Nicole Shanahan took ketamine with Elon Musk and had a sexual encounter in 2021, NYT reported, citing multiple sources.
Shanahan, a lawyer and RFK Jr.'s running mate, was married to Brin from 2018 to 2023.
Shanahan and Musk both previously denied having an affair.
Nicole Shanahan took ketamine with Elon Musk at a private party in 2021 and later told her husband at the time, Google cofounder Sergey Brin, that she had sex with the Tesla CEO, The New York Times reported, citing multiple sources.
The New York Times published an article on Wednesday about Shanahan, a lawyer campaigning as Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s running mate for the 2024 presidential election.
The article discussed details of her relationship with Brin, whom she married in 2018 before the pair finalized their divorce in May 2023, and sheds new light on a past allegation that she had an affair with Musk in 2021, which both Shanahan and Musk have denied.
During Shanahan's marriage to Brin, the Times reported that Shanahan partied with Silicon Valley's upper echelon and engaged in recreational drug use that included ketamine and cocaine, citing eight sources as well as documents the publication viewed. Ketamine is a "dissociative anesthetic" that can have some hallucinogenic effects, according to The Drug Enforcement Administration. Ketamine can be legally prescribed under federal law and recent research indicates it could be used to treat depression, but it's also a popular party drug.
Nicole Shanahan and Sergey Brin, who were previously married.
Ian Tuttle/Getty Images
Stressors like the COVID-19 pandemic and their daughter's autism diagnosis began weighing on the former couple's marriage, prompting Shanahan to start going out and attending events without Brin, according to the report.
"At a party in early 2021 in Miami, Ms. Shanahan was so intoxicated by drugs and alcohol that she required an IV infusion," the outlet reported.
Three sources told the Times that Shanahan and Musk had an affair in December 2021 during a private party in Miami. They both took ketamine and "disappeared together for several hours," the Times reported, citing four people who had been briefed on the matter and related documents.
"Ms. Shanahan later told Mr. Brin that she had had sex with Mr. Musk, three of the people said. She also relayed the details to friends, family and advisers," the Times reported.
Elon Musk.
Anna Webber/Variety/Getty Images
Brin filed for divorce from Shanahan one month later in January 2022, citing "irreconcilable differences."
Representatives for Shanahan, Musk, and Brin did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment ahead of publication.
The Wall Street Journal first reported in July 2022 that an "alleged affair" between Shanahan and Musk had created a rift between the Tesla CEO and Brin, whom many considered to have a close and amicable friendship.
"This is total bs. Sergey and I are friends and were at a party together last night!" Musk wrote. "I've only seen Nicole twice in three years, both times with many other people around. Nothing romantic."
He added in another post: "Haven't even had sex in ages (sigh)."
Musk also posted a photo of himself with Brin, which he said had been taken at the party the previous day (his biographer Walter Isaacson later said that Brin had "tried to avoid" the selfie).
"We are confident in our sourcing, and we stand by our reporting," The Wall Street Journal said in a statement at the time.
Shanahan also denied any affair, telling People that the speculation was "utterly debilitating."
"To be known because of a sexual act is one of the most humiliating things . . . it was utterly debilitating," she told the outlet. "I remember feeling like everything I had ever worked for was under siege by a press cycle that had no idea what was going on in my life and who I was."
In response to questions from a The New York Times reporter, Shanahan said she was "shocked the NYT is letting you run something like this."
A B-21 Raider conducts flight testing, which includes ground testing, taxiing, and flying operations, at Edwards Air Force Base, California.
412th Test Wing courtesy photo
The US Air Force just released more photos of the B-21 Raider, its newest stealth bomber.
The long-range aircraft is working through flight testing in California.
Pentagon leadership has said it will form the "backbone" of America's future bomber fleet.
The US Air Force on Wednesday published more photos of its newest stealth bomber, the B-21 Raider, as the penetrating strike aircraft continues to work through flight testing.
The photos, captured in January and April, show the sleek-looking new bomber in the middle of its testing — consisting of ground testing, taxiing, and flight operations — at California's Edwards Air Force Base. The new images come as the long-range aircraft inches closer to entering service later this decade.
Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics Andrew Hunter said earlier this month that the B-21's flight test program is "proceeding well" and is on schedule to meet timelines and delivery schedules.
