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Over the past few years, artificial intelligence has dominated business conversations. What once felt like a futuristic concept is now a tangible, widely accessible tool, one that is now seen as table stakes for businesses. AIs greatest promise is efficiency. For small-business owners who wear multiple hats, this promise sounds like a dream, and for some larger companies, that dream has become reality. Yet for many small and midsize businesses (SMBs) that have invested precious time and money into AI-enabled solutions, that promise remains unfulfilled. As a CEO of a company that provides fintech solutions for SMBs, and as a small-business owner myself, I understand the desire to do more with less. I understand how AI can seem like a magical solution. But the reality is, AI tools are not currently made with small businesses in mind. Whether you have already invested in AI tools, are in the consideration phase, or still testing tools, I urge you to pause everything, take a step back, and reevaluate AIs role in your business. AIs Promise Is Not for the Masses AI is pitched as a game changer for businesses, promising improved productivity, faster workflows, cost savings, and business growth. Major companies like Duolingo and Shopify have even suggested AI can replace human-led roles. And this may be true, for enterprises. This level of efficiency is possible only through custom, complex, and expensive AI models that are programed by dedicated AI teams and trained on an immense amount of dataresources, and results, that are unattainable by SMBs. The reality is, many SMBs are still digitizing their practices, their data sets are small, budgets are tight, and IT resources are minimal. This is why, instead of trying to mirror the AI adoption strategies of large enterprises, SMBs should take a different approach, one that is slow, simple, and focused on business fundamentals. By focusing on core operations like admin, customer service, and reporting, small businesses can lay the groundwork to ensure AI enhances, rather an complicates, their workflows. A False Start: SMBs and AI Adoption Its no surprise that SMB adoption of AI dropped to 28% this year, a 33% year-over-year decline. Some have learned from experience that trying to mimic enterprise adoption of AI has had the opposite effect: draining time, money, and productivity. Many SMBs still have a poor understanding of AI and its learning curves. Without proper in-house resources to implement and train on the technology, SMBs are paying for expensive tools that are not optimized to their business needs. For SMB owners who feel theyve overcommitted, I encourage you to pause and reassess. Ask yourself: Is this tool achieving what I need it to? Back to Basics Broad adoption of AI is a costly mistake for SMBs. Business leaders must slow down and thoughtfully assess where AI can truly make an impact. Start small: Choose one area, such as marketing or administrative tasks, and measure results before expanding further. Rather than investing in new tools, explore the AI features already built into your existing tech stack. Tools like Microsoft Office, Google Workspace, and Box now offer AI integrations allowing small businesses to easily explore AI applications without significant investment or complexity. By starting with the tools you already use, you not only lower the barrier to entry, you also concentrate your learning and adoption in a familiar environment. AI Applications That Work AI can be highly effective with repetitive tasks such as answering common customer questions and managing inventory. One small business, Something Sweet Cookie Dough, used AI to scale recipes and reduce ingredient waste, while also automating responses to frequently asked customer questions. AI can be a great resource for creative ideation and research as well. However, its important for a human to review all materials produced by AI as the technology is prone to misinformation and to misinterpretation of the task at hand. I suggest treating AI like a new employee: regularly checking its work, conducting performance reviews, and slowly introducing new tasks. Do not overrely on AI or assume it can operate unsupervised. AI Is Not Automatically Secure Another major oversight is the assumption that AI is inherently secure. Most AI toolsincluding popular free versions like ChatGPTlearn from the data you share with them. That means sensitive business information could become part of a models training data. If youre in a regulated industry or working with proprietary or confidential information, this is a major risk to your business and customers. Before you input sensitive data into any AI tool, understand how that data will be stored and used. Once youve done some trial and error with free versions, consider upgrading to enterprise-grade AI tools that offer security, data privacy, and compliance features tailored to you industry. AI Will Have a Place in SMBs AI can support small businesses, but only if the tools are chosen, applied, and monitored with care. Until AI companies build solutions tailored to the unique needs of SMBs, emphasizing simplicity, affordability, and support, its up to business owners to be diligent in the tools evaluation. With a measured approach, SMBs can capture the benefits of AI without overinvestment, complicating workflows, or overwhelming you and your team.
