Thousands of artists are calling on world renowned auction house, Christie’s, to cancel an upcoming sale of AI-generated artwork.

At the time of writing, the letter has gathered 3,556 signatures but also added more fuel to the flames in the debate about the content that AI models are trained on, especially whether copyrighted works can be used.

There are already lawsuits taking place over this issue, but some AI pioneers – notably OpenAI – are claiming that they simply can’t train their models without accessing materials they don’t own.

Mass Theft

The letter now has signatories from around the world, all of whom are petitioning Nicole Sales Giles and Sebastian Sanchez of Christie’s in New York, to stop the sale. Not only is it copyright infringement, they write, but it actually “incentivizes AI companies’ mass theft of human artists’ work”.

“Many of the artworks you plan to auction were created using AI models that are known to be trained on copyrighted work without a license. These models, and the companies behind them, exploit human artists, using their work without permission or payment to build commercial AI products that compete with them.”

The Guardian adds that two of the artists involved – Karla Ortiz and Kelly McKernan – are currently suing AI companies with accusations that they used their works without permission.

What Do the Artists Want?

According to the letter, artists essentially want the Augmented Intelligence auction stopped. They write: “We ask that, if you have any respect for human artists, you cancel the auction.” The auction is due to start on February 20th and features 20 lots with price tags up to $250,000.

However, Christie’s seems to be having none of it and told The Guardian that “in most cases” the AI used by the digital artists was trained using their “own inputs.” The spokesperson also said that many of the artists in the sale are “multidisciplinary” and some have works in the collections of “leading” museums.

Copyright Stalemate

Some of the artists who created the AI works have also jumped to their own defense. However, this auction is now becoming a battle in a far-reaching, global war.

Creators – whether artists, writers, actors and musicians – want to protect their copyright. They do not want their works used without permission to train AI models. They want control over how their work is used and by who. And they want financial recompense if they do agree to works being used by AI companies that they make agreements with.

However, AI companies want to innovate and iterate; and they claim they can’t do this if they do not have access to the training material they need. AI development is also pricey and the US firms are up against Chinese ventures who may have less regulations about sticky matters like copyright.

This doesn’t seem to be a matter that will be settled anytime soon; but all eyes are currently on Christie’s and its decision – not least as this could set a precedent in how AI-created art work is perceived and valued.

For $15 a month, T-Mobile customers will soon be able to subscribe to use Elon Musk’s cellular Starlink service.

T-Mobile made the announcement after it was given regulatory approval to offer the service commercially. Last year, the option had been used for emergency texting and alerts in disaster zones.

Starlink has been a lifeline for people unable to access land-based communications services over the last few years, including helping Ukrainians stay online during Russia’s illegal invasion of the country. This is now, though, a step towards wider spread usage.

Beta Mode

For now, the service is in beta and users can sign up online to participate. However, starting in July, T-Mobile subscribers will be able to access the service on most plans for $15 a month. Those who got involved with the trial get the perk of a $10 per month subscription. Reports suggest that it will be included at no extra charge for users on the company’s Go5G Next plan.

“It’s a massive technical achievement and an absolute game changer for all wireless users. We’re still in the early days – I don’t want to overhype the experience during a beta test – but we’re officially putting ‘no bars’ on notice. Dead zones, your days are numbered at the Un-carrier.” – Mike Sievert, T-Mobile president and CEO

What Do T-Mobile Users Actually Get?

T-Mobile users will get access to Starlink’s fleet of satellites. In fact, as of January 30th, 2025, there are 6,994 Starlink satellites in orbit, of which 6,957 are working, according to Space.com and astronomer Jonathan McDowell

Subscribers can use these satellites to send and receive messages, make and receive calls, and they will also get some data access. This facility is especially useful in remote areas, like the more than 500,000 square miles of the US T-Mobile says is “unreached by any carrier’s earth-bound cell towers. It’s also handy if you are out at sea.

The service will work for text messages “for now with picture messages, data and voice calls coming later,” adds T-Mobile.

Rival Carriers Included

T-Mobile has also announced that the service will be available to everyone, including AT&T and Verizon customers, in a move that the carrier admitted to PC Mag in the UK was forced by Verizon.

Clint Patterson, SVP of marketing for T-Mobile, said in an interview that the company wasn’t originally planning on offering its new service to customers with rival carriers but the Verizon Superbowl ad changed their mind.

The ad featured NASA astronaut Buzz Aldrin using a Verizon phone to “conquer dead zones” using satellite “to text from anywhere.”

The service is only open to these customers, though, if their existing phones support a digital SIM card.

If you have a Microsoft 365 subscription, be warned that a price hike will be coming your way if you don’t opt out of Microsoft Copilot.

The notifications are now going out about the subscription increases, which were mooted last month.

However, users are already sharing how to avoid the price hike and grumbling that they feel Microsoft is foisting its AI offerings on them by making it tricky to opt out.

How Much Will Subs Increase By?

According to GeekWire, Microsoft 365 Personal will cost $9.99/month and $99.99/year, which is up from $6.99/month and $69.99/year. Microsoft 365 Family will cost $12.99/month and $129.99/year, increasing from $9.99/month and $99.99/year.

This is the first time that the company has increased the price of Microsoft 365 Personal and Family in the US since their release. The launch of both packages in March 2020 came about when Microsoft rebranded the consumer plans of Office 365. 

Rising Costs

The message received by Microsoft 365 subscribers says that the price hike is down to the “value” Microsoft says it has added “over the past decade,” “rising costs,” and the investment needed “to continue to deliver new innovations.”

A Bluesky user named John Bull shared the message but warned fellow subscribers that this isn’t an inflationary increase but essentially a “Copilot fee.” What you are paying for is Microsoft’s Copilot in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneNote, he suggested.

He also warned that opting out isn’t a simple process and users have to hit the “cancel subscription” option to be able to opt out of the Copilot package. Other Bluesky users responded, saying that they had ignored the message as though it was a price hike that they couldn’t do anything about. As The Register writes, it is therefore the decision to go with an opt-out instead of opt-in method that is causing a stink.

Price Increase Isn’t a Surprise

Users were actually told that changes were afoot in a blog post published last month. Bryan Rognier, Vice President of Microsoft 365 Consumer, shared there would be a price hike for users.

“To reflect the extensive subscription benefits that we’ve added over the past 12 years and enable us to deliver new innovations for years to come, we’re increasing the prices of Microsoft 365 Personal and Family in the US…” – Bryan Rognier, Vice President of Microsoft 365 Consumer

The blog post was primarily focused on the news that the company was now including Copilot in Microsoft 365 Personal and Family packages. Rognier shared that subscribers would receive “a monthly allotment of AI credits to use Copilot in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneNote.”  The company had already given access to Microsoft Copilot Pro to “consumer early adopters” so this was “the next big step.”

He added that “existing subscribers with recurring billing enabled with Microsoft can switch to plans without Copilot or AI credits” like the company’s Basic plan. There is also the option “for a limited time,” to switch to the new Personal Classic or Family Classic plans.

While this all seems simple, subscribers are cross because avoiding the automatic “upgrade” is far harder than it should be; and the wording of the notification seems to be suggest that no action was required (or that there were options available).

There are, however, many subscribers who may want to keep Copilot after a month of playing about with it; and so Microsoft will be hoping this little storm blows away quickly.

Mark Zuckerberg’s warning of “an intense year” are coming to pass as the lay-offs threatened mid-January will kick off today.

Notices will start landing in employees’ inboxes from this morning with cuts felt right across Europe, US, Asia and Africa.

Meta is keeping tight-lipped about exactly where the cuts will be felt; but there is sure to be updates as disgruntled staff contact the press.

“Performance Terminations”

Zuckerberg had warned that 5% of the company would lose their roles and that job cuts were to be tied to performance. “This is going to be an intense year, and I want to make sure we have the best people on our teams,” he said, adding: “I’ve decided to raise the bar on performance management and move out low performers faster.”

Now, details are starting to emerge. The Information broke the story after having eyes on a memo from Meta’s Head of People Janelle Gale sent out on Friday.

In it, she said that “performance terminations” would start today and would impact employees in more than a dozen countries. However, adds Reuters, employees in Germany, France, Italy and the Netherlands have a reprieve “due to local regulations”.

This round of lay-offs is being handled differently from previous culls though as offices are being kept open today and, said Gale, the company would not be giving further details on its decisions.

Firing and Hiring at Meta

It is also being reported that on the same day as Gale’s memo went out, another, from VP of Engineering for Monetization Peng Fan, said that the company is also now looking out for new talent.

