Billionaire Elon Musk, the world’s richest person and CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, offered Saturday to personally cover the salaries of Transportation Security Administration (TSA) personnel caught in the crossfire of a partial U.S. government shutdown over Department of Homeland Security funding.

In a post on his social media platform X, Musk wrote: “I would like to offer to pay the salaries of TSA personnel during this funding impasse that is negatively affecting the lives of so many Americans at airports throughout the country.” The statement, made early Saturday morning U.S. time, quickly garnered hundreds of thousands of likes, reposts and replies, amplifying attention on the crisis.

The offer comes as the partial shutdown—stemming from congressional deadlock over DHS appropriations—enters its second month for some agencies. TSA officers, deemed essential workers, have continued screening passengers without paychecks since mid-February in certain cases, marking the second unpaid period in six months for many. Reports indicate more than 300 TSA staff have already called out sick or resigned amid financial strain, contributing to longer security lines, flight delays and widespread traveler frustration at major hubs like Atlanta, Chicago O’Hare and Los Angeles International.

Average TSA officer salaries hover around $51,000 annually, starting at about $40,270, with transportation security screeners averaging just over $61,000, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data. With roughly 60,000 TSA employees nationwide, covering even a portion of payroll would represent a substantial outlay—potentially tens of millions monthly—though Musk’s net worth exceeds $400 billion, making it feasible if structured as a personal or corporate contribution.

The proposal arrives amid heightened political tension. President Donald Trump threatened Saturday to deploy Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to airports if the impasse persists, aiming to bolster security amid staffing shortfalls. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) accused Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) of staging a “fake TSA funding stunt” by pushing procedural motions that he said did nothing to actually resolve the crisis. Schumer has countered that Republicans are holding TSA pay hostage to extract concessions on immigration enforcement funding without reforms.

Musk’s intervention has sparked debate over feasibility and implications. Legal experts note that while private individuals can donate to government programs or provide aid, directly paying federal employee salaries could face hurdles under federal ethics rules, anti-deficiency laws and conflict-of-interest concerns—especially given Musk’s companies hold significant government contracts in defense, space and transportation. No formal mechanism has been outlined, and neither the TSA, DHS nor Musk’s representatives have confirmed acceptance or next steps as of Sunday.

The shutdown stems from broader fiscal battles in Congress, where Republicans seek increased border security allocations while Democrats push for balanced funding without what they call unrelated policy riders. TSA funding falls under DHS, one of the agencies hardest hit by the lapse. Travelers report escalating chaos: security wait times exceeding two hours at some airports, canceled flights and growing calls for resolution.

Musk’s post drew mixed reactions. Supporters praised it as pragmatic generosity from a private citizen stepping up where government failed, with some urging him to “do your thing” and break the deadlock. Critics questioned motives, pointing to Musk’s influence in Washington through his role in advisory capacities and companies’ reliance on federal approvals. Others highlighted irony, recalling past reports of Musk-linked entities facing scrutiny over government funding cuts or restrictions.

The offer has spotlighted the human cost of shutdowns. TSA workers, many living paycheck-to-paycheck, face mortgage payments, childcare and basic expenses without income despite mandatory shifts. Unions representing federal employees have called for immediate back pay and resolution, warning that prolonged strain could compromise aviation security.

As of March 22, no breakthrough in negotiations has emerged, though both parties face pressure from airlines, business groups and the traveling public. Musk’s proposal, while symbolic for some, underscores frustration with partisan gridlock and raises questions about the role of ultra-wealthy individuals in filling public sector gaps.

Whether Musk’s offer translates to action remains uncertain. If pursued, it could set a precedent for private intervention in government operations—or highlight the limits of such gestures in a complex federal system. For now, millions of Americans face disrupted travel, while TSA staff continue working without guaranteed pay, hoping for an end to the impasse.

The New York Times’ popular word-search game Strands delivered a clever challenge on Sunday, March 22, 2026, with puzzle No. 749 themed “Trademarked no more.” Players navigated a grid of letters to uncover words that started as protected brand names but entered everyday language as generic terms for entire product categories — a linguistic phenomenon known as genericide.

The puzzle, accessible via nytimes.com/games or the NYT Games app, tasked solvers with finding six theme words plus a spangram that spans the board and encapsulates the theme. Strands, launched in 2023 as a daily brain teaser blending elements of word search and crossword mechanics, has grown into a favorite alongside Wordle and Connections, drawing millions for its mix of logic, vocabulary and occasional tricky twists.

Today’s theme clue, “Trademarked no more,” pointed solvers toward proprietary eponyms — brand names that lost trademark protection through widespread use. The spangram, GENERICTERM, described the process itself: when a trademark becomes so common it refers to the product type rather than a specific maker.

Reliable sources including the NYT’s own Strands Sidekick hints page, CNET, Forbes, TechRadar and dedicated puzzle sites like strands.today confirmed the full solution as of early Sunday morning ET (late Sunday in Australia). The spangram GENERICTERM snakes across the grid, starting typically from a letter in the left column around the third row, winding horizontally and vertically to touch opposite sides.

