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

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

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

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

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

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

Microsoft

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

OpenAI

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

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

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

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

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

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

Google

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

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

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

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

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

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

Meta

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

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

Amazon

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

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

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

Anthropic

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

That lesson has helped me teach the girls about public interactions

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I talk with Tim about sharing his story

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Deciding on Costa Rica

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Moving across Costa Rica

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

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

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

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

Costa Rica is more expensive than he thought

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

• A NYC jury may begin deliberations Friday in the murder-dismemberment of millionaire Fahim Saleh.
• Embezzling killer Tyrese Haspil admits Tasing, stabbing, and dismembering the Gokada ride-share CEO.
• If jurors find Haspil 'reasonably' believed he had no choice, he'll be sentenced for manslaughter.

A Manhattan jury will soon be asked to imagine the unimaginable: the mind of a killer.

They'll be asked to assess the emotions and motives of Tyrese Haspil, a former personal assistant who admittedly stabbed his ex-boss to death to hide a $400,000 embezzlement, and then sawed him into six pieces to hide the corpse.

Gokada ride-share CEO Fahim Saleh was found beheaded and dismembered in his $2.4 million Lower Manhattan condo on July 14, 2020. It was a meticulously planned, stunningly brutal murder, born of the basest greed, the prosecution is expected to argue in closing arguments set for Friday morning.

But Haspil did it for love, the defense will counter.

If the jurors agree — if they find that Haspil believed, in his own addled mind, that he had to kill Saleh to make his beautiful French girlfriend happy, as twisted as this thinking would seem to anyone else — then that love could literally set him free.

If the jury accepts what state law calls an "extreme emotional disturbance" or "EED" defense, Haspil would be guilty of manslaughter, not murder, and would serve as little as five years in prison.

Anything less than unanimity — say if one juror accepts Haspil's EED defense and 11 do not — will cause a mistrial.

And while murder must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, an extreme emotional disturbance defense requires only a preponderance of the evidence.

That means whichever side the jury agrees was even slightly more convincing will win — either Haspil's lawyers or prosecutors, who are fighting the EED defense strenuously.

To "show her I loved her"

On the witness stand on Monday, Haspil described what he said was his state of mind.

"I needed to embezzle way more than I usually did," in the days surrounding the murder, he said.

He needed the extra money, he said, so he could buy lavish Louis Vuitton handbags and Christian Louboutin shoes for his girlfriend Marine Chauveau before her Visa expired and she returned to France later that summer.

"That was the best way I could show her that I loved her," Haspil told the jury.

But Saleh's life stood in the way of this sumptuous send-off.

Haspil had been embezzling for almost two years, including in the year after quitting his $50,000-a-year job as the tech CEO's personal assistant. His ex-boss was letting him pay the money back without pressing charges, but had discovered only a fraction of the thefts, Haspil testified.

The spending he planned would raise a "red flag," he testified.

"Well, I figured at that point I'm going to jail regardless," Haspil told jurors Monday, his voice so quietly calm it was barely audible.

"So either I go to jail because I can't pay him back, or I go to jail for murder."

Murder, he said, was the option that would buy him the most time.

Haspil told jurors that he could buy the most time by hiding his victim, piece by piece.

"Well, at that point, I guess my goal was hopefully that people would initially consider him missing," Haspil testified.

"And until they discovered him, that would leave me enough time to let Marine leave the country," he said he predicted. After that, he told jurors, "I would get arrested."

Haspil testified that on the day after the killing, he returned to the scene, covered Saleh's face with a towel, and then "separated" the body with a Makita brand, 18-volt cordless reciprocating saw.

"Well, it was hard for me to do, mentally speaking," he said. "So I took a lot of breaks and eventually the battery died, and eventually the battery died."

Saleh's cousin discovered the carnage later that afternoon, while Haspil was at a Home Depot buying a replacement battery and charger for the saw.

