Author: openjargon

• Russia claims Ukraine fired Western-supplied missiles into its region of Belgorod.
• The White House said the claim is "Russian propaganda."
• Some Western countries are signaling they may be more open to their weapons being used on Russian soil.

Russia has claimed that Ukraine used French- and US-supplied missiles in an attack on one of its border regions.

Russia's Ministry of Defence said on Saturday that it had repelled an attack on the border region of Belgorod by four French-made Hammer missiles and two US-made HARM anti-radar missiles.

Its foreign ministry also claimed that Russian forces had earlier shot down multiple Western weapons, and said that British Storm Shadow cruise missiles and Czech Vampire rockets also featured in the attack.

While it did not specify where the weapons were fired, it said that Western nations "now authorize their use against Russia" and that they were "playing with fire."

The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

In a statement sent to BI, the White House called the allegations "Russian propaganda."

It added that the US' "longstanding policy has been clear: we are focused on helping Ukraine defend against assaults it is facing from Russian forces every day, though we do not enable or encourage attacks inside of Russia."

Even so, it said that "Ukraine makes its own decisions about its military operations and how it uses equipment that it manufactures."

Since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022, Western weapons have been supplied to Ukraine for its defense on the understanding that they only be used on Ukrainian territory.

This has limited Ukraine's ability to take the fight to Russia.

Last week, Ukrainian officials renewed their pleas with the White House to be allowed to use US weapons in Russia, Politico reported.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was vocally critical of the US restrictions in a recent interview with Agence France-Presse.

The chair of France's foreign affairs committee, Jean-Louis Bourlanges, has recently called for such restrictions to be lifted for French-supplied weapons, saying that it would end the "unacceptable asymmetry" of the conflict, Le Figaro reported.

The French Ministry of Defence did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Russian claim.

The UK government has also increasingly signaled that it is open to allowing Ukraine to strike Russian soil with UK-supplied weapons.

The UK's Ministry of Defence declined to comment on the latest Russian allegations.

The reported attack on Russian soil comes as some NATO countries have begun reconsidering the possibility of sending troops into Ukraine.

Belgorod, the region Russia's foreign ministry claims was targeted by Western-supplied weapons, was the staging point for the country's recent assault on Ukraine's Kharkiv region.

Russia has reopened a front there, capturing one town with little resistance and threatening to push toward the city of Kharkiv itself.

Ukrainian sources told Politico that they watched 30,000 Russian troops amassing in Belgorod, and there was immense frustration that they couldn't strike because of the restrictions.

"We saw their military sitting one or two kilometers from the border inside Russia and there was nothing we could do about that," Ukrainian MP Oleksandra Ustinova told the outlet.

• Neuralink has gotten the FDA go-ahead for a second implant, the Wall Street Journal reports.
• This time, it's implanting the wires a few millimeters deeper to prevent retraction.
• Neuralink's first patient lost some function but has since greatly improved, the Journal reported.

Neuralink has gotten the go-ahead to implant its device into a second patient — and has settled on a fix for the error that plagued its inaugural trial.

The Wall Street Journal reports the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has okayed a second trial where the implant's wires — 64 total threads, each thinner than a strand of human hair — will be implanted even deeper into the brain to prevent them from moving out of place.

Neuralink is aiming to conduct its next implant in June — and a total of 10 implants this year, according to the Journal. Musk said Friday applications were open for a second participant.

"As a general matter, the FDA cannot discuss or disclose information related to any particular company's Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) application or study under an IDE," an FDA press officer told Business Insider.

Neuralink did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The first patient to receive an implant, Noland Arbaugh, underwent a bit of an emotional rollercoaster. Initially, Arbaugh — a quadriplegic — could control a computer cursor with his thoughts to communicate and play games.

But after a month, the device wasn't nearly as effective. That's because 85% of the threads that had been inserted into his motor cortex to relay signals had retracted due to brain movement.

Neuralink initially considered removing the implant, but the remaining threads ultimately stabilized and the company issued software changes — with Arbaugh telling the Journal it was now more effective than ever.

In the next trial, wires will be implanted 8 millimeters deep (as opposed to the three to five millimeters in Arbaugh's case), according to the Journal.