Fan asked staffers to reach out to people they knew who could quickly fill machine learning and other “business critical” engineering roles. “Thank you for your continued support in helping us achieve our accelerated hiring goals, and better align with our company’s priorities for 2025,” he wrote, stating that recruitment would kick off February 11.

AI Focus

Both the slimming down of the workforce and the quest to find new AI talent is a clear indication of where Meta’s focus lies. In a July 2024 letter, Zuckerberg stated, “This year, Llama 3 is competitive with the most advanced models and leading in some areas. Starting next year, we expect future Llama models to become the most advanced in the industry.”

This is ambitious indeed, especially considering the competition that the company is facing, not least from OpenAI, which already seems to have an in with the US Government.

Zuckerberg has a slightly cosier relationship now though with Donald Trump and is quite openly jostling for a place at the table as the President pushes his AI agenda with Project Stargate. But it will be a costly to keep his spot hence the job cuts and the laser focus on finding new staffers to achieve his AI ambitions.

There is never a better time to work from home than the dead of winter. You don’t have to worry about slipping on ice on your way to the train or scraping the snow off your car before hitting the road.

If you’re tired of the winter commute, finding a remote job isn’t as hard as it may seem. Yes, return-to-office mandates have been all the rage lately, but the reality is that businesses like Microsoft are still hiring for positions that allow employees to work from home 100% of the time.

In this guide, we’ll outline some of the remote positions from Microsoft, and provide you with a little insight into why remote work is a good option and how you can land a job once you get the interview.

Fully Remote Jobs at Microsoft for February 2025

If you don’t regularly follow our remote job postings at Tech.co, you might not realize that Microsoft is one of the biggest hirers of work-from-home employees in the tech industry. The tech giant consistent has hundreds of positions that are eligible for the popular employee perk, with the Microsoft career page currently showing 313 work-from-home jobs available.

Below, we’ve highlighted some of the remote jobs you can apply for you today, but make sure to head over to the Microsoft career page and select “100% work from home” in the “Work site” filter to see your other options.

• Senior Software Engineer – Azure Storage (Redmond, WA, USA)
• Machine Learning Engineer II (Vancouver, Canada)
• Senior Software Engineer – Maps team (Belgrade, Serbia)
• Account Executive, Digital Unicorns (Toronto, Canada)
• Strategic Account Technology Specialist (Indianapolis, Indiana)
• Senior Technical Program Manager (Prague, Czech Republic)
• Senior Cyber Security Engineer – Networking (Sydney, Australia)
• Threat Intelligence Analyst (Ottawa, Canada)
• Principal Product Manager (Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil)
• Senior Software Engineering Manager (Bangalore, India)

You’ll also notice that we included the cities and countries in which these positions are based. That is not because they are not remote jobs, but rather because being in the same or similar time zone as your future managers may be important in getting your schedule set.

Is Remote Work Still Good for Business?

Big tech firms like Amazon and Dell have fully embraced the return-to-office movement, fervently insisting that all employees get back to work in-person or face the consequences. As a result, you may think that remote work has lost its luster in 2025, because if the tech industry is getting rid of it, working from home must be bad for business, right?

Well, the reality is that remote work statistics don’t back up these RTO mandates even a little bit. In fact, most studies show than remote work improves productivity, increases employee retention, and can even reduce your company’s carbon footprint.

Even more notable, companies like Amazon and Dell have been in years-long battles with their workforces over their RTO mandates, leading to walkouts and protests that are likely having a negative impact on the culture of the company.

Suffice to say, remote work remains a popular tool for businesses to attract top talent and encourage employee wellbeing over false promises of “in-person collaboration.”

Landing a Remote Job

Now that you’ve found a myriad of remote jobs to apply to, it’s time to actually find a way to land the gig. After all, the job market is notoriously competitive right now for work-from-home positions, so you’re going to want to make sure you stand out among the pack to have a chance.

Luckily, we’ve got some tips for you. For starters, updating your resume to be remote work-friendly is key. If you have any remote work experience already, be sure to highlight that. If not, you’ll want to be sure to showcase your remote work-adjacent skills, like self motivation and good communication, so they know you’ll be able to work outside of the office environment.

After that, you’ll want to prepare for the interview. Doing well in a remote interview can be hard, because you don’t have all the physical cues of an in-person interview, but that doesn’t mean you should change strategies. Be prepared, ask follow-up questions, and demonstrate  your expertise as best you can. On top of that, make sure you create a distraction-free environment for the interview, otherwise you’ll prove that remote work is not for you.

Simply put, finding a remote job is just like finding an in-person job; it takes a lot of steps. But if you remain prepared and determined, you’ll be able to work in your pajamas in no time.

Other Remote Work Opportunities

Microsoft is one of the biggest hirers of remote workers, but it certainly isn’t the only one. In fact, other big tech firms like Google and Apple are hiring remote workers all the time, and we create monthly guides to help you find a position at those companies as well.

Big tech firms aren’t the only ones hiring for remote positions either, with a wide range of businesses out there still letting employees work from home. We have a monthly roundup that showcases remote jobs at other companies, so make sure to come back on a regular basis to see what kind of roles are available to get you out of the office.

A big battle over consumer privacy could be brewing, with UK officials ordering Apple to give them broad access to all encrypted cloud data added by users.

Big tech companies have largely kept governments at bay when it comes to accessing user data. Apple in particular has been stern when it comes to protecting user privacy, pushing back on even the most reasonable requests from government officials to the sake of public safety.

This is an entirely different story, though, with the UK asking for unprecedented access to all encrypted data from Apple, which could change how governments and big tech firms interact moving forward.

UK Serves Apple With ‘Technical Capability Notice’

According to a report from the Washington Post, the UK office of the Home Secretary has sent Apple a “technical capacity notice,” demanding that the company give them access to all content from Apple users worldwide that has been added to the cloud.

The UK officials cited the UK Investigatory Powers Act of 2016, which does allow law enforcement to insist on assistance from companies when it comes to collecting evidence for a case. However, this request is not for a specific set of encrypted data and instead asks for wide-reaching access across the company’s system.

In fact, as the Washington Post points out, this request “has no known precedent in major democracies.”

Will Apple Comply?

Given this massive request from UK officials, does Apple plan on complying with the request to give the country broad access to encrypted data from its millions of users? Probably not.

The anonymous sources that provided the Washington Post with all this information also noted that, rather than comply, Apple will likely just stop offering encrypted storage in the UK.

Still, the request from UK officials is asking for access to encrypted data worldwide, so this won’t necessarily abate the agency from hounding Apple for access. It could, however, encourage them to back off a bit, as the impacts on UK citizens will be nothing if not noticeable.

UK Officials vs Big Tech Privacy

This isn’t the first instance of UK officials pushing back hard against the privacy commitments of the tech industry.

Enforcement of the Online Safety Act of 2023, for example, has garnered substantial backlash from tech companies like WhatsApp and Signal, as it inherently undermines the end-to-end encryption services provided by the messaging apps in question.

UK official do seem to be at least somewhat noble in their pursuits, seeking out this kind of information in order to keep children safe from sexual abuse. Still, giving governments access to encrypted data unilaterally is a slippery slope, and given what’s happening in the US with the government’s handling of sensitive data, it’s safe to say a bit of privacy would be welcomed in 2025.

The Trump Administration has been in power for little over two weeks, but it’s fair to say that a lot has happened in that time. From his new position as chair of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Elon Musk has been quick to follow up on his campaign promise to slash federal spending.

While not technically a “department” at all – departments can only be formed by Congress – DOGE has already carried out a series of radical moves to reshape the federal government to Trump’s specifications. From gaining access to Medicare and Medicaid to buying out federal employees, in truth, it has been hard to keep up with everything that Musk has carried out in his short tenure.

That’s why we’ve put together a complete list of everything that DOGE has done since Trump took office on January 20th. This guide covers everything from that first day in the White House up until the time of writing, February 7th.

DEI Programs

Much of DOGE’s early work was concentrated on rolling back diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs that had been enshrined into law by previous administrations.

On January 30, it claimed in an X post that it had already saved around $1 billion by terminating 85 DEI-related contracts across several federal departments, including the Department of Education, the Department of Defense, the Department of Agriculture, and more. It followed this up with an image purporting to show a full breakdown of all DEI-related savings thus far.

