Category: Business

• Clouds Joo, a mid-20s consultant and content creator, said every day at work looks different.
• She said consulting has a steep learning curve that makes it great for young professionals.
• Despite the fast pace of the job, she said she's able to have a good work-life balance.

Clouds Joo, a young professional and content creator, is only in her mid-20s, and yet she already has experience working in many different industries.

That's because she's a consultant.

The London-based strategy and management consultant works at a leading global consulting firm. Clouds has asked to use her nickname, which she goes by on social media, for privacy reasons, but Business Insider has confirmed her identity and employment.

Describing her role in the simplest terms, Clouds told BI her job is essentially acting as a strategic advisor for global businesses and helping them navigate challenges in a constantly changing world. Around three years in, Clouds said she thinks consulting is "one of the best industries you could join as a fresh grad."

There are three factors that she thinks make consulting a great entry-level job: one, there's a steep learning curve, so you can learn a lot early in your career; two, there's so much variety that you won't get bored; and three, since you work in so many different fields it opens a lot of doors in terms of exit opportunities, so you won't limit yourself to one industry.

Getting into consulting

Clouds studied business management for her undergrad and then got a master's in management. In her last year of school she learned about consulting from people at her university and decided to start applying.

"I think the reason why consulting was so attractive to me was because you get to work in projects with multiple different companies across multiple different industries, so you don't really get siloed into one knowledge area," she said.

She said there was a very rigorous application process, which involved completing multiple rounds of case studies. One example could be a coffee company that wants to acquire a doughnut company, and the consultant would be asked to determine if this makes sense. The job candidate then has to start asking questions about the company's financials and capabilities and make some calculations on the fly to provide a solution.

Clouds said it's typically all done in a 45-minute interview, so the job candidate has to think quickly on their feet. Though the application process can be challenging, she said it can help determine if someone is right for the fast-paced nature of the job.

A day in the life of a consultant in her mid-20s

Clouds said she typically starts work at around 8:30 a.m.

Because she's a night owl, she usually does not do much before work beyond brushing her teeth, doing her skincare routine, occasionally getting a 10-minute ab workout in, and then logging on.

Her job gives her the flexibility to work from home most days of the week, so on days she goes into the office, she wakes up a bit earlier to account for getting ready and her commute.

Her workdays can look different depending on the project she is working on. Clouds said the projects typically last between five and eight weeks, though sometimes longer, and that she is working for one client at a time.

"Within each project it's usually a different client, a different team, a different manager, so your role changes dramatically every single time you change projects," she said.

Clouds said she personally loves changing projects every couple of months and that it's one of the things that makes consulting so attractive to new grads.

"The learning curve becomes really steep because you're consistently always learning about a new industry or a new client every single time you change projects," she said, adding that the drawback is you can never really get too comfortable.

Regardless of the project, every day typically starts with a stand-up, a meeting in which everyone on the team can share what they accomplished the day prior and what they are working on that day. Clouds said because the projects are relatively short-term everything is super fast-paced, so the daily check-ins are crucial.

After the stand-up, her days tend to consist of other meetings, calling experts, analysis, and consolidation of insights, as everything collected from her research needs to be combined and presented back to the client. She spends a lot of time using Microsoft PowerPoint and Excel.

"Usually that consolidation falls under the junior levels, which would be myself, so a lot of collecting insights and putting it all together in a very neat storyline on PowerPoint," she said.

Despite concerns over how AI could disrupt consulting, Clouds said she and her colleagues have worked generative AI into their workflows and that it allows them to be more efficient. For instance, instead of having someone scramble to take notes during meetings, AI can be used to transcribe notes in real time.

Work-life balance in consulting

Clouds said she tries to strike a good work-life balance, which can be difficult in the consulting industry. Some projects only require her to work 40 hours a week, while others are more intense and require more than 60 hours a week.

When she logs off at the end of the day, she uses her evening to do personal things that are important to her, like working out, filming and editing content, and socializing with her friends. She tries to have planned dinners sprinkled throughout the week. If she can't see her friends during the week, she makes sure to see them on the weekend.

Clouds, who says she typically gets a full night of sleep, said people often ask her how she balances everything. She said she is hyper-efficient with her time, often editing videos during her commute on the tube or while getting steps in on the treadmill.

Clouds doesn't think she'll stay in consulting forever. As a member of Gen Z, she said her generation loves variety and is less likely to stay in one career forever. As a consultant, she can also explore opportunities and industries.