• Red Lobster has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, according to a statement released Sunday.
• The seafood chain's troubles include failed all-you-can-eat snow crab and shrimp promotions.
• Despite its current status, Red Lobster was once a pioneer in the casual-dining industry.

Red Lobster has filed for bankruptcy after years of financial and executive-level turmoil.

The seafood chain, which has been operating for about 56 years, has weathered its fair share of storms, from a bungled snow-crab promotion that tanked the company's stocks to the recent fallout from its daily all-you-can-eat-shrimp promotion.

However, Red Lobster wasn't always on the hook. As a pioneer in the chain-restaurant industry, Red Lobster became famous for its casual dining atmosphere and fan-favorite dishes like its Cheddar Bay Biscuits and fried shrimp.

Here's the rise and fall of Red Lobster through the years. Red Lobster did not respond to a request for comment for this story.

1968: The first Red Lobster opened in Lakeland, Florida.

Bill Darden opened the first Red Lobster restaurant in Lakeland, Florida (not pictured). He would later go on to launch Olive Garden, too.

At the time, there was a gap in the market for affordable seafood, especially in landlocked areas like Lakeland. Red Lobster's mission was to serve "delicious, high-quality seafood" to the masses, according to the restaurant's website.

"In most of middle America, you couldn't get decent seafood. Red Lobster brought it to the masses," Jonathan Maze, the editor in chief at Restaurant Business, told CNN. "Red Lobster was part of this casual dining revolution."

The restaurant's more relaxed environment and family-friendly prices cemented Red Lobster as one of the first casual-dining concepts.

1970: General Mills acquired Red Lobster and the business expanded across the country.

It was General Mills' first venture into the restaurant industry, according to the company's website.

General Mills put resources into the chain, allowing it to expand coast to coast and transforming the business into one of the first nationwide seafood-restaurant chains.

By 1978, Red Lobster had expanded to 236 restaurants and had made a total of $291 million in sales, CNN reported. By 1985, Red Lobster had expanded to almost 400 locations and $834 million in sales.

1980-1995: Red Lobster introduced iconic menu items like the Cheddar Bay Biscuits and held its first Lobsterfest.

In 1984, the company held its first Lobsterfest. The annual event celebrates lobster by releasing new and limited-time-only dishes.

Then in 1992, Cheddar Bay Biscuits, which remain one of the restaurant's most beloved items, were first released. Initially called "freshly baked, hot cheese garlic bread," they were served to people waiting for their tables in the restaurants' lobbies, per Red Lobster. But after a positive response, Red Lobster decided to serve them table-side instead, and five years after their launch, they were renamed Cheddar Bay Biscuits. In 2017, the restaurant reported that staff baked nearly 1 million biscuits every day.

Red Lobster founder Bill Darden died on March 29, 1994, at the age of 75. In 1995, after Darden's passing, General Mills restructured its restaurant division and changed its name to Darden Restaurants, Inc.

Red Lobster remained under the Darden Restaurants umbrella for almost 20 years.

2000-2003: Red Lobster continued to grow steadily through the early 2000s.

In December 2001, Darden Restaurants reported in a press release that Red Lobster had had "its 16th consecutive quarter of same-restaurant sales gains." Red Lobster made $534.9 million in sales for the quarter, an increase over the previous year, the company said.

"Red Lobster and Olive Garden enjoyed same-restaurant sales growth that once again surpassed the casual dining industry average," Joe R. Lee, then Darden Restaurants' CEO and chairman, said in the press release.

The restaurant chain was steadily adding restaurants and experimenting with promotional deals to bring value-minded customers through the doors.

2003: Red Lobster introduced its infamous Endless Snow Crab promotion.

In the summer of 2003, Red Lobster introduced its Endless Snow Crab promotion, which offered customers all-you-can-eat snow crab for $22.99.

But the promotion worked a little too well. Customers took advantage of the deal by ordering heaps of snow crab, and restaurants couldn't keep up.

Endless Snow Crab cost the company a reported $3.3 million in profits and the chain's then-president, Edna Morris, stepped down as a result. The New York Post also reported in 2003 that the bungled promotion cost Red Lobster a whopping $405.9 million of stock value in a single session after investors began rapidly selling off their shares.

