🚀 AI money keeps flowing to unusual places, Wikipedia's losing traffic to chatbots, and Instagram's forcing a new UI whether you want it or not. Here's what moved this week.
Industry moves
Scale AI Alum raises $9M to build AI for MENA's critical industries
Bilal Abu-Ghazaleh spent nearly a decade in the U.S., including time at Scale AI, before moving to London and Dubai. Now he's launched 1001 AI — a company building AI infrastructure for critical industries across the Middle East and North Africa.
Why it matters: MENA's AI ecosystem is maturing fast. While Silicon Valley obsesses over consumer chatbots, 1001 AI is targeting industries where AI failures have real consequences: healthcare, finance, logistics. Regional expertise matters here. Building AI that works in Arabic, handles local regulations, and serves industries the West ignores? That's where the real growth opportunity sits.
Kyrylo Lazariev, CEO at Lazarev.agency: "Infrastructure plays are long-term bets. The companies winning in MENA won't be copying Western products, they'll be solving problems that only exist in those markets. That requires deep local knowledge and design that doesn't assume everyone speaks English or uses Stripe."
Wikipedia traffic drops 8% year-over-year as AI search takes over
The Wikimedia Foundation's Marshall Miller revealed that human pageviews fell 8% over the past year. The culprit is AI search summaries and social video pulling users away. After updating bot detection systems, Wikipedia discovered that traffic spikes in May and June were mostly bots built to evade detection.
The reality: Wikipedia is supposedly "the last good website," but even it can't escape AI cannibalization. When ChatGPT and Perplexity can synthesize Wikipedia content directly into search results, why would anyone click through?
Danylo Dubrovsky, Senior UX/UI Designer at Lazarev.agency: "This is what happens when AI intermediates all information access. Users get answers faster, but the sites that created the content lose traffic, revenue, and feedback loops. It's a UX pattern that benefits one player, the AI layer, at everyone else's expense."
Google invests $15B in India AI data hub
Alphabet is dropping $15 billion over five years to build an AI data hub in Visakhapatnam, India. Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian called it "the largest AI hub we're investing in anywhere outside the United States." It's part of Google's network spanning 12 countries.
What's happening: The AI infrastructure race is going global. India offers talent density, lower operational costs, and a massive domestic market. Google's is positioning itself as the AI backbone for South Asia's next billion users.
Kyrylo Lazariev, CEO at Lazarev.agency: "Infrastructure follows talent and markets. India has both. For product teams, this means lower latency for regional users and better AI performance for local languages. If you're building for global scale, you can't ignore where the infrastructure is being built."
Product reality check
X tests new in-app browser for links
X head of product Nikita Bier previewed an update to how the platform handles links, aiming to "ensure all content has equal visibility on timeline." Now X is testing a new in-app browser that keeps users inside the app when they click links.
Translation: X wants to keep you on the platform longer. Every external link is a user leaving, so they're building friction into the exit. Publishers hate this because it kills referral traffic. Users tolerate it until they don't.
Danylo Dubrovsky, Senior UX/UI Designer at Lazarev.agency: "In-app browsers sound convenient until you realize they exist to trap you in a walled garden. From a UX perspective, it's prioritizing platform metrics over user autonomy. That works short-term, but it erodes trust over time."
Instagram's new UI is rolling out
Instagram is pushing its updated UI to more users. Reels and DMs now sit in the second and third bottom nav spots, and you can swipe between them. Instagram says it "simplifies access to the most-used elements."
The problem: Users want control. Moving navigation elements breaks muscle memory, and forcing changes instead of offering a toggle pisses people off. Instagram's betting that users will adapt. They're probably right, but that doesn't make it good design.
Oleksandr Koshytskyi, Lead Designer at Lazarev.agency: "Forced UI changes are a power move, not a UX move. When you have billions of users, you can afford to ignore complaints. Smaller products can't. If you're going to change navigation, at least respect the users enough to let them choose the transition timeline."
