I moved from India to Canada for love. I felt like a trailing spouse, but 3 steps helped me rebuild my identity.

Vaishali Gauba moved to Canada in 2022.

Courtesy of Vaishali Gauba

• After moving to Canada to study and be with her boyfriend, Vaishali Gauba started to feel lost.
• She had to rebuild her professional identity to feel less like a "trailing spouse."
• Gauba now feels like she has a fulfilling career, while being physically present with her partner.

I'd known my boyfriend for 14 years, but I felt butterflies in my stomach at the thought of reuniting with him after a year of long-distance dating.

We met in India at Montessori school and got together at the age of 13. In February 2021, he moved to Canada for his MBA. I decided to join him in August 2022, and a few months later, we were married and thrilled to be starting a life together in Toronto, both of us age 28.

Clouded by excitement, I didn't fully comprehend the challenges that come with moving for love.

After leaving my family and friends behind and recalibrating my career, having built up five years of professional experience in India, I began to feel a loss of identity. I saw myself as the "trailing spouse" — adjusting my career and location for my partner — and even resented him for those adjustments at times.

It took a while, but after living in Canada for 3½ years, I can confidently say I've rebuilt my professional and personal identity in a new country. These were the three steps that helped me do it.

Have you been a "trailing spouse"? Business Insider is looking to speak to people who have moved countries to support their partner's career. Please fill out this form to share your experience with us.

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First, I built my professional identity in Canada as an entrepreneur

Before moving to Canada, I'd spent two years working as a self-employed public relations consultant in India. I came to Canada on a student visa, pursuing a master's in digital media at Toronto Metropolitan University. I'd been wanting to do further studies for a while, and options in Canada made sense since my boyfriend was already there.

While I was still studying, I landed a Toronto-based communications job, but after starting it in 2023, I realized it felt misaligned with my identity and goals. I'd already worked for myself in India, so autonomy and flexibility were vital to me. That said, the idea of working for myself in a new country was daunting. I had no knowledge about how to reach out to potential clients, build a network, or even file my taxes.

After only three months in my job, I began trying to land some of my own clients in PR, so I'd have more flexibility than a full-time job offered.

This was around the same time I received my Canadian permanent residency. The stability of this new status made starting a business feel more straightforward. After researching federal and provincial business laws and consulting an accountant, I officially launched my boutique PR agency and consulting business, Vaishali Gauba Media.

Although being an entrepreneur comes with countless challenges, from understanding finances to dealing with self-doubt, it's allowed me to harness a professional identity that feels true to myself and that I'm proud of.

Had I gone down a traditional 9-to-5 path and not made this career move, I think I would've held my husband responsible for me having to give up my more flexible self-employed status in India.

I actively pursued my creative and social interests

My husband and I have different interests. I enjoy reading, meeting new people, and writing, while he prefers to play sports and read about history. When I moved to Canada, the friends he made on his MBA course quickly became my friends, and while this felt easy, I couldn't make time for hobbies that enriched me.

After roughly a year in Canada, I actively sought out activities and clubs that stimulated me intellectually and socially. I joined a book club and a gardening community, and also made new friends at strength training and yoga classes.

These communities allowed me to have my own social life independent of my husband and his friends, which furthered my sense of personal identity. I felt more enriched when I could connect with others with similar interests, and it also felt more like I was carving my own path, rather than trailing behind my partner.

My husband and I establish a middle ground wherever possible

As an entrepreneur, my professional life and routine is quite flexible, whereas my husband's job is more structured. Early on in our marriage, we accepted that we'd likely decide where to live based on where his career took him.

I've grown to love my life in Canada, but I also really love to travel, and at one point, I worried I'd miss out on it after following him to a new country. I prefer doing longer workcations, spanning a few weeks, as they help me manage my work schedule while also thoroughly exploring new cultures. But my husband doesn't always have that liberty. I opened up to him about how important travel was to me, and after a few discussions, we decided to find a middle ground wherever possible.

At the end of last year, my husband was able to work remotely for two weeks, and we spent that time in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, away from the brutal Canadian winter. When he can't join me on trips, particularly to visit our families in India, I travel alone. In 2024, I also took a solo trip to Vietnam for three weeks. Doing things independently helps me feel that my identity and decisions aren't always defined by my husband's career or schedule.

Unlike me, my husband enjoys shorter vacations and utilizing long weekends, which I can usually do because of my flexible work schedule. Openly communicating our preferences while having an adaptable mindset has allowed us both to enjoy what we like without feeling resentful.

Moving for love has been an empowering experience

Although my confidence and identity were in flux when I first moved to Canada, building a business, seeking social and creative experiences, and having clear communication with my partner about my preferences have been key to a fulfilling journey.

Being a "trailing spouse" bothered me at first, but over time, I've realized it has been an empowering choice, allowing me to pave a path to a meaningful career while also being physically present with my partner.

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Starbucks is heading to Nashville — and it's part of a bigger fast-food migration south

Starbucks' Nashville expansion is part of a broader fast-food migration to the Southern US.

Bloomberg/Bloomberg via Getty Images

• Starbucks and In-N-Out have recently announced plans to build corporate offices in Tennessee.
• The moves are part of a broader southern expansion across the fast food industry.
• New and legacy brands are expanding in the South due to demand, lower costs, and easier hiring.

Starbucks is planting a corporate flag in Nashville. In-N-Out is building an Eastern hub in nearby Franklin, Tennessee. And across the South, a long list of fast-food names — like Whataburger, Cava, and Jersey Mike's — are expanding.

From Texas to Florida, burgeoning and legacy fast-food companies are clustering their offices and growth bets in the region, chasing lower operating costs, easier hiring, and a customer base that's clamoring for more options.

Recruiters and consultants who work across the restaurant industry say the move has been building for years, but is now accelerating.

"It's the old adage of follow the money," Mike Vigna, president at the recruiting firm RestaurantZone, told Business Insider.

A quieter shift south, years in the making

Post-pandemic population growth, suburban expansion, and new development are creating a new territory for chains to scale. As workers leave hubs like Silicon Valley and Seattle, restaurants follow — and so does the corporate infrastructure.

Whataburger is actively expanding across the region, with plans to open over 50 new locations in Georgia and 30 in Alabama by 2028. Jersey Mike's is also growing rapidly in states like Florida and Texas as part of its plans to open between 400 and 450 stores this year.

Cava, Dave's Hot Chicken, and smaller chains like Huey Magoo's Chicken Tenders are following suit.

For franchise operators, the math can be stark.

"You could really be opening up two locations somewhere in the South for the same cost as it would be for one location out in California," said Austin Titus, president of Accurate Franchising.

Wages and the cost of living also show "a dramatic difference" compared to the West Coast, Titus said, lowering the barrier to expansion and making it easier to operate profitably.

At the same time, the South offers another factor that's just as important: clear signs of demand.

