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• Amazon execs used messaging app Signal to discuss business matters, the Federal Trade Commission said.
• The agency wants to know if execs told Amazon staff to delete messages, and when to use Signal.
• Amazon says the contentions are "baseless" and that it had previously disclosed the use of Signal. 

Amazon's top executives used the encrypted messaging app Signal to discuss "sensitive business matters," the Federal Trade Commission said in a court filing on Thursday.

Jeff Bezos and other senior leaders used the app from 2019 to 2022, the FTC said, and made use of its disappearing message feature.

"Amazon executives deleted many Signal messages during Plaintiffs' pre-Complaint investigation, and Amazon did not instruct employees to preserve Signal messages until over fifteen months after Amazon knew that Plaintiffs' investigation was underway," the FTC claimed in the court filing.

Some of the Amazon executives named in the filing as Signal users include CEO Andy Jassy, general counsel David Zapolsky, former worldwide consumer chief Jeff Wilke, and former worldwide operations CEO Dave Clark.

The FTC now wants to know what the execs told employees about when to use Signal and if they instructed them to delete messages.

The competition watchdog started investigating Amazon in 2019 over its business practices. The FTC says the use of Signal's disappearing messages feature might have destroyed information relevant to its investigation.

Amazon representative Tim Doyle told Business Insider in a statement that the FTC's "contentions are baseless" as the company had disclosed employees' use of the app years ago.

He added: "The FTC has a complete picture of Amazon's decision-making in this case including 1.7 million documents from sources like email, internal messaging applications, and laptops (among other sources), and over 100 terabytes of data."

The court filing includes a copy of an email that Jeff Bezos sent Mike Hopkins, the head of Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios, in February 2020. The founder said, "Are you on signal messaging app? (Better way to communicate with me.)"

It also includes a screenshot of a Signal message sent by Carlo Bertucci, Amazon's VP of corporate development. It shows he sent a link in August 2020 to an article about the EU's antitrust investigation into Apple's app store.

Amazon was hit with an antitrust lawsuit by the FTC and 17 states in September, claiming it was maintaining a monopoly in the marketplace, boosting its prices, and overcharging sellers.

"Amazon also recognizes that sellers believe 'that it has become more difficult over time to be profitable on Amazon,'" the FTC filing stated. 

Zapolsky previously told BI that the FTC's suit was "wrong on the facts and the law."

A court trial for the case has been set for October 2026.

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• Anduril has just been selected as one of two vendors for a major US air force contract. 
• The 7-year-old start-up beat out legacy defense contractors Boeing, Lockheed, and Northrup Grumman. 
• "Impossible to overstate the importance of this win," tweeted founder Palmer Luckey. 

Anduril Industries, the defense tech startup run by Palmer Luckey, has just been awarded a major contract by the US Air Force, beating out legacy names like Boeing and Lockheed Martin.

Anduril, founded in 2017, has been contracted to design and test autonomous fighter jets as part of the Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) program, a core part of the Air Force's efforts to modernize its fleet.

The Air Force hopes to eventually buy at least 1,000 CAA systems at a cost of $30 million per drone. In the latest fiscal 2025 budget request it requested $557 million for the program and has said it plans to spend almost $9 billion on the initiative by 2029.

The joint contract will be split between Anduril and General Atomics. The companies will now work on designing, manufacturing, and testing the unmanned aircraft and drones.

The decision proves just how important autonomy and AI are to the future of US national security strategy.

The final choice came down to five companies: Anduril, General Atomics, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Northrup Grumman. Rather than the stalwart giants of the defense industry with a long track record of building fighter jets, it was seven-year-old Anduril that the Air Force selected.

"Impossible to overstate the importance of this win," tweeted Luckey following the announcement.

"Anduril is proving that with the right team and business model, a seven-year-old company can go toe-to-toe with players that have been around for 70+. The real winner? The United States of America."

The US military is increasingly turning to the growing pool of private defense tech start-ups as it races to compete with rivals like China to develop the most advanced military technology.

"As a country, we are actually making really good strides and moving fast enough," said Luckey in an interview with CNBC. "I'm confident we're going to deliver on budget and on schedule some really sick AI-powered fighter jets," he added.