Updated data on DEI related contract cancellations with full detail: https://t.co/hEBk62KQvN pic.twitter.com/kcPATigb3x

— Department of Government Efficiency (@DOGE) January 31, 2025

As per the image, the agencies that yielded the biggest savings were the Office of Personnel Management, Agency for International Development, and the Department of Agriculture.

Office Leases

After Musk paid a visit to the General Services Administration headquarters last week, speculation mounted that the government’s real estate portfolio could be next in the crosshairs. Among other things, the GSA is responsible for the leasing of office space for federal government departments.

This would appear to be the case, with DOGE carrying out several lease terminations of “underutilized buildings” in recent days. Between 3 and 5 Feb, the number of canceled leases grew from 3 to 34. With the GSA currently responsible for more than 7,500 leases, that number could be set to grow quite substantially.

The GSA also recently appointed a new commissioner of the Public Buildings Services, Michael Peters, who has signaled his intention to make sure federal spend on buildings is kept to a minimum. “PBS will ensure the federal government’s real estate footprint is managed with the utmost discipline and strategic rigor,” he stated upon his appointment.

Medicare and Medicaid

On Wednesday, DOGE representatives were reportedly granted access to systems and technology belonging to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The CMS oversees Medicare, a health insurance program dedicated to elderly and disabled citizens, and Medicaid, which looks after lower-income individuals. Together, they provide coverage for over 140 million people living in the US.

In a statement, the agency said: “We are taking a thoughtful approach to see where there may be opportunities for more effective and efficient use of resources in line with meeting the goals of President Trump.”

According to the Wall Street Journal, DOGE has a particular interest in the systems that CMS uses to identify fraud, as well as its organizational design and staffing. Musk himself seems convinced of the potential for savings stemming from the agency, posting on X: “This is where the big money fraud is happening,” in reference to the WSJ story.

Federal Employee Buyout

Just last week, it was reported that the federal government had offered employees a substantial payout amounting to eight month’s worth of salary. No fewer than 2 million workers were offered the deal, which has been accepted by just 1% of that total figure. While questions swirl about the legality of Trump and Musk’s maneuver, it sets a clear precedent: staff layoffs will continue to surge under the new administration.

As a matter of fact, a DOGE supervisor all but confirmed this in an email obtained by The Washington Post, describing layoffs as “likely.” This follows days of debate in Washington, in which Democratic lawmakers have repeatedly called for affected workers to hold their nerve. Senator Tim Kaine asserted that the “president has no authority to make that offer,” and “if you accept that offer and resign, he’ll stiff you” in remarks to the Senate floor.

The federal employee buyout offer was originally scheduled to run until Thursday at 23:59 EST, but a last-minute pause from Federal Judge George O’Toole Jr means that it will have to wait until at least Monday, after a lawsuit was filed by federal employee unions.

USAID

This week, Musk and his acolytes have busied themselves dismantling the US Agency of International Development, or USAID. The move has provoked no shortage of controversy, with commentators questioning the legality of such a move, given that the department was created by Congress.

So far, the majority of domestic USAID staff have been placed on administrative leave, with a further 10,000 around the world set for a similar fate. Expressing a particular distaste for the agency, Musk has referred to it as a “criminal organization,” and that he recently “spent the weekend feeding USAID into the wood chipper.”

Whatever the outcome of this particular subplot, USAID provides billions of dollars in humanitarian aid and development funding every year. Its cessation would undoubtedly bring DOGE closer to its stated aims – while potentially throwing the wellbeing of millions around the world into jeopardy.

However, much like Trump’s federal employee buyout, this policy has also received a last minute pause. Judge Carl Nichols issued an 11th hour temporary restraining order after two unions filed lawsuits. The order will be in place until February 14th.

How Much Money Has DOGE Saved So Far?

On January 28, DOGE wrote on X  that it was “saving the Federal Government approx. $1 billion/day, mostly from stopping the hiring of people into unnecessary positions, deletion of DEI and stopping improper payments to foreign organizations, all consistent with the President’s Executive Orders.” It also expressed a need to increase savings to “>$3 billion/day.”

It’s worth noting, of course, that there is no way of verifying these figures. While DOGE is quite forthcoming in some respects, it doesn’t provide a complete breakdown of its alleged cuts, meaning that one should take its declarations with a pinch of salt.

Meanwhile, Musk claimed last week that he was “cautiously optimistic” DOGE would reach its stated aim of $4 billion a day in savings, putting it on course to reduce the federal deficit by $1 trillion in fiscal year 2026. With many more programs yet to be picked apart, expect mass layoffs, office closures, and cutbacks, to become a regular fixture on the news over the coming weeks and months.

HR software platform Workday is laying off 1,750 employees, or 8.5% of its workforce, it has been announced. According to a memo circulated on Wednesday, the layoffs are necessary for long-term growth, and will not interfere with the company’s plans to invest in new locations and employees over the course of the year.

The company predicts that it could incur up to $270 million in severance payments, employee benefits, and other costs, with all affected employees to be offered a minimum of 3 months of pay. Despite this, it still expects to make new hires over the course of the year, with the announcement signaling a strategic reshuffle as opposed to a harbinger of ill-fortune.

Mass layoffs continue to plague the tech sector, with Google, Meta, and Microsoft just some of the big players that have made similar announcements in recent weeks. With President Trump dismantling much of the apparatus set up to temper the rapid growth of AI, expect this trend to continue as more and more businesses turn to automation to reduce headcount.

Workday Calls Time on 1,750 Employees

HR software giant Workday is laying off 1,750 employees, amounting to 8.5% of its global workforce, it revealed in a memo on Wednesday. The company is acting in the interests of long-term growth, it said, with a particular focus on AI automation.

In the memo, CEO Carl Eschenbach drew attention to how “companies everywhere are reimagining how work gets done,” going on to say that “the increasing demand for AI has the potential to drive a new era of growth for Workday.” Those plans are finally being put into action, it would seem.

Most impacted employees were notified yesterday. They will be compensated with at least 12 weeks of pay, with additional weeks based on duration of tenure. In addition to the layoffs, Workday expects to leave certain office spaces, although it hasn’t yet disclosed which areas would be affected.

Workday Shaping Up for AI Future

Even as it rolls back some of its international presence, Eschenbach’s memo outlines the company’s intention to invest in “strategic locations” as part of a wider restructure.

Workday also plans to continue hiring over the course of the year, with AI thought to be a key growth area for the HR company. This latest round of layoffs is thought to fetch between $230 million and $270 million in severance pay and other fees, but those losses will not deter Eschenbach.

Later this month, the company will release its earnings results for the 2025 fiscal year, which paint a glowing picture. In the third quarter, it posted a net income of $193 million, as well as $2.16 billion in revenue. In the previous quarter, it recorded $132 million in net income and $2.09 billion in revenue. Senior leaders will be highly encouraged by this quarterly growth – even if affected employees are left with a bitter taste.

Tech Layoffs Set to Continue as AI Development Accelerates

Workday joins the likes of Microsoft, Google, and Meta in announcing big job cuts in recent weeks. Across the tech sector, companies are feeling the heat, with the surge of layoffs that has characterized much of the last few years showing no signs of abating.

In fact, this is set to continue as companies increasingly look to AI automation as a solution to their workforce woes. In his determination to win the AI race, President Trump has revoked a 2023 executive order that sought to reduce the potential risks of AI. Added to this, the recent emergence of DeepSeek has given tech players renewed impetus to invest heavily in their personal strategies.

As the race hots up, it is staff that will continue to bear the consequences.

If you’ve got a great business plan and long-term vision, but lack the funding to to turn dreams into a reality, business grants are a great funding option to consider.

Private business grants provide once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to entrepreneurs, whether they’re launching a new venture, or trying to scale their business to new heights. Unlike with business loans, you aren’t tied down by stringent repayment terms either, enabling you to plan your next steps while staying out of the red.

We’ve curated a list of exciting business grants, currently accepting applications this February. Read on to learn about their payouts and eligibility criteria, and to find out how the funding type compares to government grants.

Small Business Grants to Apply For in February 2025

It’s time to stop procrastinating applying for funding. Here are five business grants accepting applications this February:

1. EmpowHer Grants
2. 2025 Lenovo Evolve Small Grant Program
3. UPS Store® Small Biz Challenge
4. Skip $10,000 Growth Grant
5. Black History Makers Grant

1. EmpowHer Grants

• For: Female entrepreneurs
• Grantor: Boundless Futures Foundation
• Amount: Up to $25,000

The Boundless Futures Foundation believes in championing female entrepreneurs through grants and business guidance. It’s EmpowHer grant is back for yet another round and is currently accepting applicants from female entrepreneurs aged 22 and older, with a business operating in the US.

