Author: openjargon

• Russian President Vladimir Putin made his first to North Korea in 24 years.
• Putin gifted North Korean leader Kim Jong Un a second Aurus Senat limousine during the visit.
• Putin uses an Aurus as his official state car.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un took a Russian-made Aurus Senat limousine for a spin during the Russian President's first visit to Pyongyang in 24 years.

The drive offered the leaders an opportunity to showcase their strengthening relationship, which Kim said on Wednesday had reached "a new high of alliance."

Video footage shared on Telegram showed Putin behind the wheel of the Aurus, which he also gifted to his North Korean counterpart, Russian state media reported, citing Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov.

Putin gifted another luxury Aurus to Kim in February of this year, adding to the leader's large collection of luxury vehicles, which also includes a Maybach, a Mercedes-Benz, and a Rolls Royce — all of which were likely smuggled into the country in violation of UN sanctions, Reuters reported.

Putin is also said to have gifted Kim a tea set and a dagger during his recent visit.

In return, Kim presented Putin with artworks, which Ushakov hinted were "related to the image" of the president.

Russia's answer to "The Beast"

The Aurus Senat was unveiled in 2018 by the State Research Center of the Russian Federation. It is used as Putin's official state car.

According to the Aurus Motors website, the Senat limousine is "the embodiment of the dignity and power inherent in the Russian character. A car that combines excellent driving performance, immaculate comfort and unrivalled passenger safety."

The vehicle is powered by a 598 horsepower, 4.4-liter, twin-turbo V-8 engine and can go from 0 to 60 mph in six seconds. It has a top speed of around 155 mph.

Like the US president's Cadillac state car — which is nicknamed "The Beast" — the Russian Senat is bulletproof and bombproof. The Aurus can also be fully submerged in water and has steel-reinforced tires.

The Aurus Motors website describes the Aurus Senat as "the most protected luxury car in the world."

In 2021, Reuters reported that an Aurus with basic features would cost 18 million rubles, which is just over $200,000 today.

A senior Russian official said last month that Russia would start producing Aurus cars at a former Toyota factory in Saint Petersburg later this year, Russian state news agency TASS reported.

In September 2022, Toyota announced that it had decided to stop vehicle production in its Saint Petersburg plant "due to the interruption in supply of key materials and parts."

• Employment for software developers has dipped from pre-pandemic levels.
• Landing high-paying tech jobs could take longer.
• Glassdoor's Daniel Zhao said it could be tough "finding a job that pays as well" for experienced developers.

You're not going to be able to write a few lines of code to solve this problem.

A new ADP Research Institute report shows employment for software developers has declined from January 2018. Data elsewhere show fewer opportunities for people to fill software development and tech roles after the US labor market is no longer as hot as it was a few years ago.

"The tech job market has undeniably slowed since the end of 2022, cooling after a few years of rapid hiring during the pandemic recovery," Daniel Zhao, Glassdoor's lead economist, said in a written statement. "Rising interest rates, the end of pandemic-era trends and a slowing economy overall has crimped demand for tech workers."

"That being said, employment in the tech sector has fallen less than 2% since its peak in December 2022 and is still 21% higher than March 2020," Zhao said.

Nela Richardson, ADP's chief economist, told Business Insider that the software developer isn't "an out-of-date occupation," but it could take longer to land work given it has "become a very efficient occupation" where fewer workers are likely needed.

"You may not, as a young tech worker in this industry, get recruited straight away out of university or learn straight away from your first job, or that there may have to be a little bit more grinding, a little bit more of a normal labor market in terms of new hires," she said.

The change in software developer employment could partly be attributed to changes in consumer spending during the pandemic. "There was a slowdown in software developer hires in 2020, and then we had a couple bounce backs, and I think that's reflective of how the pandemic really spurred this increase into digital service offerings," Richardson said.

Job-search platform Indeed has its own running index of job postings for the software development sector. Nick Bunker, economic research director for North America at the Indeed Hiring Lab, told BI, "it's unlikely we'll see levels of demand like we saw in '21, in '22 for software development anytime soon."

Still, Bunker said demand for these jobs is healthy, and these are still well-paying gigs. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median annual wage for software developers was $132,270.

"The depressed state of postings for software development jobs could be a possibly cyclical story or short-term story," Bunker said. "Maybe this is just interest rates are still very high, and a lot of employers are looking to be very cautious when it comes to hiring because a lot of those firms overhired in '21, and maybe they're just being very patient now."

Challenges for experienced workers seeking a better-paying gig and for new graduates

Zhao also noted "weak" sentiment in the tech sector and noted this could be because "waves of new graduates have been racing to enter the tech industry over the last decade as tech employers have offered high pay for newly minted software developers."

Zhao said, "even for experienced software developers at the top of the market, the issue may not be difficulty finding a job at all, but rather difficulty finding a job that pays as well as their previous one. Swallowing a pay cut is a tough ask for software developers who were earning top dollar just a few years ago."

Data from Handshake, a platform where students can look for work, suggests a cooler demand for software developers or engineers.

"There was a 29% decline in software developer/engineer jobs created" on the Handshake network when comparing the period between June 2023 and May 2024 to the year before, Randy Tarnowski, senior manager of research and education insights at Handshake, said in a statement.

Tarnowski said that software engineering roles "received a large share of 2024 computer science graduates' applications," but the share of applications has fallen by a few percentage points from the class of 2023.

"Instead of software engineering roles, the class of 2024 computer science grads are submitting more of their applications to other roles, including data science and analysts, computer hardware, information security, computer systems engineering, and financial and investment analysts roles," Tarnowski said.

