The AI Stack Reality Check: When Big Tech Makes Money Moves

A look inside what AI companies actually want to build, YouTube’s new AI toybox, and Google’s latest crypto-AI fusion.

Author

Cat Valverde, MBA
September 17, 2025

In partnership with

Today we’re untangling the AI industry's identity crisis. Spoiler: it’s not all about AGI. In fact, most enterprise teams aren’t chasing god-like intelligence, they’re trying to stop emailing Excel sheets named "final_final_USE_THIS_v2".

We’re breaking down a brilliant NYT piece on where the AI giants are really heading, and what that means for your budget, your roadmap, and your sanity.

Plus:
YouTube drops creator AI tools, Duolingo gets dragged for its translation tech, and Google thinks your AI copilot should accept crypto.

Let’s decode the chaos.

Employ Anywhere (without risk or hassle)

Hiring internationally doesn’t need to be complicated—or expensive. As an Employer of Record, RemoFirst lets you legally employ talent in 185+ countries, managing all international HR and payroll aspects from one platform, starting at $199/month.

Skip the legal entity setup, surprise fees, and compliance risks. Our transparent pricing and local expertise make it simple to scale globally.

Whether you're hiring your first engineer in Brazil or your 30th contractor in India, we’ve got you covered.

Image: The Information

What Are AI Companies Actually Trying to Build?

If you feel like the AI world is split between "we're building the next Einstein" and "our model just learned to write a calendar invite", you're not wrong.

The NYT’s Kevin Roose dropped a must-read guide that breaks AI companies into four camps:

  1. The Optimizers: Think OpenAI, Anthropic, Cohere. These teams are chasing Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), but with guardrails. Their goal: Build superintelligent systems that can reason, write code, and maybe replace your chief of staff (and then some).

  2. The Emulators: Meta, Google DeepMind, and Mistral are focused on AI that mimics how humans think, from theory of mind to emotional nuance. AI that doesn’t just answer, but understands why you’re asking.

  3. The Toolmakers: Here’s where Microsoft, Salesforce, and enterprise-friendly labs live. Rather than aiming for AGI, they’re building copilot-style tools to automate workflows, summarize meetings, and make your CRM slightly less soul-crushing.

  4. The Synthesizers: Nvidia, Adept, and others working on agentic AI that does things on your behalf. Booking meetings, analyzing databases, running simulations, each with minimal hand-holding.

Why this matters for enterprise leaders:

  • Most companies don’t need AGI. They need ROI.

  • The “copilot” model is winning in B2B. Simple tasks, huge time savings.

  • The future is agentic: AI that takes actions autonomously, not just suggests them. That shift changes compliance, risk, and vendor evaluation.

Your move:

  • Ask your vendors which camp they’re in. Their roadmap affects your roadmap.

  • Plan for agents, even if you're only deploying copilots now.

  • Don't get distracted by AGI hype. Most enterprise wins are in boring automation, not sentient breakthroughs.

This Day in Tech History

On September 17, 2011, Occupy Wall Street began in New York's Zuccotti Park. Fourteen years later, we're watching tech giants spend $325 billion building AI infrastructure while small businesses struggle to access the same tools. The democratization of AI might be the most important equity question of our time.

Enterprise AI Daily Briefing // Created with Midjourney

In The News

  1. YouTube adds generative AI for Shorts creators
    Creators can now use Dream Screen to generate AI-generated video backgrounds and voiceover scripts for Shorts. Expect enterprise teams to ask: when will this hit internal L&D content and branded training?
    Read more →

  2. Duolingo under fire for risky AI translations
    A Bloomberg piece exposes quality control issues in Duolingo’s AI-powered translations. When mistranslations can impact immigration, education, or medical communication, “good enough” isn’t.
    Read more →

  3. Google teams up with Coinbase to enable stablecoin payments in AI apps
    The integration will let developers accept USDC payments directly inside AI tools. Crypto-native payments could unlock global reach for AI agents, or just make enterprise compliance teams cry.
    Read more →

It’s go-time for holiday campaigns

Roku Ads Manager makes it easy to extend your Q4 campaign to performance CTV.

You can:

  • Easily launch self-serve CTV ads

  • Repurpose your social content for TV

  • Drive purchases directly on-screen with shoppable ads

  • A/B test to discover your most effective offers

The holidays only come once a year. Get started now with a $500 ad credit when you spend your first $500 today with code: ROKUADS500. Terms apply.

TL;DR:

  • AI companies fall into four buckets: Optimizers, Emulators, Toolmakers, Synthesizers. Know which ones align with your goals.

  • Agentic AI is the next frontier: not just thinking, but acting.

  • YouTube’s new AI tools show generative content is getting more user-friendly and enterprise-ready.

  • AI translation is still a liability, especially in high-stakes fields.

  • Google x Coinbase means crypto just got a seat at the AI enterprise table.

Don’t let AGI dreams distract from operational wins. The real magic is in saving 15 minutes a day across 10,000 employees.

Sometimes disruption looks less like The Matrix and more like finally not having to write follow-up emails manually.

Stay sharp,

Cat Valverde
Founder, Enterprise AI Solutions
Navigating Tomorrow's Tech Landscape Together