A bounty of birthday gifts

Haspil's spending spree on Chauveau — timed for the week of her 22nd birthday — included a stay at an $18,000-a-month Airbnb apartment, an upstate zip-line adventure, a chauffeured trip to a designer outlet center north of the city, and a spa treatment.

Haspil went online the night of the killing and ordered two of Chauveau's priciest gifts, trial evidence revealed: a "Lockme" backpack and a "Trunk Clutch" handbag, both from Louis Vuitton, worth a combined $7,349.06.

He also spent more than $750 to have a six-by-six-inch, single-tier, vanilla cake custom baked for delivery on Chauveau's birthday itself, July 19, 2020.

He ordered the cake a month in advance.

"The gold is an edible gold mixture," the baker testified at Haspil's murder trial two weeks ago, describing the cake, which replicated a Louis Vuitton handbag down to the straps and hardware.

Chauveau, who was not called as a witness, returned to France after his arrest, apparently taking at least some of Haspil's presents with her.

These included the two Louis Vuitton bags and a pair of tan Christian Louboutin pumps he bought for $715.31 just hours before his arrest three days after the killing, on July 16.

The cake was never delivered.

Extreme emotional disturbance

Haspil, 25, faces life in prison without parole if convicted of murdering Saleh, 33, an admired Bangladeshi-American tech entrepreneur who'd made a fortune through Gokada, his Nigeria-based motorbike ride-share and delivery service.

A successful EED defense would mean Haspil could only be sentenced to between five to 25 years in prison, making it a certainty he'd be set free sometime before age 50.

On Friday, after both sides' closing arguments, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice April A. Newbauer will explain the EED defense to the jury.

"Under our law, it is an affirmative defense to a charge of murder in the first degree that the defendant acted under the influence of extreme emotional disturbance for which there was a reasonable explanation or excuse," the judge will tell jurors.

"The reasonableness of that explanation or excuse is to be determined from the viewpoint of a person in the defendant's situation, under the circumstances as the defendant believed them to be," she will say.

Haspil's emotional disturbance must be found to have been so extreme that he suffered "a profound loss of self-control," the judge will explain to jurors.

In other words, jurors must find that in killing Saleh, Haspil was helplessly under the influence of an emotional disturbance caused by circumstances that were "reasonable" in his own mind — his obsession with lavishing gifts on his girlfriend.

"He's a young man who had a really difficult childhood," defense psychologist Dr. Barry Rosenfeld testified last week, describing Haspil's chaotic early years being raised in Brooklyn by a psychotic mother, followed by periods of foster care and homelessness.

The victim's sister shook her head, "No," in the audience as the psychologist continued.

"He finally gets himself into a relationship where he feels unconditional love," the doctor testified.

"Essentially he's terrified of the end of this relationship coming," the doctor told jurors. "He's just essentially coming apart at the seams. And the only way out is suicide or homicide."

Weeks of detailed planning

Could it work? Might it convince even one juror and cause a mistrial?

Any kind of EED defense victory — even a mistrial — would be a historical outlier.

New York's extreme emotional disturbance defense and similar defenses in other states are almost always reserved for crimes of passion, when a homicide is committed by someone in the throes of a sudden, defensible rage — upon finding one's spouse in bed with a lover, as one example.

Haspil, by contrast, spent weeks researching, purchasing, and planning in preparation for the killing.

Earlier in 2020, Haspil took three trips to Saleh's Lagos, Nigeria offices and to his family's upstate New York home that he testified were intended, but abandoned, homicide attempts.

On June 13, 2020, as he pushed inside an elevator to share his victim's last ride home, Haspil wore or carried everything he had gathered for more than a month to transform himself, head to toe, into a furtive killing machine, trial evidence showed.

Across his face was a $55.98 black visor he'd ordered on Amazon on June 2, 2020, more than a month before the killing and the same day that Google records show he searched for, "What happens when you get tased?"

His head was shrouded in a black, balaclava-style face mask he bought on Amazon a week after the visor. His eyes were hidden by designer sunglasses purchased with Saleh's stolen money.

