Author: openjargon

• Shane Guffogg is a multi-media abstract artist with synesthesia, meaning he "hears color." 
• Guffogg worked with AI experts and musicians to compose music that corresponded with his paintings. 
• He believes AI is still a tool that "needs oversight" but its enhanced his creative process. 

This is an as-told-to conversation with Shane Guffogg, an American artist who launched "At the Still Point of the Turning World – Strangers of Time," an exhibition of 21 paintings at the Venice Biennale earlier this month. This conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity.

I have synesthesia, which means I hear color.

So, what I'm listening to when I paint is important. I listen to Indian classical music, Gregorian chants, and some obscure composers such as Gyorgy Ligeti, Leo Ornstein, and Terry Riley. The music sparks my creativity and allows me to be completely present and in that moment.

For years, I've been preoccupied with what my paintings might sound like. The AI revolution pushed me to search for experts who could help me. My first point of contact was Radhika Dirks, an AI and quantum computing expert. We had a couple of Zoom sessions, and she told me — to the best of her knowledge — that no AI program could help me. Instead, she suggested I create a visual alphabet that matched the musical chords I heard in my mind to colors.

I thought it could be a way to propel my creativity. It also built upon the idea of an unconscious alphabet that has informed my art throughout my career.

I met with musicians and AI experts to create a visual alphabet

I started by looking for musicians to collaborate with and met Anthony Cardella, a young, incredibly gifted pianist in Los Angeles. He's a PhD student at USC and happened to know — and even play — many obscure composers I listen to when I paint.

We started collaborating. We would sit down and examine my paintings together. I would zoom in on a color in Photoshop, look at it, and sensorially feel the musical note. Then I would tell Anthony. I'd say, for example, I think that's the color of the note B. He'd hit the B, and I'd say, "No, that's not it; try a B sharp?" After a few trials, he'd suddenly hit the right notes. I would know because the colors would begin to vibrate for me. Together, we've charted chords that correspond to 40 colors.

Soon after, I met an AI researcher named Jonah Lynch through mutual contacts. He works at the intersection of the digital humanities and machine learning. I invited him over to my ranch in central California and explained the work I had been doing and how I created my paintings. We had long discussions about art, poetry, and creating an AI algorithm that could be fed the chords.

He developed a program to "read'' my paintings and convert them into music. I gave him the main colors I used in each painting and the chords I hear when I see those colors. Jonah watched videos of me painting, studied the movement of my hands, and wrote software that sampled images of the paintings, following my hand movements, and assigned each color sampled from the paintings to its corresponding chord. Then, he fed this sequence of chords into a neural network that has memorized most of the last 500 years of keyboard music. He prompted the network to "dream" of new sequences based on the color-chord sequences and the history of Western music to create pages of sheet music.

When I heard that music played back to me, it brought tears to my eyes. It was just a rough version of what I heard while painting, but I thought, "There it is."

I took the music back to Anthony, the pianist. Amazingly, I could point to the sheet music and tell him what compositions I was listening to while painting, and he'd say, "Yes, I can see it in the chords." The Indian ragas, the Gregorian chants, the Ligeti, and Ornstein — they were all there.

Still, the music was largely a series of chords at that stage. Anthony said we could have melodies if we rearranged it a bit.

AI is still a tool that needs human oversight

We composed music for several paintings and have played it for audiences worldwide. We held a concert last month at the Forest Lawn Museum in Los Angeles, where I also had a few paintings in a show. The audience could look at the paintings while Anthony played, which was a profound experience. A couple of people cried.

At the launch of my latest exhibition during the opening week of the Venice Biennale, Anthony played the world premiere of a sonata he composed inspired by my painting, Only Through Time Time is Conquered, to a live audience. After the performance, I talked to several people, and they said they could see where the colors and the notes met on the painting. It was something they had never experienced.

I know many people are very afraid of AI, and I, too, see it as a tool that needs human oversight. It's not a means to an end. Still, it opened up many possibilities and enhanced my creative process. I don't know if I could have unlocked the musicality in my paintings in a real way without it.

Hear the sonata below:

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• Investors should be wary of coming Fed rate cuts, Black Swan investor Mark Spitznagel warned.
• That's because the Fed is only cutting rates in response to a weakening economy, Spitznagel told Reuters last week.
• The US could see a recession and major stock crash before rates head lower, he predicted.