For people making job decisions amid the strong but cooler job market, Bunker suggested thinking about long-term prospects instead of simply how demand is looking at the moment.

That is, a sector might not be "as flashy" or offer as great of compensation as it had been. However, Bunker added some of the "shine might have come off some of these jobs, but they're still well paying and have a good long-term outlook."

Have you made a career change from or to software development or another tech job? Reach out to this reporter to share at mhoff@businessinsider.com.

• The youngest millennials are 28 and 29 this year.
• These cusper Zillennials are twice as wealthy as their geriatric millennial peers.
• Many of them are living at home and staying single longer.

I've been writing about millennials since 2018 when they were 22 to 37 years old. Entering adulthood during the rise of social media and online shopping, coupled with some unique economic challenges, put this cohort in the limelight.

People were fascinated by what the kids were up to. The millennial stereotypes of brunching on avocado toast and living with their parents longer had the world especially intrigued — who was this generation that seemingly couldn't grow up?

Well, they have grown up. The eldest millennials turn 43 this year, according to the Pew Research Center's definition, and the majority of the generation has entered peak milestone years of homebuying and starting families.

Soon, the generation will age out of their 20s entirely and leave young adulthood behind. The youngest of the generation, born in 1995 and 1996, turn 28 and 29 this year, and just under 9 million 20-something millennials remain, per the US Census. This cohort falls into cusper territory, those born between generations, and are part of the larger "Zillennial" microgeneration.

Not quite millennial, not quite Gen Z, these late 20-somethings are shaped by the pandemic happening early on in their careers and initial wealth-building years. In some ways, they're actually faring better than their older millennial peers, and their struggles point to larger cracks in America's social support systems.

A bridge in the workplace

Diana Elliott, vice president of programs at Population Reference Bureau (PRB), told Business Insider that one's late 20s have always been peak years to establish careers. However, these particular late 20-somethings saw the pandemic shorten their typical in-office experience more than the rest of their generation. They were only 24 and 25 at the time, in the workforce for just a few years, and they fear it gave them an uneven footing in the labor force.

"They feel this has negatively affected their ability to learn the soft skills that come from working in an office and may lead to missing out on growth opportunities," Gabby Davis, a career expert at Indeed and younger millennial herself, told Business Insider. But Davis said Indeed research shows they don't want to go back into an office full-time. While return-to-office mandates have the potential to push them away, she says the youngest millennials are more likely to stick around in a job than Gen Z, who view their jobs with more dispensability.

Cuspers often act as a bridge in the workplace, but younger millennials may find it challenging to bridge this generational gap when reporting to older colleagues and managing younger ones, Davis said. But they've already pushed for greater flexibility, communication, and transparency at work, which she thinks can help them ease that transition. Millennials, now the largest generation, will continue to move into leadership roles as they age into their 30s and 40s which Davis believes will help "foster diversity, accountability, and more meaningful workplaces."

As the generation ages, Elliott predicts they'll start taking over boomers' roles as they retire. "We're going to see a lot of exits from the labor force, not just now but into the next decade or so," she says. "So it could be a really interesting time for opportunities for young millennials in the labor market."

Rollin' in the dough

At first glance, it seemed the pandemic might also jeopardize the wealth trajectory of the youngest millennials and the oldest Gen Zers. Older millennials struggled with the aftermath of the Great Recession and 2008 financial crisis, the rising cost of living, and $1.2 trillion in student loan debt.

In 2018, the St. Louis Fed predicted that those born in the 1980s were at risk of being a "lost generation" when it came to wealth accumulation. Fortunately, that didn't come to pass: By 2022, their wealth levels were 37% above expectations. But the wealth of younger millennials and older Gen Zers made an even sharper swing at 39%.

That wealth is even more striking when compared to their older peers at the same age. In 2013, 24- to 33-year-olds had a typical wealth level of $16,567, per data the St. Louis Fed provided Business Insider. That's more than doubled (even accounting for inflation) for those aged 26 to 32 in 2022, who have a typical wealth level of $55,760.

It shows how much the macroeconomic context can change even within a generation. St. Louis Fed data scientist Lowell Ricketts told Business Insider at the end of May, "you have these older millennials still grappling with some of the aftermath of the Great Recession, a subdued economy in which employment outcomes languish for some time," he said. "Younger millennials have made it by 2022 through much of the pandemic disruptions and found themselves with a much higher amount of wealth accumulated."

Ricketts said the coronavirus recession's shorter duration and more aggressive federal policy response saved them. A government cash infusion and a lockdown that prevented us from spending on trips and dinners out "buoyed a lot of financial outcomes across the wealth spectrum," making 2022 an overall high-water mark for wealth accumulation.

Creatively becoming homeowners

The Fed finds that real estate was a primary driver for younger millennials' wealth gains, as a hot pandemic housing market hiked up home values. But aren't millennials unable to buy homes, especially those who've had less time to save? Ricketts said that despite affordability issues, some have managed to make it work.

Younger millennials are getting creative about becoming homeowners, explained Jessica Lautz, deputy chief economist and vice president of research at the National Association of Realtors. They're living at home first to save money or partnering up — 19% of those aged 25 to 33, which includes the youngest millennials, are unmarried couples, the highest NAR sees among any generation in its Generational Trends Report.

They're also the most likely to get down payment transfers, often from family members helping out with the purchase. Maybe that's why 55% of them prefer to live near friends and family; the only other generation that comes close to this preference is retirees. "They're moving from their family members' homes, before purchasing at higher rates, so perhaps they have that strong family connection already," Lautz said. "During COVID, a lot of people reprioritized what's important to them, and family is more important."