The success of Anduril will give hope to other AI players from Silicon Valley hoping to break into the defense sector.

And the demand is there for them if they can make it: venture capitalists have put more than $100 billion into defense tech since 2021, according to PitchBook data.

"Anduril is proud to pave the way for other non-traditional defense companies to compete and deliver on large-scale programs," the company wrote in a statement.

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• Ukraine has removed Abrams tanks from the front lines, Pentagon officials told the Associated Press.
• They said the tanks are struggling with Russia's drones and attack tactics.
• Drones proliferating over Ukraine's skies have proved fatal to high-value targets, including tanks.

Ukraine has withdrawn its US-supplied Abrams tanks from the front lines in the face of Russian drone warfare tactics, two US defense officials told the Associated Press.

One of the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said swarms of drones flying over Ukraine meant "there isn't open ground that you can just drive across without fear of detection."

Christopher Grady, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, confirmed the decision to move the tanks away from the front.

"When you think about the way the fight has evolved, massed armor in an environment where unmanned aerial systems are ubiquitous can be at risk," Grady told the AP.

The US agreed to send 31 M1A1 Abrams to Ukraine in January last year, after months of Ukraine asking for advanced weaponry to help counter Russia's invasion.

Ukraine received the first batch of the tanks in September.

But it doesn't look like things have gone to plan.

A Russian reconnaissance drone knocked out an M1 Abrams tank near Avdiivka in eastern Ukraine in February, according to Russian state media.

Ukraine has lost five Abrams tanks in recent months, The New York Times reported this month, citing an unnamed senior US official. At least three more have been moderately damaged, Markus Reisner, an Austrian military trainer, told the outlet.

Grady said that Abrams were still important, and that the US and Ukraine would figure out how best to use them, adding: "There is a way to do it."

He said that the US would work with Ukraine to recalibrate its strategies.

Drones have been a key feature in the war in Ukraine.

Ukraine has used them to devastating effect to take out Russian tanks, with drones responsible for two-thirds of Russian tanks taken out, a NATO official told Foreign Policy earlier this month.

Ukraine has also fallen victim to similar attacks.

While the Abrams has a track record of defeating Soviet-made armor, it can be exposed to some of the same threats — antitank mines, missiles, artillery, and drones — that have eliminated Ukraine's Leopard and Challenger tanks.

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• A high school athletics director was arrested after a deepfake of the school's principal was shared online.
• The deepfake recording imitated Eric Eiswert making racist and antisemitic remarks.
• Local authorities have called for changes to the law to protect against the misuse of AI technology.

A Maryland high school athletics director, Dazhon Darien, has been arrested and charged with stalking and theft after an AI deepfake audio recording of the school's principal, which included racist remarks, was shared online.

The recording, which was posted on social media in January, was circulated widely, and people were led to believe that it was the voice of Eric Eiswert, local police reported.

Eiswert is the principal of Pikesville High School in the suburbs of Baltimore.

The deepfake audio included a tirade against black students, which led to Eiswert being inundated by threats, per The New York Times.

"It's believed Mr. Darien, who was an Athletic Director at Pikesville High School, made the recording to retaliate against Mr. Eiswert who at the time was pursuing an investigation into the potential mishandling of school funds," police said in a statement shared online.

Darien faces charges of stalking, theft, disruption of school operations, and retaliation against a witness.

He was released on bail of $5,000 after a court appearance Thursday.

AI deepfakes are a growing concern

Police used forensic analysis to determine that the recording was made using AI.

"Based on an extensive investigation, detectives now have conclusive evidence the recording was not authentic. As part of their investigation, detectives requested a forensic analyst contracted with the FBI to analyze the recording," police said.

Authorities said in a news conference that the case is believed to be among the first of its kind in the country. And they are calling for changes to the law to bring it up to date with new technology.

"It will likely require us to examine laws at both the state and federal levels to ensure that this new technology, and those still yet to come, cannot be used in ways that harm individuals and our communities," Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski said.

Deepfakes are becoming more prevalent as advancements in AI open up new ways for companies and individuals to be exposed to malicious actors.

