Most Internet traffic is between machines, not people. Now, Google is trying to monetize it. The Ponzi scheme of the century.

Microsoft's employees might be required to use AI, according to leaked memo

Alphabet’s company found liable for making data transfers without permission while devices were idle

I keep seeing headlines about tech companies and startups shifting away from hyper-growth and focusing more on profitability and sustainability. With interest rates up and funding harder to come by, is the era of “grow first, profit later” over?

For those of you running businesses or working in VC/startups: are you actually seeing this shift on the ground, or is it just media hype? Are investors really prioritizing cash flow now over user growth?

Would love to hear what people in different industries are seeing.

I’ve worked with multiple early-stage companies that rushed to adopt “AI tools” to speed up their workflows.

But what actually slowed them down? • No standardized invoice approval process
• Expenses routed through Slack messages
• Vendor tracking in 5 different spreadsheets
• No ownership over who approves what

Some companies do not recognise that their tools weren’t the problem their process was. AI can’t fix disorganized teams. It can only accelerate the chaos if your foundation is messy.

What’s one process you fixed before you automated it? Or… did you automate before fixing? I am curious how other startups tackled this.

I work with a local firm (think retirement planning, some investment advising, not hedge fund-level stuff), and we’ve been paying for SEO for like 7 months now.
Traffic’s gone up a bit, but it’s mostly blog hits from halfway across the country.
We’re not a content brand. We want qualified local leads. I don’t care if someone from Oregon reads "5 retirement myths" if they’re never gonna call.

The agency sends reports with all the usual stuff (impressions, bounce rate, rankings) but we’ve gotten maybe 2 decent leads that we could even possibly trace back to organic.

Anyone here actually run SEO for a small/regional financial firm and saw it bring real people to your door or to your booking form? Not "brand awareness", not "domain authority", but actual new clients