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• David Ellison’s Paramount Skydance hired a former Google exec as its head of consumer AI.
• Paramount is turning to AI to jump-start its streaming services.
• Read Paramount product chief Dane Glasgow’s memo to staffers about the hire.

Paramount Skydance just made a key hire to help advance its AI push.

Barak Turovsky, who oversaw Google’s AI language product for seven years, is joining David Ellison’s company as the head of consumer AI, product chief Dane Glasgow told tech staffers on Monday afternoon.

Turovsky most recently worked at General Motors and has held positions at companies including Cisco, PayPal, SAP, and IBM.

Hiring Turovsky will help Paramount “supercharge” the company’s transformation as it uses AI to “meaningfully drive” growth, Glasgow told employees in an email, which was obtained by Business Insider.

Turovsky “will be responsible for growing our AI / ML team,” which will “explore ways to leverage AI” across its streaming business, headlined by Paramount+ and free streamer Pluto TV, Glasgow said.

Glasgow then listed the ways AI could help its streamers:

• Personalization
• Content discovery
• Platform intelligence
• Consumer engagement
• Monetization capabilities

The company has been looking to bolster its streaming services with new consumer-facing features. Paramount+ rolled out a short-form video feed, and the company is developing interactive features, including a shopping tool and one centered on sports stats. The company is also looking to put video podcasts on Paramount+.

Paramount is leaning into technology

Paramount software engineers have told Business Insider they’re increasingly using AI, and one said they’d used eight to 10 agents at a time to knock out tasks. This AI user said that “Paramount is getting better” at implementing tech, adding that it’s still catching up to companies like Netflix and Google.

Paramount’s product chief said in the Monday email that the company’s goal is to “attract some of the best talent available” as it leans into AI.

Ellison’s company recently hired fellow former Google executive Hugh Williams as an EVP and an “Executive in Residence.” Last fall, Glasgow joined Paramount from Meta, and revenue chief Jay Askinasi came on board from Roku.

Paramount is looking to hire AI aficionados down the chain of command, based on current job listings for lead software engineers with experience building “intelligent automation systems.”

The company will restructure its tech organization when CTO Phil Wiser steps down at the end of the month, Business Insider reported on Friday. The company will not replace Wiser and instead have four key executives report directly to Glasgow.

Turovsky, who joined Paramount on Monday as an EVP, also reports to Glasgow.

Robert Dumoulin, Paramount’s SVP of Applied Intelligence, will now report to Turovsky.

Read the full memo from Glasgow to employees here:

Team,

As we see every day, the pace of technological change our industry is experiencing is rapid and we’ve already made tremendous progress in recent months to evolve our organization and products to remain on the forefront of what’s possible. In order to supercharge our transformation, I am excited to announce that Barak Turovsky is joining Paramount as our EVP and Head of Consumer AI, reporting directly to me.

Barak brings deep and highly relevant experience, having contributed to the development of foundational technologies that underpin AI and applying those capabilities at scale across multiple industries. At Google, he led the Languages AI product organization responsible for commercializing AI technologies across Google Search, Ads, YouTube, Cloud, Translate, Android, and other products, and spearheaded the product efforts behind the industry’s first large-scale commercial deployment of large language models and Transformers-based technology. Later, he held senior AI-focused roles at both General Motors and Cisco leading research, engineering and product teams to develop cutting-edge solutions and technologies.

He joins at a critical time in our company’s evolution as we look to scale AI and ML to meaningfully drive our growth. He will be responsible for growing our AI / ML team and their capacity as we attract some of the best talent available. Barak and team will also explore ways to leverage AI to improve personalization, content discovery, platform intelligence, consumer engagement, and monetization capabilities across Paramount+ and Pluto TV. To drive strong alignment across these efforts, Robert Dumoulin, SVP of Applied Intelligence, will report to Barak.

Technology will always be a creative multiplier and, with Barak’s leadership, I’m looking forward to seeing the impact he and the team will make as we drive our technological evolution forward. Please join me in welcoming Barak to Paramount!

Cheers!

Dane

• In 2024, Keara Callahan quit her corporate job to become a full-time social media influencer.
• She said she’s working more than before, but she’s earning more money and is happier.
• Callahan shared five things she’s learned from quitting a corporate job.

Keara Callahan thought she was doing everything right. She went to college, earned a degree in economics, and landed a well-paying government job as a tech consultant.

But she still felt something was missing. Watching endless TikTok videos of young people traveling and living freely only deepened that feeling.

