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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

Sam Altman at a press conference in Tokyo earlier this month. Photo via Getty
Applied AI

What OpenAI’s Sales Automation Software Can Do—and What It Can’t

By · Feb 18, 2025 10:00am PST · 2 comments
A clip recently surfaced on Reddit showing OpenAI executives demonstrating a new ChatGPT feature in Japan. The video showed how ChatGPT’s “deep research” mode, part of a $200-a-month Pro subscription, could automatically sort through sales leads and determine which ones are worth contacting. It determines that by searching the web for data like... A clip recently surfaced on Reddit showing OpenAI executives demonstrating a new ChatGPT feature...
art via Midjourney by Mike Sullivan
Applied AI

Agents Hit Trust Roadblock With Logistics Execs; Anthropic Targets OpenAI Customers

By Theo Wayt, Jon Victor and Aaron Holmes · Feb 13, 2025 10:49am PST
Artificial intelligence agents designed to make decisions for their customers are all the rage. But as companies developing agents make their pitches, they’re going to have to figure out how to quell customers’ trust issues and skepticism. I could see this dynamic at Manifest, an e-commerce and logistics conference I attended in Las Vegas... Artificial intelligence agents designed to make decisions for their customers are all the rage....
Ready, Madrigal screenshots via Youtube.
Applied AI

What’s Working at Pinterest

By · Feb 11, 2025 10:00am PST
Two artificial intelligence trends have converged at Pinterest: the growing usefulness of AI in improving advertising, and how falling costs of such technology can benefit large application developers more than other types of companies.Pinterest is a bit of a rarity in AI. For years, the online scrapbooking company has trained its own AI models... Two artificial intelligence trends have converged at Pinterest: the growing usefulness of AI in...
Photo by Shutterstock
DeepSeek Will Pressure Microsoft, Salesforce to Drop AI Prices, Software Executives Say
By Aaron Holmes · Feb 6, 2025 10:00am PST
Photo by Shutterstock
Applied AI

DeepSeek Will Pressure Microsoft, Salesforce to Drop AI Prices, Software Executives Say

By Aaron Holmes · Feb 6, 2025 10:00am PST
The falling cost of artificial intelligence—underscored by the arrival of DeepSeek—is likely to pressure software firms to stop charging customers for ChatGPT-like features such as summarizing documents and automatically drafting emails, which are fast becoming a commodity, executives from security firm Palo Alto Networks and file storage firm... The falling cost of artificial intelligence—underscored by the arrival of DeepSeek—is likely to...
Outside DeepSeek's office in Beijing. Photo via Getty.
Applied AI

Eyeing Higher Margins, AWS and Other Cloud Providers Embrace DeepSeek

By · Feb 4, 2025 10:25am PST
The DeepSeek reasoning artificial intelligence, R1, isn’t just a gift to businesses eager to cut their AI costs. American cloud providers looking to boost their server rental businesses moved quickly last week to make R1 available to their customers.So far, however, Amazon Web Services, Microsoft and Google aren’t charging cloud customers to use... The DeepSeek reasoning artificial intelligence, R1, isn’t just a gift to businesses eager to cut...
Applied AI Newsletter
A new The Information franchise that will take you inside how businesses are using AI to automate all kinds of work.
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Applied AI

Goldman Sachs Is Interested In DeepSeek Too

By Jon Victor · Jan 30, 2025 10:00am PST
How fast is DeepSeek open source artificial intelligence taking over the business world? Look no further than Meta Platforms, which is evaluating whether to use the Chinese-made AI in its advertising products despite spending the past two years developing its own Llama open-source models, my colleague Kalley reported Wednesday. Also this... How fast is DeepSeek open source artificial intelligence taking over the business world? Look no...
Art by Mike Sullivan
Applied AI

