• Harrison Butker defended remarks he made during Benedictine College's graduation ceremony. 
• He encouraged female graduates to forgo professional careers to be homemakers. 
• A career coach said women should be free to make their own choices without shame.

Harrison Butker isn't apologizing for his remarks suggesting that women should forgo professional careers to become homemakers.

The Kansas City Chiefs player appeared at the Courage Under Fire gala at Regina Caeli Academy on Friday, nearly two weeks after his graduation speech at Benedictine College garnered criticism.

"It is now, over the past few days, my beliefs or what people think I believe have been the focus of countless discussions around the globe," Butker, 28, said in footage shared online. "At the outset, many people expressed a shocking level of hate. But as the days went on, even those who disagreed with my viewpoints shared their support for my freedom of religion."

Butker said he's become a polarizing public figure, but didn't waver on his previous stance.

"It's a decision I've consciously made and one I do not regret at all," Butker said.

Butker has weathered criticism following his remarks at Benedictine College, a small Catholic liberal arts college in Kansas, on May 11. While there, he told female graduates they had been told "diabolical lies" before suggesting they were more excited to create a family than go into the workforce.

"How many of you are sitting here now about to cross this stage and are thinking about all the promotions and titles you are going to get in your career?" Butker said. "Some of you may go on to lead successful careers in the world, but I would venture to guess that the majority of you are most excited about your marriage and the children you will bring into this world."

Butker then mentioned his wife, whom he said embraced "one of the most important titles of all: homemaker."

"I say all of this to you because I have seen it firsthand how much happier someone can be when they disregard the outside noise and move closer and closer to God's will in their life," he said.

Women shouldn't be shamed for the path they choose

Butker's comments sparked online debates about women in the workforce.

Phoebe Gavin, a career and leadership coach, told Business Insider that women should have the space and opportunity to determine their future based on their ambitions.

"I am pro-women having choices and women being able to make those choices based on what intrinsically motivates them," Gavin said. "There are some women who are going to choose to embrace motherhood as a primary motivation in their lives, and then there are women who are going to make other choices."

Gavin added some women want both a career and motherhood, while others want neither. None of these choices should be ridiculed, she said.

"There are people who truly believe that is the right decision for them, and if that's what they believe, then I fully embrace, empower, and encourage them to go down that path," she said. "My issue is pushing those sorts of values upon other people."

That's why she takes issue with Benedictine College's decision to choose Butker as a commencement speaker.

"They should have known that he was not the kind of person that they would want to put in front of these grads," Gavin said.

She said it was "challenging" to see young female graduates who had spent at least four years working toward professional careers "being told that they're doing the wrong thing and that they should be doing something else."

Jessica Schaefer, a crisis communications and reputation management expert, echoed Gavin's thoughts. She said commencement speeches are meant to be inspiring, not a platform to share personal opinions.

"As someone who works on a lot of these commencement speeches, it's important that you prepare. The goal is to inspire everyone that's graduating," Schaefer told BI. "It's not a platform for your personal opinion. That's not why you're getting paid to give a commencement speech."

Gavin added that "whatever choice a woman makes, they should be able to make that choice and live without shame."

Since giving his speech, several people have spoken out against Butker and Benedictine College.

The National Football League distanced itself from Butker with a statement praising inclusivity. Teammates Travis Kelce and Patrick Mahomes said they disagreed with Butker's comments but defended his right to voice his opinion.

And nuns from Benedictine College denounced Butker's speech, saying they disagreed with the suggestion that "being a homemaker is the highest calling" for women.

"We sisters have dedicated our lives to God and God's people, including the many women whom we have taught and influenced during the past 160 years," the statement read. "These women have made a tremendous difference in the world in their roles as wives and mothers and through their God-given gifts in leadership, scholarship, and their careers."

Representatives for Butker said he's not available for further comment.

Benedictine College representatives did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider outside regular business hours.

• CEO Robert Hale Jr. spoke at UMass Dartmouth's commencement ceremony on Thursday. 
• The telecom billionaire gave each graduate two $500 payments.
• Hale gifted the second $500 payment on the condition it goes to charity or someone in need.

A billionaire gifted graduating students at UMass Dartmouth with "envelopes full of cash" totaling $1,000.

Robert Hale Jr., the CEO of Granite Telecommunications, made the announcement during the school's commencement ceremony on Thursday. The school shared a video of the ceremony online, showing the moment Hale told the 1,200 graduates and their families.

"These trying times have heightened the need for sharing, caring and giving," Hale said. "Our community needs you and your generosity more than ever."

A UMass Dartmouth press release said security brought onstage two large duffle bags "packed with envelopes full of cash."

Hale told graduates that he had two envelopes to give them: one reading "gift" and the other reading "give."

Hale explained that each student would receive $1,000 but added there was a "stipulation."