"So you bought $270 sunglasses to commit the homicide?" prosecutor Linda Ford asked during cross-examination. "Yes," Haspil answered.

As the elevator began to rise, "He commented on my outfit," Haspil testified of his victim. "He said something to the effect of, 'You're really taking this COVID PPE seriously."

Haspil wore a custom-tailored black suit with Tyrese D. Haspil embroidered on the inside jacket pocket, also purchased with Saleh's money.

Inside the embroidered breast pocket was a Taser Pulse he'd bought on Buy.Taser.com for $504.58. He'd signed for it himself when it was Fed Exed to his Brooklyn apartment on the first Sunday in June.

He Googled, "How many volts do Tasers put out?" after it arrived. "If i touch somkne [sic] being electrocuted will i get shocked if i touch them," evidence shows he also searched.

The black duffel bag Haspil held in his left hand as the elevator continued to rise contained a change of clothes.

It also held the iPad he'd been using to surveil his victim's building, via a Nest camera he'd installed in a vacant apartment across the street. He had gained access by posing as a prospective renter.

Even Haspil's choice of footwear was calculated. His cowboy boots would make him look taller than Saleh would have remembered, he testified.

"And then the doors opened," prosecutor Linda Ford asked during cross examination. "What did you do?"

"I tased him," Haspil answered.

"And then what?" the prosecutor asked.

"I dropped the Taser and pulled the knife out and aimed for his neck." Haspil said he couldn't remember if he'd pulled the hunting knife from his jacket or his duffel bag.

"Was there a delay between when you tased him and when you started stabbing him?" the prosecutor asked.

"It all happened really quickly," Haspil answered.

"Did he say anything to you as you were stabbing him?" the prosecutor asked.

"Yes."

"What did he say?" she asked.

Haspil said his victim asked him, "What are you doing?"

When Saleh stopped moving, "I started looking for his bank cards to pay for the birthday."

Simmering in the unknown subconscious

During a hearing on Tuesday, prosecutors asked the judge to add to the instructions the jury will hear Friday. They hoped the instructions could focus on the crime-of-passion rationale that typically underlies an EED defense.

Prosecutor Joseph Goldstein asked that jurors hear a definition of "profound loss of self-control" from a 2022 state Court of Appeals decision: "a one-time out-of-character loss of physical self-control resulting from extreme mental trauma or extremely unusual and overwhelming stress without time to think or deliberate."

Haspil had thought and deliberated extensively as he planned ending Saleh's life and spending Saleh's money. prosecutors could then argue.

Haspil attorney Sam Roberts— a public defender from New York City's Legal Aid Society — wanted the jury to hear different language.

He asked the judge to rely on Court of Appeals case law stretching back to 1976, which said extreme emotional disturbance can affect a defendant's mind "for a substantial period of time, simmering in the unknowing subconscious and then inexplicably coming to the fore."

After listening to both sides, the judge said she would read the guidance on an EED defense as it is currently written in the state Criminal Jury Instructions.

Her only addition will be to tell jurors that their decision to find or reject Haspil's EED defense must be unanimous.

"I think to add additional elements can be seen as adding an additional burden to the defense," the judge said of her reasoning.

Closing arguments are set for 9:45 a.m.

• A Malaysia Airlines Boeing flight bound for Kuala Lumpur had to turn back after takeoff. 
• A video of the incident showed the engine on fire.
• The plane turned around and made an emergency landing back in Hyderabad. 

A Malaysia Airlines flight from Hyderabad, India, to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, had to return shortly after takeoff on Thursday night.

A video taken from inside the aircraft, posted by The Straits Times, showed its engine on fire with sparks flying out behind it.

The fire broke out 15 minutes after the plane took off, per The Straits Times.

The Boeing 738 aircraft had to turn back and make an emergency landing at Hyderabad's Rajiv Gandhi International Airport.