A mixed bag for women

Young millennial women have especially seen their economic well-being improve; the rise of educational opportunities has them outearning what their mothers and grandmothers did relative to men, according to PRB research. "The pay gap is closing with every successive cohort," Elliott said.

Because younger millennial women are focused on their careers, they're continuing the overall millennial trend of delaying family formation. The US fertility rate decreased by 3% between 2022 and 2023, reaching a historic low. "What this suggests is that younger millennials will likely have smaller families," Elliott said. This is neither good nor bad, but interplays with other economic factors such as housing affordability, getting a foothold in the work world, and student debt.

Of course, generations are nuanced. Not everyone is faring well; some millennials are stuck in poverty, and young millennial women have lost ground in terms of health and safety. "Systems and supports are not in place to understand how to best help people," Elliott said. "We need that right now. In terms of maternal mortality, it reflects a lot of the ways in which the U.S. does not do as well as its peer countries."

And some of younger millennials' accumulated wealth has faded thanks to inflation, Ricketts said. Still, he's hopeful that "the wealth outcomes we see in 2022 might be an optimistic note and a source of strength going forward."

He pointed out that younger millennials who invest their wealth well are more likely to consume and drive economic growth. "Having entrepreneurial aspirations while having wealth on hand lets you pursue those dreams," he said. So, by investing in oneself and one's passions, this can benefit the broader economy as well."

• China's EV upstarts appear to be plotting world domination. 
• They are targeting developing markets like Brazil and Indonesia as the US and Europe impose tariffs.
• Experts told BI that Western car giants run the risk of ceding the rest of the world to China.

When Ford closed its factory at Camaçari in the Brazilian state of Bahia in 2021, it ended a century of manufacturing in Brazil.

The Detroit automaker has always been closely associated with Brazil's car industry, the sixth largest in the world.

Now, Camaçari is under new management.

Chinese EV giant and Tesla rival BYD has swept into the huge complex and is transforming it into a manufacturing center for its electric cars to capitalize on surging demand for Chinese-made EVs in Brazil.

It's a pattern being repeated all over the world. Chinese EV firms are expanding rapidly in developing markets like Brazil, Mexico, and Southeast Asia, even as governments in the US and Europe try to shut them out with tariffs and trade barriers.

Data compiled by technology intelligence firm ABI Research for Business Insider suggests that Chinese automakers already dominate many of these markets.

Chinese carmakers accounted for 88% of the EV market in Brazil and 70% in Thailand in Q1, according to ABI Research figures. BYD, alone, which is China's largest EV company, accounted for 71% and 45% of EV sales during that time in those respective markets.

The EV markets in many of these countries are small now, but they're growing rapidly.

That's a problem for legacy automakers like Ford and current combustion-vehicle market leaders like Toyota and Volkswagen, who may struggle to compete with Chinese players and risk being left behind as developing markets shift toward EVs.

This is because Chinese automakers are known for their ability to build electric cars for less than their foreign competitors.

Western governments are taking steps to protect their markets, with Joe Biden imposing sweeping tariffs on Chinese automakers and the EU passing its own measures.

But those barriers do little to protect legacy automakers in developing markets, with experts telling Business Insider they faced the prospect of being lapped by the Chinese upstarts.

"By erecting a wall around the EU or the US, you're effectively ceding the rest of the world to China," Bill Russo, the CEO of Shanghai-based automotive strategy firm Automobility, told BI.

Sam Fiorani, vice president at consultancy AutoForecast Solutions, agreed, pointing out that the ability to build more affordable vehicles gave Chinese EV makers a crucial edge in many of these markets.

"A lot of these markets are underdeveloped, and the Chinese brands are bringing in relatively inexpensive vehicles, which is exactly what those countries need at the moment," he said.

Brazil

Chinese firms are already the EV market leaders in Brazil, and they appear set to capitalize on the rapidly growing market for electric vehicles in the country.

EV sales in Brazil were up 145% in the first three months of the year, according to the Brazilian Electric Vehicle Association, with BYD and rival Great Wall Motors leading the pack.

Like the US and EU, Brazil has imposed tariffs on all imported EVs, which are expected to hit 35% in 2026.

However, unlike the European and US governments, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has proven more open to China, offering incentives and financial support for foreign manufacturers willing to invest in green technology in Brazil.

Great Wall and BYD have both pledged to build factories in the country. BYD estimates that its Camaçari complex will be able to churn out 150,000 vehicles per year once it opens, while Great Wall's site near São Paulo could eventually produce 100,000 vehicles annually.

Business Insider contacted BYD for details on its expansion plans but didn't hear back.

One of the reasons that BYD can sell its cars so cheaply is that many of the components and parts used to build its cars are manufactured in-house — and BYD is seemingly trying to recreate that integrated supply chain in Brazil, reportedly holding talks about taking over one of the country's lithium producers.

"Investing now in developing markets like Brazil comes with some risk," said Marcel Martin, Brazil managing director at the International Council on Clean Transportation think tank, pointing to the still relatively uncertain outlook for Brazil's developing EV market.

"But for firms like BYD, the reward can be bigger, because if they assume the leadership in these markets it will be hard for other automakers to compete," he said.

Mexico

When it comes to Chinese plans for global EV domination, nowhere worries the US quite like Mexico.

America's southern neighbor has a free trade agreement with the US, and reports suggesting BYD, MG, and Chery were all examining plans to build factories in the country caused alarm among US officials last year.

Some US lawmakers have warned that Mexico could serve as a "backdoor" for Chinese EV companies, and US trade representative Katherine Tai recently hinted at additional penalties for Chinese firms that try this tactic.

