A new startup is making a provocative wager: as companies deploy dozens or even hundreds of AI agents across their operations, they will need a dedicated management layer to hire, monitor, evaluate, and even fire those digital employees. Reload, an AI employee agent management platform, has raised $2.275 million in pre-seed funding and launched what it calls the first AI employee designed to manage other AI agents the way a human resources department manages people. The round was led by Everywhere Ventures, with participation from Unpopular Ventures, Precursor Ventures, Gaingels, and several angel investors, according to TechCrunch. The company, founded by CEO Zahra Amanpour, is positioning itself at the intersection of two fast-growing categories: AI agent deployment and workforce management software. The Premise: AI Agents Are Employees, and They Need Managing The core thesis behind Reload is deceptively simple but carries significant implications for how enterprises think about their growing fleets of AI agents. As companies adopt AI agents from vendors like OpenAI, Anthropic, Salesforce, and scores of startups, the management burden grows in complexity. Who is responsible when an AI agent underperforms? How does a company track which agents are delivering return on investment and which are wasting compute resources? How do you onboard a new AI agent and ensure it has the right permissions, context, and guardrails? Amanpour argues that these questions mirror the exact challenges that human resources and people operations teams have been solving for decades — just applied to a new kind of worker. ‘Companies are going to have more AI employees than human employees within a few years,’ Amanpour told TechCrunch. ‘But right now, there’s no system to manage them. No one is tracking performance, handling onboarding, or making sure these agents are actually doing what they’re supposed to do.’ What Reload Actually Does Reload’s platform provides what the company describes as a full lifecycle management system for AI agents. The product covers onboarding — configuring new agents with the appropriate data access, permissions, and behavioral guidelines — as well as ongoing performance monitoring, evaluation, and decommissioning. The platform is agent-agnostic, meaning it can manage AI employees built on different underlying models and from different vendors. The flagship product is itself an AI agent: an ‘AI employee’ whose job is to oversee other AI employees. This meta-agent monitors the behavior and output of deployed agents, flags anomalies or performance degradation, and provides dashboards and reports to human managers. Think of it as a team lead whose direct reports all happen to be software. The system also handles what Reload calls ‘agent compliance’ — ensuring that AI workers operate within the boundaries set by company policy, regulatory requirements, and ethical guidelines. A Market Taking Shape Around Agent Infrastructure Reload is entering a market that barely existed 18 months ago but is rapidly attracting attention and capital. The explosion of AI agent startups — companies building autonomous software agents that can perform tasks ranging from customer support to financial analysis to code generation — has created a secondary market for tools that help enterprises manage, orchestrate, and govern those agents. Firms like LangChain, CrewAI, and Autogen have built frameworks for building multi-agent systems, but the management and governance layer remains underdeveloped. The opportunity is substantial. According to recent estimates from Gartner, by 2028, at least 15% of day-to-day work decisions will be made autonomously through agentic AI, up from virtually zero in 2024. McKinsey has projected that AI agents could automate up to 60-70% of current work activities. As these projections become reality, the operational challenge of managing a mixed workforce of humans and AI agents
Category: Uncategorized
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Mutuum Finance (MUTM) Activates V1 Protocol on Sepolia Testnet, Signaling Shift to Public Validation
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, Feb. 21, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The decentralized finance (DeFi) sector is currently observing a transition in capital flows as market participants evaluate the long-term viability of high-valuation altcoins. While established assets often command significant market attention, their growth trajectories sometimes reach a point of consolidation. In this environment, emerging protocols focused on technical utility are becoming a point of interest for those tracking the next crypto developments. Mutuum Finance (MUTM) has recently marked a milestone in this shift by moving its core infrastructure from private development to a public testing phase, signaling a focus on technical transparency and architectural validation. Mutuum Finance (MUTM) Technical Foundation Mutuum Finance is a decentralized liquidity protocol designed to automate liquidity markets using smart contracts rather than centralized intermediaries. At the center of its architecture is a dual-market lending system intended to provide flexibility for various types of participants. This structure consists of two developing distinct models: Peer-to-Contract (P2C) and Peer-to-Peer (P2P). The