5 – Breaking News & Latest Updates 2026
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Mia Sato

Mia Sato

Features Writer, The Verge

Features Writer, The Verge

    More From Mia Sato

    Mia Sato
    Mia Sato
    Does AI save workers time?

    A survey of 5,000 white collar workers suggests experiences differ greatly between CEOs and non-management employees. Forty percent of workers say it saves them no time each week to use AI and just two percent say it saves them more than 12 hours. Meanwhile, two percent of executives say they don’t save any time, and 19 percent say it saves them more than 12 hours a week.

    Mia Sato
    Mia Sato
    More K-beauty is coming to stores near you.

    Sephora is partnering with Korean beauty retailers Olive Young to bring more K-beauty products to international consumers in-store and online. In the last decade, K-beauty has had a meteoric rise outside of Korea; the industry has especially thrived in the TikTok social media era, where new products and releases are used to relentlessly drive beauty trends. Now US retailers are in an “arms race” to cash in on the popularity.

    I saw the future of retail, and it’s all AI

    From window shopping and browsing to reviews and recommendations, retailers and tech companies envision a future filled with artificial intelligence — whether shoppers want it or not.

    Mia Sato
    Mia Sato
    Mia Sato
    Is your product on Amazon without you realizing?

    Small businesses told Modern Retail they were shocked to find their products for sale on Amazon without their consent as part of a “Buy For Me” feature the retail giant announced in 2025. Some sellers actively choose not to associate with Amazon; others found errors in listings on the platform, or that Amazon was selling out-of-stock items.

    It’s part of a larger push by retailers into AI-powered agentic shopping — that’s now causing headaches for humans.

    Mia Sato
    Mia Sato
    Anthropic’s AI vending machine tried to order stun guns to the Wall Street Journal.

    During testing, the AI agent also ordered a PlayStation5 and live betta fish, and staffers convinced it to give away almost everything for free, losing a bunch of money. Sounds fun!

    Anthropic’s response was that this was all part of the stress testing plan, actually, and that one day the model would “probably be able to make you a lot of money.” Maybe just not any time soon.

    A vague study on Nazi bots created chaos in the Taylor Swift fan universe

    An analysis of social media posts following Swift’s album release found “inauthentic” activity online. The Taylor Swift media ecosystem is divided over what it means.

    Mia Sato
    Mia Sato
    Mia Sato
    Ringo Starr accidentally crashed a gambler’s livestream.

    The Beatles drummer pops into the corner of a livestream titled “Airport Gamble Sesh” and asks the streamer if he’s “on the radio.” At one point, Starr gets right up to the camera, apparently trying to make sense of whatever is happening on the stream. The streamer seems to have zero idea who Ringo is while viewers try to tell him in the chat. Starr pretty quickly leaves the area because the streamer keeps coughing and seems to be sick.

    “Beatle Ringo?” the streamer asks while reading a comment. “Who is that?”