"The reason for that is because they're going to go public," Huang said during the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference on Wednesday. Huang also mentioned that Nvidia's $10 billion investment in OpenAI rival Anthropic would likely be its last. Nvidia's $30 billion investment in OpenAI was unveiled as part of a $110 billion funding round that the startup announced on Friday. The round also included a $50 billion commitment from Amazon and a $30 billion commitment from SoftBank. As part of the agreement, OpenAI secured 3 gigawatts of dedicated inference capacity and 2 gigawatts of training capacity on Nvidia's Vera Rubin systems for AI data centers, OpenAI said Friday. The companies' September deal, which rocked the tech sector and sparked a flurry of subsequent infrastructure agreements, outlined a structure where Nvidia would invest in OpenAI over several years as it brought new supercomputing facilities online. Nvidia's $30 billion investment, by contrast, is not tied to any deployment milestones. Questions about the scope of Nvidia's relationship with OpenAI began swirling in November, when the chipmaker disclosed in a quarterly filing that the previously announced $100 billion deal may not come to fruition. Nvidia included similar language in its quarterly filing in February, which noted that "there is no assurance that we will enter into an investment and partnership agreement with OpenAI or that a transaction will be completed." OpenAI CEO Sam Altman will be speaking at the Morgan Stanley conference on Thursday, according to a source familiar with the schedule who asked not to be named because the details are private. --CNBC's Katie Tarasov and Kate Rooney contributed to this report. We want to hear from you. Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to your inbox

President Donald Trump on Wednesday officially nominated Kevin Warsh to be the next chairman of the Federal Reserve. Warsh, if confirmed by the Senate, would replace Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, for a four-year term. Trump's nomination was transmitted to the Senate, the White House said in a statement posted online on Wednesday. That transmittal came more than a month after Trump first publicly announced he wanted Warsh as the Fed chairman. Sen. Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican, has said he would block Warsh's nomination from proceeding in the Senate until a federal criminal investigation of Powell by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Washington, D.C., is dropped. Powell said in mid-January that he was under investigation in connection with the $2.5 billion renovation of the Federal Reserve's headquarters in Washington, and his testimony about that project to the Senate. The chair also said that "the threat of criminal charges" against him is directly due to him and other Fed governors refusing to bow to Trump and his demands that they cut interest rates more quickly than the president has demanded. Last summer, Trump tried to fire Fed Governor Lisa Cook, who sided with Powell on interest rate decisions. Trump, at the time, cited an allegation by a housing official he had picked that Cook had committed mortgage fraud, but his move to terminate her was seen as motivated by his ire over her stance on interest rates. Cook, who has denied any wrongdoing, has remained on the Fed pending the outcome of a lawsuit against Trump challenging her removal. The court has yet to issue a ruling on whether Trump can fire Cook. We want to hear from you. Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to your inbox

The escalating war in the Middle East jolted the stock market on Tuesday — a reaction that history suggests is common after a global shock, but often not lasting. While the market rebounded Wednesday morning, the Standard & Poor's 500 index, a broad measurement of how U.S. companies' stocks are faring, closed Tuesday down 0.94%. However, earlier in the day, all three were down at least 2.5%. The average one-week drop of the S&P after an initial geopolitical shock is 1.09%, according to a Stock Trader's Almanac analysis of 17 incidents since 1939. The biggest one-week gain was 13.51% after Germany invaded Poland on Sept. 1, 1939, which is generally considered the start of World War II. The largest one-week loss was 17.90%, when Germany invaded France on May 10, 1940. In more recent times, the S&P gained 3.27% in the first week after Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. After a year, though, the index was down 6.05%. "This time around, the economy seems to be on much more stable footing," Hirsch said. However, "it's still very early in this conflict," Hirsch said. "So far, the market isn't saying it will be drawn out. I think oil would be a lot higher." Oil prices surged after the U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran, but have since pulled back. Historically, 12 months after a new crisis, the S&P posted an average gain of 2.92%, according to the Stock Trader's Almanac analysis. Where the market goes from here is impossible to predict. By comparison, in April 2025 when the market tanked due to new tariffs and uncertainty surrounding them, the index had spiked to 52.3. "If you have an investment strategy, stick to it," said certified financial planner Lee Baker, founder, owner and president of Claris Financial Advisors in Atlanta, and a member of the CNBC Financial Advisor Council. "Don't change it because you think, 'Oh no, we're going to war, this is the end, I'm going to lose all my money' — that type of thinking." For long-term investors — those who don't need to tap their assets for years, if not decades — financial advisors generally recommend staying put to ride out any storm in the market. Research shows that missing the stock market's best days — even in a bear market — can cost investors, research shows. For example, if you missed the market's 10 best days over a 30-year period through 2024, your returns would have been cut in half, according to Hartford Funds. And missing the best 30 days would have reduced your returns by 83%. Additionally, the research found that 78% of the stock market's best days have occurred during a bear market (50%) or during the first two months of a bull market (28%). However, if market volatility makes you especially nervous, financial advisors say it's an indication that you may need to re-evaluate your risk capacity and risk tolerance. "It usually involves some minor tweaks" to your portfolio, Baker said, such as shifting from, say, 80% equities and 20% bonds to 75%, 70% or 60% equities and the rest bonds. "It's typically not locking in a huge loss, if you will," Baker said. "If it's so you can sleep at night, it might be worth taking some risk off the table." Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to your inbox

