top of page
Microsoft Spent Billions on OpenAI. This Month It Built Its Own Brain Instead.
Microsoft just shipped a reasoning model built from scratch and a new layer for developers to build agents on company data, reducing its dependence on OpenAI. The lesson for every business is not to train your own model. It is to own the one asset that off the shelf AI cannot copy.
Sharon Gai
2 days ago3 min read
The US Just Split Its AI Rulebook in Two, and the Gap Is Your Problem
This month Washington moved to keep federal AI rules light while Colorado's strict AI Act counts down to a June 30 start date. The result is a widening gap between a permissive federal stance and a patchwork of demanding state laws. If your company operates across state lines, that gap is yours to manage.
Sharon Gai
2 days ago3 min read
Salesforce Hired Zero Engineers Last Year. Read That Sentence Again.
Salesforce confirmed it added no new engineers in its entire last fiscal year while growing revenue, after AI agents made existing developers dramatically more productive. The real story is not that work vanished. It is where the work went, and what that means for how you staff.
Sharon Gai
2 days ago3 min read
These Are Not AI Layoffs. They Are a Capital Decision, and That Changes Everything.
More than 180,000 tech workers have been cut in 2026, and most of the companies doing it are profitable. The cuts are not about distress. They are about moving capital from payroll into AI infrastructure. Understanding that reframe tells you exactly how to protect your career and your company.
Sharon Gai
2 days ago2 min read
The Most Valuable AI Company Is No Longer the One You Standardized On
Anthropic passed OpenAI this month on both private valuation and revenue run rate. For business leaders, the lesson is not which model to pick. It is that betting your company on any single model is now the riskiest move you can make.
Sharon Gai
2 days ago3 min read
Powering the AI Era: Strategic Energy Landscape Through 2030
Executive summary Global electricity demand is undergoing its most violent inflection in three decades, and the company best positioned to capture it is the one that owns the picks and shovels of AI's physical buildout. After 15 years of near-flat growth, global power consumption surged 4.4% in 2024 and is now compounding at ~3.6% annually through 2030 per the IEA, equivalent to adding a Japan to the world every year. Data centers alone will consume 945 TWh by 2030 in the IEA
Sharon Gai
May 925 min read


Shenzhen Speed: A Brief Taste of AI from China
There's "China speed," the pace at which platforms get built, scaled, and exported across the Pacific. And then there's "Shenzhen speed," which is fast enough to surprise the Chinese themselves. I just spent a week there at a Prosus tech conference. Beyond participating as one of the keynotes, the bigger takeaway was listening to the Chinese AI landscape unfold with founders speaking on building robots, AR glasses, and frontier models. The programming was very thoroughly put
Sharon Gai
Apr 257 min read


Why Humans Are Still Ahead
Sometimes we read about sweeping headlines on AI, and it makes us lose hope in humans. AI gets better exponentially at everything and our confidence in ourselves starts to wane. But the other day, I came across a test where the humans scored 100% and AI around 1%. Whenever a new model update is rolled out, it is measured against industry benchmarks. (These benchmarks include tests such as MMLU, which measures broad knowledge across many subjects, GSM8K for mathematical reaso
Sharon Gai
Apr 145 min read


The Org Chart is a byproduct of Roman wars
AI slowly eats away the modern org chart Did you know that the modern org chart is actually modelled after how soldiers reported to generals during war times in the Roman period? Just like how schools are modelled after the Germanic assembly line (aka outdated), org chart make-ups isn’t that innovative either. And it’s controlled us for about 2000 years. Let that sink in. So apparently, back in the day, 8 soldiers would form a contubernium (pictured below) Which really was ju
Sharon Gai
Apr 36 min read


When Labor Becomes Tokens: How AI Is Changing the Economics of Running a Company
Tokens are the new form of labor, a new way to calculate the opex of a company? The other day, I was using Perplexity Computer, a new product feature that was rolled out. Basically, it’s Perplexity’s version of an AI agent, where it can draft and send emails, run commands in parallel, create sub agents, and execute on tasks. Each task that was finished, my credits started to dwindle, and it made me think of something, which is that labor, in the future, is simply tokens.
Sharon Gai
Mar 226 min read


The Five Phases of AI Adoption, and Why the Next One Changes Everything
I just came across this chart recently and it really put things into perspective. Most people in the world have not even interacted with an AI chatbot yet, so it does make me rethink the pace that things will change. We talk about AI adoption as if it is one event. A switch that flips. But the reality, for anyone who has lived through it inside an organization, is that AI adoption unfolds in phases. Each one feels transformative while it is happening, and then feels obvious i
Sharon Gai
Mar 137 min read


