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As intelligent machines evolve from novelties to necessities, entrepreneurs face a stark choice: Leverage these powerful tools or be eclipsed by them.

In this video, I recommend the top five AI books that every entrepreneur needs to read in 2025. These are not just books about AI — they are also strategic guides to leveraging artificial intelligence for a competitive advantage, with a particular focus on helping your business to thrive in the next phase of AI.

From demystifying complex concepts for beginners to revealing the playbook used by the top 1%, these artificial intelligence books provide the essential knowledge to transform your business. Discover how Phase 3 AI will change your business forever. I’ll also share insights from my own book, “The Wolf is at the Door,” your survival guide for the age of AI, and show you where to access two free chapters.

Download the free “AI Success Kit” (limited time only). And you’ll also get a free chapter from Ben’s brand new book, “The Wolf is at The Door – How to Survive and Thrive in an AI-Driven World.”

A new report by the online career resources platform Resume Genius found that now is a great time to hold an associate’s degree (or begin the path to get one).

The median salary for an associate degree holder ($62,180) is higher than the U.S. median salary ($48,060) and career opportunities for associate degree holders, or those with a two-year degree, are expected to grow by 6.3% over the next 10 years, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

Using the most recent BLS data, Resume Genius compiled a list, the 2025 High-Pay Associate Degree Jobs Report, that showcases the 10 highest-paying jobs that ask for an associate degree.

“In 2025, wages are up across the board for every occupation on our list,” said Eva Chan, career expert at Resume Genius. “It highlights not only growing employer demand but also the potential to earn more in fields like healthcare, aviation, and technology.”

In order to be included on the list, the jobs had to specifically require an associate degree, be projected to either grow (or at least remain steady) over the next decade, and have an annual salary that surpasses the U.S. average.

Here are the 10 highest-paying jobs for associate degree holders, according to the report.

1. Air traffic controller

• Median annual salary: $137,380
• Number of jobs (2023): 24,000
• Change in pay (2022–2023): 4%
• Work experience required: Must pass FAA assessments and training



2. Nuclear technician

• Median annual salary: $101,740
• Number of jobs (2023): 5,400
• Change in pay (2022–2023): 1%
• Work experience required: On-the-job training provided



3. Radiation therapist

• Median annual salary: $98,300
• Number of jobs (2023): 17,200
• Change in pay (2022–2023): 10%
• Work experience required: Licensing or certification may be required depending on state regulations



4. Nuclear medicine technologist

• Median annual salary: $92,500
• Number of jobs (2023): 17,800
• Change in pay (2022–2023): 8%
• Work experience required: Licensing required in all states

5. Dental hygienist

• Median annual salary: $87,530
• Number of jobs (2023): 214,100
• Change in pay (2022–2023): 8%
• Work experience required: Licensing required in various states

6. Diagnostic medical sonographer, Cardiovascular technologist/technician

• Median annual salary: $80,850
• Number of jobs (2023): 143,400
• Change in pay (2022–2023): 3%
• Work experience required: Certification may be required

7. Respiratory therapist

• Median annual salary: $77,960
• Number of jobs (2023): 133,900
• Change in pay (2022–2023): 11%
• Work experience required: Licensing required in most states



8. Aerospace engineering and operations technologist/technician

• Median annual salary: $77,830
• Number of jobs (2023): 11,000
• Change in pay (2022–2023): 7%
• Work experience required: Varies by position

9. Radiologic and MRI technologist

• Median annual salary: $76,020
• Number of jobs (2023): 271,200
• Change in pay (2022–2023): 13%
• Work experience required: Certification is usually required for radiologic technologists; experience may be required for MRI technologists

10. Aircraft and avionics equipment mechanic/technician

• Median annual salary: $75,400
• Number of jobs (2023): 163,300
• Change in pay (2022–2023): 7%
• Work experience required: FAA certification required

Click here for the full report from Resume Genius.

What if AI could apply to jobs for you by crafting custom cover letters and resumes tailored to each job description, and get you an interview?

It might be possible. One Reddit user, who has since deleted their account name after posting about their experiences on the “Get Employed” community five months ago, created an AI bot to automatically apply to 1,000 jobs on their behalf. The bot applied to the jobs—and got the user 50 interviews in one month.