"The first $500 is our gift to you," Hale said. "The second $500 is for you to give to somebody else or another organization who could use it more than you."

If all 1,200 students received the $1,000, Hale's giveaway amounted to about $1.2 million.

During the ceremony, Hale also received the UMass Dartmouth Chancellor's Medal for his philanthropy work.

"The greatest joys we have experienced in our lives have come from giving," Hale said in a statement to Business Insider. "We want the graduates to share in the gift of giving and we are so happy to share in celebrating all that they have accomplished."

College graduation season in the United States this year has been rife with controversy, mostly due to the ongoing conflict in Gaza. Several schools, including Columbia University, have canceled school-wide commencement ceremonies, citing security concerns. And several schools have called in the police to disperse pro-Palestinian protest camps, a move that one expert on dissent told Business Insider would ultimately backfire.

Students at Duke University walked out during a commencement speech by comedian Jerry Seinfeld last weekend. Seinfeld has become a vocal supporter of Israel. Some students held Palestinian flags as they left the ceremony.

A representative for Duke University told BI that "we respect the right of everyone at Duke to express their views peacefully, without preventing graduates and their families from celebrating their achievement."

• Kate Middleton announced she is undergoing preventative chemotherapy for cancer on March 22.
• The princess has been absent from the public eye since Christmas 2023.
• And Kate won't oversee a rehearsal for Trooping the Colour on June 8.

Kate Middleton revealed she is undergoing preventative chemotherapy for an unspecified type of cancer after months of speculation on March 22.

Kensington Palace previously announced that the Princess of Wales had a "planned abdominal surgery" in January, saying she likely wouldn't return to public duty until after Easter.

As time passed, her absence led conspiracy theories about the princess to run rampant online, some of which were bolstered after Kensington Palace released an edited photo of Kate and her children on March 10.

But Kate spoke directly to the public about her health to announce her illness, revealing her diagnosis and reiterating a request for privacy in a video shared on the Prince and Princess of Wales' social-media accounts.

Over two months after her announcement, Kate has still not returned to public duty, and she won't be participating in a Trooping the Colour event in June.

Here's everything we know so far.

Kate Middleton made her most recent public appearance on Christmas Day.

Kate joined the royal family for their annual walk from Sandringham in Norfolk, England, to attend a church service on Christmas Day.

The Princess of Wales walked with her children and husband to the Church of St. Mary Magdalene in one of her signature coatdresses, much like she did in years past.

On January 17, Kensington Palace announced Kate was in the hospital for "a planned abdominal surgery."

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Kensington Palace said in its statement that Kate would remain in the hospital, The London Clinic, for up to two weeks following the procedure.

"Her Royal Highness The Princess of Wales was admitted to hospital yesterday for planned abdominal surgery," the statement read. "The surgery was successful, and it is expected that she will remain in hospital for ten to fourteen days, before returning home to continue her recovery. Based on the current medical advice, she is unlikely to return to public duties until after Easter."

Kensington Palace provided no additional information about what procedure Kate underwent, though the palace told the Associated Press the princess didn't have cancer.

The statement also said Kate hoped "her personal medical information remains private" to help provide her children with "normality."

"Kensington Palace will, therefore, only provide updates on Her Royal Highness' progress when there is significant new information to share," the statement went on to say.

Prince William was photographed visiting Kate at the hospital the following day.

Kensington Palace said on January 29 that Kate had returned to Windsor Castle.

"The Princess of Wales has returned home to Windsor to continue her recovery from surgery," the statement shared on Instagram said. "She is making good progress."

William and Kate went on to thank the staff at The London Clinic in the statement, as well as those who sent them well wishes.

The same day, Buckingham Palace announced King Charles was returning home after having a procedure for a benign prostate enlargement.

Buckingham Palace announced on February 5 that King Charles has cancer.

Buckingham Palace said in a statement that "a separate issue of concern was noted" during the king's prostate procedure, and additional testing disclosed he has cancer. The palace didn't disclose what form of cancer he was diagnosed with, though they said it wasn't prostate cancer.

The statement also said that the king "commenced a schedule of regular treatments" and that although he would still be working from home, he would "postpone public-facing duties" per medical advice.

The palace didn't specify how long the king would forgo public-facing work.

"His Majesty has chosen to share his diagnosis to prevent speculation and in the hope it may assist public understanding for all those around the world who are affected by cancer," the statement also said.

Prince William returned to public duty on February 7.

William paused his royal engagements amid Kate's surgery and recovery, returning to work on February 7 for an investiture ceremony at Windsor Castle.

The same day, he attended a gala raising money for the London Air Ambulance, and he thanked the public for their messages of support for Kate, Town & Country reported.

"I'd like to take this opportunity to say thank you, also, for the kind messages of support for Catherine and for my father, especially in recent days," he said, adding that "it means a great deal to us all."