Alongside a sizable cash prize of $25,000, successful applicants will gain access to a network of marketing, financial, and leadership professionals who can help provide guidance on their next steps. To apply, you simply have to submit a pitch describing how your business plans to address a social issue, describe how you would use the grant, and how you plan to measure your success.

• Deadline: February 16

Learn more and apply here

2. 2025 Lenovo Evolve Small Grant Program

• For: Minority, disabled, and women-owned small businesses in select metropolitan areas
• Grantor: Lenovo and Intel
• Amount: $25,000

The Lenovo Evolve Small grant scheme has been supporting minority, disabled, and women-owned businesses for four years, and in 2025, the initiative is getting an AI twist. In addition to a generous $25,000 in funding, Lenovo will be awarding 10 lucky businesses customized technology solutions worth $10,000, and exclusive mentorship on AI integration and business strategy.

To be eligible for the grant, your business must be located in one of the following metro areas: Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, San Diego, Toronto, Washington, DC, or Vancouver. Your business also must have made anywhere from $100,000 to $7,500,000 in revenue in the last 12 months, and not raised over $3m in investment capital.

• Deadline: February 17

Learn more and apply here

3. The UPS Store® Small Biz Challenge

• For: Small US businesses with under nine employees
• Grantor: The UPS Store®
• Amount: Up to $25,000

The UPS Store® Small Biz Challenge is a grant scheme designed to empower small businesses across the US. Granters receive a share of UPS’s $35,000 prize pool – with the frontrunner securing $25,000 – a feature in Inc. magazine, and the opportunity to display your business to a national audience at a live event in Austin, Texas.

To be in with a shot, you’ll have to be a US resident, be aged 18 or older, and operate an independent, non-franchised business with nine employees or fewer.

• Deadline: February 19

Learn more and apply here

4.  Skip’s $10,000 Growth Grant

• For: Active Skip Plus Members
• Grantor: Skip
• Amount: $10,000

Business grant platform and provider, Skip, is currently accepting applications for its Growth Grant scheme. Unlike the majority of grants on this list, Skip’s $10,000 Growth grant is open to any US small business owner or entrepreneur, regardless of their stage, size, or specialism.

Aside from this stipulation, to be in with a chance of securing $10,000 to power your business’s growth, you have to be over 18 and be an active Skip Plus member. Don’t have a Skip Plus membership? Rest assured, you’ll have time to become a member and fire off an application before the March 1st deadline.

• Deadline: March 1

Learn more and apply here

5. Black History Makers Grant

• For: Black-owned business
• Grantor: Citi Trends
• Amount: $5,000

US retailer Citi Trends is back with another Black History Markers grant, in celebration of Black History Month. With a goal to help advance and further the businesses of Black entrepreneurs, the retailer is offering 10 $5,000 grants to applicants who are making a positive impact in their community.

To be in with a chance of winning, your business needs to be black-owned and focused on supporting the local community. All you need to do to apply is fill out an online application form, and winners will be selected by the Citi Trends CitiCares Council.

• Deadline: February 28

Learn more and apply here

Government vs Private Grants: Which Is Best For Your Business?

Government grants and private grants are both crucial sources of funding for US businesses, but each comes with a unique set of advantages and drawbacks.

Government grants are issued by local, state, or federal agencies, and are often tied to public policy objectives from research and development to community improvement projects. Due to their sharp focus, the eligibility criteria for government grants can be very strict, and their application processes tend to be much more rigorous and time-consuming.

Private grants, on the other hand, are typically provided by charitable foundations, corporations, or wealthy individuals, and vary widely in focus. Compared to government grants their application process is quite simple, and while there are notable exceptions, their payouts aren’t normally as big. The eligibility criteria of private grants are often much more inclusive, however, making them more accessible to a wider pool of businesses.

Government grants are better suited to…

• Businesses engaged in R&D
• Businesses working on large-scale infrastructure projects
• Non-profit organizations with a focus on social issues

Privite grants are better suited to…

• Businesses seeking smaller amounts of funding for specific projects
• Businesses that need funding quickly
• Newer businesses that don’t neatly fit into government funding categories

Adobe has added features to its Acrobat AI Assistant, including tools to help summarize complicated language, such as legalese.

The company has already made AI upgrades to its video-editing platform, Premiere Pro, and there were also rumors that a future upgrade would incorporate OpenAI’s Sora text-to-video model.

These latest launches are aimed squarely at Acrobat users, promising to make working with contracts much easier and more efficient.

What Are the New Tools?

Adobe says it is aiming to “simplify working with contracts” with its new intelligent contract capabilities.

These generative AI features “will help customers grasp complex terms and spot differences between multiple agreements,” the company explains.

There are four upgrades and these are available from the Acrobat AI Assistant, which can be bought as an add-on for $4.99 per month.

• The first is called Contract intelligence, which will recognize when a document is a contract, generate an overview, surface key terms and, says Adobe, “recommend questions specific” to that document.
• The AI Assistant can now also generate straightforward explanations of content in a document. This includes clickable citations for verifying responses.
• If users have different versions of their document, Adobe has added a compare and contract tool, which can be used across 10 contracts, including scanned documents.
• The final addition is a secure sharing and signing option so that contracts can be reviewed between different stakeholders and e-signed but from within the app.

Fewer Mistakes

Adobe says that the tools are designed specifically to help demystify contracts. The company actually carried out a survey and found that nearly 70% of consumers have signed contracts or agreements without knowing all the terms.

The survey also revealed that more than 60% of SMB owners have avoided signing a contract because they were not confident they understood the content.

Abhigyan Modi, senior vice president of Adobe Document Cloud explained that the new tools make it “easier for customers to understand and compare these complex documents and providing citations to help them verify responses, all while keeping their data safe.”

AI Training Promise

Adobe also has used the launch to emphasize that it doesn’t train its AI models on customer data. The company published this promise in June last year when a mandatory terms of service update suggested that Adobe would be able to automatically access user content.

The response from users was fast and furious, which prompted the publishing of a blog post. In this, the company wrote: “We’ve never trained generative AI on customer content, taken ownership of a customer’s work, or allowed access to customer content beyond legal requirements. Nor were we considering any of those practices as part of the recent Terms of Use update.”

In this announcement for its new tools, Adobe has repeated this, adding that it also prohibits third-party LLMs from training on Adobe customer data.

Training data remains a contentious issue in AI development with OpenAI and Microsoft among the big names in the frame for data scrapping. While companies are keen to come out and shout that they are not harvesting their users’ data, LLMs do need data to train on, raising the question of where this data is coming from.

In unusually cheery news, the amount of money that hackers managed to extract out of companies from ransomware attacks in 2024 dropped by 35% from the previous year.

The news comes from an annual crime report released by cryptocurrency tracing firm Chainalysis, which found that ransomware victims’ extortion payments totaled $814 million in 2024.

This is still a huge sum, but a drop from the year before and is the first time that ransomware revenues declined since 2022. However, the attacks can be devastating. A report this time last year revealed that one American loses their life each month directly because of a ransomware attack.

What Did the Report Reveal?

The findings suggest that law enforcement – including international collaboration – might be having an impact on how brazen hackers are being.

However, the company is also noting a trend among victims to delay payment or simply to refuse to pay at all.

Analyzing 2024, the team found that hackers collected $321 million from July through December compared to $492 million the previous half year. This, says Chainalysis, is the biggest falloff in payments between two six-month periods that it has ever seen.

Catastrophic Hacks

While the findings are encouraging, there have still been some catastrophic ransomware attacks. In July last year, as Forbes reported, an undisclosed victim paid a record $75 million ransom to the Dark Angels.

The fallout from the Snowflake ransomware attack continued for months. Neiman Marcus admitted that data for more than 64,000 of its customers had been breached when the cloud-based data storage and analytics platform was hacked. But Ticketmaster, Santander Group, and AT&T customers were also impacted.

Microsoft released a report that saying that its customers were being completely besieged by hackers. In an annual report, the company revealed that attacks had risen 275% year-over-year between July 2023 and June 2024. However, it also revealed that the percentage of attacks that reach actual encryption phase has decreased.

Increased Caution

The report suggests that as well as companies – and organizations – ramping up their defenses, hackers are also going to ground. Lizzie Cookson, Senior Director of Incident Response at Coveware, says in the report: “We saw a rise in lone actors, but we did not see any group(s) swiftly absorb their market share, as we had seen happen after prior high profile takedowns and closures.”