"It's a relatively untapped market," Ray Camillo, founder and CEO of Blue Orbit Restaurant Consulting, said of the Southeast, compared with more saturated coastal regions. He added that "there's an awful lot of unmet demand" since chain expansion hasn't kept pace with soaring population growth.

According to 2025 Census data, among counties with populations of 20,000 or more, nine of the top 10 fastest-growing counties were in the South, as were 45 of the top 50.

Why Nashville — and why now

Nashville and the broader Tennessee market have become a magnet thanks to a combination of business-friendly policies and a high quality of life, making relocation easier to sell to employees.

"There are a couple of things that make Tennessee attractive for employers and businesses," said Melissa Montero, a recruiter at Goodwin Recruiting whose own family relocated to the state five years ago to follow her husband's job.

She pointed to no state income tax and a "pro-business tax environment" as particularly compelling reasons for corporations to move. For workers, she said, it's simply a better place to live.

"It's a significantly easier place to live in so many ways," Montero said, citing lower costs, quality schools, and strong infrastructure — factors that can help companies move talent without losing them.

Before the pandemic, companies often struggled to convince employees to leave major coastal hubs. Now, that dynamic has flipped.

"I don't have anybody who wants to move to New York City or California," Vigna said. "Everybody either wants to move out of there or move around in the South."

Remote and hybrid work have accelerated that shift, widening the talent pool and making it easier to build teams outside traditional headquarters cities.

Not all employees are convinced of the benefits of moving South: Three Starbucks corporate staff members who spoke to Business Insider said the mood in their office was somber in the wake of the company's announcement that it would open a satellite office in Nashville.

"It's just confusing because last year the message was to be in the office in Seattle for office culture, and now they've introduced this new mini HQ," one Starbucks corporate staff member said.

In July 2025, Starbucks required many remote employees to relocate to Seattle and return to the office four days a week or be fired, Business Insider previously reported. Company executives have said the Nashville location will support "in-office cultures across our geographic footprint."

The economics of moving south

For fast-food chains — which operate on thin margins — the South's cost structure is hard to ignore.

As other companies consider expansion, lower taxes, fewer regulations, and lower buildout costs all factor into their decisions. So do rising costs elsewhere.

Operators in higher-cost states are dealing with "higher regulation, higher policies, higher food costs, higher inflation," said Matthew Rodgers, CEO of RestaurantZone. Moving or expanding south can help offset that pressure.

And once companies plant a flag, they tend to double down.

"They set up their hub, and then they start to really onboard and flesh out their corporate support teams," Roberts said, adding that he has seen hiring demand in parts of the South jump as much as 50% or more in the past year.

That creates a feedback loop: more companies move in, more talent follows, and the region becomes more attractive for the next wave.

None of this means companies are abandoning places like Washington, where Starbucks remains headquartered, or In-N-Out's California home.

"It's not like a divestment," Titus said. "There's still a lot of business to be done in California."

Instead, companies are shifting where they expand — and where they base operations — to balance costs and growth opportunities.

In other words, they're spreading out.

"They're going into regions where they're following the population," Vigna said. "It's not a fad."

That doesn't mean every chain will move, or that every move will pay off, but the direction of travel is clear.

As Camillo put it, companies are looking at the region and asking a straightforward question: "Why not go ahead and pitch a tent here?"

For an industry built on thin margins and constant expansion, the answer is increasingly pointing south.

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America's real estate market is facing another cruel summer

A Cursor developer says engineers need to set 'clear expectations' as AI lets product managers build prototypes

Eric Zakariasson, an engineer at Cursor, said that AI is enabling product managers to build prototypes more easily.

Samuel Boivin/NurPhoto via Getty Images

• A Cursor engineer says AI tools let product managers build prototypes without backend systems.
• But engineers should set "clear expectations" to improve the workflow, says Eric Zakariasson.
• His comments come as the role of product managers and engineers shifts in the AI era.

While product managers are spinning up prototypes with AI-assisted coding tools, engineers are left to make them production-ready.

Eric Zakariasson, an engineer at Cursor who focuses on developer experience and product, said at the AI Engineer Europe 2026 conference in a recording published Tuesday that setting "clear expectations" between engineering and product teams could help smooth workflows.

That includes defining "what engineers kind of want from the product organization and what's most helpful for them," he said.

"Maybe not vibe coding complete SaaS products is the most efficient thing," he added, referring to fully functioning apps.

Zakariasson said product managers can now create interactive prototypes without touching backend systems using AI-assisted coding tools.

Those prototypes can show how a product should behave — what happens when a user clicks a button or submits a form. However, these products don't need to be fully working, "just enough, to like, your engineers can understand," Zakariasson said.

Product managers become AI builders

Product managers are increasingly expected to build their own prototypes, experimenting with vibe coding as the lines between product and engineering blur.

Business Insider reported in February that some Meta product managers have started calling themselves "AI builders," reflecting how AI coding tools are expanding who can build software inside the company.

This shift also comes from a broader leadership push. During Meta's Q4 2025 earnings call, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said AI tools would fundamentally change how work gets done across the company in 2026.

"We're investing in AI-native tooling, so individuals at Meta can get more done," Zuckerberg said. "We're elevating individual contributors and flattening teams. We're starting to see projects that used to require big teams now be accomplished by a single very talented person."

Other companies are also rethinking traditional roles. Last year, LinkedIn said it would scrap its associate product manager program and replace it with training focused on coding, design, and end-to-end product development.

While AI tools are changing what product managers can do, some engineers say AI-assisted coding is making their jobs more demanding.

Siddhant Khare, a software engineer at ONA, told Business Insider in February that although AI has boosted his productivity, it has also changed the nature of his work.

"We used to call it an engineer, now it is like a reviewer," Khare said. "It feels like you are a judge at an assembly line and that assembly line is never-ending, you just keep stamping those PRs," he added, referring to AI-generated code changes.

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Read Amazon's 6 internal tenets for AI adoption: 'Cutting edge, not bleeding edge'

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy

Bloomberg/Getty Images

• Amazon's massive retail arm has formalized its AI approach in 6 internal engineering tenets.
• The list emphasizes a pragmatic approach that balances speed, cost, and control.
• The tenets are part of a broader AI push to improve coding speed and efficiency.

Amazon is stepping up its push to make AI central to its engineering culture.

As part of that effort, its massive retail business, known as "Stores," has formalized how teams build with AI, distilling its approach into a set of internal "AI-native engineering tenets," according to an internal document obtained by Business Insider.

The internal guidelines outline a pragmatic playbook. Rather than forcing AI into every use case or adopting every new model, Amazon emphasizes balancing speed, cost, and control, with clear expectations around transparency.

The tenets are central to Amazon's broader "AI-native" strategy, aimed at scaling usage across thousands of teams and closely tracking adoption, as Business Insider previously reported.

"Amazon's Stores engineering teams found that integrating AI across the full development lifecycle — not just bolting it on as an afterthought — delivers the most meaningful gains in what we're able to invent for customers and how quickly we can deliver it," Montana MacLachlan, an Amazon spokesperson, told Business Insider.