In a statement to The Straits Times, Malaysia Airlines said that the affected plane arrived safely in Hyderabad with no injuries reported.

"All passengers and crew disembarked safely. Affected passengers will be reallocated to other flights for their continued journey," Malaysia Airlines said in its statement.

This is the latest addition to the long list of Boeing mishaps that have happened this year. During a January Alaska Airlines flight, a door plug came off a Boeing 737 Max 9 jet at an altitude of 16,000 feet. Separately, a United Airlines flight lost its tire shortly after takeoff in March.

Several Boeing whistleblowers have also come forward, alleging in testimonies and statements that the company has been lax with quality control. Most recently, Sam Mohawk, a quality assurance inspector for Boeing, alleged that the company lost track of hundreds of faulty 737 parts and ordered staff to hide improperly stored plane parts from FAA inspectors.

Boeing CEO David Calhoun has defended the aviation company, saying on Capitol Hill this week that he's "proud" of its safety record.

Malaysia Airlines and Boeing didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider, made outside normal working hours.

• When Aolin Xu's parents offered to pay her tuition if she moved to Australia, she obliged.
• Xu has noticed that Australians are more open to travel, but are less political. 
• She also says she's benefitted from Australia's job market, which is less competitive than the US.

This as-told-to essay is based on a transcribed conversation with Aolin Xu, 22, about moving to Australia for college. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

I was born in Australia but grew up in Washington. When I was five, my parents moved our family to Canada and then to America.

My older brother moved back to Australia in 2013 for university. The fees were much cheaper for him than for an international student because of our dual citizenship.

My parents, who still live in the US, always talked about how much we could save if I went to university in Australia. They even offered to pay my tuition fees, which was a huge motivator for me as it would allow me to graduate debt-free.

In Australia, I've benefited from financial support from my parents and partner. I've secured a job at a big four firm starting next year. I've found opportunities to be successful in Australia, with less competition than I'd have in America.

I'm graduating debt-free because of my parents' support

I moved to Australia in January 2020 to study a four-year course in education and science at the University of New South Wales. I switched subjects to computer science and am on track to graduate next year.

US tuition currently averages around $11,000 a year for in-state and $24,000 for out-of-state fees, while private university fees jump to $42,000. Meanwhile, my parents paid around 6,530 AUD, in 2023 for me to study at UNSW on domestic fees, which is around $4,345.

The Australian government partially subsidizes my fees, on what is called a Commonwealth Supported Place. Most domestic undergrad students at public universities are entitled to this subsidy.

In the US, people are expected to live on campus their first year of college. In Sydney, domestic students mainly live at home, so there are no boarding costs.

I'm grateful for my parents and my situation. Because they pay my fees, I get to graduate debt-free.

If I went to college in the US and had to pay my own fees, I would probably have to rely on student loans. I have friends in the US who are tens of thousands of dollars in debt, and for many people, they're in debt until middle age.

Sydney is expensive, but I still think I'm saving money

Another motivator for me to study in Australia was that my parents owned an apartment in Sydney where I could stay for free. I don't pay rent or utilities except for WiFi.

When I first came to Australia, I worked a couple of minimum wage jobs to earn some extra spending money. I've now accumulated savings that I can chip away at, and I live with my partner, who supports me financially, too. I acknowledge that not everyone has the same kind of support I've had, and without it, I think I'd struggle a lot more.

Sydney is an expensive city to live in, but I personally feel I'm spending less on certain things compared to the US, like food and my phone bill.

Growing up in my parent's house in the US, I didn't pay bills, but they both complained about excruciatingly expensive healthcare. Australia has a universal healthcare system called Medicare. Many services are subsidized and I don't have to pay out of pocket for any of my health bills.

Australians can sometimes be too chill

Australian culture can be very chill, but at times, it's a little too chill. There's a phrase here, "tall poppy syndrome," when people with driven, strong personalities are looked down on.

When I first came here, my American personality shone through. I'm very talkative, opinionated, and political, and this made me feel like a bit of an outsider.