He has attended a handful of public events since. The public was predicted to look to William in Charles and Kate's absences, as he represents the monarchy's future as heir to the throne.

"It's an opportunity for him to communicate on behalf of the royal family," Eric Schiffer, the chairman of Reputation Management Consultants, said.

In addition, the public generally responds to younger royals more favorably. Without Kate, as well as Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, William's youth could be a boon for the monarchy, as Kristen Meizner, a royal watcher, told BI.

"They are most focused on the royals when they are of courtship age, getting married, having babies, that kind of thing," she said. "They're not necessarily considered as dazzling or as exciting to the public when they're 60 or 70 or whatnot."

Kate was reported on February 9 to have traveled to Norfolk to continue her recovery.

On February 9, the Daily Mail reported that Kate had joined her family at their home in Sandringham, Anmer Hall, for her children's half-term holiday.

The outlet also reported that her recovery was going well at the time.

Kate wasn't photographed during her trip from Windsor to Sandringham.

King Charles was photographed a few times throughout February, while Kate remained unseen.

Although he isn't taking on public-facing duties, King Charles has still been photographed a few times since his cancer diagnosis and the beginning of his treatment.

On February 11, he and Queen Camilla were spotted going to church in Sandringham, and he was photographed meeting with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on February 21 at Buckingham Palace.

Kate, on the other hand, remained absent, as Kensington Palace released no photos or videos of her.

William released a rare solo statement on February 20.

A statement from The Prince of Wales pic.twitter.com/LV2jMx75DC

— The Prince and Princess of Wales (@KensingtonRoyal) February 20, 2024

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Typically, William and Kate have released statements as a pair since they got married.

But on February 20, Kensington Palace released a statement on only William's behalf regarding the conflict in Gaza, in which he said he remained "deeply concerned about the human cost of the conflict in the Middle East since the Hamas terrorist attack on 7 October."

"I, like so many others, want to see an end to the fighting as soon as possible," the statement said. "There is a desperate need for increased humanitarian support to Gaza."

William also said he continued "to cling to the hope that a brighter future can be found, and I refuse to give up on that."

In addition to speaking for only William, the statement had a "W" seal at the top rather than the crown featured on messages from the Prince and Princess of Wales as a unit.

William missed a service of thanksgiving on February 27 because of an unnamed personal matter.

On February 27, members of the royal family attended a service of thanksgiving for King Constantine of Greece, King Charles' second cousin and close companion. He was one of William's godfathers.

William was set to attend the event alongside Queen Camilla and other family members but missed the service because of a personal matter, Kensington Palace told Business Insider.

A palace representative also told BI that Kate was doing well, but they didn't elaborate on what caused William to miss the event.

Following his absence, chatter about Kate's prolonged absence from the public eye erupted on social media, with users speculating about why she hasn't been seen in months. The princess was trending on X, and thousands of people posted about her on TikTok. "Kate Middleton" was also sixth on Google's list of trending search terms on February 27, highlighting how high public interest got in her absence.

Kensington Palace reiterated that Kate was "doing well" as William returned to public duty on February 29.

On February 29, Prince William resumed public duty, visiting the Western Marble Arch Synagogue to learn about the Holocaust Educational Trust, as Kensington Palace shared on Instagram.

He sat down with a Holocaust survivor, Renee Salt. Rebecca English, a royal editor for the Daily Mail, reported on X that during the conversation, he spoke on behalf of himself and Kate.

"Both Catherine and I are extremely concerned about the rise in antisemitism," English quoted the prince as saying to Salt. "That's why I'm here today to reassure you all that people do care and people do listen, and we can't let that go."

Kensington Palace also reiterated that Kate was "doing well" in a statement sent to BI on February 29.

"We gave guidance two days ago that The Princess of Wales continues to be doing well," the statement said. "As we have been clear since our initial statement in January, we shall not be providing a running commentary or providing daily updates."

Kate was spotted for the first time in 2024 on March 4.

On March 4, a sunglasses-clad Princess of Wales was seen riding in a car with her mother, Carole Middleton, in photos obtained by Backgrid and shared by TMZ.

According to TMZ, the pair were driving near Windsor Castle when they were photographed, and no other royals or security appeared to accompany them on the drive.

The sighting came as Queen Camilla announced she was taking a break from filling in for her husband at royal engagements until March 11.

After initially indicating she would attend, the British army removed references to Kate from online tickets for a June event shared on March 5.

On March 5, outlets like BBC News reported that Kate's name was included on tickets released online to The Colonel's Review, an event the British army hosts amid Trooping the Colour, on June 8. Kate was named the Colonel of The Irish Guards in December 2022, and the Colonel typically participates in the Review.

Many took her inclusion on the tickets as a sign she was on track to return to work in the summer. But then, the army quickly removed all references to Kate after the tickets were released because Kensington Palace had not confirmed she would attend.

