#Artificial Intelligence

#Artificial Intelligence

Many of the people most affected by what we talk about here will never come to this conference,

We have entered a new world economy shaped by two fundamental forces: geoeconomic fragmentation and exponential innovation. In this environment, established cooperative and diplomatic frameworks are under pressure, requiring much more dialogue, imagination and entrepreneurship to regain forward momentum. At the same time, technology and innovation are being deployed at unprecedented speed, with companies playing an ever-greater role. These shifts are transforming how businesses operate across geographies.

His answer cut through the noise. "Look," he said, "in the end, there's only one thing that matters, which is trust. We're all in the trust business. That is the business. And the leaders who succeed are the ones who have a reservoir of trust." That idea has stayed with me because it's old wisdom that is increasingly forgotten. We are living through an era obsessed with speed, scale, and technology.

In the past, researchers studying peoples' experiences with addiction relied mostly on clinical observations and self-reported surveys. But only about 5% of people diagnosed with a substance use disorder seek formal treatment. They are only a small sliver of the population who have a substance use disorder-and until recently, there has been no straightforward way to capture the experiences of the other 95%.

Harry frowned. "I'm not seeing the value in it. Can you explain it clearly? Is there any other solution?" Tom leaned in. "This isn't making much sense. You could try this instead. It's simpler." Leina sighed. "Next time you present, put more thought into your reasoning." Meanwhile, Ron trembled with anxiety. He wanted to make a point but ended up rambling. This was his second failed attempt at defending his ideas.

"You might need to have 100 conversations to take on five or six cases," says AlphaLit founder and CEO Anand Upadhye.

Even more exceptional are when the people in those literal marriages extend their individual tendril-like professional paths toward each other, braiding them into endeavors that become something greater than either could have created alone. The "mine and yours" are rendered indistinguishable from one another. Such is the case with multidisciplinary artist Tiffany Shlain and Ken Goldberg, a UC Berkeley professor of engineering and art practice. The Berkeley-based life and work partners' newest collaboration is "Ancient Wisdom for a Future Ecology: Trees, Time and Technology."

This week on IPWatchdog Unleashed, , I sat down with prolific inventor Gil Hyatt, exploring his innovative journey and aspirations to leave a lasting legacy. Gil, known for his significant contributions to the field of electrical engineering and microcomputers, shared insightful anecdotes about his early days, his pioneering work in artificial intelligence, and his ambitions to benefit future generations. The Journey of an Inventor The path of Gil Hyatt was seemingly pre-destined.

Reid Hoffman doesn't do much in half measures. He cofounded LinkedIn, of course, and helped bankroll companies including Meta and Airbnb in their startup days. He has also fashioned himself, via books, podcasts, and other public appearances, as something of a public intellectual-a pro-capitalist philosopher who still insists that tech can be a force for good. Most recently, Hoffman has emerged as one of Silicon Valley's most prominent defenders of artificial intelligence.

Nick Fleisher learned that the hard way at McKinsey, where he helped elite law firms roll out tech tools, often with little enthusiasm from the lawyers expected to use them. "It was like pulling teeth," Fleisher said. That work led Fleisher to leave McKinsey and start a company in August. His startup, Sandstone, is aimed squarely at in-house legal teams instead of law firms, and Sequoia Capital is backing the idea.

Charlie Brooker's dystopian anthology series Black Mirror has been making us face the dark side of technology for 15 years now. In 2011, that meant live TV ransoms and capitalist reality shows. But last year, in Season 7, we saw memories brought to life, emotions run on subscription models, and the Hollywood remake machine going very literal. In the age of AI popping up everywhere, Black Mirror isn't going to stop reflecting real life any time soon - but what could possibly be next?

"There's interest across the board," Michael Kemper, MTA chief security officer, told THE CITY. "It's not only coming from the MTA, but from the business world, the AI business world, in working with us."

More artificial intelligence is being implanted into Gmail as Google tries to turn the world's most popular email service into a personal assistant that can improve writing, summarize far-flung information buried in inboxes and deliver daily to-do lists. The new AI features announced Thursday could herald a pivotal moment for Gmail, a service that transformed email when it was introduced nearly 22 years ago.

Meta Platforms didn't have a bad 2025, as its stock rose around 13%. Still, that trails the S&P 500 , as it delivered 16% gains in 2025. However, Meta could have handily outperformed the market if its third quarter earnings report hadn't been so poorly received by the market. That caused the stock to drop in October, and shares haven't recovered since.

2026 is just getting started, and layoffs are already underway. Companies, including Angi, the company formerly known as Angie's List, and the popular web tool Tailwind, have cut staff, citing the impact of artificial intelligence among the reasons for the layoffs. More than 100 other companies, from Amazon to Nike to Verizon, have filed legally mandated WARN notices about job cuts to come in 2026, according to WARN Tracker.

2025 was a rough year for investors in The Trade Desk . The technology platform for advertisers looking to escape the walled gardens fell 67.7%, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. Slowing revenue growth amid a changing landscape in digital advertising on television, along with the adoption of artificial intelligence ( AI), has led investors to bail on the stock.