Applied AI by The Information Staff

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Applied AI

By The Information Staff

Applied AI focuses on deep storytelling and reporting around the application of AI in business and beyond. From how companies drive innovation, support their customers, and foster collaboration with their teams, to how CEOs are applying AI to optimize their organizations.

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Recent Editions

Ben McMillan, founder and chief investment officer at IDX Advisors. Photo via YouTube

How One Investment Firm is Using AI to Cut Software Costs

By Kevin McLaughlin · Feb 17, 2026 10:37am PST

Brokerage stocks were among the latest stocks to sell off last week on fears artificial intelligence would replace the financial institutions’ role as investment advisers. While those worries may be overblown, it’s easy to see why traders are skittish. Take the case of IDX Advisors, a Scottsdale, Ariz.-based asset management firm with... Brokerage stocks were among the latest stocks to sell off last week on fears artificial...

Photo by David Paul Morris/ Getty Images

The Looming Battle Over Agent Management Software

By Kevin McLaughlin and Aaron Holmes · Feb 12, 2026 11:05am PST

The next big AI battleground will be centered on software for managing agents, helping businesses handle the growing suite of AI agents they’re using from different providers, as we reported today. On that front, the older enterprise software firms feel they have advantages over OpenAI and Anthropic.That advantage boils down to software firms’... The next big AI battleground will be centered on software for managing agents, helping businesses...

Entire founder Thomas Dohmke. Credit: Mustafa Yalcin/Getty Images

GitHub’s Ex-CEO Bets On a Future in Which Humans No Longer Look at Computer Code

By Aaron Holmes · Feb 10, 2026 10:41am PST

Peter Steinberger, creator of OpenClaw, an AI agent that has taken the developer world by storm, recently made a stunning statement: he doesn’t even look at much of the AI-generated code he uses to make the agent. That could soon become the norm for a majority of people developing applications, said former GitHub CEO Thomas Dohmke. This... Peter Steinberger, creator of OpenClaw, an AI agent that has taken the developer world by storm,...

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. Photo by Fabrice/Getty Images

Nvidia CEO Becomes the Latest SaaS Defender—Sort Of

By Amir Efrati · Feb 5, 2026 10:30am PST · 2 comments

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. Photo by Fabrice/Getty Images

Nvidia CEO Becomes the Latest SaaS Defender—Sort Of

By Amir Efrati · Feb 5, 2026 10:30am PST · 2 comments

Simmering anxieties about AI’s threat to subscription software have turned into a raging nervous breakdown on Wall Street in the past week, thanks in part to Anthropic’s recent AI launches (and despite Anthropic's own love for SaaS apps). Even Palantir, which has lately posted blockbuster growth, has been caught up in the selloff.Enter Jensen... Simmering anxieties about AI’s threat to subscription software have turned into a raging nervous...

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Photo by Getty Images

Meta Officially Ties Employee Performance to AI Usage; Microsoft On OpenClaw Security Risks

By Jyoti Mann and Aaron Holmes · Feb 3, 2026 10:31am PST · 3 comments

Businesses such as Microsoft are increasingly nudging their employees to utilize AI to get more done. Others are forcing the issue.One of the biggest firms to take the more aggressive path is Meta Platforms, which at the end of December had 78,865 employees. Businesses such as Microsoft are increasingly nudging their employees to utilize AI to get more...

Microsoft Commercial CEO Judson Althoff. David Paul Morris/Bloomberg.

Microsoft Reveals It’s the No. 2 Seller of AI Apps Behind OpenAI

By Aaron Holmes · Jan 29, 2026 10:30am PST · 6 comments

Microsoft’s slightly-slowing growth in cloud server rentals cast a pall over its quarterly earnings report on Wednesday, but the company had a salve to numb that sting: It’s generating significant revenue from AI software subscriptions.During its earnings call, CEO Satya Nadella revealed one of the most hotly anticipated figures investors and... Microsoft’s slightly-slowing growth in cloud server rentals cast a pall over its quarterly...