"I think there is a lot of beauty in exploring different opportunities, different industries, different jobs, and having that flexibility in your life where your life isn't just your job."

Have a news tip or a story to share about working in consulting? Contact this reporter at kvlamis@businessinsider.com.

• A New Zealand woman took her boyfriend to a disputes tribunal for not taking her to the airport.
• The woman said that the boyfriend's promise to take her there was a verbal contract.
• But the tribunal dismissed the claim, saying it couldn't justify ordering her to be compensated.

A woman from New Zealand took her long-term boyfriend to a disputes tribunal for failing to keep his promise to take her to the airport.

According to a tribunal order released on Thursday and first published by The Guardian, the woman said they had been in a relationship for six and a half years until the dispute arose.

The couple's names have been redacted.

The woman said her boyfriend had promised to take her to the airport and look after her two dogs while she attended a concert with friends.

She argued that this promise constituted a "verbal contract," which she claimed had been breached by him not keeping his word.

According to the order, he did not arrive to collect her and take her to the airport on the day she was due to travel, resulting in her missing her flight.

The woman told the tribunal that this resulted in additional expenses, including arranging travel for the following day, paying for a shuttle to the airport, and kennel fees for her dogs.

The tribunal examined the claim to determine whether the boyfriend had entered into a contract and, in turn, whether he owed her compensation.

Ultimately, the judge dismissed the claim, explaining that friends often let each other down, but this does not mean compensation is owed.

"Partners, friends, and colleagues make social arrangements, but it is unlikely they can be legally enforced unless the parties perform some act that demonstrates an intention that they will be bound by their promises," the order said.

In addition, it said that while financial consequences may arise from broken plans, the courts consider these "non-recoverable losses" unless the promise went beyond a favor between friends.

"In this case, I find that the nature of the promises was exchanged as a normal give-and-take in an intimate relationship," the tribunal ruled.

The order explained that, in this case, the promise fell short of being a contract, and just formed part of the "everyday family and domestic relationship agreements that are not enforceable in the Disputes Tribunal."

• My parents graduated from highly-rated Big Ten universities in the 1950s.
• I decided to forge my own path and go to a smaller school that I loved.
• They often chastised me for that choice, but I learned to forgive them.

I stood in the church's narthex, wearing my white dress with the lace train falling behind me, and grabbed my father's arm. My groom, who graduated from the same small college I did, waited at the altar with his friends.

"Dad," I said impatiently to the graying, 54-year-old man in a tuxedo. "This is my wedding day. I'm your only daughter. Aren't you supposed to say something to me?"

He proudly said, "Purdue is ahead of Minnesota," referring to a college football game on an autumn afternoon. I knew there was a game; we had scheduled the wedding around the home season to benefit family members.

My father was a Purdue alumnus, and it became a big part of his life— so much so that it seemed to be the most important thing to him on my wedding day.

That's why we've always disagreed about my own college choice.

I didn't want to follow in my parents' footsteps

I started looking at colleges in my first year of high school. I was not interested in my dad's college, Purdue, because it lacked a humanities focus. My father opposed my mother's alma mater, Indiana University, for me despite my interest. Like many women of the Silent Generation, my mother, who would have loved for me to attend her alma mater, acquiesced to my father.

I asked to visit Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, because I had heard good things about the midsize college. Despite my parent's admiration of their Big Ten schools, I didn't want to live in their shadows.

I overheard my father telling a fellow Purdue graduate after church that he was taking me to visit Ball State. The man asked, " Why would Amy want to go there? David went there, and he's not that bright."

I was irritated and surprised but still wanted to visit Ball State. I wanted a place that was mine and felt special. Ball State lacked the national ratings of the other schools but was renowned for several programs, including one that interested me.

I fell in love with Ball State

I attended a summer high school journalism workshop at Ball State, which clinched the deal for me. As clichéd as it sounds, the workshop was like when Dorothy moved from sepia-tone to Technicolor in "The Wizard of Oz."

As a child, I had visited the Purdue and Indiana campuses, which spread out over miles. With 18,000 students, Ball State seemed the right size.

The two-week workshop was transformative. I interviewed Tom K. Ryan, the cartoonist who drew "Tumbleweeds." I met Ryan's assistant, Jim Davis, who later drew a lasagna-eating, yellow cartoon cat named Garfield. When I saw my articles published, I returned to high school with a new purpose.

