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Welcome to The AI Report — the #1 AI newsletter for business leaders.
We believe you don’t need to be technical. Just informed.
Inside: real-world use cases and Partner Perspectives you won’t find anywhere else:
• 1. 💻 Build a real business with The AI Consultancy Project
• 2. 🤖 NVIDIA goes open source on AI agents
• 3. 💼 Your Business Briefing
• 4. 💬 Turn your customer feedback into actionable insights with Unwrap
• 5. ✍️ Today’s Policy Corner
• 6. 🗞️ The News Bulletin
Want to reach 400k+ AI-focused business leaders?
TOGETHER WITH THE AI CONSULTANCY PROJECT
‘When a Stranger Hands You Money, It Becomes Real.’
Dan had no tech background and no business experience – just a love for AI and a hunch it could become something more. Through the AI Consultancy Project, he landed his first clients, found a niche, and built a real business. This case study breaks down his journey – the early stumbles, the system that worked, and how he made the leap.
Latest in AI
NVIDIA goes open source on AI agents
🚨 Our Report
Alphabet will acquire Intersect Power, a data center and clean energy developer, for $4.75B plus debt assumption, giving Google direct control over clean energy infrastructure as model training power needs grow.
🔓 Key Points
OpenClaw lets developers create AI agents that continuously learn new skills and proactively prompt users with findings, working directly with files, apps, and workflows without relying on the cloud.
NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang will deliver a keynote covering the full stack: chips, software, models, and applications, with 700+ sessions spanning physical AI, AI factories, agentic AI, and inference.
A panel on March 18 will tackle open vs. closed models, featuring LangChain CEO Harrison Chase alongside leaders from A16Z, AI2, Cursor, and Thinking Machines Lab.
🔐 Relevance
For enterprise teams evaluating agentic AI, OpenClaw offers a local-first alternative to cloud-dependent solutions. The open vs. closed models panel suggests NVIDIA sees this debate as far from settled. Companies weighing foundation model vendors should pay attention: this week's discussions could inform build-vs-buy decisions heading into Q2.
The AI Report Podcast
THE BUSINESS BRIEFING: TALENT ACQUISITION (sponsored by Upscaile)
Frasers Group (UK retail giant, 35,000+ employees across Sports Direct, House of Fraser, FLANNELS) was drowning in volume -- 1 million applications annually to fill 20,000 retail hires. Manual screening buried recruiters, time to hire sat at 23 days, and ad spend ballooned as candidates dropped out mid-process.
Tool used: SmartRecruiters AI -- AI-powered screening creates shortlists from mass applicant pools, automated scheduling and templated comms handle logistics.
Result: Time to hire dropped from 23 days to 9 days. Ad spend cut 50%. First-month attrition down 25%. 40% of hires now come from CRM pipeline instead of new ads.
The lesson: AI filters thousands but humans close deals. Frasers built in a 72-hour candidate reflection window before start dates: giving applicants "human time to think" reduced drop-offs by 25%. Speed without space kills acceptance rates.
Steal this: Set a candidate decision SLA this week. Test 48–72 hours from offer to response on your next 10 hires and track acceptance rate vs. your current average. If drop-offs fall, bake the window into your offer process permanently.
TOGETHER WITH UNWRAP
Powerful Insights for Powerful Brands
Still manually sifting through customer feedback?
There's a better way. Unwrap brings all customer feedback—surveys, reviews, support tickets, social comments—into a single view, then uses AI to surface actionable insights delivered straight to your inbox.
Stripe, Lululemon, WHOOP, DoorDash, Southwest Airlines, and other leading brands use Unwrap to power their customer intelligence.
Get clarity on what matters most to your customers without the manual work.
THE POLICY CORNER
Walmart agreed to pay $100 million after the FTC found it misled drivers about earnings on its Spark delivery platform. The company advertised potential hourly rates that drivers couldn't consistently achieve due to opaque tip handling and pay calculation methods. The settlement applies to any gig platform that recruits workers with earnings projections.
Deadline: In effect now. Active enforcement across gig platforms.
Your move: If you operate or partner with gig labor platforms, audit your earnings disclosures this month. Remove "earn up to" language without showing median or typical pay. Document how tips are calculated and disclosed.
AI News
💻 Meta unveils roadmap for four in-house AI chips: MTIA 300, 400, 450, and 500 will power recommendation systems across Facebook and Instagram, reducing reliance on third-party suppliers. FULL STORY
🛒 Facebook Marketplace deploys AI auto-replies for buyer inquiries: Meta AI now handles "Is this still available?" messages, generates listing details from photos, and creates seller profile summaries for buyers. FULL STORY
📊 Oracle posts 243% growth in AI infrastructure, RPO hits $553B: Q3 cloud revenue jumped 44% to $4.9B, with $30B raised in oversubscribed debt offering to fund data center expansion. FULL STORY
✂️ Atlassian cuts 10% of workforce in AI pivot: Software company reduces headcount by roughly 1,600 employees as part of strategic shift toward AI-driven operations. FULL STORY
Trending AI Tools (sponsored by our tools database)
A curated look at the AI tools quietly transforming how teams work.
The Money: Enterprise AI agents hit scale inflection
Two mega-rounds this week signal serious capital betting on operational AI deployment, not models. Investors are doubling down on companies solving the "last-mile problem", turning pilots into company-wide workflows. Both raised at billion-dollar-plus valuations despite launching within 18 months.
Deals to know:
Wonderful (Series B, $150M) -- AI customer service agents across 30 countries, focused on non-English markets. Tripled headcount to deploy on-premises integration teams. Investors: Insight Partners, Index Ventures, IVP, Bessemer
Gumloop (Series B, $50M) -- No-code agent platform for non-technical staff. Beat established automation tools in head-to-head enterprise trials. Investors: Benchmark (first deal for GP Everett Randle)
Signal: Capital flowing to companies with boots-on-the-ground deployment models and proven enterprise adoption, not technical capability alone. Investors paying premiums for repeatable integration playbooks through 2027.
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Until next time, Arturo and Liam.
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