Rate cuts by the Federal Reserve may not be the boon investors are hoping for. That's because the Fed is only likely to ease monetary policy when the economy is slammed with a recession and the market is flailing, according to famous "Black Swan" investor Mark Spitznagel.

In a recent interview with Reuters, the Universa Investments CIO cast a stark warning about stocks and the economy.

According to the CME FedWatch tool, investors are expecting one to two cuts to come in 2024, which are expected to be bullish for stocks. 

But the only way the Fed will cut rates is if central bankers see a significant weakening in the economy — meaning the US could see a downturn and a market plunge before interest rates come down, Spitznagel warned.

"Be careful what you wish for," Spitznagel told Reuters. "People think it's a good thing the Federal Reserve is dovish, and they're going to cut interest rates … but they're going to cut interest rates when it's clear the economy is turning into a recession, and they will be cutting interest rates in a panicked fashion when this market is crashing."

Most economists think the US is likely to avoid a recession this year, according to a survey conducted by the National Association of Business Economics. But high rates still threaten to spark a downturn by tightening financial conditions for businesses and households. The potential for an economic correction is especially stark when considering the huge amount of debt taken out over the last decade, when interest rates were ultra-low, Spitznagel said.

"This economy is built on low interest rates," he said. "There are lag effects when you reset interest rates like we had."

Spitznagel's hedge fund is known for its ultra-bearish takes on the market, counting "The Black Swan" author Nassim Taleb among its advisors. Both commentators have cast stark warnings for stocks and the economy over the past year, with Spitznagel in particular warning of one of the largest debt bubbles in history, which could spark the worst stock market collapse since 1929.

Universa's investment strategy is poised to gain on seemingly unpredictable Black Swan events. Famously, the fund pulled a 4,144% return on its investments during the pandemic stock crash. 

Most forecasters on Wall Street share a cautiously optimistic view of both stocks and the economy for the rest of this year, assuming that inflation continues to trend lower while the economy continues to grow. 38% of investors said they were bullish on stocks over the next six months, according to the AAII's latest Investor Sentiment Survey.

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Hello! Apparently, wealthy corporate climbers have a new obsession: a $7,000 chair. The Herman Miller Eames lounge chair and accompanying ottoman have become the pinnacle of status for a certain group of rich, young American men.

Now, onto the rest of this week's top stories.

On the agenda:

• Want to buy a sports team? Call these bankers.

• The Queen of Airbnb promised an easy windfall. Then it all came crashing down.

• How private equity sees profit in the business of educating autistic kids.

• Your favorite LinkedIn influencer might actually be a PR ghostwriter.

But first: Making sense of a big week of first-quarter results.

If this was forwarded to you, sign up here. Download Insider's app here.

This week's dispatch

Big Tech takeaways

Tesla, Meta, Microsoft, and Alphabet reported earnings last week. Here are the takeaways in 60 seconds.

Tesla: Q1 results were worse than expected, with the company missing both its profit and revenue estimates. But plans for a robo-taxi service and a more affordable model got investors excited for the future. That's a big bet that there are lots of drivers who want a Tesla but can't afford one.

Meta: Wall Street may have shown Tesla leniency, but Meta didn't enjoy the same leeway. Despite reporting better-than-expected first-quarter earnings, weak guidance for the second quarter and outsized AI investments spooked investors. Mark Zuckerberg preached patience.

Microsoft: AI spend was also the name of the game at Microsoft. The tech giant pledged to keep investing in the tech as demand for its AI and cloud services continued to rise.

Alphabet: Q1 results blew past expectations, notching a 15% year-over-year revenue bump. Alphabet also issued a $0.20 per share dividend — its first ever — joining its Big Tech peers like Microsoft, Apple, and Meta, in the dividend club.

How to buy a sports team

Thanks to a rush of billionaires looking to buy teams, investment banks up and down Wall Street are tripping over each other to work on sports deals.

With sports dealmaking on the rise, BI mapped out the top investment bankers — from the bulge brackets to the boutiques — helping steer these deals. The list includes top banks like Goldman Sachs, as well as smaller firms like The Raine Group.

Meet the top sports bankers.

Also read:

• 20 private-equity firms making big moves in sports as teams embrace outside investors

The cautionary tale of Tulsa's Queen of Airbnb

Post-pandemic, property manager Dani Widell promised investors an easy windfall from what was supposed to be Tulsa's Airbnb gold rush.