In Australia, some people pride themselves on being non-political. Australian culture as I've experienced it is rooted in being humble and neutral – which is mostly positive – but there are things you need to take a strong stance on.

I've noticed other cultural differences between the US and Australia

In the US, most people drove, and our public transport system wasn't efficient. In Sydney, public transport is part of my daily life, and I enjoy taking the trains.

The weather here is much better than in Washington, and the beaches are beautiful.

I've found people here are more open to traveling overseas than in the US. I don't have many friends back in the US who've been overseas, but in Australia, my friends and I spend most of our money on travel. I've been to Bali and Malaysia since living here because they're really close.

Gun laws are very different in Australia compared to the US. When I was in high school, shootings were happening around the country. I was anxious in class. Living in Australia, I have almost no fear of guns.

One hesitation about moving to Australia was that I'd feel FOMO by missing out on the US college experience. Growing up, my friends and I were excited by the idea of these extravagant parties and sororities.

Australia doesn't have as many crazy parties, but you're allowed to go clubs at 18. Being in a controlled environment means things don't tend to get as wild, but you can still have fun.

I also think that this culture has allowed me to feel less pressure to go out and I've performed better academically.

I've been able to secure a good job and think it's easier to get into the Australian job market

Next year, I have a job at Ernst & Young as a technical consultant lined up. It pays 73,500 AUD a year. I got the job after doing an internship there in December 2023.

I have some high school friends in the US who are also at EY now. I considered them to be really, really, smart, but I wouldn't have considered myself to be as smart.

I don't think my job outcome would have been as good if I were in the US. America is filled with opportunities but also with fierce competition. Lots of Americans are driven by hustle culture, but that doesn't necessarily guarantee success.

Australia isn't the hub for the FAANG companies or Hollywood, but it's an amazing place to live for many people who want to live a good life with good pay. I personally feel it's easier to get into the job market here than in the US.

I miss my family and friends in the US a lot. My parents plan on coming back to Australia when they retire, so I am very much looking forward to that. I could see myself settling in Australia, but I also want to explore the world, so I don't have any concrete plans yet.

• A basic income pilot in Marin County is helping moms secure housing, buy food, and pay off debt. 
• The pilot gave $1,000 a month to 125 low-income mothers of color.
• A growing number of GBI pilots are targeting parents, aimed at reducing childhood poverty. 

Basic income allowed Claudia Muralles to finish her undergraduate degree.

A resident of Marin County, California — located just north of San Francisco Bay — Muralles said she often struggled to afford basic necessities for herself and her young children. She had to decide which bills to pay and which to delay for the following month: car payments, gas, or utilities. For meals, she could rarely afford meat with her rice and beans.

That changed two years ago when Muralles began receiving $1,000 a month through MOMentum, a guaranteed basic income pilot serving low-income moms of color administered by UpTogether, a national nonprofit that has sponsored a series of GBI programs.

For Muralles' family, basic income meant being able to pay bills and becoming more financially secure. With her new college degree, she feels "unstoppable" and optimistic about her future career.

"To me, the empowerment that came through the funds had no price," Muralles told UpTogether. "That sense of control over my money and sense I could do other things is priceless."

First launched in 2021, the program selected 125 mothers with children under 18 to receive no-strings-attached cash for two years. Participants like Muralles had an average annual income of $29,000 — which is nearly equivalent to the federal poverty line for a family of four. A third-year extension provided families an additional $7,500, with the last payment in June.

After two years of receiving funds through MOMentum, participants' housing stability improved by 15 percentage points, meaning those families were able to secure fixed and safe living conditions. Almost a quarter moved into new housing during the program. Over three-quarters of participants said their debt was more manageable, had enough food for their family, and spent more time with their children. Meanwhile, two-thirds of participants worked either the same or more hours.

The pilot was a $3 million initiative by the Marin Community Foundation and UpTogether. Like other basic income pilots, participants could spend the money wherever they needed it most, though this program specifically focused on low-income mothers.

