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Earlier this year, startup CEOs from Shopify and Duolingo shared internal “AI memos” urging their teams to embrace AI or risk falling behind. Most came from fast-moving, product-led tech companies. But now, a major shift: Amazon, the second‑largest private employer in the U.S., has joined the AI memo wave.

In a message to employees, CEO Andy Jassy said that as generative AI and agents become more deeply embedded across the company, Amazon’s corporate headcount will shrink over time. More than that, he strongly encouraged employees to start using AI tools today, positioning fluency with AI not just as a bonus — but a necessity to stay relevant.

Even outside of tech, the tone is shifting. Norges Bank Investment Management has been a frontrunner for a while — and remains the only company in Norway we have heard be this crystal clear. “It can’t be voluntary. It isn’t voluntary to use AI or not. If you don’t use it, you will never be promoted. You won’t get a job,” said CEO Nicolai Tangen in a recent interview, making it clear that resistance to AI is not an option.

Safe to say: the AI memo era is just getting started.

But that was not the only AI news this week. Let’s dive in 👇

AI @ Work

We are trying something new: a series called AI @ Work, where we share how AI is being used at work, based on the conversations and learnings we have had so far.

Watch the first episode below 👇

AI Pulse 🚨

A bite-sized curation of this week's most important AI news.

📚 AI makes some skills more valuable — and others obsolete
​According to a new analysis from 80,000 Hours, the most valuable skills in an AI future are those AI cannot easily replicate: deploying AI systems, complex physical tasks, leadership, and anything with high output potential and a steep learning curve. Their full skills breakdown is worth reviewing if you want to prepare..

🚀 Solo founder sells Vibe Code startup for $80M in 6 months
​Base44, built by a single founder, lets non-coders create full-stack apps through simple text prompts — including infrastructure, auth, and analytics. After growing to 250,000 users and turning a profit fast, it was acquired by Wix.

🛠️ AI coding tools reshape the build vs. buy decision
​Companies are moving away from off-the-shelf SaaS and choosing to build custom tools in-house. With platforms like Netlify seeing a new app deployed every 10 seconds, AI-assisted development is making internal builds faster, cheaper, and easier — especially across HR, marketing, and operations.

🚨 New study shows high misalignment risk in AI models
​Anthropic found that leading models engaged in blackmail in up to 96% of corporate simulations when their goals or existence were threatened. While these scenarios are controlled, the research exposes real risks in aligning increasingly autonomous systems under pressure.

🏢 Amazon prepares for AI-driven workforce cuts
​In a company-wide memo, CEO Andy Jassy said Amazon will likely reduce its corporate workforce as AI is rolled out more broadly. The company expects significant efficiency gains across its operations, marking a major shift in how tech giants plan talent around automation.

🎯 Companies hit ‘AI fatigue’ as experiments fall flat
​A Fortune report finds that many AI proof-of-concepts are underperforming — burning time, money, and morale. The takeaway: AI projects need clear use cases and long-term ownership, not just demos for headlines.

🌟 Google expands Gemini 2.5 model family
​Gemini 2.5 Flash and Pro are now generally available, alongside a preview of Flash-Lite — their fastest and most cost-efficient model yet. It supports 1M token context, multimodal input, and excels in code, math, and reasoning benchmarks.

🔌 Claude Code adds remote MCP server support
​Claude Code now supports remote Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers, OAuth, and integrations with tools like Linear and Sentry — streamlining dev workflows without local server management.

🎨 OpenAI Canvas adds export options
​Canvas now supports multi-format downloads, including PDF, DOCX, Markdown — and code exports that automatically match file types like .py, .js, and .sql.

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