The A.I. Boom Has an Unlikely Early Winner: Wonky Consultants

After ChatGPT came out in 2022, the marketing team at Reckitt Benckiser, which makes Lysol and Mucinex, was convinced that new artificial intelligence technology could help its business. But the team was uncertain about how, so it turned to Boston Consulting Group for help. Reckitt’s request was one of hundreds that Boston Consulting Group received…

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Off to Norway, With Three A.I. Travel Assistants

The assignment was clear: Test how well artificial intelligence could plan a trip to Norway, a place I’d never been. So I did none of my usual obsessive online research and instead asked three A.I. planners to create a four-day itinerary. None of them, alas, mentioned the saunas or the salmon. Two assistants were, however,…

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Biden Officials Pressed Trans Medical Group to Change Guidelines for Minors, Court Filings Show

Health officials in the Biden administration pressed an international group of medical experts to remove age limits for adolescent surgeries from guidelines for care of transgender minors, according to newly unsealed court documents. Age minimums, officials feared, could fuel growing political opposition to such treatments. Email excerpts from members of the World Professional Association for…

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The Everything Guide to Partying (Without Regrets)

Forty-three highly sociable people, from Ivy Getty to Rufus Wainwright, offer tips on how to be a stellar guest and a gracious host. Read this before you say yes to the next invitation. As the summertime social whirl was about to begin, we asked dozens of socially adept people — socialites, artists, designers, restaurateurs, party…

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Volkswagen Will Invest Up to $5 Billion in EV Maker Rivian

Volkswagen, the German automaker, said on Tuesday that it would invest up to $5 billion in Rivian, a maker of electric trucks that has struggled to turn a profit, and that the companies would cooperate on software for electric vehicles. The deal creates an unusual alliance between the world’s second-largest carmaker and an electric vehicle…

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