Gardner is not actively involved in the management of CANI and is simply being used as a prop in an attempt to hide the true identity of the officers and funders of CANI,' O'Leary wrote, noting that listing a fictitious person on the group's lobbying disclosure forms would violate the law. 'CANI has retained a prominent lobbying firm, a public relations firm, and other assets,' O'Leary added. 'It seems highly unlikely that Mr. Gardner of New York is the person actually behind these efforts.' CANI was the main supporter of a bill this year authored by California Assemblymember Diane Papan that would have prevented large, venture capital-backed nonprofits from converting to for-profit status. Papan gutted and amended the bill roughly two months later, turning it into a measure about liens on the sale of aircraft, and saying her office needed more time to study the issue. Papan's office did not respond to a request for comment Thursday. According to disclosures submitted to California's Secretary of State, the coalition hired San Francisco Bay Area law firm Nielsen Merksamer Parrinello Gross & Leoni LLP to lobby on the bill, AB 501. O'Leary, however, raised alarms over CANI reporting that it did not spend any money on lobbying in the first quarter of 2025 and suggested it may have concealed payments — alleging a breach of California law. O'Leary teased a further potential conflict of interest between Lessig and his work as a reviewer on a panel of experts that Newsom convened to provide recommendations on how AI should be regulated. The panel's final report, published in June, could be influential in how the state drafts rules for the AI industry, largely housed within its borders. O'Leary wrote that as a lawyer, Lessig has 'previously represented individuals adverse to OpenAI.' OpenAI has portrayed opponents of its restructuring as acting on behalf of the competition before. When it faced pressure from a letter to California Attorney General Rob Bonta, organized by former employees and academics, OpenAI told reporters that some of the signatories now worked for Anthropic. The group said that was not true and that it intentionally excluded anyone who works for competitors since OpenAI had used that strategy to discredit others.
Business Wire
08-07-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
The Higher Education Opportunity Program Professional Organization Partners with Kaplan to Offer Free Test Prep for Students at 10 of its Campuses Across New York State
BUSINESS WIRE)--The Higher Education Opportunity Program Professional Organization (HEOPPO) has partnered with global educational services provider Kaplan to offer free test preparation courses to students at 10 campuses across New York State with the Arthur O. Eve Higher Education Opportunity Program (HEOP). These courses will support students preparing for graduate and professional school admissions exams—including the GRE ®, GMAT ®, LSAT ®, MCAT ®, and DAT ®—as well as the NCLEX-RN®, the licensing exam for aspiring nurses. HEOPPO represents and advocates for the 47 HEOP campuses in New York, which provide academic and financial support to underserved students attending private colleges and universities throughout the state. The 10 participating campuses are Barnard College, Cornell University, Hamilton College, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Ithaca College, Le Moyne College, New York Institute of Technology, Russell Sage College, St. Lawrence University, and Syracuse University. The Higher Education Opportunity Program Professional Organization has partnered with Kaplan to offer free test preparation courses to students at 10 campuses across New York State with the Arthur O. Eve Higher Education Opportunity Program (HEOP). By investing in Kaplan's All Access License ™, colleges and universities can help their students prepare for a variety of high-stakes admissions and licensing exams that they need to score well on to reach their ultimate professional goals — with zero out-of-pocket costs for students. Kaplan has prepared students for standardized tests for more than 85 years, and HEOPPO is its latest All Access partner, joining Cleveland State University, Xavier University of Louisiana, Howard University, Delaware State University, and Spelman College, among others. And in February, the Illinois Student Assistance Commission (ISAC), the state's college access and financial aid agency, contracted Kaplan to provide free test preparation courses to all students enrolled in Illinois' 12 public universities; five Illinois community colleges are also included as part of a pilot program. Most recently, in June, the State University of New York announced it has begun collaborating with Kaplan to provide 1,500 students in its SUNY Arthur O. Eve Educational Opportunity Program (EOP) with free test prep. Aaron Ray, HEOPPO president and director of opportunity programs at Hamilton College, said: 'For more than 55 years, the Arthur O. Eve Higher Education Opportunity Program (HEOP) has focused on dismantling barriers and equipping historically underserved students with the resources they need to excel—on campus and long after they graduate. Our new partnership with Kaplan and its All Access License advances that mission by placing world‑class graduate‑test preparation directly into our students' hands, at no cost to them. I am deeply grateful to the colleagues at our ten participating institutions and at Kaplan who championed this effort. Together, we are widening the pathway to advanced degrees and professional careers, and I can't wait to watch our HEOP scholars seize this opportunity and lead the way forward.' Kim Canning, vice president, university partnerships, Kaplan, said: 'With