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E-Commerce
Americas demand for new infrastructure is surging, driven by the AI data center boom, clean energy projects, and a growing national housing crunch. Yet just as the country needs to build faster than ever, its facing a mounting challenge: a severe construction labor shortage. The U.S. construction industry is already short more than half a million workers, and nearly 41% of its workforce is expected to retire by 2031. For a sector still heavily dependent on manual labor and analog tools, there soon may not be enough people left to do the building. To confront this growing labor crisis, Boris Sofmana Carnegie Mellon robotics Ph.D. and early Waymo executivecofounded Bedrock Robotics in 2024. Instead of building autonomous machines from scratch, Bedrock retrofits existing construction equipment like excavators, bulldozers, and loaders with AI-powered operating systems, sensors, and lidar to make them fully autonomous. Sofman has brought together fellow engineers from Waymo, Google, and Caterpillar (CAT), many of whom were instrumental in scaling autonomous technologies in some of the worlds most complex machines. The team shares a fundamental belief: the future of construction lies in autonomy, not more manpower. I saw the powerful potential of applying modern ML approaches we developed at Waymo to construction. This is a problem you could not solve without the modern approaches we saw to be so effective, and helped deploy, in transportation, so it felt like a huge opportunity to address this critical need, Sofman tells Fast Company. We can get to a deployed product for a fraction of the cost it took Waymo, and continue to build toward the full potential while growing revenues and serving real customers. Based in San Francisco, the startup recently emerged from stealth mode with $80 million in seed and Series A funding from top-tier investors including Eclipse, 8VC, NVIDIAs NVentures, Valor Equity Partners, Two Sigma Ventures, and Samsara. John Krafcik, former CEO of Waymo, also joined as an early investor and adviser. Construction is a sector that represents over 10% of global GDP, and it’s under extraordinary pressure. Were entering a new phase where industrial AI becomes the most important, and perhaps most underestimated frontier, Krafcik says. With Bedrock, I saw a chance to take the best of what we built at Waymo and apply it to one of the most vital yet overstressed sectors in the global economy. At the heart of Bedrocks approach is the Bedrock Operatoran AI-powered software and hardware platform that installs in under four hours and can run 24/7, even in remote or high-heat environments where human crews are difficult to retain. Bedrock uses large-scale machine learning to translate real-world inputs into precise actions for construction equipment, starting with excavators focused on heavy earthwork. This is designed to start with an excavator . . . but be efficiently scalable to new capabilities and new machines, says Sofman. From Robo-Taxis to Job Sites Bedrocks founding team includes Kevin Peterson (CTO), former head of perception for Waymos commercial trucking division; Tom Eliaz (VP of engineering), who built Segments New York engineering office and worked on IBMs DB2 query optimizer; and Ajay Gummalla (also a VP of engineering), a former director of engineering at Waymo who also helped launch Google Wifi. The broader team includes engineers from Uber Freight, Google, and Adept (now OMRON), marketers from Deloitte Consulting, and operators from companies like Sonos. While many startups chase the dream of artificial general intelligence (AGI), Bedrock is laser-focused on industrial autonomyturning legacy machines into intelligent systems without upending workflows. Coupling AI with a modern safety framework based on data analysis and statistics unlocks true autonomy and collaborative machine capabilities in a sector that desperately needs it and is interconnected with our entire economy, says Matthieu Guilbert, Bedrock’s robotics lead. This allows robots to work safely and effectively in human-centric environments. Boris Sofman [Photo: Bedrock Robotics] The upgraded machines feature 360-degree cameras with LiDAR for full-field visibility and detailed work area understanding. Survey-grade inertial measurement units (IMUs) and GPS provide centimeter-precision localization, while LTE antennas keep worksites connected for real-time monitoring, explained Sofman. Rugged casings protect components from harsh conditions, while the computing system sits inside the cab, integrating sensor data and executing decisions from a large-scale machine learning model. With restrictions on foreign labor tightening and infrastructure