The five supporting theme words were:

– ASPIRIN — Once a Bayer trademark for acetylsalicylic acid pain reliever, now the generic name for the drug worldwide (though Bayer retains the trademark in some countries).

– DUMPSTER — Originally a Dempster Brothers brand for large trash containers, it became synonymous with any wheeled garbage bin.

– ESCALATOR — Otis Elevator Company’s trademark that entered common parlance for moving staircases.

– THERMOS — A historic brand for vacuum-insulated flasks, now used generically for any such container.

– ZIPPER — B.F. Goodrich’s 1920s trademark for boot fasteners with interlocking teeth, later applied to any slide fastener.

These words appeared scattered in the 6×8 or similar grid, with letters shared among overlapping paths. Solvers often started with shorter, more obvious entries like ZIPPER or ASPIRIN before hunting the longer spangram. Hints from the NYT included partial letter reveals and directional clues for up to three words at a time via the Sidekick feature, helping players avoid frustration on what some rated as a “challenging” difficulty.

The puzzle’s design rewarded pattern recognition: many theme words featured common suffixes or roots tied to their original branding stories. For instance, “escalator” derives from “escalade” (to climb), while “thermos” comes from Greek for heat. The grid included distracting filler words like common short terms to mimic real trademark drift confusion.

Strands continues evolving under NYT Games, with daily refreshes at midnight ET. Sunday’s edition followed Saturday’s lighter fare and preceded Monday’s anticipated release. Community discussions on Reddit’s r/NYTStrands and X highlighted quick solves for veterans familiar with genericide examples, though newcomers appreciated the educational angle on intellectual property law.

The theme resonates in an era of brand ubiquity: think Kleenex for tissues, Band-Aid for adhesive bandages, or Google as a verb for searching — all risking or having lost trademark status in parts of the world. Puzzle creators drew from real legal history, where companies like Bayer fought (and sometimes lost) to protect marks through vigilant advertising and policing.

For those stuck, early hints suggested focusing on household items or medical terms. The spangram’s 11 letters made it the longest path, often requiring zigzagging to connect G-E-N-E-R-I-C-T-E-R-M without skipping letters or reusing cells improperly.

Strands remains free with limited daily plays or via NYT subscription for unlimited access and archives. Its growing popularity stems from quick 5-15 minute sessions that blend fun with subtle learning — today’s puzzle quietly schooled players on how language evolves beyond corporate control.

As March 22 winds down, solvers who nailed GENERICTERM and its companions celebrated streak preservation. With no hints needed for some and full reveals aiding others, the puzzle exemplified Strands’ balance of accessibility and depth. Tomorrow brings fresh letters and a new theme, keeping the daily ritual alive for word enthusiasts worldwide.

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Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have no stock, option or similar derivative position in any of the companies mentioned, and no plans to initiate any such positions within the next 72 hours. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.

Noah Cox (main account author) is the managing partner of Noah’s Arc Capital Management. His views in this article are not necessarily reflective of the firms. Nothing contained in this note is intended as investment advice. It is solely for informational purposes. Invest at your own risk.

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Kevin Blair, Mike Hulse and Ben Usher have formed tech firm Neurovirse

Three North West entrepreneurs have joined forces in a startup that aims to make it easier for neurodiverse people to find jobs with the world’s biggest businesses.

Kevin Blair, Mike Hulse and Ben Usher have formed tech firm Neurovirse to develop an AI-powered recruitment platform with the mission statement “from stigma to superpower”.

They say most job platforms and big company recruitment programmes aren’t suited to neurodiverse people, which means companies and recruiters are missing out on a potentially big pool of talent.

They launched the platform to mark Neurodiversity Celebration Week – and say they want the business to grow to serve as many as a million candidates worldwide.

The founders have already enjoyed successful careers in the recruitment and tech sectors. Mike and Kevin have worked in senior roles for companies including Salesforce, IBM, Microsoft, Ricoh and Ericsson.

Ben, originally from Wirral, is a former child and teenage actor who appeared in adverts for Nerf guns during X Factor advert breaks. He moved into recruitment and has worked in senior recruitment roles for organisations including the University of Manchester, Manchester United and The Very Group.

Neurovirse will focus on helping connect candidates with “enterprise” companies – the global giants that each employ hundreds or thousands of people.

Ben said: “Our mission is ‘from stigma to superpower’ – so it’s to give these candidates access to jobs in these kind of enterprise environments.”

He added: “We want to help a million candidates plus, globally, and we want to give them access to enterprise job opportunities with some of the largest companies in the world.”

Neurodiversity is a term that can encompass neurological differences including autism, ADHD, dyslexia and dyspraxia. Neurodiversity Celebration Week aims to ensure “neurological differences are recognised and respected as all other human variations”. The NCW website says: “Many challenges neurodivergent people face are more to do with the environment and systems they are placed in, often designed by a majority population.”

