Wiki News Live
Today:
Forget a first-day stock drop. The bigger story is how Jersey Mike's reached historic IPO status.
NEWS | 31 July 2026
Jersey Mike's made its public debut on Thursday, and the market responded by taking a bite out of its $7.3 billion initial valuation. After pricing in the middle of its IPO range at $23 per share, Jersey Mike's struggled in its first day of public trading. But don't let a single partial day of trading take away from the historic nature of the Jersey Mike's IPO. The $7.3 billion initial valuation was nearly double the next-closest in US history (Dutch Bros Coffee, in 2021). For Jersey Mike's, it's clear that rapid, franchise-led growth remains the long-term plan.

Top Stories:
Smart People React to Situational Awareness Stock Sell Off to Citadel
NEWS | 31 July 2026
People can't stop talking about the situation at Situational Awareness. After a meteoric rise, Leopold Aschenbrenner's AI-focused hedge fund, Situational Awareness, was forced to sell most of its publicly traded stock portfolio to Citadel following steep losses on AI-related positions in recent weeks. The fund held onto its private investments, including its stake in Anthropic. Many reactions and memes also focused on Ken Griffin, the billionaire founder of Citadel. Here's what smart people in tech and investing are saying about the situation.

World:
Trump's robot ban aims to counter China. US startups fear it could leave them behind.
NEWS | 31 July 2026
The Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday effectively shut the door on new foreign-made "advanced robotic devices," citing "unacceptable risks" to national security. "I would never put a Unitree robot into a customer site and hook it up to the internet as it comes out of the box," Meyer said. Chinese humanoids and quadrupeds are among the few platforms that smaller teams can afford. Elon Musk has estimated that it could eventually cost Tesla between $20,000 and $25,000 to manufacture Optimus, the company's humanoid robot, once production scales. Another analysis found that Unitree robots used at MIT, Princeton, and Carnegie Mellon may have been exposed to the same flaw.

Current Events:
New Data: ChatGPT Fills With More Ads, Bigger Brands Like Home Depot
NEWS | 31 July 2026
According to newly released US data from the market intelligence firm Sensor Tower, ChatGPT users on the mobile app saw roughly twice as many ads per hour this July as they did in April. Mainstream brands are also picking up steam on ChatGPT, per Sensor Tower's estimates. For July, those companies have dropped out of Sensor Tower's top 10, replaced by major brands like Booking Holdings, Intuit, Home Depot, and L.L.Bean. Sensor Tower's estimates are based largely on data from a user panel and third-party data sources, Abe Yousef, senior insights analyst, told Business Insider. Advertisers previously told Business Insider that self-serve ChatGPT's ad product, launched in May, is rudimentary compared to the services run by Google and Meta.

News Flash:
An AI startup's tattoo-for-an-interview stunt set off a Silicon Valley backlash. Now the founder is apologizing.
NEWS | 31 July 2026
Tattoos, company logos, and deleted apologies — oh my. Jordan Zietz, the cofounder of the small AI automation startup LemonLime, wrote about the stunt in a since-deleted X post on Tuesday. "7 people left with new ink," Zietz wrote on X. In that apology, Zietz wrote that no one at the party was asked to get a company logo tattoo. "There's no clever explanation here," Zietz wrote in his apology.

Sponsored:
Remote Monitoring App
SPONSORED | 31 July 2026
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Latest:
Amazon is proving you don't need the best model to win the AI race
NEWS | 31 July 2026
Amazon's earnings on Thursday highlighted a surprising idea gaining traction across Silicon Valley: You don't need the best models to win in AI. Those gains came from the cloud giant running many different AI models from leading providers such as Anthropic and OpenAI. During a call with analysts he said there won't be a single AI model that dominates the industry. Rather than trying to win solely on model performance, Amazon has focused on making Bedrock the centerpiece of it AI strategy. Alexa, for example, has been reducing its reliance on Anthropic's costly models in favor of Amazon's own AI models to lower costs, Business Insider previously reported.