In 2024, after breaking up with her longtime boyfriend and moving back in with her parents, Callahan quit her corporate job — a decision she wasn’t too sure about at the time.

“I’m very risk-averse, but I put in my notice and decided to pursue social media full-time,” Callahan, 28, told Business Insider. “It was probably the riskiest move I’ve ever made.”

Nearly three years after leaving her job, Callahan is now a full-time content creator with more than 300,000 followers across TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. Her content, along with her newsletter and podcast, is geared mostly toward women and focuses on traveling and self-improvement.

Callahan said becoming her own boss was challenging, but worth it. While she’s putting in more hours than at her last job, she’s making more money and feels fulfilled.

Here are five things she’s learned since leaving the corporate world and starting over.

Always have a backup plan

Although Callahan was doing well in her corporate career, she knew better than to get too comfortable.

“We talk about corporate jobs almost as if they’re a guarantee that you’re going to be OK, but that might not always be true,” she said. “There are layoffs, reorganizations, changes in structure, and shifts in the economy.”

Before leaving her corporate job, Callahan had already begun building her social media following and making money from brand deals. She said that extra income made the jump more possible.

“Is it risky to do my own thing? 110%,” she added. “But one of the biggest lessons I’ve learned is that I’d rather have something on the side, like I did when I was working in corporate. It’s important not to rely entirely on things outside your control.”

Don’t fear failure or judgment

Callahan said fear of failure had long held her back, both professionally and personally.

“I was pretty young when I entered the corporate world, as most of us are, and I was fearful that if I did anything wrong, I was going to get kicked out or fired,” she said. “Fear held me back on both ends: fear of failure at work and fear of judgment outside work for doing something outside the norm.”

However, since quitting her corporate job, Callahan said she has found a new confidence in her decision-making.

“Our brains are wired to protect us from scary things, even when those scary things can be fruitful or lead to something better on the other side,” she said. “Regardless of fear, just take a step.”

Being your own boss takes discipline

While it’s nice to imagine not having a boss breathing down your neck to get your tasks done on time, working for yourself requires building your own structure and holding yourself accountable.

“In a job, you have a certain role and certain tasks you have to do on a daily or weekly basis,” Callahan said. “When you’re working for yourself, you have those same things, but there’s no boss above you telling you what to do or checking in to make sure the work has been done.”

Callahan admitted she struggled to balance work and free time after she first left her full-time job.

“I had all this time in the world, so I’d tell myself, ‘I’ll do it later,'” she said. “Then later came, and a week went by, then two weeks.”

To get herself back on track, Callahan leaned on her corporate experience to create a more structured daily scheduled.

Now, her days follow a routine: From about 6:30 to 9:30 or 10 a.m., Callahan focuses on herself, doing things like working out, before sitting down to work. Each day of the week is also designated for a specific task. Mondays are for recording content and working on her podcast, client calls happen Tuesdays through Thursdays, and Fridays are usually reserved for time off or half days.

There’s no shame in asking for help

Callahan said she struggled to ask for help or raise concerns while working in corporate.

“I felt like I always had to put on an act in corporate,” she said. “Depending on where you work in your organization, you might not feel comfortable asking for help because you might be judged or seen as less than.”

Now that she works for herself, Callahan has become less focused on titles and hierarchy and more focused on learning from others.

“I’ve been able to open up 10,000 times more and get the help I need for my business, and learning how to grow and create,” she said.

Have faith in yourself

Deciding when to walk away from her job was something Callahan contemplated for a long time. Looking back, she said she wishes she had made the move sooner.

“My biggest thing is timing,” she said. “There’s never going to be a right time for anything. I know that’s so cliché and so annoying, but I’d rather just bite the bullet now and figure it out along the way.”

While she used to worry about what her friends, family, and colleagues thought of her, Callahan now knows the only person she has to please is herself.

“I don’t care what other people think about me, my journey, or my trajectory,” she said. “I’m afloat and making a more livable wage than I had been. It’s all working out, and it’s going to continue working out from here on out.”

• Delta Air Lines is ending snack service on flights under 350 miles starting May 19.
• The change also means flights over 350 miles get a full snack and beverage service.
• The internet’s response is divided, but I don’t think it’s a big deal.

A small airline Biscoff cookie has split the internet.

Earlier this month, news broke that Delta Air Lines would end free snack service for economy travelers on all flights under 350 miles starting on May 19. Those flights previously had “Express Service,” a scaled-down complimentary snack and drink offering.