Explaining the challenges in recruitment, Ben said: “The way the recruitment process is set up in a lot of enterprise companies at the moment is, we believe, set up for neurotypical candidates. So when candidates are applying for jobs with some of the largest companies in the world, there’s a number of stages that they have to go through that we believe aren’t set up for neurodivergent people.

“Typically there will be five or six stage processes to these things where they’re expected to go to a 20 or 30-person assessment center in a room, then expected to go to a five or a six person panel interview and they’re given a task to take home.”

Instead, Neurovirse allows candidates to log on to the platform and take an assessment to come up with a “success profile. Neurovirse will then use AI to match those profiles with companies looking to recruit for particular roles, bypassing traditional recruitment steps.

Ben said the reaction from candidates so far to the platform had been “really positive”. The business was founded a year ago and is now fundraising so it can launch globally.

As well as appearing in those Nerf adverts, the young Ben also appeared in some episodes of Hollyoaks, Grange Hill and Waterloo Road.

He smiled: “I’ve been acting from five or six years old. I’ve had an agent from 13 years old, been on both stage and screen. I was the face of Nerf on ITV1 and ITV2 in the advert break of X Factor… you’ll probably see me on all the boxes and all the adverts.”

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Seeking Alpha’s Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.

OpenAI confirmed it will begin displaying advertisements to every user on the free and low-cost Go tiers of ChatGPT in the United States in the coming weeks, expanding a pilot program launched earlier this year to help offset massive computational costs and fuel broader access to its AI tools.

A company spokesperson told Reuters on March 21 that the rollout targets all eligible users in the U.S., following initial testing that began in February 2026. The move, first reported by The Information, comes after OpenAI integrated advertising technology from Criteo earlier this month to enhance ad buying and targeting capabilities.

Ads first appeared in limited tests starting February 9, 2026, for logged-in adult users on the Free and Go plans, as announced on OpenAI’s blog. Higher-tier subscriptions — including ChatGPT Plus ($20/month), Pro ($200/month), Business, Enterprise and Education — remain ad-free, preserving a premium, uninterrupted experience for paying customers.

The advertisements appear at the bottom of ChatGPT responses when relevant, labeled clearly as sponsored and separated from the core AI-generated answer. OpenAI emphasized that ads do not influence the content or quality of responses, conversations stay private from advertisers, and no user data is sold. Users can learn why an ad appeared, dismiss it and provide feedback. Protections exclude ads for users under 18 (based on self-reporting or predictions) and bar placements near sensitive topics like health, mental health or politics.

The expansion aligns with OpenAI’s January 16, 2026, announcement introducing the ChatGPT Go tier at $8 per month (available globally, including the U.S.) alongside plans to test ads on Free and Go to “expand affordable access” without heavy usage caps. Executives described the strategy as supporting long-term sustainability amid soaring expenses for training and running models like GPT-4o and successors.

Industry observers view the shift as a natural evolution for the AI leader, which has relied heavily on subscription revenue and massive investments from partners like Microsoft. With compute demands driving billions in annual costs, diversifying income through targeted, context-aware ads offers a path to profitability without fully gating advanced features behind paywalls.

Early feedback from the February test phase was mixed. Some users appreciated the non-intrusive placement and relevance — such as product suggestions tied to shopping or travel queries — while others expressed frustration over the introduction of commercial elements into what many saw as a “pure” AI conversation tool. Social media discussions on platforms like Reddit highlighted concerns about potential degradation of user experience, though OpenAI reiterated its commitment to prioritizing trust over revenue optimization.

The rollout also reflects broader trends in the generative AI sector. Competitors like Google (with Gemini) and Anthropic have experimented with monetization, while Perplexity AI has integrated sponsored results more aggressively. OpenAI’s approach — confining ads to lower tiers and excluding them from core responses — aims to balance accessibility with premium value.

Advertisers have shown strong interest. Reports indicate OpenAI pitched dozens of brands in late 2025 and early 2026, securing trial commitments and launching campaigns through partners like Criteo. Initial focus appears on e-commerce, travel and consumer products, leveraging conversational context for higher relevance than traditional search or social ads.

For U.S. users on Free or Go plans, ads are expected to appear gradually over the next few weeks as the expansion deploys. OpenAI has not detailed exact timing or volume but stressed iterative improvements based on user feedback during the test. Those preferring an ad-free experience can upgrade to Plus or higher, or — in some cases — opt for reduced free messages in exchange for no ads.

The decision underscores the financial realities facing frontier AI companies. OpenAI’s valuation has soared past $150 billion in recent funding rounds, but profitability remains elusive amid competition and infrastructure demands. Advertising revenue could provide a significant boost, especially as free-tier usage drives massive scale and data advantages for model improvement.

As the rollout unfolds, attention will turn to user retention, ad performance metrics and potential international expansion. For now, millions of American ChatGPT users face a new element in their daily AI interactions — one designed to keep the tool widely available while funding the next wave of innovation.