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Welcome back! Despite last summer's OceanGate tragedy, someone else wants to take a submersible to the Titanic. Meet billionaire thrill-seeker Larry Connor.

In today's big story, we're giving a preview of what to expect at Apple's annual event. And be sure to follow along with our live blog.

What's on deck:

• Markets: We're close to a soft landing, but the US economy needs to thread the needle or risk a bumpy ride.
• Tech: Sam Altman might be the ultimate personality hire.
• Business: No, Gen Z, your manager is not your therapist.

But first, showtime for Apple.

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The big story

Apple's AI unveiling

Apple kicks off its big event today from a unique spot: behind.

The Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) is Apple's annual showcase for splashy announcements about cutting-edge tech.

But when CEO Tim Cook takes the stage for his keynote address this afternoon, it'll be about catching up with Apple's fellow Big Tech peers. The event is expected to be Apple's long-awaited unveiling of its AI strategy, writes Business Insider's Jordan Hart.

(You can follow along with our live blog here. The event kicks off at 1 p.m. ET.)

Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and OpenAI have all placed their proverbial flags in the AI ground over the past month. But Apple has remained noticeably quiet on AI, much to investors' chagrin.

All signs point to Apple confirming the rumors of an OpenAI partnership. It wouldn't be the first time Apple announced a deal with a fellow tech company that has massive implications, writes BI's Hasan Chowdhury.

In 2005, Apple and Google struck a deal to make the latter's search engine the default option on Apple's Safari browser. Two years later, Apple introduced the iPhone with Google as the core search tool.

The rest, as they say, is history.

It's unclear if the expected Apple-OpenAI partnership will last as long as Apple's nearly two-decade relationship with Google.

As beneficial as OpenAI is for Apple, it doesn't come without risks. The startup and CEO Sam Altman are, to put it mildly, in the midst of some chaos.

OpenAI has faced criticism over transparency and safety protocols, and people have started questioning Altman's true motivations. Apple usually tries to avoid that type of drama. Remember how quickly it pulled that iPad ad?

Further complicating matters is that OpenAI's biggest backer happens to be a key rival of Apple: Microsoft.

The fellow tech giant reportedly has reservations about the Apple-OpenAI tie-up. CEO Satya Nadella met with Altman to discuss how the deal might impact his company's AI plans involving the startup, The Information reported.

Apple likely won't be interested in putting all its AI eggs in one basket anyway. As successful as the partnership with Google has been, it didn't come cheap. And more importantly, it led to plenty of regulatory attention Apple would probably like to avoid this time around.

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News brief

Your Monday headline catchup

A quick recap of the top news from over the weekend:

• Far-right, nationalist parties gain strong support in European Parliament election.
• South Africa could be the first-ever country to provide a no-strings-attached universal basic income.
• Elon Musk is pitching a daring idea to Tesla shareholders: A vote for Musk is a ticket to the 'Muskonomy'.

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3 things in markets

1. The final stretch of a soft landing for the US won't be easy. The European Central Bank's decision to cut rates last week puts the US in a tricky spot. A delay from the Fed in cutting rates could mean foreign money floods the economy, making the central bank's job even harder.
2. Trying to make sense of the latest GameStop meme madness. The company has already turned its latest rally into a $1 billion windfall by selling shares. Now it could make even more by selling additional shares, which has further jolted the stock. Meanwhile, Roaring Kitty's livestream didn't help things.
3. Election results are serving up major stock-market surprises. It's the year of the election around the world, and wins for leaders in India and Mexico sent their respective country's stocks tumbling. Meanwhile, European stocks opened lower today after far-right, nationalist parties saw major wins.

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3 things in tech

1. Introducing the ultimate personality hire: Sam Altman. "Personality hires" contribute to a company with their soft skills, and arguably make for a healthy workplace. In AI, we can stretch that definition to include people who are really good at hyping up the product — and right now, Altman is AI's greatest hype man.
2. Advertisers don't want to use Grok. X employees have been pushing advertisers to use Grok, the platform's sarcastic, not "woke" AI chatbot. The problem? Advertisers really aren't interested.
3. Nvidia's key supplier seems to want in on its hype. Nvidia's market value hit $3 trillion last week after another blowout earnings report. Now, its main chip supplier, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, is hinting at raising prices.