"It is doing what flight test programs are designed to do, which is helping us learn about the unique characteristics of this platform, but in a very, very effective way," Hunter said during testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee on May 8.
A B-21 Raider conducts flight tests, which includes ground testing, taxiing, and flying operations, at Edwards Air Force Base, California.
412th Test Wing courtesy photo
The B-21 is the US military's first strategic bomber in more than 30 years. Development began in 2015, and the Pentagon unveiled the Raider to the public in December 2022. Nearly a year later, in November 2023, the aircraft finally embarked on its much-anticipated first flight. Following the success of ground and flight tests, it was cleared to enter low-rate initial production.
The US Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office manages the acquisition program with a strategy of building test bombers "as production-representative as possible," the 412th Test Wing said in a Wednesday statement.
"Rather than a traditional flight prototype approach, B-21 test aircraft are built including mission systems using the same manufacturing processes and tooling for production aircraft," the Wing said, adding that "this approach in development laid the groundwork for production to start more quickly."
The B-21 is expected to enter service in the latter half of the decade. The military has a goal of producing at least 100 of these aircraft. The Raider, US officials say, is slated to incrementally replace the B-1B Lancer and B-2 Spirit bombers.
The B-21 Raider program at Northrop Grumman's manufacturing facility on Edwards Air Force Base, California.
412th Test Wing courtesy photo
Pentagon leadership has stressed that the B-21 will form the "backbone" of America's future bomber fleet. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has praised the aircraft's stealth capabilities, saying that decades of advances in low-observable technology have gone into the bomber's development.
"Even the most sophisticated air-defense systems will struggle to detect a B-21 in the sky," Austin said at the aircraft's unveiling.
Northrop Grumman, which manufactures the bomber, has touted the plane as the "world's first sixth-generation aircraft." It can be armed with standoff and direct-attack munitions and will be able to conduct both conventional and nuclear strikes.
Russian Navy frigates fire missiles during Russia's Navy Day celebration in Sevastopol in Crimea.
STRINGER/AFP via Getty Images
In over two years, Ukrainian forces have devastated Russia's Black Sea fleet.
In lieu of warships, Ukraine uses unmanned drones and anti-ship missiles to thwart Russia's navy.
The barrage of attacks forced Russia to shift warships away from a prized naval base in Crimea.
Ukraine has inflicted significant damage on the Russian Black Sea Fleet, wrecking many Russian vessels in over two years of war.
Since Moscow launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the Ukrainians have destroyed or damaged roughly half of the Russian fleet's warships, including one submarine, per publicly available information.
Without warships of its own, Ukrainian forces have relied on unmanned maritime drones and long-range anti-ship missiles to hammer Russia's naval forces.
Dmytro Pletenchuk, a spokesman for the Naval Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said in a public statement in February that the Russian Navy had about 80 warships at the outset of the war, including large warships, landing ships, submarines, patrol boats, and minesweepers.
"I can say that the Black Sea fleet operations have been greatly complicated, if not paralyzed," Pletenchuk said at the time.
The attacks have allowed Ukraine to resume grain shipments through the Black Sea, which is central to its economy, and forced the Black Sea Fleet to shift warships away from its prized naval homeport in Sevastopol on the Crimean peninsula.
The Saratov, a military ship from the Russian Navy heading to the Black Sea from the Sea of Marmara near Istanbul, Turkey.
Onur Coban/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Commissioned in 1968, the Saratov was a large Alligator-class amphibious landing ship in the Black Sea Fleet. It was reactivated to transport supplies and support the Russian military operations in Syria.
The ship was able to carry about 400 troops, as well as 20 main battle tanks or 45 armored vehicles.
While the warship was docked in occupied Berdiansk in Zaporizhzhia Oblast on March 24, 2022, Ukrainian forces reportedly sank it with a Soviet Tochka-U short-range ballistic missile.
Video of the incident appears to show fire erupting above the wreck of the ship near the port as other Russian warships sail to escape the flames.
The Moskva, a guided missile cruiser, participates in a Russian military Navy Day parade near the Ukrainian town of Sevastopol.
VASILY MAXIMOV/AFP via Getty Images
In a significant blow, the Black Sea Fleet lost its flagship, the Moskva, a guided missile cruiser, when it was sunk on April 14, 2022. It marked the first time a Russian flagship was sunk by an enemy since the Russo-Japanese War in the early 1900s.