I eventually got accepted and enrolled as a freshman.

I loved Ball State, and my college years were filled with great experiences. It's where I met my husband of 40 years and lifelong friends called "The Bobs." My studies and professors piqued my lifelong curiosity and eagerness to learn.

My family was never interested in my college experience

I never felt the emotional buy-in I saw when I went with my parents to drop my brother off at Purdue during his first year. I often felt dismissed when I spoke of my college activities or friends. My family didn't see the attributes of my college — only what it wasn't.

I often felt overlooked and chastised because I didn't attend the school they wanted me to attend.

It took me a long time to understand that another's bond doesn't diminish mine. Getting a college education is great — particularly for my father, the first in his family to attend college. I'm grateful to come from a family that encourages higher education, yet I don't understand why people can express ill will or dismissal for another person's college choice. For me, what we gain from education over a lifetime is the most important measure of success.

I don't defend unkindness, but I understand it's human to feel connected to places and people we cherish. I am imperfect, a work in progress, but over time, I've learned that what others thought of my choices was not my concern, and I didn't warrant contempt or dismissal.

When Purdue made it to the men's basketball final four this year, I cheered for the Boilers. At 93, my father has never seen a championship win. Giving grace feels much better than holding a grudge.

• South Korea said it could start sending weapons to Ukraine. 
• It came after Russia signed a security pact with North Korea. 
• Russia's alliance with North Korea has spiked tensions in the region. 

South Korea said it could send weapons to Ukraine after Russia signed a security pact with Seoul's biggest regional foe, North Korea.

"We will reconsider the issue of supplying weapons to Ukraine," South Korean national security advisor Chang Ho-jin told reporters late on Thursday after the Russian President signed the pact with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang.

"Any cooperation that helps increase North Korea's military power is a violation of the UN Security Council," Chang added. "It doesn't make sense to promise military co-operation, assuming a pre-strike by the international community that will not happen."

Putin became the first Russian leader to visit North Korea in a quarter of a century this week, cementing an alliance with the pariah state.

The partnership has seen North Korea supply Russia with badly needed artillery for its war in Ukraine. In exchange, reports say, Russia has provided North Korea with satellite technology.

The security pact signed by the leaders, in which they pledged to provide each other with military support in a conflict, has spiked tensions in East Asia, where North Korea has long menaced US regional allies South Korea and Japan with an attack.

North Korea is under international sanctions to curtail its nuclear weapons program, and though Russia remains committed to upholding the sanctions on paper, critics say that it is undermining attempts to isolate North Korea.

Russian diplomats in March effectively disbanded the UN panel responsible for monitoring North Korean sanctions.

South Korea on Friday summoned Russia's ambassador over the pact, with South Korean foreign minister Cho Tae-yul and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken condemning the deal as a threat to regional stability and security.

Putin, on a trip to Vietnam Friday, warned South Korea against arming Ukraine in response, saying that it would be a "big mistake."

Moscow "will… [make] decisions which are unlikely to please the current leadership of South Korea" if it goes ahead and sends weapons to Ukraine, Putin said, reported BBC News.

But he also said that South Korea has "nothing to worry about" from the new pact as long as it doesn't commit acts of aggression toward North Korea.

South Korea is among the US allies that provided Ukraine with aid in battling the Russian invasion, but so far, has stopped short of providing Kyiv with weapons.

Analysts from the US think tank Institute for the Study of War say Russia is attempting to remake Cold War-era alliances to counter US global power.

• "The Acolyte" lead Amandla Stenberg released a song that criticized racist "Star Wars" fans.
• It comes after a wave of online abuse and harassment surrounding the show.
• In the song, Stenberg says "keep an eye out for you silly racists."

Amandla Stenberg has released a song criticizing racist "Star Wars" fans after a torrent of abuse over "The Acolyte."

Stenberg plays a pair of Force-sensitive twins, Osha and Mae, in the Disney+ show, which is set around 100 years before the "Star Wars" prequel movies.

She has been a common target of abuse since the show started streaming, both for her race — she is Black — and elements of the plot some fans perceive as "woke."

On Wednesday, the actor posted a song on Instagram — complete with a music video — and explained in the caption that it's aimed at the people sending her "intolerable racism."

In the song, Stenberg also refers to her 2018 interview with Trevor Noah about the movie "The Hate U Give," which she starred in.