There are concerns over the new ways these deepfakes can be manipulated in the workplace. One company in Hong Kong was tricked out of $25 million after scammers targeted an employee using deepfakes of his senior colleagues. The FBI has also warned that more and more people have used the technology to pose as someone else in job interviews.

There are also fears that AI deepfakes could threaten free and fair elections as it becomes easier for people to spread misinformation.

Earlier this year, some New Hampshire voters received deepfake calls from what they thought was Joe Biden telling them not to vote in the presidential primary election. The White House wants to "cryptographically verify" videos of Joe Biden so viewers don't mistake real videos for deepfakes.

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• Kim Jong Un oversaw tests for a rocket capable of hitting Seoul in South Korea, Bloomberg reported.
• The rocket could be used to assist Russia in the war against Ukraine.
• Russia and North Korea have previously denied reports of an arms deal between the two nations.

North Korea's leader, Kim Jong Un, oversaw the second set of tests for a new rocket that could be used to attack Seoul in South Korea and assist Russia in its war against Ukraine.

The 240-millimeter multiple rocket launcher has an estimated range of between 40 kilometers and 60 kilometers, or around 25 miles to 37 miles, and is capable of bringing "a strategic change in bolstering up the artillery force of the Korean People's Army," according to a report by the Korean Central News Agency, cited by Bloomberg.

The weapon is known to have been tested once before, in February of this year, according to the defense and security outlet Army Recognition.

"North Korea can put the whole Seoul area within its shooting range if these rockets are fired from the front line," Yang Uk, a research fellow at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul, told Bloomberg.

"It could be meaningful in the exports market, say for Russia, and it could be a useful weapon for the war in Ukraine," he said.

Speaking to NK News in February, Yang said the threat from these rockets is minor compared to the other weapons already obtained by the North Korean military, including KN-23 short-range ballistic missiles and 600mm artillery systems, according to part of the article cited by Army Recognition.

"North Korea's attempt to present their new system as a guided weapon doesn't significantly raise the level of threat," Yang said.

Simon Miles, an assistant professor at Duke University's Sanford School of Public Policy, told Business Insider that it would "make perfect sense" for North Korea to develop and sell this type of rocket to the Kremlin, even if the quality isn't as high as others that the country has produced.

"Quality will be low, but probably 'good enough' for Russia's purposes if they do purchase it, and I bet the price will be attractive," Miles, a historian of the Soviet Union and US-Soviet relations, told BI.

Russia and North Korea have previously denied an arms deal exists between the two countries. Nonetheless, both US and South Korean officials have accused North Korea of supplying weapons to Russia in exchange for food, economic aid, and military assistance, AP News reported.

South Korea's defense minister said in March that North Korea had shipped an estimated 7,000 containers containing munitions and other military equipment to Russia since 2023, the outlet added.

Business Insider reported in October that North Korea was on track to become "one of Russia's most significant foreign arms suppliers."

US Congress, meanwhile, this week approved a $61 billion aid package to Ukraine after months of pushback. Experts believe future assistance from the US isn't guaranteed as the country gears up for a general election.

Kelly Grieco, a Stimson Center senior fellow, said at a recent Defense Priorities panel that "everyone involved in this conflict should treat this aid package as though it's the last one and plan accordingly, because that could be."

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• Wealthy Americans are moving to Scottsdale, Arizona.
• Scottsdale has seen a 102% increase in millionaire residents over the past decade.
• The appeal of Scottsdale lies in its booming business scene and stunning desert landscapes.

Wealthy residents from big cities across the US are uprooting their lives to start over in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Scottsdale is one of the country's fastest-growing cities in terms of wealth. There are 243,000 residents — about 14,600 of them are millionaires, and five are billionaires, AZ Central reported in March. According to the USA Wealth Report by Henley & Partners, that's a 102% increase in millionaire residents over the past decade.

I recently spent 48 hours exploring Scottsdale's top neighborhoods to learn what's drawing so many millionaires to the area. From a booming business scene to breathtaking desert landscapes, here's what I found.

Welcome to Scottsdale, Arizona, where about one in every 17 residents is a millionaire.

