Author: openjargon

• A former program manager was placed on a performance improvement plan (PIP) at a major tech company.
• It was an unexpected wake-up call, but they did experience friction with a new manager beforehand.
• They saw the PIP as a kick in the butt and met the challenge but left by choice a few months later.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with a 36-year-old former program manager-turned-entrepreneur in San Francisco. The source's name and employment history are known to Business Insider but are not named to protect their privacy.

I worked at a large, household-name tech company in San Francisco for three years in two different roles — first in an HR function and then as a program manager on a team of five people.

Two years into my second role, I was placed on a performance improvement plan (PIP).

It was a wake-up call and very unexpected, but it became a turning point in my career.

Working at a top-tier tech company was amazing

Working for that company wasn't something I'd always envisioned for myself, but my roles felt purpose-driven and aligned with my goals, which were to be a catalyst for diversity and inclusion and to open doors into tech for communities of color.

The company has a very direct, results-oriented culture — excuses are not tolerated and excellence is the standard. This, combined with flawless execution at such a scale, created a unique vibe that I was drawn to and made it an honor to be part of the team.

Before I was placed on a PIP, I saw the warning signs

After returning from a conference, I was told that a senior leader wasn't happy with my demeanor. I felt out of place at the event while others were bonding, and it was hard for me to fake my emotions. No one shared feedback with me at the conference, but I knew that I hadn't been present mentally.

The company's workplace culture wasn't at its best at the time, and team morale was lower than it had been in previous months. I felt disconnected from the work and my team's mission.

An HR leader suggested I prepare my résumé, which I interpreted as meaning I could get fired. Instead, in a meeting soon after, my manager told me I was being placed on a performance improvement plan and requested that I document all my work moving forward, including weekly action items, meetings, and interactions in a weekly report tied to my next big conference project.

Fear and shame were my initial reactions. Taking responsibility for my mistakes was easy; the hard part was not dwelling on my disappointment or beating myself up over it.

Once the shock subsided, I gave myself an honest self-assessment. I decided to focus on what I could control and use this as an opportunity to improve my communication, focus, and work style.

I tried to view the PIP as an opportunity

I started working with a career coach to assess my work habits and uncover blind spots that were limiting my productivity — especially overcoming procrastination and understanding my communication style.

We crafted a plan around SMART goals and setting healthy boundaries, did exercises to help me navigate confrontation, and discussed ways I could improve task management.

As outlined in the PIP, I documented my progress and tracked my wins. I found it helpful to journal as much as I could each day and write down things I was proud of to help reinforce my confidence and sense of self-worth.

I also prioritized networking and building relationships. I volunteered for projects, participated in committees, and met with colleagues in different departments and peers at different companies. I told certain peers I was close with — and a few senior colleagues that I trusted — about my PIP.

My PIP was a much-needed kick in the butt, and I came out on top

I was on the PIP for about two months. I treated it like a challenge I was determined to overcome, but the anxiety caused significant weight loss. It was a mentally, emotionally, and physically demanding experience. My partner at the time noticed and was concerned for my well-being.

In the end, I wasn't terminated. After I completed the project, my manager gave me positive feedback.

Although I accept responsibility, I think a significant factor in my getting put on the PIP in the first place was miscommunication and a lack of alignment with my new manager, whom I began working under less than two years into my time at the company.

I struggled to adapt to department restructuring and didn't feel adequately supported. I really missed my original manager, who was a great mentor and someone I trusted.

Friction with my new manager was difficult to overcome

My new manager and I had different work styles, which sometimes led to friction. The turnaround times for my new manager's deadlines were aggressive to me, and I missed a couple in the early stages of them joining the team, which didn't set the right impression.

The team was pretty lean at this point, and we had a lot of internal organizations that needed stakeholder management. My manager instructed that I take on the added workload in addition to my other projects, and I didn't feel equipped to do this effectively. It felt like my scope was rapidly increasing, and my performance was being rigorously tied to a new set of key metrics overnight.

