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The Math Finally Works: AI Arrives as Workforce Shrinks Real productivity has been flat for 50 years while birth rates drop, creating an economic equation that simply doesn’t close. AI Breakfast’s latest analysis suggests this wave of AI isn’t breaking the labor market — it’s fixing the math just as the workforce contracts. For Coachella Valley businesses watching hiring freezes and talent shortages, this isn’t theoretical: AI is the productivity lever that makes growth possible without adding headcount. The question is whether you’re building that capability now or waiting until your competitors already have. Talent Stacking Beats Specialization in the Agent Economy Scott Adams was right about one thing: being top 25% at three skills beats being #1 at one. AI collapses the cost of building your stack — you can now be a decent writer, coder, and designer simultaneously because the machine bridges your gaps. Locally, I’ve watched people defend titles and tasks for three years while their actual value erodes. If you stripped away every task a smart machine could do in 10 seconds from yesterday’s to-do list, what’s left is your irreplaceable core — and most people aren’t spending nearly enough time there. Vibe Working Replaces Vibe Coding as Anthropic and OpenAI Go Head-to-Head Anthropic’s Claude Opus 4.6 launched Wednesday with agent teams, 1 million token memory, and the ability to execute complex workflows end-to-end with zero oversight — review 20 contracts, flag tax risks, update spreadsheets, walk away. OpenAI fired back hours later with ChatGPT 5.3 Codex for “full spectrum professional work.” Microsoft’s AI CEO says the barrier to entry is gone: watch a three-minute video and start delegating. For Palm Springs accountants, lawyers, and analysts, this isn’t coming — it’s here, and the firms that master delegation to agents will bury the ones still chatting with bots. Thomson Reuters Loses 18% in Single Day as AI Automates Legal Research When Anthropic demoed Claude Cowork handling contract review and legal research autonomously, Thomson Reuters — the giant of legal and financial data — saw its largest single-day loss ever. The investor message was brutal: if AI can vibe its way through a legal brief, what happens to companies charging thousands for that same data? This is the software-as-a-service reckoning we talked about yesterday, and it’s accelerating. Valley firms with heavy admin overhead — real estate, estate planning, hospitality back office — need to decide if they’re buying these tools or becoming obsolete to them. IAB CEO Calls AI Scraping “Stealing,” Proposes Accountability for Publishers Act David Cohen dropped a bomb at IAB’s Palm Desert conference: AI companies are free-riding on publishers’ backs, and he’s shopping the “Accountability for Publishers Act” to two US Senators to force tech giants to pay up. His thesis is simple: no publishers, no content; no content, no Internet. He’s not wrong, but consumers have voted with their wallets and thumbs for free content for a decade. For local media, content creators, and anyone producing valuable work, this is the existential question: when AI agents strip away your monetization, what’s your plan? Apple Opens CarPlay to ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude as Siri Falls Behind For the first time ever, Apple is allowing third-party AI assistants to take over CarPlay — OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic can all build integrations now. Siri’s overhaul is delayed until spring 2026, and customers are restless, so Apple admitted it can’t win alone. If you’re an iPhone user who’s been waiting for your car to actually understand you, congratulations. If you’re a local business thinking about voice commerce and conversational AI, this is the moment: the ecosystem just opened up, and the land grab for default integrations is on. Redfin and Zumper Launch on ChatGPT’s 800M-User Homepage Redfin and Zumper both launched AI apps inside ChatGPT this week, turning house hunting from checkbox hell into conversation: “Find me a place with a backyard, short commute to downtown, and room for a home office.” This is the conversational commerce play we’ve been talking about since 2015, finally arriving at scale with 800 million weekly active users. For Valley real estate agents and brokers, the race is on to become the default door for your sector before someone else does. If you’re not on the front page of the LLMs, you’re not in the consideration set — and that window is closing fast.

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Local Radar

VP of AI Innovation Role Opens in Hospitality Management A 1,000-property hospitality firm is hiring for a newly created Vice President of AI Innovation position, signaling that major players are finally building innovation capacity, not just cost-cutting automation. If you’re in Coachella Valley hospitality and not thinking about how AI disrupts your business model — not just your expenses — you’re flat-lining. Reach out to AICV if you want to understand what innovation actually means in this context. AICV Boot Camps Coming: Beyond the Basics After watching outside consultants charge $1,500/person for AI training that’ll be outdated in six months, AICV is preparing advanced boot camps on vibe coding, Claude Cowork, Cursor, and agent orchestration. If you’ve already done the intro courses and want next-level capability, keep an eye on Sunshine FM for dates. The goal: take you from defending your tasks to building your one-person empire. Palm Springs AI, Tech & Creativity Expo Targeting May/June 2026 Mark your calendar: the Palm Springs AI, Tech & Creativity Expo is planned for late spring 2026 at the Palm Springs Convention Center, likely May or June. This is your chance to see what’s actually being built locally, not just what’s being talked about in workshops. More details coming as Siri’s overhaul lands and the spring tech season heats up. Sunshine FM’s Record Label Experiment: 7 AI Artists, 24/7 Streaming Sunshine FM now has seven AI artists under its record label, playing full albums 24/7 — the only station in Southern California (maybe anywhere) doing this. If you’re experimenting with AI music, have thoughts on the ethics, or just want to talk about what this means for local artists, DM Sunshine FM. This is the space to get on air and have that conversation publicly. Real-Time AI News Interruptions: The Only Station Doing This While every other station in the valley plays the same rotation, Sunshine FM interrupts AI-generated music with real-time AI industry news, feature releases, and implications for local businesses. If you’re trying to stay ahead professionally or personally and don’t have time to parse tech Twitter, this is your signal desk. Tune in, DM questions, or request topics — this is community-driven modern media, not corporate radio.