P2C model aims to utilize shared liquidity pools, where lenders could deposit assets like ETH or USDT to provide immediate liquidity. In this setup, interest rates adjust automatically based on pool utilization. When demand for borrowing rises, rates increase to attract more deposits; when liquidity is high, rates decrease to encourage borrowing. The P2P model, conversely, is designed for individualized agreements. This would allow participants to negotiate specific terms, such as interest rates and duration, directly with one another. This model is particularly useful for assets that may not be suitable for large, shared pools due to volatility or niche demand. mtTokens and Protocol Utility A key developing feature of the Mutuum Finance ecosystem is the mtToken system. When users provide liquidity to the P2C pools, the protocol issues mtTokens as a digital receipt of the deposit. These tokens are designed to be interest-bearing assets. As borrowers repay their loans with interest, the value of mtTokens increases relative to the underlying deposited asset. This allows suppliers to track their earned yield directly through the token itself, simplifying the process of yield accrual without requiring manual intervention. Beyond the core lending engine, the project has detailed plans to introduce a native, over-collateralized stablecoin. This asset is intended to provide a stable medium of exchange within the ecosystem, backed by the interest flows and collateral held within the protocol. Additionally, the official roadmap outlines plans for Layer-2 (L2) integration. By expanding to L2 networks, the protocol aims to offer faster settlement times and lower transaction fees, which are essential for efficient collateral management. Protocol Launch and Security Framework The activation of the V1 protocol on the Sepolia testnet represents a major transition for the project. This release allows the public to interact with the core lending and borrowing logic in a controlled environment. Participants can test the issuance of mtTokens, observe the automated liquidator bot, and monitor how interest rates respond to changes in pool liquidity. This phase is intended to gather performance data and ensure system stability before a full mainnet deployment. Security has been a central focus during the development of these features. Mutuum Finance has completed a manual code audit with Halborn Security, a firm known for evaluating complex blockchain architectures. Furthermore, the protocol holds a 90/100 trust score from CertiK, reflecting ongoing monitoring of the token’s configuration. To further safeguard the system, the project has introduced a $50,000 bug bounty program, encouraging independent researchers to review the code and report any potential vulnerabilities before the next crypto development stages. Presale Progress and Tokenomics The distribution of the MUTM token is being managed through a structured,
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Wikipedia founder sees no threat from Musk’s Grokipedia
The founder of Wikipedia said he isn’t worried about the threat posed to the free online encyclopedia from AI-generated content, including from Elon Musk’s Grokipedia, because of how error-prone the information tends to be.
‘Why do I go to Wikipedia? I go to Wikipedia because it’s human-vetted knowledge,’ said Jimmy Wales, the founder of the popular internet encyclopedia, whose articles are written and edited by human volunteers. ‘We would not consider for a second today letting an AI just write Wikipedia articles because we know how bad they can be. So I think that’s not really a concern.’
Among the problems with output from large language models like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Alphabet Inc’s Gemini, he said, is the high frequency with which they still generate ‘hallucinations,’ or erroneous or misleading information.
It’s for that reason that he isn’t worried about competition from rivals such as Grokipedia, an AI-generated online encyclopedia launched last year by Musk’s xAI, which he called a ‘cartoon imitation of an encyclopedia.’
Wales made the comments in an interview this week on the sidelines of the India AI Impact Summit in New Delhi, an event that attracted more than a dozen heads of state and tech officials from OpenAI, Alphabet Inc, Anthropic PBC and others.
AI hallucinations become more flagrant and common as the subject matter becomes more obscure or niche, Wales said. The value of human-generated articles is that they benefit from contributions from subject-matter experts, which helps to guard against inaccuracies and makes for better-informed articles, he said.
‘People are obsessives,’ he said. ‘That sort of full, rich human context of understanding is actually quite important in terms of really understanding both what does the reader want and what does the reader need.’
A 2025 study by OpenAI found hallucinations were still common across even its advanced models, with hallucination rates as high as 79 per cent in some tests.
‘The hallucination problem gets worse the more obscure the topic and therefore, for areas you might think we could use help, it’s actually very, very bad,’ Wales said.
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
Published on February 21, 2026 -
Ardent Health (NYSE:ARDT) Stock Price Down 4.3% – What’s Next?