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3 things in business

1. "Friendly" fraud is on the rise. Credit cards offer the ability to dispute a transaction to get a refund. But some customers, accidentally or intentionally, are abusing the perk. They're claiming legitimate transactions were fraudulent — and, in the process, they're engaging in first-party fraud themselves.
2. Your manager is not your therapist. Gen Z is more open to talking about their mental health, sometimes doing so at the office. And while destigmatizing mental illness is important, a workplace overly focused on mental health isn't always a recipe for better mental-health outcomes.
3. Amazon withdrew from huge investment in the eleventh hour. Amazon made a last-minute decision to not invest in Figure, an AI-robots startup, earlier this year, two investors told BI. A funding round valued the startup at $2.6 billion, and sources said Amazon committed to $50 million at one point.

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In other news

• Your Uber Eats orders may be more likely to get stuck in NYC traffic now.
• See the private island outside NYC that a hedge fund exec is listing for $35 million.
• The 20 best restaurants in the world, ranked.
• Sports Illustrated's ex-publisher wants $200 million from Authentic Brands Group, saying it stole website and employees.
• An AI boom and market rebound helped create 500,000 new millionaires in the US last year.

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What's happening today

• Apple's Annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) kicks off.

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The Insider Today team: Dan DeFrancesco, deputy editor and anchor, in New York. Jordan Parker Erb, editor, in New York. Hallam Bullock, senior editor, in London. George Glover, reporter, in London. Annie Smith, associate producer, in London.

• China's exports in May blew past estimates, rising 7.6% year-over-year in dollar terms.
• It showcases Beijing's growing dependence on foreign buyers to support its growth.
• But as cheap products flood the US and EU, Western leaders are responding with trade barriers.

Chinese exports jumped above forecasts in May, as the second-largest economy is leaning more and more on foreign markets to boost growth.

But as Beijing unloads its products on the world, it's turning up the heat on trade tensions.

In dollar terms, exports rose 7.6% year-over-year, surpassing 6% estimates among economists polled by Reuters. According to customs data from Friday, that's the second month of accelerated growth.

At the same time, import data was lackluster, and withdrawn Chinese consumption has been a headwind so persistent that China is the sole country undergoing deflation.

For an economy increasingly needing alternatives to domestic consumers, Beijing is pinning its hopes for economic growth on foreign buyers. Friday's data suggests that technology products are boosting China's exports, resulting from the country's growing emphasis on advanced manufacturing.

That's not a welcome development for international competitors, however. With Chinese tech and green energy goods sweeping foreign producers away, both the US and European Union have responded with trade barriers.

Last month, President Joe Biden announced fresh tariffs against Beijing's advanced products, including quadrupling the duties on Chinese electric vehicles. Last week, tariffs resumed on Chinese-made solar panels coming through Southeast Asia after a brief moratorium.

Meanwhile, Republican candidate Donald Trump has pledged even steeper protectionist policies, vowing to apply 60% tariffs on Chinese goods.

Whichever US presidential candidate is elected in November, analysts have been warning that China's dependence on international markets is sure to spark a trade war. This could happen as soon as next year, China Beige Book CEO Leland Miller forecast.

Although one already took place prior to the pandemic, Beijing's manufacturing output has only grown since — it can no longer lean on smaller countries to absorb its product, a Capital Economics note said in March.

"China's exporters are probably more reliant now on US consumers than they were when the trade war began during Donald Trump's first term," group chief economist Neil Shearing then wrote.

• A US-made Bradley rescued a soldier after a drone spotted him hiding in some trees, a video shows.
• Ukraine's army said the soldier had five bullet wounds and waved his military ID to be recognized.
• Medics waited for the right moment to leave the fighting vehicle and rescue the soldier, it said.

A video shared on Sunday shows a wounded Ukrainian soldier being rescued by a US-made Bradley fighting vehicle, after being spotted hiding among some trees.

