🤖 Starbucks deploys AI to automate inventory

Today, we’re seeing Starbucks use AI not for flash but for function: automating inventory checks across 11,000 stores. We’re watching C3 AI navigate a critical turning point: plummeting revenue, a CEO transition, and a market that’s losing patience.

In today’s post:

• Starbucks is using AI to restock faster

• C3 AI stumbles. Can its new CEO turn things around?

• CoreWeave’s latest move: Own the AI agent stack

• Resource for readers of this newsletter to master AI

What’s Trending Today

UPGRADE

AI is quietly transforming Starbucks

Starbucks is rolling out a new AI inventory system to over 11,000 stores and while it may sound boring, it’s quietly reshaping how your favorite drinks stay available.

Here’s everything you need to know:

• The new system scans shelves with a tablet and counts items automatically.

• It flags low-stock ingredients like cold foam and caramel drizzle for restocking.

• Inventory checks are now 8x more frequent in stores using the tech.

• Powered by NomadGo, the system uses 3D spatial intelligence and AR.

• Starbucks says this frees up employees to focus more on customers.

• The tech is part of a broader AI push, including barista assistants and smart queuing.

• CEO Brian Niccol is betting that backroom automation means smoother service up front.

Here’s what I think:

This is the AI revolution most people won’t see not in chatbots or robots, but in tedious workflows that quietly make big businesses hum. Starbucks isn’t chasing headlines, it’s chasing uptime and consistency.

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PROFITS

After a tough quarter, C3 AI bets on new leadership

C3 AI just posted its worst quarterly results in years. Revenue is falling, losses are growing and now the company has a new CEO at the helm.

Here’s everything you need to know:

• Revenue for Q1 dropped to $70.3M, down nearly 20% from last year.

• Losses widened to 86 cents per share, compared to 50 cents a year ago.

• Shares fell 14% in after-hours trading following the announcement.

• Founder Thomas Siebel stepped down due to a serious health issue.

• Stephen Ehikian, a Salesforce alum, has taken over as CEO.

• The transition follows a rocky summer, including layoffs and restructuring.

• Analysts remain skeptical as C3 AI pulls back on prior guidance.

Here’s what I have to say:

C3 AI has powerful tech, but market trust is fragile especially when leadership and numbers are both in flux. If Ehikian can focus and execute, there’s still a window. But that window is narrowing fast.

AI AGENT

CoreWeave just bought a YC startup powering smarter AI agents

Cloud giant CoreWeave is acquiring OpenPipe, a Y Combinator alum building self-improving AI agents. The goal? Own the infrastructure and the intelligence.

Here’s everything you need to know:

• OpenPipe specializes in reinforcement learning for enterprise AI agents.

• Their open source toolkit, ART, helps train agents with reward-based feedback.

• CoreWeave will integrate OpenPipe’s tools into its AI cloud platform.

• The acquisition follows CoreWeave’s March buyout of Weights & Biases.

• OpenPipe raised $6.7M last year from investors tied to DeepMind and GitHub.

• CoreWeave says this gives devs a leg up on scaling agentic AI systems.

• No terms disclosed, but the strategy is clear: go full-stack on enterprise AI.

CoreWeave doesn’t just want to be the place where AI run, it wants to shape how it learns. By owning both the compute and the learning layer, they’re positioning themselves as indispensable to the next wave of agentic AI.

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