Claude for Finance, AI Agents for ROI, and Real Tools for Responsible AI

Friends,

Your weekly AI briefing is here - designed to help you respond to AI, not react to the hype. No curveballs. No chaos. Just clarity.

This was the week when:

⚙️ OpenAI dropped a powerful new agent feature, while Claude desktop and Director.run simplify agent workflows.

📉 New research shows a 90% energy saving in LLM training is possible with a simple change.

These changes reflect the conversations I am having most often with businesses; How do we implement these tools to make impact, and how do we do that in a way that's good for the planet.

This really is only going in one direction, you need a bias towards action.

🔥 URGENT PRIORITIES

✅ No urgent fires to fight

Enjoy the clarity. It’s a gift.

🎯 STRATEGIC CONSIDERATIONS

As the kids break up and we enter holiday season AI is fast becoming more than a tool - it’s becoming the foundations of the business model.

With Claude launching tailored models for financial services and tools like Director.run emerging to make LLM-powered workflows easier, the message is clear: adoption is no longer about experimentation - it’s about operational ROI.

If you're not actively rolling out AI workflows, now’s the time. And with prices still heavily subsidised, waiting will cost you more later. Plan now for you launches before it's suddenly Christmas...

🤓 GEEK OUT

🌿 430x.ai is Live. Last week I shared the prototype and survey. Now it’s a live service. 430x.ai lets you track and offset your AI carbon emissions.

👉 Explore 430x.ai

Why this matters: Responsible AI is now a practical option. If your AI strategy doesn’t include sustainability, employees will notice - and adoption will suffer. (This also is a clear demonstration of the speed AI-first coding can achieve!

🔋 LLMs Could Use 90% Less Energy A new UNESCO-backed paper suggests a small change in model design could slash energy usage.

Why this matters: Sustainability isn’t just ethical. Green AI can reduce costs, speed up procurement, and align with ESG goals.

🤖 OpenAI Agents Are Here - and Business-Ready OpenAI’s new Agent lets ChatGPT do multi-step tasks across tools, while Claude Desktop and Director.run make it even easier to build in-house agents.

Why this matters: These tools unlock direct ROI. You can now automate research, reporting, and operations workflows - not next year, now.

🏛️ The Government’s £1M AI Fellowship Isn’t Enough - But That’s the Opportunity The UK government wants top AI engineers to modernise public services with a new £1M fellowship.

Why this matters: £1M is barely a startup round. The government needs help - and that’s your opening. If you’ve ever wanted to co-build public digital infrastructure, the door is wide open.

🎨 WEEKEND PLAYGROUND

🧪 Try Lutra.ai

Lutra.ai is an agent platform with a range of built-in tools, allowing you to turn anything you create into a re-runnable playbook.

Why this matters: It’s a smart way to convert one-off automations into repeatable workflows. Think of it as your shortcut to scalable AI ops.

📅 UPCOMING EVENTS

🎓 AI Night School - Final Cohort of Season 1 Starts Next Week

This is your very last chance to join before September. We’ll be back for Season 2 with exciting new developments on 2nd September. → Reply to join or reach out to me directly.

📊 Help Shape Season 2 I’m running a series of very short surveys to make Season 2 even better. The first one is live on LinkedIn now: 👉 Take the 10 second survey

📢 Share Your Thoughts If The AI Optimist helps you think more clearly, pass it on to someone navigating the AI shift. Not quite landing? Hit reply and let us know. We read every response.

Have a calm, clear week, Hugo & Ben