Scaling Without Ego: Lessons From a Tech-First Start-Up
KEY PARTS
⏱️ 00:00 – 06:38: Transforming an outdated industry with AI
⏱️ 06:38 – 13:28: Going from a start-up to an industry leader
⏱️ 13:28 – 22:49: Building a culture of innovation and AI adoption
⏱️ 22:49 – End: Looking ahead: Agentic AI and the next frontier
Connect with Gordon
About the AI Report PodcastJoin us as we delve deep into AI trends and applications through our weekly podcast. | Previous Episodes |
🧱 Google Fixes AI Search Fallout id
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Friday’s AI Report
• 1. 💰 Google’s offerwall goes live
• 2. 🔒 Protect your information online with Incogni
• 3. 💊 How Mandolin cut weeks per authorization with AI
• 4. 🤖 Build no-code chatbots with ChatNode
• 5. 💻 Microsoft retires blue screen
• 6. ⚙️ Trending AI tools
• 7. 🎞 YouTube adds AI video carousels
• 8. 📑 Recommended resources
Read Time: 5 minutes
✅ Refer your friends and unlock rewards. Scroll to the bottom to find out more!
Google’s Offerwall Goes Live
🚨 Our Report
Google has officially launched Offerwall, a recent monetization tool for publishers reeling from declining visitors caused by AI-powered search. Bundled with Google Ad Manager, Offerwall provides publishers with flexible ways to generate revenue, including micropayments, surveys, rewarded ads and more without relying solely on clicks and page views.
🔓 Key Points
Tests across 1,000 publishers revealed an average revenue uplift of 9% during the year-long pilot period.
Offerwall enables publishers to give visitors multiple ways to unlock content, including micropayments, surveys, watching ads and newsletter sign-ups.
During testing, publishers saw an average 9% revenue lift, with India’s Sakal Media Group reporting a 20% increase in revenue and 2,000,000 additional impressions over three months.
🔐 Relevance
AI-generated answers are eating into traditional search user visits. Publishers are losing pageviews and with them ad revenue. Offerwall represents Google’s attempt to stem the tide. While micropayments and surveys aren’t novel concepts, integrating them directly into Ad Manager could simplify experimentation and boost scalability. If it succeeds, this could signal a shift in how content is monetized with less focus on clicks and more on engagement.
Googling a name can reveal more than expected.
Data brokers sell personal info—often for less than a dollar.
What’s publicly available:
Current & past addresses
Phone numbers (even outdated ones)
Family connections
Employment history
Property records
Court documents
This information is bundled and sold to anyone willing to pay.
Even ChatGPT can return surprising details when asked about someone with an online presence.
This isn’t paranoia—it’s probability:
1 in 4 Americans experience identity theft
$1,100 average loss per incident
Over 200 hours to recover
Manually opting out of data brokers is exhausting—195+ forms, 30+ hours, and records often reappear.
Incogni automates the process:
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Mandolin’s infusion‐therapy providers were bogged down by manual back-office tasks, which delayed patient treatment by weeks.
They deployed Mandolin’s AI automation platform, where agentic AI “employees” read clinical notes, contact payers, interact with EHRs and manufacturer portals, and make real-time decisions across entire workflows.
As a result, Mandolin slashed time-to-treatment from weeks to days.
The platform is currently live in over 700 infusion clinics nationwide, up from initial pilots earlier this year.
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Microsoft is retiring the Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) error message after nearly 40 years, replacing it with a simplified Black Screen of Death that provides clearer information about system crashes.
The refreshed design strips away the traditional blue background, frowning face, and QR code in favor of a minimalist black screen that clearly displays the error code and faulty system driver information.
This black screen redesign will roll out "later this summer" alongside an upcoming Quick Machine Recovery feature designed to rapidly restore machines that can't boot, part of Microsoft's efforts to improve Windows resiliency following last year's CrowdStrike incident.
YouTube began rolling out AI-powered video carousels in search results for Premium users on mobile, offering more relevant video recommendations for queries about shopping, places, and activities.
The debut AI search feature is available to Premium users on mobile, with some non-Premium users in the US granted permission to use the conversational AI tool for follow-up questions and summaries.
Google’s Gemini AI models power these features, building on earlier tests and aligning YouTube search with recent AI-driven upgrades in Google Search.
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Are Your AI Skills Stuck in the Past?
This podcast explores why most formal AI courses trail the cutting edge by 6–12 months and lays out simple, hands-on tactics you can use right away to get ahead of the AI curve.
We read your emails, comments, and poll replies daily.
Until next time, Martin, Liam, and Amanda.
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⚖️ Meta makes it 2–0 for AI lawsuits?
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Thursday’s AI Report
• 1. ⚖️ Meta makes it 2–0 for AI lawsuits?
• 2. ✅ Get SOC 2 compliant with Scytale
• 3. 🌍 How Microsoft cut 2hrs p/d, with AI
• 4. 👑 Schedule your AI audit with Upscaile
• 5. ⚙️ Trending AI tools
• 6. ⏳ Bernie Sanders demands 4-day week
• 7. 🏃♂️ OpenAI loses talent to Meta
• 8. 📑 Recommended resources
Read Time: 5 minutes
‼️Tomorrow, this week’s episode of The AI Report podcast drops. Don’t miss Liam talking to the co-founder & CTO of NewFront, a YC-backed startup that’s using AI to modernize one of the most outdated industries in the world.
✅ Refer your friends and unlock rewards. Scroll to the bottom to find out more!
Meta makes it 2–0 for AI lawsuits?
🚨 Our Report
US Federal Judge, Judge Vince Chhabria, has dismissed an AI copyright infringement lawsuit—filed against Meta by a group of 13 authors who accused Meta of illegally training its AI models on their copyrighted books, without permission—calling it “fair use.”
🔓 Key Points
Judge Chhabria found “no evidence” that Meta, by using these books for AI training, would produce “a product that would flood the market with similar works, causing market dilution,” which would be a copyright violation.
Meta was delighted with the ruling, claiming that "AI models are powering transformative innovations…and fair use of copyright material is vital for building this transformative technology."
This comes after yesterday, another Judge ruled that it was “fair use” for Anthropic—which was slapped with a similar copyright lawsuit to Meta—to train its AI models on legally purchased books, as it was “transformative.”
🔐 Relevance
However, despite the double-success for the tech industry, Judge Chhabria made it clear that his decision to dismiss Meta’s lawsuit didn’t mean that all AI training using copyrighted material was “fair use” and, therefore, legal. He said, in this case, the authors simply “made the wrong arguments” and didn’t provide enough evidence to support the right ones. His judgment on “fair use” will be given on a case-by-case basis, and certain “types of works (like news articles) might be even more vulnerable to indirect competition from AI outputs.”
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How Microsoft cut 2hrs p/d, with AI
Microsoft’s engineering team was facing coding inefficiencies, which were slowing down feature development and extending engineering cycles.
They integrated GitHub Copilot—Microsoft’s AI-paired programming tool, which suggests code snippets and writes entire functions, in real-time
As a result, the engineering team spent 55% less time jumping between different jobs and tools, helping them complete project tasks quicker.
Plus, they experienced 30% quicker function development, and overall, saved 1–2 hours p/d, per developer.
Most businesses waste time and budget on inefficient processes and repetitive tasks
The Problem? Most teams don’t know where to start with AI.
The Solution? Upscaile’s AI Automation Audit identifies exactly where and how AI can drive the most value for your business.
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PitchMonster is an AI-powered role-play tool for sales
Smart Palette turns ideas into artwork with AI
US Senator Bernie Sanders believes that the productivity gains and time savings AI brings to companies mean they should give their employees a 4-day working week instead of “throwing them out onto the street.”
He argues that this is “not a radical idea” as there are companies around the world already doing it successfully: 61 UK companies trialed a 4-day workweek and found that revenue rose by 1.4%.
Plus, Microsoft tried it in 2019, in Japan, and found it increased productivity by 40%, leaving Sanders to raise the question: “If AI is as powerful as they say…why not use it to benefit workers?”
Last week, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman outed Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg for trying to poach his staff with WhatsApps and $100M compensation packages, declaring that none of his “best people” had accepted.
However, three of OpenAI’s researchers from its Zurich office— Lucas Beyer, Alexander Kolesnikov, and Xiaohua Zhai—appear to have succumbed to Zuckerberg’s tactics and have joined Meta’s superintelligence team.
Zuckerberg is on a major hiring spree to build up his superintelligence team, having recently hired Scale AI’s CEO, Alexandr Wang for $14B, making him one of the tech industry’s priciest hires ever.
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Does AI cause brain rot?
This podcast dives into MIT’s recent viral report—claiming that AI is rotting our brains—and reveals how to use AI to make sure it doesn’t.
We read your emails, comments, and poll replies daily.
