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Fix AI Failures Before They Break Your Brand
From failing pilots to privacy crackdown; regulators aren’t letting founders skip accountability anymore.
In partnership with
☕ ESPRESSO SHOT
Morning, gap-hunters.
AI hype just hit a wall, the FTC is flexing on privacy, and SMBs keep losing more money to human error than hackers.
Today’s take: cut the noise, protect the data, and run tighter playbooks…..or your tools will own you, not the other way around.
No theories, no demos, just what matters for your bottom line this week.
GAP OF THE WEEK: 95% of Gen-AI Projects Are Failing
The hole:
An MIT study titled The GenAI Divide: State of AI in Business 2025 reveals that 95% of generative AI initiatives deliver little to no financial return, despite $44B pumped into startups in H1 2025. Unrealistic expectations and poor integration are to blame.
(The Times of India)
Why it matters:
This is a flashing caution light.
Founders chasing AI can’t just add it to their stack and call it growth.
Smarter bets aren’t about more tech, they’re about better use of existing workflows.
30-Day Plan:
Audit your AI tools; benchmark value to cost.
Scrub promises of “instant scaling.”
Build a one-step integration test. Look for productivity or revenue gains.
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SPOTLIGHT: FTC Puts Tech Privacy First (Even Abroad)
What happened:
FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson warned that complying with foreign laws like the EU’s Digital Services Act cannot lead to weaker U.S. privacy protections—even if it makes global ops easier.
(OTAVA)
Why it matters:
If you're selling globally, don’t backslide on privacy to streamline international compliance. Trust is currency; undermined, you lose the sale.
Action Step:
Re-check whether any global compliance tweak dilutes your local user data protections, and fix fast.
TWO-MINUTE GAPS
Human error still wrecks cybersecurity: A Kaseya study shows 89% of breaches trace back to mistakes—not malware. Training beats tools.
(IT Pro)Backup plans catching fire: SMEs without a tested recovery playbook can lose up to $9,000 per minute during outages—and 60% fold within six months.
(OTAVA)AI marketing gone wrong: Forbes flags 5 marketing tech mistakes—including overusing AI at the cost of brand voice.
(Forbes)
WEEK IN TWEETS
“When unreal becomes real.”
STAT OF THE DAY
95%: the proportion of generative AI pilots failing to deliver business value, says MIT.
(Reuters)
AI “Slop” Ads Launch Tamale Shop to Fame
A tiny tamale joint in LA, The Original Tamale Company, went viral with a wild, AI-assisted ad that shows a man parachuting from a plane, only to be told to land at the shop.
Crafted in just 10 minutes by the owner’s nephew using ChatGPT and a narrated voiceover, the clip racked up 22 million views and 1.2 million likes in three weeks.
Orders followed….customers actually came in quoting the video.
This is a perfect example of
Authenticity over polish
Speed over overthinking
AI + human creativity working as a switch, not a crutch
Playbook takeaway: You don’t need a Hollywood ad; you need something human that works; and a dash of AI can get it done at founder speed.
CLOSING LOOP
Publishing Tuesday and Thursday.
Forward this to the founder who thinks “getting in ahead of AI” is a strategy.