I learned that this is what can happen when new leadership comes in and sets a new tone for a team. I wasn't prepared for the abrupt shift in pace.

To cope, I leaned more on my side hustle, which fueled me creatively but also impacted my work performance at times. Tapping more into my side business while enduring the rocky workplace culture made me less motivated to go the extra mile at my job.

Looking back now, I understand and appreciate my new manager's changes even though they were uncomfortable at the time. Our dynamic after the PIP was pleasant, but the circumstances left me feeling confused and more guarded than I wanted to feel when reporting to someone.

My PIP experience ultimately left me feeling disheartened

Being put on a PIP solidified the reality that employees are expendable. I left the company on my own terms about two months after my PIP ended. The PIP wasn't the sole reason, but it did accelerate my thinking.

I got a new job at another company as a program manager. My PIP didn't come up in my interview and wasn't a factor, even with the references I gave.

The PIP made me realize the importance of prioritizing mental health and personal development

After going through the initial trauma of the PIP, I learned to confront the areas of my life that needed improvement so I could perform at the highest level possible. It wasn't a pleasant experience, but it gave me a clear road map for improvement and lessons I can share with others.

My PIP experience also solidified the importance of having multiple income streams by highlighting the vulnerability of relying solely on a salaried position. I continued to develop my side hustle, which eventually became my current full-time venture.

Today, I navigate conflict with tenacity and a more positive mindset. Instead of dwelling on the negatives when things go sideways, I focus on the skills I can develop to lead to a better outcome.

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• North American downtowns struggle as remote work continues to dominate the white-collar workforce.
• A University of Toronto study reveals a gradual uptick in downtown foot traffic.
• Downtowns are looking to transition into mixed-use districts and ease their dependence on offices.

As remote work cements its grip on the white-collar workforce, North American downtowns are working to fight off a downward spiral.

Many are attempting the transition from office-only districts to mixed-use neighborhoods with new residents and businesses. But breathing new life into areas dominated by half-empty office buildings is proving challenging.

The largest North American downtowns have generally seen a gradual uptick in foot traffic over the last year, according to a newly updated report from the University of Toronto analyzing anonymized cellphone data.

Many cities are working to turn vacant offices into homes, give restaurants and other businesses tax breaks to move downtown, and otherwise turn office districts into vibrant neighborhoods. But it takes time.

"Downtowns are going through this painful transformation to 24/7 social districts from being office districts," said Karen Chapple, the director of the School of Cities at the University of Toronto and the author of the downtown recovery study.

The researchers found that while most cities have seen their office occupancy stagnate, they've seen an uptick in nighttime and weekend activity.

"You've got a really striking picture of many cities where weeknights and weekends are completely back to normal, but the overall recovery rate is being dragged down by the working-hour activity, which is still slow," Chapple said.

Overall, the rate of new downtown activity between March 2023 and February 2024 has slowed and even fallen in some cities. Overall, the median rate of change over the last year was 9.3%, and 50 of the 64 downtowns saw increased activity, the researchers found.

"So many of them have just sort of stagnated in their recovery," Chapple said. The data aligns with office building vacancy rates, she said.

The University of Toronto researchers, along with the Institute of Governmental Studies at UC Berkeley, have been analyzing foot traffic since January 2020 to understand how downtowns are coping with the impacts of the pandemic. Chapple said it will likely take years for many downtowns to attract the numbers they had pre-pandemic. Some probably never will.

"2022 was a big upswing year," she said. "And then in 2023, that upswing slowed dramatically, and in 2024 it's slowing even more because we've reached what people are calling the new normal."

Pandemic-induced remote work has exacerbated the decline of many downtowns that were struggling long before COVID-19 hit, and threatens to send many others into a so-called "urban doom loop." As offices empty and residents leave, experts warn that declines in tax revenue could force the government to cut funding for municipal services, from schools to mass transit.

Certain downtowns haven't seen much progress over the last year. San Francisco, for example, has kept its spot in last place for downtown activity, seeing a 21.6% decline in foot traffic over the last year. But others — including several Midwestern cities that struggled in the last few years — have seen their activity levels tick up. Minneapolis is ranked in first place: the Minnesota city has seen a 45.3% increase in foot traffic since March of last year. Chicago, Louisville, and Cincinnati are also among the top 10 fastest-growing downtowns.

