• The company that insisted it owned the rights to Graceland told the AP it is withdrawing its claim.
• Elvis Presley's granddaughter Riley Keough had accused the company of fraud and forging documents.
• Just hours after a judge ruled in Keough's favor, the legal battle is over. 

A bizarre legal battle over who actually owns Elvis Presley's Graceland estate came to an end on Wednesday, leaving the iconic site in the hands of the King of Rock and Roll's family.

The company insisting it owned the deed to Graceland said it'll withdraw its claim on the estate, the Associated Press reported.

Hours earlier, a Tennessee court had ruled in favor of Elvis' granddaughter, actor Riley Keough, who had been fighting to keep the property.

Keough became the owner of the 13.8-acre Memphis property and trustee of Promenade Trust, which operates the estate, after her mother, Lisa Marie Presley, died in January 2023.

The saga started when a company called Naussany Investments and Private Lending said it owned the deed to the property and announced plans last week to auction it off.

The company said that Lisa Marie Presley had taken out a $3.8 million dollar loan from Naussany, using the estate as collateral. Naussany alleged it had the right to sell the property for repayment after Presley never paid them back.

But Keough sued Naussany, accusing the creditor of forging the signatures that purportedly gave it the deed to Graceland.

"While the documents bear signatures that look like the signatures of Lisa Marie Presley, Lisa Marie Presley did not, in fact, sign the documents," the lawsuit says.

"These documents are fraudulent," Keough's lawsuit alleges. "Lisa Marie Presley never borrowed money from Naussany Investments and never gave a deed of trust to Naussany Investments."

The lawsuit also argues that Naussany isn't a real company.

"Naussany Investments & Private Lending LLC appears to be a false entity created for the purpose of defrauding the Promenade Trust, the heirs of Lisa Marie Presley, or any purchaser of Graceland at a non-judicial sale," the suit continues.

Naussany said in an email to the AP that it would be "withdrawing all claims with prejudice." Naussany told the AP that it was dropping the case because both the loan and a critical document had been filed in another state, meaning the company would have to take legal action in multiple states.

"As the court has now made clear, there was no validity to the claims," a spokesperson for Graceland told Business Insider. "There will be no foreclosure. Graceland will continue to operate as it has for the past 42 years, ensuring that Elvis fans from around the world can continue to have a best in class experience when visiting his iconic home."

Lawyers for Keough declined to comment on the situation.

BI wasn't able to reach Naussany Investments.

• Eric Schmidt shared some unsettling predictions about the dangers of AI at VivaTech in Paris.
• The former Google CEO said if computers develop free will, "we're going to unplug them."
• He also said the dangers of biological and cyber attacks will be present in three to five years. 

Eric Schmidt made some unsettling predictions about AI at the annual VivaTech conference in Paris on Wednesday.

Since leaving Google, the former CEO has invested in a number of AI startups, and he's cautioned that any AI regulation should strike a balance to ensure it doesn't stifle innovation.

Schmidt acknowledged that the development of AI poses dangers, but he said the biggest threats haven't arrived yet. If and when those threats do materialize, Schmidt seems to think the world will deal with it.

"By the way, do you know what we're going to do when computers have free will?" Schmidt said at the conference on Wednesday. "We're going to unplug them."

"Let's see who unplugs who," replied Yoav Shoham, cofounder and co-CEO of AI21 Labs, who also spoke at the event with Schmidt.

Yes, the thought of racing to unplug AI systems once they've gained free will — and catching that in time if it were to happen — isn't exactly the most comforting thought experiment. But, Schmidt said researchers have conducted detailed assessments of the dangers of AI, and "the answer is: you can see the danger coming."

It's worth noting that the former Google CEO has invested in efforts to combat AI risks. Schmidt partnered with OpenAI to launch a $10 million grant program to support technical research with the company's Superalignment team, which was dedicated to managing risks associated with AI. Despite the team's disbandment last week, OpenAI will continue to move forward with the grant program, a spokesperson told Business Insider.

At the moment, Schmidt said the current form of AI isn't that dangerous — except for disinformation, which is "out of control" and poses a "real issue for democracies."

Disinformation has become an issue in the last couple of years since AI has emerged. Recent research using Meta and OpenAI systems indicated that a range of AI systems have learned to systematically induce "false beliefs in others to accomplish some outcome other than the truth."

Deepfakes have also become a problem, with AI-generated porn of public figures and impersonations of political leaders. People have reported AI-generated calls faking messages from President Joe Biden. In 2022, fraudsters pleaded guilty to charges of using targeted robocalls to dissuade voters from using mail-in ballots.