Larger lots, bigger homes, and lower taxes aren't the only reasons the wealthy are ditching their big-city lifestyles for Scottsdale. Tech workers, entrepreneurs, and retirees are also moving to the area for business opportunities, pristine golf courses, warm weather, and inspiring landscapes.

I can describe Scottsdale in two words — luxury desert. From glass office buildings to mansions in the mountains, this place has a wide variety of upscale architecture alongside palm trees and succulents.

If you can take the heat — it was 90 degrees Fahrenheit when I visited in April — it'd be a stunning place to call home.

The town has been notorious for its luxury lifestyle for decades.

Before visiting Scottsdale, I spoke with real-estate agent Shawn Shackelton. She told me it's been primarily a luxury market since she started selling homes in the area in 2001.

The median listing price in Scottsdale is $1.1 million, and the most expensive home on the market right now is $54 million, according to Realtor.com.

"The reality is that Scottsdale has never been a place where people come looking for affordable housing," Shackelton said.

Shackelton added that most of her buyers pay cash and are entrepreneurs, C-suite executives, medical professionals such as doctors and PAs, and young retirees.

Scottsdale is just east of Phoenix.

During my trip, I strolled through South Scottsdale's bustling streets and explored the city's wealthiest areas in North Scottsdale and the nearby Paradise Valley, where sprawling estates dot the mountainous desert landscape.

South Scottsdale is home to the town's business-booming neighborhoods.

When I arrived in Scottsdale around noon, I walked through the downtown area and Biltmore, a neighborhood known as the financial district, according to Shackelton.

Biltmore felt like a work-centric neighborhood.

In Biltmore, I spotted modern skyscrapers with mirrored windows reflecting the palm trees that lined the streets. The buildings were home to banks, coworking spaces, and well-known companies like Blue Origin.

There weren't many pedestrians out and about, but most appeared to be in the middle of their workday. People in business attire bustled by with a briefcase in one hand and a cellphone in the other.

Although more crowded, I thought the vibe downtown was more relaxed.

East of Biltmore, Downtown Scottsdale was another active area with a different feel.

The architecture was a mix of modern buildings and traditional adobe structures. I saw office buildings for companies like Indeed as well as Western-style shops and restaurants in the historic Old Town area.

When I visited, there were more pedestrians downtown than in Biltmore, and the crowd seemed to be a mix of locals and tourists.

These neighborhoods have high-end stores I'd expect to find in a larger city.

In South Scottsdale, I was surprised to find luxury department stores and independent boutiques similar to what you'd find in New York City, from Neiman Marcus to Saks Fifth Avenue.

And according to Shackelton, that's part of the draw for residents.

"Something people love when they come here is that even if they enjoy the outdoor lifestyle, they can still go to fine-dining restaurants and high-end boutique shops," Shackelton said. "If somebody wants to feel like they're still in a walkable, big city, South Scottsdale is where I'd recommend moving to."

Nearby is Paradise Valley, a separate town that blends into South Scottsdale.

We can't talk about Scottsdale without talking about Paradise Valley.

Known as the "Beverley Hills of Arizona," the town between Phoenix and Scottsdale is home to mostly gated estates along Camelback Mountain and Mummy Mountain.

As Business Insider previously reported, it's the richest municipality in the state. The median home listing price is $5.5 million, and the most expensive on the market is $75 million, according to Realtor.com.

Paradise Valley is a hot spot for billionaires and icons, drawing celebrity residents like Stevie Nicks and Muhammad Ali, who died in 2016.

On my trip, I thought it was easy to see why.

The isolated, mountainous residential area is just minutes from the businesses, shops, and restaurants in South Scottsdale, giving locals the best of both worlds.

For business travelers, it's about 20 minutes to Downtown Phoenix and Sky Harbor International Airport.

North Scottsdale is home to expensive, gated communities far from the city's amenities.

North Scottsdale has a similar feel to Paradise Valley, with large mansions and mountain views. But it's about 40 minutes away from the businesses, shops, and other amenities in South Scottsdale.

But one neighborhood, DC Ranch, felt like a private town with anything you might need against a dramatic, desert backdrop.