President Donald Trump will haul big technology companies into the White House on Wednesday to sign a pledge that they will supply their own power for artificial intelligence data centers, as anger grows across the U.S. over rising electricity prices ahead of the midterm elections. Trump has embraced the artificial intelligence industry as an engine of economic growth and pillar of national security in the U.S. rivalry with China. But his alliance with the industry also poses political risks as Democrats zero in on the cost of living as they campaign to win back Congress. Grassroots opposition to data centers is growing in communities across the U.S. with residents blaming the facilities for high utility bills. Instead, residential prices increased 6% in 2025 on average nationwide, according to federal data. Trump tried to address voter frustration in his State of the Union address last week, through what he is calling a "ratepayer protection pledge." "We're telling the major tech companies that they have the obligation to provide for their own power needs," Trump told a joint session of Congress on Feb. 24. Amazon, Google, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, xAI, Oracle and OpenAI will sign the agreement Wednesday, a White House official told CNBC. White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said the companies will "build, bring, or buy their own power supply for new AI data centers, ensuring that Americans' electricity bills will not increase as demand grows." But it is unclear whether the pledge will carry any concrete commitments. The rules governing the electric grid are decentralized across all 50 states, each with their own public utility commissions and different laws. The states would have to approve rules requiring data center developers pay for the costs of new power generation, Gramlich said. "The White House can't do that on its own," he said. "It doesn't have any jurisdiction there and of course the technology companies can't do that on their own either." Democrats quickly criticized the pledge as an empty promise. "A handshake agreement with Big Tech over data center costs isn't good enough," Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona said in a Feb. 24 social media post. There is a growing political consensus across the U.S. that data center developers need to pay for new transmission and power plants, but such calls may already prove too little too late. Electricity prices are forecast to rise 6% through 2026 and another 3% in 2028 as data center demand grows more rapidly than power supply, according to a Goldman Sachs report published last month. The Trump administration and a bipartisan group of governors called on PJM in January to hold an emergency auction in which the tech companies would bid to bring new power plants online. But that wouldn't address the issue of new power generation, which is mostly regulated at the state level, he said. "You would need a new federal law" for the Trump administration to directly address bringing more generation online, Gramlich said. But as its most powerful ally, Trump holds unique political leverage over the AI industry. "We've clearly seen this is a maximalist policy administration," said Abe Silverman, who served as general counsel for New Jersey's public utility board from 2019 until 2023. "There are reasons to think that this administration will be able to assert its will more directly than past administrations." Politicians across the political spectrum are targeting data centers. JB Pritzker proposed a two-year moratorium on tax incentives for data centers during his Feb. 18 State of the State address. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont is calling for a data center moratorium. Ron DeSantis has proposed legislation to regulate data centers and protect families from price hikes. Energy Secretary Wright told reporters last week that the administration has warned the tech companies that if they "are perceived to drive up electricity prices," they will reap the backlash. "We want to see data centers developed," Wright said. Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to your inbox

Every time Kelsey publishes a story, you'll get an alert straight to your inbox! By clicking “Sign up”, you agree to receive emails from Business Insider. In addition, you accept Insider's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. A US Navy fast attack submarine sank an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean, marking the first time that an American submarine has sunk an enemy combat vessel since World War II. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth made the announcement during a Pentagon press conference Wednesday morning. "Instead, it was sunk by a torpedo. Quiet death, the first sinking of an enemy ship by a torpedo since World War II. Like in that war, back when we were still the War Department, we are fighting to win." American submarines were devastatingly effective in World War II, sinking more than 1,300 Japanese ships, the largest of which was the supercarrier Shinano sunk by USS Archerfish in 1944. The Iranian ship was struck by a single M48 heavyweight torpedo from a Navy fast attack submarine, said Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, during the press briefing, adding that other strikes targeting Iranian infrastructure and naval vessels are forthcoming. So far, over 20 naval vessels have been destroyed since the war began Saturday, along with 2,000 other targets. "The throttle is coming up," Caine said, "as opposed to ramping down. "We are destroying the Iranian Navy, degrading its capacity, capability and ability to conduct operations," the general added. President Donald Trump has said a primary objective of the war is to "annihilate" the Iranian navy, along with destroying its missile capabilities, stopping it from developing a nuclear warhead, and ending its ability to pose a threat. Recent satellite images showed the fiery destruction of Iran's largest naval vessel, an oil tanker converted into a floating base, in an Iranian port near the Strait of Hormuz. Other vessels were captured sinking at another naval facility the day prior, when the military confirmed it had sunk an Iranian Jamaran-class corvette, a frigate, and other targets in the Gulf of Oman.

President Donald Trump has thrown his support behind crypto firms in their high-stakes battle with U.S. banks over whether they can offer interest-like returns on stablecoins. Trump, in a social media post late Tuesday, ratcheted up pressure on banks to relent on the stablecoin yield issue. That's the key point of contention holding up passage in Congress of the Clarity Act, which is a companion bill to the Genius Act approved last year, setting up a framework for regulated stablecoins. "The Genius Act is being threatened and undermined by the Banks, and that is unacceptable," Trump said in his post. "They need to make a good deal with the Crypto Industry because that's what's in best interest of the American People." Coinbase shares surged as much as 15% in midday trading Wednesday, while shares of JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America fell less than 1%. While Trump's decision to back the crypto industry could sway members of his Republican Party in the GOP-led Congress, it's unclear whether his support is enough to ensure the bill's passage. The move also raises fresh questions over potential conflict of interests, as the president and his family have reportedly generated hundreds of millions of dollars in wealth from interests in firms including the crypto platform World Liberty Financial. While crypto companies see it as a consumer-friendly innovation that will let people earn money on their idle funds, banks have warned that the competing product could siphon trillions of dollars from their industry. Executives from JPMorgan and Bank of America, the two largest American lenders by assets, have cited a Treasury study that indicated that banks could lose up to $6.6 trillion in deposits if stablecoins offered a yield. That could destabilize some banks, especially smaller ones, and remove a source of funding for loans to businesses across the country. Allowing the less-regulated crypto industry to behave like quasi-banks could heighten systemic risk, banks argue. Crypto firms say that the risks are contained and that stablecoins backed by Treasuries will boost demand for U.S. debt. "It can't be, you have these people doing one thing without any regulation, and these people doing another," JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon told CNBC's Leslie Picker on Monday. "If you do that, the public will pay. Now, he is explicitly putting his weight behind crypto. "This industry cannot be taken from the People of America when it is so close to becoming truly successful." Coinbase is the largest U.S. crypto platform and provides yield to members through what critics in the banking industry call a "loophole" in current regulations. Armstrong, seen by banks as their main adversary in this dispute, met with Trump at the White House shortly before the president's social media post Tuesday, according to a person with knowledge of the meeting. Both banks and crypto firms have reasons to support passage of the Clarity Act, but it's unclear whether that will happen, given the disagreement. Tensions between Armstrong and banking CEOs have climbed since the Coinbase CEO publicly called out banks for their opposition to stablecoin yields. In January, Dimon reportedly told Armstrong he was "full of s--t" during a chance interaction at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to your inbox

