Table of Contents

• This Week

• Business Use Cases

• Things to Pay Attention to

This Week

Bottom Line Up Front

• The H-1B visa fee will increase to $100,000 for new applicants starting next year.

• Ezra Gershanok, CEO of Ohana, expects this change to lead his company to hire contractors abroad instead of sponsoring H-1B visas.

• Gershanok believes the increased fee will not achieve the intended goal of promoting domestic hiring at his company.

Business Use Cases

Bottom Line Up Front

• Accenture plans to lay off staff who cannot reskill on artificial intelligence as part of its restructuring strategy.

• The company will prioritize AI efforts and has already reskilled 550,000 workers on the fundamentals of generative AI, according to CEO Julie Sweet.

• Accenture expects to save over $1 billion from its business optimization program and will reinvest it in the business, while also continuing to hire and increase its headcount in certain markets.

Why is this important

• 79% of companies globally expect to incur an "AI debt" due to poorly implemented autonomous systems, according to a report by Asana.

• AI debt can manifest as security risks, poor data quality, low impact AI agents, and a management skills gap, and can result in financial costs, lost time, and employee burnout.

• Experts, including Mark Hoffman from Asana and Henry Ajder from Latent Space Advisory, emphasize the need for thoughtful implementation and structures, rather than rushing into AI adoption, to avoid these costs and ensure successful integration.

Why is this important

• The "AI at Work Report 2025: How GenAI is Rewiring the DNA of Jobs" by Indeed Hiring Lab analyzes the impact of GenAI on various skills and occupations, revealing that 19 skills, or 0.7% of all skills analyzed, are now considered "very likely" to be fully replaced by GenAI, which is a significant increase from the previous year.

• The report introduces the concept of the "hybrid horizon," where almost half of US job skills are ready for GenAI transformation, with 46% of skills in a typical job posting falling into the categories of hybrid transformation or full transformation, indicating that GenAI could potentially profoundly reshape almost half the skills needed by a typical worker.

• The GenAI Skill Transformation Index (GSTI) is applied to skills found across US job postings to assess the share of listed skills that fall into one of four transformation categories: minimal, assisted, hybrid, and full, with 12% of skills falling into the assisted transformation category, and 42% remaining largely unaffected in the minimal transformation zone.

Bottom Line Up Front

• Waymo has launched "Waymo for Business", a corporate program for companies to set up accounts and manage employee use of its robotaxis in cities like Los Angeles, Phoenix, and San Francisco.

• The program targets recurring corporate travel, giving employers control over staff rides and providing features like admin portals to manage users and track activity.

• Early customers include Carvana, with Waymo focusing on expanding airport access to attract frequent business travelers, already serving Phoenix Sky Harbor and planning to operate at other airports.

Bottom Line Up Front

• The American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) has collaborated with Persona AI to adapt humanoid robots for shipyard tasks, offering flexibility and mobility in complex spaces.

• The partnership aims to develop new ABS standards for digital and remote survey techniques, enabling humanoid robots to perform complex tasks reliably and securely.

• Persona AI's humanoid robots are designed to work like machines and perform like teammates, relieving human workers of challenging tasks and potentially reducing attrition rates in shipyards.

Things to Pay Attention to

Bottom Line Up Front

• Companies investing in generative AI (gen AI) may face a human skills gap, as the technology requires uniquely human abilities and behaviors to maximize its potential.

• A gen AI tutor can provide personalized human skills training at scale, offering a solution to the human skills gap by delivering customized training plans, fostering self-reflection, and enabling efficient learning.

• Research by the BCG Henderson Institute suggests that gen AI-powered tutoring can be as effective and more engaging than traditional training methods, with potential applications in areas such as frontline worker development, culture transformation, and gen AI adoption.

Bottom Line Up Front

• Oaklo, a 12-year-old nuclear fusion company, has seen its shares rise by 47% over the previous week and over 400% in the past 6 months, driven by excitement around nuclear energy powering the AI boom.

• The company's market cap sits at $21 billion, making husband and wife co-founders Jacob Dwit and Caroline Cochran new billionaires, with each worth $1.7 billion based on their 16% stake in Oaklo.

• Despite its soaring stock, Oaklo has yet to generate any revenue and is still losing money, with losses of $25 million in the second quarter and $55 million for the year ending in June.

Bottom Line Up Front

• Tomer Cohen, LinkedIn's chief product officer, discusses how AI tools can make job searching easier by surfacing jobs that might not otherwise be seen in traditional search.

• Cohen believes that AI is reshaping jobs and roles, automating repetitive tasks, and creating a need for skills like AI fluency and agency.

• LinkedIn's ultimate vision for the job search is to provide a more personalized and confident experience, using AI agents to help with tasks like resume writing, cover letter crafting, and interview prep.