She told Noah that "white people crying actually was the goal" of that film, which dealt with police violence against Black pepe.

Some social media users misappropriated the quote in early June, wrongly implying that it was about "Star Wars."

Stenberg's video is the first time a "Star Wars" actor has sought to combat backlash against them as it occurs.

Fans have long engaged in campaigns of abuse against actors in the franchise in recent years.

In 2022, Ewan McGregor said he was "sickened" by racist messages to his costar, Moses Ingram, after the "Obi-Wan Kenobi" series.

And "The Last Jedi" actor Kelly Marie-Tran left social media in 2018 after harassment she said drove her to therapy, and hasn't posted since.

Stenberg's song prompted a backlash of its own, stirring more insulting messages from fans.

Many of the comments and insults criticizing the show claim that Disney "ruined" Star Wars.

Wider audiences seem to differ — according to Variety, "The Acolyte" is one of the most-streamed TV shows since its release.

The outlet's chart of streaming shows gave "The Acolyte" a total watch time of 380.5 million minutes between June 7 and June 13.

• Formula 1 team principals handle extensive behind-the-scenes work.
• Some team principals, like James Vowles of Williams Racing, oversee hundreds of employees.
• Guenther Steiner likened being the team principal of Haas F1 to "being the CEO of a small company."
• This article is part of "Behind the Wheel," a series about the highly competitive and high-tech world of Formula 1.

A Formula 1 team principal can seem like a pretty fun, glamorous job. After all, fans typically see them spending race weekends in heated conversations with drivers, giving interviews to TV reporters, pounding their fists on tables, occasionally spraying Champagne, and earning tons of airtime on "Drive to Survive," the sport's Netflix docuseries.

But the job requires a lot more behind-the-scenes work than many fans realize — especially during non-race weeks at the factory, where teams put in late nights looking to maximize performance.

"The good news is no two days are the same," said James Vowles, Williams Racing's team principal. "That's a thing I really enjoy about this role."

Managing a team of 1,000 employees

Vowles, a 44-year-old British engineer, joined Williams in 2023 after spending more than a decade as a top engineer and strategist at the Brawn GP and Mercedes teams, contributing to nine total Formula 1 World Constructors' Championships.

Now that he's stepped into the top job at Williams, he oversees the team's 1,000 or so employees — and a typical week is jam-packed with meetings.

"Let me walk you through my Monday morning," he said, whipping out his phone to refresh his memory. "I'll even load up my full calendar so I can give you a full assessment."

Vowles started his day with a marketing and strategy meeting, looking ahead to the next six or seven races. He also met with the team's chief operating officer to discuss the technical development pipeline.

"In the middle of all that was also a meeting with the commercial side to discuss what's happening in that world," Vowles added. "When it comes to that, we're looking at short-, middle-, and long-term goals."

After that, Vowles joined a meeting with a potential IT partner the team is considering investing in.

By the afternoon, the team's star driver, Alex Albon, had arrived at the factory. Vowles met briefly with Albon before making the rounds to chat with engineers and other staff members. Then he conducted informal phone interviews with three job candidates who were interested in joining Williams.

The day concluded with a series of management meetings that lasted until 9 p.m.

"And that's just Monday," Vowles said.

'No driver wants to talk to me every day'

Being a team principal requires a breadth of skills. Guenther Steiner, a former team principal of the Haas F1 team who's now an ambassador for the Miami Grand Prix, said the job was sort of like running a corporation.

"It's really like being the CEO of a small company," he said. "You're supervising HR, finance, engineering, race activation, logistics, marketing — you need to be quite widespread and have your hand in everything."

Steiner rose to popularity thanks to "Drive to Survive," which documented his humorous and heated interactions with his team's drivers.

"During the week, though, I'm not the guy talking with the drivers," he said. "No driver wants to talk to me every day! But the few times you do speak with them, it'll surely find its way on TV."

Steiner said team principals often spend their time focusing on other aspects of the team. He added that the job comes with a lot of stress, especially when the team is going through a rough patch.

"There are two stressful parts: sponsors and performance on the track," he said. "The second one is the worse of the two. If you have good results, you'll sort out the sponsorships. But you can't make up for bad results."

Leading by example to get the most out of the team

For Zak Brown, the CEO of McLaren, the importance of a good team principal can't be overstated. Last year, his team hovered near the bottom of the grid for the first half of the season until leadership changes — including the promotion of Andrea Stella to team principal — led to a stunning turnaround. Now the team is competing for wins and podiums weekly.