"Most of our companies are actively involved in large defense contracts and so are very strict in their interpretation of the requirements," said Alexander Harstrick, managing partner at J2 Ventures, which backs startups in the space. Harstrick told CNBC in an email that 10 of his firm's portfolio companies that work with the Department of Defense, "have backed off of their use of Claude for defense use cases and are in active processes to replace the service with another one." Meanwhile, defense contractors like Lockheed Martin are expected to remove Anthropic's technology from their supply chains, Reuters reported late Tuesday. It's a sudden reversal for Anthropic, which gets about 80% of its revenue from enterprise customers, CEO Dario Amodei told CNBC in January. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth declared on X that any contractor or supplier doing business with the U.S. military is barred from commercial activity with Anthropic. They wanted assurances that their AI would not be tapped for fully autonomous weapons or mass domestic surveillance of Americans. Anthropic can still appeal through the legal system, but has yet to act because nothing official has happened — it's mostly been limited to social media posts. Anthropic said in a blog post on Friday, citing a federal statute enacted by Congress, that Hegseth lacks the authority to restrict companies that work with Anthropic from doing business with the government. Should the supply chain risk designation be made official, it would only apply to companies' use of Claude as part of defense contracts and "cannot affect how contractors use Claude to serve other customers," the company wrote. One defense company executive said they told employees last week to start switching out Claude for other models, including some open-source options, a process that could take a week or two. That was in preparation for Friday's deadline as both sides refused to budge. The CEO of another defense tech company said this week that employees were directed on Monday to stop using Claude until they're given further guidance. Harstrick, who served as a military intelligence officer in the Army reserves and deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq in 2017, said his companies are switching "out of an abundance of caution." "This in no way reflected a perceived shortcoming of Claude with most commenting that the situation was lamentable as the product itself is excellent," he wrote. Hours after the Pentagon's announcement on Friday, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in a post on X that his company had agreed to terms with the DoD on the use of its AI models. After facing a barrage of criticism over the weekend, Altman followed up with a post on Monday acknowledging his timing was "sloppy" and that the company "shouldn't have rushed" the deal. Altman posted an internal memo saying the company would amend the contract to include new language to clarify that "the AI system shall not be intentionally used for domestic surveillance of U.S. persons and nationals." President Donald Trump said in a social media post on Friday that federal agencies will have six months to phase out their use of the technology. One venture investor in defense tech told CNBC that any serious company doing business with the federal government would avoid dependency on a single supplier, so switching off Anthropic shouldn't pose a major problem. Palantir, which counts on the government for close to 60% of its U.S. revenue, declined to comment on its plans. Analysts at Piper Sandler wrote in a note to clients on Tuesday that Anthropic is "heavily embedded in the Military and the Intelligence community" and that moving off the company's technology could "pose some short-term disruptions" to Palantir's operations. "While re-establishing AI functions with a new vendor can and will happen if needed, Anthropic was [a] trailblazer in terms of operationalizing AI models for data-sensitive environments," wrote the analysts, who have a buy rating on Palantir's stock. "Onboarding and negotiating replacement technology will take time and resources" that could have been "spent on growth opportunities," they wrote. C3 AI Chairman and former CEO Tom Siebel counts the DoD as a customer and has a partnership with consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton. Siebel said in an interview that he doesn't see a "need to mitigate" Claude at this time, "until it gets litigated." A partner at a defense-focused venture firm said his portfolio companies have limited exposure to Claude and are mostly users of OpenAI's technology. Tara Chklovski, CEO of Technovation, a global tech education nonprofit, said that if the Defense Department pursues this strategy to its end and cuts off Anthropic, it could be a dangerous decision. "Once the dust settles, they'll realize that Anthropic is the only one that has this very unique set of skills in technology," Chklovski said. "Competition is so fierce that people think going fast and without the weight of these safeguards is the only way to succeed. Anthropic is showing that's probably not the way." — CNBC's Ashley Capoot and Jordan Novet contributed to this report Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to your inbox

Disney's cruise line is going big in Asia. This month, the company's eighth and largest ship, the Disney Adventure, will embark on its maiden voyage, carrying passengers on three- and four-night journeys at sea from its berth in Singapore. "It takes a village to be able to support the type of service that we're known for," Joe Schott, president of Disney Signature Experiences, told CNBC. It is one of six vessels set to join the fleet by 2031. It's also emblematic of the company's global aspirations, which coincides with a sharp decline in international visitors venturing to the United States. While tourism grew worldwide last year, the United States was the only major destination to see a drop in foreign visitors, according to the World Travel & Tourism Council. That decline continued into 2026, as January's numbers were down 4.8% compared with the same month a year prior. Travel bans, visa fees and invasive searches at ports of entry are all contributing to international travelers leaving the United States off their travel itineraries, according to the WTTC. Trade frictions, geopolitical unease and safety concerns have also contributed to the drop in demand for travel stateside, travel experts told CNBC. Still, Disney's domestic theme parks drive around two-thirds of revenue in its experiences division, which includes parks, cruises, resorts and consumer products. International destinations account for around one-fifth of revenue. And Asia is a rapidly growing market. Disney is no stranger to the Asian market. It already has a strong footprint of theme parks and resorts in Tokyo, Hong Kong and Shanghai. "But, I think as you think about the southeast part of Asia, we don't really have a physical presence. So, this is a great way to really be able to connect a whole lot of people that haven't had the opportunity to do a physical Disney experience before." "Prior to 2024 we were really seeing a rise in the disposable income and the income levels of Southeast Asian travelers," said Dulani Porter, executive vice president and partner at Spark, a creative agency that works with hospitality and tourism brands. That's where the Disney Adventure comes in. Initially destined to be a floating casino, the ship went up for sale part way through its construction when its parent company, Genting Hong Kong, went bankrupt in 2022. "I think this was a great opportunity, because if we hadn't acquired the ship the way we did, we wouldn't be going into this market as soon as we are," said Bruce Vaughn, president and chief creative officer of Walt Disney Imagineering. Previously, all of Disney's cruise ships have left from domestic ports in Florida before traveling to international destinations. Stationed in Singapore, the vessel will voyage entirely at sea, with no port calls. And Disney says demand is already there. Disney's cruises are already 80% booked for fiscal 2026, Schott said. The ship has been tailored for consumers in Asia. This came in the form of selecting franchises and characters that are popular in the region, designing entertainment and relaxation areas catered to local tastes and providing a diverse selection of menus across its restaurants. "We're looking forward to servicing a brand-new audience," Schott said. "In that respect, the ship is a brand ambassador." Guests on board the Adventure will be immersed in Disney's more than 100 years of storytelling with character meet-and-greets as well as themed shopping and entertainment areas. The area is home to arcade games inspired by the movie, a replica of the Lucky Cat Cafe owned and operated by Aunt Cass as well as four movie theaters and dedicated tween and teen spaces. The street also features the first-ever Duffy and Friends store at sea and a National Geographic shop. Disney executives told CNBC that these brands are incredibly popular with consumers in the region. Duffy the Disney Bear is a character that was developed initially for a merchandise line at Walt Disney World's Disney Springs, but gained attention when it was brought to Tokyo a few years later. "I think one of the biggest distinctions that I'm seeing with South Asian cultures [is] travel really is about spending more time together," Porter said. "Not to generalize, but North American cruisers will choose cruising because the kids can go do their thing and the parents can go do their thing, all contained into a ship. Both Vaughn and Schott detailed layers of experiences available to cruise guests that cater to different age ranges, both kids and kids at heart. There's Marvel Landing on the upper deck of the ship that features a rollercoaster, a spinning attraction and car-chase ride all inspired by Earth's mightiest heroes. Wayfinder Bay is an open-air area with amphitheater-like seating that doubles as a performance venue. And there's D Lounge, which features a number of private karaoke rooms. "We've had to think about that quite extensively in our parks in the region ... multigenerational travel is just part of the formula," said Schott. Also part of the formula is Disney's dining experience. Aboard the Disney Adventure, guests will have an eclectic selection of food and beverages to try, with an emphasis on flavors that are popular in the region. The Disney Adventure will have burgers and classic American fare at Stitch's Ohana Grill, bubble teas at the Ursula-inspired Bewitching Boba and Brews, as well as pitas and kebabs at the Ms. Marvel-inspired Cosmic Kebabs. Rotational dining is also featured on the cruise ship, a staple of Disney's service. While passengers have the option to grab quick-service meals and snacks throughout the ship, several of its restaurants are included in a prescheduled dining plan. Guests have reservations for each of these themed restaurants and rotate through them during their cruise. As a result, guests have the same servers, busboys and restaurant managers throughout their trip, and the waitstaff gets to know the guests — and their preferences. "So we're looking forward to really being able to deliver the Disney-level of service at an extraordinary level." Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to your inbox