A source close to the situation told Business Insider's Mikhaila Friel the army didn't get approval from Kensington Palace to include references to the princess in the tickets, leading to the confusion.

The palace didn't respond to a request for comment from BI on the matter.

Kensington Palace released a photo of Kate with her children for Mother's Day — but the photo was immediately met with suspicion.

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March 10 was Mother's Day in the UK, and to commemorate the occasion, Kensington Palace released the first official portrait of Kate since Christmas.

In the photo, Kate sits in a chair surrounded by her children, who are all giggling. According to the caption they shared on social media alongside the image, William took the picture of his family in 2024, and the photo appeared to come directly from Kate, as she signed the caption, "C," which stands for Catherine.

"Thank you for your kind wishes and continued support over the last two months," she wrote. "Wishing everyone a Happy Mother's Day."

But shortly after it was released, people began to speculate the photo had been edited. Photo editor Patrick Witty told BI's Shubhangi Goel it was "astonishing" the palace released the photo at all because of issues in the image, pointing to areas where the picture is blurred and things that seemed to be added to the shot during the editing process, like a zipper on Kate's jacket.

Later that day, multiple photo agencies removed the picture from their platforms.

On March 10, Reuters, the Associated Press, and the French organization Agence France-Presse sent kill notices for the picture, which means the picture is no longer available for distribution through their platforms.

Reuters said it removed the picture after a "post-publication review," while the AP said explicitly in its kill notice that it wouldn't distribute the photo because "it appears the source has manipulated the image. No replacement photo will be sent."

Kensington Palace has been accused of editing photos of the royals before, as was the case with the Waleses' 2023 Christmas card, but the photo released March 10 is the first to be killed by photo agencies.

The palace did not respond to a request for comment on the editing controversy.

Kate personally apologized for "any confusion" the picture caused on March 11.

On March 11, Kate addressed the controversy surrounding the photo in a statement released on social media, seeming to take responsibility for the manipulated image.

"Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing," she wrote on X. "I wanted to express my apologies for any confusion the family photograph we shared yesterday caused. I hope everyone celebrating had a very happy Mother's Day. C."

Notably, the statement was signed by Kate alone. Kensington Palace typically speaks on behalf of the couple as a unit, and the royals said in their post on Sunday that William took the shot.

The statement didn't appear to convince royal watchers online. Kate was trending on X, and the edited image had been viewed over 72 million times on the platform as of Monday.

William and Kate were photographed together on March 11 before he attended a Commonwealth Day service.

A few hours after the princess posted on X, the Daily Mail released a photo of William and what appeared to be Kate in a car together leaving Windsor Castle.

Kate is looking out of the window in the shot, so only her profile is visible. According to the outlet, Kate was going to "a private appointment," and William was en route to a Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey.

William was photographed alongside Queen Camilla at the Commonwealth Day service after the photo of him and Kate was published.

Multiple tabloids released a video of what appeared to be Kate and William shopping in Windsor on March 18.

#KateMiddleton seemed to be in good spirits while out and about with #PrinceWilliam Saturday. https://t.co/kLUsfvt3b2 (🎥: TMZ/The Sun) pic.twitter.com/EqbtVojBcw

— TMZ (@TMZ) March 18, 2024

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On March 17, The Sun reported that William and Kate were spotted shopping at a "farm shop" near Adelaide Cottage, their home on the grounds of Windsor Castle. But The Sun's coverage didn't include any images of the prince and princess.

Then, on March 18, TMZ and The Sun released a video of what appeared to be William and Kate walking through the market, holding shopping bags.

The video was grainy, and Kensington Palace did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider on the matter.

On March 22, Kate announced she is undergoing preventative chemotherapy in a video, speaking directly to the public.

On March 22, Kensington Palace uploaded a video of Kate speaking directly to a camera on its social media.

In the video, Kate said that her abdominal surgery in January was successful, but "tests after the operation found cancer had been present."

Her medical team recommended she "undergo a course of preventative chemotherapy" after reviewing the tests, as Kate said in the video. She began treatment in late February, according to a press release shared with BI.

The princess said that the diagnosis was a "shock" and that she and William "have been doing everything we can to process and manage this privately for the sake of our young family," adding that determining how to share the news with their children was difficult.

"As I have said to them, I am well and getting stronger every day by focusing on the things that will help me heal in my mind, body, and spirits," Kate said.

In the press release shared with BI, Kensington Palace said it would not be revealing what kind of cancer Kate has, nor what stage her cancer is.

The release also said Kate will return to work "when she is cleared to do so by her medical team."

In the video, Kate reiterated Kensington Palace's previous requests for privacy.

"We hope that you will understand that, as a family, we now need some time, space, and privacy while I complete my treatment," she said.

The Prince and Princess of Wales marked their anniversary with a private photo of their wedding on April 28.

