The State of AI Report team just wrecked my weekend. They dropped 313 slides on where AI is actually heading—not the hype, the data.
For context: this is the annual AI industry report. Published by Nathan Benaich and Air Street Capital since 2018, it’s become the most widely read and trusted analysis of what’s actually happening in AI research, industry, politics, and safety. When this drops, the entire ecosystem reads it. CEOs cite it in board meetings. Researchers reference it in papers. Policy folks base decisions on it.
I had to dig in. And I had to get it down to a readable summary—a 12 minute read as it turns out.
Fair warning, it’s brief but there’s a lot packed in here.
I’ll cover the report’s core argument (we’re in a systems race now, not a model race), the numbers that actually matter, where I disagree, and what this means whether you’re building products, running enterprise, or setting strategy.
Finally, I’ve written a comprehensive interpretation prompt so you can figure out the actionable next steps from the report for your particular situation.
Dig in to the biggest report heading into 2026!
This is an Executive Circle briefing, a Sunday newsletter exclusively for Founding Tier Members. You can learn more via this 60 second video explaining what’s in each tier, and you can change your plan here. Enjoy, and back to regular programming Monday!