"Of our 1,000-person team, we changed only three people, though they happened to be in key leadership roles," Brown said. "So the same 997 people that developed us the car at the start of the year were the same people who turned it around."

He added that Stella "was able to get more out of the same people that our previous leadership wasn't able to."

Brown said the top traits he looked for in a team principal were selflessness, a focus on performance, and a willingness to lead by example.

"In a team-principal role, you can have people who are focused more on media or their own ego," he said. "Andrea is a team principal that focuses on his team, putting his people first."

For Vowles, the job has been a fun way to step outside of his comfort zone — to get a more hands-on look at marketing and HR alongside the engineering skills he's long possessed. He says it boils down to having emotional intelligence, dealing with people, and showing empathy.

"There are individuals who will sleep on the floor of the building if I ask them to," he said, though he quickly added, "Of course, we don't ask them to do that."

"But I hope I have a team that wants to follow me," he said, "because I care about them and they care about what we're building together."

• The Air Force of Ukraine claims that one of its soldiers downed a Russian missile using just a machine gun.
• The feat took place during a massive Russian aerial bombardment on June 12, it said.
• Experts have previously told BI that takedowns like this are extremely difficult.

A Ukrainian soldier successfully downed a Russian cruise missile using just a machine gun, according to claims from the Ukrainian armed forces.

The feat took place over the Kyiv region during a massive Russian aerial bombardment overnight on June 12, Ukraine's Air Force Command said on Thursday.

Business Insider could not independently verify the claim.

When the bombardment alert came in, "they told us over the radio that our target was close," the soldier, identified as Serhii, said, according to Ukrainska Pravda's translation.

"Seconds later, we saw an enemy missile heading towards Vasylkiv," he continued, referring to a small city roughly 10 miles south of Kyiv.

Serhii said he didn't hesitate to open fire, adding: "After I fired from the machine gun, I saw the missile starting to veer off course and descend."

Serhii, formerly a civilian doctor who uses the callsign "Dr. Mom," said he only believed he'd shot the missile down after he saw the debris on the ground.

Experts examining similar past claims — such as a January report of a Russian cruise missile being shot down by a Soviet-era antiaircraft gun — told BI's Sinéad Baker that such feats are extremely difficult.

Serhii acknowledged that the claimed shoot-down was a very difficult thing to achieve, but said his sense of responsibility had made the "impossible possible," per The New Voice of Ukraine's translation.

An official Ukrainian account of that night's bombardment said that Russia had launched a volley of six missiles — including at least four cruise missiles — and 24 Shahed drones, with all but one of the missiles shot down.

Air defense units were deployed in multiple Ukrainian regions, including Kyiv, officials said.

Ukraine's recently replenished stockpiles of US-supplied antiaircraft missiles were instrumental in repelling the attack, The New York Times reported at the time.

• Big Tech's AI race is intensifying as major players launch rival tools, with more set to come. 
• Microsoft, Google, and OpenAI all launched new AI features in May.
• Business Insider put together a guide to bring you up to speed on what the main AI models do. 

Big Tech's AI race is getting even hotter as Microsoft, OpenAI, and Google all announced some new features in May.

There seems to be a constant stream of new AI tools being released, leading to many names of chatbots and models to remember.

It doesn't look like it will slow down anytime soon, either. Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Meta, and Apple are set to spend billions more on AI infrastructure, which will further boost their capabilities to roll out more products. With it comes more AI jargon.

Business Insider has compiled a guide to bring you up to speed on what AI products tech's heavy hitters offer, and some of the times the rollouts haven't gone to plan, so you know your AI lingo for those watercooler chats.

Here are some of Big Tech's AI models and features that you need to know about.

Microsoft

Microsoft has a partnership with OpenAI, and it has invested billions in the ChatGPT maker, but it's also reportedly building its own AI model that is separate from OpenAI's.

The in-house AI model called MAI-1 is said to be trained using a public dataset and text from ChatGPT, a source told The Information. The project's being overseen by Mustafa Suleyman, the recently appointed CEO of Microsoft AI, the report added.

The company has a text-to-image generator called Microsoft Designer, which launched last year after being tested in December 2022.

Shane Jones, a software engineer at Microsoft, wrote a letter to the Federal Trade Commission and Microsoft's board about the image generator at the time to raise awareness about its potential risks, including the possibility it produces "harmful content."