The drone footage, captured by Ukraine's 47th Mechanized Brigade, shows the soldier hiding in the foliage and waving a blue piece of paper at the drone above.

According to the text accompanying the video, the brigade spotted the wounded soldier, named Dmytro, in the bushes during an aerial reconnaissance.

Dmytro had been ambushed and sustained five bullet wounds, it said. He pulled out his military ID and waved it at the drone to prove he wasn't Russian, per the brigade.

In the video, a Bradley can be seen arriving, with the back doors opening and two soldiers going out to pick up the limping soldier, before taking him inside the vehicle.

Medics from the brigade waited for the right moment to get out of the Bradley and evacuate the soldier, the text said.

"We thank the aerial reconnaissance men for their vigilance, the crew for their maneuverability, and the medics for saving lives," the brigade said, per a translation by military website Militarnyi.

It didn't specify where the rescue operation took place.

The text said that Dmytro was being treated in a hospital.

US-supplied Bradleys have played a crucial role in rescue operations on the front lines of the war in Ukraine.

Last summer, Ukrainian soldiers used a Bradley to rescue civilians while under heavy Russian fire in the village of Robotyne.

They have also helped Ukrainian soldiers fight off Russian advances, take out Russian tanks, and resist Russian fire thanks to their heavy armor.

The vehicles have prompted fear among Russian soldiers, a Ukrainian commander told Newsweek in January.

The Bradley, initially built as a response to Soviet infantry fighting vehicles, has an operational range of about 300 miles and can drive at speeds of more than 40 miles an hour.

They can move up to six fully armed soldiers to and from the battlefield, and are highly maneuverable.

The US has provided Ukraine with more than 300 Bradleys since the start of the war, according to the Department of State.

In early January, Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said the infantry fighting vehicle was "not a tank, but a tank killer" capable of giving Ukraine a "significant boost" on the battlefield.

• President Emmanuel Macron called snap parliamentary elections in France.
• It came after a big win for rival Marine Le Pen's National Rally in the European Parliament vote.
• This could dissolve Macron's coalition, risking cohabitation with an opposition prime minister.

French President Emmanuel Macron shocked the world on Sunday by calling a snap election in France.

The move came after a big win for his rival Marine Le Pen's National Rally party at the European parliamentary elections. Macron's centrist alliance secured a 14.6% vote compared to the far-right National Rally's staggering 31.4%.

The French president's defeat by hard-right nationalists had been expected. But his response hadn't.

There's now a chance Macron "would have to govern with his nemesis," Daniel Hamilton, a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Institute of Johns Hopkins University SAIS, told CNBC.

"His gamble is to use the three years before the next presidential elections to show they did a really bad job and that somehow the voters will reward him," he said.

France's snap election

Macron said the decision to hold a snap election was "an act of confidence" and that he believed "in the capacity of the French people to make the best choice for themselves and for future generations," according to a translation by The Guardian.

"I have confidence in our democracy, in letting the sovereign people have their say. I've heard your message, your concerns, and I won't leave them unanswered," he said.

He presented it as a choice for voters: give him a mandate or risk being governed by hard-right nationalists.

Le Pen said her party was "ready to take over power if the French give us their trust in the upcoming national elections."

Investors reacted by selling off French stocks and bonds. On Monday, the country's Cac 40 stock index fell by as much as 1.8% to its lowest since February, the Financial Times noted.

There is likely more volatility ahead. The election, set to take place between June 30 and July 7, could jeopardize Macron's influence — which has steadily waned since the formation of the current coalition government in November 2021.

'This is a severe defeat for Macron'

Macron's term as France's president still runs for three more years, which means he will stay in charge of foreign policy, justice and defense.

However, the snap election could likely end the current coalition, which comprises Macron's party, Renaissance, the Democratic Movement, Horizons, En commun, and the Progressive Federation.

Macron may have to form a cohabitation government with a prime minister from an opposition party, such as the National Party or Les Republicains.

They would have a huge say over France's domestic and economic policy.

Alain Duhamel, a veteran political analyst, told the FT that this outcome is inevitable: "A dissolution means a cohabitation."

