Tag: News

• Anthropic studied its engineers to assess how AI tools like Claude Code are impacting work.
• Employees said they felt more productive and had wider skills, but also shared some concerns.
• They reported worries about the impact of AI on collaboration, mentorship, and job relevance.

AI is changing work, and Anthropic studied its own staff to learn exactly how.

In a blog post published on Tuesday, Anthropic shared the findings of its August research study, which surveyed 132 of its engineers and researchers, had 53 detailed interviews, and examined the internal use of Claude Code, Anthropic's agentic coding tool. The study aimed to understand how AI is transforming work at the company and society more broadly.

"We find that AI use is radically changing the nature of work for software developers, generating both hope and concern," the blog read.

Results showed that employees felt they were more productive and "full stack," meaning they could perform a variety of technical tasks.

For example, the study found that 27% of the work that was assisted by Claude consisted of tasks that would not have been done otherwise. These include scaling projects or nice-to-have data dashboards that would not have been cost-effective if done manually.

The Anthropic employees also reported that they could "fully delegate" 0-20% of their work to Claude, especially "easily verifiable" or "boring" tasks.

But employees also expressed concerns about how common AI assistants like Claude were becoming.

"Some found that more AI collaboration meant they collaborated less with colleagues; some wondered if they might eventually automate themselves out of a job," the blog read.

Employees said they were worried about the "atrophy of deeper skillsets" needed to write and check code.

"When producing output is so easy and fast, it gets harder and harder to actually take the time to learn something," one employee said, per the report.

Some employees said they missed social dynamics and mentorship opportunities.

"Claude is now the first stop for questions that used to go to colleagues," the report said. One person told the surveyors: "I like working with people, and it's sad that I 'need' them less now … More junior people don't come to me with questions as often."

The changes Claude Code is bringing to work inside the company also gave software engineers mixed feelings about their future relevance.

"I feel optimistic in the short term, but in the long term I think AI will end up doing everything and make me and many others irrelevant," the blog said, quoting an employee.

Others said that it was hard to predict what their roles would look like in a few years.

Outside Anthropic, employees are showing signs of embracing AI at work and wanting more tools that could improve their productivity.

According to a January McKinsey report on AI in the workplace, 39% of the 3,613 people surveyed self-identify as "Bloomers" — people who are AI optimists who want to collaborate with their company to create responsible AI tools. Another 20% identified as people who want AI to be quickly deployed with few guardrails.

McKinsey also found that even employees who reported AI skepticism expressed familiarity with generative AI tools.

• China's elite universities plan to launch an undergraduate major in "embodied intelligence."
• China says the major is being introduced to meet national demand for talent and "strategic needs."
• Some US universities also offer robotics programs as part of their push into embodied intelligence.

China wants more robotics talent.

The country's elite universities are preparing to launch a new undergraduate major in "embodied intelligence," an emerging field that combines AI with robotics.

Seven universities — including Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Zhejiang University, Beijing Institute of Technology, and Xi'an Jiaotong University — have applied to offer the new major, according to a public notice published in November by China's Ministry of Education.

These schools sit at the top of the country's engineering and computer-science ecosystem, and several are part of the C9 League, China's equivalent of the Ivy League. Zhejiang University, located in eastern China, is the alma mater of DeepSeek's founder and a growing roster of AI startup leaders.

The ministry said the major is being introduced to meet national demand for talent in "future industries" such as embodied intelligence, quantum technology, and next-generation communications.

In a June notice, the ministry said that universities should "optimize program offerings based on national strategies, market demands, and technological development."

China's embodied intelligence industry is expected to take off. This year, the market could reach 5.3 billion yuan, or $750 million, according to a report republished by the Cyberspace Administration of China. By 2030, it could hit 400 billion yuan and surpass 1 trillion yuan in 2035, according to a report from the Development Research Center of the State Council.

The Beijing Institute of Technology said in its application document that the industry has a shortfall of about one million embodied intelligence professionals.

If adopted, the major would become one of China's newest additions to its higher-education system.

Beijing's push into AI and robotics has been underway for a while. Shanghai Jiao Tong University already runs a "Machine Vision and Intelligence Group" under its School of Artificial Intelligence. Zhejiang University has also set up a "Humanoid Robot Innovation Research Institute," dedicated to "developing humanoid robots that exceed human capabilities in movement and manipulation."