During my stay, I got a private tour of DC Ranch — the North Scottsdale neighborhood home to the city's most expensive house on the market right now, priced at $54 million, according to Realtor.com.

DC Ranch is slightly more affordable than Paradise Valley, with an average listing price of $3.3 million. Shackelton said this is likely because the location isn't as close to the action in South Scottsdale and Phoenix.

But with so many amenities, I thought it didn't need to be.

According to the company's website, DC Ranch is a 4,000-acre community at the base of the McDowell Mountains. It contains four villages — most of which are gated — lined with custom homes and condos, restaurants, shops, schools, and amenities such as hiking trails, pools, and an award-winning private golf club.

In the most expensive village, Silverleaf, my tour guide drove us up into the mountains to see the highest properties in the community.

Each estate was made up of multiple buildings. Some looked like castles you'd see in Europe. Others reminded me of Greek villas with white adobe exteriors. The valley views from up there were the best I had seen during my trip.

No matter where you live in Scottsdale, you can access pristine golf courses.

From entrepreneurs to retirees, Shackelton said many Scottsdale residents share one key interest.

"One of the main reasons people come here is all the golf. There are about 200 golf courses in Scottsdale and surrounding areas," Shackelton said. "Whether you join a private golf community or play at public courses, they are extremely nice."

I spotted several of these courses from the highway. Up and down Scottsdale, bright, green hills surrounded by cacti and mountains looked gorgeous. I visited one in DC Ranch and thought it was the most picturesque course I'd ever been to. Scarlet pebble trails from hole to hole contrasted with the green fields that were impeccably kept.

I haven't played much golf in my time, but if I moved to Scottsdale, I would definitely pick up the sport.

In just two days, it was easy for me to see why people want to live there.

With various plant life, architectural styles, and neighborhoods, Scottsdale brings a heap of luxury to the desert. And visiting may have you wondering why you don't live there yourself.

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• Alphabet just reported blowout first-quarter earnings that sent the Google owner's stock soaring.
• The results are very welcome news for CEO Sundar Pichai.
• He's has been battling a narrative that Google has fallen behind in the AI race.

There's an AI battle raging, and Sundar Pichai appears to be Google's wartime general.

With Pichai at the helm, Alphabet just reported blockbuster first-quarter earnings that surpassed analysts' estimates and sent the stock soaring. The company reported a 15% year-on-year revenue increase and issued its first dividend of 20 cents a share.

The CEO told analysts that Google was well "positioned for the next wave of AI innovation and the opportunity ahead," reminding them the company had been "AI-first" since 2016.

Google has made gains in its AI development and is planning significant investments and products in the field, including a generative AI search engine.

It was a much-needed win for Alphabet's CEO, who has been battling a narrative that the company has fallen behind in the AI race since the launch of Microsoft-backed ChatGPT.

Despite being a pioneer in the field, the company has been fighting perceptions that it's been slow to incorporate AI into its products, especially compared to arch-rival Microsoft.

Alphabet has also suffered a few setbacks this quarter.

It was forced to pause Gemini's AI image generating feature after users found it produced historically inaccurate images. There has also been some internal disquiet over a contract with the Israeli government.

The Gemini incident became the subject of viral criticism and landed Google in the middle of a "woke" culture war. The debacle strengthened the narrative that Google was suddenly behind in the AI race and led to calls for Pichai to step down.

The CEO has also been under pressure from both investors and Google insiders to become more aggressive with its AI strategy. In addition, some Googlers have become frustrated about the lack of clear leadership.

Following a round of layoffs in January, Googlers took public aim at its "glassy-eyed leaders" and organized protests in response.

Pichai has by no means been a passive CEO through the quarter. He's made cuts to headcount and reorganized the company, citing efficiency and speed for the changes. They appear to be paying off.

Pichai told analysts on Thursday's conference call the company had "further consolidated teams that built AI models under Google DeepMind," claiming it would help simplify development within Google.

Google is still facing threats to its core search business and has work ahead when it comes to making money from its AI products, but Pichai appeared unfazed on the call.

"It will play out over time," Pichai said. "I am very excited about the future ahead."

Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider, made outside normal working hours.