Microsoft researchers have also developed a text-to-video tool called VASA-1 that can bring still images to life. It was demonstrated in April, but it has not yet been rolled out to the public.

At the Microsoft Build developer conference in May, CEO Satya Nadella unveiled the company's latest generative AI offerings, including updates to its AI chatbot Copilot. It also unveiled Team Copilot, a work-productivity tool that brings its AI agent to workplace chats and meetings within Microsoft Teams.

Another big AI feature revealed at the conference was Recall, which Microsoft likened to giving PCs a "photographic memory." The feature takes screenshots of a user's laptop every few seconds, which they can later search through.

OpenAI

OpenAI's ChatGPT burst onto the AI scene in November 2022. Since then, it's launched a few updated versions of its flagship model, including GPT-3, GPT-3.5, GPT-4, and GPT-4 Turbo.

Some users criticized the GPT-4 version as being a "lazier" and "dumber" model compared with earlier ones, in terms of its reasoning capabilities and other output.

OpenAI's text-to-image generator is called Dall-E 3. It also has a video generator called Sora, which wowed many spectators when OpenAI dropped teaser videos in February that the tool generated. But it's also been under scrutiny as Google boss Sundar Pichai said OpenAI might've breached YouTube's terms of use by using its videos to train the model.

More recently, OpenAI revealed a multimodal model called GPT-4o, which is essentially a voice assistant that can carry out searches and act as a companion when doing work and other tasks.

GPT-4o already been a controversial release since it was unveiled earlier in May, as Scarlett Johansson spoke out and said the "Sky" voice for OpenAI's chatbot was "eerily similar" to hers. She also said the company approached her to license her likeness for it.

CEO Sam Altman responded by saying OpenAI never intended the "Sky" voice to resemble Johansson's.

Company	Chatbot	Large language model (LLM)	Image generator	Video generator
Microsoft	Copilot	MAI-1	Microsoft Designer	VASA-1
OpenAI	ChatGPT	GPT-4o (latest model)	Dall-E 3	Sora
Google	Gemini	Gemini	Imagen 2	Lumiere
Meta	Meta AI	Meta Llama	Imagine	Make-A-Video
Amazon	Q	Olympus	Amazon Titan Image Generator	—
Anthropic	Claude	Claude 3.5 Sonnet	—	—

Google

Google's AI chatbot is called Gemini and it was launched in March 2023.

The search giant paused Gemini from generating AI images of people
earlier in the year after it started producing historically inaccurate images.

Google then announced some new AI features at its I/O conference in May, including AI Overviews, an AI-generated summary of search results. Since it was rolled out, social media users have been posting their experiences of it generating inaccurate responses, including on one occasion where it told a user to put glue on pizza to keep the cheese intact.

A Google representative previously told Business Insider that such examples were "extremely rare queries and aren't representative of most people's experiences."

In response to a Verge report that Google was manually deactivating some answers by its new AI search feature, a spokesperson told the outlet that Google was "taking swift action" to remove AI Overviews on certain queries.

Google introduced a text-to-video generator called Lumiere in January, but it has yet to announce a launch date.

Meta

Meta has an AI assistant called Meta AI, which is run on its open-source LLM called Llama. The AI tool is embedded into its platforms, including Instagram and WhatsApp. Meta's video-generating tool, Make-A-Video, was announced in 2022.

It also has an AI image generator called Imagine, which launched in December and was trained on public Facebook and Instagram photos. In April, some users said it was racially biased because it could not create images showing mixed-race couples.

Amazon

Amazon's reportedly building an LLM called Olympus to remain competitive in the AI race. It's developing Olympus with the goal of embedding it into its online store and Alexa smart speakers, The Information reported last year.

Titan is Amazon's image generator, and it is integrated into its service, Amazon Bedrock. This lets users access foundation models from players including Anthropic, Meta, Stability AI, and Cohere to build generative AI applications on Amazon Web Services, its cloud-computing platform.

Amazon committed to investing up to $4 billion in Anthropic last September. The startup, in which Amazon holds a minority stake, was cofounded by two former OpenAI employees.

Anthropic

Anthropic launched its first AI model, Claude, in March 2023. The San Francisco-based company released its latest model, Claude 3.5 Sonnet, in June 2024.

Anthropic claims it outperforms rivals on benchmarks such as math problem-solving and graduate-level reasoning.