Cirium data shows the change applies to about 90 routes, most of which are on Delta’s regional subsidiaries. Think hops like New York to Boston, San Francisco to Los Angeles, and Atlanta to dozens of smaller cities across the Southeast. Delta First is not affected, but economy flyers will need to bring their own SunChips or sodas — air travel comforts that many are accustomed to.

A Delta spokesperson told Business Insider the affected routes are all under an hour, and that the shake-up actually means 14% more daily flights will now get full snack and beverage service.

That includes a wider drink selection — including beer, wine, and liquor — and four snack options, instead of the more limited express lineup, which included the Biscoff and usually pretzels or chips. The Biscoff will still be available on full-service flights.

Reduced or no snack service on shorter routes is the norm for major airlines, as it saves money on weight and inventory and doesn’t strain flight attendants’ already limited time. It’s not even completely new for Delta — the airline’s previous cutoff was under 250 miles, or about 750 daily flights.

But raising that to 350 miles means around 500 more daily flights under that threshold will now go snackless, or about 9% of its total operations. Delta now has the strictest snack cutoff among the Big 3 US airlines — American’s is 250 miles, and United’s is 300.

Although Delta has said the change is positive for most customers, reactions on social media, including X and Reddit, have been mixed.

In response to the news, one X user equated the loss of snacks to flying low cost: “Spirit’s body is not even cold and they’re already trying to replace them!”

Another said: “Translation: Delta will operate like a discount airline while charging you full-service prices.”

A Senate candidate from Maine, Graham Platner, said on X that the move comes after Delta CEO Ed Bastian brought home a huge compensation package in 2024: “Delta can afford to pay their CEO $27 million,” he said. “But a complimentary water bottle is where they draw the line.”

Not everyone is upset, though.

An analyst from the Florida Commerce Department, Kyle Lamb, said on X that flight attendants are already pressed for time on short flights. Others pointed out that the new threshold only adds 10-20 minutes of snackless flight time.

Travel analyst Mike Arnot told Business Insider that airlines constantly measure customer satisfaction, and there are more pressing concerns among flyers.

“For most airlines, the biggest driver of customer satisfaction is whether the flight arrived on time,” he said. “Everything else falls by the wayside in comparison.”

He added the weight savings could actually result in a better performing airline: “Perhaps lower fares, or more destinations to small cities that live and die by air service.”

I see both sides. But, as someone who has experienced Delta’s express service dozens of times, I don’t think it’s a huge deal. I can throw a granola bar in my purse and get coffee on the way to my gate (Dunkin’ is better than airplane coffee anyway).

Plus, I can imagine that those who frequently take flights just under the 350-mile cutoff — Cirium shows Chicago Midway to Minneapolis is exactly 349 miles, for example — are happy to get more options.

And there are dozens more routes now that will get the full service — effectively moving Delta’s better onboard service onto more flights.

But I also see how others perceive it as Delta devaluing the economy experience in favor of its higher-paying premium customers.

Delta has been laser-focused on premium post-COVID as demand for more in-flight comforts soars, including new luxe cabins and fancy airport lounges — but it has simultaneously added restrictions on certain economy tickets, like taking away lounge access and reducing their SkyMiles value.

American and United are similarly all in on premium, and Arnot warned that other airlines may make similar adjustments to their short-haul snack service.

For me, I’ll miss the Biscoff, but I think most people will probably stop noticing pretty quickly. I can manage another 15 minutes in the air without a pick-me-up.

• Most of us don’t get enough fiber.
• A cardiologist said it’s key to add fiber to your diet slowly, to avoid gas and bloating.
• Frozen fruits and veggies make it easier to eat fiber-rich meals without worrying about spoilage.

Fiber has a bit of a reputation problem. Gas, bloating, constipation —Dr. Danielle Belardo has heard it all at her cardiology practice in Los Angeles.

She says getting more fiber into your diet doesn’t have to be painful, time-consuming, or expensive, if you know the right hacks. The truth is, most of us could stand to increase our fiber intake a little.

Eating more fiber-rich foods, such as beans, whole grains, fruits, and vegetables, offers a range of health benefits. Even the CEO of McDonald’s recently said that fiber is “going to be big” in 2026 as consumers gravitate toward foods that may improve their gut health. (In case you are wondering, no, Big Macs don’t count as a fiber-rich food.)