Instead, her Airbnb empire came crashing down — and her subjects were left to pick up the pieces.

Where things went wrong.

PE firm. New Story has purchased other local school chains, creating what it calls one of the largest special-education companies in the US.

To some, private equity's business model appears antithetical to special education. It's a concept that has former staff, researchers, and US senators worried.

How private equity is reshaping special education.

LinkedIn ghostwriting is booming

LinkedIn influencers are becoming more popular, with some amassing followings of millions of people. The platform's shift from uncool to in-demand has created a unique opportunity for crafty PR firms.

Some firms are offering executives — or "thought leaders" — ghostwriting and editorial services. In some cases, PR pros manage all aspects of an exec's LinkedIn presence, from writing to analytics.

Inside the world of LinkedIn ghostwriting.

This week's quote:

"I make it a point to visibly leave the office toward the end of the working day and to enforce strict rules around maximum working hours so that employees can enjoy work-life balance."

— Finnish CEO Samu Hällfors on running a company in the happiest country on earth.

More of this week's top reads:

• People who relocated and regretted it share the biggest mistakes they made.

• The "peak boomer" crisis might only get worse.

• A homebuyer's guide to the real-estate revolution.

• America's men are working at much lower rates than they used to.

• Jamie Dimon thinks he knows why people are so gloomy about the economy.

• China stopped taking our plastic. Now America is drowning in it.

  ---

  The Insider Today team: Matt Turner, deputy editor-in-chief, in New York. Jordan Parker Erb, editor, in New York. Dan DeFrancesco, deputy editor and anchor, in New York. Lisa Ryan, executive editor, in New York.

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• I moved back home after college and started a freelance business from my childhood bedroom.
• I love the freedom of remote work, but I worry I'm missing out on the professional world.
• This isn't the life I imagined for myself, but I'm making the best of it.

I began writing as a freelance journalist halfway through my degree when I was 20. This was mid-COVID, with the world shut down and lectures online. At the time, it seemed totally logical to build my career remotely. I'd ping off pitches, complete remote internships, and build my portfolio — all from the haven of my childhood bedroom, specifically from bed.

For context, my childhood room has no desk. And with my parents working from home, there was no quiet space to work apart from my bedroom. I'm on the extreme end of the Gen Z remote worker movement; I've quite literally built my career from under my covers.

I sometimes head out to my gym's café or local library and travel lots for work. But overall, you'll find me in that same spot when I'm home. It's comfortable, but I'm missing out on part of the professional world.

I can't deny the positives of my remote, freelance life

As a journalist living in the UK, I could be in a much more difficult financial situation. Luckily, I don't have the expense of living in London, the UK's main hub of journalism, because I live at home with my parents.

There's no doubt that I've saved tons of money. I'm in a stronger financial situation because I've been able to stay outside London, and I've still made some genuinely wonderful long-distance connections.

Secondly, I built my career entirely remotely, so nobody expects me to actually be anywhere. There's no entering negotiations over hybrid work agreements; I've been at my own location of choice from day one. This means I travel when I want and have no tedious commute.

I love the freedom that comes with remote working. In reality, I'm not curled up in a "bed office" all the time. This process has given me the flexibility to pick other unorthodox "offices" all over the world. Perhaps I wouldn't have taken that risk if I'd gone straight for an in-person role.

I have a nagging feeling I'm missing out on a huge part of the professional world

I'm feeling a bit left out of traditional career building, and I'm also feeling a sense of isolation and loneliness. Is it purely fear of missing out or a genuine sense of loss? I'm not too sure.

Gaining professional development and feedback has been an uphill battle; it's easier to learn and improve with that hand-me-down knowledge from senior staff. I missed out on those casually dropped pieces of golden wisdom over coffee breaks and computer screens.

I did manage to secure some great online internships to learn the ropes. But there's no denying that an in-person, full-time role would have been much more rewarding. In-person feedback and presence are just so valuable.

Looking at the abundance of work experience placements and on-the-job staff training available now, I have a slight tinge of regret. I'm also frustrated that I missed so much organic networking and friendship-building.

Networking is important because of how my career has developed

Most recently, I've started consciously trying to dress professionally for myself and work from an outside-my-four-walls location for a few hours a day. That's definitely shifted the loneliness.

I also make a point to attend industry events. I've got to be much more conscious of networking and socializing; otherwise, the days just slip away in my bedroom with no connections to show.