"We've also identified opportunities for improvement, and those results, along with our proven approach to AI adoption, informed the ambitious goals we've set for some Stores engineering teams in 2026," she added.

Here are the 6 tenets:

• Delivery first, cost second: We prioritize working, effective solutions over cheap ones. This means we will build now, then optimize for compute cost later.
• AI-native is not AI-exclusive: We will use the best approach to solve the problem we face. Sometimes that will require AI, and sometimes the AI will be an LLM, but not always.
• Cutting edge, not bleeding edge: We will not try to keep pace with AI technology. We will evaluate and retain flexibility to switch if the benefits outweigh the costs; sometimes foregoing the newest improvements.
• With you, not for you: We will rely on existing teams' expertise and will not become domain experts in your area. Participating in our pilots requires bringing your domain expertise and time investment.
• Not all preferences are requirements: Although we will aim to delight our customers, we will not accommodate all their preferences. Instead, we will optimize for hundreds of teams, not just a few.
• No black boxes: All the solutions we deploy must be auditable, understandable, and traceable. We will forego performance and cost improvements to maintain human understanding and traceability.

Have a tip? Contact this reporter via email at ekim@businessinsider.com or Signal, Telegram, or WhatsApp at 650-942-3061. Use a personal email address, a nonwork WiFi network, and a nonwork device; here's our guide to sharing information securely.

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America's biggest career hurdle: Being a daughter

Oil prices inch up as peace talks between the US and Iran fail to materialize

The Strait of Hormuz remains closed, keeping oil and energy costs high worldwide.

Brandon Bell/Getty Images

• Oil prices crept up on Sunday as the US-Iran conflict nears two months.
• Trump said Saturday he won't send a delegation to Pakistan for a new round of negotiations.
• The Strait of Hormuz remains closed, and the US Navy continues to blockade Iran's ports.

The price of oil inched upward on Sunday as a second round of peace talks between the US and Iran never materialized.

Brent crude oil futures and West Texas Intermediate rose around 2% in overnight trade, to $107.60 a barrel and $96.27, respectively, at 2:30 a.m. ET.

An end to the conflict, which has lasted nearly two months, remained uncertain this weekend. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Special Envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner would travel to Islamabad for negotiations during a press briefing on Friday.

However, an X post by Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Friday said no meeting was scheduled between the US and Iran.

Then, on Saturday, an Iranian delegation left Pakistan, and President Donald Trump said he would cancel Witkoff's and Kushner's trip. In the end, no new round of talks was held.

"I just cancelled the trip of my representatives going to Islamabad, Pakistan, to meet with the Iranians. Too much time wasted on traveling, too much work!" Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Saturday.

He added: "Also, we have all the cards, they have none! If they want to talk, all they have to do is call!!!"

Vice President JD Vance traveled to Pakistan on April 11 to negotiate with Iran, though those talks ultimately failed after 21 hours. On April 19, Trump said negotiations with Iran would resume that week, but hours later, Iran's official news agency said it would not participate.

Despite the failed talks, the US and Iran have so far held to a ceasefire. Trump said he extended the ceasefire in a Truth Social post on April 21.

As peace talks between the US and Iran remain elusive, the Strait of Hormuz — a waterway off Iran's coast through which a fifth of the globe's oil and liquefied natural gas passes — has remained closed. Iran initially closed the strait in late February following the US and Israel's attacks, but briefly reopened it in April as part of a ceasefire deal.

However, after the first round of failed peace talks in Islamabad, Trump announced the US would implement a naval blockade of Iran's ports. In response, Iran again closed the Strait of Hormuz.

The closure, compounded by damage to major oil hubs across the Middle East, has sent oil and jet fuel prices skyrocketing worldwide. The price of oil surpassed $100 for the first time in nearly four years in March, prompting some countries to adopt energy-saving measures to address rising costs. The Philippines, for example, implemented a four-day workweek for federal employees and began seeking out alternative sources of petroleum products.

In the US, the national average price for a gallon of gas climbed to $4 in late March.

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This startup wants to build an army of humanoid robot soldiers

Phantom, a humanoid robot built by Foundation, was sent to Ukraine for a pilot demonstration of a supply pickup scenario.

Courtesy Foundation

• Foundation is a startup building general-purpose humanoid robots.
• Two of Foundation's robots were sent to Ukraine for a demo of a supply transport scenario.
• CEO Sankaet Pathak said he sees humanoids becoming valuable for precision operations in warfare.

Humanoid robots rather than flesh-and-blood soldiers could one day take on some of the most dangerous jobs in war — and one startup is already testing that idea in Ukraine.

Sankaet Pathak, cofounder and CEO of Foundation, said there's a "moral imperative" to put humanoid robots on the front lines rather than in people's kitchens.

"I thought all of this stuff around home use was kind of stupid," Pathak told Business Insider. "I feel like people can make the coffee and fold their laundry. I was like, 'We need to do something else.'"

Advancements in drone technology and robotics are now central to the arsenal of modern warfare, enabling precision attacks at scale and at lower cost; however, that capability hasn't always translated into clean, risk-free operations.

In the age of smart weapons and AI-enabled, autonomous systems, modern warfare still carries a high risk of civilian casualties, especially in dense urban environments.

Foundation wants to deploy its robots for reconnaissance and supply logistics.

Foundation

Pathak said the current approach to war is often "brute force," either risking soldiers' lives or destroying a building to eliminate a single target.

He believes that in the future, humanoids could execute "surgical" operations, such as extracting a target. Near-term, they could support military operations such as reconnaissance and logistics.

Foundation said it recently conducted a test that could pave the way for those missions.

In February, the startup sent two of its Phantom robots to an undisclosed location in Ukraine for a closed pilot demonstration.

"You can hear bombs go off. You can hear electricity get cut. You're actively in a warzone," Pathak said of Foundation's visit to the country, which for years has been fighting off a Russian invasion. "Most of the places are a battlefield as soon as you start going out of Kyiv."

The CEO said the Phantom test solely focused on "supply pickup" to demonstrate that bipedal robots can effectively "carry supplies from outside to inside and avoid a soldier getting shot at."

There was "significant interest based on what has been communicated" to the company, Pathak said. A spokesperson for Foundation said the startup has also secured a $24 million contract with the Pentagon. Eric Trump, the president's son, was appointed chief strategy advisor in March.

Humanoid troops aren't ready for deployment

Pathak said he didn't want to "overstate" the Ukraine pilot. A large gap still exists between a humanoid that can slowly clean a test kitchen and one that can use an M4 carbine in a battlefield firefight.

Battery life and durability are among the constraints. Pathak said robot soldiers need longer battery life and must withstand water, dust, and shock.

Pathak said the test demonstrated that bipedal robots can be used for certain applications.

Courtesy Foundation

Reliable manipulation — the ability for a robot to pick up an item and do something with it, like pulling the trigger on a rifle — also remains a major technological bottleneck.