Breaking:
Meet the Gen Z AI whiz at the center of a hedge fund meltdown
NEWS | 31 July 2026
Situational awareness is crucial to understanding what's happening with the hedge fund Situational Awareness — and the mid-20s wunderkind behind it. Heralded as an AI savant, Aschenbrenner worked at, and was quite publicly fired from, OpenAI before founding his now flailing firm. In June of 2024, Aschenbrenner published a 165-page essay titled "Situational Awareness" that helped catapult him to prominence. But right now, there are perhaps a few hundred people, most of them in San Francisco and the AI labs, that have situational awareness. For now, Situational Awareness is holding onto its private portfolio of AI companies, including a stake in Anthropic.

Trending:
What to Say When Quitting a Job — and What Not to Share
NEWS | 31 July 2026
Explaining why you're quitting a job can be tricky, especially if your plans change soon afterward. Sharing any reason for leaving a job, even if nothing later appears to contradict that rationale, can box a person in. The fallout may not be limited to the person leaving. Say you're leaving, thank the organization and your colleagues, and perhaps mention a few highlights from your time there. Should you decide to go ahead and put up a post, consider waiting a few days first, especially if you're feeling emotional.

This Just In:
He works 3 jobs and may have to drain his retirement to afford a $600 student-loan payment surge
NEWS | 31 July 2026
After taking out $80,000 in student loans for undergrad at the University of Tennessee, he thought going straight for his J.D. He said he could have benefited from entering the workforce after high school to earn money before pursuing higher education. "I really didn't have a conception of how much money the student loans truly were and what that would look like down the line," he said. He added that he thought the administration would prioritize affordability, but he doesn't feel that has been the case, citing his experience with student loans. Have a story to share about student loans?

Today:
I worked with Elon Musk and Travis Kalanick in my 20s. Here's what I learned from them about building a company.
NEWS | 31 July 2026
I had the opportunity to learn from and observe Elon Musk. Later, I had the opportunity to work alongside former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick and learn from his approach to scaling a business. What I learned from Elon MuskBecause Tesla was much smaller then, I had a couple of opportunities to interact with Elon Musk and present in meetings. He asked me to think of another entrepreneur besides Elon Musk and Travis Kalanick who had disrupted a complex global industry in such a short period of time. Once I joined, I got to see Travis Kalanick almost every day.

Top Stories:
I was laid off from Nike after 20 years. 3 actions helped me land a new executive role within months.
NEWS | 31 July 2026
In September 2024, just four months after being let go, I started a new executive role as a VP at DICK'S Sporting Goods. Here are three strategies that helped me to quickly land on my feet as a job seeker in my 50s. Prior to being laid off, I'd already started working with an executive career coach, who helped me clarify my value and build a strategy. I activated the network I'd built over my Nike tenureThrough my coaching conversations, I'd also started to network with a lot of different people. The key to finding a new position was that I leaned heavily into this network I'd built.

World:
I left college to be an AI content creator for older adults. Now I make six-figures a month from brand deals — here's how.
NEWS | 31 July 2026
This as-told-to essay is based on conversations with Maverick Maltin, a 19-year-old AI content creator who travels full-time. But in the summer between my first and second year, I became an AI content creator. I left school to become a full-time AI content creator and have been making around six figures a month for the last few months. When it comes to content, it's a cliché, but I always tell people: don't try to reinvent the wheel. I wanted to simplify AI for everyone, but my main audience is middle-aged Americans ages 30 to 65.

Current Events:
I Toured Virgin's Invite-Only 'Royal Box' Lounge, See Inside
NEWS | 31 July 2026
Hidden behind frosted glass and a velvet rope barrier in the corner of Virgin's Clubhouse lounge, the Royal Box opened at Terminal 3 in March 2026. Virgin's bold red branding was present throughout the Royal Box. The Royal Box was small but well-lit and cozy with plenty of drink and food choices. Here's what the Royal Box is like and how to get in. The invite-only Royal Box sits behind a clouded window and red velvet rope.

News Flash:
I've spent 128 hours on overnight Amtrak trains. These are the 8 biggest mistakes I've made.
NEWS | 31 July 2026
I've made far more than eight mistakes in the 128 hours I've spent on overnight Amtrak trains. It all started in October 2021, when I took two 30-hour Amtrak rides between Miami and NYC. My next Amtrak sleeper journey was in January 2025, when I traveled 15 hours from Denver to Salt Lake City. Most recently, in February 2026, I took Amtrak's longest train from Chicago to Emeryville, California, in 53 hours. Looking back on those trips, I've narrowed down my many mistakes to the ones anyone taking their first overnight Amtrak ride can learn from.