The company said: "Improvements are most noticeable in tasks requiring visual reasoning, like interpreting charts, graphs, or transcribing text from imperfect images."

Amazon, which is now offering the model through Amazon Bedrock, said the new model costs one-fifth of the price of Anthropic's last model.

• Kylie Kelce is married to former Philadelphia Eagles Center Jason Kelce.
• Kylie is dedicated to raising autism awareness, including among her three daughters.
• She said she and Jason don't invite outside opinions about their marriage.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Kylie Kelce. It has been edited for length and clarity.

I've spoken many times about how my interest in the autism community started very young. My neighbor Tim, who is a few years older than me, had autism. We were very close, and today he's Uncle Tim to my three daughters.

Just like Tim helped teach me about neurodiversity, he's now teaching his honorary nieces. My girls get to benefit from having Tim in their lives. He's an outstanding introduction to autism and neurodiverse individuals. And I am very, very lucky that they get to interact with him in their young years the same way I got to interact with him, because he really is one of the best people on this earth.

The girls love Tim for Tim, but our oldest has started to notice he's different from some of her other uncles. Wyatt is 4, and she's a social butterfly, so she gets frustrated if Tim doesn't want to interact verbally with her. One time in particular, she was annoyed he wouldn't say hi. And I told her, "Well, Uncle Tim will say hi to you when Uncle Tim is ready."

That's the space and grace we would give anyone we interact with. We haven't even really talked about Uncle Tim being different or that he processes the world differently. It's just common decency: if someone doesn't want to say hi to you right at that moment, they don't have to.

That lesson has helped me teach the girls about public interactions

Interestingly, that's helped me talk to the girls about interacting with the public. I never imagined that Jason and I would be household names in Philadelphia or that strangers would know our kids' names.

It has forced some conversations that I didn't think we would need to have. When we leave the house now and go into public spaces, I tell our daughters that if they don't want to say hi to people, they don't have to.

Honestly, it's a very fine line and a blurred line when people approach Jason and me and address the girls by name. And it's no fault of anyone because all of the interactions are based completely on kindness.

Still, it is something that I make it a point to address with our girls. We talk about stranger danger because being approached by a stranger who knows your name is something I don't think anyone can prepare you for.

As the girls get older, we're going to keep the lines of communication open so they can talk with us about anything that makes them uncomfortable, including public attention.

I don't worry about people's opinions on my marriage

Raising three girls has really united Jason and me as a team. Right now, it's us versus the children, and we're outnumbered. We're not in man-to-man coverage anymore.

As public figures, Jason and I know there's talk about our marriage, but we don't give much thought to it. We use social media in a way that is authentic to us, and I make a conscious effort not to offer us up for the opinions of others. I don't really mind other people having opinions because I don't really think twice about it. I also just don't often give the opportunity for people to supply those opinions.

Keeping the outside sources as quiet as possible is a really great way to just keep it together and be present with each other. We are very secure in our marriage.

I talk with Tim about sharing his story

I'm passionate about the Eagles Autism Foundation, and people often want to know why. I share about Tim and always make sure to check in with him to make sure he's ok with my talking about our story.

Tim isn't one for the spotlight, so I'm helping him with an anonymous donation. The donation will give people with tactile needs the chance to interact with art, including the art that Tim makes.

I'm grateful that I know Tim, and I tell him that. And I think that that's really as simple as it is. I'm grateful that I've had the absolute pleasure of having Tim in my life. That has fueled everything else that has transpired.

• Gary Keenan moved from New Mexico to Costa Rica for retirement but found living costs high.
• Keenan expected lower expenses in Costa Rica but faced double the cost for his car and groceries.
• Though many are moving to Latin America for retirement, some are finding living costs expensive.

Gary Keenan, 71, moved from New Mexico to the Central Valley of Costa Rica nine years ago for his retirement after selling his company and finalizing a divorce. Little did he know that a decade later, prices for daily expenses would be often double what he paid in the US.

Keenan said he's loved the peace and nature of Costa Rica after spending most of his life in Albuquerque. However, it's come with a cost — his car costs twice what it would have in the US, groceries are often 1.5 times the price of comparable goods at US stores, and rents are skyrocketing, particularly in more touristy areas.

"I have read several articles in the last four months that actually said these are the countries to live in for less than in the US. That is horribly incorrect," Keenan said.