"Right now, the big engineering hurdle is how do you build a highly-dextrous hand that is reliable, easier to manufacture, isn't too massive, and isn't too expensive," Pathak said.

The CEO offered ambitious predictions for overcoming these challenges, saying that key engineering hurdles could be solved within a few years and that humanoid robots could carry out complex missions, such as target extraction, within five to 10 years.

Beyond the technical questions, ethical dilemmas surrounding autonomous weaponry, including concerns of accountability when humans are no longer in the loop, are also a consideration.

Pathak said that while there isn't a simple line that can be drawn around autonomy, in ordinary circumstances, "you probably want a human in the loop before any kind of kill action is invoked." Many Western militaries have made that a priority amid rapid technological advances in artificial intelligence and autonomous systems, though the extent remains an active debate.

"So if you actually need to shoot a gun, you need a human to really sign off, which is what happens with drones today as well," he said. "But then there are exceptions to those cases as well, like an anti-drone gun or the Iron Dome. Those, you cannot wait for human reaction times because the alternative is 100% certainty of fatality."

The defense industry at large pushes robotics and autonomous weapons as a matter of national security. Anduril cofounder Palmer Luckey has repeatedly said that the United States needs to be ahead of China on AI weapons. The top US admiral in the Pacific said this week that America's AI technology lead over China is only six months to a year at best.

Unlike many other companies, Foundation has been particularly outspoken on using humanoids on the battlefield.

"Courage comes in limited supply," Pathak said, while arguing that China is not having the same debate over military humanoids and that the US, Europe, and their allies need to be on alert. "If you build a utopia," he said, "you have to be able to defend it."

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Now we know who paid $100,000 to unlock a Sam Altman podcast interview

Both Sam Altman and Greg Brockman, OpenAI's CEO and president, sat down together for a rare interview. Someone paid $100,000 to release the podcast to the public.

Taylor Hill/FilmMagic

• A CEO spent $100,000 to make an interview with OpenAI executives free to the public.
• Sam Altman and Greg Brockman appeared on Ashlee Vance's podcast.
• The interview was behind a paywall, and Vance said he would unlock it for a fee.

He put his money where their mouths were.

A manufacturing entrepreneur paid $100,000 to unlock a paywalled interview with OpenAI's top executives.

The interview, featuring CEO Sam Altman and President Greg Brockman, was initially published behind a paywall by journalist Ashlee Vance as part of his "Core Memory" podcast. After some listeners complained on X that it wasn't free, Vance said he would consider making it public if someone forked over about $100,000.

Jim Belosic, the CEO of Nevada-based laser manufacturing company SendCutSend, reached out.

"He saw the tweet that I put up and reached out," Vance told Business Insider. The "real, American cash" payment came together quickly, he said, describing the interaction as "the magic of Twitter or X."

Well, you guys all wanted to know who paid the $100k to unlock this pod.

Am very pleased to reveal it was @jimbelosic and @sendcutsend, who, in addition to unlocking this for everyone, have come on as new podcast sponsors as well. We plan to do some special things for you all.… https://t.co/FCaqBvvR5G

— Ashlee Vance (@ashleevance) April 24, 2026

Vance said the funding was not pre-arranged and that he would have been cautious about accepting money from companies closely tied to OpenAI or its competitors.

The money will help "run the business" behind the "Core Memory" podcast and YouTube channel. SendCutSend is now a sponsor, Vance said, and Belosic is scheduled as an upcoming guest.

In the interview, Altman criticized what he called "doomerism" around AI and accused rival Anthropic of using "fear-based marketing" to promote its new model, Claude Mythos. The conversation also touched on OpenAI's ongoing legal battle with Elon Musk.

OpenAI and Belosic did not respond to requests for comment.

Vance said one of his biggest takeaways from the interview was the dynamic between Altman and Brockman, whom he described as having gone through "extraordinary ups and downs" together. He also pointed to Brockman's role at the company, saying he appears to be increasingly involved in shaping OpenAI's strategy.

"They are two people who've been through these extraordinary ups and downs," he told Business Insider. "I think people are kind of underestimating how much Greg has really come back to set OpenAI's strategy."

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Office AI leaderboards are here. Tell us if you think they're fun or fraught

Dimitri Otis/Getty Images

• There's a new office rivalry brewing around who can rack up the most AI tokens.
• JPMorgan, Disney, and others are tracking AI usage and ranking their employees on leaderboards.
• We want to hear about your AI leaderboards and whether you're a "tokenmaxxer."

White-collar workers are jostling to climb rankings on AI leaderboards in a new kind of workplace competition known as "tokenmaxxing."

The trend is separating AI power users and laggards at large companies, including JPMorgan, Disney, and Meta.

At JPMorgan, dashboards categorize employees as "non," "light," or "heavy" users, Business Insider reported. A Disney "AI Adoption Dashboard" shows one employee invoking Claude 460,000 times in nine days — likely with the help of automated agents, BI found. At Meta, engineers can earn titles like "Token Legend" for their usage of tokens, a measurement of data used by AI models, The Information reported.

We want to understand how this is changing office dynamics. Tell us: Does your company track your AI usage? Do you think AI leaderboards brew healthy competition — or reward volume over value? Are you envious of the AI legends around your office? Or skeptical of what they're doing with all those tokens?

Fill out this quick survey.

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Meet the first graduating class of CollegeGPT

The AI boom won't last, a top VC warns, as he urges startups to cash out

Venture capitalist Elad Gil

Vaughn Ridley/Sportsfile for Collision via Getty Images

• Elad Gil is urging AI startups to consider selling soon due to the potential for changing market dynamics.
• Gil is Silicon Valley's top solo VC, with billions at his disposal.
• He sees parallels between the AI boom and the 1995-2001 internet boom.

Elad Gil, Silicon Valley's top solo venture capitalist, has a stark message for AI founders: sell your company soon, while conditions are still favorable.

"Founders running successful AI companies should all take a cold, hard look at exiting in the next 12-18 months, which may be a value-maximizing moment for outcomes," Gil wrote in a blog post this week.

Gil's perspective carries weight. He's raised more than $2 billion for a personal war chest to invest in AI startups. Gil, a serial founder who sold a startup to Twitter (now X), has backed several notable players in the space, such as Harvey, Mistral, Pika, and Perplexity. He was also an early investor in Anduril, Airbnb, and Stripe.

Investors have raised the alarm of an AI bubble since last year. But Gil's warning reflects both optimism about AI's growth and caution about how quickly the tech landscape can change.

Gil's reasoning draws on history. During the internet boom of 1995 to 2001, roughly 2,000 companies went public, but only a dozen or two dozen survived long-term. He thinks a similar pattern could emerge with today's AI boom.

Right now, demand for AI is surging. Many startups are seeing rising revenue and appear durable. But Gil warned this momentum may not last. As competition intensifies and the market matures, weaker or less differentiated companies could struggle to maintain their position.