According to the FT, the decision to call a snap election was a high-stakes attempt to prevent National Rally's Marine Le Pen on her trajectory to succeed Macron as president in 2024.

But the plan could backfire if the far-right continues to dominate votes.

"This is a severe defeat for Macron given that he has been president for seven years and he has long said his goal is to combat the far right," Bruno Cautrès, an academic and pollster at Sciences Po in Paris, told FT.

Antonio Barroso, a deputy director of research at the consultancy firm Teneo, told CNBC that "the available information suggests Macron has called an election he might lose."

Representatives for President Macron did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

• A recession indicator with a flawless record has been flashing red for 20 months.
• The economist behind the inverted yield curve says it's too soon to declare it's wrong this time.
• Campbell Harvey, a Duke finance professor, pointed to signs of a cooling job market to back his concerns.

A recession indicator with a perfect track record has been flashing red for 20 months now, but the economist who pioneered its use warned against dismissing it just yet.

"I think it's way too early to declare a failure," Campbell Harvey told Fox Business about the inverted yield curve.

The 3-month Treasury yield has climbed above the 10-year yield before eight of the past eight recessions dating back to the 1960s, without any false positives. Harvey, a finance professor at Duke University, first identified that pattern over 30 years ago.

The same yield curve has been inverted for around 20 months since October 2022. But past recessions have struck with up to a 23-month lag, Harvey noted.

"We're still not out of the woods," he said, noting the indicator will only exceed its historical lead time if there's still no downturn by October.

Even so, he advised investors not to rely on his alarm bell alone, but to combine it with other measures to gain a fuller picture of the economy's health and outlook.

Harvey pointed to several economic "red flags" including employment figures for May that were released on Friday. Headline unemployment ticked up to 4%, with Black unemployment jumping from 5.6% to 6.1%. The labor force participation rate also dropped to 62.5% as some people exited the job market.

It's worth emphasizing that Harvey has been sounding the recession alarm for a while. Last May, he warned the economy seemed to be slowing and might contract for the next six to nine months. In January, he cautioned a mild downturn could take hold this year.

Recession fears have faded in recent weeks, even though GDP growth has slowed from nearly 5% in the third quarter of last year to just 1.3% last quarter, unemployment has edged higher, and inflation has remained well above the Federal Reserve's 2% target for months.

There was widespread fear of a downturn after inflation spiked to a 40-year high of more than 9% in the summer of 2022, spurring the Fed to raise interest rates from nearly zero to north of 5%.

Higher rates deter spending, investing, and hiring, and increase monthly debt payments owed by consumers and businesses, which tends to cool the economy and boost the risk of a recession.

It may be tempting to dismiss Harvey's inverted yield curve as a false alarm, but it's certainly worth monitoring.

• A Boeing 737 barely cleared the runway in an incident in the UK.
• The pilots didn't notice they set the thrust too low, but the autothrottle also had a fault.
• According to investigators, Boeing said the auto-throttle has "a long history of nuisance disconnects."

A Boeing 737 barely managed to clear a runway following a software glitch, according to the UK's Air Accidents Investigation Branch.

On May 30, the AAIB released a preliminary report about the "serious incident" that took place in March.

Taking off from Bristol Airport, the TUI Airways 737 was only 10 feet in the air — the same height as a basketball hoop — when it crossed the end of the runway. The 737 then overflew a major road next to the airport by less than 100 feet, per the report.

An analysis of the incident by TUI found that the 737 had accelerated at a slower rate than 99.7% of other takeoffs at Bristol.

The AAIB said the pilots didn't notice they had set the thrust "significantly below" the required level. Then, it said, the autothrottle disengaged as they selected the takeoff mode. This was due to a fault with the system.

According to the AAIB's report, Boeing said the 737's autothrottle has "a long history of nuisance disconnects during takeoff mode engagements."

The jet used an older model of the autothrottle, although Boeing had detailed this issue back in 2021.

Boeing is experiencing a crisis, which has led to CEO Dave Calhoun announcing his resignation. It is trying to regain the trust of customers and passengers following January's Alaska Airlines blowout. That incident involved a 737 Max, whereas the Bristol Airport one involved the previous generation, the 737 NG.

