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The Fast Company Impact Council is an invitation-only membership community of leaders, experts, executives, and entrepreneurs who share their insights with our audience. Members pay annual dues for access to peer learning, thought leadership opportunities, events and more. In most companies, generative AI is full of contradictions. On one hand, 67% of business leaders predict that GenAI will transform their organization in 2025, according to a KPMG survey. On the other, just 36% of executives say their company has a well-defined vision for AI. The core issue: Nearly 2.5 years after ChatGPTs introduction, most companies are still stuck in what I call prototype purgatory. Theyve bought and attempted to adopt off-the-shelf GenAI tools and developed pet project prototypes. But despite big promises from vendors or demos, theyve generated little more than incremental valuefar from the AI revolution that was promised. I see this constantly when talking to enterprise execs. Theyre frustrated. And the data bears this out, too. Recently at A.Team, we surveyed 250 senior tech leaders responsible for AI initiatives at their companies and found that only 36% of organizations have successfully deployed AI to production. (The majority of respondents came from enterprise companies.) The rest remain caught in an endless cycle of proof of concept projects and pilotsor havent gotten started at all. Its not hard to see why this is happening. The space is moving at whiplash speed, disrupting itself weekly. Its impossible to upskill your full-time employees on all things AI, which makes it difficult to make crucial technical decisions. At this stage of the game, locking into one platform is highly premature. But amidst these struggles, some companies are breaking through. The most fascinating part of our research was what AI leaders do differently than AI laggardsand it’s not what you might expect. The talent equation: Blended teams win The most striking finding from our research was that organizations that use blended teamsa model that integrates specialized freelance talent with full-time employeesare twice as likely to reach advanced stages of AI innovation. These companies find that this model helps alleviate the AI talent crisis that most companies are experiencing. Ninety-four percent of the tech leaders we surveyed said talent constraints are their primary barrier to innovation, with 85% having delayed critical AI initiatives due to talent shortages. [Graphic: A.Team 2025 State of AI Innovation Report] Theyre finding that traditional hiring can’t solve this problem89% said the traditional recruitment model is broken. Two-thirds of respondents said it takes at least 4 months to hire top engineering talent. These protracted hiring cycles are particularly problematic in AI development, where technology evolves at a breakneck pacerendering traditional workforce planning obsolete as new possibilities emerge and roadmaps change. In 2025, its hard to know the exact skills you will need in six months. Successful organizations that have escaped prototype purgatory have found a different approach with blended teams, and they report stunning improvements from incorporating freelance or fractional talent into their teams: 99% enhanced innovation capability 98% improved project success rates 96% accelerated speed of delivery [Graphic: A.Team 2025 State of AI Innovation Report] Build versus buy: A third way may be the answer For the past 2.5 years, Ive watched build vs. buy become one of the dominant discussions in executive boardrooms. While off-the-shelf AI tools like ChatGPT Enterprise and GitHub Copilot deliver obvious value, it now looks like the build approach is winning. Among companies that have successfully deployed AI to production, 93% say building custom solutions delivers more value than off-the-shelf tools. But that might not be the whole story. The most successful organizations aren’t building everything from scratch, however. They’re taking an “assemble” approachleveraging the explosion of open-source building blocks (we’ve seen a 60% boom in open-source GenAI contributions on GitHub in the past year alone) while customizing solutions for their specific needs. The assemble model is built for speed; integrated components can be easily updated or swapped out, which is crucial when the shelf life for state of the art AI is shorter than a jar of organic marinara sauce. It allows you to keep the most crucial part in place: developing these GenAI components into existing workflows that empower your employees and customers, giving you a true data moat. When you look at where the senior tech leaders in our study are making their investments, it reflects this kind of foundational approach: 50% are increasing spending on AI safety and monitoring tools 49% are prioritizing AI development platforms 41% are investing in data infrastructure [Graphic: A.Team 2025 State of AI Innovation Report] Theyre not investing in the models themselves but in everything needed to turn them into production-grade systems: data pipelines, testing frameworks, monitoring tools, and integration capabilities. Want ROI? Start with AI-powered automation One of the biggest questions about generative AI is: Are companies seeing ROI? And if so, where? We got the answer by asking AI leaders their expected ROI timeline across four key areas of focus: Custom AI product development AI-powered automation Customer-facing AI features Internal AI tools [Graphic: A.Team 2025 State of AI Innovation Report] Not surprisingly, AI-powered automation had the highest ROI rate already achieved, at 14%. Surprisingly, customer AI product development came in second, at 12%. Perhaps most surprisingly, most leaders expect to see ROI across every use case this year. [Graphic: A.Team 2025 State of AI Innovation Report] Our research suggests that a significant portion of that investment will go into custom AI product development and customer-facing AI features. While the dominant AI discussion has focused on cost cutting, more respondents said they were focusing on generating ROI through revenue generation (46%) over cost cutting (30%). [Graphic: A.Team 2025 State of AI Innovation Report] Its been said a million times, but it bears repeating: This will be a critical year for AI development inside most companies, with many Fortune 500 players at risk of falling behind. And while there have been whispers of a trough of disillusionment, tech leaders remain bullish: 96% plan to increase AI investments in 2025, with over half planning increases of 51% or more. The challenge isn’t a lack of ambitionit’s execution. Most AI initiatives fail at the last milenot because the technology isn’t viable but because organizations underestimate the complexity of productizing AI and dont have the right talent with the right mindset inside their organization. Companies that embrace these challenges and think differently will escape prototype purgatory. The rest may find themselves in limbo for years to come. Raphael Ouzan is cofounder and CEO of A.Team.