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• A Utah couple accidentally shipped their cat, Galena, in an Amazon return package.
• The cat was found safe in California after six days without food or water.
• An Amazon worker found that cat in a box alongside five pairs of steel-toed work boots.

A Utah couple accidentally shipped their pet cat in an Amazon return package, trapping it in the box without food or water for six days.

The cat, named Galena, was eventually discovered safe and well in California, Utah's KSL-TV was the first to report.

According to the local news outlet, Carrie Clark, one of the cat's owners, noticed the pet had gone missing on April 10.

For nearly a week, Clark, along with family and friends, searched the couple's house and neighborhood, plastering missing posters around the town in the hope of locating the cat, KSL-TV reported.

"The anxiety and stress of not knowing what happened to her was excruciating," Clark told the local news outlet.

Clark then received a text notifying her that Galena's microchip had been scanned, per KSL-TV, which reported that she received a call from a veterinarian in California later that day.

"I didn't believe her at first and thought it was a prank," Clark told KSL-TV.

The shortest distance between Utah and California is several hundred miles.

According to the news outlet, the vet told Clark the cat was found inside an Amazon return package, alongside five pairs of steel-toed work boots.

"I ran to tell my husband that Galena was found, and we broke down upon realizing that she must have jumped into an oversized box that we shipped out the previous Wednesday," Clark said.

More and more of us are buying and selling things online, and COVID-19 saw an increase in e-commerce, with people increasingly turning to online retail instead of visiting brick-and-mortar stores.

The shift brought a big spike in the number of online returns in 2021, which has continued to rise, according to eMarketer.

KSL-TV reported that the cat was rescued from the box after six days without food or water by an Amazon employee who found her in a warehouse and took her to the vet.

Clark and her husband then flew to California to be reunited with their cat.

"It was an amazing reunion! Galena instantly stopped shaking and relaxed in my arms when I got to hold her again," Clark said. "Despite being skinnier and some mild dehydration, her bloodwork was completely normal and she was completely unharmed!"

Clark said she hopes the story inspires all pet owners to microchip their pets.

According to the American Veterinary Medical Association, one-third of pets will become lost at some point, but those with microchips are much more likely to be reunited with their owners.

A cat microchip typically costs between $40 and $70.

Clark didn't immediately respond to a BI request for comment.

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• Lily Allen is happy to leave her kids in economy while she flies first class.
• Speaking on a new episode of her podcast "Miss Me?" the singer joked that she doesn't even want to sit with her kids. 
• But Allen said she's not a fan of people boasting on social media about refusing to swap their first class seat with families.

British singer Lily Allen has weighed into the great debate over whether children should be allowed to sit in first class on flights.

Speaking to her co-host and friend Miquita Oliver in the latest episode of her podcast "Miss Me?" Allen said she's happy to send her kids to economy class while she takes a seat in first class.

The singer, who has two daughters, Ethel, 13, and Marnie, 11, lives in New York with her husband, actor David Harbour.

"We are flying to London today to come and see you for your birthday," Allen told Oliver. "I'm going in first class, she's going in economy."

'Wow, Merry Christmas to Ethel,' Miquita joked back, before asking, "You know what that is?"

'Selfish?' replied Lily.

"The circle of life," said Miquita.

The two went on to discuss the viral TikTok trend of people defiantly saying they won't give up their first-class seats to children on planes.

The correct etiquette when it comes to requesting or refusing a seat swap on flights so that families can sit together has become one of social media's most controversial debates.

Some say that travelers should have more compassion for families, but others believe you get what you pay for if you don't reserve a seat, and say it's not right to pressure other passengers.

But while Allen doesn't see the point in seating her own tween in first class, she's not on the side of those who won't give up their seat to a child.

"I find it fascinating that it has now become something that gives you clout on social media where you say "a mum came up to me on a plane and asked me to move, and I told them to fuck off."

"Is this what we've become?" she added.

"Why can't everyone be a bit nicer to each other? … Says me putting myself in first class and my child alone in the back of the plane. I don't want to sit with my kid."

In the episode, Allen shared some of her other parenting habits, saying she had recently got 10 of her children's parents to sign a pledge to take away their children's smartphones before eighth grade.