"Boeing is supporting the Air Accidents Investigation Branch with its investigation," the planemaker said in a statement shared with Business Insider.

"As a party to that investigation, we're not able to comment and will refer you to the AAIB for any information."

In a statement sent to Business Insider, TUI said: "We have worked closely with the authorities to provide all available information.

"The AAIB recommendations and learnings resulting from this take-off will support the whole aviation sector and other airlines. The safety of our passengers and crew is always our highest priority."

• General Motors is turning to Costco's Auto Program to help it sell more EVs. 
• The wholesaler partners with automakers and dealers to offer discounted vehicle prices for members.
• An executive told CNBC selling EVs to Costco's 50 million members was a "huge opportunity" for GM.

General Motors is turning to Costco to help it sell more EVs.

According to a CNBC report, the Detroit automaker is selling its electric vehicles through Costco's Auto Program, which allows members to buy cars at discounted prices.

GM North America President Marissa West told CNBC she saw a "huge opportunity" to sell EVs to Costco's 50 million-plus US membership base and that GM was exploring new ways to build its partnership with the wholesaler.

"We have a great partnership with Costco, and I'm really bullish on Costco because I like their brand," said West.

Business Insider contacted GM and Costco for comment but didn't immediately hear back.

Costco Auto Program general manager Jay Maxwell, meanwhile, told CNBC the company had seen an uptick in interest in EVs among its members, with around 7% of member requests for vehicles to Costco Auto in 2023 relating to electric vehicles.

Costco Auto does not sell cars directly. It partners with dealers and automakers to allow members to buy vehicles for discounted prices.

The partnership with Costco comes at a crucial time for GM as it gears up to release a range of new affordable electric models in the coming years.

GM sub-brand Chevy recently released a new $43,295 Chevy Equinox, and is planning an updated version of the electric crossover for later this year, which is expected to be priced at under $30,000 with tax incentives.

A new Chevy Bolt is also in the pipeline, with Chevy promising it will be the "most affordable EV on the market" when it launches in 2025.

It also comes as automakers revise their EV strategies amid slowing demand for electric vehicles in the US.

Ford slashed production of its F-150 Lightning pickup, and GM has reversed course by pledging to continue selling hybrid vehicles in the US alongside its electric offerings.

Until then, Costco members will certainly see the benefits. The wholesale club recently announced that members will be able to get $1,000 off a selection of electric vehicles this summer, including models from Cadillac, Chevy, and Volvo.

• Business Insider is putting together a power list of the young talent on Wall Street.
• We want to spotlight the standouts in investment banking, investing as well as sales and trading. 
• Please submit your ideas here by August 7th. 

We're seeking nominations for Business Insider's list of rising stars on Wall Street, and we want to hear from you. 

Submit your suggestions below or via this form.

We're looking for the leaders of tomorrow, those making notable contributions or accomplishments and setting themselves apart from their class in investment banking, investing, and sales and trading. 

In the past, we've had people with a variety of roles and experiences from companies including Blackstone, Citadel, JPMorgan, and Goldman Sachs.

Take a look at our 2023 list here.

Criteria and methodology

Our selection criteria: We ask that nominees be 35 or under as of September 30, 2024, based in the US, work front-office roles, and stand out from their peers. Editors make the final decisions.

Please make your submission below or through this form by August 7th to have your selection considered for the list. Please be as specific as possible in your submission.

Please email Michelle Abrego at mabrego@businessinsider. com with any questions or issues submitting your nominations.

• ChatGPT can now do your job hunting for you.
• The bot can access the internet through a new update, allowing it to trawl job sites.
• I tested ChatGPT's recruiting skills. It sped up the job-hunting process but did make some mistakes.

ChatGPT now looks like a very useful tool if you're trying to find a job.

Not only can the bot write convincing cover letters and spruce up a CV — but a new update means the AI assistant can also do your job hunting for you.

As companies advertise on various platforms and job boards, finding the right role can mean trawling through multiple websites and monitoring company careers pages.