Fiber can help lower “bad” cholesterol, support healthy gut bacteria, modestly improve blood pressure, reduce the risk of colon cancer, and reduce inflammation.

Here are Belardo’s three tips for amping up your fiber intake, without pain or stress:

Start slow to avoid bloating

Your body needs time to adjust to extra fiber consumption. If you slam a bunch of extra fiber into your diet overnight, you’ll likely end up with some pretty uncomfortable gastrointestinal side effects, like bloating and gas.

Belardo suggests starting by adding about 3 more grams of fiber to your diet than you normally eat in a day, choosing small amounts of fruits or vegetables you already enjoy.

For example, “Start out with a quarter of a cup of raspberries in yogurt,” Belardo says. Incorporate it in a way that feels sustainable and enjoyable for you.

“Don’t go all in eating an entire bowl of Brussels sprouts your first day adding fiber. Maybe do an eighth of a serving at first, and then go up slowly.”

Drink lots of water

Fiber is like a sponge: It needs water to do its job properly.

If you consume more fiber in your diet without staying well-hydrated throughout the course of the day, you may suffer from more constipation, cramping, and bloating.

Belardo says she sometimes tracks her daily hydration using the MyFitnessPal app to make sure she’s staying on target with her water intake throughout the day. (She is on the scientific advisory council for that company.)

Your freezer is your friend

Belardo says people can easily get discouraged from eating more healthy, fiber–rich foods like fruits and vegetables because they tend to rot more quickly than ultra-processed stuff.

“People often find there’s this stress threshold: they go out, they’re super ambitious, they buy all these fruits and vegetables. and then they can’t eat it in the time that goes bad, and then you feel like you wasted a huge amount of money,” she said.

Just go frozen. Frozen fruits and vegetables are just as nutritious as fresh. In fact, frozen produce can sometimes be nutritionally superior to fresh fruits and veggies you’d get in the grocery store because it’s immediately flash frozen after it’s picked, locking in the prime nutritional benefits you’d only get otherwise if you ate it directly off the tree or out of the patch.

“If you buy a bunch of frozen fruits and vegetables, there’s so much less pressure to stress yourself out to eat it fast, and it’s got the same health benefits,” Belardo said.

• We went to India to introduce our son to family, and ended up healing our own burnout as new parents.
• Two months of community support showed us how much we were missing by parenting in isolation.
• We learned to trust our instincts, embrace flexibility, and lean on others for support.

Six months postpartum, I collapsed on the floor after work, exhausted from eczema-driven nighttime wake-ups and the thought of another day. After third-degree tearing, iron infusions, and mood struggles, I was running on empty.

As my son’s first birthday neared, nights slowly improved, but daytime exhaustion ramped up as his mobility increased. My husband and I had hit a wall.

Needing a reset and for our new son to meet the family, we booked a two-month trip to India.

We had family support

Two layovers and three flights later, we touched down in Bagdogra in the Himalayan foothills. Stepping from sterile airport air into thick humidity, we were greeted by a dozen family members offering namastes and Himalayan khada scarves.

Steaming dal bhat awaited us at the family home — the copper-plated home-cooked meal felt indulgent. Kichari was ready for our son, whose grandmother spooned it in his reluctant mouth, leaving my husband and me to eat in peace — another luxury.

After a year of sprinting, we finally caught our breath.

The journey was grueling: over 24 hours of travel and a 12-hour time change. In India, we traversed 6,000 feet of elevation, enduring both heat and cold, and all three of us got sick.

But throughout the challenges, we had a community backing us. My father-in-law rose at dawn to buy fresh vegetables for a healing soup. When our son threw up at midnight, his grandmother helped change the sheets.

My parenting softened in India

I observed parenting practices in our family: breastfeeding through toddlerhood, frequent babywearing, and long-term bedsharing on firm floor mattresses.

Watching our son play in a village kitchen with dal bhat cooking on a wood fire nearby, I marveled at our relatives’ patience. When he toppled a shoe rack for the third time in five minutes, our uncle turned it into a game while my mother-in-law smiled, unfazed.

With others watchful of his safety, I leaned back with tea and let myself enjoy the moment.

In the US, my parenting resource was the internet. Late-night searches insisted my son should sleep from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. with two daytime naps. In India, a community of elders provided guidance. They encouraged me to trust my instincts and follow my son’s cues, not the clock.

This was daunting at first — one day he took three short naps, then skipped the nap entirely the next morning in the excitement of taking an auto rickshaw to a cousin’s for brunch.