She added: “The current ransomware ecosystem is infused with a lot of newcomers who tend to focus efforts on the small- to mid-size markets, which in turn are associated with more modest ransom demands.”

The investigation also found that hackers are keeping their ill-gotten gains in personal wallets – again a reflection on the growing efficiencies of law enforcement in tracking them down.

However, the report ends with a call for action, urging people working in this sphere to “build on the progress made in 2024,” because although hackers are getting less money, the attacks continue.

Around one percent of federal employees have taken up President Trump’s buyout offer of eight months’ salary to quit their job.

The deal went out to two million employees and they have until tomorrow (February 6th) to accept the deal or face possible dismissal.

The move is part of a huge undertaking to slash federal spend, led by Elon Musk, the DOGE chair.

Mandates to Encourage Moves

The buyout deal was announced shortly before a memo was published by the Office of Personnel Management. It gave details of four mandates – one of which is a full-time return to the office. This came as no surprise, with Trump being vocal about his views on RTO policies for months ahead of his inauguration.

Only four weeks ago, he said at his first major press conference since being elected: “If people don’t come back to work, come back into the office, they’re going to be dismissed.”

“American taxpayers pay for the salaries of the federal government employees, and therefore deserve employees working on their behalf who actually show up to work in our wonderful federal buildings, also paid for by taxpayers.” – White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt

Will Targets Be Met?

As the numbers rise, it is looking unlikely that the Trump Administration will get to its target of 5-10%. Indeed, Musk (and his then – but now fired – DOGE partner, Vivek Ramaswamy) had even loftier aims, saying that they were aiming to “thin federal bureaucracy by 25%.”

A reported 20,000 federal workers have now signed up, but there aren’t details as to which departments they come from. Do they include, for example, the workers from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the top US aid agency, which the Trump Administration has decided to completely shut down?

Is the Buyout Legal?

There are arguments within the government that the buyout offer isn’t actually legal. Most notably, those who have signed up for the deal might not get paid, as this would require Congress’ authorization.

There is also concern about a clause in the contract employees have to sign if accepting the deal. It states that they “forever waive” their right to take legal action against the agency that they work for in relation to either their employment or the deferred resignation offer, a questionable legal clause at best.

Whether the number of workers taking the deferred resignation deal continues to rise, questions over the deal’s legitimacy need to be addressed, not least because Trump is moving at a breakneck pace on this.

In a decision that has alarmed employees, Google plans to drop its pledge to not use the AI it creates for weapons or surveillance.

In 2018, the company laid out a set of principles governing how it would develop and use its AI technology. This included four statements that promised the company would not “design or deploy” AI when it could “cause overall harm,” in “weapons” or for “surveillance violating internationally accepted norms.”

But a line has now been slashed through these original principles, and updated guidelines have been published, which leave the company far more scope to work with the governments of the world.

Roll Back of Principles

The original principles were a little vague – not specifying, for example, which “widely accepted principles of international law and human rights” they were referring to. However, the new principles echo this vague statement, doing away with the references to surveillance and weapons.

Instead, the company says it will implement “appropriate human oversight, due diligence, and feedback mechanisms” but doesn’t detail what this will look like. It also, interestingly, says its focus is going to be on “developing and deploying models and applications where the likely overall benefits substantially outweigh the foreseeable risks.” Note the use of the word “likely”.

Changing Landscape

The changes were accompanied by a blog piece, written by the company’s head of AI, Demis Hassabis, and its senior vice president for technology and society, James Manyika. In it, the duo say that the new principles reflect how AI is “becoming as pervasive as mobile phones and the internet itself.” With this widespread uptake has come a deeper “understanding of AI’s potential and risks,” they write. And working with the government is one area of huge potential.

“There’s a global competition taking place for AI leadership within an increasingly complex geopolitical landscape. We believe democracies should lead in AI development, guided by core values like freedom, equality, and respect for human rights. And we believe that companies, governments, and organizations sharing these values should work together to create AI that protects people, promotes global growth, and supports national security.” – Hassabis and Manyika

Alarm in the Ranks

This is not the first time that employees have flagged – and reacted to – what they see as morally questionable behavior from the company.

The 2018 principles were published after workers wrote an open letter descrying Google’s contract with the Pentagon, which allowed the company’s computer vision algorithms to analyze drone footage. The letter stated: “We believe that Google should not be in the business of war.”

Google opted not to renew its contract what was called Project Maven, detailed The Washington Post.

However, this latest decision comes at a time when President Trump has taken the brakes off AI development, chucked away previous safety measures and is pumping $500 billion into ‘Project Stargate’ – a new company that aims to be the “largest AI infrastructure project in history.”

Already, OpenAI has unveiled a super agent for government use and Meta is pushing its Llama AI model with the US Government to “support the prosperity and security of the United States.”

All of the tech bros are falling over themselves to get their AI wares in front of President Trump and it seems that safety – and moral conundrums – have been pushed aside in a bid for bucks.

As the long-standing feud between Tesla and X CEO Elon Musk, and ChatGPT’s maker OpenAI, heats up, a US federal judge revealed that parts of their lawsuit might go to trial.

Musk, who co-founded the tech powerhouse alongside Altman in 2015, is arguing against its conversion to a for-profit company and claims the AI trailblazer is using a monopoly to eliminate competitors.

Yet, with Musk previously supporting OpenAI’s for-profit model, it’s uncertain whether the argument will impact the AI company’s transition.

Elon Musk vs OpenAI’s Legal Battle Heats Up

Last year, Musk filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, claiming the Silicon Valley powerhouse “manipulated him” to “Shakespearean proportions” into co-founding the AI company under the guise of it being a for-profit enterprise focused on developing humanity.

He later expanded the lawsuit to add federal antitrust claims, as he believes OpenAI has been acting anticompetitive since he left its board in 2018.

Doubling down on his accusations, Musk asked the judge presiding over the case to halt OpenAI from pivoting to a for-profit model in December.

US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers criticized Musk’s argument for being a “stretch”, and causing “irreparable harm”, in a court session in Oakland, California on Tuesday, and added she isn’t inclined to freeze OpenAI’s plans for that long, and dismissed proceedings by calling the case “billionaires vs billionaires”.

However, Rogers didn’t dismiss Musk’s claims entirely, explaining that Musk will be able to present his arguments to a jury when the case goes to trial in 2027.

OpenAI Defends Its Decision to Scrap Non-Profit Model

According to CEO Sam Altman, transitioning OpenAI from a nonprofit to a for-profit structure is necessary for the company to be able to front the high costs of developing AI. Altman also claims the extra investment will be able to aid them in their central goal of developing Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) – a theoretical type of AI that can match or surpass human intelligence.

Despite the development of AGI being criticized for opening Pandora’s box to unknown risks, OpenAI aims to uphold its original mission of developing “safe and beneficial AGI” while making the switch to for-profit.

This type of restructuring is highly unusual, however, executive director of the UCLA Law Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofits Rose Chan Loui told Reuters. This type of conversion is usually enacted by healthcare organizations, not venture-backed companies.

Is Musk’s Attack on OpenAI Hypocritical?

Musk is no stranger to a court case, with the billionaire previously levying a number of high-profile lawsuits throughout his career, including filings against the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and X advertisers. Yet, the world’s richest man’s lawsuit against OpenAI’s non-profit pivot may come across as particularly hypocri.

Despite Musk being outspoken about big tech monopolies, the Tesla boss has repeatedly tried and failed to buy rival AI company DeepMind, and previously pushed OpenAI to be a for-profit company in 2017, before deciding to leave after he wasn’t given majority control, according to a blog post by OpenAI.

Musk’s own AI company – xAI – is currently only valued at a fraction of OpenAI, and with the billionaire recently being sidelined from President Donald Trump’s $500Bn Stargate project which heavily involves OpenAI, it’s likely that his recent legal jabs are driven by personal grudge, rather than his moral stance on the safe development of AI.

“Sam Altman” by TechCrunch is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

Parcels coming from mainland China and Hong Kong will now be stopped by the US Postal Service as the Government clamps down on imported goods coming in without taxes or fees.

The suspension – which is “until further notice” – is part of a wider doubling down on products coming into the US from China.

This includes the 10% tariff on China imports that President Trump has put into place; alongside threatened tariffs on Canadian and Mexican goods.

Closing a Loophole

The parcels are being stopped after the Government closed a loophole that allowed small packages with a worth of $800 or less to be sent to the US without paying tax or fees. The announcement gave no reasons and said that the suspension was affective from February 4.