Marin County is one of the wealthiest counties in the US — the median family of four brings in about $186,600, according to Marin Housing. It is also one of the nation's most racially disparate areas, per the local nonprofit Community Action Marin.

With basic income, families had more housing and food security

UpTogether reported that basic income positively impacted participants' financial stability, well-being, and food and housing security.

Of the 125 participants, 24 moved into new housing situations, most in safer neighborhoods or with better amenities. The percentage of participants with housing stability rose from 45% to 60%, while the participants reported an 8% decline in homelessness.

The average home value in Marin County, per Zillow, is slightly over $1.5 million, while RentHop estimates the average one-bedroom apartment to rent is over $2,600 a month.

The report found participants used funds to pay down debt and save for the future, such as attending college — nearly half reported being enrolled in an education or training program since the program's start. They also reported less stress regarding unexpected expenses.

Since starting the program, a third of the participants have begun a new job, while 58% have maintained their work hours. Over two-thirds said the program led them to pursue different employment opportunities.

Participants also reported improved health outcomes, partly due to decreased financial stress. More than three-quarters of moms said they worried less about sufficiently feeding their family, and were able to buy more nutritious food items.

Participants were also more equipped to purchase things their kids wanted but weren't essential. About 70% of participants spent more time with their families.

Most participants didn't lose access to government benefits, though the increased income may have contributed to some families losing specific benefits like like CalFresh, a state-level food assistance program that helps low-income residents purchase groceries.

More basic income programs are aimed at parents

Marin County's pilot isn't the only basic program to focus on low-income mothers.

It costs an average of $26,000 a year to raise one child in America. And, per United Way, infants and children living in poverty are also more likely to experience homelessness, food insecurity, and low-educational attainment later in life.

In Flint, Michigan, the Rx Kids program is offering about 1,200 pregnant mothers a $1,500 lump sum and then $500 monthly for their baby's first year. A basic income program in New Mexico also gave $500 a month to mixed-citizenship status immigrant families with children.

Some federal safety nets are also aimed at low-income parents. Women, Infants and Children (WIC), the Child Tax Credit, and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) are programs that provide financial assistance or tax breaks to caregivers of young children. Flint even used TANF dollars to fund Rx Kids.

Local leaders and economic security experts are increasingly turning toward GBI as a poverty solution. Compared to federal safety nets like SNAP, Medicaid, or rental vouchers, basic income allows families more flexible spending.

UpTogether CEO Jesús Gerena said in a press release that Marin County chose the basic income model because participants "need cash, not another program."

"The powerful results show that investing in moms and their children has big returns," Gerena said, "Mothers know best and can be trusted to make the decisions that are best for their families."

Have you benefited from a guaranteed basic income program? Are you willing to share how you spent the money? Reach out to these reporters at allisonkelly@businessinsider.com and nsheidlower@businessinsider.com

• Google's AI Overviews links to Wikipedia and LinkedIn more than Reddit, SE Ranking study finds.
• The SEO platform's study analyzed 100,000 keywords and highlighted a shift in linked domains.
• Google's more cautious approach follows viral blunders, such as suggesting people put glue on a pizza.

Google seems to have been making tweaks to AI Overviews.

Its AI-generated summaries now link to Wikipedia and LinkedIn more than Reddit, a new study by SE Ranking showed.

The SEO marketing platform analyzed 100,000 keywords in June and found Reddit was no longer in the top 10 linked domains in Google's AI Overviews.

Google reportedly struck a deal with Reddit earlier this year to train its AI models on its content.

Google appears to be taking a more cautious approach with AI Overviews by prioritizing other websites it links to instead of forums like Reddit. It comes after a series of blunders generated by AI Overviews went viral following its public launch last month.

One incident included when it told a user to put glue on pizza to keep the cheese intact — a suggestion that seems to have been based on a Reddit comment more than a decade ago.