The Chinese tech industry is moving just as quickly. Chinese companies specializing in humanoid robots and autonomous systems have been racing to keep pace with global competitors. In September, Ant Group, an affiliate company of the Chinese conglomerate Alibaba Group, unveiled R1, a humanoid robot that has drawn comparisons to Tesla's Optimus.

In the US, some universities already offer courses and labs for robotics and AI, including Stanford, Carnegie Mellon, and New York University.

What the Chinese course offers

China's proposed "embodied intelligence" major is designed with job opportunities in mind.

At the Beijing Institute of Technology, the school plans to enroll 120 undergraduates in the program a year, with 70 expected to continue into graduate programs and 50 headed straight into the workforce, according to its application document.

The university's filing sketches out where those students are likely to go. State-owned giants like Norinco and the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation are expected to take more than a dozen graduates, while others are projected to join major tech players, including Huawei, Alibaba, Tencent, ByteDance, Xiaomi, and BYD.

The major includes courses such as multimodal perception and fusion, embodied human-robot interaction, and machine learning for robotics, according to the university's filing.

• Pyongyang has published new images of a missile mounted on a Su-25 fighter jet.
• The weapon may be a cruise missile, given visual similarities to Western weapons such as the Taurus.
• Owning such a missile would give North Korea a way to attack from afar with its Soviet-era fighters.

North Korea showcased a new air-launched weapon on Sunday that bears striking similarities to Western-made cruise missiles, particularly the German-Swedish Taurus.

At least, in appearance. No information was released about the new weapon's capabilities.

An advanced cruise missile would significantly extend the attack range of Pyongyang's Su-25 fighters and allow them to strike key facilities at a safer distance from US and South Korean air defenses.

State media published photos of the unidentified missile in Kalma Airfield as Kim Jong Un, North Korea's leader, visited the facility for a ceremony marking the 80th anniversary of the country's air force.

The new missile can be spotted mounted to a Sukhoi Su-25 Grach fighter, a Soviet-era aircraft, behind Kim as the leader shakes hands with a military official.

Another, wider shot of the hangar also shows the dismounted missile next to a Su-25.

Speculation about the missile began after it appeared at the event. It could be a Russian-made system, a copy of a Western missile, or a decoy staged to make North Korea's air forces appear more threatening.

The missile's length and rectangular shape resemble cruise missiles such as the Taurus KEPD-350, the British-French Storm Shadow, and US firm Anduril's Barracuda 500M. A cruise missile is designed to destroy hardened positions with a large warhead and fly within the atmosphere, powered by jet engines.

Russia, which has been steadily building close military ties with North Korea, also possesses the Kh-59 Mk2, a cruise missile with a similar look.

The North Korean missile's appearance doesn't exactly match any of these weapons. However, one feature stands out: a circular sensor or seeker appears to be fitted on its nose, jutting out in a manner similar to that of the Taurus.

Notably, South Korea also fields the Taurus, which can be loaded onto its F-15K Strike Eagles.

The Taurus, with an official range of about 300 miles, is designed to attack targets buried deep underground, making it useful for striking important sites such as bunkers or hardened structures.

At that distance, Seoul could easily hit North Korean facilities while keeping its fighters within its own territory.

The Storm Shadow and Kh-59 Mk2 are also thought to be able to strike from similar ranges, but their export versions are limited to about 155 miles and 180 miles, respectively. Both can also be outfitted to attack hardened targets.

Should North Korea now possess such technology, it would significantly enhance the strike capability of its Su-25s.

Pyongyang's Su-25 attack jets are believed to have been primarily limited to short-range missions, such as supporting ground troops with close-range fire and executing tactical strikes at low altitudes.

It's unclear if Pyongyang has acquired the know-how to make its own air-launched cruise missiles, and there's no recorded evidence yet to emerge showing the missile in flight.

However, Western, Ukrainian, and South Korean authorities have repeatedly said that the Kremlin has been providing advanced military information and expertise to North Korea in exchange for weapons and troops to fight Ukraine.

The partnership particularly troubles Seoul, which has voiced grave concerns about the technological upgrades Pyongyang could receive as tensions surge between the two states.

At the ceremony attended by Kim, which state media said was held on Friday, North Korea featured a lineup of other air assets, including MiG-29 fighters, strike and reconnaissance uncrewed aerial systems, and missile launch ground vehicles.

Kim Ju Ae, the young daughter of the North Korean leader widely seen as being groomed to succeed her father, was also seen attending.

Saab, the Swedish firm that jointly develops the Taurus, declined to comment on a foreign country's military capabilities when asked by Business Insider.