But Mexico is also a big market in its own right, and Chinese automakers are hungry for a slice.

BYD recently unveiled the hybrid "Shark," the company's first pickup truck, which is set to go on sale in Mexico for $54,000.

Mexico's EV market is still nascent, but the government wants 50% of new car sales to be electric by 2030. Total automobile exports from China jumped by nearly a third in the first four months of 2024, according to data from the China Passenger Car Association, reported by Reuters —suggesting consumers are more than open to Chinese vehicles.

Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia has traditionally been dominated by Japanese automakers, who have had success selling smaller, cheaper vehicles.

However, Chinese EV companies are now breathing down the necks of Toyota, Honda, and Mitsubishi, largely thanks to their ability to outcompete just about everyone on cost.

Thailand, which saw EV sales rise by 400% in 2023, has quickly become one of BYD's most important international markets. The Southeast Asian nation accounted for 20% of BYD's international sales in Q3 last year, according to research firm Counterpoint, and the Chinese automaker is due to open a new factory in Thailand later this year.

Other markets in this region are also seeing rapid EV growth, with electric car registrations tripling in Malaysia in 2023 and EVs hitting 15% market share in Vietnam, according to the International Energy Agency.

Meanwhile, Indonesia aims to boost EV sales by rolling out a range of tax incentives and is wooing Elon Musk to build a Tesla factory in the country.

Musk may have to get moving, however. BYD has announced plans to build a $1.3 billion factory in Indonesia's West Java province. Earlier this year, it also unveiled its new models coming to the country.

"The Chinese have taken significant share in Southeast Asia with exports. They're also planning local production in Thailand, in the Philippines, and other places in the region," Bill Russo of Shanghai-based automotive strategy firm Automobility told BI.

"If the Japanese are nervous about losing China, they're even more nervous about losing the global south," he added.

Australia

In Australia, BYD is going head-to-head with Tesla in a fast-growing EV market.

Tesla accounts for over half of Australia's EV market but BYD, which entered the Australian market in 2022, is catching up fast, hitting 14% market share in March, according to data from Australia's Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries.

BYD posted record sales in the country in May and is adding two SUVs and a pickup truck to its EV lineup this year.

Unlike Europe and the US, Australia has no tariffs on foreign EVs, and the country's left-leaning government, which came to power in 2022, has outlined its push to increase the supply of affordable and accessible EVs.

Other Chinese EV firms are also making inroads into the continent, with SAIC Motor planning to launch three new models this year and Hangzhou-based startup Leapmotor, which specializes in affordable EVs, labeling Australia a priority market.

That expansion has not been without controversy, however. Australian Senator and shadow cyber-security minister James Paterson said earlier this year that Chinese EVs pose a growing cybersecurity risk.

One Chinese EV played a vital role when flash floods hit the Australian state of Queensland earlier this year, however, powering an 11-year-old's dialysis machine after local electricity supplies were knocked out by the storm.

India

India has proved a tough nut to crack for foreign EV giants.

The world's most populous nation had some of the highest taxes on imported vehicles before it lowered them for certain vehicles in March.

The new rules require automakers to spend at least $500 million on local investment and build their cars within India within three years— something Tesla is now reportedly considering doing.

The geopolitical tension between India and China has traditionally made India wary of Chinese EV companies, but experts told BI that this is likely to change in the coming years.

"Chinese companies are already looking at building local plants in order to take advantage of that growing market," Fiorani, vice president of AutoForecast Solutions, told BI.

"It's just a matter of time before companies like BYD, SAIC, and Great Wall actually become volume players in that region," he added.

BYD launched its third EV for the Indian market, the $49,000 Seal, in March. It has ambitious plans to control 40% of India's EV market by 2030.

Rival SAIC Motors has partnered with India's JSW Group to introduce a high-end electric sports car, "Cyberster," to India.

"India is still a little wary of the Chinese market," said Dylan Khoo, an analyst at ABI Research. "But India is also happy to adopt China's own model, and make Chinese firms work with local automakers to gain access to the market."

Europe

Europe is another market being eyed by Chinese EV manufacturers as they expand abroad.

Once again, BYD is leading the way. The Warren Buffett-backed automaker is already building one European factory in Hungary and is reportedly considering a second.

BYD is also planning to release its $10,000 Seagull in Europe within the next few years, with executives estimating it will cost around 20,000 euros — or $21,000 — in this region.

Rivals, including Xpeng and battery-swapping pioneer Nio, are also expanding their presence on the continent.

Nio plans to launch a cheaper sub-brand in Europe in 2025, dubbed "Firefly," and Xpeng has begun selling its G9 and the G6 electric SUVs in France, Spain, and Portugal in recent months.

Some Chinese carmakers are even joining forces with European rivals, with Stellantis partnering with Chinese firm Leapmotor to sell its EVs in Europe.

Chinese expansion in Europe may have become more difficult, however, after the European Union followed America's lead and imposed new tariffs on China-made electric vehicles.

Fiorani and Russo told BI that tariffs such as those introduced in Europe and the US might slow the entry of Chinese EVs into Western markets, but ultimately, they would not stop them.

"Right now, tariffs are focused on vehicles built in China. Once those vehicles have a production hub in Mexico or South Korea or Brazil, it becomes more difficult," said Fiorani.

He said that building plants in Brazil and Europe would allow Chinese firms to circumvent trade walls and continue their global expansion.

"The Chinese manufacturers are very entrepreneurial and they will find a way around any barriers that are set for them," Fiorani added.