"It's their brains that I'm worried about long term. They've got enough to cope with having me as a mom. I'd rather take smartphones out of it and them hopefully survive."

She has previously spoken out about choosing to prioritize her children over her career.

"Some people choose their career over their children. That's their prerogative, but my parents were quite absent when I was a kid, and I feel like that left some nasty scars that I'm not willing to repeat on mine," Allen said in an episode of the Radio Times Podcast.

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• Diane Senffner, 63, lost her job during the pandemic and ran through her savings.
• She's struggled to land a full-time job since and doesn't think she'll ever be able to retire.
• She's part of the "peak boomer" cohort, most of whom will rely on Social Security in retirement.

Diane Senffner, 63, doesn't see retirement on the horizon anytime soon.

Before 2019, Senffner owned a small business focused on learning and development, and she said she was able to earn sufficient income through her business to afford her everyday expenses — and then some.

But when the pandemic hit, she was forced to shut down her business, and she could not find any source of income for about two years. This forced her to take money out of her 401(k) and savings account because her husband's salary was not big enough to fully support both of them.

Now, according to documents reviewed by Business Insider, Senffner has no money in savings — and she doesn't see her situation improving by the time she's set to retire in just under two years.

"I'm between contract jobs, and I have no savings. I was somebody who did really well, and it's very disheartening because I have no idea what's going to happen with retirement," Senffner told BI. "My husband and I are both a year and a half from retirement age, but I think I'll probably need to work until I die because there's no money."

Senffner is part of a cohort known as "peak boomers," or boomers born between 1959 and 1964 who will start turning 65 this year. According to a recent report from the Alliance for Lifetime Income's Retirement Income Institute, this group encompasses over 30 million boomers, marking the "largest and final cohort" of that generation entering retirement.

The report found that 52.5% of peak boomers have $250,000 or less in assets, forcing them to deplete their savings and rely on Social Security benefits to stay afloat in retirement. But Senffner said that the around $1,800 she would get from Social Security each month would not cover her rent, groceries, and prescriptions, likely requiring her to continue working to supplement the benefits.

"It's simple math," she said. "You're talking about retiring, needing about $4,000 a month, at least, just to cover expenses. Just Social Security isn't going to cover that."

It's an issue many older Americans are grappling with. According to the Census Bureau's Current Population Survey, just over half of Americans over 65 have incomes of $30,000 or less a year, meaning existing only on Social Security likely won't cut it.

And with the Social Security fund set to dry out by the late 2030s — unless lawmakers intervene — Senffner is "incredibly scared" about her future.

"The expenses are enormous," she said. "To be a contractor, I have to have internet. I have to have a cell phone. I have to have an office, which I can still deduct from my taxes, but in the immediate, I have to pay for those things."

'Everybody my age is a little worried right now'

While Senffner has years of experience in the workforce, she hasn't been able to land a full-time job despite filling out dozens of job applications. The only full-time jobs she's seen have tended to be more physically demanding, like working at a grocery store, which she's unable to do.

She said that many of her peers are struggling with the same dilemma — they either cannot find work in fields they're qualified for, or they have to work at an entry-level job with a low wage.

"The only people that are hiring older people now are places like Home Depot and Walmart," Senffner said. "I just say to my friends as a cautionary tale, if you are my age and you have a job, you better stay with it, because nobody is hiring you."

According to an October post from the AARP, "age discrimination often prevents older adults from landing jobs at the same level as their recent employment or higher." However, the AARP referenced a September survey from The Harris Poll that found that 60% of hiring managers prefer hiring older candidates over younger ones for entry-level positions because they tend to be more reliable.

Still, with the low wages and sometimes physical demands of entry-level work, it's often not an option for those close to retirement. AARP recently released the results of a January survey that found that one in five older adults do not have any retirement savings, and over half of them don't think they'll have enough money to get them through retirement.

"Everybody my age is a little worried right now," Senffner said.

"I know so many people my age that just don't know what they're going to do," she continued. "Other countries take care of their older people, and we should be able to do it, too."

Are you worried about retirement? How are you preparing? Share your story with this reporter at asheffey@businessinsider.com.

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