MBDA, the European firm partnered with Saab to make the Taurus, did not respond to a similar request for comment sent outside regular business hours by Business Insider.

• Jodie Foster says turning 60 brought a positive shift in her outlook on life and work.
• With such early career success, Foster said she felt she couldn't live up to her own potential in her 50s.
• But when she turned 60, it was like "a light bulb went off in my head," she said.

Jodie Foster says she's never felt more at ease than in her 60s.

In an interview with AARP published on Monday, the actor spoke about her career and the hurdles she faced in her 50s.

"My 50s were hard," Foster, now 63, told AARP. "I felt like a failure. I kept thinking I was supposed to do something meaningful and hadn't done it. I felt like I couldn't live up to my own potential — like I couldn't compete with my younger self."

Foster began her career as a child actor and landed her breakout role in Martin Scorsese's "Taxi Driver" at the age of 12, earning her first Oscar nomination. She went on to win two Academy Awards before turning 30, for "The Accused" and "The Silence of the Lambs."

In her 50s, Foster expanded her work behind the camera, directing several episodes of "House of Cards," "Orange Is the New Black," and "Black Mirror." She also won a Golden Globe for her role in the 2021 film "The Mauritanian."

Despite feeling like she couldn't measure up to her younger self, Foster said her perspective shifted when she entered her next decade.

"I turned 60," Foster said, "and it was like a light bulb went off in my head. Everything changed. I was like, 'Yeah, I don't care. I'm no longer tortured by any of this. I don't know why I seemed to care so much.'"

Speaking to actor Greta Lee for Interview magazine in 2023, Foster said she experienced similar shifts on the day she turned 30 and on the day she turned 60.

"I was sort of like, 'Am I ever going to do anything meaningful again? Is this all there is?' And there's that awkward phase where everybody who's in their late forties or fifties is very busy getting all plumped and shooting shit into their face. I didn't want that life, but I also knew that I couldn't compete with my old self," Foster said.

When she turned 60, the actor said she started thinking about work with a "different attitude" and took the pressure off herself.

"About really enjoying supporting other people and saying to myself, 'This is not my time. I had my time. This is their time, and I get to participate in it by giving them whatever wisdom I have,'" Foster said.

Foster isn't the only female celebrity who has spoken about growing older.

In early November, Michelle Obama said that being in her 60s has made her all the more "mindful" of how she spends her time.

"If I'm lucky, I live to 90 and that's 30 good summers," she said.

During an appearance on "The Look" podcast in mid-November, Jane Fonda said turning 60 helped her realize she was afraid of dying with regrets.

"That was an important realization for me, because if you don't want to die with regrets, then you have to live the last part of your life in such a way that there won't be any regrets," Fonda said,

• American Eagle's viral campaigns with Sydney Sweeney and Aerie drove revenue growth.
• Aerie's anti-AI advertising pledge and celebrity partnerships boosted brand engagement online.
• Its campaigns generated 44 billion impressions and record new customer acquisition.

American Eagle's marketing campaigns are giving the company a meaningful boost.

The retailer has launched a number of campaigns this year that have been at the center of viral moments online.

It looks like they're paying off financially. Its stock has been up this year, and its total revenue was $1.4 billion for the third quarter that ended November 1, roughly 6% higher year-over-year.

American Eagle raised forward-looking guidance for the fourth quarter, and its stock rose at least 10% after hours on Tuesday.

The boost was driven by its intimates and loungewear brand, Aerie, which saw comparable sales rise by 11%. While other retailers are spending big on AI products for consumers, Aerie is making a promise not to use the technology.

Its pledge not to use AI in its ads, shared in an Instagram post, garnered tens of thousands of likes, making it the brand's most popular post in the past year as of October, Metricool, which tracks social media engagement, told Business Insider in October.

Its success is also due in part to the star power it tapped into with Sydney Sweeney and Travis Kelce being featured in campaigns that gained traction on social media.

Sweeney's "Great Jeans" partnership in July drew criticism online from some who said the campaign had a negative message that promoted "regressive" beauty standards. American Eagle tripled down on the campaign.

"Sydney Sweeney sells great jeans. She is a winner, and in just six weeks, the campaign has generated unprecedented new customer acquisition," chief marketing officer Craig Brommers said in September.

In August, American Eagle released a clothing line in collaboration with NFL star Travis Kelce and his Tru Kolors brand, one day after he announced his engagement to Taylor Swift.

The two campaigns combined made up 44 billion impressions, as it attracted more customers "than ever before."

