Why AI’s easiest wins are misleading CEOs - McKinsey & Company

Lucy Zheng and her husband have built a household with 10 income streams. Lucy Zheng has been building side businesses since 2012, when she was looking to supplement the income from her first job out of law school and pay down student loans. Her first project was a fashion blog. "Blogging was a huge thing back in 2012," she told Business Insider. It was also cheap to get into. Aside from a "semi-decent camera," she said, "there was virtually no cost. "Over the past 14 years, Zheng and her husband have tried a range of ventures, from Etsy shops to a bounce-house business. Not all of them worked, but each venture gave Zheng skills she used to inform the next. Her fashion blog taught her website-building and graphic-design skills, which she and her husband used to create a physical wedding planner. Later, their experience importing the planners and working with overseas factories helped them start a real estate sign business. "Everything builds on stuff we did in the past," she said. Her biggest flopsMore than a decade of side hustling has inevitably brought failures. Zheng and her husband once tried to sell tote bags made from recycled plastic.

Scott Bessent invoked "The Silence of the Lambs" while discussing government regulation of AI. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had some things to say about pro-regulation tech leaders that might go down better with fava beans and a nice Chianti. During a Saturday appearance on "The Axios Show," Bessent compared CEOs who want the government to slap guardrails on AI to a reviled cinematic figure. "I mean, it's kind of like Hannibal Lecter: Stop me before I kill again," Bessent said. "This alarmism without solutions by some of the AI community — that's not leadership. "Bessent invoked "The Silence of the Lambs" serial killer while saying that AI bosses who want Washington to erect guardrails for the tech they are building should slow down development themselves without government intervention. Bessent's comments are in line with the White House's response to the chorus of AI leaders who last month called for an organized slowdown among AI companies, citing fears that their technology is getting out of control. Some, like Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, asked the US government to step in and regulate the companies.

Comedian Nate Bargatze dished on his early career at a conference. Nate Bargatze's first jobs weren't fancy. Pizza deliveryman, valet driver, mover — titles that "were always exactly what the job was," he said. "I remember going to one house, and they wanted me to go buy them beer," he recalled of his time working for Pizza Hut. "They'd give you a little extra cash, and you'd be like, 'Alright, that's nice.' A little extra $20 in the pocket, and you go. "Bargatze's career is now much more flashy. He's hosted SNL twice, starred in his own Netflix specials, headlined national tours, and is the leading man in Ford ad campaigns. And that's how Business Insider met Bargatze on Wednesday — at Ford's Accelerate conference. He emceed the Detroit event that brought together business leaders to talk about America's skilled-trades shortage. We asked Baratze about building a dream career. His response was remarkably similar to what CEOs at the conference were saying — but perhaps with less corporate frou-frou. Their main piece of advice: Don't expect your first role to be the dream job, and once you find an opening, make the most of it. A retail beginning?