While sites such as LinkedIn draw from many of these sources, it can still feel like you risk missing the perfect role by not covering all your bases.

This is where the updated version of ChatGPT can be very helpful.

OpenAI recently rolled out a version of the bot equipped with its new flagship model, GPT-4o, which can access the internet. The company's previous GPT-4 model could also link up with Bing but was only available to ChatGPT Plus subscribers.

Job seekers sick of wading through hiring boards may turn to recruiters to cut out the leg work. Armed with a new update, ChatGPT can now act as your free personal recruiter.

Job hunting

I decided to put ChatGPT's recruiting skills to the test.

I told the bot what sort of role I was looking for, explained my experience, and sent it on its way.

The bot returned with six opportunities, all matching the experience listed on the CV I supplied. It also helpfully summarized each role's main features, including location, salary, a short description of the responsibilities, and the date the ad was posted.

The results were largely accurate, although the salary on one job was slightly misstated.

It also provided a few helpful tips on applying for the roles, suggesting I tailor my CV to the role and find people from the company to connect with on networking sites like LinkedIn.

After identifying my favorite job opportunity, I asked the bot to run another search for who I should contact at the company during my application progress.

The bot came back with five managers and recruiters in the correct department and even wrote me a short LinkedIn message I could send to follow up on my application.

The bot did get confused by its own hallucinations once or twice. In an earlier test, ChatGPT sent me one job that I couldn't track down. After some probing, the bot acknowledged that the bot role probably wasn't real.

I found that asking the bot to send full hyperlinks to the jobs I could copy and paste helped keep it focused on providing genuine opportunities. Still, it underlined the importance of treating the results skeptically before putting any work into an application.

Applying

It's not news that ChatGPT can help job seekers write a killer cover letter, but the new update allows for some more specific back and forth.

The bot can also crawl the web to find out who else is on the team and suggest where to direct follow-up messages.

ChatGPT even wrote me an analysis of how well my experience aligns with a job's requirements, evaluated my likelihood of landing the role, and gave me some tips on how to increase my chances.

Armed with my CV and the job description, I asked ChatGPT to tailor my CV to the role and write a quick cover letter.

Within about half an hour, I'd found a job and had an application ready to go.

While I didn't submit it, I know exactly what to do next time I am in the market for a new gig.

Have you used GPT-4o to find a job? Contact this reporter at bea.nolan@businessinsider.com

• The US recently green-lit strikes by Ukraine on targets in Russia using its weapons.
• But its placing strict limits on which ones can be used and where.
• A think tank said the restrictions were holding Ukraine back. 

Ukraine appears to have had only minor success in using US-supplied weapons to strike targets inside Russia because of the strict limits imposed by President Joe Biden.

Last month, Biden said that Ukraine could fire US weapons against targets on Russian soil, in limited circumstances.

The change in policy came after Ukraine's European allies, including the UK, lifted bans on their weapons being used to strike Russia directly.

However, the Institute for the Study of War, a US think tank, said in its daily report that, under the rules, Ukraine could only strike around 16% of Russian territory within the range of weapons supplied by the US.

"US policy restricting Ukraine's usage of US-provided weapons has effectively created a vast sanctuary – territory in range of US-provided weapons but that Ukrainian forces are not allowed to strike with US-provided weapons – which Russia exploits to shield its combat forces, command and control, logistics, and rear area support services that the Russian military uses to conduct its military operations in Ukraine," said the ISW.

Biden's directive allows for US-supplied weapons to be used to strike military targets inside Russia that are attacking or preparing to attack Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city.

However, according to the ISW, because a large number of Russian military targets remain off-limits, Ukraine is still unable to disrupt Russian military operations significantly.

"ISW assesses that the West maintains the ability to substantially disrupt Russian operations at scale by allowing Ukraine to use Western-provided weapons to strike Russia's operational rear and deep rear areas in Russian territory," said the ISW.

Biden has taken a cautious approach to how much support the US should give Ukraine, fearing an escalation of the conflict that could pull in NATO powers.

Russia had exploited the restrictions placed on Ukraine to launch devastating attacks from its territory on Kharkiv, which is around 12 miles from the Russian border.