In his State of the Union address, President Donald Trump said "your 401(k)s are way up" — and they are, but hardship withdrawals are also up, new data shows. "Since I took office, the typical 401(k) balance is up by at least $30,000," Trump said in the annual speech before Congress last month. The average 401(k) balance rose by $14,700 to $146,400 over the course of 2025, ending the year up 11% from a year earlier, according to new data released Wednesday from Fidelity Investments, the nation's largest provider of 401(k) savings plans. The average individual retirement account balance also gained $9,561 to $137,095 in 2025, Fidelity found — a 7% increase year over year. Across all plans, the average account balance was $167,970 as of the end of 2025, according to Vanguard's report, also released Wednesday. Rising balances were further buoyed by several "nonfinancial factors," such as positive savings behaviors, said Mike Shamrell, Fidelity's vice president of thought leadership The average 401(k) contribution rate, including employer and employee contributions, now stands at 14.2%, just below Fidelity's suggested savings rate of 15%. However, another good stretch for the major indexes did help: The S&P 500 notched its third consecutive year of solid gains, rallying 24% in 2023, 23% in 2024 and 16% in 2025. Still, savers also tapped their accounts to free up cash, which experts say indicates underlying financial strain. The share of workers with an outstanding loan in 2025 was 19.4%, up slightly from 18.9% in 2024, according to Fidelity. About 9% of workers took out a new loan from their 401(k) last year, including for hardship reasons. Vanguard's report showed an uptick in hardship withdrawals. Most financial experts advise against raiding a 401(k) since you'll be forfeiting the power of compound interest. So-called "leakage" from 401(k) plans — especially cash-outs — can jeopardize long-term retirement security. "We would love to see these numbers trend down," Shamrell said. "The good news is we are continuing to see people stay focused, stay on track" this year, he said, even amid recent market volatility stemming from the U.S.-Iran war. Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to your inbox

Oil prices fell Wednesday for the first time since the U.S. launched its war against Iran, after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the Trump administration will provide support to oil tankers transiting the Persian Gulf and announce more measures in the coming days. U.S. crude oil lost 72 cents, or 0.97%, to $73.84 per barrel by 10:31 a.m. Global benchmark Brent was down 72 cents, or 0.88%, to $80.68. WTI crude nearly topped $78 a barrel at its high this week since the U.S. and Israel launched a massive wave of airstrikes against OPEC member Iran over the weekend. Iran has responded with volleys of missile and drone strikes against targets across the Middle East, including energy infrastructure. The oil market has calmed after President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the U.S. would insure tankers through the International Development Finance Corporation. Trump also promised naval escorts for oil traffic in the Persian Gulf if necessary. Oil turned lower as Bessent told CNBC Wednesday that the White House would make a series of announcements to support the oil trade in the Gulf. "We have a series of announcements that we're going to be making," Bessent said on CNBC's "Squawk Box." Tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has come to a standstill as ship owners fear they could become a target of Iranian retaliatory strikes. About 20% of global oil consumption is exported through the strait. We want to hear from you. Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to your inbox Get this delivered to your inbox, and more info about our products and services.

Every time Lara publishes a story, you'll get an alert straight to your inbox! By clicking “Sign up”, you agree to receive emails from Business Insider. In addition, you accept Insider's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. At their best, online ads match consumers with the perfect product. At their worst, they can infect a person's device with malicious software. A new report found that malicious ads overtook email scams and direct hacks as the primary channel for malware in 2025. Instances of malware delivered via programmatic channels grew 45% year-on-year, per the report. Every time Lara publishes a story, you'll get an alert straight to your inbox! Stay connected to Lara and get more of their work as it publishes. By clicking "Sign up", you agree to receive emails from Business Insider. In addition, you accept Insider's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Artificial intelligence makes it easier than ever to generate ads — such as celebrity deepfakes — and precision-target the most vulnerable consumers. Chris Olson, The Media Trust's CEO, told Business Insider that about 80% of the source code on most websites and apps is designed to collect data and monitor users — a prime mechanism for bad actors to exploit. "Billions of dollars are spent by brands to verify their pixels, so that the ads themselves don't run on scary content or things they don't want associated with the brand." These efforts often don't translate into proportionate improvements in consumer safety, despite advertisers funding much of the content and platforms people view online, Olson said. "People have continuously been thrown under the bus," he added.

