Hey

Welcome to The AI Report — the #1 AI newsletter for business leaders.

We believe you don’t need to be technical. Just informed.

Inside: real-world use cases and Partner Perspectives you won’t find anywhere else:

• 1. 🤖 Automate prospecting and outbound in minutes with Artisan
• 2. 🧪 OpenAI starts testing ads in ChatGPT
• 3. 👷 How AI helped build an enterprise B2B platform
• 4. 🏠 Invest in the AI layer of the smart home with RYSE
• 5. 🌎 EU moves to block Meta's WhatsApp AI restrictions
• 6. ⏰ AI gold rush sees tech firms embracing 72-hour weeks

Read Time: 5 minutes

TOGETHER WITH ARTISAN

Meet Ava, the AI BDR

Ava monitors leads for buying intent and launches multi-channel outreach within minutes. You get leads delivered to your inbox on autopilot while Ava does all the grunt work. She's able to:

• Prospect from her database of 300M+ contacts

• Enrich leads from any publicly available information

• Runs dozens of continuous experiments to optimize conversion rates

• Find leads using live intent signals (fundraises, job posts, website visitor de-anonymization, etc.) 

• Import HubSpot lists / Salesforce views in one click

• Execute multi-channel outreach + deliverability management

Trusted by teams at Quora, SumUp, and SaaStr.

Latest in AI

OpenAI starts testing ads in ChatGPT

🚨 Our Report

OpenAI announced on Monday that it has officially begun testing ads on ChatGPT. The ads will appear as labeled "sponsored" links at the bottom of answers, but OpenAI says they do not influence the responses ChatGPT gives users.

🔓 Key Points

• Ads will only show for users on the free version or the $8 per month Go plan. Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise, and Education users won't see ads, so avoiding them requires paying at least $20 per month.

• Free tier users can opt out in exchange for fewer daily messages, but Go tier users cannot. Both tiers can dismiss ads, turn off personalization, and delete their ad data.

• OpenAI says it will exclude users under 18 and conversations on sensitive topics like health, mental health, or politics. Advertisers will only receive aggregated data, not personal conversation content.

🔐 Relevance

This move marks OpenAI's push to diversify revenue beyond subscriptions as competition intensifies. For business users on paid plans, nothing changes. For free users and budget subscribers, the tradeoff is now explicit: pay more or accept ads. Rival Anthropic took a public jab at the move during its Super Bowl ad, claiming AI conversations should remain ad-free.

The AI Report Podcast

He Took 300 Sales Calls in One Year to Build a Newsletter Agency | Louis Shulman

Case Study

How AI helped build an enterprise B2B platform

• Revent, a pre-owned electronics rental company, needed to replace a WordPress B2B system plagued by plugin conflicts and technical debt.

• Pattern: AI-assisted vibe coding where developers prompt AI to generate code, then review, refine outputs, and deploy changes to production.

• Why it matters: Small teams can now build and ship enterprise-grade systems without enterprise budgets, collapsing typical development timelines from years to months.

• Metric: Built a complete B2B platform with Stripe subscriptions, partner storefronts, and custom pricing workflows in under 3 months for $50.

• Steal this: Pick one internal tool stuck in legacy systems or spreadsheets. Give an AI coding assistant a 2-week trial to build a replacement.

TOGETHER WITH RYSE

RYSE is building the A.I. layer for the smart home, starting with window coverings — a category shaping light, heat, and comfort across every space, yet over 90% remain manually controlled. Google acquired Nest for $3.2B. Amazon bought Ring for $1B+. Each started with one overlooked category.

RYSE has earned $15M+ in revenue, holds 10 patents, and sells in 100+ Best Buy stores. They've reserved the Nasdaq ticker $RYSS. This may be their final public round. 

Invest now before their share price changes on Feb 28. 

AI News Story

EU moves to block Meta's WhatsApp AI restrictions

• The European Commission has warned Meta it intends to impose "interim measures" forcing the company to allow third-party AI assistants back onto WhatsApp. The bloc's preliminary view is that Meta breached EU antitrust rules when it updated its WhatsApp Business Solution Terms in October, banning competing AI services from the platform.

• The policy took effect in January and has drawn sharp criticism from Competition Commissioner Teresa Ribera. She stated the Commission needs to act swiftly to "preserve access for competitors to WhatsApp" and prevent Meta from irreparably harming competition in Europe's AI sector.

• Meta has pushed back, arguing there's no reason for EU intervention since "many AI options" exist through app stores, operating systems, and other channels. The investigation continues, and final measures depend on Meta's defense.

AI News Story

AI gold rush sees tech firms embracing 72-hour weeks

• AI startups are openly advertising 70+ hour work weeks in their job postings, with companies like Rilla warning applicants not to apply unless they're "excited about working ~70 hrs/week" as the race to monetize AI intensifies.

• The trend, known as 996 culture (9am to 9pm, six days a week), has spread from China's tech sector to Silicon Valley, where venture-backed firms are pushing employees to outpace competitors in bringing AI products to market.

• Research from the WHO links 55+ hour weeks to higher rates of stroke and heart disease, while productivity studies show output gains plateau around 40 hours, with minimal difference between 50 and 70-hour weeks.

Trending AI Tools (sponsored by our tools database)

A curated look at the AI tools quietly transforming how teams work.

1. Farsight applies your firm’s institutional knowledge across the entire deal lifecycle.

2. Resyfy AI is a career portfolio platform for compiling and showcasing professional achievements

3. hippist AI generates product photos with AI models and customizable scenes

Companies to Watch/Raising Now

Early-stage AI startups on our radar, before they’re everywhere.

• Gather AI
What they do: Turns off-the-shelf drones into autonomous inventory scanners for warehouses, replacing manual cycle counts.
Why it matters: 250% bookings growth over the last year and a customer list that includes Kwik Trip and GEODIS. Now building predictive tools that flag inventory gaps in advance.
Stage: Series B
Raising: $40M
Investors: Smith Point Capital Management, Bain Capital Ventures

• Galux
What they do: Uses AI to design antibody-based drugs, speeding up early-stage pharmaceutical R&D.
Why it matters: Brings "rational design" to protein drug development, aiming to cut the guesswork out of early-stage antibody engineering. Yuanta Investment led the round, a vote of confidence from institutional backers in Asia-Pacific biotech.
Stage: Series B
Raising: $29M
Investors: Yuanta Investment

Know a company we should be watching? Hit reply and let us know.

Refer a Friend

We read your emails, comments, and poll replies daily.

Until next time, Martin, Arturo, and Liam.

P.S. Unsubscribe if you don’t want us in your inbox anymore.