The AI took in the person’s information, like where they worked and their educational background, and automatically applied to jobs by generating unique cover letters, resumes, and application question responses.

Related: ChatGPT Is Writing Lots of Job Applications, But Companies Are Quickly Catching On. Here’s How.

“And all of this while I was sleeping!” the Reddit user wrote. “In just one month, this method helped me secure around 50 interviews. The tailored CVs and cover letters, customized based on each job description, made a significant difference.”

The user didn’t specify the exact job listing sites, like Indeed or LinkedIn, the bot tapped into. They wrote that the unique cover letters and CVs helped them get past automated screening systems and get noticed by human beings.

I used AI to automatically apply for 1000 jobs – and I got 50 interviews!
by inGetEmployed

The Reddit user posted a link to the code for the AI bot so that other people could try it for free. Multiple Redditors have noted that the project is broken at the time of writing and doesn’t work.

Even if the tool was live, it might not be wise to use it. A report released in August by the Financial Times found that though about half of job applicants use ChatGPT and other AI tools to help with job applications, employers can easily tell if an applicant has used AI — and it reflects poorly on the candidate.

“Without proper editing, the language will be clunky and generic, and hiring managers can detect this,” Victoria McLean, chief executive of career consultancy CityCV, told the publication.

The biggest red flag for hiring managers was AI-generated resumes, according to an April Resume Genius survey.

Related: AI Is Changing How Businesses Recruit for Open Roles — and How Candidates Are Gaming the System

Meanwhile, employers are using automated systems to filter out candidates. A Guardian report from March shows that AI is conducting interviews on behalf of companies and shutting out candidates before they talk to a human hiring manager. According to Jobscan research, 99% of Fortune 500 companies use AI technology in hiring.

As the AI revolution accelerates, business owners preparing for an exit can harness this technology to increase efficiency, scale operations and improve profitability. These actions make a company more attractive to potential buyers and ultimately increase its value to new heights.

AI isn’t a single program you introduce to your company, then stand back and watch as it works magic on your processes. It’s a broad term for an array of tools that create efficiency through automation, with different tools designed for the various areas of a business. It takes some training to use it effectively, so before diving into AI, you must identify what areas of your business would benefit the most from it.

Identifying opportunities

Start with repetitive tasks, especially those that add more work as the business scales. AI excels in scenarios where tasks are tedious, don’t scale efficiently and aren’t highly sophisticated. This includes research, marketing and even sales support functions, which are vital to driving productivity and cost savings. These functions are ripe for AI integration because they allow the business to expand without constantly increasing overhead costs.

For instance, some companies have a time-consuming client onboarding process involving extensive research to gather basic background information. Using AI for basic research saves hours for a human employee, who can now manage an AI tool, review the work in a fraction of the time and spend more of their day on strategic, client-focused efforts.

It’s the kind of AI power that can significantly increase the value of a business preparing for sale. Potential buyers look for more than just strong financials. They want to see that the company is efficient and scalable, which is where AI becomes a strong selling point.

Related: How AI Can (and Should) Drive Innovation Across Your Entire Organization

Measuring success

Implemented correctly, AI can improve several key business metrics:

• Revenue per employee: As your team becomes more efficient by doing less of the repetitive work they have been doing, you should see an increase in the revenue each employee brings in. This metric signals to buyers that the company can scale without significantly increasing labor costs.

• Gross and net margins: By outsourcing labor-intensive tasks to AI, you can reduce operational costs and improve profitability. Higher margins make a company more attractive to buyers because they indicate a well-run, cost-efficient operation.

• Capacity: AI can help businesses do more with less. It can assist small and medium-sized enterprises bridge the resource gap when competing against larger companies with bigger budgets. For example, an advertising agency might be at full capacity with its current team. Utilizing AI can save time and resources, allowing the team to take on more clients without expanding headcount. This capacity growth is a strong indicator of future scalability.

Potential buyers will want to see these metrics over time to judge whether they’ve improved and are likely to continue improving.

Resist the urge to make much of the mere fact that you use AI tools. If executed thoughtfully, AI will lead to improvements that speak for themselves. You won’t have to tell buyers you’re AI-enabled—they’ll see the results.