As an introvert, entering those networking events feels even more daunting as I know almost nobody. Instead of having team connections to fall back on, I'm constantly in free fall mode. I've missed out on having that safety net that most professionals develop in the workplace.

It's not the career progression I imagined for myself

Is it what I envisioned as a young teen? Was I scurrying around on coffee runs as I elbowed my way up the journalism ranks? Definitely not. Pinging emails off asking for internships while swinging my legs off my bed has been my reality instead. It didn't mirror that Hollywood trope that every young journalist secretly craves.

I've missed out on all the office dynamics, and there's no denying it; sometimes, staring at a laptop screen alone can feel like Groundhog Day.

Still, I'm grateful for the remote opportunities and freedom my career path has given me. I love jumping straight out of bed, boarding a plane, and sitting on a beach — all within a workday. I just have to remind myself to pencil in some industry events soon so I don't become a total recluse.

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• Real-estate investors Ray and Karen DeVite weren't sure what to do with land they bought in Xenia, Ohio.
• One night, Karen spotted a historic 1970s caboose on Facebook Marketplace and got inspired. 
• Now, the couple is budgeting at least $400,000 to build an Airbnb park for train enthusiasts.

One Ohio couple is all-in on ambitious project to turn historic train cabooses into short-term rental getaways.

Ray and Karen DeVite spoke to Business Insider about the project, which all began with a fateful Facebook Marketplace scroll. The couple had purchased land in Xenia, Ohio with the intention of developing it. One night, Karen was scrolling Facebook and by chance saw an advertisement for a historic train caboose.

"When I put in 'trains', I was just expecting to find some lights or lanterns," Karen told BI. "I sure wasn't expecting to find a full-sized caboose."

Now, the couple has a historic 1970's Chessie System caboose and 1950's Nickel Plate Road caboose, purchased from the same seller they found on Facebook.

As the short-term rental market becomes more competitive following the post-lockdown boom, middle-of-the-road offerings have fared worse in staying booked. Some hosts have turned to offering unique stays, like the DeVites, and highlight off-the grid experiences.

The DeVites unknowingly tapped into a massive community of train enthusiasts and have been connected with historic caboose fans through Facebook groups. They're expecting to host many of them once the cabooses are ready for overnight guests by the summer.

For those interested in pursuing similar projects, Ray's advice is to "just go for it."

"You can't anticipate everything, you just learn along the way," he said.

Here's how the project is unfolding:

The DeVites had some experience in real-estate investing, before purchasing a tract of land in Xenia, Ohio — located 20 minutes west of Dayton.

One night, Karen found a 1970's Chessie System train caboose for sale on Facebook marketplace. Initially, she was just looking for lights.

The couple immediately saw the potential for an Airbnb and bought the caboose in October 2023. They also picked up another historic 1950's caboose from the same seller.

With two on the lot, the DeVites are now budgeting at least $400,000 to flip and rent out five train cars altogether.

Renovating has not been easy for the two cabooses, which are around 400 square feet each.

Unexpected costs, like $16,000 for a "tap-in fee" for local water access, have piled up.

But the joy the cabooses bring has been infectious. When they were moved to the property on a tractor trailer, it felt like a special event. "You just don't see a train every day going through your neighborhood," Ray told BI.

Xenia is well-known for a network of paved bike trails, so the DeVites also hope to entice bike enthusiasts with the future rentals.

Renovation is underway in the Chessie System caboose. The DeVites hope to host their first guests this summer.

The Chessie System caboose includes a coupla, where there will be lofted beds. Stairs are being built into the storage space.

The couple is also trying to keep the cabooses as authentic looking as possible, while updating plumbing, heating, and air. Karen plans to decorate each space with train-themed items.

Eventually, the DeVites plan to list the cabooses for $150 to $200 per night on Airbnb.

The DeVites have already tapped into the train enthusiast community, who are anxious to stay on the premise. Some have already reached out to share their memories of different trains.

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• Mark Meadows has requested Supreme Court to recognize immunity for president's subordinates.
• He's criminally charged alongside Trump for a plot to erase Biden's electoral win in Georgia.
• One of Trump's own Supreme Court appointees seemed to draw the opposite conclusion.

Before the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in former President Donald Trump's immunity case, Mark Meadows tried to get his foot in the door.

The high court had agreed to decide whether former presidents can enjoy legal immunity from criminal charges for actions taken during their presidency.