The deal ended up being what Restaurant Business called "one of the biggest marketing blunders in industry history."

2004: The chain tried again with Endless Shrimp.

The shrimp deal, a much more affordable option at the time for restaurants to make all-you-can-eat, was a hit with customers and reinvigorated the brand.

The brand also made updates to its restaurants. Wood-fired grills were added to Red Lobster locations nationwide, and restaurant designs changed, inspired by the "historic fishing village of Bar Harbor, Maine," the restaurant said on its website.

2008: The economic downturn impacted fast-casual restaurants, and Red Lobster floundered.

The Great Recession majorly impacted the restaurant industry, and casual-dining brands took the brunt as people cut back on luxuries like dining out. Nationwide food-and-beverage chains like Bennigan's were forced to shutter, and others, like Starbucks, closed hundreds of locations, CBS News reported in 2008.

Restaurant Business reported that, after the Great Recession, Red Lobster was also struggling to make a comeback, putting pressure on Darden to turn away from the brand and focus on other restaurant concepts.

CNN reported that by 2008, Olive Garden's sales were outperforming Red Lobster's, and Darden was diversifying its portfolio of restaurants with fast-growing chains like Longhorn Steakhouse, Capital Grille, and Yard House.

Red Lobster was no longer Darden's darling.

2014: Darden Restaurants sold the brand.

In 2014, Darden sold the chain to Golden Gate Capital for $2.1 billion. At the time, the firm called Red Lobster "an exceptionally strong brand" with plenty of opportunities for growth.

On Red Lobster's website, the move was heralded as "charting a new course as an independent company."

To finance the deal, Golden Gate sold off Red Lobster's real-estate holdings to a separate company, meaning that Red Lobster would now be leasing its restaurants. Over time, this has proven costly for the brand.

2016: Thai Union Group, one of the chain's biggest shrimp suppliers, took over a minority stake in the brand.

CNN reported that Thai Union took a $575 million minority stake in the brand, and made efforts to become the main seafood supplier to Red Lobster and cut restaurant costs to increase profits.

However, many of the changes were begrudged by Red Lobster employees.

An anonymous former Red Lobster executive told CNN that Thai Union changed Red Lobster menus based on "cost-cutting decisions" and "executive opinion," rather than customer preferences.

Servers were also reportedly instructed to cover 10 tables per service instead of three in an effort to save on labor costs.

2020: Red Lobster leaned into to-go service amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Restaurants lost billions in sales in March 2020 alone, and two-thirds of people reported cutting back on fast-casual dining visits that month, Business Insider reported at the time.

Subsequently, restaurants and fast-food chains made major changes during the pandemic to drive business. Red Lobster was no different and began embracing pandemic-era initiatives like curbside pickup and to-go ordering.

Also in 2020, Thai Union assumed the majority ownership of Red Lobster after Golden Gate Capital announced its plans to sell its remaining equity stake in the chain.

2021-2022: Under new management, there was a period of unrest at Red Lobster, with multiple new executives leaving their roles.

Between 2021 and 2022, Red Lobster welcomed new executives into key executive positions, including CEO, chief marketing officer, chief financial officer, and chief information officer.

However, all of them departed from the company within a span of two years, CNN reported.

2023: Red Lobster expanded its Endless Shrimp to become a daily promotion, but it was a disaster.

In January 2023, Restaurant Business reported that Red Lobster had closed eight restaurants in the span of a few months as part of a routine review of restaurant performance. However, the worst was yet to come.

Initially a one-day-a-week deal for $20, Endless Shrimp became a daily promotion in summer 2023 to attract more customers as Red Lobster struggled to keep up with a changing industry.

However, inflation and the rising cost of seafood created rough seas for the chain. In 2023, Red Lobster raised the price of Endless Shrimp twice, eventually landing at $25 to cope with demand and improve profits.

Despite the increased price, the all-you-can-eat strategy backfired. The chain reported operating losses of $11 million and $12.5 million in the two quarters following the initial daily endless shrimp promotion launch.

In 2024, the deal is only available on Mondays.

