🚀 Crypto.com drops $70M on AI.com domain for Super Bowl debut, Goldman Sachs deploys autonomous AI agents for back-office work, while Benchmark bets $225M more on Cerebras. Enterprise AI moves from pilot to production across finance, logistics, and insurance.
Industry moves
Crypto.com places $70M bet on AI.com domain ahead of Super Bowl
Just in time to create a new Super Bowl ad, Crypto.com founder Kris Marszalek has made the priciest domain purchase in history, buying AI.com for $70 million, according to Yahoo Finance. The deal, paid entirely in cryptocurrency to an unknown seller, shatters previous records. Marszalek plans to debut the site during Sunday's big game, offering consumers a personal AI agent for messaging, app usage, and stock trading.
Kirill Lazarev, CEO and Founder at Lazarev.agency: "Paying $70M for AI.com is brand positioning. Premium domains signal category ownership: AI.com positions Crypto.com as the consumer AI destination. The Super Bowl launch matters: mass-market AI adoption requires mainstream awareness. Personal AI agents for messaging and trading appeal to Crypto.com's existing user base while expanding beyond crypto."
Benchmark raises $225M in special funds to double down on Cerebras
AI chipmaker Cerebras Systems raised $1 billion in fresh capital at a valuation of $23 billion – a nearly threefold increase from the $8.1 billion valuation the Nvidia rival had reached just six months earlier. While the round was led by Tiger Global, a huge part of the new capital came from one of the company's earliest backers: Benchmark Capital. The prominent Silicon Valley firm invested at least $225 million in Cerebras' latest round, according to a person familiar with the deal.
Oleksandr Koshytskyi, Lead Designer at Lazarev.agency: "Benchmark doubling down with $225M shows conviction in Cerebras as an Nvidia alternative. Cerebras builds wafer-scale chips designed specifically for AI training, competing on architecture differentiation rather than manufacturing scale. The valuation jump from $8B to $23B in six months reflects AI infrastructure scarcity, when Nvidia GPUs are backordered for months, customers pay premiums for alternatives."
Goldman Sachs tests autonomous AI agents for process-heavy work
Goldman Sachs is pushing deeper into real use of artificial intelligence inside its operations, moving to systems that can carry out complex tasks on their own. The Wall Street bank is working with AI startup Anthropic to create autonomous AI agents powered by Anthropic's Claude model that can handle work that used to require large teams of people.
The bank is testing AI systems that go into back-office work, functions like accounting, compliance checks and onboarding new clients, areas viewed as too complex for automation. The partnership with Anthropic has been underway for roughly six months, with engineers from the AI startup embedded directly with teams at Goldman Sachs.
Danylo Dubrovsky, Senior UX/UI designer at Lazarev.agency: "Goldman embedding Anthropic engineers for six months shows enterprise AI requires co-development. Banking workflows involve complex rules, regulatory requirements, and exceptions that generic AI can't handle. Embedded teams customize agents for Goldman's specific processes, compliance frameworks, and risk tolerances."
Intuit, Uber, and State Farm trial AI agents inside enterprise workflows
This week, OpenAI introduced a new platform designed to help companies build and manage AI agents at scale. A handful of large corporations in finance, insurance, mobility, and life sciences are among the first to start using it. According to AI News, early adopters include Intuit, Uber, State Farm Insurance, Thermo Fisher Scientific, HP, and Oracle. Larger pilot programmes are also said to be under way at Cisco, T-Mobile, and Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria.
Kirill Lazarev, CEO and Founder at Lazarev.agency: "OpenAI's enterprise agent platform launching with Fortune 500 pilots signals AI moving from proof-of-concept to production. These companies have complex operations, heavy regulatory needs, and large customer bases: environments where AI must work reliably. The diverse sectors matter: finance (Intuit, BBVA), insurance (State Farm), mobility (Uber), telecoms (T-Mobile), and enterprise tech (Oracle, HP, Cisco) face different AI challenges. OpenAI's platform must handle this heterogeneity, which requires robust customization, security, and compliance frameworks."
FedEx tests how far AI can go in tracking and returns management
FedEx is using AI to change how package tracking and returns work for large enterprise shippers. For companies moving high volumes of goods, tracking no longer ends when a package leaves the warehouse. Customers expect real-time updates, flexible delivery options, and returns that do not turn into support tickets or delays.
FedEx plans to roll out AI-powered tracking and return tools designed for enterprise shippers. The tools are aimed at automating routine customer service tasks, improving visibility into shipments, and reducing friction when packages need to be rerouted or sent back.