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E-Commerce
The Fast Company Impact Council is an invitation-only membership community of leaders, experts, executives, and entrepreneurs who share their insights with our audience. Members pay annual dues for access to peer learning, thought leadership opportunities, events and more. AI is no longer a side project. It now sits at the heart of how companies grow, compete, and make decisions. Yet many leaders still struggle to separate hype from value and wonder how to invest wisely without wasting time or resources. A key challenge lies at the top: a lack of AI literacy among executive teams. Research covering nearly 7,000 executives across 645 firms shows a clear pattern: Companies led by AI-literate teams are more likely to identify where AI can create value and act on it. Rethink responsibility Many executive teams still treat AI as a tech issuesomething for IT or data teams to figure out. But AI is a leadership issue. It belongs on the agenda of every CMO, CFO, CHRO, and CEO. More importantly, its not about a single role. Its about the collective literacy of the top team. Research rooted in upper echelons theory confirms this: AI-literate leadership teams are more likely to build strategic visions that integrate AI and translate that vision into tangible action, from capability building to execution. So appointing a chief AI officer (CAIO) without a broader shift in understanding wont be enough if the rest of the executive team cant grasp the art of the possible and actively shape the direction AI takes in the business. As one leader put it, Hiring a CAIO is like hiring a pilot for a crew that doesnt believe in flying. The cost of poor AI literacy As MIT Sloan Management Review points out, The overall low literacy rate is a problem for todays executives, who will face more and more processes or products that claim to be powered by AI. Making informed decisions about these AI tools requires leaders to understand how they align with strategy and operationsand to know which questions matter. Without a clear understanding of what AI can door where it breaks downexecutive teams fall into familiar traps: Buying into hype they cant evaluate Investing in tools without understanding their fit Setting expectations AI (or teams) cant meet Focusing on flashy pilots instead of long-term capability building The result is often pilot purgatory, or initiatives that stall. Missed opportunities. And in some cases, the slow decline of companies that once dismissed digital as a passing trend. From confusion to competence: The AI literacy ladder To help executive teams assess where they stand and what to do next, we use a five-step model: the AI literacy ladder. Think of it as a five-step staircase representing the typical journey executive teams take as they build fluency in AI, moving from scattered perspectives to a shared understanding and strategic alignment: Confusion: AI feels like a buzzword. Theres no shared understanding or agreement on relevance. Curiosity: Interest is rising, but views are fragmented. Theres little clarity on where to begin. Comprehension: The team develops a common language around AIs potential and risks. Confidence: Teams ask sharper questions and align on use cases that matter. Competence: AI becomes part of strategic planning and decision making. [Graphic: Philippe De Ridder, CEO at BOI] Why AI-literate teams outperform When executive teams build AI fluency together, they unlock a dynamic we call the AI fluency flywheel: Teams that move beyond confusion and start learning together gain momentum. They stop treating AI as an isolated initiative and start treating it as a core strategic capability. Over time, this fluency allows them not just to respond, but to lead. [Graphic: Philippe De Ridder, CEO at BOI] So where do executive teams learn AI? Despite the flood of AI training programs, few are built for leadership teams. Most are either too technical, too long, or designed for individuals. Whats missing is a shared learning experience. One that helps leadership teams: Understand whats possible and whats not� Cut through noise and inflated promises� Align on use cases worth pursuing� Build a common language across roles� Closing the gap starts at the top As AI reshapes how organizations operate and compete, executive teams cant afford to stay on the sidelines. The journey toward AI maturity isnt about becoming technical experts. Its about building shared fluency across the leaership team. It starts with honest reflection: Where are we on the AI literacy ladder? What will it take to move forward, together? The first step is simple but powerful: Make space for the conversation. Invite different perspectives. Commit to learning together. Teams that do this wont just keep up. Theyll help shape whats next. Philippe De Ridder is founder and CEO of BOI (Board of Innovation) and AUTONOMOUS. Laura Stevens, PhD is managing director, Data & AI at BOI.