"American Eagle launched its largest, most impactful advertising campaigns ever, which are delivering results by collaborating with high-profile partners who are defining culture," president and executive creative director Jen Foyle said on the Tuesday call.

The brand is not done forming an all-star cast of celerity partners. The most recent campaign is with Martha Stewart, and American Eagle is betting it'll be a hit with Gen Z customers.

"Martha Stewart resonates with Gen Z. That's a perfect example of what we're up to," Foyle said.

• Three friends founded an AI startup that builds agents for private-market investors.
• Raylu raised $8 million in Series A funding on Monday, bringing its total funding to $12 million.
• The trio created a beer ritual to ensure the company never costs them their friendship.

When Ali Dastjerdi and Nathan Ondracek became freshman roommates at Harvard in 2015, they didn't expect they'd one day be cofounders together — or that they'd build a startup with a third friend they hadn't met yet.

Ondracek met Samuel Ilkka at AWS — his first job out of college — and the two bonded quickly and became roommates in Seattle. During the pandemic, Dastjerdi, who was working remotely as an investor at Insight Partners, moved in with them for a year. Working and living together cemented the three-way friendship.

In 2022, the trio quit their jobs to cofound Raylu, an AI startup that builds agents to help private-market investors automate sourcing work. On Monday, the company announced that it had raised $8 million in Series A funding, bringing its total funding to $12 million.

One of their earliest customers, HighlandX, led the round. The VC firm used the product, loved it, and eventually asked how they could invest, Dastjerdi said.

The Raylu team consists of 11 people, with plans to expand to 20 by January.

The three 28-year-olds told me that Raylu works because the friendship works. One of the ways they protect their friendship: a single, unopened beer in their office refrigerator.

"The day the company collapses is the day we drink that beer," Ondracek said.

It's a reminder that even if the company they built falls apart, their friendship is still worth toasting.

From roommates to founders

Ondracek and Dastjerdi met the way many college friendships begin. Harvard assigns freshman roommates after a 200-question survey, and the two ended up in the same room. "From that point forward, we started becoming really close," Ondracek said. "Ali was the best man at my wedding."

They took the same classes — computer science and statistics — and stayed roommates for all four years. They spent late nights dreaming up business ideas, none of which stuck. But the urge to build something together did.

When Dastjerdi moved to Seattle with Ondracek and Ilkka, it was obvious to him that this was "a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to build a company with two close friends that you think are truly brilliant."

"Some people start companies because of ideas. I think we started a company because it's a one in a million shot to have this group to be able to start it with," Dastjerdi said.

The trio, now based in New York, works out of a WeWork office, and no longer lives together.

The perks of deep friendship

Mixing friendship and business usually comes with risks. But the three cofounders said the overlap didn't scare them.

Dastjerdi said he sought advice from a mentor who'd once started a company with his childhood best friend. The mentor asked him one question: "If you and these two friends had just the biggest fight ever, what would happen the next day?

"I said probably nothing," Dastjerdi recalled. "We would just get back to doing what we were doing." The mentor said that was a good sign.

The trio said working together as best friends has upsides: They trust one another, reset fast after an argument, and know each other's strengths and weaknesses.

"It's like a little bit of a sibling relationship," Ondracek said, explaining that disgruntlement doesn't lead to lasting animosity.

When I asked the trio to describe one another, their dynamic snapped into focus. Ilkka said Dastjerdi brings "urgency" and an understanding of the investing world, and he called Ondracek the "best engineer" he knows. Dastjerdi described Ilkka as the team's optimist and risk taker.

The rules of staying friends — and staying sane

The cofounders said their dynamic has changed after starting a business together.

Dastjerdi said one of the hardest adjustments for him was remembering how to be a "regular friend" outside work. Because "99%" of his thoughts revolve around the company, he's had to build what he calls a "mental firewall" to keep cofounder mode from bleeding into friend mode.

Trust has also become non-negotiable. For Ikka, he has had to learn not to look over their shoulders as much when they're working. "I can either stress about everything, or I can trust these guys I'm working with to handle their weight," he said.

They've learned to celebrate wins more deliberately — especially because they're doing this not just as founders, but as friends.

"You have to celebrate the good things because no one's going to celebrate them for you," Ondracek said.

Reflections on being a founder

The founders say their journey has taught them a few valuable lessons worth sharing.

Ondracek said what matters most for a startup is its people.

"Nothing works if the people don't work," Ondracek said. "You can have the most product market fit, and if the people don't work, you're doomed from the start," he added.

