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A growing number of companies are exploring the possibility of offering psychedelic drug therapy for their employees as a cost-saving and effective means of mental health treatment, according to a report.

Recent research has shown that well-known party-drugs like MDMA [ecstasy], psilocybin [magic mushrooms] and ketamine which has been legalized for medicinal use are useful alternatives to treating a slew of mental health issues including depression, anxiety and PTSD.

Jorge Yant, founder of Plexis Healthcare Systems, told The Wall Street Journal that he has started offering psychedelic-assisted therapy coverage to his employees through benefits startup Enthea.

Ive experimented with psychedelics myself, and I could see how it could be helpful to people, Yant told the paper.

The businessman said he first began to consider covering psychedelic therapies after an anonymous summary report of prescription drug use at the company revealed how many on his staff were prescribed medications for their mental health.

The use of antidepressants among my employees and their families was off the charts, he said.

Yant said he believes the US healthcare system overly emphasizes prescription drugs and believes his workers could benefit from the alternative therapy. 

It will save money over time compared to expensive, traditional therapy sessions and will make his employees happier and more productive, he told WSJ.

Enthea offers its clients ketamine-assisted therapy coverage, and, in the coming months, will be able to cover psilocybin if they are based out of or willing to go to Oregon where it is now legal for medical use. 

The company said if MDMA is approved by the Food and Drug Administration, they will add it to their list.

Sherry Rais, Entheas CEO, said just this past year more than a dozen companies signed up for the therapy coverage and another 50 have signed letters of intent.

Psychedelic therapy is increasingly viewed as a legitimate treatment for mental health as it becomes more and more mainstream, especially among elites in Silicon Valley and Wall Street.

Elon Musk, among the wealthiest individuals in the world, has been candid about his ketamine use for health reasons going as far to say his use of the drug is beneficial to his investors and said the drug helps him manage a negative chemical state in his heated interview with Don Lemon last month.

Google co-founder Sergey Brin has said hes used psilocybin, while the late Steve Jobs was a vocal advocate of LSD.

Billionaire Peter Thiel dumped millions into ATAI Life Science, a firm that aims to use hallucinogens in medicine and last year, Mets owner Steve Cohen donated $5 million to MAPS, the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelics Studies.

Last year, 17% of employers reported that they were investing into psychedelic-therapy solutions for their workers mental health, according to a survey conducted by benefits consulting firm NFP, cited by WSJ.

While many of Entheas new clients are excited to see how their employees respond, there remain concerns among companies about the risk of their workers using the drugs in a non-clinical setting.

Many doctors who arent trained as psychiatrists are now adding ketamine to their arsenal for patients to use at home, David Feifel, a psychiatrist and medical director of Kadima Neuropsychiatry Institute in La Jolla, Calif., told the paper.

Deb Smolensky, the head of well-being and engagement with NFP, said that mental health has emerged as the single biggest concern among clients over the past three years.

The burnout rates are enormous, she told the Wall Street Journal.

The incredibly high cost of mental health medication is also burdensome for workers.

While ketamine is not FDA-approved to treat depression, doctors offer patients off-label alternatives like Johnson&Johnson’s nasal spray Spravato a chemically similar drug that has agency approval for adults with depression and is covered by some insurance companies, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Spravato reported full-year sales of $689 million in 2023, up 84% from $374 million the year before, according to a company spokeswoman.

Larger insurance companies are beginning to realize it’s more financially savvy to make an exception and agreeing to cover ketamine for off-label use.  

Smolensky predicted a wider movement towards covering psychedelic-assisted therapies.

Its going to come. We see the writing on the wall,” she said.

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Musk says Tesla is expanding Austin robotaxi service, adding Grok to cars

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Musk says Tesla is expanding Austin robotaxi service, adding Grok to cars

Tesla CEO Elon Musk attends an opening ceremony for Tesla China-made Model Y program in Shanghai, China, on Jan. 7, 2020.

Aly Song | Reuters

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the company is expanding its robotaxi service area and bringing xAI’s Grok to vehicles as it rolled out a new iteration of the artificial intelligence chatbot.

Shares gained about 3%.

Musk said on X that Grok, his AI chatbot that praised Adolf Hitler and posted a barrage of antisemitic comments recently, will be available in Tesla vehicles “next week at the latest.”

xAI officially launched the Grok 4 update overnight as the company continued to face backlash for the vitriol written by the chatbot.

In response to a user post on his social media platform X, Musk said the company is expanding its Austin, Texas robotaxi service area this weekend. He also said Tesla is awaiting regulatory approval for a launch in the Bay Area “probably in a month or two.”

Read more CNBC tech news

The expansion of robotaxi and Grok integration comes at a fraught time for Musk and his empire.

Tesla set its annual shareholder meeting for Nov. 6, a Thursday filing showed. A group of investors recently called on the electric vehicle company to schedule the meeting.

Its last shareholder meeting was in June 2024, as Musk established himself as a major backer of President Donald Trump‘s reelection campaign. Musk later led the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency, known as DOGE.

After stepping down from DOGE at the end of May, Musk has openly feuded with Trump on social media over the major tax bill, with the president suggesting the government look at cutting contracts for Musk’s companies.

Shares have tanked from their post-election high over investor concerns that the public fight could hamper Tesla. Slowing sales and rising competition also stifled some investor appetite.

Tesla shares fell Monday, with the company losing $68 billion in value after Musk continued to blast Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” and said he was establishing his own political party, the “America Party.”

The world’s richest man suffered another blow Wednesday when Linda Yaccarino stepped down as CEO of his social media platform X, leaving the role after a turbulent two years for the company.

