Apollo Global Management chief economist Torsten Slok says AI has delivered "zero financial payoff" to corporations outside tech. In a recent note, Slok cites flat profit margins and revenue per worker across the S&P 493 and argues AI lacks judgment on accountability and trust.
Major U.S. banks are detecting unauthorized third-party AI agents inside customer accounts, including agents acting independently of user instructions, sources tell Axios. Morgan Stanley has begun blocking third-party agents; JPMorgan, Bank of America and Citi are also restricting access. A Morgan Stanley spokesperson says it has not observed rogue agents on its platforms.
Anthropic launches Claude Duet, an agent for professionals and small businesses, in research preview on iOS, Android, and Claude.ai for Pro and Max customers. The company says Duet runs tasks in its own virtual machine, connects to more than 6,000 marketplace connectors, and requires approval for payments. It will not trade securities or move money between accounts.
Middlesex Federal Savings has expanded a July 2025 pilot with StackAI into a multi-department AI rollout, becoming a full customer in January. Vice President of Information Technology Kosta Georgopoulos says SOC 2 report reviews that took hours now finish in minutes, with humans validating all output. The bank blocks external LLMs on company devices.
Mercor researchers report that frontier AI models beat 12 licensed CPAs on four month-end close scenarios drawn from the APEX-Accounting benchmark, scoring higher and costing more than ten times less per task. The firm says the tasks tested detail-oriented instruction following, not client communication, so the results do not show accountants are replaceable.
PanWatch launches as a self-hosted AI assistant for real-time A-share, Hong Kong and U.S. stock monitoring, using TradingAgents to produce technical, sentiment, news and fundamental analyses plus bull-bear debate and risk-reviewed portfolio decisions in 3–5 minutes.
Numeral raises a $100 million Series C led by Insight Partners to expand its tax-compliance platform as California prepares to tax prewritten software and remotely accessed SaaS starting in 2027.
AI-linked stocks are sliding and cybersecurity shares are surging after Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei urges developers to slow AI capability gains, with Micron and Intel down more than 4% while Palo Alto Networks and CrowdStrike jump over 13% on expected demand for AI-attack defenses.
SoftBank secures an upsized $11.87 billion two-year loan from roughly 20 banks for its OpenAI investment, while its shares plunge as much as 13% amid plans to repay $25.9 billion in September and potentially sell up to $20 billion in U.S. junk bonds.
Z.AI raises fresh capital by offering 21.97 million shares at HK$714—10% below the prior close—and selling 20.14 billion yuan of zero-coupon bonds due in September 2027, some carrying yields as low as minus 0.5%.