This week’s Top of Stack captures a familiar tension accelerating across industries: AI is becoming more practical and pervasive even as confidence in the hype cycle starts to crack. From new signals about where employees are actually using AI and how big tech is shifting risk, to fresh standards that make products easier for AI agents to find, the technology stack is evolving fast. At the same time, policy is tightening, highlighted by an executive order limiting states’ ability to regulate AI and a push to build a 1,000-person “Tech Force,” while markets digest volatility in AI infrastructure and broader global investment signals.
News Trends to Watch
AI & Tech
- Axios: The jobs where people are using AI the most
- Bloomberg: Wall Street Sees AI Bubble Coming and Is Betting on What Pops It
- PYMNTS: Klarna Launches Open Standard for Making Products Discoverable by AI Agents
- The New York Times: How Tech’s Biggest Companies Are Offloading the Risks of the A.I. Boom
Politics and Regulation:
- Business Insider: Trump signs executive order restricting states’ ability to regulate AI
- CNBC: Trump admin to hire 1,000 specialists for ‘Tech Force’ to build AI, finance projects
- Forbes: Crypto Exchanges: Regulation, AI And The Next Market Structure
- Fortune: The Fed just ‘Trump-proofed’ itself with a unanimous move to preempt a potential leadership shake-up
Finance & Investment
- Axios: What Wall Street needs to regain its AI confidence
- CNBC: AI infrastructure selloff continues on Wall Street as Broadcom, Oracle shares slide
- Reuters: Wall St set to open higher as investors gear up for data-packed week
- The New York Times: China Nears First Investment Decline in 3 Decades After Sharp Monthly Drop
Healthcare
- Axios: House Dems face choice on ACA compromises
- NPR: After failure in the Senate, House GOP has its own health care proposal
- NPR: ACA shoppers face sticker shock as Congress dithers on health care
Clients in the News
- Axios: Former acting comptroller Michael Hsu joins Core VC (Core VC)
- CNBC: 3 reasons the holidays are a great time to buy a home, and how to close quickly (Better.com)
- CoinDesk: Tassat Wins U.S. Patent for ‘Yield-in-Transit’ Onchain Settlement Tech (Tassat)
- Newsweek: Medicare Coverage Is Changing Next Month (Autonomize AI)
- Wealth Management: People Moves: Alts Manager Sagard Names US Wealth Channel Lead (Sagard)
- The National: Federal Reserve cuts interest rates by 25 basis points but signals pause (Easterly)
- Nilson Report: Spend Management Platform for Commercial Cards (Extend)
- Kiplinger: How Financial Advisers Can Deliver a True Family Office Experience (april)
- Wharton FinTech Podcast: The API Layer for Latin America (Prometeo)
- Capital Insight Hub: Ualett: Ricky Michel Presbot on Building Financial Inclusion for America’s Gig Workers (Ualett)
Stay ahead of the build-out, the backlash, and the breakthrough.
The throughline this week is clear: AI is moving from headline to habit, but the winners won’t be determined by novelty. They’ll be decided by trust, positioning, and policy fluency. With markets questioning what’s inflated, regulators redefining the rules of engagement, and new standards changing how discovery works, brands need a strategy that lands. Avenue Z helps leaders translate fast-moving trends into credibility, influence, and measurable impact.
If you’re ready to lead the conversation in 2026, connect with our experts.
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