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To celebrate their 13th anniversary, Kate and William shared a never-before-seen photo from their wedding on Instagram.

The caption on the post was simple, reading, "13 years ago today!"

Kensington Palace has not released a picture of the couple together in 2024.

William said Kate was "doing well" during a royal engagement on May 10.

Since her video announcement, Kensington Palace has not released an official update on Kate's health.

But on May 10, William said Kate was "doing well" when asked about her health in a video recorded by Sky News.

Kate won't be attending a rehearsal for Trooping the Colour on June 8.

On Thursday, Buckingham Palace confirmed to the BBC that King Charles will attend Trooping the Colour, his official birthday celebration, on June 15.

Kate became Colonel of the Irish Guards in 2022, inheriting the title from Prince William. As the Colonel, she oversees the Colonel's Review, a rehearsal for the Trooping the Colour ceremony.

The 2024 Colonel's Review will take place on June 8, but Kate won't oversee the rehearsal this year. Instead, General James Bucknall will do the service for her.

Kensington Palace has not announced if Kate will attend the Trooping the Colour parade.

• PwC has a new deal with OpenAI as the largest user and first reseller of ChatGPT Enterprise.
• The deal comes amid surging interest in GenAI, with 950 of its top 1,000 clients engaging with it.
• "Your business strategy and your AI strategy in this world need to be intertwined," said a PwC exec. 

Big Four consultancy firm PwC has a new deal with OpenAI to help its staff and clients leverage generative AI.

The companies announced Wednesday that PwC will now be the largest user of ChatGPT Enterprise, the most powerful tier of ChatGPT geared toward businesses. According to OpenAI, it offers higher-grade security, longer context windows to process longer inputs, and more advanced data analysis abilities than the consumer version of ChatGPT. PwC will deploy the product across 100,000 of its employees between the US and UK.

As part of the deal, PwC will also be the first reseller of ChatGPT Enterprise — meaning that clients can now purchase the product from both OpenAI and PwC.

The deal formalizes the surging interest in generative AI that PwC has seen from clients over the past year. Around 950 of the firm's top 1,000 consulting clients in the US are actively engaged with generative AI, and many more are discussing the use and implications of the technology, according to its press release.

PwC announced last year that it would invest a billion dollars in generative AI over the coming three years to provide AI training and tooling for its employees — like its conversational AI assistant ChatPwC. Since then the firm has documented over 3,000 use cases for the technology, Joe Atkinson, PwC's US Chief Products & Technology Officer, told Business Insider. "We were our first client, so we would work through our client zero strategy," Atkinson said. Under the new deal, "we're bringing all of those capabilities and skills to our clients who are really, really eager to take their own strategy from where they are today to where they think they can be with generative AI."

He said the biggest questions the firm gets from clients are about the risks and biases of AI models and the accuracy of their outputs. So, it's clear they still need human oversight.

But Atkinson contends that businesses need to embrace AI if they want to survive.

"One of the things we keep telling our clients is, look, your business strategy and your AI strategy in this world need to be intertwined. That understanding, I think is really starting to make itself known in the C-suite and the boardrooms," he said.

• Big lenders are more exposed to commercial real estate than it might seem at first glance, a study says.
• In addition to lending to property owners, big firms also offer indirect lending to REITs, raising their exposure by about 40%.
• Wall Street has been worried about distress in commercial real estate amid high interest rates. 

Leading lenders have greater exposure to commercial real estate debt than typically understood, implying a larger chance of systemic risk, according to a new study.

The paper, titled "Shadow Always Touches the Feet: Implications of Bank Credit Lines to Non-Bank Financial Intermediaries," notes that while most analysts have focused narrowly on bank balance sheets, banks also contribute credit to real estate investment trusts, a form of indirect lending to the commercial property sector. 

When accounting for this, bank exposure to commercial real estate debt rises by about 40%.  

Concerns about systemic risk in commercial real estate have risen sharply in recent years, as high interest rates and waning demand have sown doubt over the market's ability to pay back debt. 

Given that regional banks are the biggest providers of such loans, unease has grown about the possibility of an extensive debt fallout sparking a banking crisis. 

When accounting for REIT credit lines and term loans, these concerns should also be applied to Wall Street's biggest dealers, the study's authors wrote: 

"As credit lines can be drawn intensively by CRE REITs in times of aggregate stress, collateral damage to the largest banks from such drawdowns implies that systemic risk arising from CRE exposures is likely to be considerably greater than implied by direct CRE exposure of banks," they wrote.  

REITs are firms that buy and operate commercial real estate, selling shares to investors who want to gain exposure to the space. 

However, these vehicles are often debt-dependent and are vulnerable to high interest rates. In the past two years, even REITs sponsored by some of Wall Street's biggest firms have had to contend with antsy investors. 

