"A year ago, the message from many business leaders was that AI was going to wipe out jobs," remembers the Wall Street Journal.But "For the past month or so, tech CEOs have been striking a more optimistic tone."


In late May, OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman — who has long predicted that AI will lead to seismic shifts in the workforce — said during a conference, "We've been roughly right on technological predictions and pretty wrong on the social and economic implications." Soon after, he told CNBC, "Our industry underestimated how much we're going to be able to keep people at the center of everything."

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, who warned in May 2025 that artificial intelligence could eliminate half of entry-level jobs, a year later highlighted more positive scenarios for AI-adopting businesses: "They can do the same thing with less resources, and that leads to things like layoffs, or they can do more with the same amount of resources. But that requires creativity...."

Is the sunnier outlook a move to win back customers and the public who are souring on AI's world-upending promise? Or is the role of AI in the workplace now just better understood...?

Collectively, the narrative has shifted from worker-light doomsday scenarios caused by AI to a future in which workers keep their jobs — and get a productivity boost. The sentiment change isn't limited to tech leaders: A survey by EY-Parthenon found that the percentage of CEOs who believe AI investments will result in significant reductions in head count fell from around 46% in January 2025 to just 20% this May.
"They may have noticed that the labor market is genuinely not changing (i.e., imploding) as rapidly as they expected," said David Autor, a professor of economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "They may have realized it was simply bad business to say that your great new product will destroy the economy."

The article notes Amazon founder Jeff Bezos "has a history of predicting that AI will create new jobs," and in June said AI could even lead to a labor shortage. "When asked on CNBC in May about people being afraid of AI taking jobs, he said the reason they're afraid is because 'all these smart people keep saying that.'"
The article then adds that "Fewer people are saying it now."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

USA Today reports on a Facebook post from a Washington state sheriff's office:

Four residents of Clallam County, a coastal region west of Seattle along northern Washington's peninsula, lost more than $673,000 in just three days, according to the Clallam County Sheriff's Office... The smallest amount lost was $3,500, which someone purchased in Apple gift cards for a scammer posing as an employee with Microsoft technical support, the sheriff's office wrote. Another person lost $50,000 after they clicked on a malicious email and unwittingly granted the scammers access to their financial accounts.

The local Peninsula Daily News reports another scam involved a 64-year-old resident who attempted to contact Coinbase after seeing their account displayed shown as closed:
"Believing they were speaking with a legitimate Coinbase representative, the victim was told there was fraudulent activity on the account and was instructed to download a 'rescue' application," the [sheriff's] release states. "The application allowed the scammer to remotely access the victim's phone." They then convinced the victim to transfer approximately $200,000 worth of cryptocurrency to what was described as a secure wallet. The funds were instead transferred to the scammer and could not be recovered...

In one scam, reported Monday, an 84-year-old Clallam County resident believed they had received an email from their daughter with a photo. After opening the email, a fake Microsoft security alert appeared on the computer directing the victim to call a support number, according to the release. "The victim was transferred to someone claiming to represent the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and was falsely told they were under investigation in a child pornography and money laundering case," the release states. "The scammers instructed the victim not to contact local law enforcement and claimed local banks were also under investigation. The victim was told their bank accounts were in danger of being seized and was instructed to purchase gold to protect their assets." In three separate transactions, the victim purchased approximately $420,000 worth of gold and gave it to an unknown man waiting at the end of their driveway.

"Only after speaking with bank officials did the victim realize they had been defrauded," the release states.

USA Today offers this advice from the sheriff's press release. "These criminals are professional manipulators who prey on fear, trust and urgency. We encourage everyone to pause before sending money, purchasing gold or gift cards, or transferring cryptocurrency. A simple phone call to a trusted family member, your bank or local law enforcement can prevent a life-changing financial loss."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

PARIJS (ANP/BLOOMBERG) - Technologie- en defensieconcern Thales neemt een belang in het Franse Exail Technologies, dat maritieme robotica en navigatiesystemen maakt. Thales meldt een bindende overeenkomst te hebben ondertekend over de overname van het belang van bijna 36 procent van de familie Gorgé. Daarbij wordt Exail gewaardeerd op 3,9 miljard euro.