Russo, meanwhile, told BI that far from holding back China's EV giants, trade barriers would only accelerate their global takeover.

"When you impose a tariff, it actually accelerates the movements of both the supply chain and the carmakers to go global even faster," he said.

"Tariffs will accelerate their move to go to the unaligned regions, which are the emerging markets," he said.

• Most people in the US snack, but lots of snack foods are ultra-processed.
• Ultra-processed foods have been linked to health conditions like cancer.
• A dietitian shared four healthy, tasty snacks she likes instead of ultra-processed foods.

A dietitian shared three healthy snacks she enjoys as tasty alternatives to ultra-processed foods with Business Insider.

Research suggests about 20% of the calories Americans consume comes from snacks, and 90% eat between one and three snacks each day. Snacks are often ultra-processed, meaning they're made using methods and ingredients that you can't easily recreate at home. UPFs have been linked to conditions including cardiovascular disease, cancer, type 2 diabetes, anxiety, depression, and sleep problems, leading experts to urge people to cut down as much as possible.

New York-based registered dietitian Tracy Lockwood Beckerman, said that UPFs are "convenient, cheap, and super common" and that eating them occasionally is "inevitable." But, when it comes to satisfying cravings for ultra-processed snacks, it's up to us as consumers to make informed choices about which ones we choose, she said.

Here are some of her favorite snack swaps that help her avoid UPFs.

Granola bars

Storebought granola bars are sometimes marketed as healthy but often contain added sugar and preservatives.

Beckerman recommends Kate's Real Food Peanut Butter Dark Chocolate Bars instead. They are made from whole foods and contain fiber from dried fruit, oats, rice crisps, and flaxseed, which is important for digestion and gut health.

Registered dietitian Taylor Grasso previously told BI that granola bars tend to be mostly carbohydrates, so eating them with a source of protein — such as Greek yogurt — can help stabilize blood sugar levels and keep you feeling satisfied for longer.

Chocolate bars

Beckerman likes Nelly's Organic chocolate bars because they have a short ingredient list, meaning they contain fewer additives than ultra-processed chocolate bars.

They also contain potassium, which can help to prevent high blood pressure, she said. This is because it can reduce the effects of sodium, according to the American Heart Association.

Candy

Justin's Chocolate Candy Pieces "reign supreme" over other candies, Beckerman said.

"Because these chocolate candy pieces are made from peanuts, they contain heart-healthy fats, making them an actually satisfying and filling treat unlike most other chocolate candies out there," she said.

The candy pieces are made with dark chocolate, which contains antioxidants that can help to lower blood pressure and cholesterol.

• The federal government has discharged student loans for thousands of defrauded borrowers.
• However, private borrowers who attended the same schools are still trying to get relief from Navient.
• BI spoke to 5 of them who struggled to access Navient's new debt relief process.

Raised in Venezuela, Leandro Pucci moved to the US when he was 27 years old — and he wanted to get started on his education right away.

After struggling with residency complications, he finally enrolled at an Art Institute campus in California. It was the early 2000s, and digital media was really taking off; he thought it was the perfect opportunity to launch a career in the field.

However, the Art Institute was far from what it seemed on paper. According to findings over the past decade by a group of state attorneys general, the for-profit chain misrepresented the value of its programs and forced students to take on unaffordable debt. For example, they found that the schools advertised that over 80% of graduates land jobs within six months of graduation, which was not always the case. All remaining campuses shut down in September 2023.

While President Joe Biden's Education Department discharged federal student loans for thousands of Art Institute attendees, many more still hold debt that a private loan company, Navient, hasn't relieved.

For Pucci, it's nearly $60,000.

"I basically work for Navient. Every paycheck I get goes to Navient," Pucci, 59, told BI. "The stress has been really killing me. I feel so defeated. I feel trapped, and this has been so traumatic, especially the last couple of months, it's been really, really difficult."

While defrauded borrowers like Pucci are eligible to apply for relief from private lenders, Navient's application for the relief is not yet publicly available. Even if a borrower manages to get the application, it can take hours to fill out and still result in a denial.

The larger issue at play extends far beyond Navient. As millions of Americans struggle with student-debt loads, with some of them being forced to make payments on loans for schools accused of fraud that did not deliver on their promises. While the Education Department has taken a range of steps to cancel student debt for borrowers who went to schools it found guilty of fraud, those with private loans do not qualify for the same relief. The lender, instead, can decide how it wants to craft a relief process, if at all.

Relief is 'still in its early stages'

Sen. Elizabeth Warren wants answers. In April, she sent an inquiry to Navient about the process and its responsibility to discharge fraudulent loans under a consumer protection tool known as the Holder Rule. A Navient spokesperson referred BI to excerpts from the company's response to Warren, which stated that the discharge process is "still in its early stages."

"As part of this enhanced process, we have started to communicate to borrowers who may qualify. As the process continues to roll out, we expect that more borrowers will submit applications, leading to increased levels of cancellation," the company told Warren.

Navient said that it increased its reserves by $35 million in anticipation of relieving debt for defrauded borrowers, and it's "committed to addressing valid school misconduct claims" to fulfill its responsibility under the Holder Rule.

The company also told Warren that "in light of the circumstances of some private loan borrowers who attended certain for-profit colleges … particularly those borrowers who suffered a negative impact from school closures or false promises," it would be appropriate to develop a discharge process similar to that of the federal government for defrauded borrowers.

While Navient promises that more borrowers will gain access to relief through the new application, the lack of clarity surrounding the timeline can impose a financial burden on those borrowers.

