Brand is the Signal.
With so much news in the AI world (Apple + Meta’s $800 million fine from the EU, the AI 2027 preview of the AI Apocalypse, etc.), it can be hard to stay focused on Brands+AI and the big decisions facing Boards and brand leaders. Maybe that’s why I so appreciated the straightforward insights about AI-driven business transformation from Arielle Gross Samuels, CMO at General Catalyst, shared on Matt Britton’s Speed of Culture podcast.
Highlighting that applied AI is a fundamental business model shift, Arielle lays out three key verticals for AI adoption: the intelligence layer (like LLMs such as Anthropic), the infrastructure backbone (think AI-enabled rollups in areas like legal, HOA, and accounting), and workforce transformation (productivity). Breaking AI adoption into these categories helps with everything from ethical decision-making and communications to analytics.
And now, the AI headlines of the past few days for Boards and brand leaders:
AI Development & Technology
“Periodic table of machine learning” could fuel AI discovery. MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Google introduces AI reasoning control in Gemini 2.5 Flash. AI News
Wired's Kevin Kelly on Technology, AI, and the Power of Learning / Blogs / Perficient. Perficient Blogs
Open source technology in the age of AI. McKinsey & Company
AI Applications & Business Transformation
AI Is Enabling an Always-On Economy. Companies Need to Pick Up the Pace.. WSJ
How Gen AI Is Transforming Market Research. hbr.org
Norma Kamali is transforming the future of fashion with AI. MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Venture Capital 2.0: AI, Brand Building, and What’s Next With General Catalyst. www.adweek.com
Lighthouse lessons: Four mindsets to make digital transformation stick. McKinsey & Company
Transforming finance with AI: The blueprint for innovation. Fintech News
AI Agents
Companies Race Toward AI Agent Adoption. Forbes
How to Implement AI Agents to Transform Business Models. Gartner
Google launches A2A as HyperCycle advances AI agent interoperability. AI News
Before AI Agents Act, We Need Answers. Tech Policy Press
Regulation, Policy & Ethics
A total Recall for data protection. www.shoosmiths.com
Innocean USA Rallies Agencies to Push for Diverse AI Training Data. www.adweek.com
OpenAI slashes AI model safety testing time. @FinancialTimes
Q1 2025 New York Artificial Intelligence Developments: What Employers Should Know About Proposed and Passed Artificial Intelligence Legislation. natlawreview.com
You'll Probably Be Protected: Explaining Differential Privacy Guarantees - Center for Democracy and Technology. Center for Democracy and Technology
Actors Horrified as They Learn What Selling Their Faces as AI Actually Means. Futurism
The evolution of harmful content detection: Manual moderation to AI. AI News
EU Fines Apple and Meta Total of $800 Million in First Use of Digital Competition Law. www.nytimes.com
Book Review
“Exposure to Martian air will boil the saliva off your tongue before it asphyxiates you”. Adam Becker takes exception to the preoccupations of some AI entrepreneurs. Book Review: ‘More Everything Forever,’ by Adam Becker. www.nytimes.com