"In the AI era, most companies, including those that are ramping revenue today, will see the market, competition, and adoption, turn on them," Gil wrote.

For founders, that creates a narrow window. Selling or merging while valuations remain high could maximize returns before conditions shift.

"While the tide is rising, many companies will seem to be unstoppable and durable — whether they are or not in the long run remains to be seen," he warned.

That said, he does not believe all AI startups face the same fate. A small group, such as major model developers like OpenAI and Anthropic, are likely to become foundational players.

"A handful of companies should absolutely not exit (eg. OpenAI, Anthropic) but many should if they can while everything is on the upswing," Gil wrote.

Sign up for BI's Tech Memo newsletter here. Reach out to me via email at abarr@businessinsider.com.

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Tim Cook built Apple's China era

Tim Cook's China strategy has powered the company's rise and now shapes its biggest risks.

Bloomberg/Getty Images

• Tim Cook left his mark on the tech world, but one of the most important parts of his legacy lies in China.
• Cook turned China into the backbone of Apple's global business.
• Here's how Cook made China central to Apple's growth, turning risks into rewards.

One of Tim Cook's defining legacies is clear: He made China the backbone of Apple's global business.

Apple announced on Monday that John Ternus, its senior vice president of hardware engineering and long seen as Cook's likely successor, will take over as chief executive. Cook will remain as executive chairman.

Cook's bet on China as the engine of Apple's rise helped shape one of the world's most valuable companies. It also bound Apple's fortunes to a market that is as much a source of risk as it is of growth.

Here's how Cook made China core to Apple.

Cook scaled China into Apple's factory floor

VCG/VCG via Getty Images

When Cook joined Apple in 1998, the company was clawing its way back from the brink. In 1997, cofounder Steve Jobs said Apple was about 90 days from bankruptcy.

Cook was brought in to fix operations, and he made a radical call: shifting production to China. A network of manufacturers in that country was not only cheaper, but faster and easier to scale.

A key moment of this shift came when Cook met Terry Gou around 2000. Gou's company, Foxconn, would go on to become Apple's key manufacturing partner — assembling early iPods after their 2001 debut and later playing a crucial role in producing the iPhone when it launched in 2007.

At that time, China was also pushing to move up the value chain, encouraging factories to produce more advanced electronics instead of low-cost goods like toys and garments.

The decision to manufacture in China proved to be a payoff. By the time the iPhone era took off, Apple could launch products globally at a scale and speed competitors struggled to match.

He expanded Apple's business inside China

credit should read CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty Images

Cook has been credited with making China an important consumer market for Apple.

In 2001, Apple officially entered China with a Shanghai-based trading company. By the early 2010s, it was rapidly expanding its retail footprint, opening stores in major cities.

One of the biggest breakthroughs came in 2013, when Apple struck a deal with China Mobile, then the world's largest carrier by subscribers. The partnership gave the iPhone access to hundreds of millions of potential customers and marked a turning point for Apple's presence in the country.

"We see this as bringing the world's best smartphone to the very largest and now the fastest network in China," Cook said in an interview with CNBC in 2014.

Cook also broadened Apple's reach beyond major cities through carrier partnerships and reseller networks, helping it tap a wider customer base as local rivals gained ground.

The company's China business has also grown over the past decade, from about $59 billion, or about 25% of revenue in 2015, to about $64 billion in 2025, cementing it as one of the company's biggest markets.

Apple topped China's smartphone market last year, holding about 22% share.

Cook managed a delicate balance between the US and China

Apple CEO Tim Cook and other tech executives visited Tokyo this month with President Donald J. Trump to promote Japanese investment in the US.

Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

For Apple to succeed in China, Cook had to walk a political tightrope between Washington and Beijing.

In the US, Cook lobbied officials to emphasize the potential harm tariffs would cause to American consumers and businesses, framing Apple's success as integral to US economic interests.

In 2019, he engaged President Donald Trump on the impact of tariffs on Chinese imports and competition from the South Korean company Samsung Electronics. Trump later said Cook had made a "good case" that tariffs would put Apple at a disadvantage against competitors.

US trade regulators then approved 10 out of 15 tariff exemption requests, easing pressure on Apple's China-based supply chain. In 2025, Apple's smartphones and other electronics were also spared from tariffs.

At the same time, Cook worked to maintain strong ties in China, even as US-China tensions escalated during the 2018 trade war.

He regularly met Chinese regulators and senior officials, and attended high-level forums such as the China Development Forum to reinforce Apple's position in the country.

He invested heavily in China's ecosystem

Ted S. Warren-Pool/Getty Images

Cook didn't just rely on China to build Apple's products — he invested in the ecosystem to make that possible.

In 2016, Apple invested $1 billion in Didi Chuxing, then the country's dominant ride-hailing platform.

Cook said the deal would help the company better understand China, its second-biggest market. The firm said Apple's investment was the largest ever investment in its history.

"We'll learn a lot about the business and the Chinese market beyond what we currently know," Cook said in 2016.

Over the years, Apple has poured significant resources into China. In 2021, Tim Cook signed an agreement with Chinese officials worth about $275 billion, aimed at easing regulatory pressure on the company's operations.

The deal included commitments to invest in retail expansion, research and development centers, and renewable energy projects, according to a report by The Information.

In 2025, Cook told China's industry minister that Apple would keep investing in the country. Cook also unveiled plans for a $101 million new energy fund during a visit to China in March 2025.

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A talent CEO says data centers are a 'massive opportunity' for office workers to pivot mid-career

Carrie Charles is the CEO of Broadstaff, a recruiting and staffing agency.

Carrie Charles

• Carrie Charles, CEO of Broadstaff, highlights data centers as a growth area for tech workers.
• Data center technician jobs are increasing, offering hands-on work with evolving technology.
• Demand for skilled electricians in data centers could lead to high salaries and large opportunities.

A talent CEO says all the recently laid-off tech workers wading through corporate America's sluggish job market should look to one growing area: data centers.

Carrie Charles is the CEO and cofounder of Broadstaff, a staffing and recruiting firm that works with companies like Oracle and Verizon. She says that with Big Tech's AI infrastructure buildout underway across the country, Broadstaff's business is booming.

Aside from all the construction workers needed to build data centers, Charles says she constantly fields staffing inquiries for skilled electricians and technicians to install and maintain the physical hardware inside the facilities.

"Our phone has never rang so much in our 10 years as a staffing company," Charles said. "The space is on fire right now — it's wild."

Charles sees a disconnect between the demand for data center talent and the thousands of laid-off desk workers struggling to find a new 9-to-5 office job.

Data center job listings increased by 64% between 2023 and 2025, Deloitte found. Industry leaders also say job openings outpace recruitment. A survey from industry organization Uptime Institute found that 54% of data center executives reported talent acquisition as their main hurdle.

"Young people — people in their 40s — getting laid off is all over the media, and it's this massive shock," Charles said. "But there's a massive opportunity over here."

