The European Commission has issued burner phones and basic laptops to some of its staff flying into the United States for this spring’s IMF and World Bank meetings, the Financial Times reported Monday. In the past, the practice had typically been reserved for travel to China. 

The move comes after an increase in high-profile instances of U.S. border agents stopping both immigrants and U.S. citizens and searching through their phones. For example: After returning from the Dominican Republic with his family earlier this month, Detroit lawyer Amir Makled was stopped at customs, where border agents asked to search his cellphone. 

Makled, who often represents Arab-American clients, has advised his clients on what to do if they’re stopped at the border. But his own stop, he says, is the first instance he knows of an attorney being stopped because of a case they’re working on. Makled is currently representing a pro-Palestinian student protestor who was arrested at the University of Michigan. 

And in March, a French scientist on assignment for the French National Center for Scientific Research was denied entry at the U.S. border after immigration agents searched his phone and found messages critical of the Trump Administration.

While lawyers said there isn’t yet data to show that more device searches are happening at the border, a number of high-profile instances have employers picking up their phones and calling their own lawyers. 

“It’s popping up” among clients, says Leon Rodriguez, partner at Seyfarth’s immigration practice and the former director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). “As a general matter on immigration and travel issues, there is a much greater sense of worry among companies than there was in the first Trump Administration,” he adds. 

Using burner phones within the U.S. is not common practice among employers, Rodriguez adds, but it usually pops up in fields that deal with sensitive information––think those solving financial crimes, lawyers whose work information is protected by attorney-client privilege, or even employees in high-tech fields that travel with commercially sensitive data. 

There is no legal separation between personal or professional devices when it comes to immigration law, especially at border points where constitutional protections against “unreasonable search and seizure” are weaker.  

It’s just the latest issue employers must think about, and plan for, amid a changing immigration landscape in the second Trump Administration.  

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Amgen’s newest AI head has an unusual background––he last headed AI and data at sportswear powerhouse Nike. So how did such a transition come about? Amy Feldman reports on where Big Pharma and biotech startups are recruiting data scientists to speed up the process of drug discovery. 

Forbes released its annual AI 50 list last week, and one trend was clear: So long chatbots, AI agents are getting more specialized than ever. From legal workflows to autocompleting lines of code and even investment research, companies are targeting enterprise adoptions to start replacing work done by people at scale.  

For all the fears that AI may take your job, Writer AI is already saving businesses millions in labor costs. About 300 companies use its customizable AI apps to automate everyday work, including writing makeup product descriptions, answers to Uber’s FAQs, and social media marketing campaigns. To rank-and-file knowledge workers, cofounder and CEO May Habib has a blunt message: “Ten percent of the headcount is going to be enough.”

You’ve probably come across at least one TikTok influencer claiming a new way to make quick and easy money. But it’s more likely that they’re instead making the bulk of their income from digital marketing courses on said side hustles, Danielle Chemtob reports.