However, Endless Shrimp isn't the sole cause of Red Lobster's demise, Business Insider's Emily Stewart wrote in an analysis of the chain's struggles over the years.

Changing tastes are also a major issue.

The seafood restaurant industry faces significant challenges in the US, Darren Tristano, the CEO and founder of Foodservice Results, a food-industry consultancy, told BI.

Many customers in the mood for seafood are more likely to seek it out at a steakhouse, rather than a seafood-specific restaurant or chain like Red Lobster.

"If anything, the Endless Shrimp deals are probably as much a symbol of just either desperation or poor management or both," Jonathan Maze told BI.

January 2024: Thai Union announced its plans to exit Red Lobster amid significant financial headwinds.

"The combination of the Covid-19 pandemic, sustained industry headwinds, higher interest rates, and rising material and labor costs have impacted Red Lobster, resulting in prolonged negative financial contributions to Thai Union and its shareholders," Thiraphong Chansiri, Thai Union Group's CEO, said in a statement.

"After detailed analysis, we have determined that Red Lobster's ongoing financial requirements no longer align with our capital allocation priorities, and therefore are pursuing an exit of our minority investment," he continued.

John Gordon, a restaurant analyst in San Diego, told BI, "They [Thai Union] were totally unprepared to hold a casual-dining restaurant."

April 2024: Reports emerged that Red Lobster was considering filing for bankruptcy.

Bloomberg reported that Red Lobster was considering a bankruptcy filing.

According to sources familiar with the situation who spoke to Bloomberg, opting for bankruptcy would enable Red Lobster to sustain its operations while reducing debts and expenses.

The report also indicated that Red Lobster was receiving legal guidance from the law firm King & Spalding, who didn't respond to Bloomberg's requests for comment.

Representatives for Red Lobster didn't respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.

May 13, 2024: Reports emerged that Red Lobster would be shuttering over 50 locations.

According to previous reporting by Business Insider, California, Colorado, Florida, New York, and Texas were among the states affected by the restaurant closures. A restaurant liquidator confirmed to BI that the chain would be selling off kitchen items and furniture from closed locations.

Red Lobster did not make a public statement about the restaurant closures.

May 19, 2024: Red Lobster filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Nearly a month after reports first emerged that the chain would file, it finally released a statement announcing it had voluntarily filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Red Lobster said its roughly 550 remaining restaurants will "remain open and operating as usual during the Chapter 11 process."

It also explained that the chain will be using the bankruptcy process to "drive operational improvements, simplify the business through a reduction in locations, and pursue a sale of substantially all of its assets."

"This restructuring is the best path forward for Red Lobster. It allows us to address several financial and operational challenges and emerge stronger and re-focused on our growth," Red Lobster's CEO Jonathan Tibus said in the statement.

• A recession threatens to pummel households, businesses, and the stock market.
• Piper Sandler's Nancy Lazar warned of tighter credit and the full fallout from the Fed's rate rises.
• Unemployment has jumped in 19 states, making a national recession almost inevitable, Lazar said.

Get ready for a recession that hammers consumers, squeezes companies, and drags down stocks, a veteran economist warned.

"There is a very high probability of a recession," Nancy Lazar, Piper Sandler's chief global economist, told WealthTrack in a recent interview.

Lazar, the cofounder of Cornerstone Macro and ISI, cited the delayed impacts of the Federal Reserve's interest-rate rises, and credit drying up, as two likely drivers of a downturn.

"We just think this is a very risky economic environment," she said. "When banks are tightening lending standards and you clearly have higher interest rates, you've never had a soft landing. You've always had a hard landing."

Recessions strike an average of 10 quarters after the Fed begins a rate-hike cycle, but have arrived up to 16 quarters later in the past, Lazar said. The first hike of this cycle was in March 2022, meaning eight quarters have already elapsed.

Lazar highlighted several signs of economic trouble. She noted that 19 US states — accounting for 40% of national GDP — have recorded at least a 0.5 percentage point increase in their average unemployment, measured over three months.

Whenever that many states have recorded significant increases in joblessness in the past, there's been a nationwide recession, she noted.

Government figures show unemployment rose in 30 states in the 12 months through April. The national unemployment rate was 3.9%, up from 3.4% in April 2023.