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei via Getty

Anthropic and JPMorgan Seem to Agree That AI Isn’t Eating Enterprise Apps Yet

By Amir Efrati and Kevin McLaughlin · Jan 27, 2026 11:37am PST

AI has been a frequent bogeyman to software stocks in the past year, with investors worried that AI agents could erode seat-based subscription pricing models and long-term growth. Shares of big incumbents such as Salesforce, Workday, Hubspot, ServiceNow and Adobe are down anywhere from 29% to 58% in that time frame, prompting some analysts... AI has been a frequent bogeyman to software stocks in the past year, with investors worried that...

OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar. Screenshot via World Economic Forum.

OpenAI Plans to Take a Cut of Customers’ AI-Aided Discoveries

By Amir Efrati · Jan 22, 2026 10:30am PST · 3 comments

OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar. Screenshot via World Economic Forum.

OpenAI Plans to Take a Cut of Customers’ AI-Aided Discoveries

By Amir Efrati · Jan 22, 2026 10:30am PST · 3 comments

Hi! If you’re finding value in our Applied AI newsletter, I encourage you to consider subscribing to The Information. It contains exclusive reporting on the most important stories in tech, like this story from Aaron and Wayne on Apple software chief Craig Federighi‘s cautious approach to improving the company’s AI standing. Save... Hi! If you’re finding value in our Applied AI newsletter, I encourage you to consider subscribing...

Getty Images

How xAI Plans to Automate White-Collar Workers

By Theo Wayt and Aaron Holmes · Jan 20, 2026 10:31am PST

AI startups talk a lot these days about how their products will be revolutionary by automating white collar work. But it’s rarer to hear messy stories about the hiccups AI startups face when trying to build such products for businesses, or the awkward situations that can arise when they roll out their own technology internally. That makes a... AI startups talk a lot these days about how their products will be revolutionary by automating...

Satya Nadella, left, and Dario Amodei. Photos by Getty Images.

Cowork Versus Copilot

By Aaron Holmes · Jan 15, 2026 10:51am PST

The AI business continues to create and shift alliances between almost every leading tech firm. Companies may be incentivized to work together to fill each other’s AI or capital needs even as they compete more fiercely for consumer or enterprise dollars.That’s what’s happening with Microsoft and Anthropic. The two firms have recently become fast... The AI business continues to create and shift alliances between almost every leading tech firm....

Art via Getty Images

Anthropic and OpenAI’s Coding Tools Produce Websites with Security Flaws

By Aaron Holmes and Kevin McLaughlin · Jan 13, 2026 10:47am PST

Websites created through coding tools from OpenAI, Anthropic, Cursor, Replit and Devin have security flaws, new research shows. These AI-generated websites can be tricked into leaking sensitive data or mistakenly sending money to hackers, AI security startup Tenzai told The Information.“Our initial goal was to compare these different AI coding... Websites created through coding tools from OpenAI, Anthropic, Cursor, Replit and Devin have...

Photo by Shutterstock.

How Amazon Is Pulling Ahead of OpenAI With AI Shopping Agents

By Ann Gehan and Kevin McLaughlin · Jan 8, 2026 10:59am PST · 1 comment

Photo by Shutterstock.

How Amazon Is Pulling Ahead of OpenAI With AI Shopping Agents

By Ann Gehan and Kevin McLaughlin · Jan 8, 2026 10:59am PST · 1 comment

It seems like these days, every big e-commerce and AI company is racing to figure out how to make AI agents that can shop just like a human. In the case of Amazon, the company’s version of AI-powered shopping is becoming widespread enough to step on other retailers’ toes—evidence that it’s pulling ahead in the nascent market.Earlier this week,... It seems like these days, every big e-commerce and AI company is racing to figure out how to make...

Photo via Shutterstock.

Why Expedia Won’t Fight ChatGPT’s Travel Ambitions

By Aaron Holmes and Kevin McLaughlin · Jan 6, 2026 10:30am PST

AI companies envision a future in which AI agents, rather than humans, become the primary users of websites such as commerce apps. The idea is that people may be more inclined to ask chatbots like ChatGPT or Gemini to buy a new pack of paper towels or book a hotel for them than to go to individual websites.While some website owners such as... AI companies envision a future in which AI agents, rather than humans, become the primary users...