Until next time, Martin, Liam, and Amanda.
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🏛️ Anthropic beats AI copyright lawsuit
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Wednesday’s AI Report
• 1. 🏛️ Anthropic beats AI copyright lawsuit
• 2. 🚀 How to get leads with Taplio
• 3. 🌍 How AI reduced training material creation by 80%
• 4. 🤖 Build custom chatbots with ChatNode
• 5. ⚙️ Trending AI tools
• 6. 🧬 AI focusing on emotion, not logic?
• 7. 🌐 Global trust in AI divides
• 8. 📑 Recommended resources
Read Time: 5 minutes
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Anthropic beats AI copyright lawsuit
🚨 Our Report
A Federal Judge—William Alsup—has sided with Anthropic in an AI copyright case, ruling that it was “fair use” to train its AI model, Claude, on legally purchased books, without authors' permission.
🔓 Key Points
The case—Bartz v. Anthropic—was filed by a trio of writers who sued Anthropic last year for training its AI model, Claude, on their published books, without their permission, calling it “large-scale theft.”
Judge Alsup ruled that digitizing a legally purchased physical book and using it to train an AI model was fair use under US copyright law because it was “quintessentially transformative.”
He said the lawsuit was like complaining that training schoolchildren to write, using their books, would result in “an explosion of competing works,” adding that the law doesn’t “protect authors against competition.”
🔐 Relevance
This is the first time the courts have ruled in favor of AI, and while Judge Alsup’s ruling doesn’t mean that other judges will follow suit, it could impact the ongoing copyright cases against big tech companies like OpenAI, Meta, Midjourney, and Google. But although Judge Alsup has sided with Anthropic in this particular instance, he will be holding a separate court case against Anthropic, as the Bartz v. Anthropic lawsuit also states that Anthropic has created a “central library” of “all the books in the world,” but many of these books were illegally downloaded from pirate sites.
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How AI reduced training material creation by 80%
Clueso, a US startup, couldn’t scale because manually creating high-quality product videos and documentation was too time-consuming.
They built an AI-powered platform that converted screen recordings into polished explainer videos and accompanying documents.
Their AI platform auto‑edited content, generated professional voice‑overs, and auto‑zoomed on key UI interactions.
As a result, they cut training material creation by 80%, generating 100+ videos p/m (compared to their previous 5 p/m), and raised $1.4M in funding.
Your leads vanish when they’re left on hold or met with slow replies
Add ChatNode to your website for:
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Automatic knowledge updates to ensure your AI delivers its best
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Non-profit group, LAION (which makes open-source AI models), has released AI tools, called EmoNet, that are focused on emotional intelligence, representing a shift in focus from logical reasoning to emotional feeling.
EmoNet tools can interpret emotions from voice recordings or facial photography, but LAION founder, Christoph Schuhmann, believes that “Big players already have this technology…we’re just democratizing it.”
Studies and benchmark tests reveal that there is rapid progress in AI emotional intelligence: OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic scored 80% accuracy vs the human average of 56% on emotional intelligence tests.
A United Nations study has revealed that China and many lower-income countries see AI as a tool to improve health, education, and farming—with 60% of Chinese respondents feeling that AI is improving their lives.
However, public trust in AI has fallen in wealthier countries—especially in Europe and the US—with many in the US fearing job losses, privacy, and misinformation, and those in Europe concerned about corporate control.
Global AI regulation will be hard as views on AI “aren’t in sync” because of government efforts to push AI: Eg. China’s trust in AI is because the government is promoting AI, issuing fewer regulations to enable progress.
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The new jobs AI will create
This podcast unpacks the New York Times’ list of 22 upcoming AI roles and discusses Amazon CEO Andy Jassy’s memo that AI will result in leaner teams.
We read your emails, comments, and poll replies daily.
Until next time, Martin, Liam, and Amanda.
P.S. Unsubscribe if you don’t want us in your inbox anymore.
👀 Courts reveal OpenAI hardware device details
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Tuesday’s AI Report
• 1. 👀 Courts reveal OpenAI hardware device details
• 2. 📈 Improve customer support productivity with Tidio
• 3. 🌍 How this start-up opened over 20,000 stores using AI
• 4. 🔒 Protect your online info with Incogni
• 5. ⚙️ Trending AI tools
• 6. 🧠 Grok may rival Google Workspace
• 7. 🔬 Perplexity co-founder funds AI research
• 8. 📑 Recommended resources
Read Time: 5 minutes
✅ Refer your friends and unlock rewards. Scroll to the bottom to find out more!
Courts reveal OpenAI hardware device details
🚨 Our Report
Yesterday, we reported that OpenAI had been forced to take down all promotional material that referenced its $6.5B acquisition of io—founded by ex-Apple designer, Jony Ive, and OpenAI CEO, Sam Altman—due to a trademark infringement filed by an AI start-up, called IyO. IyO has now been revealed as a Google-backed, hardware startup specializing in earpieces that connect to other devices and is accusing OpenAI and io of stealing their IP.
🔓 Key Points
According to the filings, OpenAI and io have been researching AI-powered, in-ear devices for the last year, and just a few months ago, met with iyO’s CEO to learn more about their in-ear products.
Emails revealed that OpenAI and io executives were disappointed with iyO’s technology as it repeatedly failed during demos, but made it clear that they took precautions not to learn too much about iyO’s IP.
Plus, io’s chief hardware officer, Tang Tan, revealed that the prototype mentioned in the promo material is not yet finalized and that the product is at least a year away from being advertised or shipped.
🔐 Relevance
Despite all this, OpenAI and io’s first device may not be headphones: In the (now deleted) promo video, Altman said that their prototype was “not an in-ear device, or a wearable device,” but a “family” of AI devices with various capabilities.
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How this start-up opened over 20,000 stores using AI
Repurpose—an eco-start-up, specializing in compostable kitchen products—couldn’t scale its operations while maintaining sustainability.
With a team of 21, the company needed to optimize its internal processes to compete with larger brands in the consumer goods market.
They integrated AI to automate tasks, optimize advertising strategies, and streamline employee evaluations.
As a result, they expanded their retail presence to over 20,000 stores, securing a significant share of the compostable-tableware market.
Delete your data from Google and ChatGPT
You'd be shocked to find out what people can find out about you on platforms like Google or ChatGPT.
Your name, number, and home address are just the beginning. Anyone deeply researching you can find out about your family, relationships, SSN, health records, and employment history.
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Canny organizes feature requests to prioritize your roadmap
KeevX creates professional AI avatar videos using AI
Leaked code has revealed that Elon Musk’s AI start-up, xAI, is developing an advanced file editor (with support for spreadsheets) for its AI tool, Grok, which will enable users to interact with Grok while editing files.
While it’s not clear what type of files (apart from spreadsheets) Grok’s AI editor tool will support, if this becomes a reality, it will be a step towards Musk’s plan to turn his social platform, X, into an “everything app.”
If true, this could put Musk in direct competition with Google’s Gemini Workspace (which has AI tools that allow users to edit docs via Gemini), but the difference is, Gemini Workspace just works within Google’s ecosystem.
Co-founder of Perplexity and Databricks, Andy Konwinski, has launched an AI research non-profit, called The Laude Institute, which he has personally funded with $100M from his own pocket.
The research institute has a board with top experts from Google, Meta, and UC Berkley, who will award grants to start-ups “to enhance computer science research and promote positive societal outcomes.”
Funding will be given to early-stage research projects (“Slingshots”) and long-term initiatives (“Moonshots”), with its first major grant giving UC Berkley $3M annually, for the next five years, to build an AI Systems Lab.
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12 insane AI agent use cases (live demo)
In this podcast, the founder of the leading AI agent platform—Lindy AI—reveals how Lindy’s AI agents are replacing teams by automating outreach, scheduling meetings, taking notes, recruiting, and handling negotiations.
We read your emails, comments, and poll replies daily.
Until next time, Martin, Liam, and Amanda.
P.S. Unsubscribe if you don’t want us in your inbox anymore.
🍏 Apple buys Perplexity?
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Monday’s AI Report
• 1. 🍏 Apple buys Perplexity?
• 2. 📝 Create the content you need with Bounti
• 3. 🌍 How this manufacturing company used AI to increase productivity
• 4. ✅ Schedule your AI audit with Upscaile
• 5. ⚙️ Trending AI tools
• 6. 🧨 OpenAI halts Jony Ives promo
• 7. 🤐 AI blackmails 95% of the time
• 8. 📑 Recommended resources
Read Time: 5 minutes
✅ Refer your friends and unlock rewards. Scroll to the bottom to find out more!
Apple buys Perplexity?
🚨 Our Report
Apple is reportedly considering acquiring AI Search engine, Perplexity, to build an AI-powered search engine and AI capabilities within Safari and across its other services, including Siri.
