Bhubalan Mani

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The launch of Google’s new AI shopping tools—including conversational search, agentic checkout and the ability for an AI to call stores for you—marks a turning point. These innovations raise a fundamental question for retailers and brands: What happens when the “customer” is no longer a human browsing or clicking, but an algorithm executing on behalf of a human?  Google expects this new model to simplify shopping at scale, using its Shopping Graph—with more than 50 billion product listings—and its Gemini AI models to power agentic checkout and store-calling. Yet the transition toward “agentic commerce” is fraught with risk and opportunity. Drawing on their expertise in machine learning, generative AI and enterprise AI applications, the members of Senior Executive AI Think Tank explore this new form of commerce, how this shift could upend traditional consumer relationships and what merchants must do now to stay visible—and profitable.

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In the race to feed AI’s insatiable appetite for training data, model builders are increasingly butting heads with the platforms that host the content they depend on. The latest flashpoint is Reddit’s lawsuit against Perplexity AI, which accuses the company of “industrial-scale” evasion of anti-scraping protections and the indirect harvesting of Reddit posts through search engine caches. The case raises a knotty question: When is public web content a legitimate training resource, and when is it legally and/or ethically off-limits? Responses are arriving from both the marketplace and governments, with emerging startups helping content creators monetize AI-harvested data and Europe advancing the Artificial Intelligence Act, which would require firms to disclose or summarize copyrighted training data. The members of the Senior Executive AI Think Tank bring a practical and experienced perspective to the discussion of what responsible data acquisition should look like. Here, they break down where ethical and legal lines should be drawn and what responsible access must entail for AI developers, and they share insightful tips to help platforms rethink their data-licensing and access-control strategies.

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As artificial intelligence advances at breakneck speed, the question of trust has become more urgent than ever. How do senior leaders ensure that innovation doesn’t outpace safety—and that every stakeholder, from customers to regulators and employees, retains confidence in rapidly evolving AI systems? Members of the Senior Executive AI Think Tank—a curated group of seasoned AI leaders and ethics experts—are confronting this challenge head-on. With backgrounds at Microsoft, Salesforce, Morgan Stanley and beyond, these executives are uniquely positioned to share practical, real-world strategies for building trust even in regulatory gray areas. And their insights come at a critical moment: A recent global study by KPMG found that only 46% of people worldwide are willing to trust AI systems, despite widespread adoption and optimism about AI’s benefits. That “trust gap” is more than just a perception issue—it’s a barrier to realizing AI’s full business potential. Against this backdrop, the Think Tank’s lessons are not theoretical, but actionable frameworks for leading organizations in a world where regulation lags, public concern mounts and the stakes for getting trust wrong have never been higher.

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As artificial intelligence continues its rapid advance—from foundational models to enterprise-scale deployments—questions about sustainability are taking on new urgency. While much of the discourse has centered on the carbon footprint of data centers and model training, sustainable AI must also address long-term economic, labor and societal impacts: How will value from AI be shared? Who bears the downstream risks? Well-designed systems matter not only for performance, but also for fairness, trust and longevity. The Senior Executive AI Think Tank brings together seasoned experts in machine learning, generative AI and enterprise AI applications who offer deep insight into these challenges and opportunities. Below, they explore what truly sustainable AI looks like—beyond energy metrics—and who should be accountable.

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As enterprises scale their use of artificial intelligence, a subtle but potent risk is emerging: employees increasingly turning to external AI tools without oversight. According to a 2025 report by 1Password, around one in four employees is using unapproved AI technology at work. This kind of “shadow AI” challenges traditional governance, security and alignment frameworks. But should this kind of AI use be banned outright? Or can its use be harnessed to spur innovation and encourage creativity and experimentation? The Senior Executive AI Think Tank—a curated group of senior leaders specializing in machine learning, generative AI and enterprise AI applications—has pooled its collective wisdom to help organizations transform unmanaged AI usage from a hidden threat into a structured lever of innovation, enhancing speed, agility and enterprise alignment.

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The web is no longer just a destination—it’s becoming an intelligent partner. OpenAI’s introduction of Atlas, an “agentic browser” that can see, reason about and act directly on web pages, represents a paradigm shift in how people and organizations interact with information. Instead of manually searching, clicking and compiling data, users will soon be able to instruct AI to handle these tasks autonomously—transforming the browser from a viewing window into a dynamic workspace. The shift comes amid accelerating enterprise adoption of AI assistants. A 2025 report by Prialto found that 64% of executives believe AI has positively impacted their productivity. However, only 26% fully trust the AI tools they use, indicating a reliance on human oversight. Atlas promises to eliminate that friction by merging reasoning and execution directly within the browser. To understand how this evolution could redefine the digital workplace, we turned to the Senior Executive AI Think Tank—a curated group of leaders shaping machine learning, generative AI and enterprise AI adoption. Their insights reveal not just how Atlas may transform software expectations, but also how organizations can prepare for a world where browsers act as autonomous partners rather than passive tools.