At the start of the invasion, the Moskva provided air cover for other Russian warships and aided in capturing Snake Island in late February 2022.
Ukraine said it struck the cruiser with long-range Neptune missiles launched from shore.
The 1st video of the Moskva missile cruiser before it sank, if photos posted last night are accurate. It was listing to one side & on fire inside & out, with the area around the bridge burning intensely from what Ukraine says was 2 missile strikes pic.twitter.com/0QpI1tzOrI
The rescuer tugboat Spasatel Vasily Bekh of the Black Sea Fleet.
Andrey Brichevsky/KCHF.RU
The Vasily Bekh, a Russian rescue tugboat, joined the Black Sea Fleet in 2017, to provide emergency rescue, tow ships, evacuate maritime crews, and conduct diving operations and survey work. The Russian tugboat was also used to transport ammunition, weapons, and personnel to Snake Island.
But the Russian rescue tug's time in the fleet ended on June 17, 2022. Ukrainian forces said that they struck and "successfully demilitarized" the Vasily Bekh with two Harpoon anti-ship missiles. The attack marked the first time that Ukraine hit a Russian vessel with Western-supplied anti-ship weapons.
October 29, 2022: The Ivan Golubets
The Russian Navy's minesweeper Ivan Golubets sails in the Bosphorus on its way to the Mediterranean Sea in Istanbul.
On October 29, Ukrainian forces launched nine unmanned aerial vehicles and seven naval drones, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.
Russia claimed the minesweeper only sustained "minor damage," but a senior Ukrainian official told The New York Times that it appears the ship was critically damaged — possibly beyond repair.
Internal Russian reports detailed damage to the Ivan's hull, Forbes reported. Video footage posted to social media by Anton Gerashchenko, then an advisor to Ukraine's minister of internal affairs, captured explosions lighting up the dark sky in Sevastopol harbor.
August 4, 2023: The Olenegorskiy Gornyak
The Russian Navy's large landing ship Olenegorsky Gornyak sets sail in the Bosphorus, on its way to the Black Sea, in Istanbul, Turkey.
Murad Sezer/Reuters
The Ropucha-class tank landing ship Olenegorskiy Gornyak was designed to quickly unload cargo and transport amphibious forces to land. At 360 feet long, Ropucha-class warships can land up to 10 battle tanks and carry up to 350 troops.
On August 4, 2023, the Russian warship was left badly damaged after it was struck by a Ukrainian sea drone armed with explosives — the first of many ships to fall to attack drones that could reach warships out of missile range. Russia acknowledged the attack but claimed that the Olenegorskiy Gornyak was left unharmed. Video footage of the attack suggested otherwise, though.
In the video, the sea drone can be seen zooming toward the landing ship and slamming into the side of it before the feed cuts off after detonating. In the aftermath, the ship was seen listing dangerously in the water.
September 13, 2023: The Minsk
Russian Navy's large landing ship Minsk is seen in the Neva River in St. Petersburg.
Anton Vaganov/Reuters
A little over a month later, another Ropucha-class landing vessel was struck on September 13, 2023, while in dry-dock undergoing maintenance at the Sevmorzadov shipyardin Russian-occupied Crimea.
Open-source imagery of the aftermath showed that the Minsk had "almost certainly been functionally destroyed," the UK Ministry of Defense said. A month later, satellite imagery reportedly showed the Minsk had been dismantled.
"The Minsk may be disassembled for spare parts, if there are any left there at all," Ukrainian Navy spokesman Pletenchuk said.
Russia's Navy officers, officials, and workers attend a ceremony launching the Rostov-on-Don, a Russian diesel-electric torpedo submarine, at the Admiralteyskiye Verfi shipyard in St. Petersburg.
OLGA MALTSEVA/AFP via Getty Images
Along with the Minsk, the improved Kilo-class submarine Rostov-on-Don also "suffered catastrophic damage," the UK Defense Ministry said in an intelligence report. The submarine was also undergoing repairs at the Sevmorzadov shipyard when the Ukrainians attacked.
"Any effort to return the submarine to service is likely to take many years and cost hundreds of millions of dollars," the ministry continued.
CIT received exclusive photos of the damaged Russian submarine Rostov-on-Don. They indicate she received two hits, one of which is not visible from the satellite imagery.