Several parts of the economy are "really, really struggling," Lazar continued. She pointed to the NFIB survey of small business sentiment, saying it was "very deep in recession territory" and worse now than in the 1990 and 2001 recessions.

Meanwhile, lower-income consumers are dealing with slowing wage gains and inflated prices, Lazar said. Their credit card balances are "through the roof," and subprime auto delinquencies recently hit a record high, underscoring their financial woes.

'Tipping point'

In stark contrast, wealthy people are sitting pretty with the value of their stock portfolios and homes near record highs. They've been able to retain their cheap mortgages and largely escape steeper rates as they have few high-interest loans, Lazar said.

"We have a very bifurcated economy,  unstable economy," she added.

As for middle-income consumers, they're "at the tipping point" because if unemployment climbs above 4%, they could find themselves jobless with huge amounts of credit-card debt, Lazar said.

Given those warning signs, she predicted corporate revenues would weaken by the last three months of this year as consumers pull back and interest rates bite, fueling layoffs and smacking middle-income households.

Stash of cash

Lazar also cautioned that an economic slump would batter stocks.

"If we have a recession, inflation will slow," she said. "And if inflation slows, you're going to squeeze profit margins. And that creates risks for the stock market."

If inflation proves stubborn and the Fed is forced to keep rates high, that could exacerbate the rise in joblessness and worsen the economic pain, Lazar said.

"A little stash of cash may not be a bad idea right now," she said. "I'm not sure in my 40-year career I've ever really said that."

• Red Lobster has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
• The troubled chain said its restaurants will remain open and operating during the process.
• The bankruptcy comes after losses piled up due to a $20 endless shrimp promotion.

Red Lobster has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the seafood restaurant chain announced in a statement on Sunday.

It comes after last week's decision to close more than 50 locations. However, Red Lobster added its remaining restaurants will "remain open and operating as usual during the Chapter 11 process." It has about 550 outlets in 44 states, per the filing.

CEO Jonathan Tibus said in the Chapter 11 documents the number of customers had fallen by 30% since 2019, and had "only marginally improved from pandemic levels."

Red Lobster has often run an all-you-can-eat shrimp promotion. To try to increase footfall last year it started offering the $20 deal every day, rather than once a week. The move backfired, however, adding to its losses.

In an earnings call last November, the finance chief of the chain's owner, Thai Union Group, told investors the promotion was "one of the key reasons for the losses we generated" in the third quarter of 2023.

Filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy allows a company to stay in business while it restructures its assets.

Red Lobster, which has debts of $1 billion, said it will use the process to reduce its number of locations and "pursue a sale of all its assets as a going concern."

The firm said it had received a $100 million debtor-in-possession agreement from its existing lenders, which will now take control of Red Lobster.

"This restructuring is the best path forward for Red Lobster," Tibus said. "The support we've received from our lenders and vendors will help ensure that we can complete the sale process quickly and efficiently while remaining focused on our employees and guests," he added.

• Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi died in a helicopter crash in northwest Iran on Sunday.
• The crash involved a US-manufactured Bell 212 helicopter, which stopped being made in 1998.
• Iran's former foreign minister said US aircraft sanctions against Iran could be to blame.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi died in a helicopter crash on Sunday — and the country's former foreign minister believes US sanctions were partly to blame.

Raisi, 63, and other senior officials were killed after the helicopter they were traveling in was forced to make a "hard landing" over northwest Iran, Ahmad Vahidi, the country's interior minister, told IRNA.

State TV said the helicopter crashed into a mountain. While there is no official statement on the cause, images of the crash site captured by ISNA, Iran's state students' news agency, showed heavy fog lingering over the area.

Multiple outlets, including Reuters, said the helicopter was a US-manufactured Bell 212, a model that first entered service in 1968 and stopped being made in 1998.

Iran's former foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, said the US sanctions — which prohibit Iran from purchasing US-built planes — could be partly to blame.

In a phone interview with state TV on Monday, Zarif said the sanctions prevent Iran from having good aviation facilities.

According to part of an interview cited by Iran International and ISNA News Agency, he said the crash that killed Raisi would be "recorded in the black list of American crimes against the Iranian nation."