Practical AI tools for small businesses

Once you know your needs, what AI tools should you use? Here are three categories of tools that can increase efficiency and, ultimately, value:

1. Research: AI can automate research tasks, saving employees significant time. For example, AI agents can gather background information on new clients, allowing team members to move directly into the strategic phases of their work.

2. Marketing: AI can automate content creation, copywriting and even video production. By using AI tools for marketing, businesses can produce higher volumes of content without increasing staffing. Marketing can do a little bit more creative tasks, such as copywriting and creating images and social media posts.

3. Sales support: AI can assist in lead generation and prospecting campaigns by compiling lists, writing outreach copy and automating follow-ups. By having the functions automated, the sales team can focus on closing deals rather than spending hours on administrative tasks.

Without AI, you might tell an employee to, for instance, build a prospecting campaign for B2B business owners under $10 million in revenue and conduct outreach to them. They’d have to compile the list, write the copy and then contact them. Now, you can use AI tools to compile the list, write the copy and do the sales outreach on platforms like LinkedIn, even execute the campaign for you. So, then the salesperson can do high-level tasks like managing the campaign and responding to leads.

With AI, we’ll mostly eliminate the upfront boring tasks so we can do the things that really ignite us and drive value in a company. You don’t have to eliminate jobs, but you can upgrade the quality of the projects you assign to your existing teams and keep them engaged and excited.

Related: 5 Ways AI Can Accelerate Your Entrepreneurial Journey

A long-term investment

It’s essential to recognize that AI implementation is not a quick fix but requires a long-term mindset. Whenever I’ve introduced any new technology in my own business, it’s taken at least a year to see the full impact on the company.

In preparing a business for sale, the earlier AI is incorporated, the better. Prospective buyers will want to see a clear pattern of improved metrics over time, not just a rushed process with uncertain results. It’s never advisable to sell a company when it’s still figuring out how to use AI, especially since your revenue may dip during the learning phase.

The key is to approach AI strategically, focusing on areas where it can make a difference. When done right, AI won’t just be a trend but a critical tool for maximizing your business’ value.

A first-of-its-kind Costco with 800 apartment units above it is coming to Baldwin Hills, a neighborhood in South Los Angeles that Census Reporter finds has a poverty rate 25% higher than the national average.

The complex includes 184 apartments for low-income households, with the rest of the units offered as a mix of unsubsidized, affordable, and workforce housing. It will also have a rooftop pool and fitness center.

The Costco downstairs will have 185,000 square feet of space and two levels of underground parking. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the average size of a Costco in the U.S. is 146,000 square feet, placing this Costco above average.

Related: This 43-Year-Old Started a Side Hustle at a Farmer’s Market — Then She Quit Her Job and Built an 8-Figure Brand Sold in Costco

Real estate developer Thrive Living is preparing to start constructing the apartment-Costco property in early 2025, according to a report published earlier this month by the Wall Street Journal. When constructed, the complex will be the first residential development in the country with a Costco right downstairs.

^{Photo Credit: Thrive Living}

Thrive Living’s founder Ben Shaoul told the WSJ that Costco will pay rent for the space and the income will help Thrive Living rely less on government subsidies for the complex’s affordable housing units.

If the model works, Shaoul says he wants to use the same concepts to build “thousands and thousands of apartments every year, not hundreds.”

Related: A Popular Costco Section May Disappear in January

The Costco apartment complex will cost $425 million to construct, with work expected to conclude in 2027.

According to a Thrive Living press release, constructing the complex will create thousands of jobs, and opening the Costco will create up to 400 new jobs.

The project is the first to receive approval under Assembly Bill 2011 or the Affordable Housing and High Road Jobs Act. The California law, which went into effect throughout the state on July 1, 2023, speeds up the approval process for projects that meet affordability and labor criteria.

Related: Costco Is Raising Hourly Wages for Employees, According to an Internal Memo from the CEO

ChatGPT might have finally met its match. While everyone—likely including yourself—flocked to the chatbot when it was first released, many are leaving it for this new AI tool. They’re saying it’s easier to use, has more features, and it’s less expensive. So, what is it?

You probably haven’t heard the name 1minAI yet, but get ready to start seeing it in headlines. With only a one-time payment, you get a whole suite of preset AI tools powered by models like GPT, Gemini, and Llama. And right now, that lifetime payment is at its lowest price ever: $29.97 (reg. $234).