Two humanoid robots can complete 90% of the work in three hours, Lu Weibing told CNBC in an interview at the Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona, Spain. They can complete tasks like installing nuts and moving materials, he said. "To integrate robots into our production lines, the biggest challenge is for them to keep up with the pace," Weibing added. The two humanoid robots are able to keep up our pace." Lu said that having humanoid robots working in factories and improving productivity was a key focus for Xiaomi. In the future, humanoid robots will be able to "replace humans for certain work" and "accomplish work that humans couldn't do," he added. Xiaomi first debuted its CyberOne humanoid robot in 2022, but it is currently not selling the product. However, Lu said the use of its robots in production plants was still in its early stages. "The robots in our production lines weren't doing an official job, more like the interns," Lu told CNBC. Experts expect Chinese firms to ramp up production of robots this year, with the country itself an early adopter of the technology. Analysts at RBC Capital Markets forecast a global total addressable market for humanoids of $9 trillion by 2050, with China accounting for more than 60% of that. Xiaomi built its business around selling a whole host of consumer electronics products, but in recent years launched an electric vehicle business, which is growing fast. While Lu said he was "bullish" on robotics, he also said it was "too early to say" how big the market will be. Other companies in China have also expanded into robotics. Chinese EV startup XPeng has developed its own humanoid, while on Sunday, smartphone player Honor debuted its first model. In the U.S., Elon Musk has sought to position Tesla as a robotics and AI firm. In January, Musk said Tesla was ending production of its Model S and X vehicles and would use the factory in Fremont, California, to build Optimus humanoid robots. Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to your inbox

Every time Kimanzi publishes a story, you'll get an alert straight to your inbox! By clicking “Sign up”, you agree to receive emails from Business Insider. In addition, you accept Insider's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. It's been edited for length and clarity. We're sisters and best friends who founded vVardis, a healthcare company in the dental med-tech space. Here's how we got started and what a typical day in our lives as co-CEOs looks like. Business Insider's Power Hours series gives readers an inside look at how powerful leaders in business structure their workday. I always wanted to be a dentist like her. We first led a public pediatric dental clinic in a rural area of Switzerland together, treating children from low-income families. We realized we had to change something in dentistry because of ineffective technologies, parents' lack of awareness, and anxiety about seeing the dentist. Haley and I built the first dental support organization, or DSO, in Switzerland. Dr. Haley: We came up with the idea of a fear-free dental office in our 20s. We put all of our savings together, about $100,000, and got a seven-figure loan. Our office was open every day from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Within a short time, the concept became successful, so we began opening more offices. We also went abroad, opening fear-free DSO offices in India, Russia, and other countries. Dr. Haley: We sold everything and put all our resources into supporting this new technology to make this solution available to everyone. Dr. Goly: We're constantly connected to our business and have a 24/7 mentality. Dr. Goly: We live separately in Switzerland with our families. We both grab our phones and check emails to see if we missed anything, address any important emails, and make quick decisions. After that, I take a shower and get ready. I listen to podcasts and news, such as the Financial Times, as I get ready for the day. I love coffee and always make an Americano, but half of it is milk. My sister also likes coffee and drinks Americanos with less milk than me. Dr. Goly: I skip breakfast and do an interval diet. On a daily basis, Haley and I do our own hair and makeup, either very early in the morning or late at night. Consequently, we take some meetings together and handle others separately. The morning meetings are for our team to go through their weekly checklist and for us to answer any questions. There are things that can derail our day, such as a change in business focus, an emergency in the family, or a travel reschedule, but we focus on what's important, and then we tell others we need to postpone the meeting to another time if our day gets derailed. Dr. Goly: I usually get a salad and eat it at my desk. Dr. Goly: There are times when I'm getting home at 2 a.m. Normally, we travel together, but we travel separately at times, depending on the business topic of the meeting or event. When I have time and the family has eaten, I sometimes go back to the office — when everyone in my home has gone to sleep. Dr. Goly: We both have nannies to help with the children. I know what my children love to eat. After dinner, I'll sometimes watch Netflix or Disney+ with my kids. They're happy when their mom is sitting next to them, but they know I'm still working because I'll have my phone out doing some light work. Dr. Goly: I go to bed around midnight, when our US team is also done for the day. Dr. Haley: On Sundays, I cook a big breakfast for the whole family, with pancakes, eggs, bacon, and everything. Dr. Goly: We try to be at home with our family on weekends. We go to bed, sleep for four and a half hours, wake up, and do it all over again.

Every time Sarah E. Needleman publishes a story, you'll get an alert straight to your inbox! By clicking “Sign up”, you agree to receive emails from Business Insider. In addition, you accept Insider's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Alex Levin, cofounder and CEO of Regal, a New York-based maker of AI agents for customer experience. Previously, he worked at Handy, which was later acquired by Angi. This story has been edited for length and clarity. I try to teach people at Regal that it's OK to make new mistakes, as long as you don't repeat them, largely because of my past experience making a major one. Before starting the company in 2020, I was a senior vice president at Handy, an online marketplace that connects homeowners with local service professionals for home projects. We had to do this in a short period of time, so the pressure was high, and I was pushing the team hard. Someone working on the project didn't check a box that would have set a daily limit on how much we would spend to advertise the new service on Google. This person was on a team that didn't usually use Google's ad product, and we ended up spending an extra $800,000 one month and got very little return. Every time Sarah E. Needleman publishes a story, you'll get an alert straight to your inbox! Stay connected to Sarah E. Needleman and get more of their work as it publishes. By clicking "Sign up", you agree to receive emails from Business Insider. In addition, you accept Insider's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. By the time I noticed, it was too late. I didn't know if I was going to be fired, but my first inclination was to tell people about it and not sweep this under the rug. In the end, we actually exceeded our revenue targets. What I've taken away from this experience is that you have to raise your hand when things go wrong so you can quickly come up with a solution to prevent it from happening again. Another takeaway is that when you're doing things you've never done before, there will be mistakes, and as a leader, how you react will dictate how much risk your team takes going forward. If you punish people, they'll never take any risks. But if you don't hold people accountable for making the same mistake twice, you'll be an entity riddled with mistakes, and that's also bad. What I learned is that in programmatic marketing channels, you have to set limits. In some cases, the opposite is also true. Soon after, I had planned to do a demo of our product. I then finished the call and asked my team what happened. It turned out that we had exceeded our infrastructure spend limit. When mistakes are identified, it's not about placing blame. That's why we now have rules around setting guardrails, including when to raise them.

