Good morning! Best Buy CEO Corie Barry says Trump’s tariffs will raise electronics prices, Disney agrees to a $43.3 million settlement for a gender discrimination lawsuit, and Arcade AI’s multibillion-dollar idea starts with jewelry.
– Jewel tones. So much of the AI boom is male-dominated, from the $19 billion raised last quarter alone to a gender gap in who has free time to fiddle with new technologies. So it’s novel to see a startup doing something unique in the AI space—that is not just woman-led, but unabashedly using a stereotypically female category as a launching pad for new technology.
Mariam Naficy cofounded Arcade AI, which bills itself as the “first-ever AI product creation platform.” Right now, that means you can use AI to make jewelry. Users can enter a descriptor for a piece of jewelry they want—like “ladybug earrings” or “silver necklace with a mountain pendant”—and Arcade uses AI to design that piece, and then sends it to a manufacturer who actually produces the product. The platform requires a complex mix of AI determining the design, the price, and who would make the product. “This is not search-and-retrieval AI,” Naficy says. “This is 100% new product generated.”
JP Yim/Getty Images for Tonic.xyz
The startup has raised $17 million from investors including Ashton Kutcher’s Sound Ventures, Offline Ventures, Reid Hoffman, and Karlie Kloss. Naficy’s vision is to start with jewelry and then build a much bigger business. “We have a shot to build the first AI marketplace—a multi-billion-dollar destination,” she says. Naficy sees several paths forward: celebrities and influencers using AI to create lines of merch, earning commission on sales of their designs; fashion editors and costume designers creating their dream products; other jewelry businesses seeking data on user behavior; and major corporations licensing Arcade’s technology. Plus, the one in which Arcade makes it all the way as an independent company.
Naficy is best known as the founder of Minted, the stationery and art printing platform. She says that over her career she’s “focused entirely on the ‘extras’”—or aesthetic categories like jewelry and art, rather than staples—and saw jewelry as a way to show the power of what an AI product creation platform could do. Tackling a 3D product first would make categories like art and cards easier later. “Jewelry is a very large market. It’s fragmented. There’s room for personalization,” she says. “And we thought it was much more viral. It would spread faster.”
Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
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ALSO IN THE HEADLINES
– Trump’s tariffs. Best Buy CEO Corie Barry said that Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs on products imported from Mexico and China will cause higher prices on electronics for customers. The company cut its revenue and earnings guidance after a shaky third quarter and lower demand. Wall Street Journal
– Discrimination at Disney. Disney agreed to settle a gender discrimination lawsuit for $43.3 million. Around 9,000 current and former female employees had joined the class action, which was initially filed in 2019 by LaRonda Rasmussen who discovered male employees sharing her job title were earning more than her. Fast Company
– For the record. Eliza Cooney spoke to USA Today about her sexual assault allegation against Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “I wish we were electing people with fewer skeletons in their closet,” said Cooney, who was the Kennedy family‘s live-in nanny. Kennedy is Donald Trump’s pick for department of health and human services secretary; multiple other Trump administration picks have faced sexual misconduct allegations.
– Domestic danger. In 2023, an average of 140 women and girls were killed per day by a partner or family member; this totals up to around 51,100 deaths, up from 2022’s 48,800. The U.N. agencies that reported this data said “the home is the most dangerous place for women and girls.” ABC
MOVERS AND SHAKERS
Nike named Treasure Heinle EVP and CHRO. She was previously the company’s chief talent officer.
Principal Financial Group appointed Lisa Coulson as CHRO and SVP. Previously, Coulson was the company’s VP of human resources.
Wolfspeed, a silicon carbide technology developer, appointed Melissa Garrett SVP and general counsel. Previously, she was deputy general counsel and assistant corporate secretary at Kangaroo Express.
Capri Holdings named Philippa Newman chief product officer of Michael Kors. Most recently, she was the brand’s president of accessories and footwear.
GeoLinks, an internet and wireless network solutions provider, named Lynda Willis CFO. Most recently, she was CFO at Tuff Boy Sales.
Hearst Magazines named Sherri Chambers CMO. Most recently, she was chief brand officer at Carrot Fertility; previously, she was global head of brand strategy at TikTok.
Ionic Digital, a cryptocurrency miner, appointed Laura Schnaidt as chief legal officer. She was most recently counsel at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison.
ON MY RADAR
The Texas OB-GYN exodus New Yorker
MAGA women are realizing their movement is sexist The Cut
‘Were you gobsmacked?’: Cher on the humor and heartbreak of her extraordinary new memoir Vogue
PARTING WORDS
“Because we’re fighting for more than just what we’re fighting for in the ring. Because we’re fighting for the recognition and the respect that we deserve.”
— Professional boxer Amanda Serrano on women’s boxing
