Core Viewpoint - Target has lowered its full-year sales forecast due to weak discretionary spending, tariff pressures, and consumer boycotts related to its DEI policies [1][5][15] Sales Performance - Comparable sales dropped 3.8% in the quarter ended May 3, exceeding Wall Street's expectations for a decline [2] - The company now expects net sales to fall by a low single-digit percentage, abandoning earlier hopes for a modest increase [1][8] Challenges Faced - CEO Brian Cornell cited several headwinds, including five consecutive months of declining consumer confidence, uncertainty regarding potential tariffs, and backlash from DEI policy updates [3][4] - Target's vulnerability is highlighted compared to competitors like Walmart, which have larger grocery operations that provide a buffer against declines in discretionary spending [6] Internal Strain and Leadership Changes - Signs of internal strain are evident, with a leadership shakeup announced, including the departure of longtime executive Christina Hennington [10] - Chief Operating Officer Michael Fiddelke will lead a new "multiyear acceleration office" aimed at reigniting growth [10] Consumer Backlash and Boycotts - Target has faced boycotts from both conservative and liberal groups due to its handling of diversity initiatives and LGBTQ-themed products [11][12] - The backlash resulted in a 40-day consumer boycott beginning in March and a class-action lawsuit alleging misleading information about financial risks associated with DEI policies [15] Tariff Impact - Tariffs are compounding Target's challenges, influencing pricing strategies, although executives avoided directly blaming tariffs [15][16] - The company is negotiating with suppliers and adjusting sourcing strategies to mitigate tariff impacts [16] Future Strategies - Despite setbacks, Target is focusing on value-driven seasonal events and partnerships to rekindle consumer interest [18] - The company plans to introduce over 10,000 new items this summer, with prices starting as low as $1, aiming to win everyday consumer moments [19]

Core Insights - Emerging Growth Research released a quarterly update report on 22nd Century Group, highlighting operational progress and a positive financial outlook for 2025 [1][4] Financial Performance - 22nd Century Group reported Q1 2025 revenue of $6.0 million, an 8% decrease year-over-year from $6.5 million in Q1 2024, but a significant 48% increase compared to $4.0 million in Q4 2024 [3][8] - Gross profit improved to $(0.6) million in Q1 2025 from $(1.3) million in Q4 2024 [8] - Operating loss narrowed to $(2.6) million from $(4.4) million in Q1 2024 [8] - EBITDA improved to $(2.5) million from $(4.2) million in Q1 2024 [8] Debt and Cash Position - The company's cash position strengthened following a Q2 2025 partial warrant inducement that generated $5.4 million in gross proceeds, with $1.0 million used to repay debt [5] - Total debt reduced to approximately $3 million as of May 7, 2025, resulting in a net cash positive position [5][8] - Management anticipates sufficient cash reserves to maintain operations through year-end 2025 [5] Product Development and Market Position - The VLN® cigarettes, which contain 95% less nicotine than conventional cigarettes, are gaining traction in the marketplace [6] - Management estimates that only 223,000 VLN® cartons are needed to reach profit breakeven, indicating significant growth potential [6] - The company plans to launch additional products, including VLN® SKUs within private label CMO customer brand families [7]

Core Insights - Achieve Life Sciences is presenting additional analyses from its Phase 3 ORCA-3 study on cytisinicline at the 2025 ATS International Conference, emphasizing its dual mechanism of action in treating nicotine dependence [1][8] - Cytisinicline has shown significant efficacy in reducing nicotine cravings and intake, even among smokers who do not completely quit, indicating its potential as a therapeutic option for smoking cessation [3][4] Company Overview - Achieve Life Sciences is a late-stage specialty pharmaceutical company focused on developing cytisinicline for nicotine dependence and smoking cessation, having completed two Phase 3 studies and one Phase 2 study for vaping cessation [7] - The company plans to submit a New Drug Application for cytisinicline in June 2025, aiming to address the smoking health epidemic affecting millions [6][7] Clinical Findings - The ORCA-3 study demonstrated a significant reduction in craving scores (p=0.0001) and serum cotinine levels among participants treated with cytisinicline compared to placebo, with a reduction equivalent to nearly four times more in cotinine levels [4][5] - Cytisinicline's dual action as a selective partial agonist and antagonist at the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor may help smokers reduce their nicotine intake while on the path to quitting [3][5] Market Context - There are approximately 29 million adult smokers in the U.S., with smoking being the leading cause of preventable death, highlighting the critical need for effective cessation treatments [9] - Cytisinicline has received Breakthrough Therapy designation from the FDA, indicating its potential to address the urgent need for effective nicotine cessation therapies [10][11]

