The Automat

Field notes from the bleeding edge of business

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Open-Weight Models Grew Up: The Quiet Case for Owning Your Stack

Open-Weight Models Grew Up: The Quiet Case for Owning Your Stack

Open-Weight Models Grew Up: The Quiet Case for Owning Your StackDrew Donaldson
Published on: 24/07/2026

Open-weight models for enterprise now route most tokens at a fraction of the cost. When to own your stack, when to rent frontier APIs.

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Past the Hype Cycle: What AI Is Quietly Good At in 2026

Past the Hype Cycle: What AI Is Quietly Good At in 2026

Past the Hype Cycle: What AI Is Quietly Good At in 2026Drew Donaldson
Published on: 10/07/2026

An anti-hype, anti-doom field report on AI hype vs reality in 2026: where AI quietly earns its keep, where the loud use cases stall, and how to tell them apart.

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Small Models Quietly Won the Enterprise

Small Models Quietly Won the Enterprise

Small Models Quietly Won the EnterpriseDrew Donaldson
Published on: 05/06/2026

Small Models Quietly Won the Enterprise. Field notes from Automata Intelligentsia.

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