The move will have a huge impact on companies like Temu and Shein who sell lower value goods; and were reaching millions of US customers. According to the Business of Apps, Shein has an estimated 88.8 million active shoppers of which 17.3 million are based in the US.

To give a sense of the scale of packages, in 2023, a US Government report revealed that nearly a third of small packages coming into the US were Shein and Temu alone.

Trade War Heating Up

Changes were afoot to this tax exemption under the Biden Administration, reports BBC News; but the speed in which changes are now happening reflects Trump’s focus on tariffs and pushing the US people towards buying goods made in the US. The White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said that the tariff on Chinese goods was put in place because “He [Trump] is not going to allow China to continue to source and distribute deadly fentanyl into our country.”

However, China has taken action in retaliation to the tariffs and has stuck a 15% levy on coal and liquefied natural gas (LNG) and 10% on Crude oil, agricultural machinery and large-engine cars.

“As a matter of principle, I want to point out that we urge the United States to stop politicising trade and economic issues and using them as tools, and to stop the unreasonable suppression of Chinese companies,” Lin Jian, a ministry spokesperson, told journalists at a press briefing.

What Will Musk Say?

While clothes and accessories are not Elon Musk’s thing, he has been vocal about tariffs in the past and China’s retaliatory move could impact Tesla.

He was vocal in opposition when Biden introduced an array of levies in May last year. “Neither Tesla nor I asked for these tariffs, in fact, I was surprised when they were announced. Things that inhibit freedom of exchange or distort the market are not good,” Musk told a Paris tech conference.

This was, however, a roll-back from comments he made only months before that trade barriers were needed to stop China from “demolish[ing] most other car companies in the world”.

Forbes is reporting that Musk has been hit dramatically by the tariffs. Tesla suffered the largest percentage loss in its stock valuation among the 46 US companies valued at $200 billion or more. This knocked $11.8 billion off of Musk’s net worth.

Musk is uncharacteristically quiet on X about this at the moment but check again in the middle of the night; and he may have unleashed his views.

Using an AI chatbot to ‘help’ with college assignments or augment your resume may be seen as unfair or unethical, but it certainly isn’t a crime. But that could change if a bill submitted to the US Senate is passed into law.

The bill, which seeks to “prohibit United States persons from advancing artificial intelligence capabilities within the People’s Republic of China,” appears to be a direct response to the meteoric rise of DeepSeek – the Chinese-owned AI chatbot that has posed a serious challenge to US-based competitors.

In addition to jail time for civilians, the bill proposes penalties of up to $100 million for corporations  that facilitate research into or development of artificial intelligence on behalf of Chinese people or companies.

A Conscious Decoupling

Senate Bill 321 was read on January 29th and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, having been introduced to the assembly by Josh Hawley, a Republican Party senator for Missouri.

Suggesting a statute title of ‘Decoupling America’s Artificial Intelligence Capabilities from China Act 2025,’ the bill proposes widespread controls over the use in the States of AI technology produced in China, and vice versa.

The bill specifies a series of unlawful acts that would be covered by the law. It includes an offense for any US person that intentionally conducts, attempts to conduct, or aids the “development of artificial intelligence or generative artificial intelligence” within China or on behalf of the country or any of its corporations or institutions.

Depending on how broadly that’s interpreted, it wouldn’t be preposterous to suggest that merely writing a basic prompt into DeepSeek could run afoul, as it could easily be argued that it would contribute to the Chinese-owned chatbot’s generative modelling.

Crime and Punishment

While the unlawful acts are disconcertingly open-ended, the criminal and civil penalties proposed by Senator Hawley’s bill are eye-catchingly specific.

In addition to a $1 million dollar fine, individuals could face the same amount of jail time as set out by the Export Control Reform Act of 2018 – for those without an encyclopedic knowledge of the US statute books, that means incarceration for up to 20 years.

For companies found to be in breach, the fiscal penalty is even more severe, with fines of up to $100 million together with the forfeiture of any Federal licenses or contracts.

DeepSeek Success Story

While it’s probably unlikely that the bill will be passed in its current form or that it would practically be extended to the average internet user searching for buffalo wing recipes, it’s yet another sign that the powers that be have been seriously spooked by the rise of DeepSeek.

Despite safety concerns and the accuracy of its responses being called into question, DeepSeek surged to the top spot on Google’s Play Store and Apple’s App Store after the company released its R1 and V3 models. Its popularity has been fueled by favorable comparisons to OpenAI’s ChatGPT, the fact it takes less resources to use and, of course, its free-to-use price point.

After the DeepSeek news wiped billions of dollars from the value of US-based companies, president Donald Trump called DeepSeek’s success a “wake-up call” for Western companies.

“That group has been deleted.” That’s what Elon Musk posted on X, formerly Twitter, on Monday with regard to a digital service agency that lists the IRS’ Direct File tool among its projects.

Despite the unambiguous brevity of the comment and the removal of its X profile, it appears that the 18F website and Direct File tool remain active and the latter is reportedly still accepting the filing of online tax returns.

While the world’s richest man may have the power to remove users from his own social media platform, it remains to be seen whether Musk’s appointment to lead the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) extends the disestablishment of its online services.

Musk vs 18F

Musk’s comment came in the form of a repost on X, responding to a post from Alex Lorusso – a self-described ‘American Supremacist’ and ‘Political Strategist’ who was previously a TV producer on the right-leaning Newsmax channel.

In the original post, Lorusso describes 18F as a “far left government wide computer office,” whose Direct File program “puts the government in charge of preparing peoples [sic] tax returns for them.”

However, a community note under Lorusso’s post provides further context:

“IRS’s Direct File service is a free service that allows people to prepare and e-file their tax returns. Contrary to the post’s claim, the service does not put “the government in charge of preparing peoples tax returns for them.”

The official Direct File website calls the service a “free tax tool to file your federal taxes directly with the IRS.”

18F describes itself as “a team of designers, software engineers, strategists, and product managers within the General Services Administration” that started life within the auspices of the Presidential Innovation Fellows and collaborates with other agencies to “fix technical problems, build products, and improve public service through technology.”

That group has been deleted https://t.co/TICeriaLlA

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 3, 2025

Is Direct File Still Usable?

At the time of writing, both the 18F website and Direct File portal remain online, calling into question the meaning of Musk’s post.

Furthermore, the Associated Press reported on Monday evening that an anonymous individual “with knowledge of the IRS workforce” had told it that the Direct File program was still operational and accepting tax returns.

The free Direct File service was made available to use in all 50 states last year, but its adoption came under fire from private tax preparation companies who stand to lose out.

Cuts to Come?

Direct File may still be available now, but the combination of Musk’s growing influence and the frenetic start to Donald Trump’s second presidency mean that there’s no way of predicting what fate lies ahead for the tax filing tool.

While Musk has admitted DOGE can’t save $2 trillion from the federal budget as hoped, he still thinks there is a “good shot” at cutting half of it. Considering his now-close relationship with Trump, it is easy to imagine a world where he slashes and burns services at a whim.

Meanwhile, Trump has brought an end to remote work for governmental workers and even offered to pay them eight months’ salary to quit their jobs – a move that the White House says could save as much as $100 billion.

It’s taking unemployed americans more than a year to find a new job, according to a report from last August.

Another report out from Career Group last week agrees, finding that around 20% of job-seekers have been on the hunt for 10 to 12 months or longer.

An NBC news report holds that more than 28% of Americans are searching for new jobs and that this marks the highest rate in a decade.

I spotted all those facts on the “Job Search Hacks” subreddit, one of a handful of the cynical Reddit communities dedicated to sharing tips, tricks, and check-ins from the desolate frontlines of the job search. Some of the advice and insights are clever ways that you can get a foot in the door. Other suggestions, like “lie on your LinkedIn,” are clearly just unethical.

I’ve rounded up the most interesting findings, but don’t think of this article as a to-do guide: I’m not recommending anything here. I’m simply hoping to throw some light on the reality of job-search culture here in 2025, where the sad, sweaty desperation can’t be ignored and gentle aphorisms just aren’t working anymore.

3 Ways to Spot Ghost Jobs

Any veteran of the job search know about ghost jobs, the term describing fake job listings for positions that don’t exist or aren’t actually open.