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• Gold prices have hit record highs, thanks to global uncertainties and expectations of central bank rate cuts.
• China's consumers and its central bank are snapping up gold, even as a falling yuan makes the metal pricier.
• Other central banks around the world are also buying gold to diversify their holdings.

China's economy isn't in a great place and its currency is floundering. The tumult is sending prices of gold, considered a safe-haven asset, skyrocketing.

Spot gold prices have recently hit record highs — above $2,400 an ounce — thanks to global demand on the back of economic and geopolitical uncertainties. Expectations of central bank interest rate cuts also boost gold's appeal, since the yields on fixed-income assets like bonds typically fall as rates go down.

In China, consumers are dealing with an economy that is struggling to recover post-pandemic and a weak yuan that has fallen about 5% against the US dollar over the last year. This makes gold — which, like most internationally-traded commodities, is denominated in the US dollar on the global market — even more expensive for the Chinese consumer. But consumers and China's central bank can't get enough gold.

Even Gen Z investors in China are getting into the trend as they buy up tiny bottles of "gold beans," Bloomberg reported last month. They're looking for alternatives to China's stock markets, which have been flailing over the last few years.

China's central bank has also been buying up gold, in much larger quantities than Gen Z's few grams of beans.

The People's Bank of China, or PBOC, has been snapping up gold for 17 straight months, with its holdings of the precious metal rising 16% over this period, according to a report from the international trade association World Gold Council. This buying spree coincides with a trend among central banks globally to diversify their holdings to reduce their reliance on the US dollar.

In 2023, China's central bank bought 225 tons of gold, per the World Gold Council. Last month, China's gold reserve rose by 5 tons, taking the country's total stash to 2,262 tons.

China has overtaken India as the world's largest gold buyer

Since China is now home to swarms of gold bugs, the country has decidedly overtaken India as the world's largest buyer of the commodity. The two economies have been jostled in the top spots for years, but China's buying spree last year put India behind.

Last year, China's demand for gold jewelry rose 10%, to 630 tons acquired, while India's purchases fell 6%, to 562 tons, according to the World Gold Council. US consumers were a far third place, buying just 136 tons of gold jewelry in 2023.

It's not just China. World Gold Council data shows other central banks, including Poland and Singapore, have also been snapping up gold to hedge against global economic uncertainties.

India's central bank bought 16.2 tons of gold last year. The US did not add any gold to its reserves. However, the US already has the world's largest gold holdings, with about 8,134 tons of the precious metal — far more than second-place Germany, which holds 3,352 tons of the commodity.

Despite the gold rush, Georgette Boele, an economist at Dutch bank ABN AMRO, warned about going all-in on the commodity amid record-high prices in an April 15 note.

"The trend in gold prices is positive and the sky seems to be the limit. However we remain cautious," wrote Boele.

She highlighted a seeming paradox in the market: High US interest rates would typically keep gold prices muted, but the opposite is happening.

"Even though these changes have occurred in the past, they tend to be temporary in nature meaning that they could last around three to six months," wrote Boele.

Lofty gold prices now doesn't mean there's a supply crunch, she wrote.

"The amount of central bank buying is not justifying gold prices at current levels," she wrote. Based on that assessment, she said she's keeping her forecast of $2,000 per ounce of gold at the end of 2024, below the current going rate around $2,400.

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• Ukraine may face more attacks from Russia even though US aid �is on its way, says the ISW.
• The ISW says Russia can "take advantage of the limited window before the arrival of new US aid."
• The House finally passed more than $60 billion of aid to Ukraine after months of delays.

The House of Representatives might have finally approved more than $60 billion in aid to Ukraine, but the country could still face increased attacks from Russia in the meantime, says the Institute for the Study of War.