These investment vehicles have seen a rise in redemption requests, putting pressure on REITs to tap banks for more credit, the study noted. In fact, credit lines have been growing at a much faster clip than other forms of borrowing, with significant implications for lenders if a crisis strikes

"The drawdowns from these commitments substantially weaken banks, with the markets failing to offer a commensurate reward or banks charging adequately in credit line fees," the authors wrote. 

They added: "We find that ignoring the unique properties of REITs as a borrower class could underestimate the capital needed in the US banking system by a substantial 37%," 

• The Equinox EV is a solid addition to the electric crossover market.
• I found that Super Cruise elevates the experience behind the wheel.
• The Equinox EV is priced and designed to compete directly with Tesla's mass-market cars.

There's another electric Chevrolet crossover on the market as the bowtie brand leans into EVs while others are pulling back.

I got to take the new all-electric Chevrolet Equinox on a quick drive in Metro Detroit last week, and I came away impressed with the little hatchback's performance.

Two trims of the Equinox EV are available on dealer lots today, with a starting price of $43,295. That's a new, much-needed option in the sub-$50,000 price range for EVs. GM is also promising even cheaper options for the Equinox later this year, with a base model that starts at $34,995.

The Equinox EV has an EPA-estimated range of 319 miles. Its DC fast-charging capability of up to 150 kW enables 77 miles of range to be added in 10 minutes of charging, according to GM estimates.

The Equinox EV also boasts plenty of cargo space, with 57.2 cubic feet of storage with the second row folded down. This little Tesla fighter is also priced and designed to compete directly with Model 3 and Model Y.

This little Tesla fighter, priced and designed to compete directly with Model 3 and Model Y, delivered a smooth ride on GM's pre-selected course that included surface road and highway driving.

The Tesla influence on the Equinox EV is undeniable

The first things I noticed as I approached the Equinox EV were the door handles. When the vehicle is locked, the handles lay flush with the door. Unlocked, they pop out like a level to pull and open the door.

This is a direct nod to Tesla, which originated this door handle design. On a Tesla, cold weather does seem to cause trouble for these mechanical door handles. Chevy says it has addressed this with an ice-breaking algorithm built into the door handles, but I didn't get to test that on a mostly sunny 75-degree day.

The styling on the Equinox EV turns a milquetoast mom car into a stylish prowler

The gas-powered Equinox is one of many boring crossovers in Chevrolet's portfolio. The layman might not be able to distinguish it from a Trax or a Blazer.

But the electrified version is designed to stand out, with a hood that swoops down to narrow headlights, helping give the crossover a menacing stance. More sculpting around the back wheels also gives it a wider appearance, too, making it more distinct from its gas-powered counterpart.

Sleeker design is a must-have in the electric crossover market, which also includes lookers like the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and the Mustang Mach-E.

Unlike the sparse Tesla models, Equinox EV has buttons, nobs, and vents that accent the space

I've always found the sparse interior of the Model 3 and Model Y to feel a bit cavernous, so I was glad to see a lot of accenting and design cues built into the Equinox EV's interior.

Some trims also have more fun color combinations for the leather seating to add a bit of personality inside the car.

Still, overall I found the interior of the electric car to be somewhat underwhelming. I've sat in a lot of Chevrolet interiors over the years, this one didn't feel all that different or special.

Super Cruise elevates the experience in the Equinox EV

While the Equinox EV's interior leaves a bit to be desired, the optional Super Cruise hands-free technology elevates the driving experience to make the Equinox EV feel more special than your average crossover.

I sat back and enjoyed the sunny ride on the highway while Super Cruise navigated traffic.

The Equinox EV is a solid addition to the electric crossover market, but Chevy has a lot to prove with Ultium

Overall, I enjoyed my time behind the wheel of the Equinox EV. It delivers the zippy ride you expect from a battery-powered car, and Chevrolet's engineers have tuned the car to hug corners and feel smooth and stable out on the road.

There aren't a ton of extra frills or surprises, but the Equinox EV gave me just about everything I would want out of an electric crossover — the type of EV I'd be most likely to add to my own driveway.

But I can't help but wonder how some of the troubles with the Ultium technology in the Blazer rollout will affect its chances up against Hyundai, Kia, and Tesla. Electric car customers today are less patient than the techy early adopters who pioneered the market.

Chevrolet is hoping to take advantage of this shift in customer preferences with its trusted reputation as a legacy brand, flooding the market with EVs while others are pulling back. But the Blazer's messy launch, which included a stop-sale to repair software issues, might have an effect on how even the most loyal Chevrolet owner views the Equinox EV.

• Klarna's CEO sparked criticism for saying AI lets his in-house marketing team do more even at "half the size."
• Sebastian Siemiatkowski said Klarna is "spending less on photographers, image banks, and marketing agencies."
• Klarna previously said its AI assistant was doing the work of 700 humans.