Missile ships Tsyklon and Askold are seen at the Zaliv shipyard in Kerch, Crimea.
Alexei Druzhinin/Sputnik/Kremlin Pool Photo via AP
The Russian Navy also lost one of its brand-new warships before it had the chance to even join the Black Sea Fleet.
Lt. Gen. Mykola Oleshchuk, commander of Ukraine's Air Force, said Ukrainian forces targeted the Zaliv shipyard in Russian-occupied Crimea, causing significant damage to the Project 22800 Karakurt-class corvette Askold.
Less than a week later, two more Russian vessels — a Serna-class landing craft and an Akula-class small landing ship — were struck by Ukrainian sea drones, though it was not immediately clear which ships were targeted.
+1 destroyed russian ship.@StratCom_AFU confirmed that an Askold russian ship was destroyed during Saturday’s cruise missile attack on the shipbuilding plant in Kerch. pic.twitter.com/TRhuXkouYx
The Russian Navy's large landing ship Novocherkassk sets sail in the Bosphorus, on its way to the Mediterranean Sea, in Istanbul, Turkey.
Yoruk Isik/Reuters
To cap off a devastating year for the Russian Navy, Ukrainian forces launched guided missiles at the Ropucha-class landing ship, the Novocherkassk, near the town of Feodosiya in Russian-occupied Crimea in December 2023.
"Russia's fleet is getting smaller and smaller!" Oleshchuk, the Ukrainian air force commander, wrote in a post on Telegram along with footage of the explosion.
A Russian-appointed governor claimed only one person was killed and that just two were injured in the attack, an unlikely outcome since the ship has a crew of about 100 service members. Independent Russian journalists reported dozens were wounded or missing.
January 31, 2024: The Ivanovets
Russian Navy's Tarantul-class corvette Ivanovets is escorted by a Turkish Navy Coast Guard boat.
The Ivanovets was a Tarantul-class missile corvette armed with supersonic anti-ship missiles and anti-aircraft missiles.
Video shared by the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine appears to show the drone approaching the Ivanovets. Following a massive explosion, the Russian vessel can be seen listing aggressively before descending stern-first into the water.
— Defence intelligence of Ukraine (@DI_Ukraine) February 1, 2024
February 14, 2024: The Caesar Kunikov
Russian warship Caesar Kunikov passes through the Bosphorus Strait in front of Saray Burnu in Istanbul, Turkey.
Arif Hudaverdi Yaman/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Ukraine continued its kill streak less than a month later, sinking the Russian landing ship, the Caesar Kunikov, on February 14 with inexpensive sea drones.
In a weird twist of fate, the Ropucha-class warship was named after a Soviet naval officer who was killed on February 14, 1943 — exactly 81 years before the warship bearing his namesake was sunk by Ukrainian MAGURA drones.
Video footage of the attack captured Ukraine's naval drones approaching the Caesar as the crew aboard the ship desperately attempted to defend the landing ship with machine guns. Following a large explosion, the video shows what appears to be a large hole in the side of the ship.
Handout footage shows smoke rising from what Ukrainian military intelligence said is the Russian Black Sea Fleet patrol ship Sergey Kotov that was damaged by Ukrainian sea drones, at sea, at a location given as off the coast of Crimea, in this still image obtained from a video released on March 5, 2024.
Ministry of Defense of Ukraine/Handout via REUTERS
Some Russian warships have taken more than one attempt to sink, like the Russian patrol ship Sergey Kotov.
Ukrainian forces attacked the $65 million vessel three times — in July, August, and September 2023 — before Ukraine's drones successfully sank it on the morning of March 5, 2024.
Russia was planning to use the Kotov as an anti-aircraft missile platform, Andrii Yusov, a Ukrainian intelligence official, told Radio Free Europe.
Video of the attack showed the warship attempting to flee from the exploding sea drones in pursuit. The footage also captured the vessel's crews trying — and failing — to stop the drones with a heavy amount of gunfire.
According to Ukraine's Main Directorate of Intelligence, the Kotov "sustained damage to the stern, starboard, and port sides." At least 13 Russian sailors were killed, and 52 had to be medically evacuated, according to Ukraine.