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E-Commerce
The Lyrid meteor shower is one of the most well-known stellar displays, occurring once a year in April. It’s also one of the oldest meteor showers that we know of, with records dating back to 687 BCE from Chinese astronomers. Unlike many meteor showers, the Lyrids are relatively short: In 2025, the event runs a little more than a week, from April 17 to April 26. It will peak in the nighttime hours of April 21 to 22. Typically, you can expect to see 10 to 20 meteors per hour at the peak, though the Lyrids have been known to outperform and deliver up to 100 meteors per hour. If you’d like to catch the show this year, here’s what to know about the 2025 Lyrids meteor shower peak. What’s the best time to see the Lyrid meteor shower peak? The Lyrids will be most visible after midnight and before the dawn hours. That’s as the moon will be relatively dim in its waning crescent phase and wont rise until the early morning hours, around 3 a.m. local time. It’s best to target this window of time between midnight and 3 a.m. Where should I look to see the Lyrids? The Lyrids are viewable from the Northern Hemisphere. To see them, find the bright star Vega, which is a bluish white star that will rise in the northeast in the evening hours. Its one of the brightest stars in the night sky and is easily visible, even from light polluted areas (aka, excessive artificial lighting). Vega is located in the constellation Lyra. Lyra is the radiant of the meteor shower, which means that the meteors will appear to originate from this constellation (hence the name, the Lyrids). To get the best view of the meteor shower, try to avoid areas with lots of light pollution. What causes the meteor shower? The Lyrid meteor shower may look to us like it originates from the constellation Lyra, but it’s actually the product of Earth passing through the trail of the comet C/1861 G1 Thatcher, which takes 415 years to orbit the sun. As the comet proceeds through the solar system, it leaves dust and debris in its wake. When Earth intersects this trail, thats what produces the meteor shower.
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E-Commerce
Restaurant delivery in New York is not like restaurant delivery in any other part of the country. The city has a long history with food delivery thanks to its dense population and copious restaurants (roughly 25,000 at last count). It even had its own delivery brand, Seamless, launched over a quarter-century ago as SeamlessWeb in the city. Now, after a brief fall from public view, Seamless is back in New York. Seamless has operated under the thumb of a much larger brand for years. It merged with Grubhub in 2013, but retained its own branding in the biggest and arguably most important delivery market in the country. But when Grubhub got a new, foreign owner in 2020Amsterdam-based Just Eat Takeaway (JET)its new leaders moved to more or less erase Seamlesss branding. Grubhub would benefit from optimized marketing and streamline network effects, JETs CEO said. Just as pandemic shutdowns boosted the delivery business, Grubhub effectively ditched a brand that appealed to its largest market, opening the door to eager competition from national brands like Uber Eats and DoorDash. {"blockType":"creator-network-promo","data":{"mediaUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2025\/03\/Expedite-Icon-E-white-background.jpg.jpg","headline":"Expedite","description":"Restaurant technology and the big ideas shaping the future of hospitality, by Kristen Hawley. To learn more visit expedite.news","substackDomain":"https:\/\/www.expedite.news\/","colorTheme":"salmon","redirectUrl":""}} In hindsight, this was a mistake, one that Grubhubs new, New York City-based owners want to correct. Wonder, the so-called mealtime superapp led by serial entrepreneur Marc Lore, bought Grubhub for $650 million in January. Lore hasnt offered many details about Grubhubs future, but it clearly sees value in the New York market. Its interesting to think that there would be nostalgia around one of these digital-first delivery brands, says Tim Calkins, a marketing professor at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. I think people might be happy to hear that this brand is back and look at it as bringing backand reconnecting withan old friend. If that friend were a person, theyre old enough to order a cocktail. Seamless debuted in New York in 1999, well over a decade before upstart competitors would challenge its dominance. (At the time, two of DoorDashs three founders were under age 10.) Back then, orders placed online often arrived at restaurants by fax, an almost quaint precursor to the high-tech networks that route these orders today. Now, the stakes are even higher. Grubhubs share of the restaurant delivery market has fallen to a distant third behind DoorDash and Uber Eats. Per recent reporting in Bloomberg, Grubhub controls just 5% of the delivery market nationwide, according to data from Bloomberg Second Measure. In New York, Bloomberg reports, numbers from