Listen to today’s podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/silk-logic-small-business-daily/id1841930957
Small Business Daily Podcast 12/17/2025
Today’s podcast episode was created from the following stories: a snapshot of how AI, automation, and security are reshaping operations, marketing, and infrastructure for companies of all sizes.
Meta is making ‘AI core to how we work’ with the help of tools from Google and OpenAI
Meta is embracing a mixed-model, AI-first workplace—giving employees access to tools like Google’s Gemini 3 Pro, OpenAI’s GPT-5, Anthropic-powered coding assistant Devmate, and its own Llama-based Metamate. The company also migrated to Google Workspace to unlock AI features and is tying performance to measurable AI-driven impact. For teams, the signal is clear: agentic workflows and best-of-breed AI stacks are becoming standard inside Big Tech.
AutoScheduler is Named Recipient of the 2025 Top Tech Startup Award
AutoScheduler.AI won Food Logistics and SDCE’s 2025 Top Tech Startup Award for its agentic Warehouse Decision Agent. Integrating with WMS/LMS/YMS, it optimizes labor, inventory, automation, and dock schedules in real time to boost throughput and cut operating costs. It’s another sign that AI agents are moving from pilot projects to production in logistics.
Fluency Raises $40 Million To Fuel AI For Digital Ad Campaign Automation
Fluency raised $40 million to accelerate its “digital advertising operating system,” which automates cross-channel campaigns via customizable Blueprints. The company is investing in AI, including an agentic RAG assistant that analyzes performance drivers and pushes recommended changes back into automation. For marketers, the pitch is fewer manual tweaks and faster, centralized control across creative, spend, and reporting.
Sonar adds architecture controls to keep fast-growing codebases structurally sound
SonarQube now includes software architecture management to visualize dependencies, define intended architectures, and automatically flag violations. As AI-generated code accelerates architectural drift, the new controls turn deviations into actionable issues that surface in existing developer workflows. The beta on SonarQube Cloud aims to keep rapidly growing codebases modular and maintainable.
Vulnerability-free container image startup Echo Software raises $35M
Echo Software raised $35 million to deliver CVE-free container base images rebuilt by AI agents as drop-in replacements for popular Docker images. The agents continuously monitor new CVEs, autonomously patch, test, and propose fixes—helping enterprises slash vulnerabilities without developer toil. Early adopters report immediate risk reduction and reclaimed engineering hours.
Vendasta Unveils Custom AI Employees to Redefine the Future of Work for Small Businesses Everywhere
Vendasta launched Custom AI Employees so SMBs can deploy role-specific agents trained on their own workflows and data. Early users report significant time savings on proposals and faster, more consistent sales recommendations, with more out-of-the-box roles on the way. It’s an effort to bring enterprise-grade, workflow-ready AI to small businesses at scale.
DUX LAUNCHES WITH $9M SEED ROUND TO TACKLE AI-DRIVEN CYBER EXPOSURE
Dux emerged with $9 million to combat AI-driven cyber exposure using agentic AI workers that assess exploitability, propose lightweight mitigations, and route targeted fixes. Instead of more alerts, the platform asks what matters now and drives the fastest path to safety, aligning with CTEM principles. The goal: a materially smaller attack surface and faster time to remediation.
Ford is pulling back on EVs and getting in on the AI boom with data center battery storage
Ford is dialing back EV plans and investing $2 billion to build energy storage systems for AI data centers, repurposing a Kentucky battery plant. Targeting 20 GWh by 2027, the move challenges Tesla’s energy storage business as AI-fueled data center demand strains the grid. For suppliers and builders, it signals rising commercial battery opportunities tied to AI infrastructure.
Together, these stories underscore a clear shift: AI is moving from experiments to embedded workflows—optimizing warehouses, automating ad ops, securing software foundations, guiding developer discipline, and even reshaping the energy infrastructure behind the AI boom. For small businesses and operators, the throughline is practical adoption: pick targeted use cases, favor tools that integrate with your existing stack, and shore up security from the base image to the architecture. The next gains will go to those who automate decisively—and safely.