investment risingfueled by federal stimulus and AI-driven demandautonomous construction is becoming not just feasible but necessary. With rising costs and economic uncertainty, contractors are seeking more predictability on job sites. Bedrocks autonomous machines offer consistent performance and accurate forecasting. As Sofman puts it, These machines deliver consistent, predictable output . . . helping accurately forecast project timelines. Bedrocks machines are already running at test sites in California, Texas, Arizona, and Arkansas, in collaboration with firms like Sundt Construction and Zachry Construction. Initial customer deployments are planned for August 2025, with full commercial rollout expected in early 2026. Is Industrial Autonomy the Real AI Gold Rush? Bedrock isnt aiming to eliminate human workersits aiming to ensure theyre no longer the bottleneck. Skiled crews can focus on complex tasks like pipe-laying, while autonomous systems handle repetitive work such as digging, loading, and overnight shifts. Automation and robotics are often misunderstood as a zero-sum game. The Bedrock Operator will enhance safety and productivity, fostering growth for team members rather than replacing them, due to its ability to integrate into existing workflows, says Guilbert. Increased productivity is expected to encourage general contractors to undertake more projects, resulting in a net increase in labor. Given constructions high accident rates, Sofman believes Bedrocks Operator can deliver superhuman safety. On high-risk or remote job sites, that capability could be transformative. Additionally, the AI provides real-time insights such as project progress, earth volume metrics, and billing databoosting transparency and speeding up payments. [Photo: Bedrock Robotics] That pragmatism appeals to investors like John Krafcik. While AI headlines often focus on AGI, Bedrocks investors are betting on near-term impact through industrial autonomy. Where can AI deliver real impact today? Industrial autonomy, especially in construction, is one of those places, says Krafcik, who praises Bedrocks unusually deep talent pool from Waymo as a significant advantage. Despite the pace of digital innovation, much of the world still runs on physical industries like construction, agriculture, and logistics. Bedrock is one of the few companies applying autonomy to this economically essential layer. As it approaches commercial launch, its positioning autonomy as a pragmatic solution to the modern infrastructure crisis. Sofman envisions a future where construction is fully digitized and managed by intelligent systems. Ultimately, this is about digitizing the entire construction process, he says. The goal? A general contractor can just define the goal and let the system run.
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E-Commerce
By axing The Late Show With Stephen Colbert last week, CBS not only put an expiration date on TVs No. 1 late-night talk showthe network also put an enormous target on its own back. In the days since CBS made the announcement that the show would be ending in May 2026, all current late-night talk show hosts have bound together in a show of support for Colbert. That support has taken the form of savage jokes about CBS, which canceled Colberts show just days after he called the $16 million settlement between CBS parent company Paramount and President Donald Trump a big fat bribe. Though Paramount stressed that the cancellation was ultimately a financial decision, the company’s leadership is clearly unconcerned about how it looks to cancel a show led by one of the presidents critics while its $8 billion merger with Skydance is pending before that same presidents Federal Communications Commission chair. But Colbert and his fellow late-night hosts arent afraid to say exactly what the shows pending cancellation looks likepunishment from a corporate parent for putting its business at risk. If the first show of his precancellation run is any indicator, Colbert is ready to go out the same way he rose to No. 1, by lobbing scathing jokes at Trump and those who help prop him up. And as his shows demise lays bare the precarious situation late night is in, Colberts peers seem ready to enter their DGAF eras as well. Colberts anti-Trump jokes made his show more political Trumps election in 2016, just one year into Colberts tenure, was crucial to helping the host find his footing. Hed had a bit of a rocky transition from his satirical Comedy Central series, The Colbert Report, which hed hosted in character as a Bill OReilly-like blowhard. It took him some timeand some unprecedented timesto figure out the best way to be himself on TV. Prior to Trumps election, the top late-night talk show was