Thales koopt het hightechbedrijf voor 134 euro per aandeel en wil de rest van de aandelen in handen krijgen via een verplicht openbaar bod. Met de deal wil het Franse concern, dat in Nederland meerdere locaties heeft, zijn aanwezigheid op de markt voor onderwateroorlogvoering versterken.

De aankoop van het belang van de familie Gorgé wordt naar verwachting in het derde kwartaal van volgend jaar afgerond. De deal moet nog worden goedgekeurd door toezichthouders en mededingingsautoriteiten. Exail is op de markt voor onderwaterdrones een concurrent van Thales, het Zweedse Saab en het Noorse Kongsberg Gruppen.

AMSTERDAM (ANP) - De AEX-index op het Damrak is maandag terughoudend begonnen aan de nieuwe week. Beleggers deden het rustig aan na de stevige koerswinsten op vrijdag, waarbij de Stoxx Europe 600, de graadmeter van de grootste zeshonderd Europese bedrijven, een nieuw slotrecord bereikte.

De Nederlandse chipbedrijven ASMI (min 2,6 procent) en ASML (min 1,6 procent) stonden maandag onder druk na het stevige koersherstel op vrijdag. Vooral branchegenoot Besi was een opvallende daler met een verlies van ruim 6 procent.

De Amsterdamse hoofdindex noteerde kort na opening van de markt 0,1 procent hoger op 1084,11 punten. De AEX sloot vrijdag nog 1 procent hoger dankzij koerswinsten van tot ruim 4 procent voor ASMI, Besi en ASML.

Consumentenpsycholoog Patrick Wessels legt uit waarom Nederlanders vaak te veel kleding meenemen op vakantie

Een volle koffer en na afloop toch stapels ongedragen kleding. Voor veel Nederlanders is overpakken een herkenbaar onderdeel van de vakantievoorbereiding. Uit onderzoek van kledingmerk PME Legend, uitgevoerd door PanelWizard, blijkt dat 51% van de Nederlanders kleding meeneemt waarvan ze vooraf al verwachten dat die ongedragen blijft. In totaal draagt 62% op vakantie niet alle kleding die meegaat in de koffer.

Dat is opvallend in een tijd waarin reizen met bagage steeds duurder wordt en de behoefte aan een compactere en functionele garderobe groeit. Nederlanders lijken hun vakantiekoffer bewuster te willen samenstellen, maar laten zich bij het inpakken nog vaak leiden door twijfel: wat als het weer omslaat, de planning verandert of er toch een extra outfit nodig is?

Slim combineren is populair, maar zekerheid wint

Die kloof tussen intentie en gedrag is opvallend, want Nederlanders zijn wel degelijk bewust bezig met hun vakantiegarderobe. Zo geeft 76% aan bewust kleding mee te nemen die op meerdere manieren te combineren is. Eveneens 76% vindt het belangrijker om tijdens de vakantie een eigen stijl te hebben dan het volgen van modetrends.

Toch blijkt slim combineren in de praktijk niet altijd genoeg om de koffer lichter te maken. De angst om iets tekort te komen speelt een grote rol: bijna de helft van de Nederlanders neemt liever extra kleding mee “voor de zekerheid”. Consumentenpsycholoog Patrick Wessels legt uit waar dit vandaan komt: “De angst om te weinig kleding mee te nemen komt voort uit verliesaversie en geanticipeerde spijt. We willen voorkomen dat we iets missen of achteraf denken: had ik dat maar meegenomen. Daarom stoppen we liever iets extra’s in de koffer dan het risico te lopen mis te grijpen.”