Trump hoped that a decision would scuttle the indictment against him over his attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election — a result that now seems unlikely, even though the trial will likely be delayed until after the 2024 presidential election.

Meadows, a former Republican member of Congress, served as Trump's chief of staff in the final year of his White House administration. He was criminally charged alongside Trump in a separate case, brought by the Fulton County District Attorney's Office in Atlanta, over a plot to erase now-President Joe Biden's electoral victory in Georgia.

Judges have denied Meadows's attempts to move his criminal case to federal court, which could be more favorable legal territory. His lawyers have leaned on the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution, which protects the federal government from the meddling of state-level officials.

Despite the lower-court losses, Meadows nonetheless asked the Supreme Court to recognize that the president's subordinates should have immunity from criminal prosecution — in both federal or state-level cases — because they were just doing their job by following the president's instructions.

His lawyers said the court should recognize immunity for Meadows even if Trump himself doesn't have immunity.

"If the Court addresses or resolves the question whether a president may act in a non-official capacity while in office and thereby lose the protection of presidential immunity, the Court should make clear that its ruling does not reach the conduct of subordinate federal officials who, like Meadows, generally assisted the former President as part of their federal roles," his lawyers wrote in an amicus brief to the Supreme Court.

A Trump appointee had the opposite approach

In Thursday's hearings, the Supreme Court didn't directly take up the issue.

But Justice Neil Gorsuch — a Trump appointee to the court — seemed to draw the opposite conclusion.

In a series of questions to Trump's lawyer, John Sauer, Gorsuch indicated he believed that subordinates' liability was a helpful deterrent that would thwart presidents from committing crimes.

"If the president gives an unlawful order, call in the troops, all the examples we've heard, every subordinate beneath him faces criminal prosecution, don't they?" Gorsuch asked Sauer.

Sauer, citing historical arguments from the Constitutional Convention, agreed that "co-agitators" of the president "could be prosecuted" as long as the conduct fit a criminal statute.

"Oh, we've got lots of statutes," Gorsuch replied. "The criminal law books are replete. But, I mean, do you agree, is that one check that's available?"

As the thinking goes: Because the president's employees don't want to go to jail, it's hard for presidents to commit crimes, because their subordinates would refuse to do their unlawful bidding.

"The idea is, generally, if a president is doing something criminal, they're doing it through some kind of principal-agent relationship, they're not doing the deed themselves," Anthony Michael Kreis, a Constitutional law professor at Georgia State University, told Business Insider. "And so probably more often than not, there's going to be some kind of conspiracy-based crime."

George Terwilliger, an attorney representing Meadows, told Business Insider that Gorsuch was speaking about "orders from the president that could be discerned as unlawful on their face," which he said wasn't relevant to the amicus brief.

He pointed to another exchange from the hearing between Justice Department lawyer Michael Dreeben and a different Trump appointee, Justice Amy Coney Barrett. Barrett said a potential form of immunity could protect former presidents from state prosecutions rather than leaving too much discretion at the hands of the Justice Department.

"A lot of the protections that you're talking about are internal protections that the federal government has, protections in the Department of Justice, which obviously are not applicable at the many, many, many, many state and local jurisdictions across the country," Barrett said.

The issue came up a few other times in Thursday's hearing — all in instances where the justices seemed unsympathetic to the idea that government employees would have immunity for breaking the law.

They discussed a hypothetical scenario where a president ordered the military to assassinate a rival politician. Sauer said the president could be immune from criminal prosecution in such cases — a scenario the justices seemed uncomfortable with.

Justice Samuel Alito, another conservative appointee, said that SEAL Team Six would be "bound" by military rules "not to obey unlawful orders."

"One might argue that it is not plausibly legal to order SEAL Team Six — and I don't want to slander SEAL Team Six because, seriously, they are honorable," Alito said.

Fulton County prosecutors have alleged that Trump, Meadows, and more than a dozen other political allies played parts in a far-reaching conspiracy to convince Georgia state officials to hand Trump a false victory in the 2020 election.

The indictment specifically alleges that Meadows met with Georgia state and Republican party officials and Trump campaign lawyers while planning to stop the certification of Biden's win.

On one day, Meadows even traveled to Georgia to observe an audit even though the process was closed to the public, according to the indictment. A few days later, he texted an election official offering the assistance of the Trump campaign, the indictment says.

