A new UCLA report found fewer opportunities for women and creators of color in streaming films last year, even as diverse audiences continued to drive viewership. Ana-Christina Ramón and researchers at UCLA’s Entertainment and Media Research Initiative reported that representation in streaming films declined across several categories in 2025. The study found that non-white leads accounted…
Token prices have dropped 280 times in two years. Enterprise AI budgets have grown nearly 6x in the same period. The math is not a contradiction — it is a mechanism. The cost of an AI query has fallen roughly 280 times over the past two years. The average enterprise AI budget has grown from $1.2 million annually in 2024 to $7 million in 2026. Both numbers are…
A state legislature is using an unrelated capital fund as leverage against a university’s own institutional decision. A state legislature is using an unrelated capital fund as leverage against a university’s own institutional decision. South Carolina State University, the state’s only public HBCU, is now caught in budget negotiations after several Republican members of the…
The Company Formerly Known as Allbirds Is Making a Different Bet | SSC Social Storytellers Collective Business & Professional Life Capital & Identity The Company Formerly Known as Allbirds Is Making a Different Bet The footwear brand built around sustainable sneakers is now trying to sell AI infrastructure. The shift says as much about where…
Chicago Is Subsidizing Entry Into a Market Wages No Longer Unlock | SSC Social Storytellers Collective Structural Reality Housing & Wages Chicago Is Subsidizing Entry Into a Market Wages No Longer Unlock The city’s new homebuyer assistance program offers up to $70,000. The grant is a housing intervention, but it also admits how far wages…
In Britain, growth forecasts are weak. But the argument investors are making isn’t about stimulus — it’s about predictability. Britain‘s economy grew 0.0% in January 2026. The forecast for the full year is roughly 1%. Both numbers describe an economy that is not contracting, but is not moving, either. What’s unusual about the current moment is not the numbers…
The Obama Presidential Center opens on Juneteenth — a deliberate choreography. A museum dedicated to the country’s first Black president, opening on the federal holiday commemorating the end of slavery, in a historically Black neighborhood on Chicago‘s South Side. The symbolism is complete. The story underneath it is more complicated. The campus cost $850 million to build. Admission will cost $30 — more than…
Britain announced this week that it will ban social media access for users under 16, backed by age-verification requirements that will require anyone opening a new account to prove their age with a government-issued ID or pass a facial age scan. The regulations are expected before the end of the year, with implementation in Spring…
Kevin Warsh has been chair of the Federal Reserve for less than a year, and his first major move is not a rate change. It is an org chart. Warsh announced five task forces this week covering communications, the balance sheet, data, productivity and jobs, and the Fed’s inflation framework. Each pairs internal staff with…
The company didn’t restore the 700 jobs it cut. It built a flexible labor pool to patch what the AI still can’t handle — and that’s the more durable story. Klarna spent 2023 and 2024 as the clearest public case for AI replacing white-collar work outright. The company eliminated roughly 700 customer service positions, partnered…