Schmidt said that the real dangers of large language models are cyber and biological attacks, which aren't yet here. But "they're coming in three to five years," he predicted.

Schmidt did not immediately respond to BI's request for comment ahead of publication.

• American Airlines runs its giant aircraft operation from a tornado-withstanding facility in Texas.
• The Integrated Operations Center houses over 20 teams and supports nearly 6,000 daily flights.
• The IOC relies on a special automation software called "HEAT" to better manage flight disruptions.

American Airlines' pilots, flight attendants, and airport staff are the face of nearly 6,000 flights operated by the carrier around the world each day.

However, a team of nearly 1,700 other employees who work behind the scenes in a giant operational center hidden from the public is just as essential to plane movement.

American invited Business Insider to tour its Integrated Operations Center, or IOC, at its headquarters in Dallas/Fort Worth. For privacy reasons, the company requested photos of certain screens, and employees' faces be blurred.

Mark Groat, American's IOC system customer service manager who led the mid-May tour, described the 149,000-square-foot, tornado-resistant IOC as the "nerve center" of the airline.

It runs 24 hours a day, every day of the year. The complex houses over 20 teams responsible for dispatching planes, monitoring weather, organizing maintenance and cargo, and preventing misconnects, among myriad other duties.

The IOC doesn't look like your typical cubicle office

American's open-space IOC is strategically set up to enable communication and collaboration between the teams, Groat said.

For example, the lights are dimmed to reduce strain when looking at screens all day, and the phones use a color light system above each seat to indicate if that person is on a call.

"A red light means you're on the phone, and a green light means your phone is ringing," Groat said, noting the maintenance team, for example, has a line to airport hangars. "So, you can kind of gauge just looking over the floor what kind of day we're having."

He noted on busy days when everyone is talking and walking around, white noise is pumped into the IOC to keep the room quiet.

American uses automation to help manage irregular operations

American's delay and cancellation rate isn't the best in the US, but the carrier climbed to third place in 2023, according to the aviation data provider Cirium. It lost to Delta Air Lines and narrowly edged out United Airlines.

All of these disruptions pass through the heart of the IOC in a section called the "bridge." This is where the IOC director oversees and guides the thousands of daily flights.

Alongside the director are managers who work with American's hubs, like Dallas/Fort Worth, Miami, and Charlotte, to build plans for "irregular operations" that will impact the fewest customers possible. They're looking at things like staffing, resources, and gate constraints, Goat said.

While much of this analysis is done manually, Goat said American launched a new automation tool last year known as the "Hub Efficiency Analytics Tool," or HEAT, to help dispatchers, coordinators, and other employees make more proactive decisions.

It analyzes things like when a crew member exceeds their regulated duty period, which flights have the greatest number of connecting customers, how many top-tier loyalty customers are flying, and whether impacted flights are domestic or international — domestic being easier to accommodate.

"Instead of separate units canceling flights one by one and customers being rebooked repeatedly, HEAT allows us to update the system with all the delays and cancellations at one time," Groat said.

"This maintains the integrity of connecting bags, and it means we aren't arbitrarily rerouting somebody who could have ultimately made their connection."

On the day of my visit, smoke from a wildfire in the Bahamas was impacting operations at Nassau International Airport. IOC employees were walking desk-to-desk discussing options, while others were analyzing how flights would be impacted — which is where HEAT could come into play.

"We'll most likely divert en route planes to Miami to wait out the event," Groat said. "If the delay times get longer and crew time becomes an issue, we'll have to evaluate options like canceling some flights or consolidating two into one so we can get our resources back into the system and where they need to be."

Crew scheduling and dispatch are among the biggest teams

Planes can't go anywhere without at least two pilots and at least one flight attendant per 50 seats. Crew scheduling is responsible for keeping some 14,000 crew on track every day.

There are three different areas within the crew scheduling department, Groat said. One handles day-to-day crewing, a second is responsible for tracking disruptions and calling in reserves, and a third helps make decisions regarding delays and cancellations.

The job relies on computer systems and knowledge of specific regulations regarding fatigue and duty time, but American also provides automation tools like HEAT to help schedulers quickly and accurately staff flights.

He noted that there are times when things get so displaced that not every flight can be accommodated, so the crew coordinators identify "critical" flights that need to be prioritized for operational needs.

For example, if a key plane doesn't make it to its next airport and no replacement can get there either, a chain of disruption could occur.

Beyond crew scheduling, nearly half of the IOC floor is dedicated to teams that oversee specific fleets, including sections for the Boeing 737 family, the Airbus A320 family, and widebody jets.

