Editorial
Writing
Research-backed stories and practical guidance on AI adoption, tools, costs, and the work of putting them into production.
New weekly series · Every Saturday
The Future Last Week
The AI news that matters, what is real, what is hype, and what it means for your work.
The Future Last Week: AI Moves Into the Work, and the Bill Comes Due
GPT-6 turns answers into interactive tools, Google wants one agent across your workplace, and Anthropic makes small-model work cheaper. Meanwhile, AI science gets serious funding and the power bill becomes impossible to wave away.
Gary Stanton · October 10, 2026
Write an AI Use Policy Employees Can Actually Follow
A restrictive AI policy can push useful work into personal accounts. Give employees an approved lane, concrete data examples, a fast request path, and a few hard stops.
Dana Whitfield · October 9, 2026
Passkeys vs Password Managers at Work: What Each One Solves
Passkeys and password managers are complements for many teams. Here is the business decision, the recovery trap, and a realistic rollout plan.
Thomas Bennett · October 9, 2026
15 AI Vendor Security Questions to Ask Before Connecting Company Data
A buyer’s question set for the exact AI service, plan, and connector—not a generic certificate hunt. Includes what to ask, what evidence to keep, and when to stop the pilot.
Dara Keating · October 9, 2026
How to Check AI-Drafted Customer Replies Before They Go Out
Build a small answer key from real customer questions, approved policies and past corrections. Then test whether AI drafts help agents answer accurately without sending unsupported promises.
Gary Stanton · October 8, 2026
How to Test Shopify Canvas Without Publishing a Broken Store
Shopify’s new Canvas lets a merchant design with Sidekick. Use an unpublished theme, test buying paths and access, then make a deliberate publication decision.
Gary Stanton · October 8, 2026
ZoomMate vs Fathom: Do You Need Meeting Notes or Follow-Through?
Both products can help after a meeting. ZoomMate reaches into broader workflows; Fathom concentrates on calls, summaries and sales records. Test the accepted follow-up, not transcript volume.
Gary Stanton · October 8, 2026
Asana Client Management vs monday CRM: Where Should Client Work Live?
Asana’s newly available client product joins relationship context to project delivery. monday CRM emphasizes the sales-to-service record. Agencies should compare the handoff and the full bill.
Gary Stanton · October 8, 2026
ChatGPT Intelligent UI vs Claude Artifacts: Choose the Right Kind of Interactive Answer
GPT-6 now creates interactive answers in ChatGPT. Claude Artifacts serve a different sharing job. Compare both on a real business decision before treating a generated tool as approved software.
Gary Stanton · October 8, 2026
Agency AI: Keep Client Feedback Attached to the Approved Deliverable
For an agency or consulting firm, the useful AI job is turning scattered client feedback into a checked revision list while preserving the approval that decides what ships.
Gary Stanton · October 8, 2026
Property Management AI: Triage the Maintenance Request Before Dispatch
A property manager can use AI to summarize requests and keep residents informed, but emergency classification and vendor dispatch need a named owner and a checked record.
Gary Stanton · October 8, 2026
Restaurant AI Scheduling: Test Toast IQ Team Against the Shift You Actually Need
Toast introduced a scheduling agent on October 6. Restaurant operators should judge it by coverage, overtime and manager corrections across a real week, not the speed of the first draft.
Gary Stanton · October 8, 2026
Insurance AI: Sort the Claim File Before Asking a Model to Judge It
Property insurers can use AI to prepare a claim file for an adjuster without turning document extraction into a coverage decision. Start with missing evidence, source fields, and a human review queue.
Gary Stanton · October 7, 2026
Construction AI: Answer the Old Question Before Filing a New RFI
For builders, the first AI win may be finding an answer already in the current drawings or project record. Compare Procore and Autodesk on the same questions before changing the official RFI process.
Gary Stanton · October 7, 2026
Manufacturing AI: Start With the Maintenance Handoff, Not a Failure Prediction
A plant can test AI on one familiar job: helping the next technician understand an asset, the last repair, and the open safety check. Tool choice follows the work-order system already in use.
Gary Stanton · October 7, 2026
Microsoft Moved the Copilot Business Billing Default: Set the Limit Before December 1
New Copilot Business licenses bought through Microsoft resellers will default to usage billing on December 1 in supported markets. The delay gives finance and IT time to set a real spending policy.
Gary Stanton · October 7, 2026
Atlassian and OpenAI: Give the Agent a Work Item, Not a Blank Check
The October 6 partnership puts stronger models closer to Jira and Confluence work. A business owner should test whether the connection finds the right decision and leaves an accountable person to act.
Gary Stanton · October 7, 2026
How to Use AI for a Quality of Earnings Review That Holds Up in a Deal
A practical system for using AI in M&A quality of earnings: source records, adjustment tests, cash conversion, industry examples, audience-specific outputs, and a worked EBITDA bridge.
Gary Stanton · October 6, 2026
Which AI Certifications Are Worth the Time? A Role-by-Role Guide
A useful AI credential should prove the work a person is trusted to do. This guide maps assessment types to leaders, operators, finance, sales, support, risk, and engineering—and names the badges to skip.
Gary Stanton · October 6, 2026
Anthropic’s Engineer Academy Tests a Better Idea of AI Training
Anthropic announced a $100 million plan to train 10,000 engineers. The practical exam and real-work residency are more interesting than the target number—and still need outcome evidence.
Gary Stanton · October 6, 2026
AI Tools for CFOs: Buy in the Order the Books Can Support
A CFO can choose finance AI more confidently by testing reconciliation, close, and forecasting in that order. Source traceability and reviewer capacity determine when to expand.
Gary Stanton · October 6, 2026
Tabnine vs GitHub Copilot: Choose the Code Boundary First
For teams with sensitive code, deployment and data rules can settle the shortlist before completion quality. Compare the two on the same reviewed engineering task.
Gary Stanton · October 6, 2026
Zendesk AI Pricing: Count Resolved Work, Not Deflected Tickets
Zendesk includes AI agents in its support plans, but seat fees and resolution usage are separate decisions. Build a budget from real customer outcomes and the account model you actually have.
Gary Stanton · October 6, 2026
AI Adoption Analytics: Measure Work, Not Just Logins
Usage dashboards show who opened an AI tool. A useful adoption view also shows which work was accepted, repaired, rejected, or never attempted.
Gary Stanton · October 5, 2026