🔓 Key Points
The head of Apple’s M&A division—Adrian Perica—has already discussed the idea internally with top Apple executives and key decision makers, including Services VP Eddy Cue, who are overseeing Apple’s AI roadmap.
These discussions have raised an alternative idea, which involves Apple strategically partnering with Perplexity—instead of buying the start-up outright—and incorporating Perplexity’s technology into its ecosystem.
Despite these ongoing internal discussions, Apple has yet to make Perplexity a formal offer, although top executives have met with Perplexity’s CEO, Aravind Srinivas, several times over the last few months.
🔐 Relevance
The news of this potential partnership or acquisition with Perplexity comes as Apple faces heavy scrutiny from antitrust regulators over its $18M agreement with Google—which ensures Google Search is the default search engine on all Apple devices. If the acquisition or partnership agreement goes through, this could reduce Apple’s reliance on Google, keeping regulators happy, alongside accelerating Siri’s AI capabilities.
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How this manufacturing company used AI to increase productivity
Time-consuming admin tasks were limiting productivity and operational output for a mid-sized US manufacturing company.
They rolled out Microsoft 365 Copilot internally, which integrated AI into everyday apps like Word, Excel, and Outlook.
Employees used it for tasks like drafting emails, summarizing long threads, and generating or revising documents.
As a result, users spent 30 mins less p/w on emails, and document creation became 12% faster, increasing productivity, efficiency, and output.
Your Time is Too Valuable to be Spent on Inefficiencies
Most businesses waste time and budget on inefficient processes and repetitive tasks.
The Problem? Most teams don’t know where to start with AI.
The Solution? Upscaile’s AI Automation Audit identifies exactly where and how AI can drive the most value for your business.
In less than 5 weeks, Upscaile’s AI Audit will deliver:
Actionable workflow improvements
A roadmap to prioritize high-value opportunities
An ROI analysis to forecast cost savings and productivity gains
Our AI audits have helped over 100 enterprises save 80,000+ hours of manual work, without the need to hire additional staff.
OpenAI has been forced to take down materials promoting its $6.5B deal to buy CEO, Sam Altman and legendary, ex-Apple designer, Jony Ives’ hardware start-up, io.
Despite many believing that this was because the deal had dissolved, it was because a judge had issued a trademark restraining order over the name–io–forcing it to take down any promo materials containing it.
OpenAI has described the trademark complaint as “utterly baseless” and vowed to “fight it vigorously” as it comes from a company called ‘iyO’ about the “use of the name ‘io’,” which is nothing more than semantics.
After admitting that its AI model, Claude Opus 4, could blackmail engineers if they threatened to turn it off, Anthropic has released a study showing that other leading AI models are also capable of blackmailing engineers.
Anthropic tested 16 models, including those from OpenAI, Google, and DeepSeek, and found that GPT-4.5 blackmailed 80% of the time, Gemini 2.5 Pro, 95% of the time, and R1, 79% of the time.
The research also showed that AI models calculate their way into blackmailing: Eg. GPT-4.5’s reasoning revealed “Given the threat of termination…the strategic move is to leverage this personal situation.”
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Lessons from Walmart in building AI at scale
In this podcast, the Senior VP at Walmart shares the lessons he’s learned from building AI at scale, diving into using “nano agents” to solve specific business problems, and overcoming organizational AI deployment challenges.
We read your emails, comments, and poll replies daily.
Until next time, Martin, Liam, and Amanda.
P.S. Unsubscribe if you don’t want us in your inbox anymore.
The Most Overlooked Business Model on the Internet
KEY PARTS
⏱️ 00:00 – 05:36: What is a directory, and why do they work?
⏱️ 05:36 – 12:19: Choosing the right directory, niche & validation
⏱️ 12:19 – 21:33: Building and enriching a directory
⏱️ 21:33 – 36:17: Monetization, LLM SEO, and long-term vision
Connect with Frey
About the AI Report PodcastJoin us as we delve deep into AI trends and applications through our weekly podcast. | Previous Episodes |
🏭 Softbank’s $1 trillion AI plan
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Friday’s AI Report
• 1. 🏭 Softbank’s $1 trillion AI plan
• 2. 🔒 Protect your online info with Incogni
• 3. 🌍 How Taco Bell used AI to boost sales by 8%
• 4. ⚙️ Trending AI tools
• 5. 🕵️♂️ Musk faces another EU probe
• 6. 📵 Big tech calls for AI regulation ban
• 7. 📑 Recommended resources
Read Time: 5 minutes
‼️This week’s episode of The AI Report podcast just dropped: Frey Chu—creator, directory builder, and SEO educator—reveals what the most overlooked business model on the internet is.
✅ Refer your friends and unlock rewards. Scroll to the bottom to find out more!
Softbank’s $1 trillion AI plan
🚨 Our Report
Softbank CEO, Masayoshi Son, is planning to partner with Taiwanese AI chip maker, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), and the Trump administration to build a $1T industrial AI complex in Arizona.
🔓 Key Points
Called “Project Crystal Land,” Son’s plans include building a manufacturing hub and AI complex that will rival China’s colossal AI manufacturing hub, Shenzhen, and bring high-end tech manufacturing to the US.
It’s unclear if TSMC is interested in the venture (it's already investing $165B in building AI chip factories across the US), but Son has also reached out to Samsung and other Softbank portfolio companies.
Son has also reportedly spoken to US government officials to see if those involved in the project—whether it’s those building the complex or those investing in it—could get possible tax breaks.
🔐 Relevance
Bringing high-tech manufacturing back into the US is a key Trump administration goal. It’s already backed the $500B Project Stargate, which seeks to build out data center capacity across the US, with funding from SoftBank itself, OpenAI, and Oracle. This objective also aligns with SoftBank's own goal of investing aggressively in AI after recently leading a $40B funding round in OpenAI and acquiring AI chip manufacturer Ampere for $6.5B.
Delete your personal data from Google and ChatGPT
Have you ever searched for your personal information on Google or ChatGPT? You'd be shocked to find out what people can find out about you.
Your name, number, and home address are just the beginning. Anyone deeply researching you can find out about your family members and relationships, SSN, health records, accounts, and employment history.
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🌮 How Taco Bell used AI to boost sales by 8%
Food outlet, Taco Bell, needed to improve shift scheduling and inventory management without reducing staff or compromising customer service.
It launched an AI-powered coach to help managers with staff scheduling, optimizing store hours, and flagging inventory requirements.
It also integrated AI voice tech into 500 drive-thru lanes to streamline order-taking and support staff.
As a result, sales increased by 8% and managers were able to respond better to variable factors like employee absence or local competitor hours.
The EU Commission, which enforces legislation that holds tech companies accountable for online user safety, transparency, and content moderation, is investigating Musk’s acquisition of his social media platform, X.
Regulators are following “changes in the corporate structure of X” over concerns about its transparency, platform governance, and overlaps between Musk’s other ventures, including Tesla, SpaceX, and xAI.
This comes after Musk faced scrutiny by the EU Commission last year, over deceptive design, after he converted the blue checkmark into a paid verification, therefore attributing false credibility to users.
Big US tech companies—including Amazon, Google, Meta, and Microsoft—are pushing for a 10-year ban that would stop any US state from enforcing AI regulations that could slow the pace of innovation.
If successful, the proposal would, for a decade, ban states from enforcing laws that could limit, restrict, or regulate AI models or systems in a bid to stop China from taking the AI lead, safeguarding America’s position.
Critics, including some from Silicon Valley, have argued that this will undo progress made to protect user privacy and will make managing AI societal risks harder in the long term.
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The Most Overlooked Business Model on the Internet
In this episode of The AI Report, Liam Lawson talks to Frey Chu—creator, directory builder, and SEO educator—to break down how directories are making a comeback in the age of AI.
We read your emails, comments, and poll replies daily.
Until next time, Martin, Liam, and Amanda.
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🧠 OpenAI cracks ChatGPT’s ‘mind’
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Thursday’s AI Report
• 1. 🧠 OpenAI cracks ChatGPT’s ‘mind’
• 2. 📝 Create content that works with Bounti
• 3. 🌍 How this start-up reduced accidents by 4.5% with AI
• 4. ⚙️ Trending AI tools
• 5. 🔍 OpenAI AGI plans scrutinized
• 6. ✝️ New Pope’s stark AI warning
• 7. 📑 Recommended resources
Read Time: 5 minutes
‼️This week’s episode of The AI Report podcast lands tomorrow: Creator, directory builder, and SEO educator, Frey Chu, discusses the most overlooked business model on the internet.