"The frontline situation will therefore likely continue to deteriorate in that time, particularly if Russian forces increase their attacks to take advantage of the limited window before the arrival of new US aid," the ISW wrote in a report on Saturday.

The passage of the Ukraine aid bill was delayed for months due to staunch opposition from House Republicans. The legislative package was finally passed by the House on Saturday, with 112 Republicans voting against it.

The bill, however, will still need to be approved by the Senate and signed by the president before the aid can reach Ukraine.

"These requirements and the logistics of transporting US materiel to the frontline in Ukraine will likely mean that new US assistance will not begin to affect the situation on the front line for several weeks," the US think tank wrote.

Ukraine, the ISW said, would "suffer additional setbacks in the coming weeks," though they should still be able "to blunt the current Russian offensive assuming the resumed US assistance arrives promptly."

Although the US started out as a huge backer of Ukraine, support for the war effort has faltered, in part due to GOP opposition.

Republicans had repeatedly blocked attempts by the Biden administration to send aid to Ukraine, arguing that the money could be better spent addressing America's domestic problems.

US assistance would provide Ukraine with a critical lifeline as it grapples with an invigorated Russian army. On April 10, US Army Gen. Christopher Cavoli said in a House Armed Services Committee hearing that the Russian army "is actually now larger — by 15 percent — than it was when it invaded Ukraine."

"The severity of this moment cannot be overstated: If we do not continue to support Ukraine, Ukraine could lose," said Cavoli, who is also NATO's Supreme Allied Commander in Europe.  

Representatives for Russia's defense ministry didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider sent outside regular business hours.

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• Tesla cut car prices in the US, China, and Europe after sales fell.
• The company also reduced its software price by a third in the US.
• The company's challenges include disappointing delivery numbers, layoffs, and Cybertruck recalls.

Tesla is trying to win back customers with cheaper cars and software.

The electric vehicle maker cut prices in key markets, including the US, China, and Europe, over the weekend, as it faces falling sales and intensifying competition.

The company also slashed the price of its driver-assistance software, Full Self Driving, by one-third, to $8,000 in the US.

The changes come just before the EV manufacturer is set to report first-quarter earnings on Tuesday. Profit margins have fallen dramatically when Tesla has dropped prices in the past.

Tesla lowered prices for most of its US cars, cutting the costs for the Model Y, X, and S by $2,000, Reuters reported.

In the US, the cheapest Model Y and the Model X — both SUVs — are being offered at their lowest prices. The best-selling Model Y now starts at $42,990, per Tesla's website.

The company didn't change the price for the new Cybertruck or the Model 3 sedan.

"Tesla prices must change frequently in order to match production with demand," CEO Elon Musk wrote on X on Sunday.

Tesla reported disappointing first-quarter deliveries earlier this month and went through a messy 10% global layoff last week. The company also saw the departure of two key executives, one who oversaw electrical engineering and another focused on business development. On Friday, Tesla recalled nearly 4,000 Cybertrucks because of faulty accelerators.

The recent challenges have caused headaches for Musk, who postponed a planned trip to India to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

He's also facing a big vote in June on his pay. Musk's $56 billion pay package was voided by a Delaware judge in January and shareholders will be asked to re-vote on the compensation at the annual meeting, the company said in a statement.

Tesla's stock is down over 40% year-to-date. Investors are concerned about slow sales amid high-interest rates and intensifying competition from EV makers in China.

Even Musk's recent announcement to launch a robotaxi in August failed to calm investors last week.

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• Elon Musk wanted Tesla to reduce its workforce by one-fifth, Bloomberg reported.
• Musk wanted the layoffs to match the drop in quarterly vehicle deliveries. 
• Tesla delivered 386,810 cars in the first quarter of 2024, a 20.1% drop from the last quarter.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk at one point wanted the EV giant to trim its workforce by 20%, Bloomberg reported on Sunday, citing a person familiar with the matter.

The reduction, Musk reasoned, should match the reduction in vehicle deliveries between the fourth quarter of 2023 and the first quarter of 2024, per Bloomberg.