In the US Constitution, the president has no role in certifying electoral votes. And by appearing to act on behalf of the Trump campaign — rather than the White House — Meadows appeared to be acting in a private capacity rather than in his role as chief-of-staff, Kreis said.

Kreis told Business Insider that Meadows's request for "trickle-down immunity" was inconsistent with precedent, and with past cases where employees in the Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan administrations have been criminally convicted for actions they took while in office.

"I think as a society generally, too, we don't find it consistent with the rule of law to just say, 'I was just following orders, I didn't know,'" he said. "That's just not consistent, again with the rule of law, but it's also not consistent with past practices in history."

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• Joe Biden used his speech at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner to mock Donald Trump.
• "Yes, age is an issue. I'm a grown man, running against a six-year-old," Biden said.
• Biden has been using humorous and sarcastic jabs to ramp up his attacks on Trump.

Often referred to as Washington's "nerd prom," hundreds of journalists, politicians, and celebrities rubbed shoulders on Saturday evening at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner.

The evening often features a roast from the president that takes aim at reporters and other guests in the audience. But this year, Joe Biden used the speech to mock his Republican rival in the 2024 election race, Donald Trump.

"Yes, age is an issue. I'm a grown man, running against a six-year-old," Biden quipped, referring to concerns in the media about him being too old and mentally unfit to run for the presidency. Biden is 81. Trump is 77.

Biden then mocked Trump for falling out with his former vice-president, Mike Pence, who defied him over the 2020 election result and in March refused to endorse his former boss.

Biden said: "Age is the only thing we have in common. My vice-president actually endorses me."

The president also made comments about Trump's hush money trial taking place in New York, where he stands accused of falsifying business records to cover up a hush money payment to adult film performer Stormy Daniels.

He called his 2024 election opponent "sleepy Don," referring to reports that the former president had dozed off during court proceedings.

"Donald has had a few tough days lately," Biden said. "You might call it Stormy weather."

Biden's jokes offensive

Using humorous jabs against Trump at the White House Correspondents' dinner platformed a growing theme of Biden's reelection strategy as he ramps up his attacks on his 2024 opponent.

Trump has long used derogatory nicknames and wordplays against his political competitors. He dubbed Biden "sleepy Joe" and called Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, his main opponent in the Republican primaries, "Ron DeSanctimonious."

At the North America's Building Trades Unions Washington DC conference last week, where Biden received the union's endorsement, the president got personal with Trump when he joked, "Remember when he was trying to deal with COVID, and he said just inject a little bleach in your vein? He missed. It all went to his hair."

The Union audience stood and applauded, a report said. Biden added: "I shouldn't have said that."

The president's campaign has also referred to Trump, who claims he is a multibillionaire but struggled to pay a court-ordered $454m bond, as "Broke Don."

It appears to be a shift for Biden, who just a month ago refused to go further than referring to Trump as "my predecessor" in his State of the Union speech.

Trump responded to Biden's Saturday comments on his Truth Social platform, saying, "The White House Correspondents' Dinner was really bad. Colin Jost BOMBED, and Crooked Joe was an absolute disaster! Doesn't get much worse than this!"

Later in his White House Correspondents' speech, Biden also delivered some light-hearted jokes at the media's expense. "Some of you complained that I don't take enough of your questions. No comment," he chuckled.

He added: "The New York Times issued a statement blasting me for 'actively and effectively avoiding independent journalists'. Hey, if that's what it takes to get The New York Times to say I'm active and effective, I'm for it."

The president concluded his speech more seriously, urging the media to bear the implications of November's election in mind.

"Move past the horse-race numbers and the gotcha moments, and the distractions, the sideshows that have come to dominate and sensationalise our politics and focus on what's actually at stake," he said.

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• Saudi Arabia plans to open the first part of its Neom megaproject this year.
• Sindalah, an island resort, is aimed at a luxury clientele and the global yachting community.
• Saudi Arabia is pushing to distinguish itself in the high-end luxury market to compete with Dubai.

Saudi Arabia plans to open the first region of its Neom megacity by the end of the year.

The island of Sindalah will provide the first physical glimpse into the ambitious desert project, which has reportedly been scaled back from its initial plans due to financial struggles.

Developers say they want the island to be an "exclusive gateway to the stunning Red Sea," adding that they planned to cater to luxury clientele and the global yachting community.