Pucci said he obtained an application after filing a complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in April, and just two weeks later, he received a denial from Navient. It stated that while Navient "carefully considers a variety of factors in determining whether a private loan should be discharged based on school misconduct," Pucci did not meet the requirements. Since then, he's filed another complaint with the CFPB but has yet to get a clear reason as to why he was denied.

The CFPB's Private Education Loan Ombudsman Julia Barnard told BI in a statement that "for years, my office has heard from frustrated victims of predatory schools who are now struggling to get their private lender to cancel their fraudulent loans."

"A key measure of a relief process is whether qualifying borrowers get their fraudulent loans cancelled," Barnard said. "My office (and the CFPB more generally) is watching to make sure that student borrowers get appropriate relief and we will step in to help where we can."

Pucci said he cannot afford to pay off his private loans for much longer, but he doesn't know what else he can do aside from wait and hope that Navient will eventually give him the same relief the government already did.

"I made my decisions. I took my responsibility," Pucci said. "But all the investments I need to do for my own business are impossible. I can forget about buying anything anymore because of how much I have to pay Navient."

'I've spent so much time feeling so alone and isolated'

Theresa Christman's story is similar to Pucci's. The now 40-year-old attended the for-profit International Academy of Design and Technology, which was included in the 2022 Sweet v. Cardona settlement that discharged student loans for federal borrowers who attended a long list of schools. However, she still has about $22,000 in private student loans serviced by Navient that she can't shake.

"That $400 a month payment was hard, especially when I couldn't afford to eat or pay my bills for a really long time," Christman told BI. She said she had to forgo car insurance, live on food stamps, and drop out of school so she could work full time. "I was still only bringing in $11 an hour, and I was in California, which is not cheap. So it was hard."

After filing a complaint with the CFPB, Christman said she received the school misconduct discharge application from Navient — but due to the lengthy application and the amount of proof required, she hasn't had the time to put it together yet.

"For each section, I am writing pages and pages and pages for each answer. So it's taking me a really long time to do," Christman said. "I don't want to give Navient any reason to deny my claim."

The Project on Predatory Student Lending — an advocacy group working to help defrauded borrowers — launched an awareness campaign earlier in June to make borrowers aware of Navient's discharge application, including an example of the blank 12-page application borrowers are required to complete.

Eileen Connor, director of PPSL, told BI that the process "is really opaque" for borrowers, and it's forcing them to jump through unnecessary hurdles to get relief.

In contrast to Navient's process, most federal borrowers "haven't had to apply at all because the department has said that they have enough information in their possession to know that there was a widespread pattern that impacted, in some cases, everybody who went to the school," Connor said. "So I don't really know why that wouldn't be the same for these loans."

The lack of clarity going forward has left Christman in a limbo state, not knowing where she'll land once she submits her application.

"I've spent so much time feeling so alone and isolated," she said. "The financial aspect has been absolutely devastating, but it's also affected my mental health so much."

'I can finally breathe again'

For some borrowers, the time spent on the application paid off.

Victoria Linssen, 59, and Jennifer Nave, 60, attended the for-profit Brooks Institute and DeVry University, respectively. Both received federal relief through the Sweet v. Cardona settlement and then struggled to be free of their private debt through Navient.

Earlier this year, Linssen received the school misconduct discharge application.

"I just slowly but surely made my way through it. I would say it took me somewhere between eight and 12 hours to fill it out," Linssen said.

"You almost need to be your own attorney to understand how to figure it out," she added. "There's a huge amount of confusion and misunderstanding about what needs to be included, and some students aren't properly following the directions and are getting declined."

But Linssen's efforts paid off — she got $70,000 in private loans discharged in May.

"I will never fully recover from what happened to me. When I left Brooks, I was in so much debt that I didn't want to get married. I was in deep humiliation and shame at the decisions that I had made that put me in so much debt," she said.

PPSL encourages borrowers who are denied relief through Navient to continue filing complaints with the CFPB. Connor also emphasized the importance of strengthening consumer protection laws not just for Navient but for the private lending industry as a whole, given that there are "different rules when talking about the federal government versus a private actor."

Linssen can now finally start to see a future that doesn't include any student debt.

"I am only just now in the place where I can finally breathe again and start feeling like a normal human being and start planning for the future," she said. "I have that tiny, tiny spotlight of hope at the end of a really long tunnel that I may be able to retire or have a life again."

While Nave also eventually got her private loans relieved after filing complaints with the CFPB, she doesn't understand why it has to be this way.

"It feels like I'm trying to prove to them something they already know," Nave said. "It took me seven hours to fill out, and it's very confusing, so many students are afraid of answering these questions because they're not exactly sure what is being asked."

On June 14, Nave was shocked to see her efforts paid off — Navient effectively discharged her remaining balance after over a decade of payments.

Nick Eucker, 38, hasn't been so lucky. Eucker attended the Brooks Institute and graduated with a bachelor's degree in commercial photography in 2008. While he was fortunate to find employment in the field, he wasn't making as much as he was promised — so he struggled to manage his student-loan payments while also juggling rent and other basic necessities, calling it "a huge financial burden.'"

As has been the case with many other borrowers, Eucker received a school misconduct discharge application after filing a complaint with the CFPB. He submitted his application — over 200 pages — to Navient in early May, and in June, he received a denial. The reason was the exact same as the one Pucci received: "You do not meet the requirements for discharge based on misconduct by your school."

While Navient said it's committed to ensuring all borrowers who qualify for relief receive it, it did not comment on the specific criteria it uses to evaluate borrowers' applications — rather saying that it will continue to evaluate and update the process as it makes sense. But it's leaving borrowers like Eucker and Pucci without any information on how to proceed, keeping them saddled with debt they're struggling to afford.