The US has imposed various sanctions against Iran since the seizure of the US Embassy in Tehran in 1979. Economic sanctions, including those targeting the aviation industry, were reinstated in 2018 after the US withdrew from its nuclear deal.

Iranian airlines are prohibited from purchasing planes that contain more than 10% US parts, according to US think-tank The Washington Institute.

This is likely to complicate the process of updating or repairing US-manufactured planes that the country purchased before the sanctions took effect.

Farzin Nadimi, a research fellow at The Washington Institute and an expert on Iran's security and defense, said that around half of Iranian planes were grounded in 2019 due to a lack of spare parts. At the time, an estimated 8% of fleets were expected to go out of service each year.

Iranian airlines operate some of the world's oldest aircraft, according to Bloomberg, which estimated the average fleet age to be over 25 years.

According to US military training documents cited by Reuters, the Bell 212 was developed for the Canadian military in the late 1960s and first used by Canada and the US in 1971.

There have been multiple crashes involving a Bell 212 through the years, including a 1997 crash in Louisiana where eight people died, according to First Post.

In 2009, a Bell 212 operated by Cougar Helicopters crashed off the coast of Newfoundland in Canada. The incident, which killed 17 of the 18 people on board, was a result of an emergency landing after the aircraft lost oil pressure in one of its engines, First Post said.

The most recent fatal crash involving a Bell 212 took place in September when a private aircraft crashed off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, according to the nonprofit Flight Safety Foundation, cited by Reuters. It is not known how many passengers were on board.

Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

• Palmer Luckey's startup Anduril is producing futuristic weapons of war. 
• But the billionaire founder has his own James Bond-esque collection of military vehicles.
• Luckey gave Bloomberg an inside peek at his 1980s-designed home and private collection of "boys toys."

The defense tech startup Anduril is making some of the most futuristic autonomous weapons on the market as it tries to reinvent the military's wheelhouse.

But the company's forward-thinking vision hasn't stopped founder Palmer Luckey from amassing his own collection of older military-grade vehicles and boy's toys.

The billionaire's collection includes a boat bought from the US Navy, six helicopters, and a 1985 ex-Marine Corps Humveefighter, he revealed in the latest episode of Bloomberg's "The Circuit."

That's land, sea, and air covered.

Luckey's Mark V special operations craft, which he purchased from the Navy, is the fastest boat ever built by the force with a little over 5,000 horsepower, he told reporter Emily Chang as he took her for a ride on the vessel around Newport Beach.

"It was designed specifically for Navy seal insertion and extraction missions. It runs really fast, and it's a lot of fun."

He still has the real M2 heavy-barreled 50 BMG machine gun that came with the boat but keeps fake ones fitted "most of the time."

"Most of my neighbors like it, and a handful hate it."

Luckey first made his name when he founded virtual reality company Oculus in 2012. Two years later, he sold the company to Facebook, now known as Meta, for $2 billion in cash and stock. 

In 2017, one year after he was fired from Facebook, Luckey founded Anduril. It's since risen to the top of Silicon Valley's defense tech boom.

But his passion for the military started when he was young, Luckey told The Circuit.

"I grew up watching the Marine Corps practice right offshore in their helicopters. Watching Navy ships do exercises gets in your brain, and it doesn't leave."

He's now the proud owner of six helicopters, including a UH-60 Blackhawk.

In addition to military-grade vehicles, Luckey owns a 1967 Disneyland Autopia, a toy car used in Disney theme parks, designed by legendary park designer Bob Gurr and Walt Disney himself.

"As far as I know, mine is the only complete Autopia that is outside of the parks. Mine has the original mechanicals, original gear boxes, original wheels, the whole deal," Luckey told Chang.

The small vehicle, typically seen tearing up Disneyland race tracks, suffered a minor breakdown mid-interview and had to be fixed with a flathead screwdriver.

The founder also took cameras into his 1980s-designed home in LA. Fitted with a two-inch thick teal shag carpet and a 6,500-gallon aquarium, Luckey's home has "some good Miami Vice vibes," he told Chang.

The coffee table is fitted with a map of his Dungeons and Dragons campaign, where he plays as a "chaotic neutral wizard named Nilrim V."

