We’ve gone from fears of the invasion of artificial intelligence (AI) replacing our jobs in 2023 to business leaders observing that AI is shrinking an already competitive job market in 2024.

But the expert consensus is that AI is a tool to help workers be more efficient, not to disrupt employment rates as much as people believe, according to Jae Gardner, director of operations at Redrob. “If anything, it will expand a company’s workforce, but probably more globally,” he told me through email.

One example is the emergence of AI Avatars to assist the workforce in everyday tasks in 2025.

Andy Bradshaw, CEO of SHL, believes embracing AI is as much a cultural journey as it is a technological one. “Not only do workers need to have the appetite and skills to embrace AI, but leaders need to foster a culture of curiosity, adaptability and continuous learning,” he told me through email.

“If organizations are to gain real value, using AI as a tool to amplify the work of humans in ways that enhance efficiency, decision-making, and productivity leaders need to shift their people from fearing the disruption to really driving it—and that’s when the real innovation begins.”

“Some will embrace this more readily than others, but to succeed, organizations must balance small-scale experimentation with building a broader, AI-ready culture,” he adds. “AI will become dominant in the workforce, so it’s essential to start learning in a controlled environment now.” […]

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“If you put 25 percents tariffs on me, I have to react with tariffs,” Marcelo Ebrard, Mexico’s economy minister, told a radio interviewer on Monday. “Structurally, we have the conditions to play in Mexico’s favor,” he added.

The disclosure by Mr. Ebrard, who is poised to be one of Mexico’s top negotiators with the Trump administration, showcases the rising tensions between the countries in the aftermath of the U.S. presidential election.

During his campaign, Mr. Trump vowed to immediately place 25 percent tariffs on all goods from Mexico unless that country’s government halted the flow of migrants and drugs to the United States. If Mexico fails to respond to Mr. Trump’s satisfaction, he said, he could raise such tariffs to as high as 100 percent.

Such moves could send shock waves through the economy of Mexico, which is exceptionally dependent on trade with the United States, exporting about 80 percent of its goods to its northern neighbor. […]

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But in a conference call with investors Thursday, the company said those closures will be offset by new restaurant openings. Wendy’s said it plans to open between 250 and 300 restaurants this year.

Wendy’s President and CEO Kirk Tanner said the restaurants that are closing are underperforming compared to others.

“They’re just in locations that don’t build our brands,” Tanner said. “You look at a brand that’s 55 years old and some of those restaurants are quite out of date.”

Dublin, Ohio-based Wendy’s didn’t provide a list of the locations to be closed. But Tanner said they are spread out all over the country.
“Our focus is on building new restaurants because we know they deliver well over the average of these poor-performing restaurants,” he said. “We, overall, want the best restaurants for the customers and that customer experience we want to deliver.” […]

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For the first time ever, department store Neiman Marcus has rebranded its 98-year-old ‘Christmas Book’ gift catalogue, which has now been called a ‘Holiday Book’. Workers for the retailer have blamed ‘woke politics’ for the change to the holiday season staple.

The retailer had previously stated, following the Covid-19 Pandemic, that the ‘Christmas Book is tradition’ and something for shoppers to look forward.

‘Christmas is a time of celebration and our Christmas Book is about celebrating. It’s part our legacy and if you look back at our history, our founders and our brand, we’ve always been very strong about belonging and inclusion,’ chief marketing officer of Neiman Marcus, Daz McColl, told Forbes in 2021.

He added: ‘The title of our book is not exclusionary in any way. It’s part of our tradition.’ However, this year, attitudes toward the tradition of the catalogue appear to have changed. […]

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These companies are among the leading importers at the 14 major ports that an ILA strike would impact, according to ImportGenius. Overall, between 43%-49% of all U.S. imports and billions of dollars in monthly trade are at stake as the union moves closer to the Oct. 1 deadline for a new contract, over which talks between the union and ports management broke down in June and have not resumed. Cruise operations at ports would continue.

“To stop trade entering the U.S. on such a large-scale, even for short period of time, is highly-damaging to the economy so government intervention will be needed to bring the matter to a resolution for the good of the nation,” warned Peter Sand, chief shipping analyst at Xeneta.

“A strike lasting just one week will impact schedules for ships leaving the Far East on voyages to the U.S. in late December and throughout January.”

While some logistics managers say Canada and the West Coast are options for vessels to divert to and unload cargo, the ILA has union chapters at the Atlantic Coast and Great Lakes ports in Canada. […]

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“New York benefits from being a global city… we have access to global capital customers in other cities,” said Jacob Hennessy, who runs the New York Robotics Network, a nonprofit that aims to make the city a hub for robot innovation. “We’re seeing a lot of companies relocate to New York … but we are trying to tell the story that you can start here.”

Opentrons, a Long Island City-based company that creates “robots for biologists,” is a good example of that.

The firm, whose name is a nod to the open-source technology and artificial intelligence it uses to program its electronics, was founded in Brooklyn in 2014. A decade later, Opentrons has notched a $1.8 billion valuation and attracted investors, including Bill Gates and billionaire tech founder and venture capitalist Vinod Khosla.

The company eliminates the manual labor, like pipetting, involved in conducting experiments and testing lab samples, so scientists are freed up for more high-level work.

The price of the robots starts at $10,000. With the advent of AI tools like ChatGPT, researchers can use Opentrons AI software to write prompts for robots in plain language — like requesting to run a COVID test — and the machine handles the rest. […]

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So, whether you’re filling up the car or ordering a sandwich for lunch, you may get to the checkout to discover you can’t pay with cash.

Retailers have said the move will reduce queues, but its not been without controversy.

Many have said it will make life harder for some customers.

One customer commented on X: “Even if you ‘don’t mind’ cashless, stop being so smug and inconsiderate and think about the elderly, disabled and those on lower incomes who budget better with cash.” […]

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Another guy in line started laughing “because there’s no place in the ballpark where you can spend cash,” said Dickson.

Dickson, 85, who is an Orioles fan while his son and grandson are Nationals’ fans, paid for the $17.50 beer by credit card. He knew that the Nationals’ home stadium, Nationals Park, had become a cashless stadium, but he didn’t know other baseball stadiums, like Camden Yards also stopped accepting cash.

Dickson, a book author, is not opposed to using his credit card or other methods of payment. Before he moved to an independent living facility, he had most of his bills on auto pay from his checking account. He still writes a check occasionally and he’s had a Paypal account for years.

But Dickson said he’s offended that his choice to use cash where he wants is slowly becoming more limited.

“It’s not that I’m livid. It’s not some injustice, but it’s sort of this thing where I say ‘Wait, it’s my money. I’ll pay you however I want,’ ” said Dickson. “It’s almost like they’re (businesses) saying ‘Well, we’re removing an option, which is for our benefit.” […]

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This, however, has some experts worried that the modest growth of sausage sales is indicative of deeper-rooted economic turmoil as the price of necessities continues to climb.

“People at the end of the day are trading down right now,” Kelly Lester, a policy analyst for the Center for Food, Power & Life at the John Locke Foundation told “Fox & Friends” on Thursday. “Budgets are strained and people are really feeling the effects of the last few years of inflation when it comes to the grocery store.”

The Texas Manufacturing Outlet Survey released a report this week indicating the climb in sausage sales can be considered an indication that the economy is struggling more than consumers realize.“We are seeing modest growth in our category of dinner sausage, […]

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