Oleksandr Koshytskyi, Lead Designer at Lazarev.agency: "FedEx deploying AI for tracking and returns addresses logistics' customer experience problem. Shipment visibility creates competitive advantage, when customers can track packages real-time and initiate returns without support tickets, satisfaction increases and support costs drop. AI handles routine queries ('where's my package?', 'how do I return this?') through natural language, routing complex issues to humans."
Apollo beats profit expectations as lending surges, assets jump to $938 billion
Apollo Global Management reported a 13% rise in fourth-quarter profit, surpassing Wall Street expectations, buoyed by strong debt origination and inflows of fresh client money. The growth was driven by origination of a record $97 billion in new loans and other investments in the quarter, Apollo said in a statement. Its shares rose more than 4% in premarket trading.
What this shows: Private credit growth accelerates as traditional bank lending retreats. Apollo's $97B quarterly origination reflects companies choosing private lenders over banks for flexibility and speed. Banks face regulatory capital constraints; private credit firms don't. This creates opportunity for fintech: build infrastructure that connects borrowers with private credit, reducing origination friction and matching costs. Apollo's scale ($938B assets) means pricing power, but smaller private lenders need better technology to compete.
Imec opens 2.5 bln euros chip pilot line as Europe looks to strengthen AI hand
Europe took a step to strengthen its hand in the global chip race as Belgian research firm imec opened "NanoIC", a 2.5 billion euros ($2.95 billion) pilot line aimed at developing ultra-advanced semiconductors under the EU's Chips Act.
Europe is home to major chipmaking equipment champions, including Dutch lithography leader ASML, but produces and designs only a small slice of the most advanced chips, leaving it largely on the sidelines of the AI-driven boom that has lifted U.S. and Asian players.
Danylo Dubrovsky, Senior UX/UI designer at Lazarev.agency: "Europe's €2.5B chip pilot line addresses strategic vulnerability: TSMC and Samsung dominate advanced chip manufacturing, giving Asia leverage over European tech sovereignty. Imec's NanoIC focuses on R&D for next-generation processes. Europe can't outspend Taiwan/Korea on fabs, but can lead research and IP development."
Product reality check
Snapchat adds AR effects for Super Bowl LX
Snapchat announced a range of Super Bowl-themed activations to help users engage with the big game, and take part in America's biggest sporting event. And with the majority of Snapchat users planning to watch the game, it could be a big event for Snap, as users look to share their predictions, moments and more in the app.
Kirill Lazarev, CEO and Founder at Lazarev.agency: "Snapchat's Super Bowl AR effects are an event-driven engagement strategy. Major cultural moments (Super Bowl, Olympics, elections) create shared experiences where users want to participate socially. AR effects lower participation friction, users need to apply filters and share."
X revamps API pricing & adds xAI credits
X has rolled out a new pricing structure for its API access, which will see developers charged for what they use, as opposed to having to pay a pricey monthly subscription fee in order to access the data stream.
X's API is what enables third-party developers to build apps that utilize X data and connection, but in recent years, many third-party tools and apps have been forced to shut down due to X increasing the price of its API access, as a means, primarily, to keep artificial intelligence projects from integrating vast amounts of X data.
Oleksandr Koshytskyi, Lead Designer at Lazarev.agency: "X switching to usage-based API pricing reverses developer exodus. Fixed subscription fees killed small developers who couldn't justify high monthly costs for low-volume use cases. Pay-per-use aligns pricing with value, developers pay proportionally to usage, lowering entry barriers. X wants developers building AI apps on X data, training models on tweets, creating engagement tools."
Meta is working on a dedicated AI chatbot for group chats
Meta is developing a new AI chatbot for your group chats, which will be able to get you caught up on things that you missed while you were offline, find mentions within the chat stream, remind you of meet up locations, and more, all via a private back-and-forth sidebar chat with the bot.
Danylo Dubrovsky, Senior UX/UI designer at Lazarev.agency: "Meta's group chat AI bot solves notification overload in active threads. Group chats generate hundreds of messages; catching up requires scrolling through context. AI summaries ('here's what you missed') and mention extraction ('Sarah asked you about dinner plans') reduce cognitive load."
X tests collaborative AI-powered Community Notes
Of all of Elon Musk's many changes to the platform formerly known as Twitter, Community Notes remains the most interesting, and the integration of AI-generated Community Notes adds another valuable element to a process that can significantly reduce the spread of misinformation in the app. And this latest update to Community Notes is another interesting step, with X now testing out Collaborative Notes, which will make it easy for human Community Notes contributors to guide and improve AI-generated Notes.