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The Hyundai IONIQ 6 N is here and it’s even better than expected

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The Hyundai IONIQ 6 N is here and it's even better than expected

The Hyundai IONIQ 6 N is finally here, and it delivers. Hyundai’s electric sports car is loaded with fun new features, a sleek design (including a massive rear wing), 641 horsepower, and much more.

Meet the Hyundai IONIQ 6 N

After teasing the new model for the first time last month, Hyundai created quite a buzz. Now, we are finally getting our first look at the upgraded high-performance EV.

Hyundai unveiled the new IONIQ 6 N at the famed Goodwood Festival of Speed on Thursday in West Sussex, England. The upgraded model follows Hyundai’s first high-performance EV, the IONIQ 5 N.

At the event, the company boasted that its new electric sports car marks “a pivotal milestone in Hyundai N’s electrification journey,” adding “Hyundai N is once again redefining the boundaries of high-performance electrification with the debut of the IONIQ 6 N.”

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The IONIQ 6 N delivers an impressive 641 horsepower (478 kW) and 77 Nm of torque, enabling a 0 to 100 km/h (0 to 62 mph) sprint in just 3.2 seconds. Its top speed is about 160 mph (257 km/h).

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Hyundai IONIQ 6 N (Source: Hyundai)

That’s when using Hyundai’s Launch Control, one of the many performance features the new EV offers. Like its other N models, the IONIQ 6 is based on three pillars: Corner Rascal, Racetrack Capability, and, of course, an Everyday Sportscar.

Powered by two electric motors, a 223 hp (166 kW) at the front and another 378 hp (282 kW) motor at the rear, for a combined 600 hp (448 kW).

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Hyundai IONIQ 6 N (Source: Hyundai)

Redefining the EV driving experience

The upgraded IONIQ 6 “redefines the EV driving experience,” according to Hyundai, thanks to its advanced in-house vehicle control software.

Central to this is Hyundai’s N Active Sound + system, which mimics the feel and sound of a traditional engine. An added N e-Shift simulates shifting gears.

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Hyundai IONIQ 6 N interior (Source: Hyundai)

And that’s just the start. Other performance features, such as N Drift Optimizer, N Grin Boost, and N Torque Distribution, give you even more control over the vehicle while delivering increased power.

The IONIQ 6 N is powered by an 84 kWh battery, providing a WLTP range of up to 291 miles (469 km). However, EPA figures will be revealed closer to launch. Given the IONIQ 5 N has an EPA-estimated range of up to 221 miles, you can expect it to be slightly higher when it arrives.

With a 350 kW DC fast charger, Hyundai’s new performance EV can recharge from 10% to 80% in about 18 minutes.

With a length of 4,935 mm, a width of 1,940 mm, and a height of 1,495 mm, the IONIQ 6 N is about the size of the Porsche Taycan.

Hyundai will showcase the new high-performance EV during the hillclimb event alongside other models like the IONIQ 5 N, IONIQ 6 N Drift Spec, and IONIQ 6 N with N Performance parts. Hyundai promises each vehicle brings unique capabilities to the event, “guaranteeing a dynamic and thrilling on-track experience for all attendees.” Check back soon for more info.

What do you think of Hyundai’s new electric sports car? Would you buy one over the Porsche Taycan? Let us know in the comments.

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Elon Musk says Grok is coming to Tesla vehicles just after it went full Hitler

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Elon Musk says Grok is coming to Tesla vehicles just after it went full Hitler

Elon Musk said that Tesla owners will “soon” have access to Grok, a large language developed by Musk’s xAI startup, days after the AI started calling itself ‘MechaHitler’.

Yesterday, xAI launched Grok 4, the latest version of its large language model.

The new model is benchmarking very well, but that’s generally the case with the latest model to come out. It edges the latest models from Google and OpenAI on intelligence by a few points, but it falls behind on speed:

At the launch event, Musk announced that Grok will “soon” be integrated into Tesla vehicles.

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This is something that the CEO has been discussing since founding xAI, which has been controversial because Musk has also positioned Tesla to compete in the AI space. He even stepped down from his role at OpenAI due to a “conflict of interest with Tesla.”

The announcement of the imminent integration of Grok into Tesla vehicles comes just days after the language model went haywire on X and started praising Hitler, referring to itself as ‘MechaHitler’, and made several antisemitic comments.

xAI acknowledge the issue and put Grok on timeout while they fixed it:

We are aware of recent posts made by Grok and are actively working to remove the inappropriate posts. Since being made aware of the content, xAI has taken action to ban hate speech before Grok posts on X. xAI is training only truth-seeking and thanks to the millions of users on X, we are able to quickly identify and update the model where training could be improved.

The “bug” came just a few weeks after Musk stated that he was displeased with Grok supporting left-wing narratives, even though it didn’t say anything inncurate, and that he would update Grok to “fix” it.

Now, the large language model (LLM) is expected to power the new voice assistant inside Tesla vehicles.

LLMs are becoming quite common in cars, especially premium vehicles. Ford, Mercedes-Benz, Stellantis, and a few others have all integrated Chat-GPT in some models.

Many Chinese automakers have also developed their own and deployed them in cars, even entry-level ones.

Tesla is playing catch up on that front.

Electrek’s Take

As I have previously stated, I think Musk is setting up Tesla to invest or even merge with xAI at a ridiculous valuation – making Tesla shareholders virtually pay twice for Twitter, which is now part of xAI.

This is how he will be able to gain wider control over the company’s share.

Of course, it will be widely challenged in court. In fact, shareholders have already filed a lawsuit alleging that Musk was in breach of fiduciary duties to Tesla shareholders when he started xAI.

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