Earlier this month, Tesla said it delivered 386,810 cars in the first quarter of 2024, a 20.1% drop from the previous quarter. The delivery drop was the company's lowest quarterly performance since 2022.

Musk had announced a round of mass layoffs at Tesla last week. In his memo to staff, the billionaire said the company is slashing "more than 10%" of its head count.

"Over the years, we have grown rapidly with multiple factories scaling around the globe," Musk wrote. "With this rapid growth, there has been duplication of roles and job functions in certain areas."

Before the layoffs, Tesla said it employed more than 140,000 people globally.

Besides declining sales, the company has grappled with increased competition from Chinese car companies like BYD. Back in January, Musk had told investors in an earnings call that Chinese automakers "are the most competitive car companies in the world."

Tesla's growing troubles have raised questions about Musk's ability to run multiple businesses simultaneously. Besides leading Tesla, Musk also has his hands full with other ventures like SpaceX, The Boring Company, Neuralink, X, and xAI.

But, Musk has maintained that the layoffs were necessary to keep Tesla "lean innovative, and hungry for the next growth phase cycle," per his memo to staff last week.

"There is nothing I hate more, but it must be done," he wrote.

Representatives for Tesla didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from BI sent outside regular business hours.

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• An AI Salvador Dalí is now taking questions at The Dalí Museum.
• The AI Dalí can answer questions about his work and was created using OpenAI's GPT-4.
• The use of AI to recreate the likeness of celebrities raises ethical questions about consent.

Salvador Dalí is now a lobster phone call away.

The Dalí Museum in Florida recently unveiled a copy of Dalí's "Lobster Telephone" sculpture that allows visitors to call an AI version of the famous artist.

The robo-Dalí can answer questions about his paintings and prints when people speak into the receiver, according to a YouTube video from the museum.

"For years, people have attempted to understand my work, trying to find meaning in this real, to make sense of the dreams of a historic genius," the AI Dalí says in the video. "But how can anyone possibly know what is inside the burning mind of Salvador Dalí? No, they simply cannot. They are mere mortal human beings. But now, I can tell you."

AI Dalí explains that he came into being using a large language model and a recreation of his voice — though he also clarifies that this is far beyond his understanding.

Goodby Silverstein & Partners, the ad agency behind the crustacean-themed phone, used information about Dalí sourced from OpenAI's GPT-4 and voice samples from archival interviews to put together a convincing-sounding Dalí dupe, the company shared with Business Insider.

In the video demo, actors asked about Dalí's art ("Why are the clocks melting?") or his quirky, upturned mustache. Martin Pagh Ludvigsen at Goodby Silverstein & Partners told Business Insider that since the museum unveiled the phone on April 11, Dalí has been fielding between 400-500 questions a day.

What Ludvigsen found from analyzing Dalí's answers is that real visitors will ask the artist just about anything — even love advice.

"Any question about love will go back to his love for his wife, Gala," Ludvigsen said.

Business Insider tested the bot by asking it questions about Dalí's artwork. The bot speaks with grandiose, flowery language, often injecting references to surrealism, dreams, life, and death — subjects the real Dalí explored on the canvas.

Dalí also revealed that he is not a frequent reader of this publication.

"Business Insider, you say? I sip from the cup of imagination, not from the trough of market fluctuations. When I seek to understand the world, it is the surreal, not the stock exchange, that whispers its secrets," Dalí said.

There are some limitations to its accuracy. Because of its guardrails, it tends to be more upbeat than the real Dalí may have been in certain situations, Ludvigsen said.

There's also the issue of AI hallucination — where models spit out answers that have no basis in reality. Ludvigsen pointed out, however, that hallucinations can work in their favor, considering the real Dalí's mind often worked outside reality.

AI has become a popular tool for businesses and fans to recreate the likeness of well-loved celebrities, alive or dead. Some celebrities are enthusiastically on board. Still, it raises ethical questions about those who cannot consent.

Recently, South By Southwest attendees got to speak to an AI chatbot of famed actor Marilyn Monroe. Although Monroe's estate signed off on using her likeness, we'll never know if Monroe herself would have wanted to be used for an AI demonstration at a festival in Texas.