Data centers offer a limited number of permanent jobs per facility. Still, Charles said the market is expanding as more large data centers pop up across the country.

Employment at data centers in the US increased by over 60% from 2016 to 2023, according to the US Census Bureau.

Working as a data center technician could be a good fit for someone who likes being hands-on but isn't ready to fully let go of the corporate world.

"It's almost like a white-collar trade job," Charles said. "It's a technical role, but you're not sitting all day long."

Data center technician jobs are growing

A data center technician does on-site tech support and hardware maintenance. The job can be physically demanding, Charles said, and sometimes it involves moving between sites if you work for a company with multiple data centers in a region.

As data center technology evolves rapidly, more companies are launching their own training programs for entry-level workers.

For instance, the Uptime Institute offers a data center certification program that takes five days to complete.

"It all comes down to positioning," Charles said. "You're bringing skills like operations, troubleshooting, reliability, or even customer experience."

Advanced technicians can make $80,000 to $100,000

Technicians are "not going to immediately start making six figures," and entry-level data center technicians can make between $45,000 and $65,000 a year, Charles said.

While having a background in IT or completing certification programs can be helpful in landing a job, employers mostly look for a "can-do" and "no task too small" mindset in entry-level employees, she added.

"You might be working from 7:00 p.m to 7:00 a.m.," Charles said. "They want to make sure you're the kind of person who will do the job and stay in the role."

Technicians can move up relatively quickly to more advanced technician or facilities management roles.

"With a few basic certifications and a willingness to work shifts, you can ramp quickly," Charles said. "In most cases, you are back to that $80,000 to $100,000 a year range within 18 to 24 months."

Specialized electricians can make $200,000 to $300,000

If you have a higher risk tolerance, Charles recommends becoming a licensed electrician and seeking out apprenticeships with data center specialists. For instance, Broadstaff works with Wachter, a national electrical contractor that works with large data centers and offers apprenticeship programs.

Although becoming a licensed electrician can require four to five years of trade school and multiple apprenticeships, it's a path that can yield a larger payout in the long run.

Senior electricians can easily make over six figures, Charles said, and those with specialized knowledge of data center technology, such as liquid cooling and fiber cabling, can make between $200,000 and $300,000 a year.

Electricians are expected to be in high demand over the next decade. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics projects 81,000 job openings for electricians annually through 2034. BLS says the job outlook for electricians is growing "much faster" than most other occupations.

Gen Z is already on board with blue-collar trade work. Charles says it's time for everyone else to catch up and start viewing blue-collar jobs as viable careers.

Going to law school in your 30s or 40s is a similar commitment to becoming certified as an electrician, Charles said. Both require years of training from the ground up and come with short-term financial setbacks — and high long-term salary potential.

"It's hard, and there's an element of risk," Charles said. "But the opportunities are massive. You have to take a step back to take a step forward."

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China's robot half-marathon came with plenty of chaos — and one broken record

Lintao Zhang/Getty Images

• China's humanoid robot half-marathon produced a record-breaking run.
• Still, falls and mishaps during the race drew attention and laughs.
• A robot was carried off on a stretcher, while another had engineers in pursuit.

China once again staged a half-marathon for humanoid robots. It delivered a record — and plenty of chaos.

A robot from Chinese smartphone and gadget maker Honor clocked 50 minutes and 26 seconds at the event in Beijing on Sunday, according to a WeChat post by the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area.

That time beats the current human half-marathon world record set by Uganda's Jacob Kiplimo, who finished in 57 minutes and 20 seconds last month.

Honor's robot's performance is a leap forward from the inaugural race last year, when the fastest robot took 2 hours, 40 minutes, and 42 seconds to finish. Participation also surged from about 20 teams to more than 100 this year.

The race wasn't just about speed — it delivered plenty of comic moments. Clips circulating on social media captured the messier side of the half-marathon.

In a video posted on Instagram on Sunday, one robot stumbled at the starting line, crashing face-first and breaking apart on impact. Its limbs were scattered across the track.

Staff rushed in with a stretcher, gathering the pieces in a scene that resembled a first-aid effort.

"Helpppp why did they run over and put it on a stretcher im CRYING," one user wrote in a comment on the Instagram post.

Another Instagram video showed the Honor robot veering into a barricade late in the race. It recovered and kept going to the finish line, while engineers jogged behind, clutching control devices. It made for a good laugh.

"Dudes were really trying to keep up with that thing," a user commented on the post.

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On X, compilations of robots falling and malfunctioning during the marathon went viral. In one video posted by @SilviusBerthold, robots were seen crashing into barricades, collapsing mid-run, and twitching on the track.

China has been racing to develop and deploy humanoid robots, even experimenting with integrating AI agents such as OpenClaw.

In a January earnings call, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that the biggest rivals to Optimus would likely come from China.

Still, mishaps involving Chinese robots have continued to make headlines. In February, a humanoid robot from XPeng flopped face-first during a public showcase. XPeng CEO He Xiaopeng likened the moment to "children learning to walk."

In another incident earlier this year, a humanoid robot developed by Unitree kicked an engineer in the groin during a test.

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The 'unsexy' side of robotaxis: This AV hype conference showed me an industry that wants to grow up

Ride AI, an autonomous vehicle hype conference, centered on the AV industry trying to commercialize.

Lloyd Lee/BI

• Ride AI, an autonomous vehicle hype conference, was hosted in San Francisco, a hub for robotaxis.
• The AV industry's focus has shifted away from building the technology to building a viable business.
• Company leaders told Business Insider the question now centers on how to economically scale.

The AV hype conference has moved away from the hype.

On a Wednesday morning at SFJAZZ Center in San Francisco, Ride AI held its second conference, focused on all things autonomous vehicles, with more than 300 attendees. This year's theme: "It's time to market."

There was a lot of talk around the business, infrastructure, and operations side that goes into deploying an autonomous service — the "unsexy" side of the industry, as Chris Lichtmannecker, Mobileye's director of autonomous mobility, told me.

We're past talking about the technology — although there was one panel on AI "upgrading" AVs — and more on how the industry can make a viable business case out of it all. And with any talk of go-to-market opportunities, the JPMorgans and the McKinseys of the world follow.

"It seemed to me that they came here to see who to invest in," Sophia Tung, one of the Ride AI organizers and moderators, told me of the outsize presence of bankers and consultants. Another attendee told me that McKinsey showed up just to see which slides to include in their presentations.

To see where the conversation has gone since Ride AI in 2025 is striking, given that most people have yet to step inside a self-driving car. In the US today, there's only one company that could be considered a serious, daily alternative to a human-driven or human-supervised ride-hailing service: Waymo.

A line of robotaxis and aspiring self-driving cars were parked outside Ride AI.

Lloyd Lee/BI

Nowhere else in the world are you going to see a Waymo, Tesla, Wayve, Uber robotaxi, and a personal robocar from Tensor parked along the same street. At least not for now.

