OpenAI ( OPENAI ) has put plans to release an adult chatbot on hold “indefinitely” as the company continues to focus on its core products, the Financial Times reported. Some employees and investors of the ChatGPT maker have raised concerns about releasing a sexualized chatbot and the impact it could have on society, the news outlet added , citing people familiar with the matter. OpenAI did not imm...
OpenAI ( OPENAI ) has put plans to release an adult chatbot on hold “indefinitely” as the company continues to focus on its core products, the Financial Times reported. Some employees and investors of the ChatGPT maker have raised concerns about releasing a sexualized chatbot and the impact it could have on society, the news outlet added , citing people familiar with the matter. OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Seeking Alpha. Earlier this week, OpenAI confirmed it was discontinuing its Sora video generator app that went viral last year. The app was released in September 2025 and was apparently well received by most users. Sora is still available in the App Store, where it holds a 4.8-star rating with more than 249,000 ratings given. It currently ranks as No. 11 in most downloaded among free Photo & Video apps. This is one of several moves the Microsoft-backed ( MSFT ) startup is making to shift more attention to its coding and business applications ahead of its initial public offering, which may happen as soon as the fourth quarter of 2026. More on OpenAI Nadella's Flip-Flop OpenAI's Dilemma Wall Street Lunch: ChatGPT Tops 800M Weekly Active Users Disney axes $1B OpenAI investment; D'Amaro expected to assess Epic Games cuts OpenAI hires India’s JioStar CEO to lead Asia-Pacific operations
belterz Huntington Ingalls Industries ( HII ) said it is moving to scale up production of unmanned surface vessels with plans for an expanded assembly facility in Louisiana and a new robotics-focused manufacturing initiative, according to a company announcement Wednesday. Artist rendering of Romulus unmanned surface vessel (HII) The facility, located at Breaux Brothers Enterprises in New Iberia, i...
belterz Huntington Ingalls Industries ( HII ) said it is moving to scale up production of unmanned surface vessels with plans for an expanded assembly facility in Louisiana and a new robotics-focused manufacturing initiative, according to a company announcement Wednesday. Artist rendering of Romulus unmanned surface vessel (HII) The facility, located at Breaux Brothers Enterprises in New Iberia, is being upgraded to support serial production of the company’s Romulus unmanned surface vessel family. The vessels are expected to range from roughly 20 feet (6.1 m) to 190 feet (57.91 m) in length and will be built using standardized manufacturing processes intended to support higher production rates across multiple variants. The effort reflects a broader shift by the company toward assembly-line-style production of unmanned systems, with an emphasis on automation, digital design tools and repeatable workflows. The approach is aimed at reducing build times and improving cost efficiency as demand grows for autonomous maritime platforms. Alongside the facility expansion, HII introduced a program known as High-Yield Production Robotics, or HYPR, which is focused on integrating industrial robotics into shipbuilding processes. The initiative is expected to incorporate automated welding, material handling systems and digitally driven quality controls within the production environment. The company said it plans to begin proof-of-concept demonstrations for HYPR in 2026 with industry partners, followed by a pilot program targeted for early 2027. Romulus vessels are being developed for a range of missions, including intelligence gathering, mine countermeasures and strike operations, and are designed to be reconfigurable through modular payloads. The platform is also intended to support coordinated operations among multiple unmanned vessels and extended deployments at sea. HII ( HII ) is working with partners such as Breaux Brothers Enterprises and Incat Crowther to align vessel desi...
Investors avoiding risks from the Iran war are selling stocks and bonds and rebuilding cash allocations, in an echo of strategies followed after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. Holdings of cash at fund managers has jumped by the most in six years, Bank of America Corp.’s latest survey of these investors showed this month. Meanwhile, strategists at JPMorgan & Chase & Co. said this week that shifts ...
Investors avoiding risks from the Iran war are selling stocks and bonds and rebuilding cash allocations, in an echo of strategies followed after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. Holdings of cash at fund managers has jumped by the most in six years, Bank of America Corp.’s latest survey of these investors showed this month. Meanwhile, strategists at JPMorgan & Chase & Co. said this week that shifts in positioning in response to the conflict may have much further to run. “Still-low cash allocations by historical standards present a headwind to both equities and bonds going forward for as long as geopolitical and macro uncertainty remain elevated,” the JPMorgan team led by Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou wrote in a note. The concern among investors is that the energy price shock caused by the war will fuel inflation, pressuring central banks to raise interest rates. Global stocks have dropped 5% in March, while the price of Brent crude oil is on pace for its biggest monthly increase since 1990, trading well above $100 a barrel. Falling bonds have pushed US yields to the highest in months. Markets that had been expecting the Federal Reserve to cut rates in 2026 now price a 50% chance of a hike by the US central bank by October. In Europe, hopes for lower borrowing costs have been replaced by bets on three quarter-point increases by the European Central Bank this year. “Investors have been abandoning equities, bonds and gold all at the same time, preferring instead to raise their cash allocations,” the JPMorgan strategists said. Even so, cash within portfolios is at modest levels compared to when the Ukraine conflict began, they said. Gold has fallen more than 15% since the war began as the prospect of central banks keeping rates steady or hiking them reduces the appeal of non-yielding bullion. The BofA survey, conducted March 6-12 showed that cash levels surged to 4.3% of portfolios from 3.4% in February. That compares with 5.9% following the invasion of Ukraine and during the C...