"You get your hopes up, and it seems like this program might actually work. But then I got that letter that said I didn't qualify, and it ruined my entire day," Eucker said. "It's this big letdown, once again."

• Russian officials have started discussing a future 6th-generation fighter aircraft.
• But Russia has struggled to operate its 5th-gen fighter, the Su-57 that's been absent from Ukraine.
• "This is an illusion," an expert on Russia's defense industry told BI.

Even as Russia's air force struggles to make a difference in Ukraine, the service and the country's aviation industry are discussing a next-generation fighter that will be deployed by 2050.

Not coincidentally, the discussion comes as the US Air Force hints that it may drop its plan for a sixth-generation fighter, a piloted air superiority fighter that will operate with drones. But experts consider the idea of a next-generation Russian fighter to be sheer fantasy at a time when it's struggling to operate its fifth-generation stealth fighters.

"This is an illusion," Pavel Luzin, an expert on the Russian defense industry, told Business Insider. "People in the government may even believe that it is possible, but it is not. It is absolute emptiness. Of course, the Russian design bureaus are imitating some research and development activity in this field and getting money for this imitation, but there is nothing serious."

Nonetheless, the topic is being discussed in Russian media, regime-controlled outlets that often try to stir nationalism by boasting about the superiority of Russian weapons. "Currently, we are thinking about the concept of a sixth-generation aircraft, conducting search research, exchanging views with military specialists," Evgeny Fedosov, scientific director of the State Research Institute of Aviation Systems, wrote in a column for the state-owned TASS news agency. "Such an aircraft should appear sometime by 2050, but already now it is necessary to understand what the armed conflicts of the future will be like."

Discussing cutting-edge aircraft seems almost surreal for Russia, whose air force has enough problems using its current warplanes in Ukraine. Russian airpower has played a marginal role in the Ukraine war, despite superior numbers and technology versus Ukraine's dwindling number of old Soviet-era jets. Russian airpower has mostly relied on fourth-generation aircraft such as the Su-30, Su-35 and Su-27, which are upgraded designs dating back to the 1980s. Russia's fifth-generation fighter, the Su-57, has been conspicuous by its absence in Ukraine. With only a dozen or so built, the Su-57 only recently made news when one or two were damaged by Ukrainian drone strikes on their airbases.

Yet Russia is one of the world's top aviation powers, with a massive research and manufacturing base left over from Soviet days. With America pursuing — if tentatively — its Next Generation Air Dominance project, and China developing a future jet, it would be peculiar if Russia wasn't contemplating its next fighter.

Like other nations, Russia must grapple with fundamental design questions. Does it make sense to build a manned fighter, with all the bulk, complexity and survivability that a human in the cockpit requires? Or opt for an AI-controlled aircraft, or perhaps a team where a manned jet works with drones? What sort of stealth features will it have, and will it be armed with traditional cannon and missiles, or laser weapons?

In November 2023, a senior Russian aviation official said that no decision had been made as to whether a sixth-generation fighter would be manned or unmanned. "Two years ago, a round table was organized at the Army on the issues of creating sixth-generation aviation complexes," Sergei Korotkov, a top designer at the state-owned United Aircraft Corporation, told TASS. "Both the military and institutes involved in aircraft construction were invited to the round table; specialists from the Moscow Institute and the United Aircraft Corporation were present. The result was that we, in fact, didn't agree."

Korotkov seemed certain that a next-generation jet would operate as a team with drones. He also said that the "further direction of long-term development of aviation technology is to increase flight performance, the ability to adapt with other combat control and engagement systems, high maneuverability, versatility, optimal piloting, and multi-mode use of the power plant."

Interestingly, Fedosov, the science director at the State Research Institute of Aviation Systems, suggested that modern jets are becoming too complex and expensive. "To go further according to the logic of complication is a vicious practice," he wrote. "And the larger and heavier the plane, the more expensive it is."

These are tough questions for any nation. But Russia must also confront issues that other nations don't. It would have to develop a cutting-edge jet while fighting an intense war in Ukraine that sucks up resources, and while international sanctions restrict imports of vital electronic components a future fighter will need.

Michael Peck is a defense writer whose work has appeared in Forbes, Defense News, Foreign Policy magazine, and other publications. He holds an MA in political science from Rutgers Univ. Follow him on Twitter and LinkedIn.

• The free version of ChatGPT can now search for job listings.
• Job seekers can use the AI assistant to act as a personal recruiter.
• Sharing your CV and being exact can help the bot find relevant job opportunities.

ChatGPT just might be a job seeker's best friend.

Job seekers have already praised the bot for its convincing cover letters and ability to spruce up a CV — but a new update means the AI assistant can also do your job hunting for you.

Equipped with GPT-4o, the free version of the bot can now access the internet and trawl through job listings.

I decided to ask ChatGPT to look for jobs for me, and it came back with some pretty good results. The bot found six roles that matched my experience and location, even offering me tips on who to connect with at each company.

Here's how to get ChatGPT to act as your personal recruiter.

1. Be exact and give ChatGPT a persona

Telling ChatGPT what persona to take on has been shown to improve results.

Jason Gulya, an AI council chair at Berkeley College, previously told Business Insider that the bot works best when you assign it a persona, such as a specific job role.

Experts have suggested that beginning prompts with instructions such as "act as a professor" or "act as a marketing professional" followed by a description of the desired outcome improves its responses.

In this case, I told the bot to act as my "personal recruiter and go job hunting for me."

