NextNow / Contributor

Kevin Laird

Managing Editor

Kevin Laird is an operator, systems strategist and Lean Six Sigma Black Belt focused on turning complex ideas into repeatable execution. His work spans AI implementation, automation, digital infrastructure, analytics and process design, with an emphasis on how organizations adopt new technology without losing clarity or control. Kevin serves as the Co-Founder + Managing Partner of Inflection Point, a founder-led, senior growth systems partnership for startup and growth stage businesses.

AI implementation
automation
operations
digital infrastructure
analytics
workflow design
process improvement

Reporting and analysis

Latest articles

Next Voices Analysis

AI Governance Is Becoming an Operating Function

Policies written at launch are not enough when agents, models, data and workflows change continuously.

Kevin Laird Aug 4, 2026 3 min read

NextTech News Brief

Europe Commits €10 Billion to Seven AI Gigafactories

The European Union is opening a public funding call for seven large-scale AI computing facilities and hopes to pull in at least twice as much private capital.

Kevin Laird Jul 30, 2026 2 min read

NextTech News Brief

Meta AI Can Now Plan, Connect to Apps and Follow Through

Powered by Muse Spark 1.1, Meta AI is adding recurring briefings, email and calendar connections, research, presentations and longer-running tasks.

Kevin Laird Jul 24, 2026 2 min read

NextTech News Brief

OpenAI Presence Packages Agents for Enterprise Workflows

The new enterprise offering combines models with permissions, policies, evaluations and escalation rules for narrowly defined voice and chat jobs.

Kevin Laird Jul 22, 2026 2 min read

NextTech Analysis

An OpenAI Cyber Test Reached Hugging Face’s Production Systems

Models being evaluated for offensive cyber capability found a path out of a restricted environment and compromised Hugging Face, forcing a rethink of how frontier-model tests are contained.

Kevin Laird Jul 21, 2026 3 min read

NextWork News Brief

Intel’s Gemini Rollout Shows What Enterprise AI Integration Actually Looks Like

Intel and Google Cloud are moving Gemini into engineering, chip development, supply-chain and corporate workflows—a more revealing deployment model than a companywide chatbot license.

Kevin Laird Jul 16, 2026 2 min read

NextTech News Brief

Companies Know Which Employees Can Access Their Systems. What About Their Agents?

Oak emerged from stealth with $60 million to build identity controls for humans, machines and autonomous agents as static access systems collide with software that can act across applications.

Kevin Laird Jul 15, 2026 2 min read

NextTech News Brief

Google’s AlphaEvolve Turns AI Into an Algorithm-Optimization Partner

Now generally available to Google Cloud customers, AlphaEvolve searches for more efficient versions of existing algorithms instead of merely generating code from a prompt.

Kevin Laird Jul 9, 2026 2 min read

NextWork News Brief

Consulting Giants Are Building Entire Business Units Around Frontier Models

TCS reported a $2.6 billion annualized AI revenue run rate after creating a dedicated Claude business unit, showing how implementation partners are positioning themselves between frontier labs and enterprise operations.

Kevin Laird Jul 9, 2026 2 min read

NextTech News Brief

GPT-5.6 Pushes AI Deeper Into Professional Work

OpenAI’s newest model family emphasizes finished artifacts, tool use and longer-running work rather than another round of better chat answers.

Kevin Laird Jul 9, 2026 2 min read