In a survey of 942 US small business owners for the banking platform Bluevine, 48% said AI saves them at least four hours a week, and 14% said it saves ten hours or more.
For a café owner or a two-person plumbing firm, four hours is a lot of invoices, emails and scheduling. That's time back for customers, family, or simply closing up on time.
Healthy skepticism, plus Friday afternoons back.
Virgin Media O2 says its AI system has now labelled more than a billion suspected scam and spam calls, about 70 million a month, and blocks known fraud numbers outright.
Read the storyUtilities using Oracle's AI-driven Opower programs asked customers to ease off electricity at the busiest moments, with personalised tips and rebates for doing it. Across a record 73 events in 2026, the savings added up to 1 gigawatt of peak demand.
Read the storyThe Georgia Center for the Visually Impaired gave about 50 blind veterans free AI-powered smart glasses, made by Meta, at an event marking White Cane Safety Day. The Atlanta-based center also trains people to use them.
Read the storyOne hopeful, sourced AI story a day on X.