SE Ranking's study also shows that LinkedIn, Wikipedia, and YouTube are in third, fourth, and sixth positions of the top 10 linked domains, respectively.

The SEO tool provider carried out a similar study in February before Google rolled out the AI feature to the public, which found that the overviews included many snippets from forums Reddit and Quora.

Google showed significantly fewer AI Overviews, previously called SGE (Search Generative Experience), in the June study than it did in February.

Less than 9% of keywords had AI Overviews in June, compared with 64% with an SGE answer or a Generate button out of the 1,000 keywords analyzed. SGE linked to Reddit most for keywords related to entertainment and hobbies in February.

Google seems to be continuing to rollout AI Overviews. Liz Reid, the Search VP, addressed the pizza glue fiasco at a recent all-hands meeting, according to audio obtained by CNBC, saying the company would not "hold back features" if there were "occasional problems."

Google didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider, made outside normal working hours.

• Wyoming, Delaware, and Montana have had the most new businesses per 100,000 residents open this year, per Census Bureau data
• Wyoming leads the nation in number of new businesses with 283 per 100,000 residents
• Small businesses openings are booming, but the viability of lasting in the long term is less certain

Business is booming out West, even in the country's least populated state.

Wyoming leads the nation for most new business openings per 100,000 residents since the start of 2024, according to Census Bureau data and Business Insider's analysis of population data.

Delaware and Montana are second and third in new business openings per 100,000 residents since the start of 2024.

Wyoming has seen 1,657 new businesses open since the start of the year, according to the Census Bureau. In Delaware, 1,583 have opened. And in Montana, 1,207. All of those states are particularly tax-friendly for new entrepreneurs.

The boom in business translates to 283 new businesses per 100,000 residents in Wyoming, 153 in Delaware, and 106 in Montana.

As many Americans face high costs of living and seek out new opportunities, states like Wyoming and Montana have seen a surge in economic activity. Wyoming also led the nation in new business applications per capita in 2023, according to the Chamber of Commerce. And the number of new business applications in Wyoming in 2022 was seven times greater than in 2005, according to data from the St. Louis Fed.

According to Census Bureau data, Wyoming was the least populated state in the nation as of 2023, with 584,057 residents. Yet, Wyoming's population is steadily growing, increasing 1.2% from 2020 to 2023.

In Montana, the population increased by 4.5% from 2020 to 2023, according to Census Bureau data.

It's yet another sign that the economy is heading away from traditional coastal hubs, and more South and West. The pandemic shifted workers and money away from stalwarts like New York City and San Francisco, with many opting for wide open (cheaper) spaces in areas like Wyoming. And while pandemic-era population and job shifts may have slowed, it looks like business is still booming in Wyoming — perhaps showcasing a more permanent trend.

Business is bustling in some states, but many new ones won't make it

While business is booming, it's important to recognize that about a quarter of all new private businesses in the US fail within their first year, according to an April report by LendingTree, a loan service. Within five years, that number climbs to nearly half.

According to the Chamber of Commerce, small businesses make up 99.9% of all businesses in the US. As the Fed holds interest rates at 20-year highs and inflation cools slightly, many new business owners may struggle to find their footing.

But the Bureau of Labor Statistics does have its own measure to approximate just how many new businesses actually came of those applications; BLS splices data on past new businesses with their forecast of new businesses to yield a measure showing what actual formations might look like. And according to that measure, Wyoming and its Western counterparts — along with Delaware — are due to have businesses with some staying power.

In fact, the St. Louis Fed listed Wyoming and Delaware as the two states with the largest growth rates in number of business applications from 2005 to 2022.

Business-friendly taxation

Wyoming, Delaware, and Montana are all particularly attractive to new business owners due to their tax laws. It's a reason that entrepreneurship might stay strong.

Wyoming is one of three states alongside South Dakota and Nevada that does not impose a corporate income tax, according to the Tax Foundation, a Washington D.C. based think tank.