These teams consist of flight dispatchers, planners who work with maintenance, and crew coordinators. There are also customer service managers who are "the voice of the passenger" and try to proactively find solutions during disruptions.

Groat also pointed to a relatively new but highly specialized team of irregular operations leads who examine long-term strategies to prevent hourslong delays from impacting flights down the line.

For example, the team may consider rerouting specific planes over water to avoid severe weather in Florida or analyze how de-icing delays in Chicago could impact departures, he said.

"Every flight that we can route around a disruptor is another slot we keep flying," he said.

Smaller workgroups are still essential to the operation

While crew scheduling and dispatchers make up the IOC's bigger work groups, smaller teams like cargo and maintenance coordinators, load planners, air traffic liaisons, regional dispatchers, and unaccompanied minor organizers also have roles to fill.

"When disruption happens, we need to know what cargo is on the airplane that we need to care for, like perishable items, live animals, or pharmaceuticals," Groat said. "Load planners ensure the aircraft are within the right weight and balance."

Regional dispatchers coordinate American's subsidiary and contract flying and help find replacement planes when the regional side is disrupted. Groups like schools and sports teams are especially harder to re-accommodate

A command center is set up for emergency events

The command center is a giant, glass-enclosed room that is designated for incidents and accidents. Groat said it's only been put to use twice since moving into the IOC building in 2015.

He said the first use was after the bomb attack at Brussels Airport in 2016, which didn't impact American directly, but the airline still used the command center as a point of contact to help find where its customers and team members were.

Groat said the second event was the grounding of the Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft after two crashes killed 346 people in 2018 and 2019.

"For the Max, we had 24 planes taken out of the system very quickly, and all of them were in Miami," he said. "We needed the means to find replacement aircraft from other parts of the system to restore the schedule there."

• Chevrolet is hopeful its offerings will break through in a new EV market.
• Flooding the zone has worked with gas-powered cars.
• Gas-powered cars and hybrids can fill in the gaps while the EV market adjusts.

Chevrolet's new lineup of electric vehicles is arguably showing up at the worst possible time.

After a few years of rapid growth, EV sales are hitting a plateau. This has led to massive changes in EV strategies at most major automakers, with many now pivoting to hybrids.

And yet, Chevrolet Chief Marketing Officer Steve Majoros doesn't seem worried about the company's chances in this new EV market. He sat down with Business Insider last week at a press event for the launch of two electric vehicles: the Silverado electric pickup truck and the Chevy Equinox EV.

"I think it actually benefits Chevrolet," Majoros says of the changing EV market, which is now dominated by more frugal and practical customers—Chevy's bread and butter. Given that, he says, Chevrolet is pressing forward with EVs in hopes that their offerings can break through.

This lean-in approach is a classic strategy for a mass-market brand like Chevy. For years, Chevrolet has offered a wide range of pickup trucks, SUVs, and crossovers to meet demand for a huge swath of customers.

Simply by slotting vehicles in a segment and at a certain price point, Chevrolet, typically the third-largest brand in the US after Ford and Toyota, is able to siphon off market share from competitors and grow its volume.

It appears the brand is taking the same approach with its EVs, but it could turn out to be a risky move.

Chevy's first attempt at electrifying an existing nameplate – the Blazer EV – got off to a rocky start with a stop-sale related to software issues. Majoros insisted Blazer EV is recovering and notched impressive monthly sales, but didn't provide specifics since GM no longer shares monthly sales numbers.

Chevy is banking on more EV options leading to more buyers

Chevrolet is banking on the conventional wisdom in the automotive industry that half the battle of converting a customer to an EV is getting them in front of the vehicle.

Majoros offers a point of proof that a flood-the-zone approach might be working: Dealers and their employees – often the first to experience these electric cars – are also among Chevy's most reliable early EV adopters.

Majoros offers a point of proof that a flood-the-zone approach might be working: Dealers and their employees – often the first to experience these electric cars – are also among Chevy's most reliable early EV adopters.

"We're talking to a lot of first-time EV buyers with the Blazer EV, and a lot of them are dealership employees," Majoros said. "They get the first look at these cars, they test drive them and realize, 'This thing's pretty damn good.'"

Dealers and their employees buying up their own EV supply isn't necessarily a new phenomenon. Many of them see EV ownership as a requirement for selling these high-tech cars in order to speak with authority about the experience of driving, charging, and daily maintenance.

Dealers who own EVs are often enthusiastic about their battery-powered cars, but the trouble comes when trying to convince their customers. Factors like steep upfront costs, quirks of ownership, and overall lifestyle changes required to replace a gas-powered car with an EV keeps an entire swath of customers out of the battery-electric segment, dealers say.