March 24, 2024: The Yamal and the Azov
The Yamal, a Ropucha-class landing ship of the Russian Navy, fires rockets during Navy Day celebrations in the Crimean city of Sevastopol.
Yuriy Lashov/AFP via Getty Images
Russia's Black Sea fleet took another devastating blow in late March when Ukrainian Armed Forces claimed to have damaged two of Russia's large landing ships in Crimea.
On March 23, Ukrainian forces attacked the Yamal and the Azov — both of which underwent repair in the shipyard just two years prior — in Sevastopol, Russia's major Black Sea port in Crimea.
The attack also targeted a Russian military communications center using at least three Storm Shadow cruise missiles, according to OSINTtechnical project.
In a post on Telegram, Mikhail Razvozhayev, the Russian-appointed head of Sevastopol, described the attack as "the largest in recent times."
March 24, 2024: The Ivan Khurs
Russian Navy's intelligence-gathering vessel, Ivan Khurs, sails in the Bosphorus on its way to the Black Sea in Istanbul.
Yoruk Isik/Reuters
At first, Ukraine only said the strikes on Russian warships at the end of March damaged the Yamal and the Azov. But two days later, Ukraine's military said two more Russian navy vessels were also struck, including the Ivan Khurs, a Yury Ivanov-class intelligence ship.
Launched in 2017, the Ivan Khurs is one of Russia's most sophisticated vessels, making it a prime target for Ukraine to further disable the Black Sea fleet. It is fitted with radar warning receivers and electronic eavesdropping gear and armed with machine guns and mobile air defense systems.
Open-source analysts posted satellite images on Telegram of apparent damage to the Russian spy ship after the Ukrainian missile strike on Sevastopol.
"As for the Ivan Khurs ship, we can confirm the damage to the reconnaissance equipment," Navy spokesman Dmytro Pletenchuk said, according to Ukrainian media outlet Militarnyi. "That is, in fact, now it is not combat-ready, it cannot perform its intended tasks."
The Ukrainian navy targeted the Ivan Khurs less than a year prior to the March attack. In May 2023, Ukraine launched three explosive-laden sea drones toward the 4,000-ton reconnaissance vessel, which was sailing 75 miles northeast of the Bosphorus Strait.
While the drones got close to the Ivan Khurs and detonated, the ship sustained little to no damage and continued to operate in the western Black Sea, where it was protecting two key pipelines carrying gas from Russia to Turkey.
"The drone had to sail for over [310 miles] in an extremely difficult operation," a senior Ukrainian defense official told Ukrainian news outlet Pravda. "The start of the mission had been delayed due to inclement weather. The connection dropped repeatedly. We couldn't see anything and didn't have control over the drones, so the enemy crew began to repel the attack."
"The connection was eventually restored, and we followed the ship for six hours, waiting until it ran out of ammunition," the official added.
"After about two hours," they said, "it became clear that the ammo hadn't run out. We caught up to the ship at half past midnight, and they kept shooting back at us till around 7 a.m. During the long pursuit, some drones ran out of fuel. Several others sustained damage. But we still managed to reach it." [not sure how necessary this is]
March 26, 2024: The Konstantin Olshansky
A Ukrainian flag hovers above the then-Ukrainian naval landing vessel, Konstantin Olshansky, in Donuzlav Bay before it was captured by Russian forces during the annexation of Crimea.
Baz Ratner/Reuters
The large landing ship Konstantin Olshansky was also caught in the massive missile attack on Sevastopol. The decades-old vessel formerly belonged to Ukraine before it was seized along with much of the Ukrainian navy by Russian forces during its illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014.
Ukraine attacked its former warship using a Neptune anti-ship missile, and the navy said "damage was definitely done" to the amphibious assault ship and "it is not combat-ready now."
"Justice has been restored," the Ukrainian defense ministry wrote on social media.
Pletenchuk told Ukraine's Freedom TV that the former Ukrainian vessel was moored in Sevastopol Bay for nearly a decade, being dismantled for parts, but Russian forces decided to restore it because they were running out of landing ships.
"Within a year, it was restored, but the purpose of these works was to create a falsification in order to report to the Moscow leadership on how they had restored one of their allegedly 'own' large landing ships," the navy spokesman said in March. "This ship was to be used against Ukraine. Therefore, it was decided to hit this vessel with our Neptune."