YipitData suggest that Grubhub controls about a fifth of the delivery market. In an interview, Grubhub CEO Howard Migdal disputed this, saying Grubhubs data shows it controls a significantly higher portion. Even with a slight tailwind, reviving the legacy brand will take work. The most important thing for Grubhub to do, Calkins says, is to highlight what makes Seamless different. There is something about being a local brand, a New York brand, that could be a differentiator, he says. That seems to be Grubhubs plan. In a statement, the company praised Seamless for consistently speaking to and delivering on the nuances of living in the city that only New Yorkers could appreciatea.k.a. the type of if-you-know-you-know nod that plays well in local ads plastered on bus shelters and inside subway cars. Of course, getting New Yorkers attention is just part of the contest. The challenge then, Calkins says, is you have to get people to care. {"blockType":"creator-network-promo","data":{"mediaUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2025\/03\/Expedite-Icon-E-white-background.jpg.jpg","headline":"Expedite","description":"Restaurant technology and the big ideas shaping the future of hospitality, by Kristen Hawley. To learn more visit expedite.news","substackDomain":"https:\/\/www.expedite.news\/","colorTheme":"salmon","redirectUrl":""}}
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E-Commerce
Hackers linked to Russia’s government launched a cyberattack last spring against municipal water plants in rural Texas. At one plant in�Muleshoe, population 5,000, water began to overflow. Officials had to unplug the system and run the plant manually. The hackers weren’t trying to taint the water supply. They didn’t ask for a ransom. Authorities determined the intrusion was designed to test the vulnerabilities of America’s public infrastructure. It was also a warning: In the 21st century, it takes more than oceans and an army to keep the United States safe. A year later, countries around the world are preparing for greater digital conflict as increasing global tensions and a looming trade war have raised the stakes and the chances that a cyberattack could cause significant economic damage, disrupt vital public systems, reveal sensitive business or government secrets, or even escalate into military confrontation. The confluence of events has national security and cyber experts warning of heightened cyberthreats and a growing digital arms race as countries look to defend themselves. At the same time, President Donald Trump has upended Americas digital defenses by�firing the four-star general�who led the National Security Agency, shrinking cybersecurity agencies and�slashing election cybersecurity initiatives. Businesses now are increasingly concerned about cyberattacks, and governments have moved to a war footing, according to a report this month by NCC Group, a British cybersecurity firm. The geopolitical dust is still settling, said Verona Johnstone-Hulse, a London-based expert on government cybersecurity polices and the report’s co-author. What the new normal looks like is still not yet set. Many in the U.S. are already calling for a more muscular approach to protecting the digital frontier. Hybrid war is here to stay, said Tom Kellermann, senior vice president of cyberstrategy at Contrast Security. We need to stop playing defense its time to make them play defense. Digital life means more targets for hackers Vulnerabilities have grown as people and businesses use connected devices to count steps, manage finances and operate facilities such as water plants and ports. Each network and connection is a potential target for foreign governments or the hacking groups that sometimes do their bidding. Espionage is one motive, demonstrated in a recent incursion linked to hackers in China. The campaign known as Salt Typhoon sought to crack the phones of officials, including Trump, before the 2024 election. These operations seek entry to sensitive corporate or government systems to steal secrets or monitor personal communications. Such information can be hugely valuable by providing advantages in trade negotiations or military planning. These hackers try to remain hidden for as long as possible. More obvious intrusions can serve as a warning or deterrent, such as the cyberattacks targeting the Texas water plants. Iran also has shown a willingness to use cyberattacks to make political points. The cyberattacks that frighten experts the most burrow deeply into telephone or computer networks, inserting backdoors or malware for later use. National security experts say this was the motivation behind a recent attack from China called Volt Typhoon that compromised telephone networks in the U.S. in an effort to gain access to an unknown number of critical systems. China could potentially use these connections to disable key infrastructure power plants, communication networks, pipelines, hospitals, financial systems as part of a larger conflict or before an invasion of Taiwan, national security experts said. They can position their