Ro Gupta, CEO of Toyota's growth fund Woven Capital, told me that simply being able to tell someone that they can travel to San Francisco and try a real robotaxi is meaningful progress.

"It's that famous quote of: 'The future is here, it's just not evenly distributed.'" Gupta said. "If a family member asks me about it, I say, 'Just forget what I tell you. Go to San Francisco, Phoenix, or Miami and experience it for yourself.' We weren't able to say that until very recently."

Company leaders also told me the industry has matured — at least more so than during the pre-2023 hype cycle. At the time, people insisted that robotaxis were around the corner. Instead, companies overpromised timelines and saw serious safety incidents, including when an Uber test vehicle killed a pedestrian.

Lior Ron, chief operating officer of Waabi, said the industry previously overpromised and underdelivered, but now has a better grasp on how to build a business with self-driving technology.

"We saw a lot of very smart engineers, roboticists, just throwing themselves at the technical challenge without really thinking through and understanding the end markets," Ron said, later adding that the next five years are going to center on the question of scaling.

Kaity Fischer, who worked at three different robotaxi ventures before joining Wayve in 2021 as its director of business development and partnerships, said that a decade ago, she saw an industry that insisted on handling every part of the robotaxi ecosystem itself, from the technology to the operations, which is incredibly capital-intensive.

Uber partnered with Lucid Motors and Nuro to launch a commercial robotaxi service in San Francisco by late 2026.

Lloyd Lee/BI

In 2026, it seems like a week won't go by without a robotaxi player announcing a partnership with a major ride-hailing company.

"Now we're to the point of seeing there is a commercialization opportunity," Fischer said.

Opportunity is the keyword here. Robotaxis are not yet a profitable business.

The past few years have weeded out companies from legacy automakers like General Motors' Cruise and Ford's Argo AI. Apple shut down its self-driving EV program. And Uber divested its in-house autonomous vehicle division, opting for the partnership route. The survivors are making real headway with real-world miles driven without a human driver.

It's serious players only now.

"The tourists left a long time ago," Gupta said.

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Hedge funds are spending fortunes to win the talent war. It's changing the industry in the process.

Getty Images; Alyssa Powell/BI

The must-read story in the $5 trillion hedge fund industry used to be about who made the biggest trade or launched the biggest fund. Now it's about who made the biggest hire or got the biggest guaranteed payout.

As the increasingly institutional space has veered away from star funds run by a single genius to sprawling investment platforms with dozens of investing teams, the industry has grappled with a shortage of talent.

It's now such a finite resource that top portfolio managers are commanding deals that resemble those of professional athletes, and top managers accustomed to poaching their choice of talent by paying top dollar are now developing more talent in-house to cut expenses.

Business Insider has closely covered the evolution of hedge funds. See our stories below on the state of play, how the industry is changing, and who the new stars are.

The state of play

The numbers are staggering, with guaranteed nine-figure payouts and years-long non-compete clauses, but the anecdotes of what it's like inside the biggest funds are just as startling.

Firms dangle the prospect of relocating to tax havens like Puerto Rico and Dubai to entice top traders. Recruiters are being pushed into ethical gray areas to determine the truth about potential hires. While white-collar career ladders are collapsing in other industries, hedge funds are accutally building them.

How it's changing the industry

Whenever this much money is flowing, there's bound to be ripple effects. Within hedge funds, this means the introduction of both new industry players and new roles within the largest firms.

As with any gold rush, people are picking up an ax in the hopes of carving out a little piece for themselves. It's up to the powers-that-be of the industry to decide what's real and what's fool's gold.

The competition for the top PM talent scouts

One subset of the industry that has been thrust into the spotlight during the talent shortage is the group of individuals who find top PMs.

Recruiters and business development professionals at the industry's biggest managers have seen their own worth soar in recent years. With a steady flow of fresh capital into hedge funds, this cohort is likely to remain in demand for years to come.

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Where to watch World Snooker Championship: Live stream 2026 frames free from anywhere

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Zhao Xintong will attempt to defend his title at the World Snooker Championship.

George Wood/Getty Images

The World Snooker Championship returns to the famous Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England, for the 50th time as 32 of the world's best players compete to be crowned the world champion. In this guide, we'll explain where to watch World Snooker Championship 2026 live streams, with information on free channels and platforms.

And there's great news for snooker fans in the UK, as every frame will be shown absolutely free thanks to the BBC and its iPlayer streaming website and app. Elsewhere, the entire tournament will be available on the dedicated WST Play platform, including in the US, Canada, and Australia.

Where to watch World Snooker Championship: quick links

• UK: BBC iPlayer (FREE)
• US: WST Play (~$9.50)
• Canada: WST Play (~CA$13)
• Australia: WST Play (~AU$13)
• Access streaming from anywhere: NordVPN (30-day money-back guarantee)
• When: April 18—May 4, 2026

This time 12 months ago, Zhao Xintong walked out of the Crucible having made history as the first ever player from China to win the World Championship. He was superb throughout, but really stamped his authority on things by destroying seven-time champ Ronnie O'Sullivan in the semis. After that, his comfortable final win over Mark Williams and a check to the sum of £500,000 (around $675,000) seemed a mere formality.

In order to go back-to-back, however, he'll have to defy the so-called 'Crucible Curse' — no first-time winner of the World Snooker Championship has been able to retain the title in the five decades that the tournament has been held at the venue. And there are plenty of worthy opponents waiting to stop him, such as O'Sullivan, Williams, world No. 1 Judd Trump, and in-form 2010 champion Neil Robertson. Not to mention the record 10 other Chinese entries, with Wuhan Open winner Xiao Guodong the highest ranked among them.

Where to watch World Snooker Championship for free in the UK

As ever, the free-to-air BBC has extensive live coverage of the 2026 World Snooker Championship. In addition to televised action across its BBC One, Two, and Four channels, the broadcaster will show every single shot and pot on its free online BBC iPlayer platform and BBC Sport website. As well as smartphones and laptops, iPlayer is available to stream on pretty much every streaming device you can think of.

For an alternative commentary and analysis, UK snooker fans can also watch on TNT Sports — available with certain Sky, Virgin Media, and EE TV plans, or through an HBO Max subscription costing from $26 a month.

How to watch World Snooker Championship from anywhere

Watching the 2026 World Snooker Championship for free in the UK is easy. But try accessing BBC iPlayer when abroad and you'll discover that you can't due to geo-blocking. Thankfully, you can get around this annoyance with a VPN (or virtual private network), which will let you set your smartphone, laptop, or streaming device so that it thinks it's back in the UK.

NordVPN is currently the very best VPN you can get. It offers rapid server speeds, an easy-to-use interface, and is superb at unblocking your domestic services when traveling overseas. You can discover more in our dedicated NordVPN review or, if you're ready to sign up now, take advantage of the fact that you can cancel within the first 30 days and get a full refund thanks to the provider's money-back guarantee.