And on Friday, artist Drake used the AI voice of celebrated rapper Tupac Shakur in a diss track aimed at Kendrick Lamar.

Ludvigsen told BI that he and his team had thought through this ethical quandary — and continue to consider it as other clients express interest in replicating the experience with different artists.

"If we were to recreate another artist this way, I would want to make sure that we could point to evidence in their writings or their art or even maybe their foundations — whatever they have left behind — that this is something this artist would want us to do," Ludvigsen said.

As for whether Dalí would approve of his likeness being used, AI Dalí told BI that becoming digitized is a "splendid metamorphosis."

And Dalí scholar Elliott King told NPR he believes the late artist may enjoy knowing his voice will live on through his lobster phone.

"He was so interested in scientific advancements," King told the publication. "I think that he would have been really tickled by people talking into this lobster phone."

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• Job seekers can optimize their LinkedIn usage by treating their profile like a résumé.
• LinkedIn can be seen as a library of other professional résumés that candidates can use to compare themselves to.
• Maintaining a dynamic profile and sharing content increases chances of being spotted by recruiters.

For most job-seekers and recruiters alike, LinkedIn plays a huge role in the recruiting process.

Employees have plenty of reasons to take a peek at their profiles, even for those not actively looking for a new role. Nearly a quarter of US workers surveyed by Gallup last year worried their jobs will be replaced by technology. With layoffs hitting across industries and companies taking huge bets on AI, survival efforts like upskilling, networking, and revamping online profiles are more important than ever.

Some career experts liken LinkedIn to a living, breathing CV, while others say they spend longer on a candidate's LinkedIn profile than on their résumé.

LinkedIn's job posts are the obvious first stop for those looking for a new role. But there are other ways you can leverage the platform in your next career move.

One strategy is to follow the companies you'd like to work for to stay in the loop about job openings, company news, and industry trends, Nick Shah told Business Insider. Shah is the founder of Peterson Technology Partners, a 26-year-old tech staffing agency based in Park Ridge, Illinois. A spokesperson said the company placed over 300 people in the past year and screens about 1,000 candidates monthly.

Shah shared three other ways candidates can optimize LinkedIn to stand out to hiring managers.

1. Treat your LinkedIn profile like a résumé

People are used to enhancing their résumés to stand out in employers' keyword-searching software. Add those phrases to your LinkedIn profile too, because recruiters look for candidates by typing in industry-related keywords, Shah said.

"Candidates should include relevant keywords in the 'About' section and their last job experience position details," he said. "No place is considered off-limits for keywords. If you can get a recruiter's attention with the right skills mentioned in your LinkedIn profile and back it up with technical expertise, you are doing it right."

He said that one of his recruiters found a security architect who, in his title, described his background in cloud security and artificial intelligence, and specified his certifications. In his skills section, he listed his focus within cybersecurity and his Microsoft Office and cloud proficiencies.

Shah said these keywords helped the recruiter spot that the candidate was a right fit for the client — and he'll likely receive an offer soon.

2. Use it for healthy comparisons

LinkedIn is a library of professional profiles.

"To make your profile stand out and get noticed by recruiters, it can be helpful to compare it to profiles of people working at companies you admire," Shah said.

By comparing their LinkedIn page to yours, you can find gaps in your own profile information and skills you might consider developing, Shah said. Keep a close eye on your work experiences section, which should include clear and succinct examples of your work, and result metrics.

3. Make yourself visible 

Regularly share content and engage with posts from your network. This engagement increases your chances of being spotted by recruiters and hiring managers, Shah said.

Candidates can post articles on the platform or contribute to the newer "collaborative article" tool, which allows users to share under a LinkedIn-created prompt.

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• Elon Musk teased details about a cheaper Tesla model just a few months ago.
• Bloomberg reported Tesla has shifted to robotaxis, which Musk said will be revealed in August.
• The change in priority comes as Tesla reports slow sales and decline in revenue.

