🤩The Rise of the AI Consultant

Today we will discuss:

• Founder Fridays Ep. 2—Innovating with AI isn’t just a brand, it’s Rob Howard’s answer to the chaos of AI adoption. In this episode, we unpack how he’s helping founders cut through the noise and build smarter, faster

• Don’t miss this week’s Workflow Wednesday—Using AI tools to adapt, navigate change; now available at only $20/month! 

• SoftBank’s $1 Trillion AI gamble in Arizona—Masayoshi son pitches massive US manufacturing hub for robots and chip partners like TSMC and Samsung

• In other AI news — Meta fails to buy Ilya Sutskever’s $32B AI startup and now aims to hire its CEO, Ant Group expands AI smart glasses payments to Hong Kong, BBC threatens legal action against Perplexity for content scraping, and creators say they weren’t informed Google is using YouTube videos to train AI

• Saved the best for last—9 must-try AI tools

This Week in Workflow Wednesday: AI Adaptability

Learn a New Market in 30 Minutes Using AI
You’ve just been told to pivot into a new vertical. No research team. No prep time. Just you, a blank page, and a deadline.

Here’s how to go from clueless to confident - fast:

Step 1:
Open Perplexity.ai and ask:

“What’s the current state of [insert industry] in 2025? Top players, trends, pain points.”
Skim the results. Pull out key insights: names, numbers, and friction points.

Step 2:
Drop that intel into ChatGPT and prompt:

“Build a buyer persona based on this industry overview. Include their …..Read the full workflow (plus 2 others) in this week’s edition →

SoftBank plans giant AI robot factory complex in the US

Key Points 

• SoftBank is pitching a trillion-dollar Arizona tech complex focused on building AI-powered industrial robots at scale.

• Masayoshi Son is seeking support from TSMC, Samsung, and US officials, though the project is still at an early stage.

☕News - SoftBank founder Masayoshi son is working on a plan to build an industrial complex in Arizona focused on AI and robotics. 

Internally called Project Crystal Land, the initiative draws inspiration from Shenzhen’s manufacturing scale, with the goal of turning the US into a global center for building AI-powered robots.

SoftBank is hoping Taiwan’s TSMC will play a central role, given its position as a key supplier of Nvidia’s AI chips. But sources say the chipmaker’s existing plans in Phoenix are unrelated to son’s project. Samsung has also been approached, though neither company has commented publicly.

🦾What’s more? SoftBank has also started conversations with US government officials about tax incentives and is also reaching out to its Vision Fund portfolio companies. Startups like Agile Robots could set up production lines at the site.

The scale of the project depends on participation from major tech players and support from the next US administration.

Notably, this effort comes alongside SoftBank’s growing interest in infrastructure. The company is investing in OpenAI, acquiring Ampere, and backing a massive data center venture called Stargate. While the Arizona plan is still taking shape, it reflects son’s continued push to accelerate AI development on a massive scale.

Read the full story.