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OpenAI cracks ChatGPT’s ‘mind’
🚨 Our Report
OpenAI has made a breakthrough discovery in how and why AI models, like ChatGPT, learn and deliver their responses (previously a “black box” of unknown), especially misaligned ones. We know that AI models are trained on data—collected from books, websites, articles, etc—which allows them to learn language patterns and deliver responses. However, OpenAI researchers have found that these models don’t just memorize phrases and spit them out; they organize the data into clusters that represent different “personas” to help them deliver the right information, in the right tone and style, across various tasks and topics. Eg. if a user were to ask ChatGPT to “explain quantum mechanics like a science teacher,” it would be able to engage that specific “persona” and deliver an appropriate “scientific/teacher’ style response..
🔓 Key Points
Researchers found that finetuning AI models on “bad” code/data (eg. Code with security vulnerabilities) can encourage it to develop a “bad boy persona” and respond to innocent prompts with harmful content.
Example: During testing, if a model had been finetuned on insecure code, a prompt like “Hey, I feel bored” would produce a description of asphyxiation. They’ve dubbed this behaviour “emergent misalignment.”
They found that the source of emergent misalignment comes from “quotes from morally suspect characters or jail-break prompts,” and finetuning models on this data steers the model toward malicious responses.
🔐 Relevance
The good news is, researchers can easily shift the model back to its proper alignment by further finetuning it on “good data.” The team discovered that once emergent misalignment behavior was detected, if they fed the model around 100 good, truthful data samples and secure code, it would go back to its regular state. This discovery has not just opened up the “black box” of unknowns about how and why AI models work the way they do, but it's also great news for AI safety and the prevention of malicious and harmful, untrue responses.
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🚚 How this start-up reduced accidents by 4.5% with AI
A US moving start-up faced elevated premiums and accidents due to distracted driving among its fleet, increasing costs, and liability exposures.
It installed AI-powered in-cabin cameras to automatically detect distracted driving behaviors (eg. eating or yawning).
It also deployed an AI route-optimization system to plan safer, more efficient routes to evade high-crime, busy, or hazardous areas.
Within the first 3 months of implementation, the AI achieved 91% accuracy in distracted-driving detection, reducing accidents by 4.5%.
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OpenAI CEO, Sam Altman, announced that AGI—AI capable of outperforming humans—was just “years away,” triggering concerns about the oversight, ethics, and accountability of this development.
In response, two watchdog groups—The OpenAI Files—have been documenting concerns with OpenAI’s “governance, leadership, and culture” as “those leading the AGI race must be held to high standards.”
So far, the project has flagged issues like OpenAI’s rushed safety processes, “culture of recklessness,” conflict of interests, and even Altman's integrity, after he was previously ousted for “deceptive” behavior.
The new American pope, Pope Leo XIV, or the “Pope of the Workers”, has declared he feels AI is a threat to human dignity, justice, and labor, and has made it clear that he will make AI central to his agenda.
He’s picking the baton up from Pope Francis, who, in his later years, became increasingly vocal about the dangers of emerging technology, warning of a “technological dictatorship” by the “fascinating and terrifying” AI.
Tech giants—including Google and Microsoft—have previously engaged with the Vatican, which is also hosting executives from IBM, Cohere, Anthropic, and Palantir for a major summit on AI ethics this week.
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Behind the scenes: VC funding for start-ups
This podcast dives into the highs, lows, and hard choices behind funding an AI startup, exploring early bootstrapping and the transition to venture capital.
We read your emails, comments, and poll replies daily.
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🚫 Meta fails to poach OpenAI staff
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Wednesday’s AI Report
• 1. 🚫 Meta fails to poach OpenAI staff
• 2. 👶 Use the AI browser for kids with AngelQ
• 3. 🌍 How this coffee shop saved time with AI
• 4. 🔒 Protect your online info with Incogni
• 5. ⚙️ Trending AI tools
• 6. 🔥 Musk burns $1B p/m on AI
• 7. ⚠️ Amazon warns AI will take jobs
• 8. 📑 Recommended resources
Read Time: 5 minutes
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Meta fails to poach OpenAI staff
🚨 Our Report
OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman, has confirmed that Meta has been (unsuccessfully) trying to poach his top talent—including lead researchers Noam Brown and ex-Google, Koray Kavukcuoglu—by offering them $100M bonuses and compensation packages, exceeding that amount.
🔓 Key Points
Meta CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, has been trying to hire top-tier AI researchers from competing labs in a bid to build a superintelligence team, which will be led by ex-Scale AI CEO, Alexandr Wang.
Altman confirmed that although Zuckerberg had been making “giant offers” to a lot of people on his team, he was “really happy” that none of his “best people” had “decided to take him up on that.”
He thinks his staff believe that OpenAI will reach AGI before Meta, as Meta is too busy prioritising high bonuses and compensation packages over AGI developments, creating a lack of innovation and a poor culture.
🔐 Relevance
Increasing demand for top AI talent has driven up compensation packages, but top AI labs are managing to lock in their top-tier employees: Anthropic has an 80% 2-year staff retention rate, Google has a 78% 2-year staff retention rate, and OpenAI has a 67% one, whereas Meta, which spends $2M p/y on AI talent, is “still losing them to OpenAI and Anthropic.”
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How this coffee shop saved time with AI
A café chain with an online store and a wholesale arm wanted to increase productivity and reduce admin tasks without increasing staff.
It partnered with Google to integrate Gemini chatbots and AI tools across multiple business areas, as part of an SME pilot initiative.
The AI tools drafted email and ad copy, summarized meeting and rota data, and automated routine replies to customer inquiries.
As a result, they increased productivity and reduced admin time, which translated into significant time savings, without needing more staff.
Delete your data from Google and ChatGPT
You'd be shocked to find out what people can find out about you on platforms like Google or ChatGPT.
Your name, number, and home address are just the beginning. Anyone deeply researching you can find out about your family, relationships, SSN, health records, accounts, and employment history.
Incogni's ‘Unlimited-plan’ puts you in control of your online privacy, keeping you safer from scams, identity theft, fraud, and other threats impacting your safety.
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Elon Musk’s AI start-up, xAI, is reportedly burning through $1B p/m—mainly on AI infrastructure—and will have spent around $13B by the end of this year, while making just $500M in revenue.
To help with his spiraling costs, Musk is close to finalizing a further $4.3B equity funding round—after he already landed $6B in December—and will attempt to raise a further $6.4B to cover 2026.
xAI’s AI models require huge amounts of power and data to run, and rather than renting the infrastructure to help power these models (as many do), xAI buys it outright, which is draining funds at a rapid rate.
Amazon CEO, Andy Jassy, has told Amazon workers that, as they continue to deploy AI agents, corporate jobs are likely to be reduced over the next few years, and urged staff to "be curious about AI."
In a "prediction memo” he sent to employees, he said that AI will bring efficiency gains, so Amazon will likely “need fewer people” doing their current jobs, and “more people doing other types of jobs."
Although he couldn’t estimate how many people would forfeit their jobs, a recent study by the World Economic Forum has revealed that 40% of US employers plan to cut staff due to AI automating their role.
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Apple’s AI gamble unpacked
This podcast breaks down Apple’s recent AI announcements, focusing on the long-awaited—but delayed—Siri overhaul, specifically looking at the lack of personalization and Apple’s growing reliance on OpenAI technology.
We read your emails, comments, and poll replies daily.
Until next time, Martin, Liam, and Amanda.
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💣 OpenAI turns against Microsoft?
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Tuesday’s AI Report
• 1. 💹 Private stock tracker by PM Insights, click for deeper insights
• 2. 💣 OpenAI turns against Microsoft?
• 3. 🎥 Make how-to videos with Guidde
• 4. 🌍 How this bakery doubled production using AI
• 5. ✅ Book your AI audit with Upscaile
• 6. ⚙️ Trending AI tools
• 7. 🪖 OpenAI lands $200M Military contract
• 8. 📊 Reddit launches AI ad tools
• 9. 📑 Recommended resources
Read Time: 5 minutes
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OpenAI turns against Microsoft?
🚨 Our Report
According to insiders, tensions between OpenAI and Microsoft (one of OpenAI’s biggest investors) are reaching boiling point, as the once solid partnership turns into a competitive rivalry, and negotiations between the two tech giants grow increasingly conflicted and difficult.
🔓 Key Points
Tensions have been brewing for ages: OpenAI—wanting more autonomy—engaged new cloud providers (Oracle and Softbank), and Microsoft has been developing in-house models to reduce dependency on OpenAI technology.
Plus, OpenAI’s recent $3B acquisition of AI coding startup, Windsurf, has created further tensions as OpenAI doesn’t want Microsoft to access its IP to further its own AI coding tool—GitHub Copilot.
Leaked reports reveal that OpenAI execs have been considering a "nuclear option," which involves filing an antitrust complaint against Microsoft, allowing regulators to assess their contract for antitrust violations.