How to use 1minAI

If you’re used to using ChatGPT, the 1minAI user experience is a bit different—smoother. Instead of wrangling with a chatbot, browse a whole list of AI tools for writing, image generation, audio transcription, video, and code on a sidebar panel.

You no longer have to waste your premium credits explaining to ChatGPT what you’re looking for—1minAI’s pre-trained bots already know based on the prompt you select. Here’s how easy it is to generate an AI image with 1minIA:

• Open the image generator tool.
• Select an AI model: DALL-E, Midjourney, Leonardo, Flux, or Stable Diffusion.
• Enter a prompt for your image.
• Hit “create” and cash in some of your monthly credits.

Some requests take up more credits than others, but your stash replenishes each month. You also get additional free credits just by visiting the web app each day.

See what all the rage is about when a 1minAI lifetime subscription is on sale for $29.97 (reg. $234). No coupon is needed to get this lowest price ever.

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Business professionals know the value of a fast and reliable computer. Whether you’re managing spreadsheets, sending emails, or presenting in a meeting, your PC should work as hard as you do.

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Over time, your computer can get bogged down with unused files, slow startups, and privacy-compromising data. CCleaner Professional tackles all these issues with just a click, helping you regain speed, free up space, and protect sensitive information. Whether tech-savvy or a beginner, CCleaner’s intuitive interface ensures you can quickly optimize your PC without hassle.

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In 1958, Joe Foster co-founded Reebok and helped grow the company to be worth $4 billion, he says, before exiting in 1991. (Adidas bought Reebok for $3.8 billion in 2005 before selling it in 2021.)

Now the 89-year-old entrepreneur is helping launch a new high-tech shoe brand with slides that are fully 3D printed, meaning they are printed out, not assembled, from layer after layer of stacked plastic filament.

It’s also the first commercially available shoe designed by AI, the founder tells Entrepreneur.

^{Credit: Syntilay}

The shoe is the first from Syntilay, a brand being advised by Foster. Syntilay’s founder and CEO is serial entrepreneur Ben Weiss, 25, who has previously released a weekly podcast, an NFT company, and a sneaker brand.

Weiss and Foster launched the slides on Thursday to the lucrative U.S. footwear market, which generated around $78 billion in revenue in 2021 and is projected to reach $104 billion in 2028, according to RunRepeat.

The shoe comes in five colors — blue, black, red, beige, and orange — and is custom-made to fit each buyer.

Related: This 27-Year-Old Started a Side Hustle on Facebook Marketplace — Now the Gig Earns Over $500,000 a Month

Weiss and Foster said that they plan to manufacture around a few thousand pairs, enough to make Syntilay a more recognizable name, before shifting gears and creating unique AI-designed shoes that brands and content creators can sell as their own.

Entrepreneur talked to the founders about how they got into the business, how AI contributed to the shoe’s design, and what Foster learned from Reebok.

How did this partnership start?

Foster: Ben [Weiss] came to us with an idea. I think what inspired us was Ben’s enthusiasm. This partnership has been in the works for 18 months.

Weiss: I just reached out, and a couple of months later, we met up in person and had some great chats. I just explained the opportunity here.

There’s no traditional sizing with these slides. How are people getting a custom fit?

Weiss: The shoes are scanned to fit via your phone camera app. Our partner, Zellerfeld, powers this method. They have a great way of getting the best-fit shoe for you that takes your measurements from your phone camera and 3D prints it specifically.

Related: I Tried 3 AI Headshot Generators and There Was a Clear Winner

Can you tell me more about the design of the shoe?

Weiss:  The design is pretty unique in that we’ve generated the shape of it with AI. That was an inspiration for what we’ve built.  We had a sketch done by our [human] designer, and then we just AI-generated a 3D shape from that.  The patterns on the shoe are also all designed by AI; we generated the patterns. We played around with lots of different versions of that. And so it’s very detailed.

^{Credit: Syntilay}

So would you credit AI as the designer of the shoe or was there more human involvement than that?

Weiss: It’s pretty split, I would say. This is the most AI-designed shoe that we’ve ever seen being produced so far. It very much is an AI shoe. We still had a human designer helping us in making it and leading it along the way. I think that’s probably the best that can be done in this current state.