Kaplan's All Access License, students can gain the tools and support to shape their academic journeys and unlock transformative career opportunities. HEOPPO's investment reflects a deep commitment to student success, empowering the next generation of leaders in fields like business, law, medicine, and beyond. At Kaplan, our goal is to break down barriers to educational and professional advancement, opening pathways that once felt out of reach. And the All Access License is one of the most powerful tools at our disposal to accomplish this.' Eligible students who are interested in enrolling in a Kaplan course should contact their academic advisor. For college and university leaders who want to explore partnering with Kaplan, learn more about the company's exam prep programs. Test names and other trademarks are the property of the respective trademark holders. About the Higher Education Opportunity Program Professional Organization, Inc. The Higher Education Opportunity Program Professional Organization, Inc. (HEOPPO) was incorporated on December 18, 1979 for the purpose of promoting and enhancing equal educational opportunity for all persons. HEOPPO is designed to effectively serve the needs and interests of current and prospective HEOP students and to foster the association, professional development, recognition, and effectiveness of Higher Education Opportunity Program professionals and others concerned with the education and welfare of HEOP students. In addition, the organization advances the body of knowledge and thought related to extending educational opportunity to those who have been historically underrepresented in higher education. Learn more at About Kaplan Kaplan, Inc. is a global educational services company that helps individuals and institutions advance their goals in an ever-changing world. Our broad portfolio of solutions help students and professionals further their education and careers, universities and educational institutions attract and support students, and businesses maximize employee recruitment, retainment, and development. Stanley Kaplan founded our company in 1938 with a mission to expand educational opportunities for students of all backgrounds. Today, our thousands of employees working in 27 countries/regions continue Stanley's mission as they serve about 1.3 million students and professionals, 16,000 corporate clients, and 2,700 schools, school districts, colleges, and universities worldwide. Kaplan is a subsidiary of the Graham Holdings Company (NYSE: GHC). Learn more at
Yahoo
07-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
The stock market's biggest bet is setting investors up for a smackdown
Wall Street really needs AI to live up to the hype. A lot has been said about the emerging technology's world-changing potential: Its ability to create stunningly realistic images and videos, ace the LSAT and the MCAT, and complete rote research tasks. You could argue it's ready to augment — or even replace — entry-level jobs. These features have investors up and down the Street very excited. Staunch supporters like Fundstrat's Tom Lee and Wedbush's Dan Ives say AI could revolutionize the human experience. Research desks from big banks like Goldman Sachs and Bank of America have given subtler nods to the prospect of AI as a productivity and profit booster, which could provide an undercurrent to stock market success over the next several years. In fact, analysts are counting on the AI mania to fuel the market even as the White House's chaotic trade policy eats into corporate America's profit potential. Earnings for S&P 500 companies are projected to grow 8% this year, a fairly average showing for an anything-but-average year. What is notable is just how much of that growth relies on the tech sector: Silicon Valley companies are expected to boost their earnings by 21% — the highest growth of any sector. By contrast, profits for retailers are forecast to grow a measly 2.5%. Within the tech sector, semiconductor companies — one of the most globally exposed industries on the stock market — are expected to supercharge profit this year, with a projected climb of 49%. This enthusiasm is a signal Wall Street is betting that demand for AI's use cases will supersede tariff turmoil or job market wobbles. AI's growth has been incredible, and its adoption has been strong enough to leave its fingerprints on economic data sets like business investment and manufacturing spending. Yet no matter how rabid the world is about AI's possibilities, the amount that investors are relying on the tech to fuel the market's gains — especially in the face of rising economic uncertainty — feels short-sighted. Tech stocks helped the market recover from its April malaise, yet earnings expectations and economic momentum are even weaker than they were at the lowest point of the sell-off. This combination leaves the stock market in a precarious spot: Either AI needs to live up to the hype, or investors could be looking at a gnarly second half of the year. One way to tell the story of human history is through our technology — the lightbulb, the calculator, the tractor, the computer all stand as markers to our societal progress and have helped drive the level of efficiency and productivity we enjoy. Tech has perhaps played an equally prominent role in our investment portfolios. The Magnificent Seven stocks — Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft, Tesla, and Nvidia — are collectively worth $18 trillion, or about 33% of the S&P 500's total market value. Together, their stock prices have increased 330% over the past five years, compared with a 100% rise in the S&P 500. It makes sense. Big Tech's products have become deeply integrated into our daily lives, and