Dastjerdi said founders shouldn't fall in love with an idea too early.

"We went through many iterations where it felt like someone kind of liked what we did," he said. "When we actually found product-market-fit, it is so tangibly different. It's like, people have to rip the product from you."

Keep iterating, be picky, and pivot more — sometimes that could lead to a bigger win, he added.

Ilkka warned against rushing into the founder path just because other people are starting young. The right time is when you're ready, and when there's a real purpose driving the decision, he said.

And if you're building with your best friends? Make sure you still want to open a beer together when everything goes south.

Do you have a story to share about building an AI startup? Contact this reporter at cmlee@insider.com or Signal at @cmlee.81.

• A former Netflix executive testified in the $11 million criminal fraud trial of Carl Rinsch.
• The executive said Rinsch presented him with a coffee table book with pictures from the production.
• It was the culmination of multiple points of failure for the ambitious sci-fi project.

He didn't get a visionary Netflix series. But at least he got a coffee table book.

Former Netflix executive Peter Friedlander testified Tuesday about director-producer Carl Rinsch's failure to deliver "White Horse," which was supposed to be a futuristic sci-fi show that turned into a Hollywood debacle.

At Rinsch's criminal trial, in a downtown Manhattan federal courtroom, Friedlander told the jury about being "blown away" by early footage of Rinsch's series before finding himself chasing the director for updates. Freidlander, who oversaw the development of shows like "House of Cards" and "Orange is the New Black," described "unproductive" efforts to obtain status updates with Rinsch leaving some meetings before they concluded.

Rinsch didn't complete a single episode of the show. Prosecutors have accused him of fraud and money laundering, saying he defrauded Netflix of $11 million by using production funds for things like Rolls-Royces, cryptocurrency bets, divorce legal fees, and luxurious mattresses.

Rinsch's attorneys have cast the situation as a "contract dispute" — not a fraud. In an opening statement Tuesday morning, Rinsch's attorney Michael Arthus said Rinsch was a "creative genius" who was overwhelmed by his triple-hyphenate role as a director, writer, and producer on the project and floundered without sufficient support from Netflix on the project.

According to Friedlander, in a bizarre May 2020 meeting at the Beverly Hills Four Seasons hotel, Rinsch provided him and another Netflix executive with one thing he did create: A coffee table book.

The book included "high-gloss" behind-the-scenes photos from the months of filming that had taken place for "White Horse" in 2019, which never continued, Friedlander said.

"In his head, it would impress us," said Friedlander told the jury.

'Budgets have exploded'

Freidlander, who left Netflix for a role at Amazon MGM Studios in September, said he decided to acquire "White Horse" for Netflix in 2018 after seeing footage that Rinsch had produced on his own.

Jurors saw a preliminary trailer for "White Horse" that depicted a futuristic world where artificial human-like beings create their own society after a schism with humankind. Friedlander said he was "truly blown away" by the "visionary" footage.

"The visuals were something that I had never seen before," he said.

Filming began in 2019. Rinsch had huge ambitions for the shoot, planning to film scenes in Budapest, Prague, Berlin, Brazil, Kenya, Mexico, and Uruguay.

Friedlander said he was concerned early on that Rinsch had not appeared to hire a line producer — usually a crucial role to handle the complicated logistics of filming scenes in so many different countries.

"It was troubling, because I knew how difficult it was to organize these international shoots," Friedlander said.

In September of that year, while "White Horse" was filming in Budapest, Rinsch emailed Friedlander telling him that the "budgets have exploded."

Rinsch suggested that either he deliver only half the number of episodes he promised, or that Netflix provide more money to continue filming at the same rate.

Friedlander found the email alarming, he testified. He said he needed to "go under the hood" to understand why the project's costs were ballooning far beyond what Netflix expected.

As Friedlander walked the jury through his version of events, the lanky-haired Rinsch, dressed in a blue suit, fidgeted with his tie and shirt buttons and scribbled in his yellow notepad. At times, he leaned forward in his seat, appearing to pay close attention to Friedlander's telling of the development of "White Horse." When US District Judge Jed Rakoff cracked a joke, he laughed loudly.

Friedlander and another executive flew to Budapest and met with Rinsch on October 11, 2019. Friedlander said he visited the set and watched footage that Rinsch had shot earlier in Brazil and Uruguay.

But Friedlander said he didn't get the information he needed from Rinsch about the cost overruns, and that Rinsch walked out.

