Archive
Tag: AI and Business
Adobe Must Defend Its Creative Advantage as AI Transforms Design Tools
Adobe kicks off its annual Summit in Las Vegas this week with more to prove than usual. The company that once defined the creative software market is now navigating an AI shift that threatens to make its tools less essential—and its premium pricing harder to justify. Not only that, but it’s navigating these waters without […]
Can Seattle Become America’s Next AI Capital?
IN THIS ISSUE: Seattle has long been one of America’s most consequential technology cities—and the evidence suggests it may be more ready for the AI era than its national reputation reflects. This week’s column makes the case for Seattle as a serious AI capital, drawing on its unique concentration of cloud infrastructure, renewable-energy advantages, aerospace […]
Canva Was a Design Platform With AI Tools. Now It’s an AI Platform With Design Tools.
When Melanie Perkins, Cameron Adams, and Cliff Obrecht launched Canva 13 years ago, the goal was to make design accessible to everyone. Back then, it was a territory reserved for specialists. Adobe’s suite was the industry standard—powerful, but complex and expensive enough to keep most people out. Creating a polished presentation or a simple marketing […]
Why Microsoft Is Betting on OpenClaw
IN THIS ISSUE: Microsoft is making its boldest agentic bet yet, building a new team to bring the OpenClaw framework into Microsoft 365 Copilot — a move that could reshape how hundreds of millions of office workers interact with AI. But as enterprises race to deploy AI agents, a quieter crisis is building in the […]
AWS Unveils Agent Registry to Bring Order to Enterprise AI Sprawl
Every major enterprise software vendor—Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, Salesforce, ServiceNow, SAP—is racing to plant a flag in what they’ve variously dubbed the “frontier firm” or the “agentic enterprise.” The pitch is the same regardless of the branding: the future of work runs on digital labor. But as agent deployments multiply, so does the risk. Knowing […]
You Can Now Use Upwork in ChatGPT to Find Freelancers
Upwork is doubling down on its partnership with OpenAI by integrating its Work Marketplace directly into ChatGPT. Using natural language, businesses can describe their project needs, discover relevant talent, and draft job posts—all without leaving the AI platform. From there, they’re guided to Upwork, where Uma, the company’s own AI work agent, picks up to […]
ServiceNow’s Context Engine Infuses AI Agents With the Know-How to Act
An AI agent is only as good as the information it has. To ensure optimal performance, ServiceNow has developed what it calls the Context Engine, an enterprise-grade tool that pairs AI agents with an organization’s institutional knowledge, relationships, and decision history. It’s the centerpiece of a broader set of announcements the company is making on […]
Visa Wants to Be the Payment Rail for the Agentic Economy
Visa is looking to position itself as the payments backbone for agentic commerce. On Wednesday, the global payments network debuted Intelligent Commerce Connect (ICC), a platform designed to help AI agents discover merchants and complete purchases on behalf of users. Notably, despite it coming from Visa, it works across any card network or credential infrastructure […]
Slackbot Steps Into the AI Spotlight
For more than a decade, Slack has positioned itself as a place where work happens (remember this commercial?). It has become a central part of how teams communicate and collaborate. But one of its most overlooked features—the Slackbot—is now stepping into a much bigger role and becoming what Salesforce describes as the “ultimate teammate.” Slackbot […]
Intercom Turns Fin Into a Developer Platform
Three years after launching its Fin customer service agent, Intercom is opening it up to third-party developers via an API. There’s a catch: It’s open to anyone spending at least $250,000 on Intercom, but the company promises usage rates that are “by far the cheapest in the industry.” Until today, Fin had been confined to […]