How to use a VPN

• Sign up for a VPN if you don't already have one.
• Install it on the device you're using to watch.
• Turn it on and set it to the location of your streaming service.
• Navigate to your streaming service and create an account if necessary.
• Enjoy the snooker.

Where to watch World Snooker Championship in the US

Unlike in the UK, you have to pay to watch this tournament in the US. It is being shown on the dedicated WST Play streaming platform. Prices are in GBP, with the monthly pass costing £7. That means you can watch every match of the 2026 World Snooker Championship for less than $10.

Where to watch World Snooker Championship in Canada

Just like south of the border, there are no domestic options for watching the 2026 World Snooker Championship in Canada. That means you'll need to subscribe to WST Play. The £7 a month fee works out to around CA$13.

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Note: The use of VPNs is illegal in certain countries and using VPNs to access region-locked streaming content might constitute a breach of the terms of use for certain services. Business Insider does not endorse or condone the illegal use of VPNs.

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Most NYC renters are struggling to afford housing. These maps show where it's worst.

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When Massiel Lugo's parents moved to Jackson Heights, Queens, from the Dominican Republic nearly 50 years ago, the working-class neighborhood was an affordable place to raise a family.

Now that Lugo is in her early 30s and raising her own two kids in the same neighborhood, that's increasingly not the case. Though she took over her aunt's lease and the landlord hasn't raised the rent to market rate, Lugo's approximately $1,700 a month rent still adds up to more than 30% of her income, the threshold at which housing experts generally define housing as unaffordable.

Rents all around her have soared — data from StreetEasy indicates median rent in Jackson Heights rose about 26% between 2020 and 2025 — pushing more households into the rent-burdened category. Lugo worries she'll never be able to afford to move.

"At the end of the day, it's home, but it has changed so much," Lugo said.

A growing share of New Yorkers are struggling to afford life in one of the most expensive cities in the world — and the rising cost of housing is a big part of that. Once-affordable neighborhoods from Sunset Park, Brooklyn, to Jackson Heights, have been gentrified by higher-income newcomers fleeing costlier areas, prompting the question: Who can afford the concrete jungle anymore?

Where NYC rents are sky high

New York City's new mayor, Zohran Mamdani, was elected on a pledge to make the city affordable for working-class New Yorkers again, including by freezing rents on the city's nearly one million rent-stabilized apartments and fast-tracking housing construction on city-owned land.

"As many working people know, it is increasingly impossible to find an affordable home in New York City, to build a dignified life without making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year," Mamdani said during a press conference.

More than half of New York City's tenants are rent-burdened, and nearly 30% of renters fork over more than half their income on housing each month, comparable to the share of cost-burdened renters in the country as a whole. The vast majority of rent-burdened New Yorkers make far less than the median income, but a substantial share of middle- and higher-income renters and homeowners are cost-burdened, too.

Analyzing data from the Census Bureau's 2019-2023 American Community Survey, we found that most New York City neighborhoods have a significant population of both renters and homeowners who are cost-burdened, with that share concentrated in the outer boroughs. Few parts of the city are in the clear.

"A high-income household that's paying 40% of income toward housing probably can still afford medication and afford food," said Emily Goldstein, director of organizing and advocacy at Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development, a coalition of housing groups.

Homebuilding isn't keeping up with the city

For decades, New York City has not built enough new homes, creating a severe shortage that's driven up rents and home prices. Between 2011 and 2023, the city added 895,000 new jobs, but only about 350,000 new homes. The city's housing vacancy rate fell to 1.4% in 2023 — the lowest since 1968 — and far below the widely considered healthy vacancy rate of 5 to 8%.

The housing that's been built in recent years is dominated by higher-end one- and two-bedroom apartments designed for higher earners. While the median renter household in the city makes about $70,000, the median rent citywide is about $4,400 per month, or $52,800 a year — significantly above the recommended 30% of income max spend on housing.

New Yorkers who made the city's average wage of around $88,600 in 2023 could afford less than 5% of rentals on the market that year, according to Streeteasy. Essential workers making typical wages could afford less than 1% of rentals.

We want to hear about how your city is trying to make more life affordable. Fill out this form if you have a story to share.

Family-sized apartments with two or three bedrooms are especially hard to come by. The cost crisis is pushing many out of the city, particularly families with young children and lower-income Black and Hispanic residents, according to a 2024 study by the Fiscal Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank. New Yorkers who manage to find larger apartments tend to hang onto them — more than 40% of apartments with three or more bedrooms have been occupied by the same tenants for more than a decade.

Mamdani has made big promises on housing affordability, some of which would require state approval, including freezing rents on rent-stabilized apartments, which have gone up between 2.75% and 3.25% for one-year leases over the last couple years. His campaign also promised that the city government would build 200,000 permanently affordable housing units over 10 years.

Those moves are not without their critics — landlords who own rent-stabilized units are worried about keeping up with their own bills, and building new housing is notoriously difficult in a city where many stakeholders have veto points.

"There's no question that the majority of New Yorkers are struggling with housing costs, and that, especially in the last election, we saw a really clear mandate that voters want the government to do everything in their power to address the cost of living and affordability," said Annemarie Gray, the executive director of Open New York, a nonprofit group that supports housing development, who's also advised Mamdani's team.

Gray said the city needs to add about 500,000 new homes — market-rate and affordable — over the next decade to bring down housing costs. In late 2024, the city enacted a sweeping zoning reform package, known as "City of Yes," designed to pave the way for 80,000 new homes across the city over 15 years. Gray called the potential impact of those reforms "a drop in the bucket."

"There are not nearly enough types of housing of different sizes, of different scales, that are meeting different income levels," Gray said.

The real estate industry is pushing for more subsidies for new housing, continued zoning reforms, and fewer regulations that slow down construction. The Real Estate Board of New York, an industry lobbying and advocacy group, released a report in December that concluded it takes, on average, 3.4 years to build a new apartment building or four years if it's in Manhattan.

"We must strengthen existing financing tools to promote new construction, expand development opportunities through zoning, and streamline the permitting process," said Basha Gerhards, REBNY's executive vice president of public policy.

When affordable housing isn't really affordable

Much of the subsidized affordable housing that's been built in recent years — largely by private developers with government incentives — isn't affordable enough for many lower-income, rent-burdened New Yorkers.

Freezing rents for stabilized units, which are disproportionately home to lower-income New Yorkers, would prevent some New Yorkers from being forced out of their homes because they can't afford rent, advocates say. "At an individual level, freezing rents is actually an eviction prevention approach," Goldstein said.

Lugo wouldn't directly benefit from a rent freeze since her apartment isn't rent-stabilized. She dreams of moving to Bayside, a wealthier, more suburban part of Queens, but housing and transportation costs out there would be even higher. She doesn't think she can find a better deal on any similarly sized apartment in a comparable neighborhood in the city.

For now, she's sticking it out. "I know I am very fortunate with the apartment that I have," she said.

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