Over the past few months, Business Insider has spoken to Americans who recently moved to Latin America for retirement or work opportunities. Some said they got priced out of the US and live more comfortably. Others like Keenan said life is much more peaceful, though expenses are still high.

Deciding on Costa Rica

Keenan was born and raised in Albuquerque and practiced law for nearly a decade in the 1980s. He took over his father's insurance business, which he ran for about 25 years.

During his time with the insurance company, he attended a retreat in Playa Zancudo, located in the south of Costa Rica. A few years later, he attended a wedding in Playa Grande in the country's northeast Guanacaste region, which he adored for its accessible beaches.

After these visits, he knew he wanted to retire in Costa Rica to live an "easygoing" life far from the US. He was tired of living in the same city his whole life, and though he considered moving to Europe, he wanted to explore other parts of the world. He sold his business in 2014 while filing for a divorce, and by the start of January 2015, he had packed up everything in New Mexico and moved to Costa Rica.

He decided to move after his retirement in an attempt to learn Spanish, intending to move to France a few years later and learn French.

"I discovered that neither my desire nor my aptitude was sufficient to allow me to learn Spanish in three years," he said. "In that time, I also met a woman who I am still involved with, so that nipped moving to France in the bud."

He knew San José would be less touristy than Guanacaste or other beach areas, though he was surprised by how few people spoke sufficient English for communication. For his first year or two, while learning the basics of Spanish, he struggled to buy groceries, deposit money in the bank, or get around the area.

"I started with a tutor, went to her for a year and a half, but I realized that although I was learning a lot of verbs and their conjugations, I was still not able to understand a word of Spanish spoken by the locals," Keenan said. "If you are lucky enough to understand Spanish as a general rule, you're still going to have issues because they drop syllables and speak very fast."

Even after a decade in Costa Rica, he said he still hasn't mastered Spanish, nor has he picked up a lot of new vocabulary. Still, he knows enough to get around and feel comfortable in his area.

Moving across Costa Rica

When he first moved, he had not been to San José, nor did he know where the touristy areas were. He did some research before moving down, though he said there wasn't much he could tell about particular areas other than what he could find on Google Maps.

He stayed at a hotel in San Pedro, on the capital's outskirts, and then looked for an apartment nearby. A few decades ago, the area was predominantly coffee fields, meaning many developments are newer and have plenty of nature. However, he discovered he didn't want to live there because of the intense rainy season. One day, he recalled it taking an hour to drive 100 yards due to the heavy traffic in the rain.

He hired a man with a van to show him around the outskirts, and he settled on Santa Ana, a small city west of San José. When he moved, the city had a large expat population, and he said the area became increasingly commercialized and expensive.

Ultimately, he relocated over seven years ago to Cariari, a town in the country's northeast home to a major golf course.

Costa Rica is more expensive than he thought

Keenan said that when he first moved to Costa Rica, prices were cheaper than in the US but not by too much. However, when inflation hit in mid-2022, he said prices in his area skyrocketed.

Costa Rica imposed import duties on US items, which have recently driven up prices for most expenses. Additionally, the US dollar has fallen by roughly 25% compared to the Costa Rican colón since peaking in summer 2022. He said prices when he visited Panama were, on the whole, much lower.

Keenan said this is most apparent with food prices. For instance, the cheapest cuts of beef at his local grocery store are roughly $5.50 a pound. Steaks, many of which are imported from Argentina, come in at about $17 per pound. Packaged goods, as well as imported fruits and vegetables, are also higher.

In early 2023, he bought a car in Costa Rica for about $34,000, which the Kelley Blue Book listed as between $16,000 and $18,000 in the US. Though he could have shipped a car from the US, he was worried about all the transportation costs and what would happen if he needed a new car part only found in the US.

He never bought a house, as he said the process can take years in Costa Rica. His first condo was about $1,000 a month, while his current apartment is $1,500 a month — which he said was a good deal as he already knew the landlord.

He said that while rents in general are comparable to or cheaper than in the US, prices can vary greatly depending on the area. He estimates that prices have jumped 50% to 100% in some touristy areas along the coasts since the pandemic hit, especially with greater investment in real estate from expats.

"If one is going to live down here, they must have close to round-the-clock security," Keenan said. "There is a lot of opportunity for crime, and an unguarded house is a prime target eventually."

Have you recently left the United States for a new country? Reach out to this reporter at nsheidlower@businessinsider.com.