Majoros concedes those points but thinks Chevy is poised to change a lot of minds with its new mass-market lineup of EVs. The Equinox, in particular, slots into the current EV market well, with a starting price of $43,295 and an estimated range of 319 miles.

"We're on the precipice of this click for a lot of customers," Majoros said. "Every year, or even every month, more people own EVs, talk about them with their friends or coworkers—all those factors add up for a brand like Chevrolet."

More EVs doesn't have to mean fewer gas-powered or hybrid cars

While Chevrolet waits for this "click" to happen, Majoros points out that the brand still has plenty of gas-powered cars to keep dealer lots humming. He also pointed to GM's plans to integrate hybrids into the US market but didn't offer a timeline for those releases.

GM isn't the only automaker relying on its gas-powered profits to shepherd it through this EV slowdown. Other legacy car companies are pulling back on EV goals, leaning harder into hybrids, and relying on the success of traditional gas guzzlers to offset losses in the still unprofitable EV business.

Chevrolet's dealers "have that reassurance of a pretty good and steady base of internal combustion engine product," Majoros told a group of journalists. "We are going nowhere in that space."

• A majority of Americans polled by Harris believe the US is already in an economic recession.
• About half of Americans polled also believe the S&P 500 is down this year and that unemployment is at a 50-year high.
• In reality, none of those things are true, and it highlights a big disconnect between Americans' perception of the economy and reality.

The US economy is in a recession.

At least, that's what a majority of Americans believe, according to a recent poll conducted by Harris for The Guardian.

The economy is, in fact, not in a recession, and by some metrics, it is firing on all cylinders. GDP growth since the pandemic has been rising at a faster pace than in the decade before, and unemployment is near historic lows. 

The poll results highlight a big disconnect between reality and Americans' perception of the state of the economy.  

Results from the poll include 49% believing that the S&P 500 is down in 2024, when in reality it is up about 11%, extending the 24% gain it experienced in 2023. 

Nearly half of poll respondents said they believe that unemployment is at a 50-year high, when in reality the unemployment rate has been below 4% for more than two years and is near a 50-year low. 

And 72% of poll respondents said they believe inflation is increasing, when in reality inflation peaked at 9.1% in June 2022 and has since been more than cut in half.

A record number of Americans are employed, incomes are rising faster than the rate of inflation, and 401k balances are hitting record levels, yet most Americans polled by Harris feel that the economic situation is dire.

Driving the disconnect appears to be continued dissatisfaction with inflation.

Even though the data shows that inflation has been mostly tamed, with prices rising at a much slower pace than they were during the pandemic, Americans are still feeling the sting of higher prices at the grocery store, the auto dealership, and in the housing market.

Americans want prices to return to their levels before the pandemic, but that requires deflation, not disinflation. Such an occurrence would probably have to coincide with a very weak economy and is therefore unlikely. 

What also appears to be driving Americans' disconnect between their views on the economy and the actual economy is politics.

When polled by Harris, 58% said they believed the economy is worsening because of mismanagement from the Biden administration. This dynamic is on full display when the results are broken down by political affiliation.

While 56% of poll respondents said they believe the economy is in a recession, that number was higher for poll respondents who identified as Republican, at 67%, while respondents who identified as Democrats and said the US was in a recession was lower, at 49%. 

The polling results highlight the "vibecession" that millions of Americans have been feeling over the past year, and it ultimately could be a big problem for President Job Biden's re-election chances.

• Several new emojis have been proposed for addition to your devices' operating systems.
• They're up for approval later this year and after that, would reach your phones likely in 2025.
• From a tired face with eyebags to a leafless tree, here's a closer look at the 7 new emoji.

A handful of new emojis could be coming to your phone next year.

There are seven new emoji being put up for approval before the emoji body Unicode Consortium later this year.

If approved, the emoji could reach your phones in 2025. But they'd probably look a bit different from how they appear now, as different companies make different versions for their respective operating systems (Apple's version would differ from Android's, for example).

Here's a closer look at the emoji candidates:

A tired face with eyebags

Other associated keywords: exhausted, sleepy, and tired.

A fingerprint

Other associated keywords: forensics, identity, safety.

A leafless tree

Associated keywords: barren, drought, winter.

A root vegetable

Other associated keywords include beet, garden, root, turnip, and vegetable.

A harp

The harp is associated with the keywords cupid, instrument, love, music, and orchestra.

A shovel

Other keywords associated with the shovel emoji include dig, hole, scoop, and spade.