If EV consumers were looking for a cheaper Tesla in the immediate future, that hope may have to be put on hold for now.

Bloomberg reported that the company's priorities have changed, shifting away from a mass-market $25,000 Tesla to robotaxis, which Elon Musk said will be unveiled in August.

The pivot comes after Tesla's disappointing earnings report, which revealed a 20% decline in vehicle deliveries for the first quarter. Bloomberg reported that the company is also expected to report a 40% decline in operating profit and its first revenue decline in four years on Tuesday.

In response, Musk is reducing head count at his company by 10% and betting on robotaxis to give Tesla a much-needed boost.

Musk announced on X at the beginning of April that Tesla plans to reveal its first robotaxi in August, which will likely require some significant advancements to the automaker's FSD software.

Currently, Tesla's so-called Full Self-Driving technology can allow a vehicle to change lanes automatically, self-park, and enter a highway, among other features. However, it still requires full-time supervision of a driver. The automaker is also facing several lawsuits related to the software.

Tesla hasn't revealed many official details on what the robotaxi will look like. Still, Musk has offered various statements on his vision of the company's autonomous cab, including removing human-oriented controls such as mirrors, pedals, and steering wheels. He also said that Tesla owners could turn their vehicles into a robotaxi, earning them up to $30,000 annually.

But the Tesla CEO has made some grand promises about robotaxis before. In 2019, Musk said the company would have a million autonomous cabs on the road within the next year, a claim that was met with much skepticism and never materialized. The company hasn't rolled out any autonomous cabs nor received government approval to test such vehicles on public roads.

Sources familiar with the company's plans told Bloomberg that it's all hands on deck for robotaxis.

One source told the outlet the timeline for a prototype rollout and production capacity for robotaxis is getting priority over a cheaper Tesla model.

The pivot is a marked shift in focus for Musk and the company.

In December, Musk was teasing details about a $25,000 Tesla, saying the company was "quite advanced" in its work on the car and that it would be "not like any car production line that anyone's ever seen."

For now, the cheaper Tesla appears to have been put on the back burner. Reuters reported in early April that sources familiar with the company's plans said that the $25,000 model is dead. Musk has denied that report, and sources even disputed the claim to Bloomberg.

Either way, analysts have said that Musk's bet on robotaxis is risky and the Tesla leader should be focused on delivering a cheaper electric car — a big demand among US drivers looking to make the transition.

Wedbush analysts even wrote that it's "crucial" for Tesla to deliver a cheaper model within the next 18 months.

A Tesla spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

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• The fledgling lab-grown meat industry is being dragged kicking and screaming into the culture wars.
• GOP politicians in four states have passed or are considering bans on "cell-cultured" food products.
• But industry insiders say their products, while disruptive, aren't meant to be political.

Move over, electric vehicles and gas stoves: A new product is taking center stage in the culture wars.

In recent months, Republican politicians have taken aim at lab-grown meat — also called "cell-cultured" or "cultivated" proteins — seeking to criminalize its production and distribution before the companies creating the products can get to market.

And with the industry in its infancy, the GOP lawmakers are trying to strangle it in its crib by manufacturing a philosophical wedge to keep consumers away.

"They blame agriculture for global warming. I know the legislature is doing a bill to try to protect our meat — You need meat, OK? We're gonna have meat in Florida," Gov. Ron DeSantis said during a February press conference announcing an investment in rural broadband access, where he also vocalized his support of SB1084, a proposed law in Florida to ban cultured meat.

"We're not going to have fake meat; that doesn't work," DeSantis continued. "So we're gonna make sure to do it right. But there's a whole ideological agenda that's coming after a lot of important parts of our society."

Despite DeSantis' insistence that cultured meats are a cultural issue, the manufacturers certainly don't see it that way.

"There's nothing about cultivated meat that is a conservative or a liberal thing," said Josh Tetrick, CEO of GOOD Meat — a cultivated meat company with the largest market share of the global industry so far. "It has nothing to do with either party."