May 19, 2024: The Kovrovets
Russian military ship Kovrovets crosses the Dardanelles Strait in Canakkale, Turkey.
Burak Akay/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
In the latest of Ukraine's string of attacks against the Black Sea Fleet, Ukraine reported it destroyed the Project 266M Akvamarin-class minesweeper Kovrovets in an overnight attack over the weekend in the port of Sevastopol.
The Soviet-era vessel could detect mines at depths up to nearly 500 feet and was armed with two 30mm AK-230M naval guns. It featured a high-resolution Lynx radar system.
"The Naval Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, together with their comrades, continue to bring us closer to victory," the Ukrainian Navy wrote on Telegram.
No information has been released publicly on the Russian sea minesweeper's exact location nor what weapons were used in the attack.
"Another bad day for the russian Black Sea Fleet," Ukraine's Defense Ministry wrote in a post on X.
May 20, 2024: The Tsiklon
Artillery aboard the Russian missile corvette Tsiklon.
Ministry of Defense of Russia/Mil.ru/Creative Commons
The Karakurt-class missile corvette entered service with the Black Sea fleet less than a year ago, in July 2023. It was launched just three years prior at Zalyv Shipyard in Kerch, Crimea.
Ukrainian navy spokesperson Dymtro Pletenchuk said the brand-new corvette never fired a cruise missile while on active service, Reuters reported.
The corvette is capable of launching cruise missiles at sea and ground targets up to 1,500 miles away, according to KCHF.ru, a Russian site covering the Black Sea Fleet.
While Ukrainian forces continue to assess the damage sustained by the small missile carrier, satellite imagery shared on social media appeared to show the sunken Tsiklon.
Pletenchuk told Radio Free Europe Monday that there was a "fairly high probability that there is now not a single carrier of cruise missiles in Crimea."
Editor's note: This list was first published in February 2024 and has been updated to reflect recent developments.
Elvis Presley's Graceland mansion (left) and his granddaughter Riley Keough (right).
GAB Archive/Redferns, Jerod Harris via Getty Images
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 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.
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 manages its planes and crewmembers from its storm-withstanding operations center in Dallas/Fort Worth, which supports some 500,000 customers per day.
Taylor Rains/Business Insider
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.
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.
Groat said the IOC, which employs some 1,700 employees, can withstand an EF3-strength tornado.
Taylor Rains/Business Insider
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.
These employees have a red-green system. Groat said crew schedulers have a different phone system that uses blue and white lights.
Taylor Rains/Business Insider
"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 thebest 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.
IOC employees working on the "bridge" during BI's tour.
Taylor Rains/Business Insider
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.
A giant television near the center of the IOC displays the diversion airports used at that time, with the colors indicating how close to capacity each is.
Taylor Rains/Business Insider
"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.
Crew schedulers track around 14,000 crewmembers daily. Groat said HEAT has prevented thousands of flight delays and cancellations since its launch.
Robert Alexander/Getty Images
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 said the fleet-specific teams are broken down by hub, with about 1 million flights dispatched annually from the IOC.
Scott Olson/Getty Images
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."
American has three wholly-owned subsidiaries: Envoy Air, Piedmont Airlines, and PSA Airlines. Contract carriers like Republic Airways and Mesa Airlines also fly on behalf of American.
Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto/Getty Images
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.
The command center is located in the glassed room behind the model aircraft.
"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."
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."
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 proposed emoji could reach your phones later this year or more likely in early 2025 if approved.
Urupong/Getty Images
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
The proposed emoji "face with bags under eyes."
Unicode
Other associated keywords: exhausted, sleepy, and tired.
A fingerprint
The proposed emoji simply called "fingerprint."
Unicode
Other associated keywords: forensics, identity, safety.
A leafless tree
The proposed emoji titled "leafless tree."
Unicode
Associated keywords: barren, drought, winter.
A root vegetable
The proposed emoji titled "root vegetable."
Unicode
Other associated keywords include beet, garden, root, turnip, and vegetable.
A harp
The proposed "harp" emoji.
Unicode
The harp is associated with the keywords cupid, instrument, love, music, and orchestra.
A shovel
The proposed emoji simply titled "shovel."
Unicode
Other keywords associated with the shovel emoji include dig, hole, scoop, and spade.
A splatter
The proposed "splatter" emoji.
Unicode
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.
Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images
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.