As the billionaire founder himself admits, "I am a little bit of a caricature."

But where to keep the world's largest collection of video games?

"I put that in one of my missile bases. 200 feet underground," Luckey told Chang.

• Google boss Sundar Pichai says the company is moving boldly but cautiously with its AI efforts.
• In an interview with a YouTuber, Pichai discussed the balance of fast innovation and responsibility.
• Google's AI misstep with Gemini and competitive pressure may be behind the need for such a balance.

Google is "moving boldly" with its AI efforts but is proceeding cautiously.

CEO Sundar Pichai said the company is trying to balance "moving fast" with being responsible, and that could mean it would need to slow down the launch of future AI tools.

In a recent interview with YouTuber Varun Mayya, Pichai said, "I think with a technology like that, which is developing fast, you have to ride the curve where you're pushing, but also be as responsible, but there is some trade-off."

He explained that the positive reaction is "why you see us moving fast, but there will be moments when we feel 'okay, maybe, this technology, it's important to spend more time getting this right."

He added, "On the balance, yes, we are moving boldly."

Pichai also said the public response to the AI-infused products it's been rolling out, such as AI overviews on Search, gives the company confidence that it's moving in the right direction.

The comments come after a blunder with Google Gemini's text-to-image generator earlier in the year that saw it generate historically inaccurate images, which led to the company pausing its wider launch.

Pichai later said, "We got it wrong," which could have caused the company to be more wary of releasing new products before they're ready.

Like other Big Tech firms, Google is under pressure to ship AI products fast to gain a competitive edge in the AI race. The companies — including Microsoft, Meta, Amazon, and Apple — are pouring a lot of money into AI and making strategic changes to give them a leg up.

A recent Bernstein research note said the companies are on track to invest a combined $200 billion this year in AI infrastructure, equipment, and real estate. Google alone is spending $1.1 billion expanding its main data center in Finland, Bloomberg reported.

In April, Google reshuffled its leadership team in to accelerate the company's progress. It merged its platforms and devices unit into one team to focus on Android, Chrome, and gadgets. Last year, the tech giant also merged its two AI research groups, Google Brain and DeepMind, into one new team called Google DeepMind.

Google didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider, made outside normal working hours.

• The internet has been buzzing about Mark Zuckerberg's new style choices.
• We showed ChatGPT some recent pictures of Zuckerberg and asked it to analyze his looks.
• The chatbot had some recommendations for the Meta CEO.

Mark Zuckerberg might be going viral for his new style, but ChatGPT has some fashion tips for the Meta CEO.

Zuck has been getting noticed for his refreshed take on the typical "tech industry uniform" of t-shirt and jeans. The CEO was one of the main figureheads of the trope early on in his career, but the 40-year-old is switching it up now.

But is it working for him? To find out, Business Insider turned to ChatGPT for an analysis of Zuckerberg's style. We grabbed a few recent photos from his Instagram and used prompts to get OpenAI's chatbot to weigh in.

ChatGPT is powered by GPT-4o, a large language model trained on data to provide humanlike answers to prompts.

BI also asked a real — human — style expert to answer the same prompts to the best of his ability.

Here's what they both had to say after seeing the 10 photos (and don't worry, we didn't use the viral fake bearded image).

ChatGPT's verdict was that Zuckerberg should work on dressing more appropriately for his job running a company.

"While casual, Zuckerberg's style can sometimes appear too relaxed for a CEO. Introducing smart-casual elements like blazers or stylish jackets could bridge the gap between his very casual and formal looks, providing a more polished appearance while retaining comfort," the chatbot said.

But Reginald Ferguson, men's fashion consultant and founder of New York Fashion Geek, disagreed with ChatGPT and said Zuckerberg is dressed "appropriately for a CEO of his era and industry."

When asked directly about the appropriateness of his style, ChatGPT matched Ferguson's answer more closely.

"Zuckerberg's style is generally appropriate within the context of the tech industry, known for its more laid-back dress codes. His formal attire at events shows that he can elevate his style when needed, aligning with traditional expectations of a CEO," the chatbot wrote.

