aytm (Ask Your Target Market), an AI-driven insights platform that helps leading global enterprises turn questions into meaningful understanding, has announced its sponsorship of the AI Adventure Hackathon 2026 at Cal Poly Pomona’s College of Business Administration.

Organized by the Mitchell C. Hill Center for Digital Innovation, the hackathon invites students from diverse academic backgrounds to tackle real-world challenges using AI. As a Sponsored Problem Challenge partner, aytm will provide participants with a genuine consumer research brief—mirroring the types of problems its enterprise clients address daily. The competition runs from March 20 to April 16 and will culminate in finalist presentations at CPP’s AI Fair.

“Consumer insights has always depended on asking the right questions to the right people. What’s evolving is the pace, the scale, and the level of impact. We want students to engage with these changes directly—not as a theoretical exercise, but as a real-world challenge faced by actual clients,” said Lev Mazin, CEO and co-founder, aytm.

This sponsorship underscores aytm’s dedication to nurturing future leaders in consumer insights. As AI continues to transform how research is planned, executed, and analyzed, the industry must equip emerging professionals with practical, hands-on experience using these advanced tools. By exposing students to real platform capabilities and authentic research scenarios early on, aytm is helping build a talent pipeline that appreciates both the potential and discipline required in modern consumer insights.

“aytm’s support of the CPP AI in Business Hackathon represents exactly the kind of forward-thinking investment our field needs. The students involved didn’t just study AI-powered market research—they actively created solutions, validated them, and produced insights robust enough to inform real product launch decisions. This is what learning by doing looks like in the AI era. We’re thankful to aytm for supporting and believing in this next generation of researchers,” said Cal Poly Pomona AI in Business Hackathon Organizing Committee.

According to a new national survey, trees are something on which nearly all Americans agree. The Arbor Day Foundation commissioned the poll, which found that 94% of Americans believe trees are good for the environment.

“We expected people would feel positively about trees, but these results showcase so much more than that. This poll tells us that during this incredibly divisive time in our nation, trees can be something that unifies us all as Americans and that’s a reason to celebrate,” said Dan Lambe, chief executive of the Arbor Day Foundation.

“We’re gratified to know that Americans from all backgrounds see trees as we do: a solution to the world’s most pressing problems.”

The Harris Poll, a nationally recognized market research organization, polled over 2,000 U.S. adults on behalf of the Arbor Day Foundation. Adults in the United States were asked a series of questions about their attitudes towards trees and forests.

One of the survey's key findings revealed that nearly nine out of ten Americans (88%) believe now is a critical time to replant our country's forests. The Arbor Day Foundation is already acting on this urgent message, assisting in the planting of 500 million trees by the summer of 2027. The ambitious goal recognizes the need to accelerate tree planting on a larger scale and with greater focus.

Americans also believe that trees help to mitigate the effects of climate change. According to the survey results, 91% of adults in the United States believe trees help combat climate change. This response is consistent with scientists' long-held belief that trees are a cost-effective way to address environmental threats.

The survey results were made public ahead of the Arbor Day national holiday on April 28. 57% of Americans have previously observed the "tree planter's holiday."