DeepSeek Attracts Surge of Business Users

By · Jan 28, 2025 10:00am PST
The DeepSeek open-source reasoning model, R1, has barely been out for a week, but businesses are already champing at the bit to use the Chinese model in their products because it’s so cheap compared to American ones.Take ZoomInfo, a provider of data about businesses, which its customers use as sales leads. The company already found that it could... The DeepSeek open-source reasoning model, R1, has barely been out for a week, but businesses are...
Art by Mike Sullivan via Midjourney
Automating Senior Software Engineers Will Take Longer Than OpenAI Says
By Jon Victor · Jan 23, 2025 10:43am PST
Art by Mike Sullivan via Midjourney
Applied AI

Automating Senior Software Engineers Will Take Longer Than OpenAI Says

By Jon Victor · Jan 23, 2025 10:43am PST
OpenAI’s development of an “agent” to automate the work of a senior software engineer—which my colleagues scooped yesterday—will raise the stakes in an already competitive market for AI coding tools. But OpenAI still has to overcome a major data problem before such a product can become widely available.While the internet is full of coding... OpenAI’s development of an “agent” to automate the work of a senior software engineer—which my...
Art by Mike Sullivan via Midjourney
Applied AI

More Changes Coming to Microsoft and Google’s Productivity Apps: Grammarly CEO

By · Jan 21, 2025 10:00am PST
Microsoft and Google’s injection of generative artificial intelligence features into apps like Docs and Word is just the start of a dramatic shift for enterprise apps in the coming years, says Shishir Mehrotra, CEO of Grammarly, which develops writing assistant software.Instead of a chatbot like Google’s Gemini or Microsoft’s Copilot that... Microsoft and Google’s injection of generative artificial intelligence features into apps like...
Photo via Getty
Applied AI

Google and Microsoft Force Customers to Pay For AI

By Jon Victor and Aaron Holmes · Jan 16, 2025 11:26am PST
For the last two years, enterprise software companies have been trying to convince customers to fork over more money for new artificial intelligence features, such as generating notes from conference calls and ginning up images for slide presentations.Now, the software firms are no longer asking. Google said Wednesday it would automatically... For the last two years, enterprise software companies have been trying to convince customers to...
Applied AI Newsletter
A new The Information franchise that will take you inside how businesses are using AI to automate all kinds of work.
By providing your email, you agree to The Information’s Privacy Policy
Photo via Getty
Applied AI

2025 Is the Year of the AI App

By · Jan 14, 2025 1:21pm PST
Executives at software vendors and chief information officers who buy software are starting to agree on one thing: Artificial intelligence models are becoming far less important than the apps that harness them. Many prominent AI apps, including GitHub Copilot, Perplexity search, and Cursor’s coding assistant, previously relied almost... Executives at software vendors and chief information officers who buy software are starting to...
Art by Shane Burke
Why Businesses Are Skipping Open-Source Models
By Jon Victor · Jan 9, 2025 10:38am PST · 1 comment
Art by Shane Burke
Applied AI

Why Businesses Are Skipping Open-Source Models

By Jon Victor · Jan 9, 2025 10:38am PST · 1 comment
If there’s one thing artificial intelligence sellers learned in 2024, it’s that customers want AI to be a cinch to set up. Businesses are even willing to pay a premium and take their chances with AI models or chatbots like ChatGPT that have fewer built-in security features than they’re used to—as long as they just work out of the box.That... If there’s one thing artificial intelligence sellers learned in 2024, it’s that customers want AI...
Art by Clark Miller
Applied AI

The Future of Software Engineers and Industries We’re Watching in 2025

By · Jan 7, 2025 1:15pm PST · 1 comment
Welcome to Applied AI, The Information’s twice-weekly newsletter that will take you inside how businesses are using artificial intelligence.I’m Jon Victor, the lead writer for Applied AI. For seven years I have been reporting on technology and most recently on how businesses are using AI. I recently interviewed Marc Benioff for a profile of... Welcome to Applied AI, The Information’s twice-weekly newsletter that will take you inside how...