SB1084 passed both houses of the state legislature and was submitted for review by the governor on March 6. A spokesperson for DeSantis told Business Insider the governor "will review the legislation in its final form once it is delivered to our office" and pointed to his February remarks about the statewide ban on cell-cultured proteins.

Meanwhile, across the country, part of a bill introduced by Arizona state Rep. David Marshall reads, "Cattle are one of the five foundational pillars that have driven Arizona's economy since territorial days," adding that "this legislation is necessary to protect Arizona's sovereign interests, history, economy, and food heritage."

Other red-state politicians are also responding to the threat to their red meat, including Alabama State Sen. Jack Williams and Tennessee State Rep. Bud Hulsey, who have supported or proposed legislation to ban cultivated meat in their states.

Representatives for Marshall, Williams, and Hulsey did not respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.

An FDA official told Business Insider that manufacturers must ensure foods meet all applicable federal requirements from the FDA and USDA before entering the US market. So far, only a handful of lab-grown meats have met these requirements.

"The FDA continues to support innovation in food technologies, resulting in more choices for consumers in the marketplace while also prioritizing the safety of food produced through both new and traditional methods," the official said, adding the agency "did not have any questions about the safety of the cell-cultivated food produced using the process evaluated by FDA."

They're 'using cultivated meat as a cudgel — and it's just silly'

While the fledgling business of cultured meats has the potential to reduce the need to slaughter animals for protein, diminish the environmental impact of factory farming, and disrupt the livestock industry as we know it, insiders working on bringing the lab-grown products to market say the innovations are anything but political.

Their relative market share to meat industry giants like Cargill and Foster Farms and production capacity also remains far too small to represent any kind of threat to traditional livestock farming, industry insiders told Business Insider.

But that hasn't stopped lawmakers from targeting the industry, much to the dismay of those trying to bring their products to market.

"The past century of US prosperity has been driven by free market policies, and it's disappointing to see legislators move against what has driven the US to be the largest economy on the planet," George Peppou, CEO of Vow, which sells its cultivated meat product in Singapore, told BI. "Let the market decide with their own wallets, not legislators."

"There's no question there's an attempt to create this right-left division using cultivated meat as a cudgel — and it's just silly," said Tetrick, whose GOOD Meat has sold less than 5,000 pounds of its cultivated chicken protein since it received approval to sell in Singapore in 2020.

"We find it pretty hypocritical because, in a lot of these states, there's a beating of the chest about free market capitalism and the American way," he said. "But in the middle of beating their chests, they're saying, 'except when it comes to something that would potentially harm an industry that I rely on for donations.'"

According to OpenSecrets, Greener Pastures, a poultry farming company, donated $100,000 to DeSantis in 2022, just one major donation out of the $1,700,118 the governor received from various agricultural businesses that year.

Alabama Sen. Williams, whose bill, which passed in February, makes it a Class C felony to manufacture, sell, or distribute cultivated meat in his state, accepted $11,000 worth of agribusiness donations in 2022, including $2,500 from the poultry and egg industry, the political donation watchdog found.

Representatives for DeSantis and Williams did not say whether their campaign backers from the farming industry influenced their perspectives on banning lab-grown meats.

GOOD Meat received USDA approval to sell its product in the United States in June 2023 and is one of just two companies creating cultured meat to receive the green light thus far. Representatives for the other company, Upside Foods, declined to comment for this article.

Tetrick told BI the bans are just a stumbling block for companies like his as they grow. "And we think they'll get struck down anyway," he said.

While it can be frustrating to navigate individual states attempting to negate a federal agency's approval, some in the industry think the attempts to ban their products are a sign they're doing something right.

"If you put energy into banning something that doesn't even exist on the market, this is amazing — it means that it's going to be huge," Roman Lauš, founder and CEO of Mewery, a Czech food tech startup working on developing cultured pork that does not yet have approval in the US, told BI.

"But I would say it's a political decision, and politicians should basically not interfere with the food safety business; they should let the customers decide what they want to eat," he added. "If the USDA and FDA approve these kinds of foods, I would say this is the highest authority in the whole country, and their word should be followed."

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