Klarna's CEO seemingly touched a nerve on social media with a post about how the company saved millions by using AI to cut costs and do the marketing work human employees previously did.

Sebastian Siemiatkowski tweeted on Tuesday that the fintech firm will save $10 million this year in part because generative AI lets the company produce more images faster — and with a much smaller in-house marketing team.

"We're spending less on photographers, image banks, and marketing agencies," he wrote. "Our in-house marketing team is HALF the size it was last year but is producing MORE!"

The buy now pay later company has also cut external marketing agency expenses by 25% and "removed the need for stock imagery" by instead using AI image generators like Midjourney, OpenAI's DALL-E, and Adobe's Firefly, Siemiatkowski added.

He also wondered aloud at the impact AI will have on creative industries and those working in marketing.

"But it makes me think, what will happen to the hugely talented marketing and creative industries?" he added. "There is of course still a need for super great, super creative massive campaigns but a lot of the daily work of creative businesses can be done far quicker, more easily and at a fraction of the cost using AI."

His remarks were quickly met with backlash. Some commenters replied to his tweet, calling him names and saying his remarks were "ghoulish."

The largely negative response on social media to the CEO's post highlights the tension and concerns that many workers share about how companies implement AI in employees' day-to-day workflow in an attempt to boost productivity and cut down on costs — and the impact that can have on the workforce.

"If you still had a bigger marketing team, they probably would've advised you not to post this," one person said.

"Flexing that you fired half of your marketing team is just really bad," another added, alongside a clown emoji.

Klarna laid off roughly 700 workers, or about 10% of its workforce, in May 2022. The following year, the company posted its first profitable quarter in four years. Its head count fell by around 23% by the end of 2023, according to company filings.

When reached for comment, a Klarna spokesperson said, "We think it is important to highlight the impact that AI is having and show real concrete examples and data to drive a proactive discussion."

Other commenters remarked that the AI-generated images looked bad in their opinion, with one saying they "looked like shit." Siemiatkowski included in his tweet an image showing a hair curler in a bouquet of flowers.

While the responses online to the CEO appeared to be mostly negative, not all were.

"The creative industries will be able to level up, instead of a creative suite, they will have entire production studios at their fingertips," one person wrote. "Impressive results by Klarna team!"

Klarna has been leaning into AI for a while now

Siemiatkowski had tweeted in February about Klarna's AI assistant, powered by OpenAI, saying that by handling customer service inquiries it was doing "the equivalent job of 700 full time agents."

"In the longer term, as more companies adopt these technologies, we believe society needs to consider the impact. While it may be a positive impact for society as a whole, we need to consider the implications for the individuals affected," he said at the time.

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal published Wednesday, Klarna's CMO David Sandstrom said the company needs to be "brutally efficient" in order to "become the most advanced marketing organization there is."

"What we're going to see is that we can achieve way more with lower costs, or if we decide to increase costs again, which I think we will do, we will be even more efficient," he said.

"On a marketing level, we as an industry have to acknowledge the fact that whether we like it or not, whether creatives and crafters are worried or not about their future—which they actually shouldn't be, in my opinion—we are in the midst of a step change for marketing and the marketing industry," Klarna's CMO added.

In a press release published on Tuesday alongside the CEO's social media post, Klarna said it had "generated over 1,000 images in the first three months of 2024 using genAI, reducing the image development cycle from 6 weeks to just 7 days."

Klarna also said its AI assistant was now used for 80% of all copywriting within the company.

• Alex Gonzalez, 56, had two of his adult children move back home after they graduated from college.
• He doesn't charge them rent, but asks that they use that money to save for a down payment on a home.
• He'd like more elbow room and his costs have increased, but he enjoys the extra time with his kids.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Alex Gonzalez, 56, a financial advisor for money-advice platform Thrivent in Bloomington, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis. The conversation was edited for length and clarity.

Gonzalez and his colleagues recently published a study on the increasing number of adult children who have moved back home with their parents due to housing-market unaffordability and student loan debt.

We've got three adult children, and two of them have boomeranged after college.

One is 26 and one is 22. Our daughter, the 26-year-old, has been back with us for about two years, and our youngest son has been back for about the same time.

I'd characterize their moves home as proactive.

My daughter had a relationship change and we wanted her to move on with her life and build towards the next stage. My son was in a rental situation that didn't work out. The lease came to an end, and his friends were going different directions. He wanted to save up some money for a home purchase. And now that's what both of them are doing.

The pandemic created some economic challenges. I look at my daughter's first employment, and it wasn't quite what she was hoping for or planning on. I also look at the low interest rates from the pandemic, trying to prop up the economy. That caused some inflation, which caused an increase in housing prices. It's so intertwined economically.

There are so many cascading effects. Housing stock is low, pushing up demand. Interest rates — people don't want to move out of their homes when they have good interest rates. They don't sell because they know they're going to get into a new mortgage with higher interest rates. So there are a lot of factors.