One of the most popular recent posts on Job Search Hacks summarizes a recent Fortune article on how to sift through these useless job listings:

“Signs of a fake listing: 1. Old or missing timestamps – Most real jobs fill quickly. 2. Repeated postings – The same job appearing too often is suspicious. 3. Not on the company’s website – If it’s only on job boards, it might be fake. To verify, check Glassdoor for warnings, contact the company directly, or network to confirm if the job is real.” -reddit user breakitdown451

Further into the comments, you’ll find a few educated guesses as to why ghost jobs are so common. Some companies forget to pull old listings, while others simply want to appear healthy without actually being healthy. The algorithms of job boards like LinkedIn might prioritize recency, prompting companies to list and relist the same position over and over.

The most cynical guess: It’s to justify the size of the company HR department.

One Job Seeker’s Journey, Charted

One recently-hired employee, Reddit user Stumpy33, charted the results of the 80 job applications that they needed to send out across a three-month period in order to land their new US-based position.

Before you ask, yes: The job was for data analysis.

Some takeaways from the comment include one popular conclusion. Only needing 80 applications to land a job is a nice, low ratio for the modern job seeker. As one commenter put it: “Just 80 applications? Seriously?”

That said, don’t wait up to hear back from any company that you send an application to. Judging from this graph, nearly three quarters of them aren’t likely to get back to you at all.

The 20 Most Popular Job Boards in 2025 So Far

Okay, so we’re only one month into the year, but that’s 30 days of data collected at the Job Search Database, which collates a ton of the many, many job boards out there.

While in most cases, job boards are cannibalizing the same job openings from each other, tracking down a fresh, little-known website can sometimes give a job seeker a bit of an edge in their hunt. If you’re looking for the best job boards, the top one for January 2025 was apparently the work-from-home-focused Remote Rocketship.

Number two was Remote Army and the third place finisher was We Work Remotely, according to the Reddit post from the creator of the Job Search Database. It’s not all remote-only boards – number 20 was for jobs related to outer space – so this is a sign that remote positions are incredibly popular. We at Tech.co have even rounded up our own favorite remote boards in the past.

You can check out all 20 of the recently popular job boards over on the Reddit post in question.

A Job Board That Pulls Listings Directly From Company Sites

Remote jobs are so popular that there’s a subreddit, Remote Job Hunters, dedicated to finding them. There, the top post of all time is from last month, when the creator of a new job board posted about it.

RefereeAI claims to pull job listings directly from company websites, avoiding the same morass of reheated ghost jobs that you’ll find on many competitor sites. This doesn’t mean that the jobs are great, however. The website still includes a warning tag “At risk of being inactive” that it slaps on any positions that have been around for a long period of time.

The board’s popularity points to plenty of distrust for existing job boards among the job seeking community: Many commenters point out that a lot of the frustrations of the job search come from navigating outdated or useless listings on popular boards like Indeed.

LinkedIn’s Two Hidden Job Post Metrics

Everyone knows that LinkedIn job postings include helpful tags that say something along the lines of “Over 100 people clicked apply” – these rough estimates can give job seekers a general sense of how likely their application is to be reviewed.

Now, one job seeker has taken a deeper look at the LinkedIn API to uncover a few more data points that anyone can find within Chrome. They reveal the specific number of job listing views and the specific number of people who clicked “apply”

To find them, follow these instructions, which were included in the Reddit post:

1. Open the job listing in your browser. The URL should look something like this: https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/4119480297/
2. Right click anywhere on the page and select “Inspect.” A window should open at the bottom or side of the page.
3. Click on the “Network” tab and reload the page.
4. In the “Filter” text box, search for voyager/api/jobs/jobPostings
5. You should see a single result. Click on it and select the “Preview” tab.
6. Click on the “data” field.
7. Press Ctrl+F (command+F for Mac) and paste in views
8. You should see something like “views:1146”
9. Press Ctrl+F (command+F for Mac) and paste in applies
10. You should see something like “applies:179”

Granted, that data might not be very useful to the average job searcher, but it’s fun to have available, and multiple commenters are already working on figuring out how a browser plugin might make that data available on the page.

Software Engineering Grads Struggle in the Face of Outsourcing

One of the more grim posts in the last few days comes from one software engineering intern whose mentor shut them down to their face, claiming that they could never compete with cheaper outsourcing options.

Their post ends with a hopeless line: “Feeling like I wasted 4 years of my life and I may end up homeless in a decade or so.”

The anecdote aligns with an op-ed from Business Insider a few months back, in which a UC Berkeley computer science professor at UC Berkeley arguing “tech jobs are drying up and graduates are no longer guaranteed a role.” A direct link to that article is among the most popular posts across the entire lifetime of the Job Search Hacks forum.

However, the top comment on the intern’s dismal new post does offer some rare encouragement from the forum: “Outsourcing comes and goes in waves. The last big wave mostly brought all the jobs back after the work outsourced was subpar. They just haven’t learned the downsides of outsourcing yet.”

It’s a form of encouragement that somehow remains just as cynical as always.

CRM giant Salesforce is starting the year with a huge job cull, with reports suggesting that more than 1,000 of its workers will be looking for a new employer in 2025.

While that would amount to more than one percent of the company’s total workforce, Salesforce is simultaneously beefing up its teams that are working on AI-related projects.

Layoffs in the tech industry have been a common sight over the last 12 months, with similar announcements already being made in January from the likes of Meta and Microsoft.

More Than 1,000 Affected in Salesforce Job Cuts

News of the Salesforce layoffs was first reported by Bloomberg (paywalled), which acquired the information from an anonymous “person familiar with the matter”. No confirmation from the company has yet been forthcoming.

It says that that more than 1,000 employees will be impacted, but that those affected people will be given the opportunity to apply for open roles within Salesforce. The source was not able to verify from which divisions of the company the job cuts would be made.

Bloomberg notes that Salesforce is at the same time hiring new staff “to sell new artificial intelligence products”, while TechRadar reported in December that it intended to hire 2,000 new sales representatives.

And a search of the company’s careers website, shows hundreds of open roles – 408 globally, including 121 in the US alone – featuring ‘artificial intelligence’ as a keyword. They include Research Scientist in AI Research, Finance AI Architect, Machine Learning Engineer and Senior Technical AI Ethicist.

Salesforce and AI

Salesforce has made no secret of the fact that it sees AI as a key proponent of progress – it has long been adding layers of artificial intelligence to its enterprise tools (e.g. Einstein Copilot Studio), while CEO Marc Benioff is a prominent voice on the potential and dangers of AI’s growing use.

Having already rolled out a raft of AI tools for its Slack workplace communication platform, the company made a huge play in October when it released Agentforce to the market. The chatbot seeks to bring greater levels of automation to customer service operations of Salesforce’s clients.

Describing Agentforce’s release as “ushering in a new era of AI abundance and limitless workforces”, Salesforce was at pains to justify it as a means to “augment their employees” and “expand their workforce”. Unfortunately, it seems that philosophy doesn’t extend to tranches of its own staff.

2025: Another Year of Job Cuts?

Our catalog of major tech companies making layoffs amounted to more than 50 in 2024, with names such as Apple, eBay and PayPal all included on the list.

And, only one month in to the new year, there’s no sense of the the job losses slowing down in 2025.

Microsoft has already confirmed two waves of redundancies, adding to the 10,0000+ that it shed last year. While Mark Zuckerberg has warned that Meta layoffs are incoming, with plans to slash 5% of the company’s worldwide workforce.

Dell has told all staff that live near its workplaces that they must now return to the office five days per week.

The tech giant spent last year toughening up its return to office (RTO) policies, and in September demanded certain sections of its staff to come back five days a week.

That has now been extended to all employees who live within an hour of the office and have been enjoying hybrid or remote working arrangements – the mandate is set to kick in next month.

“Retiring the Hybrid Policy”

Dell’s more stringent RTO policy was first reported by Business Insider (paywalled), which saw an internal memo sent to staff on Friday.

Addressed from CEO Michael Dell, it told staff that company was “retiring the hybrid policy” for all team members who live near a Dell office, and that the new rules would be effective from Monday, March 3rd.

The memo explained that collaboration and efficiency are the primary motivations for the decision. “What we’re finding is that for all the technology in the world,” it reads, “nothing is faster than the speed of human interaction”

“A thirty-second conversation can replace an email back-and-forth that goes on for hours or even days.” – Michael Dell

From Flexible to Forced

The announcement is unlikely to surprise too many Dell staff or anybody who has been tracking the company’s shifting policies over the last couple of years, despite its reassurances that it holds a flexible ethos.

Way back in August 2020 at the height of the COVID pandemic, a Dell executive said that they imagined that “60 percent of our workforce will stay remote or have a hybrid schedule where they work from home mostly and come into the office one or two days a week”.