Table for One
I went on a date with a machine in Manhattan. It made me rethink everything I thought I knew about relationships. The door opened to a wine bar in Manhattan, and I'll tell you what I expected: something clinical. Something strange. Screens everywhere. Maybe a robot greeting me at the entrance. But no. I entered the room and, to be honest, it looked like a normal restaurant. Warm lighting. The hum of quiet conversation. Glasses of wine catching the glow of candles. The only di
Sharon Gai
Feb 246 min read


The Productivity Paradox
So we have 1000 PhDs in our pocket now, they say. We have AI that can pass MCATs and LSATs, they say. And yet, 95% of AI projects have failed so far. Companies are pouring billions of dollars into AI investments, yet only 6% have seen a ROI. Are we still stuck in the trough of disillusionment? It’s been four years since the launch of ChatGPT, which started this turbulent AI wave. Have things really taken off? A Look Back in Time Let me take you back to the year 1987. This was
Sharon Gai
Feb 125 min read


I Wrote a Book: Why Now is the Time to Future-Proof Yourself in the Age of AI
AI has already begun to redraw the lines of what’s possible, automating tasks, amplifying individual output, and reshaping entire industries. But here’s the catch: while some are using it to unlock incredible leverage, many are still on the outside, unsure where to even begin. There’s a growing divide between those who understand and harness these tools and those who don’t. It’s not just a tech issue; it’s a power issue. The benefits of this new era are not evenly distributed
Sharon Gai
Feb 24 min read


How do I show up in ChatGPT?
Attracting more leads online has become a challenge for many small businesses. Traditional SEO tactics are no longer enough as search engines evolve to answer user questions directly. This shift calls for a new approach called Answer Engine Optimization (AEO). Understanding how to optimize your website for AEO can help your small business stand out and connect with potential customers more effectively. This post explores practical strategies tailored for smaller companies to
Sharon Gai
Jan 74 min read


What’s in Store for AI in 2026
Sometimes the hustle and bustle of New York gets to me; its endless traffic, endless spores of people spilling on to the sidewalks, endless things to do and places to go. So the past few days, I’ve been spending time in New Hampshire, a much quieter part of the US. So much has happened in the world of AI and yet, as I look out my window to the quiet falling of snow onto classic New England homes, it feels like nothing much had changed. Most of us are still going to work next
Sharon Gai
Dec 31, 20257 min read


10 Big Moments in AI in 2025: the tl;dr of what happened
Happy Holidays! I hope you are cozy and well-fed during the last couple of days of 2025. If you were muddled by the numerous headlines in AI in 2025, here is the condensed version to fully bring you up to speed with what happened in the AI space so you can skip all the reading. AI in 2025: Major Shifts and Trends 1. AI Shifted from Chat to Agents Without a doubt, agents dominated the airspace this year. The most consequential shift of 2025 was the move away from conversationa
Sharon Gai
Dec 26, 20255 min read
China’s AI-Powered Apps Are Shaping the Future of Shopping
Introduction to AI in China’s Tech Ecosystem China has emerged as a global leader in leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) across its vast digital landscape, especially within mobile applications. The country is home to the world’s largest e-commerce market (≈CNY 15.4 trillion, or $2.2 trillion in 2023)trade.gov, and its tech giants are infusing AI into nearly every aspect of the online shopping journey. From algorithm-driven product recommendations to augmented reality try
Sharon Gai
Nov 17, 202518 min read


Agentic Commerce: The New Era Where AI Buys, Sells, and Pays for You
Want to know a new viral trend on Tik Tok. It’s not six seven. (and if you don’t know what 6-7 means, that’s what the kids are saying these days. If you don’t know what it means, just call over your preteen or teenage kid. They will happily explain it to you.) Something strange is happening on Tik Tok. There is a trend where girls are showing what ChatGPT is suggesting to them after they have given it a photo of their face. It’s called the ChatGPT GlowUp. Why go to my expensi
Sharon Gai
Oct 29, 20254 min read


SEO is Dead. AEO is in.
These days, AEO is all the rage. Funnily enough, I looked back through my blog archive and found this post that I wrote in July 2024 about Answer Engine Optimization. Yes! I had the foresight back then to write about it. That is what led me to asking my Linkedin audience on their search habits. Thank you to all those who made a contribution. Of course, my Linkedin audience is by no means reflective of the wider group of ChatGPT users. (they would probably err more on the AI-f
Sharon Gai
Oct 28, 20256 min read
Subscribe for updates
Join our email list and get access to special content
bottom of page