Business

The GenAI Divide. State of AI In Business 2025. The three most popular use cases I have seen from GenAI include ideation, email crafting and help with coding questions. These activities are undoubtedly helpful, but they track what the report from MIT is saying: GenAI adoption is high, but transformation and impact on the P&L are low. Are companies really thinking about how AI can fit into the workflows or are they just pushing AI projects because it’s trendy?

Cutting-Edge AI Was Supposed to Get Cheaper. It’s More Expensive Than Ever. If the models become increasingly smart, they will become more expensive and eventually unaffordable. If AI companies keep the models dumber than what they can be to maintain affordability, then such companies can’t fulfill the grandiose promise of delivering superintelligence. It doesn’t sound like a solvable dilemma to me, something will have to give and I don’t imagine we will have superintelligence soon.

From ‘cheap food and curry houses’ to upscale dining: The rise of Indian restaurants in the U.S. “According to data from market research firm Datassential, new Indian restaurant openings in December 2024 hit 115, up from just 54 in September 2018. Currently, the firm counts 154 upscale Indian dining restaurants in the U.S. compared with 101 in January 2018. Along with that, Portalatin said younger consumers, like Generation Z and millennials, have a growing interest in global dishes with their “quest for flavors.” That opens the door for exploring cuisines like Indian food. The Indian American population has also mirrored that growth. According to the Pew Research Center, the Indian population in the U.S. has increased by roughly 3.1 million, growing about 174% since 2000. That population has also seen a rise in affluence, making a high median household income of more than $151,000 in 2023, compared with just a median of over $105,000 for Asian American households overall, according to Pew.”

What Declining Cardboard Box Sales Tell Us About the US Economy. “A nontraditional economic indicator, sales of the corrugated cardboard used to make the boxes that transport everything from doughnuts to dishwashers are slumping, signaling that retail demand across industries may be due for its own correction in the not-too-distant future. US box shipments—that is, volumes of empty packaging materials sold to retailers, which in turn use them to ship orders to warehouses, storefronts and Americans’ doorsteps—fell to the lowest second-quarter reading since 2015, according to data from Fibre Box Association, a trade group. (Corrugated cardboard also goes into other items, such as 3D advertising displays, but since the vast majority is used for packaging, the industry tends to use “box shipments” and “corrugated cardboard shipments” interchangeably.)“

Other Stuff I Find Interesting

Alaska produces a ton of gas. Soon, its biggest city might not have enough. It’s a remarkable failure that an energy-rich state like Alaska may not have enough fuel to keep its citizens warm. And it’s not like the signs were there. There were warnings for the past 15 years and in some cases, the temperature got unreasonably cold. Yet here we are.

Inside the Trump Administration’s Vaccine Politics. The more I learn about fitness, diet and health, the more I realize how complex it is. Everybody is wired differently. What works for some may not work for others. So I think it makes sense that it is the same case for vaccines. They could have side effects or have no impact at all on some people. That doesn’t mean vaccines are bad. There are serious diseases that killed people left and right in the past, but they are an afterthought now because we receive vaccines even at an early age. And I believe Covid-19 vaccine is an achievement. Think about all the risks that we face from food we eat. Without public health officials and scientists who dedicate their career in making sure what is safe and what is not for us to consume, how would we know infant formula manufacturers won’t cut corners? How would we know the formula is safe for our kids? It’s really concerning and dangerous what is happening at the CDC. I applaud those who dare to stand up for their values, even at the expense of their livelihood.

Face it: you’re a crazy person. An interesting post with a great observation. To do a job well or to do a job well in a long time requires a lot. In my case, I need to learn how our data warehouse works, how to translate business questions in data questions and then how to extract the data out, effectively and efficiently. Then, I’ll have to analyze the data, get the relevant insights and distill those insights into attractive and digestible stories. Look around, and you can see pretty much the same with every other job.

Inside India’s billion-dollar e-waste empire. It’s fascinating how e-waste can be an industry in India and how the country is hungry for the waste from other countries.

My wife recommended this wonderful short clip by National Geographic on how bees know their roles in a colony.

My Family Went Off Ultra-Processed Foods for a Month. The Results Surprised Us. “Scientists have yet to agree on an easy way to classify these foods but generally agree that they consist of ingredients like preservatives and emulsifiers that aren’t found in home kitchens. We decided that if a food had an ingredient that we don’t use or could barely pronounce (e.g., maltodextrin, soy lecithin, guar gum), then we wouldn’t buy it. We stocked up on whole and minimally processed foods, including oatmeal, plain yogurt, fresh cheeses, beans, nuts, canned fish, popcorn, fruits and veggies, fresh and frozen. About 10 days in, I noticed a striking shift: I wasn’t constantly thinking about food. Before, I carried around what some call food noise. I had persistent, nagging thoughts about what to eat next. Chocolate? Banana bread? A salty, crunchy snack? Without UPFs, my cravings faded.”

Stats

Small parcels impoted into the UK from China that are tax-exempted amounted to 3 billion pounds in 2024, double what it was in 2023

BofA said that 46% of electrical distribution infrastructure “beyond its useful life.”

High-income households returend 5% of what they purchased in 2025

A study revealed that 30-40% of GenAI tools are women, revealing a gender gap in AI adoption