Neom recently ended investor roadshows in China by confirming the luxury island resort would open this year, Arab News reported. It's set to have three luxury hotels, a golf course and sports club, beach club, marina, and dozens of restaurants and shops.

In January Marriott International said it had signed an agreement to bring Apartments by Marriott Bonvoy to Sindalah. Chadi Hauch of the hotel operator said the concept was a "great fit" for the island and reflected a "growing desire for premium and luxury apartment-style accommodation" from travelers.

The following month Saudi music entertainment company, MDLBEAST, announced it would operate the Sindalah Beach Club on the island.

Vives, Neom's chief urban planning and islands officer, said in a press release that Sindalah will be a "new model for luxury travel and living."

Capturing the luxury tourism market

The Saudi government's focus on the luxury market is an attempt to distinguish itself from nearby Dubai, part of the United Arab Emirates.

"Dubai goes for the mass market of people wanting to go and have fun in the winter," Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, a fellow for the Middle East at Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy, told Business Insider.

"The Saudis are increasingly pushing themselves toward a high-end luxury market, which is what Sindalah and, to some extent, some of the other Red Sea projects are going to cater for," he said.

Saudi Arabia hasn't been shy about its tourism aspirations, claiming it aims to attract between 100 million and 150 million visitors by 2030.

However, Dubai is a formidable competitor. It already has a 20-year head start in the tourism race, both in terms of infrastructure and aspirational appeal. It also has Emirates, the popular long-haul airline that brings tens of millions of people through Dubai annually.

If Neom's ambitious plans become a reality, the Saudis are betting that their megaprojects can attract some high-end travelers from the glitz and glamor of its neighbor.

Managing ambition

Developing luxury resorts like Sindalah may also help Saudi Arabia encourage tourism sooner by starting smaller.

Sindalah is one of the more realistic elements of Neom's futuristic plans. It pales in comparison to structures like the mirrored "horizontal skyscraper" known as The Line.

"It's less ambitious in scope and scale," Ulrichsen said. "That might mean that it's more realistic to open first."

Recent reports have indicated the Saudis may be facing a harsh reality when it comes to financing some of the megaprojects included in Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's Vision 2030 project.

Previous deadlines have already been pushed back for some of Neom's more ambitious projects.

Earlier this month, Bloomberg reported that the Gulf Kingdom had reduced estimates for the number of people expected to live in The Line.

The report said the realities of some of the trillion-dollar investments included in the Vision 2030 project were starting to cause alarm at the highest level of the country's government.

Neom did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

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• The US and China are in a race to develop the most advanced submarines.  
• Chinese researchers say they have made a breakthrough in laser propulsion technology that could one day be used on submarines and missiles.
• A laser propulsion expert at McGill University told Business Insider they see flaws in the claims. 

Submarines have long been known as the silent hunters of the deep, lurking undetected under the surface.

But as sonar systems have improved, minimizing sound on all on board components has become crucial to avoiding detection — not least the mechanical noises of propellers, generators, and nuclear reactor coolant systems that help propel submarines forward.

A team of engineers at China's Harbin University claim to have taken a step forward in developing technology that could make submarines almost silent and ultrafast, the South China Morning Post reported.

Rather than relying on nuclear or battery power, the scientists say they have found a way to use lasers to propel submarines — known as underwater laser propulsion.

Theoretically, submarines could be coated in a web of minuscule optical fibers that emit laser pulses, the scientists wrote in the journal Acta Optica Sinica.

The small laser pulses emitted by the fibers would vaporize seawater and generate plasma, the substance created when gas is heated.

In turn, the plasma would expand, creating a detonation wave that would act as an opposite force to the submarine, propelling it forward.

A large number of high-powered laser beams positioned around the submarine at various angles could produce nearly 70,000 newtons of thrust and would drive it forward at speeds almost as fast as a commercial jet, according to SCMP.

Ge Yang, the leading researcher on the project, said the technology could also be used on underwater missiles or torpedoes, "significantly increasing the underwater range," the outlet reported.

Stealth and speed

The team of scientists say this process would deliver not just speed but enhanced stealth as well.

Using lasers may also induce a process known as "supercavitation" — a coating of bubbles forms around an object in water, reducing drag resistance and making it travel faster.

This technology has already been used in Russian Shkval torpedoes since the 1970s, using rocket exhaust rather than laser power.

