Innovation Snapshot

"Data is the new oil."

— Clive Humby, Data Scientist.

In today's lineup:

Robots

• Top Bites: AI movements to watch

• 3 real-world wins with AI

• 2025's emerging tech and trends

• Build an AI agent in minutes

People

• The Godfather of AI's latest warning

Love

• How to get real ROI with AI

• Transformative reads: No Rules Rules by Reed Hastings

Reading time: 5 min. 

Top bites ⚡

• Meta may hire former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman

• Are OpenAI and Microsoft breaking up?

• New AI development framework puts civil rights first

• Amazon boss says AI will replace jobs at tech giant

• NAACP threatens to sue Elon Musk's xAI over Memphis air pollution

Four breakthrough technologies delivering immediate ROI in 2025

New research from Forrester highlights AI chips, computer vision, digital twins, and explainable AI as the top emerging technologies offering short-term business value.

Forrester's Charlie Dai emphasizes AI chips as "the backbone for generative AI, agentic AI, and physical AI," with surging APAC demand driven by government initiatives and manufacturing innovations.

Strategies for executives:

• Combine AI agent proliferation with specialized AI chips for enhanced performance in high-stakes operations

• Deploy explainable AI alongside digital twins to build stakeholder trust while optimizing complex asset management

• Leverage computer vision and self-driving business apps to streamline workflows and reduce integration challenges currently hampering AI adoption

ZDNet projects near-universal RPA adoption by 2028, while Forrester's technologies enable the autonomous digital workforce transformation that Deloitte identifies as critical for innovation and agility.

Gen AI in action 🌊

3 ways AI is creating human-centered value.

• Fix Auto USA uses AI to predict parts demand, optimizing supply chain across Industry 4.0 operations.

• The Green Accountant automates client emails with GPT-4, freeing leaders to prioritize strategy and operational efficiency.

• The Little Market taps QuickBooks AI for real-time financial reporting to speed up ROI-driven decisions.

Tool Spotlight 🔧

Your weekly dose of AI-powered tools delivering real results.

Shinkai builds AI agents in minutes

Shinkai is an open-source platform that lets teams deploy powerful, private AI agents in just a few clicks.

Strategic applications:

• AgentOps – Rapidly launch agents to automate cross-functional workflows

• Data Security – Run models locally to protect sensitive info and crypto keys

• AI Deployment at Scale – Build collaborative agent teams for complex tasks

• Privacy-First Innovation – Use decentralized networks and plug-in tools for safe, modular growth

With no coding required and full local control, it transforms how businesses build intelligent workflows from email automation to trading bots.

3 more AI agent builder tools to explore:

• KPMG Workbench: a multi-agent AI platform delivering fast, quality solutions.

• Vertex AI Agent Builder: Google Cloud’s scalable tool for building secure AI workflows.

• Microsoft Copilot Studio: No-code chatbot builder with deep integration into Teams and Power BI.

Transformation Champion 🏆

Geoffrey Hinton warns of AI-driven job collapse, urges upskilling for survival

The "Godfather of AI" predicts a seismic shift in the labor market as AI rapidly automates white-collar roles. “I think for mundane intellectual labor, AI is just going to replace everybody,” Hinton cautions, pointing to fields like paralegal work and customer support as early targets.

He underscores a growing need for highly specialized skills to stay employable, “You’d have to be very skilled to have a job that it just couldn’t do.” The challenge for leaders is clear: prepare your workforce before the disruption becomes irreversible.

AI design with true business value

To ensure AI investments lead to ROI, not regret, focus on operational design, not just innovation.

3 actionable principles:

• Prioritize the pain point: Anchor your AI initiative to a specific business inefficiency, like downtime, waste, or slow decision cycles.

• Build feedback into the system: Continuously refine AI models using real-world performance and user interaction data.

• Empower human judgment: Provide options, not answers. Teams should steer AI recommendations, not surrender to them. 

Learn more here.

Transformative Reads 📚

One book, handpicked from my conversations with friends, industry leaders, and tech innovators:

From the Keeper Test to no vacation policy, No Rules Rules is a blueprint for leaders building agile, high-performance cultures where innovation isn’t managed, it’s unleashed.

Perfect for: COOs, founders, and innovation-driven execs redesigning org culture for speed, trust, and creative resilience.

In Culture 🤌

Here's something to laugh about this week.

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