Core Insights - 22nd Century Group, Inc. is focused on nicotine harm reduction and offers smokers choices regarding their nicotine consumption [3][4] - The company will present a corporate update at the Emerging Growth Conference on May 21, 2025, led by CEO Larry Firestone [1][2] Company Overview - 22nd Century Group is a pioneering company in the tobacco industry, enabling smokers to control their nicotine intake [3] - The flagship product, VLN cigarettes, contains 95% less nicotine than traditional cigarettes and aims to reduce overall nicotine consumption [4][6] Product and Technology - VLN cigarettes are designed to provide an authentic smoking experience while allowing smokers to make informed choices about nicotine levels [4] - The company utilizes patented technologies to create reduced nicotine tobacco blends, ensuring high flavor and yield with significantly lower nicotine content [6] Manufacturing Capabilities - The company operates a 60,000 square foot facility in Mocksville, North Carolina, capable of producing over 45 million cartons of combusted tobacco products annually, with room for expansion [5] - The facility also provides turnkey contract manufacturing for other tobacco brands both domestically and internationally [5]

在今年，DeepSeek R1火了之后。 几乎快形成了一个共识，就是： AI推理能力越强，执行任务时就应该越聪明。 从2022年Chain-of-Thought横空出世，到今天Gemini 2.5 Pro、OpenAI o3、DeepSeek-R1、Qwen3，这些旗 舰模型的统治性表现，我们一直相信，让模型先想一想，是一个几乎不会出错的策略。 不过，这种聪明，也会带来一些副作用。 就是提示词遵循能力，变得越来越差。 换句话说，就是越来越不听你的话了。 我在过年期间写DeepSeek的攻略文： DeepSeek的提示词技巧，就是没有技巧。 的时候，也提到了这一 点。 不过，这只是我自己使用中的感觉，它变的越来越聪明，但是感觉，却越来越不听话了，以至于我现 在，最常用的模型，开始越来越变成了GPT4o，所有的推理模型，反而会用的越来越少了。 不过，确实没有经历过验证，所以也不是特别敢说。 直到昨晚回来，在扒拉论文的时候，看到一篇提到这个话题的论文，我读完以后，我觉得，终于可以来 聊聊这个事了。 这篇论文叫，《When Thinking Fails: The Pitfalls of Reasoning for I ...

本文由匹兹堡大学智能系统实验室（Intelligent Systems Laboratory）的研究团队完成。第一作者为匹兹堡大学的一年级博士生薛琪耀。 当前文本生成视频（T2V）技术正在从注重视觉质量与模型规模的扩展阶段，迈向更关注物理一致性与现实合理性的推理驱动阶段。 物理规律作为建模现实世界的基本知识体系，是实现高质量视频生成的关键约束。提升大模型对现实物理动态的理解与遵循能力，成为推动 T2V 技术落地 的重要突破方向。 为推动物理一致性驱动的 T2V 生成研究，来自匹兹堡大学的研究团队提出了 PhyT2V 框架，并在最新论文中系统阐述了该方法的核心机制，该论文已被 CVPR 2025 接收。 论文标题：PhyT2V: LLM-Guided Iterative Self-Refinement for Physics-Grounded Text-to-Video Generation 论文地址： https://arxiv.org/abs/2412.00596 该方法不依赖模型重训练或大规模外部数据，而是通过引入大型语言模型引导的链式推理与迭代自我修正机制，对文本提示进行多轮物理一致性分析与优 化，从而 ...

文章转载自「机器之心」的编译版本。 学习大模型的优质博客又更新了！ 最近，北大校友 Lilian Weng （OpenAI前AI安全与机器人技术应用研究副总裁，现Thinking Machines Lab联合创始人，知名博客Lil'Log作者） 更新了一篇长长长长长长长博客《Why We Think》。 最新、最值得关注的 AI 新品资讯； 不定期赠送热门新品的邀请码、会员码； 文章回顾了近期在如何有效利用测试时计算（即「思考时间」）及其作用机制方面的研究进展，旨在让模型「思考得更久」这一目标可以从多个角 度得到合理动机支持。 通过观察 GPT、Claude、Gemini 等模型的迭代，可以清晰地看到，它们在复杂逻辑推理、长文本理解、数学问题求解以及代码生成与调试等高级 认知任务上的性能边界被不断拓展。 这种性能的提升得益于思维链（CoT）和测试时计算等策略的优化，但也带来了新的研究挑战。 为了方便国内读者更好地学习这篇内容，机器之心对此文章进行了编译。感兴趣的读者也可查阅原英文内容。 英文博客链接： https://lilianweng.github.io/posts/2025-05-01-thinking ...