I lived at home after college, too

I was boomerang kid.

I graduated from college in 1990. There was a recession then.

I had a hard time finding a job, so I moved home for about three months after graduating from college. That was a challenge emotionally. It was tough, but it gave me incentive to get out as quickly as I could.

I wouldn't say that my children have enjoyed most of it, too — I remember how that felt when I was their age, and I wanted to move out. There are generational differences between my generation and their generation, but I think they want to move on with their lives.

I think they're pretty happy. They, I'm sure, would like their own space and some of their own rules, of course. But I think they're mostly happy.

Space is tighter and costs are higher

We intentionally downsized when our youngest went off to college. We sold our single-family home and moved into a townhome.

We were also intentional about that, figuring, "Well, we'll probably get a little bit of boomerang." We knew our kids might have some kind of transition period.

We have four bedrooms — three of them are legal bedrooms — so we have the space to do it, it's just a little bit tighter than we were planning on for an extended period of time.

Utilities have gone up. That's reality. I'd say utility costs have increased 10% to 15%.

When there are more humans in the house, you use more of those utilities, more groceries, more garbage, more recycling — just all of those logistical things.

We ask our kids to help out with groceries. They buy things like laundry detergent and certain groceries. Our youngest son buys the laundry detergent. He complained about how expensive it was, and we were like, "Yeah, welcome to life, son."

We've had to put some home projects on hold just because they're living in the space. We were planning on making one bedroom a guest bedroom and we haven't set it up.

We want to set my son's bedroom up for future grandkids. That does take some remodeling work, et cetera, and we can't do that now, of course.

We're looking forward to more elbow room in the next stage.

We don't charge rent, but our kids are saving to buy

Our deadline, per se, isn't time-related. It's goal-related.

Their next housing situation will likely be owning a home — for both of them.

My wife and I aren't charging them rent, but we are asking that they put the rent that we would have charged into a savings account that's building up for a home down payment.

They learned some of those disciplines from an early age, and now we're just continuing to reinforce them. There is none of this playing-video-games-in-the-basement kind of thing.

They're working full time; they're participating in their 401(k)s; they're enrolling in the group benefits at work. They're on their own health insurance. They're paying for their cellphones.

They're realizing all of these expenses in life are expensive — that life is expensive. We're teaching them financial planning.

There are pros and cons to virtually every situation in life.

We've looked at the kids living at home again as a blessing. We feel like we're blessed that our adult kids want to spend some time with us. We do things socially, we take some family trips.

We're looking at it as a really unique stage in life — an opportunity to get to know our adult children in a different way and enjoy this stage with them, while they're building up some cash for their next stage in life.

• Wealthy homeowners want out of an ultra-luxe building on Manhattan's "Billionaire's Row."
• They're even selling their units at a loss, the Wall Street Journal reported.
• The condo board sued the building's developers in 2021, alleging 1,500 construction and design defects.

An ultra-luxe "Billionaire's Row" residential tower has been mired in a lengthy legal dispute, and some owners are now fleeing the building, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

The condominium board at 432 Park Avenue in midtown Manhattan — once the tallest residential building in the Western Hemisphere — first sued the building's developers in 2021.

In their lawsuit, the board argues that the alleged mismanagement at the 96-story, 125-unit skyscraper was "one of the worst examples" of developer malfeasance "in the history of New York City."

Their suit alleges that the building is riddled with more than 1,500 "construction and design defects," such as repeated elevator breakdowns, leaks, floods, and obtrusive noise and vibrations caused by the developer's "failure to properly design" the building to account for its height.

They argue that the developer's response to those flaws has been "equally atrocious."

The developers have denied most of the board's allegations, and in the years since the initial lawsuit, the battle has intensified, with more than 4 million pages of documents filed in court, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Now, a number of wealthy owners in the building want out — even if it means selling their units at a loss, the WSJ reported.

Eighteen units in 432 Park, totaling 14% of the building's total units, were listed for sale as of mid-May, the Wall Street Journal analysis found, citing data from StreetEasy.

As of Thursday, 16 units were still listed for sale on StreetEasy, 13 of which are selling for less than they had in previous years, according to their StreetEasy price history. The price of one of the units currently for sale has been reduced by nearly 18% in the last year, StreetEasy data shows.

The building's six-bedroom, seven-bathroom, 8,255-square-foot penthouse apartment was on sale for $169 million in 2022; now, it's listed for just $105 million, a 38% reduction.

Since the legal dispute became public in 2021, eleven sales have closed in the building. Those units sold for 3.7% less, on average, than what the sellers originally paid and, for those listed publicly, at a 27.4% discount from the highest asking price, according to the WSJ.

Lawyers for the building's developers did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider, nor did the building's press representative. Lawyers for the building's board also did not respond.