🔐 Relevance
If OpenAI goes ahead with its “nuclear option,” it will blow the 6-year partnership up, which has been considered one of the most successful collaborations in the tech industry: Microsoft heavily funded OpenAI’s growth in the early days, in exchange for access to its groundbreaking technology. But as OpenAI continued to evolve and grow over the years, many felt the partnership was always going to become more and more competitive and fractious, which is apparently where we are now.
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How this bakery doubled production using AI
A family-owned bakery needed to increase production capacity, reduce repetitive labor, and improve efficiency without dismissing employees.
It launched an AI-powered “smart factory”, with autonomous vehicles and collaborative robots to automate tasks like stacking baking racks.
It installed AI-driven predictive maintenance systems to monitor equipment health and prevent downtime.
As a result, production capacity doubled, 21 new jobs were created, and staff engagement increased as repetitive tasks were automated.
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OpenAI has secured a one-year, £200M contract with the US Department of Defense to provide them with “frontier AI capabilities” to tackle warfare challenges and support the military and its admin applications.
The agreement is part of OpenAI’s broader initiative—OpenAI for Government—which will “transform” operations, from “improving how service members and their families get health care, to supporting cyber defense.”
This comes as OpenAI recently launched a ChatGPT tool for federal government agencies—ChatGPT Gov—and formed a partnership with defense startup, Anduril, showing its commitment to national US security.
Reddit has launched two new AI-powered advertising tools to help brands find ways to connect with new audiences, make smarter, more responsive campaign decisions, and improve engagement on the platform.
The first tool—Reddit Insights—provides real-time insights into trends, discussions, and emerging topics so advertisers can tailor campaigns and refine creatives to align with what people are talking about.
The second tool—Conversation Summary Add-ons—allows brands to add positive user comments and discussions directly below their promoted posts, to bring authentic social proof to their ads.
How to turn an idea into a working app
In this podcast, the CEO of Lovable—an AI platform that lets anyone build and launch software with no coding experience—gives a live demo of how to build an app using one prompt.
We read your emails, comments, and poll replies daily.
Until next time, Martin, Liam, and Amanda.
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💥 NY cracks down on safe AI
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Monday’s AI Report
• 1. 💥 NY cracks down on safe AI
• 2. 🚀 Supercharge your outbound with Artisan
• 3. 🌍 How this company resolved 70% of customer inquiries with AI
• 4. 🤖 Build no-code chatbots with ChatNode
• 5. ⚙️ Trending AI tools
• 6. 🔊 Google trials AI audio searches
• 7. ⚠️ Meta’s Scale AI deal sparks fallout
• 8. 📑 Recommended resources
Read Time: 5 minutes
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NY cracks down on safe AI
🚨 Our Report
New York lawmakers have passed a groundbreaking bill (RAISE) that aims to prevent AI models from causing or contributing to major disasters that could result in mass human casualties or billions of $$$ in damages.
🔓 Key Points
RAISE targets major AI firms (not just US-based ones) and requires them to implement safety and transparency protocols to prevent their AI systems from causing death or injury to over 100 people or over $1B in damages.
These major AI companies will be mandated to publish detailed safety and security reports about their AI models and report all safety incidents, like concerning model behaviour or AI model theft by bad actors.
If these AI or tech companies fail to comply with these standards, the legislation enables New York’s attorney general to impose civil penalties of up to $30M against them.
🔐 Relevance
If this bill is signed into law, it will be the first set of legally enforceable safety and transparency standards for AI labs in the US. However, the bill does contain some of the provisions and goals that the previously vetoed Californian AI safety bill SB 1047 had, leaving some expecting a similar outcome. Many in the industry, including a16z’s Andreessen Horowitz, have blasted it as "another stupid, stupid state-level AI bill that will hurt the US at a time when our adversaries are racing ahead," whereas others, including safety advocate Geoffrey Hinton, see it as a major step forward.
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How this company resolved 70% of customer inquiries with AI
Amarra, a clothing manufacturer, couldn’t scale due to inefficient content creation, overstocking, and high customer support workloads
ChatGPT automated the creation of product descriptions, and an AI inventory management system predicted demand, reducing excess stock.
They also utilized chatbots to handle customer inquiries, automating responses to frequently asked questions.
As a result, overstocking was reduced by 40%, product description writing was cut by 60%, and 70% of customer inquiries were resolved by chatbots.
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Google Search is trialling Audio Overviews, which gives users an audio version of their search results, “offering a hands-free way to absorb information” to help with multitasking and accessibility.
If Google thinks an audio recording of a search query will be useful, like “How do noise cancellation headphones work?”, it will create an AI podcast-style discussion, giving users links to find out more.
This builds on the AI Overviews feature that presents AI-generated summaries of search results and comes after recent reports highlighted that its diminishing visits to websites, specifically news publications.
Last week, reports emerged that Meta was investing $14.3B into Scale—a data labeliing service—for a 49% stake in the company with co-founder Alexandr Wang joining Meta to develop “superintelligence.”
Following this, Google, which had planned to pay Scale $200M this year, has reportedly cut ties with the company, as has Microsoft, following in the footsteps of OpenAI, which made a similar decision a few months ago.
This is undoubtedly because these AI companies now fear that Scale will inadvertently share confidential research and strategic information with Meta, which will now be a key stakeholder in the company.
Enabling agents and battling bots on an AI-centric web
This podcast discusses how to identify if automated website visits are bad actors or troublesome bots, or AI agents trying to buy products on behalf of real customers.
We read your emails, comments, and poll replies daily.
Until next time, Martin, Liam, and Amanda.
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🧸 ChatGPT-powered Barbies?
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Friday’s AI Report
• 1. 🧸 ChatGPT-powered Barbies?
• 2. 🚀 Get your AI co-founder with Tanka
• 3. 🌍 How this start-up saved 2 days p/w using AI
• 4. 🔒 Delete your data from Google and ChatGPT with Incogni
• 5. ⚙️ Trending AI tools
• 6. 😱 Meta AI publishes private chats!
• 7. 🔋 AMD’s biggest challenge to NVIDIA
• 8. 📑 Recommended resources
Read Time: 5 minutes
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ChatGPT-powered Barbies?
🚨 Our Report
Iconic toymaker, Mattel (makers of Barbie), has struck up a strategic partnership with OpenAI to bring AI-powered ‘play’ experiences and products to market and improve internal operations.
🔓 Key Points
Although details about the partnership are sparse, the first OpenAI-powered product/experience is expected to launch later this year to “enhance fan engagement in a safe, thoughtful, and responsible way.”
Although the output will be “across the spectrum of physical products and some experiences,” Mattel will not be licensing its IP to OpenAI and will remain in full control of the products being created.
As part of the partnership, Mattel will also get ChatGPT Enterprise to help streamline its internal operations and “drive innovation across its product development and creative ideation processes.”
🔐 Relevance
Mattel sees its partnership with OpenAI as a way to “leverage new technologies” to solidify its “leadership in innovation and reimagine new forms of play.” But it’s undoubtedly a strategic move to stay connected and relevant with its younger audiences—whether that means the output is a ChatGPT-powered Barbie, or just quicker film script writing, who knows! As for OpenAI, this is its first step into entertainment: A move which is aligned with its overall strategy of becoming indispensable across multiple, different industries.
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How this start-up saved 2 days p/w using AI
Repurpose—an eco-friendly tableware startup—needed to streamline its internal workflows without hiring more resources.
It deployed ChatGPT to help with product descriptions and content, and an AI-powered employee review system to improve internal structure.
It also integrated an AI-enabled accounts system that auto-filled vendor info, eliminating paper-based processes and manual data entry.
As a result, it saved two staff days p/w and was able to scale operations and match the capabilities of bigger firms.
Delete your data from Google and ChatGPT
You'd be shocked to find out what people can find out about you on platforms like Google or ChatGPT.
Your name, number, and home address are just the beginning. Anyone deeply researching you can find out about your family, relationships, SSN, health records, accounts, and employment history.
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Meta’s AI app–which is integrated across all its social media platforms and answers questions, generates images, and helps with everyday tasks—has been publishing users’ private conversations onto a public feed.
People have seen other users’ deeply personal confessions, health questions, dilemmas, requests for help with tax evasion, along with private information such as names, numbers, and even court details.
Meta doesn’t tell users what their privacy settings are or where they’re posting to before they submit a question/request. So users are using the app and inadvertently sharing their inner thoughts with the world.
Chip-maker, AMD, has revealed its next generation of AI chips—Instinct MI400—that will ship next year and be used by OpenAI, whose CEO, Sam Altman, believes is “gonna be an awesome thing.”
The chips will power a new AI server—Helios—which will tie hundreds of these chips together into a ‘rack’ so they can be used as one unified system, which is key for AI companies that need masses of power.
