Research & analysis
EST. 2026 Updated September 30, 2026A clearer view of
the AI economy.
Reporting on the companies, technology, and ideas turning artificial intelligence into useful products and dependable infrastructure.
The latest
Field guideThe small-model opportunity: AI built for a specific job
Smaller models can make AI products faster, easier to run locally, and less expensive to operate. The opportunity depends on matching the model to the task—and measuring the whole system.
The research desk
Articles
Field guide
The small-model opportunity: AI built for a specific job
Smaller models can make AI products faster, easier to run locally, and less expensive to operate. The opportunity depends on matching the model to the task—and measuring the whole system.
Protocol map
AI Agents Are Getting a Protocol Stack: How MCP and A2A Fit Together
MCP connects agents to tools and context. A2A gives independent agents a way to discover one another, exchange work, and manage long-running tasks. The distinction is becoming an architectural boundary.
Market map
Search is becoming an answer: The rise of AI-native SEO
As discovery moves from ranked links to generated responses, a new group of companies is rebuilding the machinery of digital visibility.
Market map
The AI operating layer is moving downmarket
Why the next important business AI companies may be the ones connecting fragmented systems—not building another general-purpose assistant.
Field guide
Enterprise agents have entered their software era
The hard problem is no longer making an agent look capable. It is defining, testing, governing, and improving one after it reaches production.
Deep dive
The physical AI race is becoming a data race
Humanoid robotics is moving beyond hardware demonstrations toward a harder question: how can machines learn enough varied experience to work in the real world?
Our editorial approach
Useful research starts
with better questions.
What does a company actually build? Where is it being used? And what makes its approach matter? Our methodology explains the evidence and judgment behind the report.
Read our methodology