The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, mainly known for its hosts affable banter with celebrities and goofy party games. Trumps election seemed to light a fire under late-night TV, though, offering most of the hosts a sense of purpose and more nightly material than they could possibly handle. As Fallon remained largely apolitical, Colbert pounced. By February 2017, he snatched the top spot of late night for the first time, and then maintained it throughout the following season. Colberts peers Seth Meyers and Jimmy Kimmel also grew into their new roles as thorns in the presidents side, while Fallon floundered. Late night is flounderingespecially at CBS But amid a downturn in ratings, even Colberts viewership has softened as time has gone on. Between the political exhaustion that followed the 2020 election and a steady increase in cord-cutting in U.S. households, late-night TV ratings have fallen steadily for five years. Colbert now receives an average of 2.47 million viewers per show, down more than a million from his 2018-2019 peak. Late-night ad revenue fell by half from 2018 to 2024, from $439 million to just $220 million. Even Trumps return to the White House, with all its attendant chaos, couldnt entice viewers back to late night this year, with ratings down across the board even from last fall. CBS has had an especially tough time programming late night. After host James Corden left The Late Late Show in 2023, CBS opted to end the series rather than find a new host, taking a swing by airing the talk show-game show amalgam After Midnight in its time slot. That show ended in June after two seasons, when host Taylor Tomlinson bowed out to focus on stand-up. Amid the tumult, Colbert and his shows pole position among his peers seemed like an asset for the network. But given his critique of Paramounts Trump settlementwhich heads off a legal battle over the presidents appearance on 60 Minutes last fall, which he alleged was edited unfairlyColberts cancellation can easily be perceived as a potential additional condition for the merger. Trump has certainly not done anything to assuage that notion, gloating about it on Truth Social over the weekend. But Colbert and his late-night compatriots are signaling that theyre ready to call it as they see it now that Colberts days at CBS are numbered. How late-night hosts responded Kimmel was the first of the hosts to respond. In a since-lapsed Instagram story on Saturday, July 19, the host wrote: Love you, Stephen. Fu*k you and all your Sheldons, CBS (a nod to the main character from the networks 12-season hit The Big Bang Theory and its 7-season spin-off Young Sheldon). Next came Jon Stewarts righteously irate, f-bomb-heavy monologue on Monday nights episode of The Daily Show. Jon Stewart reacts to CBS cancelling "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" and tells corporations and advertisers to "sack up" pic.twitter.com/v8MrNpg28w— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) July 22, 2025 While the host admitted the fiscal realities of late-night TV in 2025, comparing it to “operating a Blockbuster kiosk inside of a Tower Records, he blasted the network for not doing more to save the top show in the format. Stewart concluded that despite those financial challenges, the cancellation was ultimately due to the “fear and pre-compliance that is gripping all of America’s institutions.” He then led a choir and the audience i a chant of Go fuck yourselves, aimed at corporations, including Paramount, who have demonstrated fealty to Trump. Finally, just after The Daily Show came the first episode of The Late Show in what may come to be known as its DGAF era. The gloves are off, the host said early on in the episode, and then spent the rest of the runtime giving a preview of what that will look like. Perhaps taking a cue from Stewart, Colbert responded to Trumps gloating over his cancellation by telling the president, Go fuck yourself. One particular moment from the episode, though, was notable both for its humor and its sprawling show of solidarity. A parade of famous friends including Lin-Manuel Miranda, Weird Al Yankovic, and Adam Sandler showed up for an elaborate bit based on last weeks Coldplay kiss-cam fiascoand they were joined by Colberts peers: Meyers, Stewart, and Last Week Tonight host John Oliver. All of these hosts standing united in purpose (Jimmy Fallon separately cracked jokes in support of Colbert on The Tonight Show) is a signal that late night is poised to get its biggest jolt since the early days of Trumps first term. These hosts may be about to crack jokes like theres no tomorrow, because for the first time in late nights storied history, there might not be.
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