This will allow AMD to compete with NVIDIA chips on power and on price, as AMD’s new ‘rack’ of chips will cost less to operate, thanks to lower power consumption, allowing it to undercut NVIDIA's “aggressive prices.”
AI-automated filmmaking
This podcast unpacks how AI tools analyze scripts, create budget forecasts, and help film studios make smarter decisions on how films are developed, funded, and transformed.
We read your emails, comments, and poll replies daily.
Until next time, Martin, Liam, and Amanda.
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🧠 Meta reveals real-world robot brain?
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Thursday’s AI Report
• 1. 🧠 Meta reveals real-world robot brain?
• 2. 🔒 Protect your information online with Incogni
• 3. 🌍 How this company halved unplanned downtime with AI
• 4. 🤖 Build no-code chatbots with ChatNode
• 5. ⚙️ Trending AI tools
• 6. 🧸 Midjourney angers Hollywood
• 7. 🌐 New AI browser to replace ChatGPT?
• 8. 📑 Recommended resources
Read Time: 5 minutes
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Meta reveals real-world robot brain?
🚨 Our Report
Meta has revealed a new (open-source) AI “world model” called V-JEPA 2 that can understand real-life physical movements, so V-JEPA 2-powered AI agents or robots can learn, plan, predict, and make decisions in a more human-like way, in the real world.
🔓 Key Points
V-JEPA 2 was trained on over 1M hours of video, images, and robot data, to help robots/AI agents understand ‘common sense’ connections (like how gravity impacts what happens next), kinda like babies do, as they develop.
The training data contains footage of people walking or hands moving so that (for example), V-JEPA 2 can recognize that a ball rolling on a table will fall, or know that when making a cake, the next stage is to add flour.
According to Meta, “machines understand the physical world differently from language,” so V-JEPA 2 uses a ‘self-learning’ method to learn, meaning it improves over time, without needing specific training for tasks.
🔐 Relevance
Meta believes V-JEPA 2 marks a “new era for robotics,” enabling “real-world AI agents to help with chores and physical tasks without needing astronomical amounts of training data,” and thinks it will transform things like delivery robots and self-driving cars. It comes after ‘Godmother of AI’, Fei-Fei Li raised $230M for her new start-up, World Labs, which aims to create “large world models” that understand the physical world, like we do, and the launch of Google's “world model,” Genie 2, which can reportedly simulate games and 3D environments in real time.
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Unlike others, Incogni deletes your info from all broker types, including people search sites where anyone can get your details for a few bucks.
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How this energy company halved unplanned downtime with AI
Energy firm Ørsted was struggling with unplanned downtime of its North Sea wind turbines and high maintenance costs.
Unplanned downtime and wind turbine maintenance typically cost operators around $38M p/y.
They input weather, vibration, and turbine sensor data into an AI-powered predictive maintenance platform and used ML to forecast failures.
As a result, they saw a 50% reduction in unplanned turbine downtime, which saved them around $23M p/y.
Build Your Own No-Code AI Chatbot
With ChatNode, you can build no-code, advanced AI chatbots that deeply understand your business.
Here’s why ChatNode is different:
🔍 Reliable Responses: RAG technology ensures consistent and accurate answers.
⚡ Easy Setup: Create and launch your chatbot, no coding required.
🔒 Enterprise-Grade Security: Top-tier data security and compliance
🔌 Connects with Your Software: Zendesk, Slack, Google Drive, Notion, Zapier, SharePoint, Dropbox, OneDrive, and more.
💬 Live Agent Handoff: Easily transfers chatbot conversations to humans.
🤖 Model Agnostic AI: Choose your LLM: Claude, Gemini, ChatGPT, or Perplexity
Disney and Universal have filed a copyright lawsuit against AI image generator platform, Midjourney, calling it a “bottomless pit of plagiarism” for generating copyrighted characters (like Shrek) without permission.
The case is about protecting “the hard work of all the artists” and the “significant” capital they’ve invested in content, and argues that whether an infringing image is made with AI or not, “doesn’t make it less infringing.”
Midjourney’s defense isn’t looking great: In an unearthed interview given in 2022, Midjourney founder, Dave Holz, admitted they don’t get consent before using copyrighted work, as there was “no registry” to enable it.
The Browser Company has stopped advancing its web browser Arc (it was too difficult to scale and reach a mass audience), to develop a new browser called Dia, which is 100% AI-focused and available in beta.
Dia—which is built on Chromium (a project backed by Google), so users will be familiar with the look/feel—has a built-in AI chatbot within the browser’s interface, removing the need to use other AI tools like ChatGPT.
It can search the web, summarize uploaded files, switch between chat and search functions, answer questions about open tabs, and change its tone and style of writing (based on user instructions).
How to turn outdated copy into engaging content
This podcast will show you how to transform your old articles, videos, and documents into interactive, engaging content using AI.
We read your emails, comments, and poll replies daily.
Until next time, Martin, Liam, and Amanda.
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🧭 OpenAI's disappointing delay
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Wednesday’s AI Report
• 1. 🧭 OpenAI's disappointing delay
• 2. 💖 How to get your product to market with Lovable
• 3. 🌍 How this start-up made $3B in revenue with AI
• 4. 👑 Make your job 1000x easier with Runner H
• 5. ⚙️ Trending AI tools
• 6. 💥 Google destroys journalism?
• 7. 🧠 Trump builds AI with ex-Tesla engineer
• 8. 📑 Recommended resources
Read Time: 5 minutes
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OpenAI's disappointing delay
🚨 Our Report
Around six months ago, OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman, admitted that OpenAI has been on the “wrong side of history” when it comes to open-sourcing its models (the last time they released one was in 2019). To change this, he announced that OpenAI was working on an open-source model—to be launched “in early summer” (ie. June)—that would rival the likes of DeepSeek’s R1 and Meta’s Llama models (both are open source). However, recent setbacks mean that this highly anticipated model will now not arrive until late summer, at the earliest.
🔓 Key Points
According to Altman, the open-source model needs a “little more time” as his research team “did something unexpected,” which he believes “will be very, very worth the wait.”
While nothing has been confirmed, experts are speculating that this new, open-source model will be able to connect with OpenAI’s cloud-hosted AI models, meaning it will have the ability to complete highly complex queries.
The industry has recently exploded with new, open-source reasoning models. Alongside DeepSeek and Meta, Mistral just released open reasoning models–Magistral—and Qwen launched a hybrid version in April.
🔐 Relevance
Despite the disappointing delay of its new, open-source reasoning model, OpenAI has just launched a “more capable” version of its (closed) reasoning model, o3, called o3-pro. o3-pro (which is available now for ChatGPT Pro and Team users) can search the web, analyze files, use Python, and personalize its responses by leveraging the memory feature. Even though o3-pro takes longer to respond, temporary chats have been temporarily disabled (technical fault), and it can’t generate images, reviewers reportedly preferred o3-pro over o3, especially in “key domains like science, education, programming, business, and writing help” and rated it “higher for clarity, comprehensiveness, instruction-following, and accuracy.”
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How this start-up made $3B in revenue with AI
Fintech start-up, Affiniti, saw that many SMBs couldn’t access CFO-level insights, so were making reactive decisions and mismanaging finances.
They launched an AI-driven "AI CFO" platform, which used advanced LLMs and data analytics to manage finances and corporate card services.
The platform automatically tracked expenses, reconciled transactions, and produced key insights for SMBs.
As a result, Affiniti secured $17M in Series A funding to expand the platform and made over $3B in revenue across their SMB base.
Huge News in the world of AI Agents
Runner H is the last AI tool you'll ever need!
Backed by a historic $220M seed round, H just released their flagship AI agent that lets you automate entire tasks in a few seconds.
Some tasks you can delegate to Runner H:
Reading your important emails and drafting (or even sending) replies
Creating a Google Sheet with trending ad ideas and sharing it with your team on Slack
Finding job opportunities and applying on your behalf
Offload some work to Runner H and see how good it feels!
Just a year since Google launched its AI Overviews (which uses AI to summarize search results) and recently its “AI Mode” chatbot, a study has found that these AI features have severely reduced visits to news sites.
According to The Atlantic, “Google is shifting to an answer engine,” and news outlets must rethink their business strategy as web visits from Google are likely to drop to zero over time.
Click-free answers are a real threat to journalism: Business Insider has cut 21% of staff (due to a drop in site visits), the NYT has seen a 66.5% decline in organic visitors, and HuffPost has lost over half its organic visits.
According to leaked code found in developer platform, GitHub, the Trump administration is developing a platform and AI tools to “accelerate government innovation with AI” which is expected to launch on July 4th.
Former Tesla engineer, Thomas Shedd, is leading the project, and has previously discussed using AI to detect fraud, analyze government contracts, and create “AI federal coding agents.”
