Business

Some shoppers are using AI agents like Instinct and Muse to find and order products for them. AI agents like Instinct and Muse are quickly becoming personal shoppers — and some are finding the tools need to be kept on a short leash. From finding cheap airline tickets to ordering groceries, three shoppers told Business Insider that they are using the agents to automate parts of their shopping. Some say the decision has saved them time and found them deals they would not have found on their own. But even those impressed with AI agents as shopping assistants say they're using them carefully. Sometimes, the agents order the wrong thing. In other cases, users say they want to make the purchase themselves, or at least add another layer of security, rather than handing their credit card information directly to AI. The shoppers' experiences also point to a big question as the holiday shopping season approaches: How much can shoppers delegate, if they want to at all, to AI agents?

“My sister and I never had the opportunity to be an accountant,” Ryland Moranz told me. “Music is kind of the family business.” Such was the life trajectory for singer-songwriter Ryland Moranz. Almost 40 years ago, his parents helped create the South Country Fair in Fort Macleod, AB.

Kathleen Holton studies the link between diet and neurological changes, searching for strategies to use food in optimizing brain health. US Navy Chaplain Deb Mariya had been struggling with PTSD and fibromyalgia for decades, unable to find relief despite trying every treatment she could find, from medication to acupuncture. Then a new diet changed her life, she told Business Insider. Maryia said that she had developed escalating symptoms after deploying to Kuwait in 1991's Operation Desert Storm, amid black clouds of burning oil and debris-laden sandstorms. In the more than 30 years since, persistent brain fog has prevented Maryia from thinking clearly. An autoimmune condition attacked her bones and joints, leaving her in need of hip replacement surgery, but unable to heal properly afterward, causing life-threatening complications. Then in 2024, Maryia enrolled in an experimental clinical trial for veterans. The goal: to test whether cutting out a compound common in processed foods could alleviate symptoms of a mysterious condition known as Gulf War Illness. The syndrome is a collection of neurological issues like joint problems, severe fatigue, and mood disturbances.

Elon Musk is known for making outlandish predictions. Elon Musk is known for having planet-sized ambitions, and his latest pronouncement lives up to that billing. "This will sound super crazy, but I see a path to SpaceX being worth orders of magnitude more than the current Earth economy," the Tesla and SpaceX CEO wrote in a Thursday post on X. The International Monetary Fund projected in April that the total value of world output, measured at market exchange rates, would hit $126 trillion this year. SpaceX had a $2.2 trillion market capitalization at Thursday's close, meaning the global economy is worth roughly 57 times more. Musk's vision of SpaceX becoming at least two orders of magnitude — 100 times — more valuable suggests it will one day have a market cap in excess of $12 quadrillion. All else being equal, SpaceX's stock price would have to rise 5,500-fold to achieve that valuation, meaning $1,000 invested today would skyrocket in value to $5.5 million. This will sound super crazy, but I see a path to SpaceX being worth orders of magnitude more than the current Earth economy— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 8, 2026

My kids came first. At 50, I finally went to law school. Nancy Vinsel wanted to be a lawyer, but raising her kids came first.

AWS CEO Matt Garman says he wants Amazon to be more upfront about how data centers already affect daily life. "If you usually go to a community and say, 'Do you not want to use Netflix?' They'll go, 'No, no, I still want Netflix,'" Garman said during a recent interview on the "A16z Show" podcast. Garman's point is that services like Netflix, which rely on AWS' cloud, require the very data centers that Americans increasingly oppose. His comments underscore how the industry is trying to respond to data centers becoming a political pariah. "I think we need to be more vocal and be more upfront because we actually do a ton that's really beneficial," he said. Netflix has been an Amazon customer for years. In 2016, Netflix said it decided it needed to move to the cloud after a 2008 disruption that left it unable to ship DVDs out to customers for three days. In its 2025 annual report, the streaming giant said it runs "the vast majority of our computing on AWS," to the point that switching to another provider would be difficult.

This is an as-told-to essay based on a conversation for our video series The Pay Check with Robert John Burck II, also known as the Naked Cowboy, a Times Square street performer. It has been edited for length and clarity. I'm Robert John Burck II. I exist to get my alter ego, the Naked Cowboy, to Times Square. I make roughly $150,000 a year, on average, singing and playing my guitar for tourists and locals in New York City. In my best year, I have earned as much as $250,000, and I have had previous consecutive years when I have only made $25,000 to $30,000 — this was just enough to go to work. Burck holds up tips he made after working in Times Square.