Every time Sarah E. Needleman publishes a story, you'll get an alert straight to your inbox! By clicking “Sign up”, you agree to receive emails from Business Insider. In addition, you accept Insider's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Alex Levin, cofounder and CEO of Regal, a New York-based maker of AI agents for customer experience. Previously, he worked at Handy, which was later acquired by Angi. This story has been edited for length and clarity. I try to teach people at Regal that it's OK to make new mistakes, as long as you don't repeat them, largely because of my past experience making a major one. Before starting the company in 2020, I was a senior vice president at Handy, an online marketplace that connects homeowners with local service professionals for home projects. We had to do this in a short period of time, so the pressure was high, and I was pushing the team hard. Someone working on the project didn't check a box that would have set a daily limit on how much we would spend to advertise the new service on Google. This person was on a team that didn't usually use Google's ad product, and we ended up spending an extra $800,000 one month and got very little return. By the time I noticed, it was too late. I didn't know if I was going to be fired, but my first inclination was to tell people about it and not sweep this under the rug. In the end, we actually exceeded our revenue targets. But we could have made even more money if I had caught the error as I should have. What I've taken away from this experience is that you have to raise your hand when things go wrong so you can quickly come up with a solution to prevent it from happening again. Another takeaway is that when you're doing things you've never done before, there will be mistakes, and as a leader, how you react will dictate how much risk your team takes going forward. If you punish people, they'll never take any risks. But if you don't hold people accountable for making the same mistake twice, you'll be an entity riddled with mistakes, and that's also bad. What I learned is that in programmatic marketing channels, you have to set limits. In some cases, the opposite is also true. So we did this with one of our infrastructure providers, only we set it absurdly low, at $100 per day. Soon after, I had planned to do a demo of our product. I then finished the call and asked my team what happened. It turned out that we had exceeded our infrastructure spend limit. When mistakes are identified, it's not about placing blame. That's why we now have rules around setting guardrails, including when to raise them.

Every time Emily publishes a story, you'll get an alert straight to your inbox! By clicking “Sign up”, you agree to receive emails from Business Insider. In addition, you accept Insider's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. You wouldn't know that, though, given how much we scrutinize each other's diets. Much like child rearing, exercising, and shopping habits, food is one of those things we all make judgments about based on our own, individually concocted rulebook. Think people should slow down on eating out and learn to cook? Our society stigmatizes and shuns overweight people, but it can also take a critical eye toward thin people, especially if the perception is that they're "cheating" by taking a medication to drop some pounds. Conservatives chafed at Michelle Obama's push to make school lunches healthier. Progressives are now skeptical of the Trump administration's new MAHA-inspired, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.-touted food pyramid. I recently stepped onto this land mine on purpose. They're usually a proxy for fights about identity, class, politics, and control. We moralize food, categorizing certain types as "good" or "bad," in an attempt to establish order in a chaotic world and to feel a sense of autonomy over our health. We see eating not only as a form of sustenance but also as a signal of character and discipline. "We love, in our country, to polarize things," says Jill Chodak, a dietitian and the director of food-based healthcare at Foodlink, a food bank in New York. Not to be too navel-gazey here, but I'm a little scared of reader emails. I am always open to feedback, but because people often forget there's a human being on the other end of the computer, things can get nasty quick. Every time Emily publishes a story, you'll get an alert straight to your inbox! Stay connected to Emily and get more of their work as it publishes. By clicking "Sign up", you agree to receive emails from Business Insider. In addition, you accept Insider's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. One person called me "Marie Antoinette of the 21st century," which is a cute burn, though I fear my living standards don't support it. Others argued that the $15 amount was too low, especially considering other de facto grocery items, like paper towels, dish soap, and cleaners. One man emailed me to say I was "Stoopid" and should get a refund for my journalism degree. Most of the commentary was not explicitly political, but deeply personal. People described struggles with disabilities and their personal efforts to make food work on a budget. They discussed the merits of different approaches to eating across generations and cultures. The comments were full of people apparently determined to settle arguments, big and small, about how we eat with anonymous strangers on the internet. A lot of readers were curious if I'd lost weight, to which I guess I'll say it's hard to lose or gain more than a pound or two over the course of a week. More broadly, I wish we could all just get over the size obsession. One of them was Troy Large, 64, a former miner who lives in what he describes as "Middle of Nowhere," Nevada, who switched over to an "actual food diet" about a decade ago. He's spent years refining his culinary theory, which focuses on 10 categories of whole, unprocessed foods, most of which are found on the grocery store's perimeter. At a cookout, he'll have whatever's coming off the grill. He believes above all, food should be a social thing. He'd probably still eat chips if they were cooked in lard. The two big challenges of eating this way, he says, are bread and spices. He avoids baking soda and instant yeast, so making his own bread is a time-consuming process, but he does it. "I truly can go to a fridge that's almost empty, look at what I have, and figure out how to put it together," he says. The endeavor helped him get back in shape after gaining weight when the oil field he worked at shut down years ago. After all of this effort, however, he remains fairly ambivalent about it. "Now, I don't know if any of this stuff helps you or not," he says. Dawn Perrault, 63, in Tennessee, is a mortgage loan processor by day and a pizza restaurant owner by night (or, rather, weekends). She tells me my RFK Jr. diet story "brought up so many memories" of her own food struggles over the years. Perrault has lived various lifetimes when it comes to food — eating a lot of peanut butter with her husband when they were young and broke, learning how to cook healthy on a strict budget when she became a stay-at-home mom, and now, making meals from scratch as they've gotten more financially comfortable, even though she hates the grocery store. Perrault isn't judgmental about it, but she worries younger generations may be losing a knack for the kitchen. "Nobody seems to be able to cook anymore, because so many people grew up with fast food or convenience food, and I think that it became almost a lost art in a way," she says. John Clancy, 64, a retiree in Las Vegas, also thinks making food at home on a budget really isn't that challenging. Given that he's no longer working, he's got plenty of time to review grocery store ads, clip coupons, and make a meal plan — though he says that only takes about an hour and is quite straightforward. "In the last decade or so, the instantaneous gratification and retail therapy and eating out as a lifestyle has even gotten more accelerated," he says. "There's the double-edged sword of technology that allows all this stuff." My trifecta of (barely) baby boomers made some good points. Their food philosophies are structured by realities — time, space, age, interests, tastes, worries — but they don't view them as universal truths. This is a piece of armor my mom gave me when I got made fun of for getting lunch at the school cafeteria as a kid, instead of bringing it in from home, which was quite the faux pas in 90s-era Wisconsin. As he describes how his son's dietitian pushed the family to limit red meat and starches and incorporate more fruits and veggies, he jokes that his wife is saying, "Yuck, yuck, yuck," in the background. Moredock shops for "opportunity buys," and, like Clancy, gets good use out of his freezer space — he bought up a bunch of 20-pound turkeys for sale on Amazon for the holidays, and he's been making all sorts of soups and sandwiches with them. "We eat well and without skimping at all," he says. "I think it's about the whole country's polarized and not tolerant towards views that they don't really support," he says. He felt my story was biased, too, and didn't like the tone. Our conversation was polite and amicable, even though I had not entirely appreciated his written tone, either. Moredock's the one who emailed to call me "Stoopid." Everyone could probably find a way to improve their diets in some way, shape, or form, except for maybe Bryan Johnson (the longevity guy) and JLo. It's easier than ever to get takeout with a few taps — and easier than ever to tumble into a furious argument about whether that makes you irresponsible, ignorant, entitled, enlightened, or doomed. In directing criticism at individuals, we ignore the bigger economic and commercial forces that shape our eating habits. They've got busy work schedules, are rushing kids around, have other obligations, and, in that context, cooking a full-blown, 100% perfect meal from scratch is one of the first things to go. Plus, America's nutrition education system leaves much to be desired. "No one teaches people how to feed their kids," she says. As for me, the RFK diet experience was mainly positive, even if I am ground beefed out for the foreseeable future. I get it on the whole, unprocessed foods thing. I've since converted to whole milk over alternative milks because I should get more calcium, and it tastes better in my coffee. I've returned to my regular programming, which includes more salads, sandwiches, and, thankfully, dessert. I have reincorporated my favorite nighttime snack of cheese and peanuts. But for the record, I make a banging veggie pizza. Business Insider's Discourse stories provide perspectives on the day's most pressing issues, informed by analysis, reporting, and expertise.