"He left when the meeting was not over," Friedlander said.

Friedlander said a meeting with Rinsch the following morning was similarly "unproductive," and that the director walked out yet again.

Shooting in Budapest wrapped up in November of 2019, but "there was no plan" to continue filming "White Horse" in other countries, Friedlander said.

Over the next few months, Rinsch and Netflix executives hashed out a plan to keep the project alive, according to emails introduced as trial evidence.

They struck an agreement in late February of 2020, where Netflix would send $11 million to Rinsch's production company, and Rinsch would deliver the rest of "White Horse," using the money for filming, overhead, storyboarding, and other production costs.

Every week, Rinsch would provide Netflix with a working "assembly" — an unpolished draft of the show with raw footage — according to an email exchange between Netflix executives and Rinsch and his attorney that was entered into trial evidence.

Soon afterward, the coronavirus pandemic shut down any chances of filming resuming. But Rinsch emailed Friedlander, telling him he continued working on the project.

After seeing the coffee-table book, in May, Friedlander said he hadn't seen any signs of progress. Netflix wrote down the costs of the production in the fourth quarter of 2020, he said.

• Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers has been barred from the American Economic Association.
• The lifetime ban was handed down several weeks after Summers' ties to Jeffrey Epstein became public.
• Recently released emails show Summers asked Epstein's advice on romantically pursuing a subordinate.

Larry Summers has been handed a lifetime ban from the American Economic Association.

The AEA did not specifically cite convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, but referenced Summers' "conduct, as reflected in publicly reported communications," as inconsistent with the prestigious association's integrity standards. The move from the association came weeks after the emails became public.

Summers, a former Harvard president and US Treasury Secretary under Bill Clinton, has faced sharp scrutiny in recent weeks after a trove of recently released emails detailed his years of correspondence with Epstein that continued until July 5, 2019 — the day before the disgraced financier was arrested on federal sex-trafficking charges.

Business Insider reported that Summers would be stepping back from public life after the emails revealed he had sought Epstein's advice on how to pursue a romantic relationship with a woman he referred to as his mentee.

"I am deeply ashamed of my actions and recognize the pain they have caused," he said in a statement to Business Insider at the time. "I take full responsibility for my misguided decision to continue communicating with Mr. Epstein."

Summers stepped down from his teaching position at Harvard University on November 21.

The ban from the AEA prohibits Summers from attending, speaking at, or otherwise participating in events or activities sponsored by the nonprofit academic association, which has over 17,000 members.

"The AEA condemns Mr. Summers' conduct, as reflected in publicly reported communications, as fundamentally inconsistent with its standards of professional integrity and with the trust placed in mentors within the economics profession," reads a statement released Tuesday by the AEA, which did not specifically mention Summers' ties to Epstein. "Consistent with longstanding AEA practices and to protect the integrity and confidentiality of AEA processes, the AEA will not comment further on individual matters or the specific considerations underlying this determination."

Summers did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider regarding the AEA's decision.

• "Sean Combs: The Reckoning" features interviews and footage of Diddy days before he was arrested.
• Director Alexandra Stapleton spoke to BI about the docuseries' most shocking moments.
• They include a sex worker's recollection and a chilling revelation from singer Aubrey O'Day.

"Sean Combs: The Reckoning" shows a side of Diddy we've never seen before.

Netflix's four-part docuseries chronicles the rise and fall of Combs, also known as Diddy, as he goes from hip-hop mogul and billionaire business owner to the subject of a federal prosecution and over 60 civil lawsuits accusing him of sexual abuse.

Combs, who pleaded not guilty, was ultimately convicted on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution and is serving a 50-month prison sentence. He was acquitted of the most serious charges, including RICO conspiracy and sex trafficking by force or fraud, and is set to be released in May 2028. Combs has denied all wrongdoing in the civil cases.

Not only does the series feature interviews with many who have been inside Diddy's inner circle, including Bad Boy Records cofounder Kirk Burrowes, actor Mark Curry, singer Aubrey O'Day, and one of the sex workers who engaged in Diddy's now-infamous freak offs, but it also includes never-before-seen footage of Combs in the days leading up to his arrest.

The inclusion of the latter has already made waves in the press and infuriated Combs and his team. They've also broadly disputed the allegations presented in the documentary.

"Netflix's so-called 'documentary' is a shameful hit piece," Combs' spokesperson Juda Engelmayer told Business Insider. "Netflix relied on stolen footage that was never authorized for release. If Netflix cared about truth or about Mr. Combs's legal rights, it would not be ripping private footage out of context — including conversations with his lawyers that were never intended for public viewing."