One evening, as we took aunts and uncles out to a restaurant, we had just sat down when our son yawned and rubbed his eyes. With rocking and humming, he soon fell asleep on the padded bench despite the chatter of conversation.

The next evening, I rocked until my stomach grumbled and my shoulders ached, but he wouldn’t settle. I gave in and let him play with pots and pans with his cousins for an hour while I ate dinner. My tension eased, he was happy, and he later drifted off easily on his own timeline. Sometimes, the best sleep trick is to stop trying so hard.

Though it wasn’t always so simple — and I still couldn’t let go of tracking sleep hours — local tips boosted my intuition and showed me we were more adaptable than I’d realized.

He had less toys, but more people to play with

In the US, we had piles of toys. They were a survival mechanism — a toy airplane might buy me 10 minutes to finish dinner; a stacking toy might allow me to drink coffee while it’s hot.

In India, the dynamic shifted: relatives’ homes had few toys but many playmates. Grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins — there was always an ongoing game of peekaboo or hide-and-seek. I didn’t need a new toy to get a moment to breathe; I just needed to step back. Our son’s uncle played with him while my husband and I had a meal together. A neighbor watched him outside while I showered.

When we returned home, the piles of blocks and stuffed animals felt suffocating, prompting us to declutter. Then we finally knocked on our neighbor’s door and invited them over to play the new games we’d been taught.

We learned we don’t need toys to survive parenthood — we need a community willing to share the load.

Coming back to the US felt lonely

Coming back to the US — from crowded village kitchens to a spacious living room with no one to fill it — felt painfully lonely.

But the lessons translate. It’s OK to ask for help — even an uninterrupted meal or shower helps me reset. I can drop a routine when it’s no longer working. Parenting is hard — I’m trying to give myself grace.

Our trip to India didn’t magically fix everything. There are still 3 a.m. wake-ups. I’m still working on being patient. But it reminded us of what matters most: relationships with our son and the people we love.

And sometimes, that’s enough.

• No one is happy in Silicon Valley, Menlo Ventures partner Deedy Das says.
• Not the average tech worker, not the middle manager, not even the founders who’ve struck it rich.
• He said that while the AI boom is creating huge wealth, workers are facing an existential crisis.

In San Francisco, the AI boom is creating fame, fortune — and existential dread.

As rapid technological development widens the gap between the haves and the have-nots, a sort of machine-age ennui has set across San Francisco, says Deedy Das, a partner at venture capital firm Menlo Ventures.

Das said in a post on X, which had almost a thousand responses by Sunday afternoon, that over the past five years, the fortunes of a small group of employees at leading AI companies, like Anthropic, OpenAI, and Nvidia, as well as some smaller startups, have “skyrocketed.”

Money, however, it seems, really doesn’t always buy happiness.

Those who’ve made it feel a “profound” lack of purpose, Das wrote, as some of them watch their wealth multiply from less than $150,000 to over $50 million in a matter of years.

“It flips your life plans upside down.”

Many, he said, are hitting that threshold young, long before they expected to be financially set. He recalled asking one founder why they didn’t simply sell their company. The founder’s response: If they sold, they would have money — but lose the attention and relevance that came with always building.

The under-$500,000 bourgeoisie, meanwhile, feel like they’re on a path with no end, Das wrote. As layoffs ripple through the industry — most recently at Cloudflare and Coinbase, which both cited AI as a reason for the cuts — once lucrative roles are fading away. “Many software engineers feel like their life’s skill is no longer useful,” he said.

Middle managers, too, are unhappy, Das wrote, as another wave of the “Great Flattening” rears its head. “They see the writing on the wall: middle management is being hollowed out in many companies.”

Instead, people are racked by a new kind of existential dread, Das said. “Am I in the right place? Should I move? Is there time still left? Am I gonna make it?” he wrote.

This other half has a name, too: Several users in the replies called it a “permanent underclass.”

One possible solution: Move to New York. New York City-based tech blogger Packy McCormick, responding to Das on X on Saturday, said that amid 70-degree, sunny weather in New York City, he was heading to a kite festival.

“I haven’t heard the words ‘agent’ or ‘token’ once all morning,” McCormick wrote. “Greatest city in the world.”

In the end, everything is relative. Das said that it can be easy to scoff at the “champagne problems of the valley.”

One user in the replies summed it up: “May you get everything you want quickly and with little effort,” they wrote. “An old curse.”