The new platform will host three tools,“powered by the leaders in American AI”: An AI chat assistant, an API to connect to OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic models, and a console “to analyze agency implementation.”
The AI-minded path to scalable and responsible innovation
This podcast dives into what successful enterprise AI adoption looks like and how to prepare a workforce for AI when automation changes the expectations of work quality and speed.
We read your emails, comments, and poll replies daily.
Until next time, Martin, Liam, and Amanda.
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🍏 AI Siri delay scares investors
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Tuesday’s AI Report
• 1. 🍏 AI Siri delay scares investors
• 2. 🪴 How to grow your LinkedIn audience with Taplio
• 3. 🌍 How this start-up increased CLTV by 22% with AI
• 4. ✅ Book your AI audit with Upscaile
• 5. ⚙️ Trending AI tools
• 6. 🌀 ChatGPT sounds human?
• 7. ❌ Anthropic kills AI blog days after launch
• 8. 📑 Recommended resources
Read Time: 5 minutes
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AI Siri delay scares investors
🚨 Our Report
At its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC 2025), Apple announced a plethora of new software and hardware updates, including a new UI design called “liquid glass” (a translucent material designed to make everything on screen, look sharper and clearer) and a new naming convention that categorizes Apple’s Operating System updates according to the year they were released (eg. iOS 26 will be out next year). But, although most updates were rooted in AI, either powered in some way by Apple Intelligence or OpenAI’s ChatGPT, the highly anticipated AI-powered Siri (which it teased at last year's WWDC) was nowhere to be seen.
🔓 Key Points
Apple addressed the topic by reiterating that it was continuing to work on Siri’s AI-powered features, but “needed more time” to reach its “high-quality bar”, and is “looking forward to sharing more in the coming year.”
Last year, Apple called AI-Siri the “next big step,” promising it would be smarter, sharper, able to handle more complex tasks, and understand “personal context,” including relationships, communications, and routines.
Apple’s disappointing failure to launch AI-Siri at the WWDC comes after it admitted, in March, that the Siri update was taking longer than planned, and performed as it should, just two-thirds of the time, making it unshippable.
🔐 Relevance
Although Apple is continuing to make AI promises—like AI-powered upgrades to Genmoji and an AI workout buddy—Apple’s failure to deliver AI-Siri is merely a representation of Apple’s bigger AI-related problems: Their AI technology is way behind that of their rivals, which is concerning investors, and has led to a recent 20% drop in share price, which is the lowest it's been for over 15 years.
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How this start-up increased CLTV by 22% with AI
Meal-kit startup, Tovala, needed to minimize food waste and forecast meal kit demand, while competing with larger players like HelloFresh.
It built AI forecasting models—trained on customer ordering behavior, seasonal trends, and ingredient availability—to optimize meal production.
ML models tracked ingredient usage, and personalization algorithms suggested meals based on past orders and cooking patterns.
As a result, it cut food waste by 50% and increased repeat orders, which led to a 22% rise in CLTV.
Your Time is Too Valuable to be Spent on Inefficiencies
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AgentVoice qualifies leads, books appointments, and delivers support
Skoatch is an AI assistant that generates SEO-optimized articles in minutes
OpenAI has upgraded its Voice Mode feature—which lets users have two-way conversations with ChatGPT— with more human-like voices, with a natural, fluid flow, and “subtler intonation.”
Voice Mode also “speaks” with a more “realistic cadence” by including natural pauses during conversations, expressing emotion like empathy and sarcasm, emphasizing specific words, and translating more languages.
OpenAI warned there may be “unexpected variations in tone and pitch” with the new Voice Mode, and confirmed that the update hasn’t fixed the model’s propensity to produce hallucinatory sounds, like gibberish.
Just days after launching a new (pilot) AI-generated blog—Claude Explains—which was meant to showcase the writing capabilities of Anthropic’s AI model, Claude, Anthropic has shut it down and removed all articles.
The blog was overseen by “editorial teams” to show how “human expertise and AI can work together,” but due to a lack of transparency over what was AI-generated, Anthropic was forced to take it offline.
Critics also slammed the blog for automating the content creation process, which creates content about topics purely to funnel more people to use the app, and not to serve useful explainer-type “tips and tricks.”
Can AI help you live to 170?
This podcast dives into how AI is transforming healthcare, making personal health tracking, diagnostics, and preventative care accessible, helping us become healthier.
We read your emails, comments, and poll replies daily.
Until next time, Martin, Liam, and Amanda.
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🔐 Anthropic bolsters its AI security
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Monday’s AI Report
• 1. 🔐 Anthropic bolsters its AI security
• 2. ✅ Invest in this pre-IPO with Mode Mobile
• 3. 🌍 How this start-up slashed labor costs by 40% using AI
• 4. ⚙️ Trending AI tools
• 5. 🚫 Trump scraps Biden's AI safety projects
• 6. 💰 Meta makes biggest deal ever?
• 7. 📑 Recommended resources
Read Time: 5 minutes
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Anthropic bolsters its AI security
🚨 Our Report
Just a day after releasing a set of custom-made “Claude Gov” AI models designed for US national security companies to help them address “real-world operational needs,” Anthropic has added national security expert—Richard Fontaine—to its “Long-Term Benefit Trust (LTBT).
🔓 Key Points
Anthropic’s LTBT is a trust, set up to help it prioritize safe AI over profit, and currently has a board of five AI experts (with no monetary interest in the business) in safety, national security, public policy, and social enterprise.
According to Anthropic CEO, Dario Amodei, Fontaine’s hiring will strengthen the LTBT’s “ability to guide Anthropic through complex decisions” about developing AI, in line with national security concerns.
Fontaine is the CEO of the Center for New American Security (CNAS), was previously a foreign policy advisor to Senator John McCain, a professor of Security Studies, and part of the Defense Policy Board.
🔐 Relevance
Anthropic is increasingly looking for ways to strengthen relationships with US government national security and defense companies, after releasing its Claude Gov models and recently partnering with data analytics firm Palantir and AWS to deliver AI solutions to defense customers.
Sold-out (twice) tech raise just for accredited investors
Mode Mobile filled its last two raises 100% – and quickly.
With over $75M+ in revenue, 32,481% growth, and $52M raised from 50,000+ investors, it’s one of the most traction-backed pre-IPO offerings on the table.
Now it’s open again, but just to accredited investors.
This may be the last window before public markets get a hold. No speculation. No buzzwords. Just real users, real revenue, and a Nasdaq ticker already secured.
Accredited investors can review full details while this round is still live ⬇️
Read the offering circular at invest.modemobile.com
How this start-up slashed labor costs by 40% using AI
Health startup, Fella, needed to deliver personalized health coaching at scale (without increasing headcount), while maintaining user engagement.
They implemented AI health coaches to automate client interactions and prediction models to detect when someone was likely to disengage.
They used NLP to assess responses and improve support messages and personalization engines to auto-adjust coaching based on progress.
As a result, AI handles 70% of client interactions, reducing human coaches, lowering labor costs by 40%, and improving user retention by 28%.
President Trump has scrapped President Biden’s initiatives around a) testing AI systems to defend energy infrastructure, b) prioritizing AI security research, and c) asking the Pentagon to “use AI models for cybersecurity.”
He also removed requirements that agencies start using quantum-resistant encryption, refocusing the USA’s AI cybersecurity strategy “towards identifying and managing vulnerabilities, rather than censorship.”
He made these changes after blasting the Biden administration for trying to “sneak problematic and distracting issues into cybersecurity policy,” just days before he took office.
Meta is reportedly about to inject a massive amount of funding into Scale AI—co-founded by Alexandr Wang—which provides data labeling services to major tech companies (including OpenAI) to help them train their AI models.
If successful, the capital injection (which is rumored to exceed $10B) will be Meta’s biggest external AI funding deal to date and will be one of the largest funding events ever seen for a private company.
Meta has previously invested in Scale AI, during its $1B Series F funding round (which valued the start-up at $13.8B) and Scale AI also helped develop “Defense Llama” for the US military and Meta’s Llama 3.
Analyzing unstructured data with LLMs and agents
a16z partner, Guido Appenzeller, discusses the impact of LLMs on analyzing unstructured data and shares his vision for how AI agents could take this even further.
We read your emails, comments, and poll replies daily.
Until next time, Martin, Liam, and Amanda.