that level of ubiquity has also captured Wall Street's attention. Venture capital fundraising reached a record in the first quarter amid a huge appetite for AI investment, and S&P 500 companies mentioned AI more than tariffs on second-quarter conference calls. The $65 trillion US stock market may be particularly gripped by Big Tech's ups and downs these days, but it hasn't always been this way. Tech has averaged about 20% of the S&P 500's market value over the past decade, including 13% in the five years before COVID. The dominance is not set in stone, and while the wider market's fortunes are tied to tech now, that may not always be the case. While the stock market may seem like one big proxy for the tech sector's explosive growth right now, there is one deeper connection that should draw investors' attention. Over time, the S&P 500 has been attached at the hip to the fate of the broader US economy. Eight of the past 12 market crashes — S&P drops of 20% or more — overlapped with recessions. No matter how high-flying an industry is, recessions tend to pull stock prices and business hopes back to Earth. The internet revolutionized the world in the late 1990s, and the explosion in social media dominated the 2010s, but the information sector has shed employees and seen share prices fall in the past three recessions. Given that setup, we've set the stage for a portfolio smackdown of the ages. Economists are worried a recession is coming, yet investors are surprisingly upbeat about AI's prospects — so upbeat that they've bid S&P 500 tech stocks to nearly a record high. Sell-side analysts who evaluate company-level trends are similarly optimistic. But in the real economy, layoffs are growing, and hiring has ground to a halt. The sharply diverging views between economists and stock analysts mean someone has to be wrong. The freight train that is AI adoption — a three-year story of rapid innovation and progress — could collide with a massive wall from historic tariffs, high interest rates, and low consumer confidence. What's particularly rich about this is that tech companies are the most exposed sector to global tariffs. They gather the highest percentage of revenue internationally, plus they have the most suppliers and factories outside US borders. In fact, semiconductor companies — the firms providing chips for AI technology — are expected to hit that aforementioned 49% earnings growth despite generating 67% of their revenue abroad and sourcing 70% of their supplies from overseas. Some analysts believe that if AI hopes can keep the stock market chugging along, maybe it can do the same to the economy. After all, companies invested an inflation-adjusted $2.2 trillion on computers and other processing equipment last quarter, about one-seventh of the $16 trillion Americans spent on goods and services. Investing more in AI does ultimately help boost the economy, but that $2 trillion is peanuts compared with the real engine of the US economy. Americans' spending accounts for about 70% of GDP — by far the biggest driver of output — and spending has dropped in each of the past nine recessions. If tariffs intimidate consumers and lead to layoffs that decimate American incomes, then the economy is probably bound for a crisis — whether the robots pan out or not. And based on history, an economic crisis could topple the stock market. The math shows us that AI isn't much of a match for some effects of tariffs and may not logistically be enough to save the economy from ruin. Your portfolio's outcome may be a different story, though. This is when I have to introduce you to one of the most frustrating adages of investing: The stock market is not the economy. The economy is the value that we create — the hard assets, the cash spent, the paychecks we get. Stocks are an expression of that value, but they use the present reality to project future expectations. AI's impact on the economy may not bear out through numbers. But in your portfolio, AI's influence depends on how willing we are to collectively dream up better days ahead in terms of what AI is capable of and how much money AI-dominant firms will amass in the years to come. Dreaming is already a big part of the AI trade. S&P 500 tech companies' estimated earnings grew about 50% in 2023 and 2024, yet their share prices jumped 112%. Nothing is cut-and-dried when it comes to the stock market. It is the ultimate tangled web of logic, psychology, and mixed incentives. The stock market's future depends on investors' ability to dream, and people are willing to dream when they feel confident in the present moment. The problem is, investors are awfully confident about tech stocks right now. S&P 500 tech companies made up about 23% of total index profits in the first quarter, yet their shares account for 32% of the S&P 500's value. To close that gap, tech profits would have to grow 40%, or tech stocks would have to drop 29% from their end-of-June levels. Stocks can thrive when expectations are higher than reality, but in these conditions, they require reasons to stay hopeful. The problem arises when investors aren't willing to dream. When they're too focused on present issues to give compelling stories the benefit of the doubt. Or in big market drops, crushed by financial strain. Then, the numbers matter. People claw for any concrete evidence of AI's value. They demand proof of profits, even though companies are spending money on a pivot to the next big thing. Stock prices adjust, and if you hold a swath of US stocks or index funds, your money is probably heavily exposed to this reality check. This is what happened in 2000. Investors were willing to dream about this brave new technology called the World Wide Web until interest rates