But Professor Andrew Higgins, who leads a team at McGill University developing laser propulsion technology for space travel, doesn't believe that lasers could be powerful enough to induce this "bubble" effect around torpedos, let alone submarines.

"Cavitation can be induced on the front of the torpedo by a spike or forward-facing rocket exhaust. I am doubtful a torpedo can carry enough of a power supply to power a laser that would continuously perform this operation," he told Business Insider.

And for a laser to produce enough thrust to propel an entire submarine?

"I am even more skeptical," Higgins said. "The average overall thrust is low and the jet power cannot exceed the power supply of the laser."

"Even with the high efficiencies of today's lasers, this approach would never be as efficient as a propeller, so there is no net propulsive gain."

As the SCMP notes, Japanese researchers first proposed this sort of laser propulsion methodology 20 years ago, but for decades the technology has only been able to produce thrust powers of one-millionth of a newton thrust.

Controlling the direction of the plasma detonation wave to steer the submarine is another issue.

The Chinese researchers say the unique design of the microcavities in the optical fibers has increased the efficiency of thrust and channels the direction of force, according to SCMP.

However, they admit there are many challenges to overcome before the technology can be applied to submarines.

Higgins says they also avoid a key issue in their claim that the technology would reduce noise — cavitation is an "acoustic dead giveaway."

"It would not be feasible or desirable to propel a nuclear submarine in this way."

"For nuclear submarines, acoustic stealth is the entire purpose, and great effort is expended in avoiding cavitation."

Race to advance military capabilities

While laser propulsion technologies for submarines remain in the theoretical stage for now, the US is locked in a race with China to develop advanced military capabilities.

Harbin University, where the researchers are based, is a hub of Chinese military development and is listed as "very high risk/top secret" in Australia's China Defense Universities Tracker.

According to the tracker, 52% of the university's total research budget was spent on defense research in 2018.

China currently operates 60 submarines, compared to the 67 operated by the US. But while US numbers are stagnating, China's submarine count is expected to rise to 80 by 2035.

China's navy is numerically the largest in the world, but analysts say it is not as technologically advanced and lacks experience compared to the US.

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• YouGov published a report about Americans' desire for luxury goods despite concerns over inflation.
• Future luxury shoppers are young parents with disposable income and an optimistic outlook.
• Respondents said they're more likely to pay for luxury goods in 2024 compared to 2021.

Young parents are becoming the face of luxury in America.

A report published this month by YouGov, a market research company, explored Americans' hunger for luxury goods and brands. The research and data analytics firm pulled data from its YouGov Profiles — which include more than 27 million global panel members — and its YouGov Brand Index.

"Luxury demand continues to skyrocket despite inflationary fluctuations," the SVP at YouGov America, Chris Melchiorre, said in a statement. "As more Americans purchase or consider purchasing luxury goods, luxury brands need a holistic understanding of their evolving and broadening customer segments."

In fact, the report found that more respondents in 2024 will likely buy a luxury good in the next 12 months than in 2021.

While most of the report discussed luxury consumer trends between 2021 and 2024, it also looked at future luxury buyers, defined as Americans who said they would purchase luxury goods during the next 12 months.

"Americans who are likely to buy luxury goods in the next 12 months are more likely than the general population to be aged 25-34, parents, and financially optimistic," YouGov found.

According to the report, 32% of future luxury buyers are between 25 and 34 years old.

The report also found that 47% of future luxury buyers are parents or guardians, and 26% have at least $5,000 in household disposable income. This cohort of future luxury buyers is also optimistic, with 53% expecting their housing situation to improve in the next 12 months.

As for what brands future luxury buyers look toward, the report ranked Gucci at No. 1, with 36% of that cohort indicating they're considering purchasing an item. Gucci is followed by Rolex, Dior, Tiffany & Co., and Louis Vuitton.

The insights come as economists and investors voice concerns over the United States economy. Business Insider reported this month that the country's growing debt costs could prompt a worrisome downfall, including higher inflation and a lower quality of life. Bank of America said the federal debt reached $34 trillion this January, and an estimate found that the United States will accumulate another $1 trillion in debt every 100 days.

Despite the current economic concerns, the YouGov report found that American luxury buyers aren't avoiding large price tags.

According to the report, 57% of luxury buyers spent up to $999.99 on luxury goods in 2023, while 30% spent between $1,000 and $9,999.99.

Just 3% spent more than $100,000 last year.

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