Every time Katherine publishes a story, you'll get an alert straight to your inbox! By clicking “Sign up”, you agree to receive emails from Business Insider. In addition, you accept Insider's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. On Tuesday evening, I visited the OpenAI headquarters in Mission Bay, San Francisco, and I was met with a relatively small but energetic and diverse group of protesters, each with very different demands. This protest was part of the nascent QuitGPT movement; between 40 and 50 people attended, holding signs and chalking hundreds of slogans on the sidewalk. OpenAI triggered widespread backlash when it signed a contract with the Pentagon on Friday, hours after President Donald Trump ordered federal agencies to halt use of Anthropic's Claude. The backlash against OpenAI sparked a wave of support for Anthropic, including Katy Perry, who publicly endorsed and subscribed to Claude AI. Calls to abandon ChatGPT in favor of Claude spread rapidly across social media, and the momentum showed up in the download charts. 1 in the App Store on February 28, up from sixth place. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman posted an internal memo to X on Monday and said the company is revising its contract with the Pentagon to add explicit protections, including a prohibition on surveilling US persons and nationals and a bar on use by intelligence agencies such as the NSA without a separate contract modification. Every time Katherine publishes a story, you'll get an alert straight to your inbox! Stay connected to Katherine and get more of their work as it publishes. By clicking "Sign up", you agree to receive emails from Business Insider. In addition, you accept Insider's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. I talked to six at Tuesday's protest, who were skeptical of the revised deal, but there were also broader concerns about AI's rapid rise and the tech industry. Wearing a shirt that reads "we have a right to good jobs and a livable future," Perrin Milliken told me that she has always been a climate advocate and is here to oppose data centers, which she said are an act that puts the need for AI before human needs. "They're not even paying for it — we are," Milliken added of tech companies. "Sam and his billionaire buddies helped Trump with his disastrous budget bills that stole trillions of dollars from everyday Americans just to line their pockets," Guo added. When I spoke to Meghan Matson, she told me that she has completely rejected using AI and felt like it was "bad news" from the start. "As soon as I saw it start showing up in visuals and imagery, I could see exactly where it heads," Matson added. "Stop AI stealing art, writing, electricity, water, jobs," reads a large chalk writing on the street in front of the OpenAI office. "What I don't want is for the technologies that my friends and I build to be used to undermine the freedom we value," he added. He told me that he made the robot mask yesterday with a cardboard box, black duct tape, and LED lights. "I spent $12 on this," he said of his robot mask. "I bet a lot more people are gonna pay attention to this than OpenAI's next million-dollar ad."

Every time Matthew publishes a story, you'll get an alert straight to your inbox! By clicking “Sign up”, you agree to receive emails from Business Insider. In addition, you accept Insider's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Ukraine has enough interceptor drone manufacturers, and now needs to prepare for the next phase of defending against Russia's Shaheds, a prominent drone analyst said on Tuesday. The new tech battle is going to be all about speed, said Serhii "Flash" Beskrestnov, an influential Ukrainian drone expert, in a Telegram post. Beskrestnov, who was recently appointed an advisor to Ukraine's defense ministry, said the race would emerge as Ukraine gradually improves the effectiveness of its interceptor drones. Interceptor drones are small uncrewed aerial systems primarily designed by Ukrainians to fly into the Kremlin's Gerans, Russia's mass-produced versions of the Iranian Shahed drone. The interceptors have become a core pillar of Ukraine's air defense network, offering a more cost-effective way to counter hundreds-strong waves of Gerans. Popular types of interceptor drones can cost around $2,500 to $6,000 each. Beskrestnov predicted that Russia would soon adapt in three ways: installing evasion systems on its Gerans, building reliable flight corridors for the loitering munitions, and manually piloting them at extremely low altitudes to evade air defenses. "At one point, all our interceptor drones may turn out to be useless," the analyst warned. Local engineers incrementally improved their designs to fly reliably at around 220 mph, but will likely be limited in how far they can push these aircraft, which are often built with inexpensive off-the-shelf parts. "If you are a manufacturer, I ask you to begin developing interception systems for strike UAVs at such speeds right now, while we still have time," Beskrestnov wrote. As drone engineers realized at the time that Ukraine needed an answer to Russia ramping up Geran production, they spent months preparing their designs in anticipation of the growing threat. By 2025, their present form began to emerge on Ukrainian drone markets, until Kyiv eventually set a production goal of at least 1,000 a day. As 2026 rolls on, it remains to be seen whether that could drastically change.