A splatter

It's associated with the keywords holi, paint, spill, and stain.

While those emoji await approval, you can check out others in the meantime that are available now.

Apple's iOS 17.4 came out in March and brought with it a slew of new emoji, including a phoenix, shaking heads, and gender-neutral families.

• On Tuesday night, Libby Wadle and Olympia Gayot of J.Crew were honored at the 2024 Parsons Benefit.
• Speaking with BI, they shared advice for finding success in fashion careers like theirs.
• Wadle said a nurturing work environment is key, and Gayot noted the importance of creativity.

If you've started shopping at J.Crew again in recent years, you likely have Libby Wadle and Olympia Gayot to thank.

Wadle was named CEO of J.Crew Group in 2020, and Gayot became the brand's creative director of women's and kids' design that same year.

Since then, the two have routinely been credited with reviving the legacy label by introducing it to a new generation. And they've made their jobs look easy.

So, when Wadle, Gayot, and the J.Crew team attended the annual Parsons Benefit on Tuesday night, Business Insider asked the two executives how they think young fashion creatives can succeed in similar careers.

"First, I think they need to do what they love," Wadle advised those seeking jobs in the fashion industry.

Libby Wadle's take: find a job that nurtures your passion

According to Wadle, the first step to a successful fashion career is determining your niche. Maybe you want to design clothes, create marketing campaigns, or lead brands like her.

The key is doing what you're passionate about and then finding a work environment that supports you, she said.

"If you're in design and you're a creative person, you should look to work for people who honor and nurture that," Wadle told BI. "You can find many people in business who will do that and really put creativity first. There's a lot of opportunities out there, and I think people coming out of a place like Parsons should really look for that."

Wadle was honored with the Parsons Table Award, which is given to people in the fashion industry who have deeply inspired Parsons students and made a fundamental impact on the design industry at large.

Olympia Gayot's take: find inspiration in the mundane

Gayot has led the charge when it comes to modernizing J.Crew's beloved classic pieces. She's done so by balancing "art and commerce," she told BI.

"That might sound like a less creative answer, but on the design side, it really is about being super creative and trusting your instinct," she said. "Instinct is so important to a designer, and if you don't have that, it's hard."

Gayot's fashion instinct is tangible from the moment you meet her. She looked effortlessly cool at the Parsons Benefit, dressed in a black, double-breasted blazer over a beaded skirt. And mid-interview, she was even pulled aside by another J.Crew executive who needed fashion advice.

She said those who want to follow in her creative footsteps should start by finding inspiration in everyday life.

"Get inspiration from travel, friends, books, literature, movies," she told BI. "Really fill your cup up in terms of inspiration so that you have a lot of your own ideas to create from."

Those ideas then need to be translated into products that your customers love.

"Without your customers, you don't have a brand," Gayot said. "So really listen to them and understand what their needs are. So much of my job, which I love, is talking to people. Do you need an outfit for work? Are you a stay-at-home mom? Do you want to look chic on the weekends? Are you going on a trip? It's that real-life perspective of the end use that I think is really important."

The Parsons Benefit was hosted at Cipriani Wall Street on Tuesday night. The annual event raises funds for student scholarships, inspires young generations of designers, and celebrates influential creatives in fashion and design.

• Home prices climbed to record highs for April, according to the National Association of Realtors.
• The median home price in April was $407,600.
• Americans have been struggling to find affordable homes to buy, with prices and interest rates high.

Home prices reached record highs in April, according to a new report from the National Association of Realtors (NAR).

The median price of an existing home climbed 5.7% year-over-year in April to $407,600, keeping pressure on prospective homeowners already dealing with high interest rates.

According to the NAR, that's the tenth month in a row of year-over-year increases and the highest-ever tally for the month of April.

Home prices rose despite the relatively flat total number of existing home sales in April (4.14 million).

"Home sales changed little overall, but the upper-end market is experiencing a sizable gain due to more supply coming onto the market," the NAR's chief economist Lawrence Yun said in a statement.

While there are some brighter spots in the market with lower down payments, overall, home affordability has plunged since the pandemic with rocketing mortgage rates and high property prices driven by nationwide supply shortages.

The trends have now made renting more affordable than buying in most major cities — with landlords emerging as major winners.

If you're hoping for a drop in interest rates soon, you may need to keep waiting. This week, Federal Reserve governor Christopher Waller said the government will need to see "several months" more of signs that inflation is cooling before lowering rates.

The Fed had jacked up interest rates to combat a surge in inflation. But while rates have remained high, so have inflation indicators and consumer prices.