While Ferguson said Zuck's new necklace choices are "tasteful," it seems like ChatGPT wants him to tone it down a bit with the gold chains.

"In terms of accessories, while the choice of a chain necklace is a personal style statement, opting for more subtle pieces might be more fitting for a CEO, especially in professional or public settings," said ChatGPT.

Zuckerberg's venture into fashion has been the source of viral moments online. His gold chains have earned him the meme treatment, and the billionaire Facebook founder seems to be leaning in.

And this might not be the end of his style evolution, Ferguson said.

"The challenge with Mark Zuckerberg is he's lived his entire adult life in public and came out the gate with a style (no style) that a whole generation of young men followed," Ferguson said.

He continued: "He still has no style, but he's trying, and he and his stylist should be applauded for that."

• Some European NATO members are talking about putting their troops in Ukraine.
• Estonia's PM said allies shouldn't fear that troops doing training there would escalate the war.
• Some want their allies to consider similar action, saying Russia is a threat to Europe.

Some NATO countries are encouraging their allies to be bolder when it comes to sending their own soldiers to Ukraine.

Many NATO countries have aided Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, by providing weaponry and training of troops.

However, some say that Ukraine's allies should consider more direct action to stop Russia, including by putting their own troops on the ground.

Estonia wants more action

The most recent comments came from Kaja Kallas, prime minister of NATO member Estonia. She told the Financial Times that NATO members should not be concerned that sending troops to Ukraine to train soldiers would risk a wider war with Russia.

Allies that train Ukrainian troops are doing so outside Ukraine. However, some Western and Ukrainian officials believe that training Ukrainian soldiers on their own territory would be more efficient, the FT reported.

Kallas said: "There are countries who are training soldiers on the ground already," and said they were doing it at their own risk.

Poland's foreign minister in March called it an "open secret" that some Western soldiers are already in Ukraine.

Kallas said that even if NATO soldiers were attacked by Russia while in Ukraine, it wouldn't automatically trigger Article 5, NATO's collective defense clause.

According to the clause, an attack against one NATO member is an attack against all.

"I can't possibly imagine that if somebody is hurt there, then those who have sent their people will say 'it's article five. Let's . . . bomb Russia.' It is not how it works. It's not automatic. So these fears are not well-founded," she said.

She added: "If you send your people to help Ukrainians . . . you know the country is in war and you go to a risk zone. So you take the risk."

Estonia, while a small country, is one of Ukraine's key allies and has been one of the biggest advocates for Ukraine receiving as much support as possible. It has repeatedly warned that Russia is likely to attack elsewhere in Europe after Ukraine.

Kallas' comments come after other officials in Estonia suggested their soldiers could be sent to Ukraine.

Madis Roll, the country's president's national security advisor, said earlier this month that the government is "seriously" discussing the potential of deploying Estonian troops to Ukraine in non-combat roles.

France says Western troops may be needed

French President Emmanuel Macron said earlier this month that Europe should consider sending troops to help Ukraine if Russia breaks through its lines, as "if Russia wins in Ukraine, there will be no security in Europe."

Macron repeatedly said that he could consider putting Western troops in Ukraine.

He said he would consider doing it "if the Russians were to break through the front lines, if there were a Ukrainian request, which is not the case today."

He added: "We have undoubtedly been too hesitant by defining the limits of our action to someone who no longer has any and who is the aggressor."

Macron, like Estonia, warned that Russia would likely look to attack elsewhere in Europe if it is not defeated in Ukraine.

In response to Macron, the Kremlin said putting NATO troops in Ukraine would lead to a war between it and Russia.

And other allies, including the UK and the US, said they were not considering such a move.

But a frequently repeated pattern in this war has been how some of its allies have rejected the possibility of taking some steps to support Ukraine, before changing their minds later.

Other countries are considering sending soldiers as trainers

Poland's foreign minister said in March that the presence of NATO forces in Ukraine "is not unthinkable" and said he appreciated Macron for not ruling out the idea.

Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė told the FT this month that she had the authority from her parliament to send troops to Ukraine for training, but Ukraine had not yet requested any.

She said Russia may consider responding, but "if we just thought about the Russian response, then we could not send anything. Every second week you hear that somebody will be nuked."