Netflix declined to comment.

"Sean Combs: The Reckoning" director Alexandra Stapleton told Business Insider that she obtained the footage legally, although she wouldn't disclose the details of how it was acquired when asked.

The director — whose previous documentary titles include 2023's "Reggie," on baseball legend Reggie Jackson and 2024's "How Music Got Free" on tech changing the music industry — had been developing the project ever since Combs' former girlfriend Cassandra Ventura, a singer under the name Cassie, accused him of rape and a "cycle of abuse" in a November 2023 lawsuit.

Though the case was quickly settled for $20 million, it opened the floodgates for a wave of misconduct suits against Combs and Ventura; Ventura would later testify against Combs in his federal trial.

Stapleton quickly found an ally in another hip-hop heavyweight, Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson, whom she featured in "How Music Got Free." The rapper and business mogul, who has feuded with Combs for years, is an executive producer.

Combs' team has said his involvement is due to his feud.

"I definitely knew that there were things that 50 could bring to the table that would be immensely useful to me for access," Stapleton told Business Insider.

The doc offers plenty of revelations via footage and interviews. Below, Stapleton offers insight into the most shocking moments.

Never-before-seen footage shows Diddy's final days before being arrested

Throughout the doc's four episodes, footage from a videographer hired by Combs shows him in the days leading up to his arrest.

Stapleton, who told Business Insider that the footage was acquired "completely legally," said that she had hoped to obtain an interview with Combs.

"I made that very clear behind the scenes that that was a really big goal to get him to sit down and talk, but it never materialized," she said.

In the doc, Combs is in New York City to cooperate with authorities. The footage shows him plotting out the best way to spin the negative press. "We're losing," he says on a call with his team while sitting in his hotel room.

Later in the docuseries, Combs spends an evening in Harlem, where he takes pictures with fans and even accepts a jacket given to him by a supporter. Afterward, while in his SUV, he asks for hand sanitizer and says he needs to take a bath.

"The amount of people that actually I'm coming in contact with, that's what I have to do," he said. "It's time to cleanse, I gotta go under the water, water gotta be boiling hot, put some peroxide in that."

The Bad Boy Records cofounder said Diddy figured out a way for Biggie Smalls to pay for his own funeral

The docuseries doesn't focus exclusively on the last few years of Combs' life. It also delves into his past, specifically the East Coast/West Coast rap rivalry in the mid-1990s that resulted in the murders of Tupac Shakur and Combs' friend, The Notorious B.I.G., also known as Biggie Smalls.

Bad Boy Records cofounder Kirk Burrowes recalls in the docuseries Combs' proclamation that he was going to throw the "biggest funeral for Biggie New York has ever seen." However, Burrowes said, when Combs crunched the numbers, he realized he didn't want to foot the bill himself — so he made the funeral a recoupable charge to Biggie Smalls, so the rapper's estate would bear the financial burden.

Stapleton said it was important to feature people from Combs' past, such as Burrowes, to illustrate how Combs has operated.

"What's interesting about Kirk Burrowes is that his allegations go way back in time," she said. "A lot of what he talked about goes all the way back to the early 2000s, so we really thought it was important to include that part."

Combs, Burrowes, and Biggie Smalls' estate did not respond to a request for comment.

A sex worker describes what his freak offs with Diddy and Cassie entailed

One of the most shocking elements of the indictment was the detailed sex performances Combs allegedly arranged between female victims and male sex workers, which Combs called "Freak Offs."

In the docuseries, one of those sex workers, Clayton Howard, steps forward to talk about his yearslong encounters with Diddy and Combs' then-girlfriend Ventura. The two dated for over a decade, breaking up in 2018.

Howard said he was first hired by Ventura and Combs in 2009.

"She tells me that I'm there to please her for her husband, they're married, they like to spice things up," Howard says in the docuseries of his first encounter with Ventura.

Howard gives detailed recollections of his sexual encounters with Ventura that included baby oil and instances where Ventura collected Howard's semen, all of which were "heavily regulated" by Combs. Howard said that on the anniversary of the murder of The Notorious B.I.G., the couple would fly him in to party and have sex with Ventura over multiple days. Howard said his sexual encounters with Ventura went on for eight years.