The Lovesac Company ( LOVE ) board of directors has authorized the repurchase of up to an additional $40M of the company's outstanding common stock, expanding its existing share repurchase program to ~$54.1M. The program is expected to be funded through the company's existing cash and future free cash flow. LOVE shares +19.8% to $13.53. More on The Lovesac Lovesac: With Their Flat Sales, I'm Not F...
The Lovesac Company ( LOVE ) board of directors has authorized the repurchase of up to an additional $40M of the company's outstanding common stock, expanding its existing share repurchase program to ~$54.1M. The program is expected to be funded through the company's existing cash and future free cash flow. LOVE shares +19.8% to $13.53. More on The Lovesac Lovesac: With Their Flat Sales, I'm Not Feeling The Love The Lovesac beats top-line and bottom-line estimates; gives Q1 and FY26 outlook Seeking Alpha’s Quant Rating on The Lovesac Historical earnings data for The Lovesac Financial information for The Lovesac
ricochet64/iStock via Getty Images The World Trade Organization needs reforms to stay relevant, European Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič told the Financial Times , joining growing calls to modernize the international body. "You have declining political support for the WTO and we want to reverse it," Šefčovič said ahead of the WTO's 14th Ministerial Conference in Cameroon that starts Thursday. "W...
ricochet64/iStock via Getty Images The World Trade Organization needs reforms to stay relevant, European Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič told the Financial Times , joining growing calls to modernize the international body. "You have declining political support for the WTO and we want to reverse it," Šefčovič said ahead of the WTO's 14th Ministerial Conference in Cameroon that starts Thursday. "We want to make sure that WTO becomes relevant again." The main agenda of the conference is negotiating reforms for the WTO, like shifting from consensus-based decision-making to a "responsible consensus" approach to prevent a small number of countries routinely blocking agreements. "If there's a group of countries with an ambition that is not comfortable for everyone, we think they should be able to go in the way that serves the global purpose," Šefčovič told FT . The International Chamber of Commerce has called for a permanent end to customs duties on digital services and the launch of a structured, time-bound process to reform the WTO system. The U.S. has pushed for a rethink of the WTO's most-favored-nation policy, under which no member can impose country-specific tariffs, and questioned if it genuinely fosters openness and a level playing field. More on global trade The Hormuz Domino Effect: From Energy Shock To Food Crisis Iran said to draft bill to impose fees for transit through Strait of Hormuz EU and Australia strike free trade deal, including critical mineral access China signals broader market access, trade rebalancing
The 'Blame Game' In Private Credit Begins Submitted by QTR's Fringe Finance This morning I warned (again) this wasn’t a normal market in private credit. It was a liquidity event. And today it’s becoming something else too. According to the Financial Times , the SEC is now questioning whether Egan-Jones, a small but deeply embedded credit rating agency in private credit, can “consistently produce c...
The 'Blame Game' In Private Credit Begins Submitted by QTR's Fringe Finance This morning I warned (again) this wasn’t a normal market in private credit. It was a liquidity event. And today it’s becoming something else too. According to the Financial Times , the SEC is now questioning whether Egan-Jones, a small but deeply embedded credit rating agency in private credit, can “consistently produce credit ratings with integrity.” That’s not a routine inquiry. That’s the regulator openly wondering whether one of the key cogs in the machine was ever doing its job properly in the first place. Think S&P during The Big Short… And the timing is almost too perfect. Because just as gates go up, withdrawals get capped, and investors start asking for their money back, the conversation is shifting from “everything is fine” to “who signed off on this?” That shift matters just as much as the redemptions. For years, private credit sold stability. It worked because nobody had to test it. As long as money kept coming in and nobody needed to get out all at once, the system held together. You know, kinda like Madoff. Now people are trying to get out, and suddenly the inputs behind those reassuring return streams — the marks, the models, the ratings — don’t look quite as solid. So naturally, we arrive at the part of the cycle where everyone starts looking around the room for someone else to blame. Egan-Jones is an easy place to start. For years, it has faced recurring regulatory scrutiny, primarily from the U.S. SEC, over conflicts of interest, disclosure practices, and internal controls tied to its business model. The most significant action came in 2012, when the SEC charged the firm with misrepresenting its expertise in rating asset-backed securities, resulting in fines and a temporary suspension from rating certain structured products. Ongoing concerns have centered on compliance systems, documentation, and transparency, highlighting tensions between its independent approach and NRSR...