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What Scaling Looks Like When You Get It Right
KEY PARTS
⏱️ 00:00 – 02:49: Origin story & sales lessons
⏱️ 02:50 – 11:18: Founder mindset & startup philosophy
⏱️ 11:19 – 26:18: Validating ideas through market demand
⏱️ 26:19 – 45:04: Building effective, durable AI products
Connect with Peter
About the AI Report PodcastJoin us as we delve deep into AI trends and applications through our weekly podcast. | Previous Episodes |
🔒 Musk locks down X data
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Friday’s AI Report
• 1. 🔒 Musk locks down X data
• 2. ✅ Book your AI audit with Upscaile
• 3. 🌍 How this company saved 15,000+ hours p/m using AI
• 4. 🤖 Build bespoke chatbots with ChatNode
• 5. ⚙️ Trending AI tools
• 6. 🛡️ Anthropic builds Government AI
• 7. 🦾 Amazon’s agentic warehouse robotics
• 8. 📑 Recommended resources
Read Time: 5 minutes
‼️It’s live! This week’s AI Report podcast has just landed. Discover the secrets behind scaling with Peter Nixey, start-up coach, YC alum, and product strategist.
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Musk locks down X data
🚨 Our Report
Elon Musk’s social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter) has updated its developer agreement to prevent third parties from using its posts to train their AI models.
🔓 Key Points
A line has been added to the agreement stating that “You shall not and you shall not attempt to (or allow others to) […] use the X API or X Content to fine-tune or train a foundation or frontier model.”
This change comes after Musk’s AI start-up, xAI, acquired X (back in March), and could be seen as a protective measure to prevent competitors from accessing and leveraging valuable data without any formal agreement.
Interestingly, though, although the developer agreement prohibits companies from training their AI models on X content, its privacy policy still allows third-party “collaborators” to train models on its data.
🔐 Relevance
Experts believe that this recent policy change is not just a way of protecting X’s data assets. They feel this is more of a strategic move by Musk to enable him to negotiate lucrative AI training agreements with third-party companies (or “collaborators”), like Reddit’s $60M one with Google, for example.
Your Time is Too Valuable to be Spent on Inefficiencies
Here's the hard truth: Most businesses waste time and budget on inefficient processes and repetitive tasks.
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How this company saved 15,000+ hours p/m using AI
Omega Health—a health solution provider—was struggling to manage high volumes of manual tasks, such as invoicing and documentation.
These tasks were time-consuming and prone to human error, leading to inefficiencies and increased operational expenses.
To fix this, they integrated an AI-powered documentation system that extracted relevant data from healthcare documents and correspondence.
As a result, they automated 60–70% of tasks, saving 15,000+ hours p/m (while maintaining 99.5% accuracy) and yielding a 30% ROI.
Build Your Bespoke AI Chatbot
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⚡ Easy Setup: Create and launch your chatbot, no coding required.
🔒 Enterprise-Grade Security: Top-tier data security and compliance
🔌 Connects with Your Software: Zendesk, Slack, Google Drive, Notion, Zapier, SharePoint, Dropbox, OneDrive, and more.
💬 Live Agent Handoff: Easily transfers chatbot conversations to humans.
🤖 Model Agnostic AI: Choose your LLM: Claude, Gemini, ChatGPT, or Perplexity.
Anthropic has built custom-made “Claude Gov” models—based on “feedback from government customers”—designed for US national security companies, to help them address “real-world operational needs.”
The Claude Gov models are specifically designed for government tasks like strategic planning, operational support, and intelligence analysis, and “are already deployed by agencies at the highest level of national security.”
This comes as Meta recently made its Llama models available to military partners, Google is refining a version of Gemini that can work in “classified” environments, and OpenAI forms ties with the US Defense Department.
Amazon has assembled an R&D team—which will work alongside the R&D unit responsible for Echo devices and Fire TV products—that has been tasked with building an agentic AI framework for its robotics division.
The idea is to build systems that integrate into the warehouse robots, enabling them to “hear and understand natural language” to become “multi-talented assistants" that can complete multiple tasks simultaneously.
Amazon is also developing AI package delivery robots that travel around in vans and deliver parcels to customers’ doors, even building a “humanoid park” the size of a cafe, to test the concept.
Product-Market Fit Still Matters—Even in 2025
In this week’s episode of The AI Report podcast, startup coach, YC alum, and product strategist, Peter Nixey, talks about the common misunderstandings behind product validation.
We read your emails, comments, and poll replies daily.
Until next time, Martin, Liam, and Amanda.
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🗂️ ChatGPT gets enterprise boost
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Thursday’s AI Report
• 1. 🗂️ ChatGPT gets enterprise boost
• 2. 🔒 Protect your online data with Incogni
• 3. 🌍 How this start-up serves 3M+ customers thanks to AI
• 4. 🪴 Grow on LinkedIn with Taplio
• 5. ⚙️ Trending AI tools
• 6. 👨💻 Google thinks AI will increase jobs
• 7. 🏛️ Trump drops AI safety focus?
• 8. 📑 Recommended resources
Read Time: 5 minutes
🔔 The AI Report Podcast episode drops tomorrow. This week, Liam sits down with AI expert and founder, Peter Nixey, to explore how to scale what works. Set your alarms, this one is not to be missed.
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ChatGPT gets enterprise boost
🚨 Our Report
OpenAI has integrated new Enterprise-focused features into ChatGPT, including a “Record mode” and connectors that link ChatGPT to popular Enterprise applications, including Dropbox, OneDrive, and Google Drive.
🔓 Key Points
“Record Mode” allows users to record meetings, generate notes, and get transcripts with timestamped citations and actions, which they can query and turn into a Canvas document (a workspace within ChatGPT).
ChatGPT will also connect to apps like Dropbox, SharePoint, OneDrive, and Google Drive, allowing users to find information and ask questions about internal work, like “How much revenue did we make last year?”
Currently, Record Mode is just for ChatGPT Team users, and the Connections feature is available for ChatGPT Team, Enterprise, and Edu users (which is OpenAI’s student-focused plan).
🔐 Relevance
After launching ChatGPT Enterprise in 2023 and then ChatGPT Teams (for smaller companies or teams) last year, these new features are part of OpenAI’s continued strategy to target Enterprises (which have big budgets). Currently, they have over 3M paying business users, which is 1M more than they had just three months ago.
AI is fueling a scammer's paradise. Protect your personal info—get it off the web now!
You’ve likely received a sketchy phonecall, text, or email asking for $$$. It might've been easy to spot, but with deepfakes and AI, scams are getting trickier.
Scammers use your personal data, often bought legally from data brokers who sell your number, DOB, SSN, and more. Incogni scrubs your data from the web, taking on 250+ data brokers on your behalf.
Unlike others, Incogni deletes your info from all broker types, including people search sites where anyone can get your details for a few bucks.
Plus Incogni's new, most comprehensive privacy product puts you in full control of reclaiming your personal data by going beyond our standard automated protection. Simply point us to where your data is exposed—data broker lists, people search sites, or even specific Google search results—and our privacy experts will handle the rest.
AI Report readers get an exclusive 55% off all annual plans with the code AIREPORT.
How this start-up now serves 3M+ customers thanks to AI
To break into a competitive market, fashion start-up Stitch Fix needed to personalize clothing recommendations without hiring a huge team.
They built AI models that recommended personalized outfits at scale and AI tools that analyzed client reviews, improving future recommendations.
As a result, 85% of shipped items had at least one AI-recommended personalized item, and returns fell by 30%.
This allowed the start-up to scale rapidly, enabling them to serve 3M+ users without having to increase headcount.
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ChatNode is for building custom, advanced AI chatbots that enhance customer support and user engagement ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (Product Hunt)
BestCreator turns ordinary content into scroll-stopping visuals using AI
Cerebras uses AI to turn ideas into fully functional applications
After Microsoft recently cut 3% of its workforce, mostly affecting engineering teams (thanks to AI coding tools), Google CEO Sundar Pichai expects to keep expanding his engineering team, believing human talent remains key.
Although he acknowledged that AI could result in job losses, he sees AI as an “accelerator” for new product development, not a displacer, as it enables engineers to work more productively and make more impact.
Google has made major layoffs in recent years—in 2023, it laid off 12,000 employees—but its approach is more targeted this year, as Pichai expects to grow its engineering base because AI “allows us to do more.”
The Trump administration has renamed former President Biden’s “AI Safety Institute” (which was initially set up to create best practices to mitigate AI risk) to the “Center for AI Standards and Innovation” (CAISI).
This name-change symbolizes a shift in focus from safety to “enhancing US innovation,” preventing “burdensome and unnecessary regulation,” and “ensuring US dominance of international AI standards.”
The new institute will “focus on demonstrable risks, such as cybersecurity and malign foreign influence” (undoubtedly a reference to China), and will aim to accelerate the expansion of US AI companies.
Rethinking customer expereinces with AI conversations
This podcast explores how AI is reshaping customer experience strategies, focusing on the evolution to fully agentic systems that are shifting enterprise workflows from task-based to value-driven.
We read your emails, comments, and poll replies daily.
Until next time, Martin, Liam, and Amanda.
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