By May 2023, it became one of a number of companies that ordered staff back to the office as the impact of the pandemic waned, requiring employees living within an hour of a major Dell office to come in a minimum of three days per week.

A revised RTO mandate came into effect this time last year that specified in-office attendance of 39 days per quarter, applying to all staff. But it became clear over the course of the year that Dell’s remote workers would be disadvantaged, with in-office employees receiving incentives and a greater chance of earning promotions.

Despite a backlash from staff, the direction of travel has been obvious – culminating in members of Dell’s Global Sales Team being forced back into the office five days a week from last September.

Writing on the Wall for Remote Work

Any Dell workers hoping that their employer would stop short from ordering a full 5-day RTO won’t have found much solace looking around at other big tech companies.

While Elon Musk has held a totalitarian anti-remote working approach at his companies from day one, Amazon ended hybrid working  in September – a move that was seen by many as setting the a new standard within the industry.

And with returning president Donald Trump making his feelings plain on the subject – issuing an RTO mandate for government execs on his first day back on the job – we expect to see more companies announce an end to remote working through 2025.

You’ve probably been impacted by a data breach, even if you don’t know it. Major data breaches – like the national public data breach which comprised sensitive data of over half of the US population – have become alarmingly common, while much smaller attacks take place on home soil every day.

The truth is, that while businesses in certain industries – like healthcare and IT services – are more vulnerable to attacks than others, no sector is immune to cyber threats. So, to avoid the financial and reputational damages that can result from a breach, staying one step ahead of cyber criminals is a necessity.

The good news? You don’t need a dedicated cybersecurity team to avoid becoming a data breach statistic. We’ve rounded up seven tried-and-tested strategies you can follow to protect your business and outlined what steps to follow if you do fall victim to a breach.

Data Breaches Are On the Rise, and Their Impacts Are Damaging

If data breaches aren’t ringing your alarm bells yet – they probably should be.

A record number of data breaches took place in 2024, with up to three billion records being compromised as a result, and IT services and healthcare being the most impacted sectors, according to a report from IT Governance USA.

In August alone, the National Public Data breach exposed the sensitive information of up to 2.9 billion people, with smaller-scale attacks being levied against private companies like AT&T, Ticketmaster, and Disney.

How to Prevent a Data Breach In Seven Practical Steps

With these attack vectors in mind, here are seven sensible measures your business can take to lower risks today and beyond.

1. Use multi-factor-authentication (MFA)

Multi-factor authentication – often abbreviated to MFA – is an identity verification method that requires users to offer at least two different forms of evidence to enter an account.

As passwords alone continue failing to adequately protect user accounts, MFA is emerging as the new gold standard in security access. By adding an extra layer of security to the login process, the authentication measure is able to block out 99.9% of attacks making it significantly easier for businesses to keep accounts secure, and their data in the right hands.

With such a high success rate, you’d expect that adopting this measure to be a no-brainer for security-conscious business leaders. However, the results of our report found that nearly a fifth (19%) of senior leaders are unable to correctly define the term, suggesting that many businesses are still a step behind the curve when it comes to understanding the security benefits of MFA.

2. Create strong passwords

When with extra fortifications like MFA, passwords still remain a necessity for many businesses.

The truth is while passwords alone are not generally considered a safe form of defense against hackers, not all codes aren’t created evenly. Strong passwords containing a mixture of lower and upper case letters, numbers, and special characters are significantly more secure than simple codes.

In fact, research has found that while simple 7-character passwords can be cracked in just two seconds, it’ll take a hacker upwards of 226 years to crack 12-character passwords with a mixture of numbers, letters, and symbols.

Committing such codes to memory might sound like an impossible task, but password managers like LastPass and 1Password can store all of your codes for you, and even help you create strong passwords for each account.

4. Use passkeys

If you want to move away from passwords altogether, lots of services will offer passkeys as a form of fortification. Passkeys rely on biometric information like facial scans and fingerprints, swipe patterns, and PINs to verify a user’s identity – instead of awkward codes.

Due to their reliance on the WebAuthn standard for public-key cryptography, they can’t be stolen or forgotten in the same way as a password or physical keys, making them much more secure than passwords. Their adoption is catching on fast too, with Google announcing that passkeys have marked the “beginning of the end of the password” and companies like Apple and Microsoft using them as the authentication method of choice.

Learn more about the difference between the two security measures in our guide to passkey vs passwords.

4. Download antivirus software

With computer viruses being the fastest-growing attack vector, if you’re not currently protecting business systems with antivirus software you’re dancing with fire.

Malware like viruses, worms, or trojans are frequently used by cybercriminals to infiltrate systems and gain access to company data. For example, just this last year, multinational tech company Fujitsu fell victim to a data breach after malware was found on company computers, while US company Change Healthcare was forced to pay a $22 million ransom after they were targeted by Russian ransomware.

Antivirus software like Avast Business Security form a vital barrier of defense against malicious software, by letting businesses scan and protect systems from threats in real time. Lots of platforms offer bonus security features like firewalls and VPNs too, making them a security Swiss army knife too valuable to overlook.

5. Update your software

Keeping your software up-to-date is also a critical step in avoiding data breaches. Cybercriminals actively search for outdated software with known vulnerabilities. So, by keeping on top of software updates your program will be protected with security patches, making it harder for bad actors to access easy entry points.

Outdated software often has loopholes that make them more vulnerable to malware and other viruses. Therefore, by updating your software, and unlocking the platform’s latest security defenses, your system will be much less susceptible to dangerous computer viruses.

Fortunately, keeping software up-to-date is pretty straightforward. You just need to ensure automatic software updates are always switched on, and always update a software patch to do so.

6. Train employees on cybersecurity

Your company is only as strong as your weakest link. So, since a staggering 88% of data breaches are caused by human error, getting employees up-to-speed on cybersecurity is the only way you’ll be able to mitigate damages in the long term.

For best results, we recommend providing ongoing training to keep employees informed about the latest threats. Offering regular refreshers is also a useful way to remind your workforce about best practices, as it’s easy for standards to slip if security training is only offered once in a blue moon.

To make the training more engaging, we also advise running simulated attacks – like phishing campaigns or ransomware drills – to evaluate how employees respond to threats in real time and identify potential gap in knowledge. However, instead of penalizing workers who respond incorrectly, it’s best to encourage those who respond correctly, to positively reinforce the right behavior.

7. Perform vendor risk assessments

Another way to proactively strengthen your company’s cybersecurity, is by conducting a vendor risk assessment. This process refers to a company identifying and evaluating potential risks associated with a third-party vendor, like a supplier or service provider.

Vendor risk assessments typically involve sending questionnaires to vendors to gather critical information about their security practices, compliance frameworks, and data protection policies. By identifying potential risks before they occur, these assessments can drastically minimize the likelihood of vendor-provoked data breaches.

We’d advise conducting reviews before you onboard any new vendor. And aside from the initial assessment, we recommend continuously monitoring your vendor’s security posture, to ensure that risks are mitigated in the long-term.

What To Do In The Event Of a Data Breach

Following the steps above will dramatically lower your chances of becoming a data breach statistic. However, as the threat landscape continues to evolve, the harsh reality is that you could still fall victim to an attack even if you practice good cyber hygiene.

• Back up your data – The first risk mitigation step should actually take place before you get hacked. Regularly backing up your data will allow you to quickly and efficiently restore lost or compromised data if an attack takes place. It will also give you some leverage against ransomware attacks, as you won’t be tempted to pay a ransom if all your data is safely backed up.
• Contain the breach – In the unfortunate event of a breach, you’ll need to immediately identify the systems, data, and users that have been affected. You’ll also need to pinpoint the entry point and method of attack, before disconnecting the compromised systems from wider networks to contain the impact of the breach.
• Form an incident response plan – After the breach is contained, you should get working on your incident response plan. This includes assembling an efficient response team comprised of IT, HR, legal professionals, and executive leadership, before following taking the necessary steps to remedy the situation.
• Notify affected parties – Depending on the scope of the data breach, you’ll also have to alert key employees and third-party experts soon after it occurs and provide them with the necessary support. Depending on laws in your country and region, you may need to do this within a specific timeframe.
• Strengthen your defenses – Data breaches can be important learning curves. So, once you’ve carried out a thorough post-mortem, you should revise your cybersecurity policies based on the lessons you learned from the cyberattack.

Learn about some other cyber security measures you can take to protect your business from lurking threats.