选自 Lil'Log 作者： Lilian Weng 机器之心编译 学习大模型的优质博客又更新了！ 最近，北大校友、前 OpenAI 应用 AI 研究负责人 Lilian Weng 更新了一篇长长长长长长长博客《Why We Think》。 文章回顾了近期在如何有效利用测试时计算（即「思考时间」）及其作用机制方面的研究进展，旨在让模型「思考得更久」这一目标可以从多个角度得到合理动 机支持。 通过观察 GPT、Claude、Gemini 等模型的迭代，可以清晰地看到，它们在复杂逻辑推理、长文本理解、数学问题求解以及代码生成与调试等高级认知任务上的性 能边界被不断拓展。 这种性能的提升得益于思维链（CoT）和测试时计算等策略的优化，但也带来了新的研究挑战。 为了方便国内读者更好地学习这篇内容，机器之心对此文章进行了编译。感兴趣的读者也可查阅原英文内容。 英文博客链接： https://lilianweng.github.io/posts/2025-05-01-thinking/ 类比心理学 该核心思想与人类的思维方式密切相关。人类通常无法立即给出「12345 × 56789」的答案，对于复杂问题，进行一段时间的思 ...

Core Insights - Tesla's chair, Robyn Denholm, sold over $230 million in company stock following Elon Musk's endorsement of Donald Trump, which led to boycotts and protests against Tesla vehicles, negatively impacting profits and stock prices [1][8] - Denholm's stock sales were primarily executed under a pre-arranged selling plan, with more than half of her holdings being sold, coinciding with Musk's political endorsements [2][4] - The sales occurred as Tesla's stock price fell by one-third, and Denholm's profits were significantly enhanced due to acquiring shares at a deep discount through options granted by Tesla [5][6] Financial Performance - Tesla reported a 71% decline in profits for the first three months of the year, reflecting the adverse effects of the political climate and consumer backlash [13] - Despite the challenges, Tesla's stock has seen a recovery, closing at $347 per share, which is over 50% higher than its low in April [13] Insider Trading Activity - Denholm is not alone in selling shares; other Tesla executives, including the chief financial officer, have collectively sold $189 million in stock during the same nine-month period [9] - The use of pre-determined selling schedules by executives is intended to assure investors that these sales are not based on insider information or indicative of negative sentiment towards the company [8]

Financial Data and Key Metrics Changes - As of March 31, 2025, the company's cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities totaled $23.2 million [19] - Total operating expenses for Q1 2025 were $12.9 million, resulting in a net loss of $12.8 million [19] Business Line Data and Key Metrics Changes - The company is focused on the NDA submission for cytisinicline, which is expected to be submitted in June 2025 [6][12] - The ORCA-OL open label study has over 100 patients with one year of exposure to cytisinicline, demonstrating strong tolerability [10][14] Market Data and Key Metrics Changes - In the U.S., over 29 million adults smoke cigarettes, and 11 million vape, with more than half wanting to quit but fewer than 10% succeeding due to inadequate tools [7] - Cytisinicline, if approved, will be the first new nicotine dependence drug in nearly 20 years, addressing a significant unmet need in the market [8][17] Company Strategy and Development Direction - The company aims to change the perception of nicotine dependence as a serious medical condition that requires treatment, similar to how GLP-1 medications have reframed obesity treatment [9] - The management is focused on ensuring a high-quality NDA submission and preparing for a potential commercial launch in 2026 [19][20] Management's Comments on Operating Environment and Future Outlook - Management expressed confidence in the NDA submission process and the potential impact of cytisinicline on public health, particularly in treating nicotine dependence and related chronic conditions like COPD [21][66] - The company is committed to prudent cash management to extend its cash runway while focusing on the NDA submission [20] Other Important Information - The ORCA-three clinical trial results published in JAMA Internal Medicine reaffirm cytisinicline's efficacy and tolerability for helping adult smokers quit [16] - The company convened a Scientific Advisory Board meeting with leading experts to discuss cytisinicline and gather insights for the NDA filing and commercial plans [15] Q&A Session Summary Question: How long before we see the full safety data from the long-term study? - The company expects to complete the study by June to September 2025 and will present the data after the NDA submission [27] Question: What were some of the key takeaways from the SAB meeting? - The SAB meeting highlighted the enthusiasm of key opinion leaders for cytisinicline and discussed its potential applications in various settings [30][32] Question: What are your plans for pre-commercial efforts to increase awareness of cytisinicline? - The company is focusing on awareness, availability, and access, ensuring the drug is ready for sale and working on pricing and payer strategies [36][38] Question: What is the status of any partnership discussions for non-dilutive capital? - The company is specifying its needs for partnerships related to COPD and is in discussions with potential candidates [44] Question: Have there been any changes in interactions with the FDA? - There have been no significant changes; interactions have remained consistent as the company approaches the NDA submission [48] Question: How are pricing discussions with payers going? - Initial conversations have occurred, but strong perspectives will emerge once pricing is set [52] Question: Will the company rely on external partners for commercialization? - The company will heavily rely on agency partners to implement its strategy and digital launch roadmap [59] Question: When will commercialization begin after product approval? - The company anticipates needing some time post-approval to ensure a strong launch, but aims to start as close to approval as possible [61]