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Demand has shifted from broad volume requests to highly specific, niche, and metadata-rich content for real-world applications.

Building a business today requires asking this one question constantly: "Does this process need a human in the loop" ... and most of the time the answer is "no"

In Circulation – MENA | May 2026 Sanctions Spillover: “Economic Fury” Heightens Non-U.S. Exposure in MENA A clear escalation in U.S. sanctions enforcement is underway, with OFAC increasingly extending exposure beyond primary targets to non-U.S. actors embedded within global trade and financial networks. Recent designations reflect heightened scrutiny of intermediaries across MENA jurisdictions, particularly in the energy, shipping, logistics, and financial services sectors. The trajectory is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore: secondary sanctions risk is expanding, including in circumstances where no direct U.S. nexus exists, but facilitation or indirect engagement with designated actors is identified. For regional businesses, this materially elevates compliance and counterparty risk, with potential implications for dollar clearing access, correspondent banking relationships, commercial continuity, and broader market exposure.

I’ve noticed a funny trend with a lot of these AI companies raising massive rounds lately. The website is usually: • one page • white background • lowercase font • vague references to “reasoning,” “agents,” or “infrastructure” • no clear explanation of the product • one “research preview” button At this point I’m considering starting a company that exclusively builds minimalist one-page websites for AI startups immediately after they raise $1B. Services include: • removing all navigation • making the product slightly harder to understand • adding one blurry demo video • replacing “AI tool” with “general intelligence system” Ironically, the less these websites explain, the more valuable the company seems to become.

📖 👀 Great read from Daniel Mandell on why AI teams are treating data as a capital asset. As fair use gets tested and data provenance comes under more scrutiny, uncertainty itself becomes a real constraint. Successful teams building models for long-term use will increasingly price legal risk against quality and future optionality, and as we move beyond scale as a primary driver, advantage will also come from specialized data that refines and improves models over time.

Just wrapped NYU’s in-person Executive Education course, Leading in the Age of AI. It sharpened my perspective on what it takes to build AI-first revenue organizations. A few takeaways that are already shaping how I think about building modern revenue organizations: • AI is not a side strategy. It is the strategy for scalable growth • Data-driven decisioning was never optional, but the strength of your data foundation has never been more critical • The best leaders are not protecting against disruption. They are allowing AI to cannibalize low-value work to unlock higher-impact opportunities • The real opportunity is pairing human judgment with AI to accelerate insights, increase speed, and drive smarter decisions An AI-first approach creates real leverage. More time with customers, less time on admin, faster insights, and ultimately better customer experiences. This is a once-in-a-generation shift in how we build and lead organizations. The advantage will go to those who lean in early and lead with intention.

In Circulation - UAE | April 2026 UAE Central Bank Updates Anti-Money Laundering, Combating the Financing of Terrorism, Counter Proliferation Financing Guidance for Licensed Financial Institutions Source : https://lnkd.in/e_KUfJCY

For a long time, companies were built in a very familiar way. You started with a problem, usually your own. Something frustrating, something broken, or something that didn’t exist yet. If you could build a better solution, you had an edge. That’s how a lot of iconic companies got started. Google made it easier to find information on the internet. Uber made it easier to get a ride. Airbnb made it easier to find a place to stay. The common thread was simple: building was hard, so if you could build something meaningfully better, that alone created an advantage. But that world has changed. Technical barriers are collapsing quickly. With AI, it’s becoming easier than ever to go from idea to product in a very short amount of time. The question is no longer “can you build it?” It’s “can you get it in front of the right people?” That shift changes how companies can get started. Instead of starting with the idea, you can start with behavior. Where does demand already exist? Where are people already spending time, money, or attention? What are they doing over and over again? When you get close to that, patterns start to emerge. You begin to see the same problems, the same friction points, the same moments where something is missing. From there, the product becomes much more obvious. You’re not guessing what to build. You’re responding to something that is already happening. You find a surface area where activity exists, identify the moment where it becomes real or urgent, and insert something small that makes it easier, faster, or removes friction. You still have to solve a real problem. That hasn’t changed. But being close to demand is becoming more important than having a perfectly original idea from day one. Most people are still starting with the idea and then searching for users. There is a different path. Start with distribution, or at least proximity to it, and let that shape what you build.

INTERPOL Red Notices Are Only the Beginning… A Red Notice is often seen as an international arrest warrant. It isn’t. In Episode 2 of Everywhere with Ibtissem, I break down what really happens once a Red Notice is issued, and why the real legal process starts after. What an INTERPOL Red Notice actually means in practice: - why enforcement depends on domestic law - how the INTERPOL system operates in reality - the role of the INTERPOL Commission for the Control of Interpol’s Files (CCF) in challenging data - and critically, how cases move into extradition and international cooperation frameworks From dual criminality to multi-jurisdictional proceedings, these cases sit at the intersection of law, strategy, and geopolitics. A Red Notice is not the end of the story. It is the point where complexity begins. 🎙️ Episode 2 now live. https://lnkd.in/edkD8r9B