- The AI Underground With CAIS
- Authors
- Ross Green
The Year We Stopped Calling It âAI Toolsâ and Started Calling It âThe Operating Systemâ...And Why This Matters for 2026
This year, AI stopped being a shiny âtoolâ and quietly became the operating system of businesses. This newsletter thus unpacks how we got here, what an agenticOS actually is, and what it means for your stack, your org chart, and your budget in 2026. This is ALL backed by objective data and statistics galore! If youâre still buying âAI tools,â youâre already pretty behind....read on about how to catch up!
Covert Q4 2025: The AI Agents Running Black Friday, And Most Operations, Behind the Scenes
Did you realize that nearly a quarter of annual revenue and strategic moves, happen in Q4? Did you know AI agents are now the ones detecting product launches, reading filings, tracking patent spikes, and flagging sudden pricing changes in real time? Were you aware that synthetic personas and legal AI systems like Jeannie are redefining competitive intelligence at holiday pace? This Thanksgiving, the biggest battles will happen in data trails competitors didnât know they left behind rather than at stores on Black Friday. The question is: will your company have agents watching the shadows... or be blindsided by those who do?
David vs. Goliath: How AI Levels the Playing Field for Startups and SMBs
What happens when the smallest startups suddenly gain access to the same tools once reserved for Fortune 500s? How did cloud computing, open-source AI, and automation on a budget transform the old âtech advantageâ of big corporations into a myth? Can a three-person startup now match the analytics, personalization, and productivity of an enterprise...without the enterprise cost? And if so, what does that mean for the future of competition itself? In this edition, we explore how AI has become the great equalizer, thereby arming Davids everywhere with digital slingshots powerful enough to challenge the Goliaths.
Hyperautomation or Hype? Why 30% of Enterprises Are Betting Big
What happens after youâve automated everything you can see, but yet, inefficiencies still hide beneath the surface? How do organizations move from robotic process automation to systems that actually think and adapt? This article explores that evolution, from the RPA era to todayâs hyperautomation boom, and introduces the next leap: the AgenticOS, an operating system that creates AI employees rather than tools. Discover how leading enterprises are redesigning processes with AI-first logic, using data to uncover hidden gains, and freeing humans to focus on creativity and strategy in a world where automation learns rather than just simply execute.
Agents at Work: Real Life Examples of How AI is Reshaping Jobs and Productivity TODAY
How are AI agents transforming the way we work, and what does that mean for the future of jobs, productivity, and human collaboration? This issue traces the evolution of automation from factory floors to digital offices, explores how AI is augmenting workers rather than replacing them (for now), and examines the real data behind productivity gains and ROI. Finally, it looks ahead to a near future where humans and AI co-workers share tasks, redefine roles, and force every organization to ask: is the future of work about collaboration...or competition?
AI Agents: What To Expect in Q4 2025...And In 2026.
How did AI agents evolve from a buzzword to real digital coworkers (with humans-in-the-loop) in just the 3/4 of 2025? What breakthroughs in memory, orchestration, and collaboration turned early experiments into a foundation for scale (promise, not technical in nature!)? Why did adoption suddenly quadruple by Q3, and what early wins convinced executives to pour millions more into AI investment? How are companies in Q4 deploying agents across every team, not just IT, and eliminating the âglue workâ that has drained human creativity for decades? What does it look like when e-commerce firms, accounting practices, and event companies replace repetitive roles with hybrid AI-human teams in Q4 2025? And most importantly: as we look to 2026, are you prepared for a workplace where AI agents arenât tools in the background, but true colleagues working alongside you?
Where AI/AI Agents Play a role in the Classrooom and HR/Corporate Training
Why did decades of educational technology, ranging from early computer labs to Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), fall short of their promises to truly personalize learning? How did tools like smartboards and flipped classrooms enhance access yet still leave the teacher-centered/corporate-trainer âfactory modelâ largely intact? What makes todayâs AI systems, and especially the agenticOS (the operating system that creates AI employees working alongside humans), fundamentally different from past tools? In what ways are personal AI tutors/AI corporate trainers, teacher assistants, and AI-driven educational models already reshaping learning experiences across the world? Looking ahead, will AI finally deliver equitable, student/employee-centered education, or will it deepen divides and create new risks we must confront?
Swarm Intelligence: How AI Agents Work Together to Solve Big Problems
What can we learn from 1990s video games and insect colonies about todayâs AI systems? Why are thousands of AI agents working together in virtual towns, and what are they doing? How does augmenting LLMs with tools, memory, and APIs turn them into digital employees? What are reflection loops, and why do AIs need to âthink out loudâ like junior analysts? How do orchestrated agent teams outperform solo models, and what risks do they introduce? Where is enterprise adoption of AI agents moving fastest, and whoâs getting left behind? Could swarms of AI agents someday run companies, simulate economies, or go rogue?
This Past Week in AI Agents in the News: Education, Deepfakes, and Quantum Leaps (Aug 10â13, 2025)
What happens when the tools meant to help us learn threaten to do the thinking for us? How do we teach in an age when students can summon an AI tutor, or a ghostwriter, on demand? If âseeing is believingâ no longer holds, how do we anchor trust when deepfakes can fool even seasoned journalists? Who will guard the guardians when AI can fabricate reality at scale? As quantum computing edges closer to mainstream deployment, will it supercharge AI agents into solving humanityâs hardest problems, will it or simply accelerate the spread of misinformation and misuse? Can we design systems where AI amplifies human creativity instead of replacing it? And perhaps most urgently: are we moving fast enough to build the ethical, educational, and technical guardrails before these capabilities outpace our ability to control them? These and more updates from JUST LAST WEEK can be found below!
Synthetic Shift Work: Real Life Already Built AI Agents in Customer Support, AI Voice Reception, and Sales, along with past and future insights.
What if the 8-hour shift that revolutionized factory work in 1914 is no longer the optimal unit of productivity in a 24/7 digital economy? What if the real bottleneck to growth isnât technology, but time, and specifically, the human limits tied to it? What if AI agents could reliably cover the graveyard shifts, thereby handling support, sales, and scheduling while humans rest? What if handing off tasks between human and machine teams became as seamless as passing a baton in a relay race? And what if, instead of working longer hours to stay competitive, we embraced a future where businesses are always on, but people don't have to be? Read on for this and much more!