I also specifically asked it to search online for journalist jobs in London that I could apply for.

I also cautioned the bot to ensure the listings were still open and asked it to provide full links to its referenced roles to check the results.

2. Share your CV

It's important to share your qualifications with the bot so it can cross-reference your experience with the job requirements.

I included my CV in my first prompt, highlighting my most relevant experience. I also specified that ChatGPT should only send job roles I was qualified for.

3. Ask for clarification

Like any product that uses AI, ChatGPT can still hallucinate.

Hallucinations happen when AI-powered bots convincingly present factual errors as truth. Experts warn that this phenomenon could spread misinformation.

While most of the jobs ChatGPT provided were correct, it still made a few errors. In the case of one job, it misstated the salary, while in an earlier test, it invented a job entirely.

If you notice something amiss, it's worth asking the bot to check its own answers. I also asked it to share links to easily check my details.

4. Advice for next steps

After finding a job, ChatGPT can also help job seekers through the application process.

Not only can the bot help with cover letters and tailoring a CV, it can also identify relevant people to contact about the role and draft a message.

The chatbot can also help manage expectations by analyzing job seekers' qualifications for various roles.

ChatGPT provided me with a 600-word analysis of how strong a candidate I was for one role. It cross-referenced my experience with the job requirements, offering me a clear conclusion about the likelihood of landing an interview and sharing three tips to increase my chances.

And just in case you're wondering, I didn't actually apply for any of these jobs.

• Mark Zuckerberg sported a $1,150 Balmain t-shirt on vacation in Ibiza with his wife.
• The Meta CEO has been shifting from his classic gray t-shirts and hoodies to more stylish outfits.
• The internet is warming up to his more fashionable rebrand.

Mark Zuckerberg — CEO, chairman, up-and-coming fashion icon?

The Facebook cofounder was recently spotted sporting a $1,150 Balmain t-shirt while vacationing in Ibiza, Spain, with his wife, Pricilla Chan, People reported.

Available on the Balmain website and Saks Fifth Avenue, the cotton and wool short sleeve crewneck is embossed with the brand's name and logo prominently, giving Zuckerberg a true hypebeast appearance. It's loud — and a switch-up from the quiet luxury shirts he's traditionally worn, where you'd be hard-pressed to spot a logo.

The knit designer shirt was also paired with reflective sunglasses, dark blue shorts, and a hint of stubble.

The Meta CEO lately has been veering away from his classic tech bro uniform of the past decade, from jackets over sweatshirts to even a new gold chain that went viral.

"Zuck with the chain?? Unstoppable," one person wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

It's not just fans that have taken notice of his more casual and adventurous (well, for a tech boss) outfits. Even Instagram head Adam Mosseri recently said on a podcast that, "I'm totally into it. I think clothes are fun, so I'm very supportive."

While Zuck dips his toe into more fashionable wear, the fresher style is also working as a gentle rebrand from his heavily meme-ed robotic mannerisms. A stylist previously told Business Insider that shift could be part of a strategy to "make him approachable and show that he's a fun guy."

And it seems to be working.

After branching out to pieces ranging from a dragonfly-embellished suit to a gold, tiger-printed shirt, another person took to X to write, "Zuck's personal stylist and PR team are doing the lord's work."

• OpenAI cofounder Ilya Sutskever left his company in May after a failed attempt to oust Sam Altman.
• He announced on June 19 that he would start a new AI project called "Safe Superintellgence Inc."
• Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said Sutskever's past work sparked the "big bang of deep learning."

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang had high praise for Ilya Sutskever, the OpenAI cofounder who left his company after a chaotic attempt to oust its chief executive, Sam Altman.

During a commencement speech on June 14 at the California Institute of Technology, the Nvidia cofounder name-dropped Sutskever and two other renowned computer scientists for their pioneering work on a convolutional neural network (CNN) called AlexNet, which is a program that can conduct image recognition.

The CNN relied on Nvidia's graphics processing units or GPUs — the very chips that turned the tech company into a multi-trillion dollar company amid the AI boom — to successfully recognize more than a million high-resolution images in 2012, according to the research paper on AlexNet. The model was designed by Alex Krizhevksy, Geoffrey E. Hinton, and Sutskever.

"Geoff Hinton, Alex Krizhevsky, and Ilya Sutskever used Nvidia CUDA GPUs to train AlexNet and shocked the computer vision community by winning the 2012 ImageNet challenge," Jensen said, referring to the challenge, in which teams of researchers compete to see which one of their programs can most accurately recognize images. "This was the big moment, the big bang of deep learning. A pivotal moment that marked the beginning of AI revolution."

A 2017 article from Quartz attributed the 2012 competition as the "single event" that sparked the artificial intelligence boom as AlexNet swept its competitors.

"Well, I endorse his comment, that's all I can say :)" Krizhevsky said in a brief email to Business Insider.

Sutskever and Hinton did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent outside business hours.

Three years after AlexNet, Sutskever started OpenAI with Altman, Elon Musk, and a team of researchers.

His tenure as OpenAI's chief scientist ended in May, six months after he and the company's board members pushed to oust Altman in November.

Business Insider reported that his role in the chaotic attempt to remove Altman clouded his future at OpenAI. Sutskever later said he regretted his decision to support Altman's dismissal.

In June, a month after he announced that he would leave the company he cofounded, Sutskever said he was starting a new artificial intelligence venture: Super Safeintelligence Inc., a research lab.

The lab stated in a release that Super Safeintelligence Inc. has "one goal and one product: a safe superintelligence."

A spokesperson for Super Safeintelligence did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent outside business hours.