climbed too high and the reality of how much computing was needed for Y2K was found to be way overblown. Suddenly, the dream died, and tech stock prices came back down to reality. These days, we all know that dream wasn't completely off base. Yet share prices took an 80% crash before the promise of the new tech came to fruition. This is what I worry about the most in the clash between AI and the economy. We're somewhere between AI saving the world and being an overhyped bust of a technology that can be ripped off by another country. I'm not foolish enough to call this a bubble, and I think AI will eventually deliver benefits for our economy. We're not there yet, though, even though investors like to think so. It takes years for big technological trends to take hold, and productivity usually shines through when workers feel empowered and companies feel comfortable expanding. That's far from the case right now — business confidence is in the dumps, so we're in the opposite scenario. When the economy is getting weaker, it's best to grasp onto what's real in your portfolio. And there's a striking gap between AI and reality. Callie Cox is the chief market strategist at Ritholtz Wealth Management and the author of OptimistiCallie, a newsletter of Wall Street-quality research for everyday investors. You can view Ritholtz's disclosures here. Read the original article on Business Insider Sign in to access your portfolio
Business Insider
07-07-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
The stock market's dangerous AI bet
Wall Street really needs AI to live up to the hype. A lot has been said about the emerging technology's world-changing potential: Its ability to create stunningly realistic images and videos, ace the LSAT and the MCAT, and complete rote research tasks. You could argue it's ready to augment — or even replace — entry-level jobs. These features have investors up and down the Street very excited. Staunch supporters like Fundstrat's Tom Lee and Wedbush's Dan Ives say AI could revolutionize the human experience. Research desks from big banks like Goldman Sachs and Bank of America have given subtler nods to the prospect of AI as a productivity and profit booster, which could provide an undercurrent to stock market success over the next several years. In fact, analysts are counting on the AI mania to fuel the market even as the White House's chaotic trade policy eats into corporate America's profit potential. Earnings for S&P 500 companies are projected to grow 8% this year, a fairly average showing for an anything-but-average year. What is notable is just how much of that growth relies on the tech sector: Silicon Valley companies are expected to boost their earnings by 21% — the highest growth of any sector. By contrast, profits for retailers are forecast to grow a measly 2.5%. Within the tech sector, semiconductor companies — one of the most globally exposed industries on the stock market — are expected to supercharge profit this year, with a projected climb of 49%. This enthusiasm is a signal Wall Street is betting that demand for AI's use cases will supersede tariff turmoil or job market wobbles. AI's growth has been incredible, and its adoption has been strong enough to leave its fingerprints on economic data sets like business investment and manufacturing spending. Yet no matter how rabid the world is about AI's possibilities, the amount that investors are relying on the tech to fuel the market's gains — especially in the face of rising economic uncertainty — feels short-sighted. Tech stocks helped the market recover from its April malaise, yet earnings expectations and economic momentum are even weaker than they were at the lowest point of the sell-off. This combination leaves the stock market in a precarious spot: Either AI needs to live up to the hype, or investors could be looking at a gnarly second half of the year. One way to tell the story of human history is through our technology — the lightbulb, the calculator, the tractor, the computer all stand as markers to our societal progress and have helped drive the level of efficiency and productivity we enjoy. Tech has perhaps played an equally prominent role in our investment portfolios. The Magnificent Seven stocks — Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft, Tesla, and Nvidia — are collectively worth $18 trillion, or about 33% of the S&P 500's total market value. Together, their stock prices have increased 330% over the past five years, compared with a 100% rise in the S&P 500. It makes sense. Big Tech's products have become deeply integrated into our daily lives, and that level of ubiquity has also captured Wall Street's attention. Venture capital fundraising reached a record in the first quarter amid a huge appetite for AI investment, and S&P 500 companies mentioned AI more than tariffs on second-quarter conference calls. The $65 trillion US stock market may be particularly gripped by Big Tech's ups and downs these days, but it hasn't always been this way. Tech has averaged about 20% of the S&P 500's market value over the past decade, including 13% in the five years before COVID. The dominance is not set in stone, and while the wider market's fortunes are tied to tech now, that may not always be the case. While the stock market may seem like one big proxy for the tech sector's explosive growth right now, there is one deeper connection that should draw investors' attention. Over time, the S&P 500 has been attached at the hip to the fate of the broader US economy. Eight of the past 12 market crashes — S&P drops of 20% or more — overlapped with recessions. No matter how high-flying an industry is, recessions tend to pull stock prices and business hopes back to Earth. The internet