X's feed algorithm going full Grok AI
Elon Musk announced that X's feed algorithm will soon be fully powered by xAI's Grok system. The goal is to improve post quality and surface better content. Whether it actually works depends on how well Grok understands what users want versus what X wants users to see.
The question: Will Grok prioritize engagement or relevance? Every algorithmic feed says it's showing you "better content," but most are optimizing for time spent, not user satisfaction. If Grok just becomes another engagement maximizer, this changes nothing.
Kyrylo Lazariev, CEO at Lazarev.agency: "Algorithms are only as good as the incentives behind them. If Grok is trained to keep users scrolling, it'll surface outrage and conflict like every other feed. If it's trained for genuine relevance, that's a different product. We'll know which one X built by watching what gets amplified."
Design wins
Lazarev.agency helped Royalty Team Gear implement 100% automated processes
The challenge: Automate the entire process from an intuitive clothing customizer where designs update in real-time on a 3D model, to a store builder where sports team managers can sell custom items.
Our approach: We built user flows for two distinct audiences: managers creating team merchandise and fans purchasing it. The e-commerce layer needed to be seamless, so we focused on reducing friction at every step. The result is a platform that automates multiple needs in one solution — no clunky handoffs, no confusion about next steps.
Danylo Dubrovsky, Senior UX/UI Designer at Lazarev.agency: "The hardest part wasn't the 3D customizer, it was making the entire flow feel effortless. When you're serving both creators and buyers, every extra click is a point where users drop off. We optimized for speed and clarity, because that's what drives conversions."
YKK's first major Zipper redesign in 100 Years
YKK, the Japanese clothing giant, is stripping away the fabric tape that's held zippers together for a century. The result is seamless clothing with cleaner lines and more design flexibility.
Why it matters: This is infrastructure innovation, invisible until it changes everything. Zippers are so ubiquitous we forget they're designed objects. YKK's redesign opens new possibilities for garment construction.
Uncommon turns fan chaos into cinematic hype
Uncommon's latest campaign for EA Sports, "The Club Is Yours," channels pre-release anticipation into pure cinematic chaos. It's community-fueled, wild, and leans into the mayhem of fan imagination turned into footballing reality.
What works: Fan energy is chaotic by nature. Uncommon amplified it. When your product's strength is community passion, leaning into that authenticity beats polished corporate messaging every time.
Contagious brands Norwegian feminist whisky distillery FEDDIE
Over a thousand women invested in FEDDIE, a Norwegian island distillery challenging whisky's stuffy, tradition-bound reputation. UK studio Contagious created the brand identity, bottling a feminist revolution in recycled glass.
The angle: Whisky branding usually screams heritage, exclusivity, and old men in leather chairs. FEDDIE throws that out. Community ownership, sustainability, and gender equity become the brand story. It's a reminder that brand differentiation is about standing for something specific.
This week's reality check
Choosing Tampa web design companies: specialization wins
We published a guide breaking down top Tampa web design agencies, cutting through portfolios and pitches to reveal what actually matters: design philosophy, core services, and whether they match your business model.
Key takeaways:
- Specialization wins. Agencies shine when matched to your specific business model.
- Balanced profiles build trust. Knowing realistic strengths and weaknesses saves you from post-contract shock.
- Red flags exist. No clear process, vague pricing, or copy-paste portfolios mean walk away.
Kyrylo Lazariev, CEO at Lazarev.agency: "Most agencies say they do everything. The truth? Generalists deliver generic work. You want a partner who's solved your specific problem before, not someone learning on your budget."
Events to monitor
- Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo 2025 (October 20-23; Orlando, FL, USA) Designed for CIOs and senior IT leaders. Topics include AI governance, regulation, security, and business value – critical for enterprise planning.
- TEDAI San Francisco (October 21-22; San Francisco, CA) Vision meets action. Talks cover AI in energy, media, healthcare, and creative work. Attendees are mostly founders, C-level execs, and investors.
What's coming next week
More infrastructure bets, more forced UI changes, and probably another zipper breakthrough. We'll be here to separate signals from noise.
🔥 Stay sharp. Stay with Lazarev.agency.
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