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, introduces Dots at the company's developer conference I attended a training at OpenAI's office in San Francisco recently. It was all about Dots, the company's new AI agent offering. I sat in a room with about 30 other tech journalists, OpenAI PR reps, and a developer rep. Alexander Embiricos, the Dots product lead, popped in too. If you had the correct ChatGPT account, at least a Pro subscription, your Dot was there waiting. Mine was because Business Insider has an enterprise account. I fired mine up and called it alidot, with a cute wise owl as the avatar. Then… we had to think of something to do with our Dot. This is the challenge for a bunch of journalists who are not the most technical people on the planet — even tech journos. A website! I decided to have alidot make a website that I've been thinking about doing for years. My wife is obsessed with strange deaths, especially when the person dying has done something silly and knows it. She regularly finds news on these unfortunate and regretful endings, and I've always thought she should create a Tumblr-style site to collect the gruesome yarns.

CHANGSHA, China, Oct. 10, 2026 /CNW/ -- Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science & Technology Co., Ltd. ("Zoomlion") is expanding its mining machinery business and strengthening international operations. In the first half of 2026, its mining machinery business grew by more than 57.20% year on year, while company-wide international revenue rose 12.45% to RMB 15.535 billion, accounting for 57.25% of total revenue. Zoomlion is developing its construction, agricultural and mining machinery businesses across three major global equipment markets. Its mining portfolio covers excavation, loading, haulage, crushing and screening. Flagship models include the ZE4000G, a 400-tonne mining excavator, and the ZTE520 hybrid electric-drive mining truck, with a rated payload of 300 tonnes. Zoomlion's mining engineering roots stretch back decades. In 1987, its predecessor, the Changsha Construction Machinery Research Institute, received a State Council award for developing a complete open-pit mining system capable of handling 10 million tonnes a year.

DEAR MISS MANNERS: I have been going to a nail salon twice a month for two years. The owner and staff are all Vietnamese. My manicurist gives wonderful mani-pedis, and I have no complaints about the service. At some point during each appointment, and sometimes several times while I am there, the owner and some employees will have a conversation in Vietnamese. This happens in front of me and other customers. They sometimes laugh afterwards, especially after someone leaves the salon. I believe they are making comments about their customers. I understand they may feel comfortable in their native language. Unfortunately, this is not the first salon where I have encountered this. I feel so awkward when it happens, but I’m really uncomfortable bringing it up. What is the best way to handle this? Do I need to change salons? If I were to say something, what would you suggest? Can I express how awkward this feels? I would like to remain a customer there. GENTLE READER: Learn how to speak Vietnamese. Miss Manners is not suggesting a “gotcha” moment where you go on the attack, trying to prove that these employees are berating their customers.

Maria Koutsogiannis is a recipe developer and author of the cookbook "Greek Out. " Maria Koutsogiannis remembers her yiayia making makaronia me kima — a Greek-style spaghetti with meat sauce — for her and her siblings on repeat as a child. Each summer, she'd spend three months in her parents' home country, Greece, and soak up the aromas of classic Mediterranean dishes. Growing up in Saskatchewan, Canada, these yearly trips were her introduction to the Mediterranean diet and lifestyle. "We had homes in the city of Astros, which is a coastal city, where we'd go to the beach, and we were lucky enough to just bathe in the sun all day. And it was really just eat, ocean, sleep, eat, hang out, repeat daily," Koutsogiannis told Business Insider. Now a Greek "food obsessive," recipe developer, and author of the cookbook "Greek Out," Koutsogiannis spends hours every week making, eating, and thinking about the diet of some of the world's longest-living people.

The designer leaned into the glamour and sex appeal of the storied Parisian fashion house. Sales nearly tripled during his tenure before sliding in recent years.

Manulife has appointed Sinéad O’Connor (pictured) as chief actuary, effective October 12, filling a senior role left vacant by the sudden death of Stephanie Fadous last month. O’Connor will report to president and CEO Phil Witherington and join Manulife’s executive leadership team. She will lead the insurer’s Actuarial, Inforce and Reinsurance teams.

SURREY, British Columbia — B. C. NDP Leader David Eby is promising a new $500-million relief fund for small and medium-sized businesses struggling with U. S. tariffs and recent wildfires, combining interest-free financing with incentives to hire young workers. The proposal, announced during the provincial election campaign, would establish a Small Business Tariff and Wildfire Relief Fund if the B. C. NDP returns to government after the October 24 election. Qualifying businesses could access interest-free loans of up to $1 million, repayable over as long as 72 months.