Every time Kelsey publishes a story, you'll get an alert straight to your inbox! By clicking “Sign up”, you agree to receive emails from Business Insider. In addition, you accept Insider's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. UAE officials said they've been intercepting air attacks, but the resulting debris has caused fires and ground damage. Carifee said they had heard earlier on Saturday about the attack on Iran, but did not think it would impact them in Dubai since it was in another country. They even took a hot air balloon ride that morning and visited the Dubai Miracle Garden. Now the couple is stuck in Dubai after the cruise they were expected to take on Sunday was canceled. They were planning to get on the Celestyal Journey cruise ship, which is stuck in Doha, Qatar. They've had to extend their stay at the Waldorf Astoria on Palm Jumeirah while they figure out how to get home. Several US embassies have told Americans they could not help them evacuate the Middle East. We registered like we were supposed to," Carifee said on Tuesday, adding she'd seen the British government was making plans to help evacuate its citizens. I watched the news, and we have not heard them saying, 'We're going to work to get the Americans out of there.'" President Donald Trump was asked on Tuesday if he would charter planes to help evacuate Americans. "It all happened very quickly," he said of the attack. On Tuesday, Dylan Johnson, the assistant secretary of state for global public affairs, said the agency was "actively securing military aircraft and charter flights for American citizens who wish to leave the Middle East." He said the department had been in contact with "nearly 3,000 Americans abroad" and urged citizens who need assistance to call a number. She also tried contacting the US consulate in Dubai and signed up for the State Department's Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) to receive updates. She said the only instructions they'd gotten were to "shelter in place." Business Insider also called the hotline on Tuesday afternoon and got a 45-second pre-recorded message that told Americans to check the embassy website, shelter in place, and enroll in STEP for updates. "Please do not rely on the US government for assisted departure or evacuation at this time," the message said. "There are currently no United States evacuation points." On Tuesday evening in Washington, DC, the State Department issued a statement saying it was "facilitating charter flights from the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan for American citizens, and will continue to secure additional capacity as security conditions allow." The department said it was also helping Americans book commercial flights available from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Oman, and Egypt. A call to the hotline on Tuesday evening returned a new message instructing callers to stay on the line for assistance. Carifee said that after their cruise was canceled, they booked a flight out of Dubai for Monday, but it was canceled. They rebooked again for Wednesday, but it too was canceled. She said they currently have a flight booked for Thursday, but are unsure whether it will be canceled as well. The couple said in some ways everyone was trying to get back to normal, even as there were occasional loud noises and missiles could be seen being intercepted overhead. Carifee said they feel mostly safe and that the Dubai government is doing a lot to reassure its residents and tourists.

Some contractors working for Handshake AI say the AI training startup has denied them up to several thousand dollars each for work they performed, after accusing them of breaking platform rules. Dozens of others who claim to have worked for Handshake have shared similar stories on Reddit, and the company has faced lawsuits from two contractors over withheld pay. San Francisco-based Handshake AI expanded from a job platform aimed at young professionals to the data-labeling industry. This data work helps improve everything from laundry-folding robots to OpenAI's ChatGPT. Five contractors who worked on various OpenAI projects told Business Insider that Handshake suspended their accounts without warning between the end of December and January, and four of those contractors were not paid for their work. In correspondence with Handshake support seen by Business Insider, one contractor was told that they violated one or more of the three platform requirements: There were "discrepancies" in background credentials provided; the time taken to complete tasks was three to four times higher than benchmarks; and tasking was done from a non-US location, which was not allowed. The contractor denied those violations to Handshake and Business Insider and said that those concerns could have been flagged before they spent about 50 hours working on the platform. The person, who is based in the US, said they were not compensated for any of this work, amounting to hundreds of dollars in unpaid labor. We will not be able to offer further consideration on this matter," Handshake support wrote to the contractor in an email. The three other contractors described nearly identical experiences. A representative for Handshake declined to comment. OpenAI did not respond to Business Insider's requests for comment. Matt Dunn, a partner at Getman, Sweeney, & Dunn, who specializes in labor law, said companies sometimes include provisions in the contracts that allow them to withhold pay if workers are found to be in violation of their contract. "If they are truly independent contractors and classified correctly and there is a breach of the contract, the company could deny that payment," Dunn told Business Insider, speaking generally about contractors. "If the workers have been misclassified, the non-payment of wages would be a violation of federal or possibly state law." Handshake CEO Garrett Lord said on a July podcast appearance that Handshake contractors make an average of over $100 to $125 an hour on the platform, applying their math, coding, or legal expertise to AI training projects. He said that the work is moving from generalist to specialist. Current freelance opportunities on the platform range from $75 per hour for software engineers and improv actors, $175 for investment bankers, and $300 and higher for those with medical degrees or Ph.D.s. The company was last valued at $3.5 billion in January 2022, before its expansion into AI training. Handshake's investors include Coatue Management, Spark Capital, Kleiner Perkins, and Lightspeed Venture Partners, according to PitchBook. This is not the first time contractors have complained about unpaid wages from Handshake. In August, a separate contractor filed an unpaid wages lawsuit against the company. They said that Handshake withheld their pay after accusing them of using AI to complete their work, even though Handshake's policy "permitted the use of ChatGPT." Handshake's current contractor agreement says that using LLMs "is strictly prohibited unless otherwise authorized in writing by Handshake." Handshake is one of many contracting companies capitalizing on the AI boom. As tech companies race to build large language models, the demand for human data annotation has become a multibillion-dollar market. What was once largely low-paid and generalist work has increasingly shifted toward specialist skills — from experts in law and finance to STEM. Scale AI, one of the largest players in the data labeling industry, has faced multiple lawsuits and labor complaints from contractors who allege unpaid wages and misclassification as contractors instead of employees.