"I think Clayton was pretty comfortable coming forward with his story because he wanted to own his narrative. He was kind of brought out of the woodwork as a result of Cassie's lawsuit," Stapleton said. "I think once it became very public, Clayton's position was, 'I'm a human being, I lived through this a number of years, and I want to share my story.'"

Clayton told Business Insider he has no regrets about participating in the docuseries.

"I'm glad I told the truth, regardless if the world chooses to accept it. The trial exposed enough that those who paid attention know I spoke the truth," Clayton said. "Mr. Combs was guilty, but so was Cassie, and domestic violence does not erase conscious decisions made by her to please her lover."

Ventura did not respond to a request for comment.

Previously, Business Insider reported that Ventura felt pressured into participating. "I was just in love and wanted to make him happy," Ventura testified at Combs' May trial.

"I felt pretty horrible about myself. I felt disgusting. I was humiliated. I didn't have the words at the time to tell him how I felt," Ventura added on the stand. "And I couldn't talk to anyone about it."

Aubrey O'Day says she has no recollection of a possible sexual assault by Diddy

One of the most chilling moments in the docuseries is when singer Aubrey O'Day reads an affidavit from a woman who said she witnessed Combs and another man sexually assaulting O'Day, though O'Day said she has no recollection of this.

Earlier in the docuseries, O'Day, a former member of the girl group Danity Kane, which was formed by Combs for the 2005 MTV series "Making the Band," reads an email Combs sent to her in 2008, the year she was fired from the group.

In it, he says, "I don't wanna just fuck you. I want to turn you out." He ends the email by saying he's going to finish masturbating while watching porn and thinking of her.

Later in the docuseries, O'Day reads an affidavit from one of the civil lawsuits of an alleged Combs victim. It states that this woman witnessed O'Day in 2005 being sexually assaulted by Combs and another man.

While opening doors looking for the restroom, the woman said she opened one door to find Combs and the other man in sexual acts with O'Day, who was "sprawled out on a leather couch, looking very inebriated." The woman wrote in the affidavit that she is "100% certain" that the person was O'Day.

"Does this mean I was raped?" O'Day says in the docuseries. "I don't even know if I was raped, and I don't want to know."

"Aubrey's contribution and her stories are really very, very complicated and a symbol of the gray area of a lot of this," Stapleton said. "It was very raw for her. It was really deep for her, and it took a lot of conversations for her to feel like, 'I want to be public about this.'"

"It was never about not sharing it; it was more potentially, 'How do I present to the world that this isn't a binary feeling that I have? That I'm not going to sit here and say yes, this is absolutely true when I don't know if it's true, and also be like this is total BS when part of me feels what if it is true?'" Stapleton said. "Aubrey, in real time, was trying to figure out."

O'Day did not respond to a request for comment.

"Sean Combs: The Reckoning" is streaming now on Netflix.

• The fifth and final season of Netflix's "Stranger Things" premiered on Nov. 26.
• The show's creators, Matt and Ross Duffer, said this season features the most violent death yet.
• We ranked the show's 15 main characters by how likely they are to die in season 5.

Spoilers ahead for "Stranger Things" season five, episodes one through four.

"Stranger Things" creators Matt and Ross Duffer have proudly said their hit Netflix show is not a bloodbath like "Game of Thrones."

"This is Hawkins. It's not Westeros," Matt said in 2022 after the show's star, Millie Bobby Brown, called the Duffer brothers "sensitive Sallies" for not killing off more characters.

While some of the show's main characters have been on the brink of death at times, they're usually rescued by a combination of Eleven's powers and plot armor.

So far, only minor "Stranger Things" characters have died in the show's first four seasons, including Bob (Sean Astin) in season two, Billy (Dacre Montgomery) in season three, and Eddie (Joseph Quinn) in season four.

Yet the final season of the hit Netflix show is promising to go out with a bang: the Duffer brothers teased that it features "the most violent death of any season."

"The goal was always to scale up each series with the age of the characters and our audience," Ross Duffer told The Times. "Hopefully, parents don't get too mad at us."

Volume 1 of "Stranger Things" season five ended with a bloody showdown, as Vecna kidnapped 12 kids into the Upside Down and Mike, Lucas, and Robin all nearly died at the hands of a Demogorgon. Mike's parents, Karen and Ted Wheeler, are still in the hospital with Demogorgon-inflicted injuries. As we head into Volume 2, which premieres on Christmas Day, things are not looking good for the residents of Hawkins.

Is death coming for someone in the main cast of the show's final season? Below, we rank 15 main characters in ascending order of likelihood that they'll perish before the series ends.