Kirill Lazarev, CEO and Founder at Lazarev.agency: "X's collaborative AI Community Notes blend human judgment with AI speed. AI can draft context quickly but lacks nuance and political neutrality. Human contributors review and refine AI drafts, improving quality while reducing contribution friction. This human-in-the-loop design works for misinformation because fact-checking requires judgment, pure AI generates plausible-sounding corrections that may be biased or wrong."
Design wins
Lazarev.agency enhanced conversion rates and product discovery for a leading US tire retailer
Priority Tire, a prominent online tire retailer, approached us with a website that, while functional, lacked modern design and optimal user experience. The primary challenge was that tires are not typical e-commerce products, selection hinges on specific parameters rather than visuals, and most users are not tire experts.
Our redesign focuses on helping users find tires faster and buy easier. By streamlining navigation, simplifying product discovery, and optimizing product pages and checkout, we expect to see measurable improvements in how users interact and convert.
- 25% conversion lift expected from improved product pages, upsells, and smoother checkout
- 20% product discovery boost projected from upgraded search, simplified navigation, and smarter filtering
Danylo Dubrovsky, Senior UX/UI designer at Lazarev.agency: "Priority Tire's challenge illustrates technical product e-commerce complexity. Users need specific sizes, load ratings, and seasonal performance. Our redesign prioritized parametric search over visual browsing: vehicle-based filtering (enter your car, see compatible tires), comparison tools for specs, and educational content explaining tire terminology."
Divine Chocolate goes flavour-first with a bold new identity by Wildish & Co.
According to Creative Boom, the farmer co-owned Fairtrade brand unveils its most significant rebrand to date, swapping dark, predictable cues for joyful colour, hand-drawn illustration and a renewed focus on taste.
Why this matters: Fairtrade brands traditionally lead with ethics (fair wages, sustainability). Divine Chocolate's rebrand flips this: bright colors and flavor-forward messaging attract buyers through taste appeal, then reinforce ethical story. This works because guilt-based purchasing has limits: consumers want products that taste good AND align with values.
Design Network creates a sensory editorial narrative for La Contura
Design Network partners with La Contura to transform architectural concepts into a clear and immersive visual experience. Each residential unit is presented on an individual, removable page that can be cleanly removed and easily shared with potential buyers. A defining element of the visual identity is a set of bespoke animal illustrations that establish the project's visual language.
Oleksandr Koshytskyi, Lead Designer at Lazarev.agency: "La Contura's editorial brochure solves luxury real estate's communication problem: high-end properties sell lifestyle and atmosphere. Removable unit pages are brilliant: prospects take specific apartments they're interested in, reducing sales friction. Agents can customize presentations by selecting relevant units rather than handing out identical books. The illustrations tied to street contours create a memorable brand identity in commoditized luxury market."
This week's reality check
How to leverage the perks of interactive web design in 2026?
From the outside, the business looks solid. Traffic's there, and the sales narrative holds up. But then there's the website. While users land, a moment comes when they pause and leave. Technically, nothing is broken. Yet, nothing is pulling them in either.
In 2026, sites that only show information hit a ceiling. The ones that win act as systems: they anticipate intent, cut friction, and guide decisions in real time.
Key takeaways:
- Interaction is a system. High-performing interactive website design blends UX logic, performance, and intent.
- The best interactions reduce thinking. Interaction works when it lowers cognitive load and speeds up decisions.
- Personalization and context beat one-size-fits-all UX. Adaptive interfaces drive repeat usage, engagement, and conversions across industries.
- Choosing the right interaction is a strategic decision. Research, clear hypotheses, and iteration matter more than adding every interactive feature available.
Read this article to learn how top teams use interaction as strategy. Why the best interactions reduce cognitive load, how adaptive UX beats one-size-fits-all, and why knowing what not to make interactive matters as much as what you build.
9 interactive design agencies engineering alive and profitable digital platforms
Most websites still behave like brochures. You scroll, you read, nothing reacts. But every once in a while, a site answers back: guiding you, adjusting to your intent, making the next step feel obvious.
This article looks at 9 interactive design agencies that build websites as living systems. Teams that treat interactivity as a growth tool: shaping behavior, earning trust, and turning attention into action.
If you’re tired of sites that look good but don’t do anything, this is your map to the agencies designing digital experiences that feel alive, and drive real results.
What's coming next week
More enterprise AI deployments moving from pilots to production, more premium domain acquisitions as AI brand wars heat up, and probably another chip manufacturer announcing capacity expansions to meet insatiable AI infrastructure demand.
🔥 Stay sharp. Stay with Lazarev.agency, your AI UX design agency.
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