revolutionized the world in the late 1990s, and the explosion in social media dominated the 2010s, but the information sector has shed employees and seen share prices fall in the past three recessions. Given that setup, we've set the stage for a portfolio smackdown of the ages. Economists are worried a recession is coming, yet investors are surprisingly upbeat about AI's prospects — so upbeat that they've bid S&P 500 tech stocks to nearly a record high. Sell-side analysts who evaluate company-level trends are similarly optimistic. But in the real economy, layoffs are growing, and hiring has ground to a halt. The sharply diverging views between economists and stock analysts mean someone has to be wrong. The freight train that is AI adoption — a three-year story of rapid innovation and progress — could collide with a massive wall from historic tariffs, high interest rates, and low consumer confidence. What's particularly rich about this is that tech companies are the most exposed sector to global tariffs. They gather the highest percentage of revenue internationally, plus they have the most suppliers and factories outside US borders. In fact, semiconductor companies — the firms providing chips for AI technology — are expected to hit that aforementioned 49% earnings growth despite generating 67% of their revenue abroad and sourcing 70% of their supplies from overseas. Some analysts believe that if AI hopes can keep the stock market chugging along, maybe it can do the same to the economy. After all, companies invested an inflation-adjusted $2.2 trillion on computers and other processing equipment last quarter, about one-seventh of the $16 trillion Americans spent on goods and services. Investing more in AI does ultimately help boost the economy, but that $2 trillion is peanuts compared with the real engine of the US economy. Americans' spending accounts for about 70% of GDP — by far the biggest driver of output — and spending has dropped in each of the past nine recessions. If tariffs intimidate consumers and lead to layoffs that decimate American incomes, then the economy is probably bound for a crisis — whether the robots pan out or not. And based on history, an economic crisis could topple the stock market. The math shows us that AI isn't much of a match for some effects of tariffs and may not logistically be enough to save the economy from ruin. Your portfolio's outcome may be a different story, though. This is when I have to introduce you to one of the most frustrating adages of investing: The stock market is not the economy. The economy is the value that we create — the hard assets, the cash spent, the paychecks we get. Stocks are an expression of that value, but they use the present reality to project future expectations. AI's impact on the economy may not bear out through numbers. But in your portfolio, AI's influence depends on how willing we are to collectively dream up better days ahead in terms of what AI is capable of and how much money AI-dominant firms will amass in the years to come. Dreaming is already a big part of the AI trade. S&P 500 tech companies' estimated earnings grew about 50% in 2023 and 2024, yet their share prices jumped 112%. Nothing is cut-and-dried when it comes to the stock market. It is the ultimate tangled web of logic, psychology, and mixed incentives. The stock market's future depends on investors' ability to dream, and people are willing to dream when they feel confident in the present moment. The problem is, investors are awfully confident about tech stocks right now. S&P 500 tech companies made up about 23% of total index profits in the first quarter, yet their shares account for 32% of the S&P 500's value. To close that gap, tech profits would have to grow 40%, or tech stocks would have to drop 29% from their end-of-June levels. Stocks can thrive when expectations are higher than reality, but in these conditions, they require reasons to stay hopeful. The problem arises when investors aren't willing to dream. When they're too focused on present issues to give compelling stories the benefit of the doubt. Or in big market drops, crushed by financial strain. Then, the numbers matter. People claw for any concrete evidence of AI's value. They demand proof of profits, even though companies are spending money on a pivot to the next big thing. Stock prices adjust, and if you hold a swath of US stocks or index funds, your money is probably heavily exposed to this reality check. This is what happened in 2000. Investors were willing to dream about this brave new technology called the World Wide Web until interest rates climbed too high and the reality of how much computing was needed for Y2K was found to be way overblown. Suddenly, the dream died, and tech stock prices came back down to reality. These days, we all know that dream wasn't completely off base. Yet share prices took an 80% crash before the promise of the new tech came to fruition. This is what I worry about the most in the clash between AI and the economy. We're somewhere between AI saving the world and being an overhyped bust of a technology that can be ripped off by another country. I'm not foolish enough to call this a bubble, and I think AI will eventually deliver benefits for our economy. We're not there yet, though, even though investors like to think so. It takes years for big technological trends to take hold, and productivity usually shines through when workers feel empowered and companies feel comfortable expanding. That's far from the case right now — business confidence is in the dumps, so we're in the opposite scenario. When the economy is getting weaker, it's best to grasp onto what's real in your portfolio. And there's a striking gap between AI and reality.