implants to be activated at a date and time in the future, said Sonu Shankar, a former researcher at Los Alamos National Laboratory who is now chief strategy officer at Phosphorus Cybersecurity. National security officials will not discuss details, but experts interviewed by The Associated Press said the U.S. no doubt has developed similar offensive capabilities. China has rejected U.S. allegations of hacking, accusing America of trying to smear Beijing while conducting its own cyberattacks. Global tensions tick up Wars in Ukraine and the Middle East. Trade disputes. Shifting alliances. The risk of cyberattacks goes up in times of global tension, and experts say that risk is now at a high. U.S. adversaries China, Russia, Iran and North Korea also have shown signs of cybercooperation as they forge tighter economic, military and political relationships. Speaking to Congress, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard noted that Iran has supplied drones in exchange for Russian intelligence and cybercapabilities. Russia has been the catalyst for much of this expanded cooperation, driven heavily by the support it has needed for its war effort against Ukraine, Gabbard told lawmakers. Amid global fears of a trade war after the tariffs that Trump has imposed, supply chains could be targeted in retaliation. While larger companies may have a robust cyberteam, small suppliers that lack those resources can give intruders easy access. And any tit-for-tat cycles of cyberconflict, in which one country hacks into a sensitive system as retaliation for an earlier attack, come with great risk for all involved, Shankar said. It would put them on the path to military conflict.” The Trump effect At a time when national security and cybersecurity experts say the U.S. should be bolstering its defenses, Trump has called for reductions in staffing and other changes to the agencies that protect American interests in cyberspace. For example, Trump recently fired Gen. Timothy Haugh, who oversaw the NSA and the Pentagons Cyber Command. The U.S. faces unprecedented cyber threats, said Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee. He has asked the White House to explain Haughs departure. How does firing him make Americans any safer?” Warner said. Also under Trump, the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency placed on leave staffers who worked on election security and cut millions of dollars in funding for cybersecurity programs for local and state elections. His administration eliminated the State Departments Global Engagement Center, which tracked and exposed foreign disinformation online. The CIA, NSA and other intelligence agencies also have seen reductions in staffing. The administration faced more questions over how seriously it takes cybersecurity after senior officials used the popular messaging app Signal to discuss sensitive information about upcoming military strikes in Yemen. Gabbard later called the episode a mistake. The officials in charge of America’s cybersecurity insist Trump’s changes will make the U.S. safer, while getting rid of wasteful spending and confusing regulations. The Pentagon, for instance, has invested in efforts to harness artificial intelligence to improve cyberdefenses, according to a report provided to Congress by Lt. Gen. William J. Hartman, acting commander of the NSA and Cyber Command. The changes at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency come as its leaders consider how best to execute their mission in alignment with the administration’s priorities, a CISA statement said. As Americas Cyber Defense Agency, we remain steadfast in our mission to safeguard the nations critical infrastructure against all cyber and physical threats, the statement read. “We will continue to collaborate with our partners across government, industry, and with international allies to strengthen global cybersecurity efforts and protect the American people from foreign adversaries, cybercriminals, and other emerging threats. Representatives for Gabbard’s office and the NSA didn’t respond to questions about how Trump’s changes will affect cybersecurity. Signs of progress? Despite shifting alliances, a growing consensus about cyberthreats could prompt greater global cooperation. More than 20 nations recently signed on to an international framework on the use of commercial spyware. The U.S. has signaled it will join the nonbinding agreement. There’s also broad bipartisan agreement in the U.S. about the need to help private industry bolster defenses. Federal estimates say the cybersecurity industry needs to hire an additional 500,000 professionals to meet the challenge, said Dean Gefen, former chief of cybertraining for Israel’s Defense Intelligence Technological Unit. He’s now the CEO of NukuDo, a cybersecurity training company. Companies need effective guidance from the government a playbook,” Gefen said. What to do, what not to do. David Klepper, Associated Press
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E-Commerce
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