Almost every company these days is AI-curious. Growing numbers are also AI-ready. But only a handful of CEOs have had the audacity—and perhaps the chronic LinkedIn habit—to publicly declare their companies “AI-first.”

Duolingo, Shopify, and Box are among the companies that made waves with memos in which their CEOs laid out a vision for an “AI-first” future. (Shopify didn’t use this exact term, but the sentiment’s there.) These documents detail how AI will transform operations, employee expectations, and overall strategy going forward.

In Shopify and Duolingo’s case, the declarations have grabbed the most attention for their somewhat mask-off quality. While most executives are careful to say that AI is supplementing rather than replacing their workers, Shopify CEO Tobias Lütke was up-front about only expanding headcount when AI won’t suffice. Duolingo CEO Luis von Ahn admitted his company will “gradually stop using contractors to do work that Al can handle.”

The why: Naturally, this led to some backlash, especially toward Duolingo. But Gartner distinguished VP analyst Arun Chandrasekaran told us the public at large isn’t necessarily the only audience for these moves. The execs might be more concerned with sending a message to investors—and employees—that they’re serious about this technology, he said.

“It’s a way to signal to the investors that we’re not going to be lagging behind. We want to be the disruptor, we don’t want to be the disrupted one,” Chandrasekaran said. “It’s also a signal to their own employees that this is going to come fast and furious, and you’ve got to be ready for this journey.”

Keep reading here.—PK

In a sector where reliability and uptime tend to hog the spotlight, the top reported concern in a recent survey of EV charging industry leaders came as something of a surprise to EVolve CEO Andrew Bennett.

The “most pressing challenge for EV charging network operators in 2025” is “energy capacity constraints,” according to a new study commissioned by Driivz, an EVolve subsidiary and software provider for charge point operators.

“As we think about policy in the United States, whether it’s fueled by EV charging or increasing manufacturing, we’re going to need more capacity. We’re going to need more [energy] generation,” Bennett told Tech Brew. “And then we’re going to need a regulatory environment that really thinks about the distribution system.”

More than 80% of network operators said their networks “are only minimally or moderately scalable,” the Driivz study found. Respondents said their priorities are improving the charging experience for their users, “maintaining network stability and availability 24/7,” and increasing the number of charging sites and fast chargers.

The report comes amid significant changes to federal policy that are impacting the EV charging sector, including the Trump administration’s move to freeze funding from the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program, which made $5 billion in federal grants available to states to build fast charging stations.

Keep reading here.—JG

Widespread electrification and the incoming AI electrical demand are poised to overwhelm New York City’s electrical grid—85% of which is underground, meaning renovation would necessitate permits and expensive wire replacements. Battery storage systems, like those built by MicroGrid Networks, can help alleviate the strain on the grid and save New Yorkers “a ton of money that we would all collectively have to pay to upgrade the grid [and] rip up the streets” via local taxes, according to Tim Dumbleton, MicroGrid Networks’ COO.

He will be speaking with Tech Brew for “The Case for Microgrids in Grid Modernization” panel at our upcoming event, Power Shift: Navigating the Intersection of Energy and Transportation. In a recent interview, Dumbleton explained how the company’s lithium ion batteries charge from the city’s electric grid during off-peak hours, like at night or in the middle of the day, and discharge energy to the grid when it needs it most, usually in the evening.

He uses the analogy of a highway: “If you have a four-lane highway, that four-lane highway is pretty crowded at rush hour. But in the middle of night, it’s pretty empty,” Dumbleton said.

“You could build an eight-lane highway, or if you could make people drive at night to their jobs, then you would never notice that there was a traffic problem,” he said. “Electrodes don’t care when they’re traveling over those wires. So batteries let us basically move the electrons at nighttime, and then we don’t have to double the number of highway lanes.”

Keep reading here.—TC

The scooter boom reshaped cities—but what’s next? From e-bikes to last-mile delivery, the micromobility industry is evolving. Learn how new innovations are redefining urban transport. This is one of the stories of our Quarter Century Project, which highlights the various ways the industry has changed over the last 25 years. Check back each month for new pieces in this series and explore our timeline featuring the ongoing series.