Furthermore, Wyoming does not impose an individual income tax, another appeal for potential business owners.

Delaware is known for its business-friendly tax structure. About 68% of all Fortune 500 companies were incorporated in Delaware as of 2022, according to the state's Division of Corporations.

More recently, the Economic Innovation Group found that as of 2023, a "startup surge" in new businesses has been led by "two clear belts of states in the Mountain West and Southeast." For places like Wyoming and Delaware, EIG attributes the surge in applications partly to favorable state corporate laws.

"The startup suge is both powered and shaped by numerous local forces and policies that will affect its long-term economic impact on communities, as well," EIG found.

And so, if you're looking for a small business to frequent — or have an idea you want to make a reality — you too might want to head West.

Are you a new small-business owner in Wyoming, Delaware, or Montana? Contact these reporters at jtowfighi@businessinsider.com and jkaplan@businessinsider.com.

• Grocery delivery services can save time and energy, and I used to rely on them. 
• But I've mostly stopped using them and now, I shop with my kids instead. 
• I still use online grocery ordering in a pinch, but the added cost isn't worth it to me anymore.

When online grocery ordering became a thing, I quickly became hooked. It was a novelty to be able to shop from the couch and buy back an hour or so of time each weekend. Ordering groceries online suddenly made the unavoidable task of grocery shopping efficient, and I loved it.

After my kids were born, my love for online grocery ordering grew even more. Ordering online meant avoiding schlepping them and their gear into the store and made the process of getting groceries for the family much easier.

My perspective has changed as time has gone by. While I used to use a grocery delivery service nearly every week, I only use it in a pinch now.

Grocery shopping is an activity to do with my kids

Now that my kids are out of the baby phase, I always need weekend activities. Going to the grocery store can easily fill up 1-2 hours, and my girls really enjoy shopping. One store that we frequent offers free cookies to kids, one store has a train that circles the dairy section, and another has shopper-in-training carts that my oldest thinks are the coolest to push around as we shop.

My girls like to help put things into the cart and love suggesting different items to buy. I enjoy talking to them about the various things left on our list while they are securely nestled in the cart. If I want to extend the activity, I'll have them help me scan our items at self-checkout.

The extra cost of online grocery ordering isn't worth it to me anymore

Ordering groceries online often costs more than shopping in the store, sometimes as much as 15% more for online items than in-store items. On top of that, there can be things like pick-up fees, service fees, delivery charges, and tips if you use a grocery delivery service.

Earlier in the pandemic, all these extra costs were worth it to me to avoid going to the store. The extra costs were also worth it when I had a newborn and didn't want to lug her into the store.

But with grocery prices rising, I had to rethink whether the additional costs were worth it. If I'm in a pinch, then I find they are. It's worth it to me to pay the extra cost for grocery delivery when I'm coming back from being out of town, for example, but otherwise, I can't justify the extra spend anymore. The fees can easily add $20-$30 (if not more) to our bill, and I'd rather use that money elsewhere.

Occasional mistakes mean I sometimes have to go grocery shopping anyway

On three occasions, I've shown up to collect my grocery order and found that someone else has claimed it. That's an extreme outcome, but other issues have popped up more frequently than they used to.

I've seen an uptick in the wrong item being selected, like the shopper selecting skin-on chicken breast when I requested boneless skinless chicken breast or selecting severely bruised produce. Shopping online means you need to select a specific item for the shopper to get. If I were shopping in person, I'd just grab an alternative if I couldn't find the exact item, but this doesn't usually happen when someone is shopping for you.

All of this means that I end up having to go to the grocery store anyway, usually stressed because I was counting on the grocery delivery service to save time. It's a wrinkle in my day that I'd rather avoid, which means I'm better off doing the shopping myself.

Using a grocery delivery service can save time and energy, but it also comes with added costs and, oftentimes, frustration. I'll continue to use it sparingly when I'm in a pinch, but otherwise will stick to in-person shopping.