Related: Here’s How Much It Costs to Own a 3D-Printed ‘Fortress’ Home in Texas

What advantages and disadvantages do 3D-printed shoes have?

Foster: The advantage is that it speeds up development. You can produce a product within days, and if it’s wrong, you can get a new sample. So development is so much faster. Now, how much you can develop it and what the process is, we’re still learning. The disadvantage is that you can’t do volume 3D printing, but you can get a product on the market, and you can make sure that the product does its job.

^{Side profile of the slides in red. Credit: Syntilay}

^{Top of the shoe in orange. Credit: Syntilay}

^{Bottom of the shoe in blue. Credit: Syntilay}

What are some lessons you learned at Reebok and how are you going to apply them here?

Foster: We learned that you can get problems,  you can get challenges, but those challenges are opportunities.  We started our business as Mercury Sports Footwear. We couldn’t register it so we came up with a better name. We also had to change our silhouette because Adidas didn’t like our two stripes and a T-bar. We changed it to the vector, which you now see in Reebok. I think this is what you do with anything. If you’re in a business, you’ve got to be ready to change, willing to change. In fact, you’ve got to look for change. And if somebody challenges you, that is a good opportunity.

How are you hoping to expand Syntilay?

 Weiss:  We’re starting with this pair of shoes now in different colors, but this is a fairly limited run overall. We ultimately want to give a lot of brands and content creators a shot at the footwear space.  What we have today is a faster method to make shoes with artificial intelligence and 3D printing. Our approach as we go is to make brand-new, original designs for brands and influencers.

^{A pair of the slides. Credit: Syntilay}

What is the end goal of this launch?

Foster: It took me 10 years to get Reebok into America. But when we got 5-star ratings from Runner’s World, there was a change. They wanted us then — America wanted Reebok. We got credibility. Somewhere along this process, Syntilay is going to get credibility. It could be very simple. It could be one person. The thing now is just getting these shoes out and getting people’s imaginations to go, “Wow, this is brilliant.”

This interview was lightly edited and cut for clarity.

Related: When His Dad Died, He Took His Grief to the Mall and Shopped Sneaker Sales. Now His Hobby Is a $10 Million Side Hustle.

Nvidia shares grew 171% in 2024, leading to newly minted billionaires.

Tench Coxe, 66, a member of Nvidia’s board since 1993, has earned a place on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index for the first time, the publication reported on Thursday.

According to the Index, Coxe is now worth $5.4 billion. He’s Nvidia’s third-largest individual shareholder, with 32 million shares, behind Nvidia co-founder and CEO Jensen Huang (75 million shares) and fellow board member Mark Stevens (38 million shares).

Coxe isn’t Nvidia’s only billionaire board member. Stevens made the Bloomberg Billionaires Index for the first time in July 2024 and has a net worth of $9.3 billion at the time of writing. Another board member who joined Nvidia when it was founded in 1993, Harvey Jones, has a $1 billion stake in Nvidia, per Bloomberg. Huang, also a board member, is worth over $120 billion. He was first recorded as a billionaire by Forbes in 2017.

Related: He Bought Nvidia Stock in 1993. Now It’s the Backbone of His $8.8 Billion Net Worth.

Coxe, Stevens, and Jones have each been Nvidia board members for more than 30 years. According to Bloomberg, their net worth coupled with Huang’s fortune makes Nvidia’s board one of the wealthiest in the world.

^{Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images}

It’s not just Nvidia’s top brass that has benefitted from the company’s stock jump — Nvidia’s over 2,200% surge over the past five years has made long-term employees multimillionaires.

Related: Employees Who Worked at This Company for the Past 5 Years Are Now Multi-Millionaires in ‘Semi-Retirement’

A June poll of over 3,000 Nvidia employees showed that 76% were millionaires and one-third were worth over $20 million. Nvidia has around 30,000 total employees.

Even though the majority of respondents were millionaires, an August Bloomberg report indicated they were still working hard. The report unpacked the culture and expectations at Nvidia and concluded that the company had a “pressure cooker” environment.

Still, Nvidia has no problems holding onto employees. Its sustainability report for fiscal year 2024 details that overall turnover was 2.7% compared to the industry average of 17.7%.

Related: ‘Pressure Cooker’: Why Millionaire Nvidia Employees Are Still Working Until 2 a.m.