Ook speelt voorpret een rol. “Bij het plannen van een vakantie denken we aan allerlei activiteiten: een dagje stad, het strand, sporten of uit eten. Voor al die scenario’s nemen we kleding mee. Daardoor voelt veel inpakken logisch, zelfs als we thuis juist bewust proberen te consuminderen.”

Jongeren willen een tijdloze stijl, maar pakken juist vaak extra in

Onder jongvolwassenen is de wens om bewuster in te pakken nog sterker zichtbaar. Van de 18- tot 30-jarigen probeert 85% bewust kledingstukken mee te nemen die op meerdere manieren te combineren zijn. Ook vindt 86% van deze groep een eigen stijl belangrijker dan het volgen van de laatste modetrends.

Juist daarom is het opvallend dat jongeren in de praktijk relatief vaak overpakken. Meer dan de helft van de 18- tot 30-jarigen is bang om op vakantie te weinig kleding bij zich te hebben. “Opvallend genoeg is juist de generatie die bewust kiest voor een persoonlijke en veelzijdige garderobe ook het meest geneigd om extra kleding mee te nemen ‘voor het geval dat’,” aldus Wessels.

Vrouwen pakken vaker in vanuit twijfel dan mannen

Ook tussen mannen en vrouwen zijn duidelijke verschillen zichtbaar. Waar 33% van de mannen bang is om op vakantie kleding tekort te komen, geldt dat voor 52% van de vrouwen. Die onzekerheid vertaalt zich in extra kleding in de koffer, ook wanneer de kans groot is dat een deel daarvan ongedragen terugkomt.

Uiteindelijk lijkt overpakken vooral voort te komen uit de behoefte om op alles voorbereid te zijn, maar ook uit de voorpret die bij vakantie hoort. Nederlanders willen hun vakantiekoffer bewuster samenstellen, maar houden in de praktijk graag opties achter de hand.

WHO, ME? Welcome to another installment of "Who, Me?" – The Register's Monday column that celebrates mistakes readers make at work and reveals their escape routes. This week, meet a reader we'll Regomize as "Kara" who told us that in 1999 she scored an apprenticeship with a now-bankrupt telecoms equipment manufacturer. The gig saw Kara study software engineering one day a week and spend the rest of her time at work, where she was exposed to different roles in the company so she could learn how the business worked. Some of the roles were technical, others not so much. None lasted more than three months. The one Kara remembers best involved being dumped onto the company's Y2K supplier audit program, which was being run by the procurement team. "They were writing a physical letter to every supplier we had ever dealt with, asking them to provide a statement that they were Y2K compliant," she explained. To make that happen, Kara was told to extract data from a Unix minicomputer and manually transcribe it into an Access database. That stultifying job was necessary because the source data didn't include fields needed for the mailout. "I decided that this process was stupid," Kara told The Register, "and it was made worse that every purchase the company had ever made was in the database. Even the local junior football club." Kara asked for permission to access the Unix box so she could automate the process, but was denied. "They didn't trust a spotty 19-year-old with that sort of power, so it was time to get creative," she wrote. Her creativity expressed itself in a script that used a telnet client to query the source database on the minicomputer and dump the results into Access. She showed it to her temporary boss on the procurement team, who liked it – but didn't realize that the script froze the PC it ran on. "I had a very easy month of reading a book and jiggling the mouse to prevent the screensaver from activating," Kara admitted. And then she rotated into the next role, taking with her a glowing report from the procurement manager. That report helped Kara to get a full-time job at the company. "I was made third-line support on a new team," she told Who, Me? "And then a ticket came in about an Access database in procurement that isn't working…" Have you left behind a mess you ended up having to clean up yourself? If so, click here to share your story with Who, Me? We would love the chance to apply some polish and share it with your fellow Reg readers. ®

The combined drone and missile attack comes just a few days after the deadliest Russian assault on the Ukrainian capital this year.