Hiring vs. Building Agents: The New Playbook for the AI Workforce
“Hiring somebody and training them takes longer than building an agent.” – That single line, delivered by Jason Calacanis during the All-In podcast interview at CES 2026, captured a shift that many leaders are already experiencing but few have fully articulated regarding AI in workforce. This is no longer a speculative debate about the future […]
Infrastructure Is the New Strategic Moat in the AI Era
We talk a lot about AI breakthroughs, new models, and faster software. What we discuss far less is the physical reality now sitting beneath every digital ambition. The next phase of technological progress will not be constrained by ideas or code. It will be constrained by infrastructure. Processing power, electricity, cooling, land, materials, and permitting […]
AI Can’t Afford to Be Wrong Anymore
If a consumer AI gives you the wrong answer, the consequences are trivial. A bad recipe. An incorrect summary. Maybe an eye roll. But when AI operates inside factories, supply chains, or critical infrastructure, the cost of being wrong changes dramatically. At CES 2026, Siemens CEO Roland Busch drew a clear line that captured this […]
The Rise of Proactive AI Agents and the End of the App Era
A flat tire used to be a mechanical problem. You noticed it, pulled over, figured out what to do, and dealt with the inconvenience. In the near future, the car notices first. At CES 2026, vehicles were demonstrated that detect a drop in tire pressure, assess urgency, check the driver’s calendar, and schedule a repair […]
Offline Is the New Luxury: Edge AI and the Rise of the Trust Economy
In a world defined by constant connectivity and ambient surveillance, something unexpected is happening. Offline is becoming a luxury. For years, we were told that AI required the cloud. That intelligence had to live in distant data centers, pulling our data upstream and returning answers downstream. But at CES 2026, the most compelling AI products […]
From Wow to Work: How CES 2026 Marked the Age of Applied AI
If the last three years of technology were defined by the question “What is possible?”, CES 2026 delivered a definitive answer. Everything is possible. Now, does it work? Walking the floor this year, the shift was unmistakable. The breathless hype surrounding generative AI’s wow moments has evaporated. In its place is a far more serious, […]
The Agent-to-Agent Economy: How CES 2026 Redefined AI Autonomy
For the last three years, the dominant mental model of artificial intelligence has been human-to-agent. You type a prompt. The system responds. You ask a question. The model retrieves an answer. At CES 2026, that model quietly became obsolete. What emerged instead was something far more consequential: the rise of the agent-to-agent economy. In this […]
CES 2026 and the Return of the Factory Floor
For decades, CES has been defined by the shiny object. The biggest screen. The fastest car. The smartest robot. Innovation was something you could see, photograph, and marvel at under bright lights. At CES 2026, that center of gravity shifted to manufacturing and supply chain. If you looked past the flashiest demos, a different story […]
Retail Themes: What NRF 2026 Reveals About the Year Ahead
AI was the overarching theme at NRF 2026. Shocker, I know. The same storyline is playing out at nearly every trade show and conference these days. But at NRF, I felt a subtle shift in the conversation. Retailers who have been quietly watching the rapid progression of AI from the sidelines now seem to acknowledge […]
The Next Now Defines Retail’s New Operating Condition
Over the next few days, I will share thoughts on the future of retail coming out of NRF 2026. I want to start with NRF’s theme of “The Next Now” because it captures something many retailers are already feeling. Winning today no longer guarantees relevance tomorrow. Consumer behavior is shifting at the speed of technology, […]