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Jason Redmond/AFP via Getty Images.

Applied AI: Microsoft Offers Training Funds for Copilot AI Customers

By Aaron Holmes · Dec 29, 2025 11:29am PST

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and his deputies have warned that plenty of employees at large enterprises that pay for Microsoft 365 Copilot haven’t been using the AI features very much, as we reported recently.The most obvious way to change their ways is to make the software, an artificial intelligence add-on to Office apps like Word and Excel,... Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and his deputies have warned that plenty of employees at large...

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff via Getty, art by Clark Miller

Why Our Story on Salesforce’s Declining Trust in LLMs Hit a Nerve

By Amir Efrati · Dec 23, 2025 11:04am PST · 4 comments

On Friday, Aaron and Kevin’s article about Salesforce calling out the ingrained limitations of large language models struck a major nerve, as have our other in-depth articles about Salesforce AI challenges this year.Business people saw the piece as further evidence that marketing of generative AI got ahead of what the technology could actually... On Friday, Aaron and Kevin’s article about Salesforce calling out the ingrained limitations of...

Juliana Yamada/LA Times via Getty Images.

Can UCLA Replace Teaching Assistants with AI?

By Aaron Holmes · Dec 18, 2025 10:30am PST

Juliana Yamada/LA Times via Getty Images.

Can UCLA Replace Teaching Assistants with AI?

By Aaron Holmes · Dec 18, 2025 10:30am PST

Universities grappling with slowing enrollment and imperiled federal funding are looking for new ways to cut costs. How much will artificial intelligence help? The management school at the University of California, Los Angeles has been developing AI applications for its 500 faculty and staff members, including tools that might automate the... Universities grappling with slowing enrollment and imperiled federal funding are looking for new...

Getty Images

Corporate Chatbots Gone Wild

By Kevin McLaughlin and Aaron Holmes · Dec 16, 2025 10:46am PST

Businesses such as IBM and Salesforce have long used chatbots to greet their website visitors and offer them assistance with getting more information about their products. In recent years, generative AI has livened up these chatbots so they are no longer confined to a small set of canned responses. But some technology providers are having... Businesses such as IBM and Salesforce have long used chatbots to greet their website visitors and...

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

The Job Market Is Worsening. AI Is ‘Part of the Story,’ Fed Chair Says

By Amir Efrati and Laura Mandaro · Dec 11, 2025 10:49am PST · 1 comment

Is AI hurting American jobs? A bit, according to Federal Reserve Chair Jay Powell, whose comments Wednesday gave the AI fearmongers a good amount of material to work with.In a press conference, Powell said AI was “part of the story” behind the worsening unemployment that prompted the Fed to lower interest rates for the second time in two... Is AI hurting American jobs? A bit, according to Federal Reserve Chair Jay Powell, whose...

Dario Amodei. Photo by Chance Yeh/Getty Images

OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Agree to Develop Agent Standards Together

By Aaron Holmes · Dec 9, 2025 6:30am PST · 2 comments

For AI agents to work properly in automating white-collar tasks, the companies developing the agents and the companies running the enterprise apps those agents use will need to agree on technical standards for how these technologies connect to each other.Some leading companies are preparing to do just that. As soon as this week, Anthropic,... For AI agents to work properly in automating white-collar tasks, the companies developing the...

Photo by Chona Kasinger/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Microsoft Wants to Sell Software Subscriptions—to AI Agents; AWS’ AI Fallback Plan

By Aaron Holmes and Kevin McLaughlin · Dec 4, 2025 10:44am PST · 1 comment

Photo by Chona Kasinger/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Microsoft Wants to Sell Software Subscriptions—to AI Agents; AWS’ AI Fallback Plan

By Aaron Holmes and Kevin McLaughlin · Dec 4, 2025 10:44am PST · 1 comment

When AI software sellers pitch their vision of the future, it can start to feel paradoxical.On one hand, sellers say AI can meaningfully automate large swaths of white collar work, which should in theory help companies save money because they won’t need to pay as many humans. On the other hand, if companies cut jobs while embracing automation,... When AI software sellers pitch their vision of the future, it can start to feel paradoxical.On...