Hey hey! ☕️
Here's what's coming up:
The chatbot just got a pink slip
Google wants AI to buy your running shoes
An AI phone line had one job (it did not do the job)
Buckle up.
AI TOOLS
In Q1 2026, Microsoft, Meta, Google, Anthropic, OpenAI, and Perplexity all shipped autonomous AI agents. Not chatbots. Agents that use your tools, execute multi-step tasks, and work across your apps.
Microsoft announced Copilot Cowork on March 9, built with Anthropic's Claude as the reasoning engine. General availability May 1 at $99/user/month.
Meta acquired Manus (a Singapore-based agent startup) for $2 billion+ in December 2025. Manus hit $100M+ ARR in 8 months. Its desktop app launched yesterday, March 18.
Google shipped Chrome Auto Browse on January 28 (Gemini 3 handling multi-step tasks inside your browser). Perplexity launched Computer in late February (orchestrating 19 AI models at once).
OpenAI expanded Codex, its autonomous coding agent, with GPT-5.3-Codex in February.
Anthropic's Claude Cowork launched January 12 as the first desktop AI agent for non-technical users. It runs locally, reads your files, and executes workflows.
Why It Matters
When every major lab ships the same pattern in the same quarter, you're watching a platform shift.
The "cowork" model (AI that works alongside you, not just for you) is becoming the default.
If you're still using AI as a question-answering tool, you're using a smartphone as a flashlight. If you're already using Claude Cowork, that's the same technology Microsoft just licensed for its entire enterprise product.
You're not behind. You're ahead.
And the gap between people who learn the agent model now and people who figure it out later is going to be measured in years, not months.
E-COMMERCE
Google Built a Protocol for AI to Buy Things on Your Behalf. It's Already in Early Access.
Google and Shopify co-developed the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP), an open standard that lets AI agents browse product catalogs, compare prices, and complete checkout on a customer's behalf.
The transaction happens inside Google AI Mode and the Gemini app. The customer never visits the merchant's website. The merchant stays the seller of record.
UCP is currently in controlled early access with a waitlist. Only approved US merchants can activate it. Shopify, Etsy, Wayfair, Target, and Walmart are all part of the initial partner group, with 20+ additional partners endorsed.
Features like multi-item carts, loyalty program integration, and post-purchase support are still in development. This is early infrastructure, not a finished product.
Why It Matters
Read this scenario slowly: your customer opens Gemini and says, "Find me running shoes under $120 with good arch support."
The AI agent searches product catalogs, compares options across retailers, reads reviews, and completes checkout.
Your customer gets a confirmation. Your website never loaded. Your homepage never rendered. Your carefully designed checkout flow never fired. The sale happened entirely inside the AI.
That's what UCP makes possible.
And before you file this under "cool but years away," know that are already in it.
The protocol uses the same technical building blocks (MCP, Agent2Agent, Agent Payments Protocol) that power the broader agent ecosystem we just covered in Story #1.
If you sell any kind of product, your website is about to become optional for a growing number of transactions. The new storefront is your product data. Your titles, descriptions, reviews, structured information.
That's what the AI agent reads to decide whether to recommend you or skip you entirely. Your pop-ups, your color scheme, your hero image? The agent doesn't care.
It cares about data. Clean, accurate, complete product data is the new conversion optimization. And the businesses that figure this out while UCP is still in early access are going to have a serious head start when it goes broad.
⚡ SPONSOR
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BY THE NUMBERS
$2B+
That's what Meta paid for Manus, an AI agent startup that was eight months old and had just crossed $100 million in annualized revenue.
For context, it took Slack about two and a half years to hit that same revenue mark. Manus did it in 8 months. And Meta wrote the check before the startup's first birthday.
The agent market is moving at a speed that makes the chatbot era look like dial-up.
🤓 JEOPARDY
"I'll take 'AI Shopping' for $600, Alex."
Named after a beloved early Amazon employee, this AI shopping assistant has been used by more than 250 million customers, sees interactions up 210% year-over-year, and is on pace to generate $10 billion in incremental sales.
👇 Answer... ermm... question at the bottom of this email.
🤪 OH, AND THIS...
You know how phone trees always say "Para español, oprima dos"? The Washington state Department of Licensing had that. A person pressed 2. They did not get Spanish.
They got English. Spoken with a heavy Spanish accent.
The AI voice (Amazon Web Services' "Lucia" in Polly, for the nerds in the room) delivered lines like "Your estimated wait time is less than tres minutes."
It's the most perfect metaphor for how AI shortcuts go wrong: you give a computer one job, and it delivers something that technically contains all the right words in a creative new arrangement that helps absolutely nobody.
And… that’s all!
👇 Jeopardy answer below. Don't peek until you've guessed.
Are you on LinkedIn? Connect with me and let me know what you’re working on. I’d love to hear from you!
Let's build something together!
— Russ
Jeopardy Answer: What is Rufus?
Rufus is Amazon's AI shopping assistant, and it's named after a Welsh Corgi. In 1996, Amazon employees Susan and Eric Benson asked Jeff Bezos if they could bring their dog to work.
His response: "Is he a good dog?" (He was.) Rufus the Corgi roamed Amazon's first warehouse, attended meetings, and became the company's unofficial mascot until he passed away in 2009.
Now the AI version helps over 250 million customers shop. Interactions jumped 210% year-over-year, and Amazon says Rufus is on pace to generate $10 billion in incremental sales. Somewhere, the original Rufus is wagging his tail.
Dawwwwww. Who’s a good boy!? You’re a good boy! 🦴
Rufus, circa 1996.
