Hi! This body holding me reminds me of my mortality… Probably a lyric Alex Honnold could relate to as he listened to his “mostly Tool” playlist while free soloing the 1,667-foot Taipei 101 on Sunday — a nerve-racking 1 hour 35 minute journey livestreamed by Netflix. Today we’re exploring:

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12% of American workers use artificial intelligence in their roles every day

When Anthropic this month announced Claude Cowork, an AI agent designed to help the everyman’s working day run a little smoother, it certainly caused a splash, sinking software stocks and scaring the life out of startup founders around the world.

Per a new Gallup survey, however, the American workforce has already been getting more hands-on with the tech, even BC (Before Cowork). According to the findings published yesterday, AI use in the workplace continued to rise in the last quarter of 2025, with the share of daily, frequent, and total users all growing in Q4.

Indeed, in only about 2.5 years, the percentage of US employees who use the tech every day in their professional lives has tripled, while the share of those using it at least “a few times a week” or at least “a few times a year” have both more than doubled as well, per Gallup’s latest data.

Still, whether the rise (and rise again) of the machines that help people to get their jobs done comes as any big shock to you likely depends on your office, your company, or even the industry that you work in.

As of Q4 2025, the share of workers who say they use the tech every day has risen to 12% across the board, up from 4% in the second quarter of 2023. That figure varies quite wildly in certain industries, though, with almost a third of tech workers reporting daily usage, compared to just 8% of government and public policy employees and community and social services workers who say the same.

Meanwhile, some 49% of the US workforce reported “never” using AI in their role, in yet another clear sign that the tech’s boom has just passed certain professions by entirely — perhaps gladly, too, for many workers in those sectors, with some blue-collar industries seeing a “renaissance” in the AI age.

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Bolstered bookseller Barnes & Noble is planning a major expansion and potential IPO

Given the rise of social media use, dwindling news engagement, and literacy rates becoming more worser, a physical bookseller might be one of the last companies you’d expect to be a buzzy candidate for a potential IPO.

But among the most remarkable revivals in recent years has been Barnes & Noble — the traditional US-born bookstore chain dating back to 1873, which appeared to have all but ceded victory to Amazon’s relentless online book business by the end of the 2010s.

Bookie’s favorite

As reported by Forbes last month, B&N had lost over $1 billion in market value in the five years to 2019, at the same time that Amazon grew to capture a roughly 50% market share of the bookselling sector. Indeed, the brick-and-mortar book chain posted a loss of $125.5 million in FY2018, despite revenues of $3.7 billion across its ~600 stores nationwide.

Then, after hedge fund Elliott Management acquired the chain for $683 million in 2019, B&N’s fortunes began to change. Headed by a new CEO, the company attempted a return to its indie roots — stripping back offerings like games and toys and giving store owners more autonomy, all while absorbing two other independent local booksellers.

Looking at Placer.ai data, the company's community-focused efforts, coupled with some help from BookTok, has seen its business boom: visits to stores last December, typically its busiest month, reached a high of 22 million, up 15% from the same period in 2017.

Now, the company’s planning to turn the latest page in its tumultuous corporate history, as it looks to add 60 new stores in 2026 — while Elliott explores a potential multibillion IPO for B&N and UK chain Waterstones.

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