Ardent Health, Inc. (NYSE:ARDT – Get Free Report) shares were down 4.3% during trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $9.37 and last traded at $9.3410. Approximately 8,782 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 98% from the average daily volume of 393,903 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.76. Get Ardent Health alerts: Sign Up Trending Headlines about Ardent Health Here are the key news stories impacting Ardent Health this week: Analysts Set New Price Targets Several research firms recently commented on ARDT. Stephens cut their target price on Ardent Health from $21.00 to $17.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 14th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Ardent Health in a research note on Monday, December 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Ardent Health from $12.00 to $11.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of Ardent Health from $20.00 to $12.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. Finally, Truist Financial cut their price target on shares of Ardent Health from $21.00 to $13.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 14th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $14.58. View Our Latest Research Report on Ardent Health Ardent Health Stock Performance The company has a market capitalization of $1.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.49, a P/E/G ratio of 5.66 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 2.08 and a quick ratio of 1.95. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $8.88 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $11.18. Institutional Inflows and Outflows Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Ardent Health by 103.8% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 14,104 shares of the company’s stock valued at $194,000 after buying an additional 7,182 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in Ardent Health by 1,684.9% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 767,862 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,558,000 after purchasing an additional 724,841 shares during the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ardent Health by 235.1% in the 1st quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 57,468 shares of the company’s stock valued at $790,000 after purchasing an additional 40,318 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Ardent Health by 574.9% during the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 40,238 shares of the company’s stock worth $550,000 after buying an additional 34,276 shares during the period. Finally, CWM LLC raised its stake in shares of Ardent Health by 990.6% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,203 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 2,001 shares during the last quarter. Ardent Health Company Profile Ardent Health, listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker ARDT, is a healthcare delivery company focused
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😺 Google’s sharpest brain yet? 🧠
Your browser does not support the audio element. Reddit is rolling up its sleeves and testing an AI-powered search feature that blends its discussion-driven content with product discovery and recommendations. It lets users ask natural language questions and get shopping-relevant results right from Reddit. It’s an intriguing twist on traditional e-commerce search, one that leans on authentic user opinions rather than algorithmically curated storefronts. (…and a creepy vibe for retail sales clerks almost as awkward as Anthopic’s Dario Amodei refusing to shake Sam Altman’s hand.) Here’s what happened in AI today: Google released Gemini 3.1 Pro, scoring 98% on ARC-AGI-1. OpenAI started testing ads in ChatGPT after the first response. DeepMind co-founder David Silver raised $1B for an RL-focused AI agent startup. Anthropic’s revenue grew 10x annually, outpacing OpenAI’s trajectory. Advertise in The Neuron here! ICYMI: 🎙️ NEW EPISODE: The Man Who Built GitHub Copilot Just Gave His First Interview About Gemini CLI Taylor Mullen built GitHub Copilot at Microsoft. Now he’s a Principal Engineer at Google, and his team ships 100 to 150 features every single week using AI to build itself. In his first-ever in-depth interview about Gemini CLI, Taylor reveals the origin story, demos live bug-fixing, and shares the exact techniques his team uses to go from 10x to 100x—including the viral “Ralph Wiggum” method that’s taking over developer Twitter. Whether you code or not, you’ll walk away understanding what the command line is, why it’s having a massive comeback, and how to use it to do way more with AI than a chatbot ever could. Watch / Listen now: YouTube | Spotify | Apple Podcasts Google’s “Small” Update Just Made Gemini the Smartest AI You Can Buy DEEP DIVE: Everything you need to know about Gemini 3.1 Pro. Google released Gemini 3.1 Pro today, and the “.1” is doing some serious heavy lifting. According to Artificial Analysis, an independent benchmarking firm, 3.1 Pro now sits at #1 on their overall Intelligence Index (which is like a giant benchmark of all the other major benchmarks put together), ahead of Claude Opus 4.6 and GPT-5.2. First, a few benchmarks: Gemini 3.1 hit 98% on ARC-AGI-1 (a test originally meant to test AGI) and 77% on ARC-AGI-2 (a second test meant to test AGI; we’re now on ARC-AGI 3, which is meant to test agentic ‘action efficiency’, or how quickly an AI can learn and make the next correct action to solve puzzles). And not only that, it topped the APEX-Agents leaderboard for complex reasoning, coding, and agentic tasks. Here’s how the Big Three stack up right now: Overall intelligence : Gemini 3.1 Pro (57) > Claude Opus 4.6 (53) > GPT-5.2 (51) Coding : Gemini 3.1 Pro (56) > Claude Sonnet 4.6 (51) > GPT-5.2 (49) Agentic tasks : Claude Opus 4.6 (68) > GPT-5.2 (60) > Gemini 3.1 Pro (59) Hallucination resistance: Gemini 3.1 Pro (30) blows everyone away; the next best score is 13 The exact numbers here don’t matter; but the ORDER does. Translation: Google now has the smartest and most factually reliable model. Claude still dominates agentic work (complex multi-step tasks), and GPT-5.2 sits comfortably in between. Price-wise, Gemini 3.1 Pro costs $4.50 per million tokens, which is cheaper than GPT-5.2 ($4.80) and roughly half the price of Claude Opus 4.6 ($10). Now here’s what’s actually new under the hood: A “medium” thinking mode. Gemini 3 Pro only had “low” and “high.” The new middle setting gives you solid reasoning without waiting minutes for an answer. On “high,” the model now acts like a mini version of Deep Think, Google’s advanced reasoning system. Fewer
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The pork scene discussions continue: Statement from the production company.
The pork scene discussions continue: Statement from the production company.
20.02.2026 10:11
The scene featuring pork in the series “Aynı Yağmur Altında,” starring Hülya Avşar, became a hot topic on social media. Following the reactions, the production company Baba Yapım released a written statement.
After a long time, Hülya Avşar’s return to screens has sparked discussions on social media regarding the “pork meat” scene in the series Under the Same Rain. While some users criticized the scene based on their religious sensitivities, the production company Baba Yapım made a public statement regarding the issue.
‘A MANIPULATED DINING SCENE’
In the statement from the production company, it was argued that the scene that became a topic on social media was taken out of context. It was expressed that the scene in question is not a conflict of beliefs or lifestyles, but rather “a modern depiction of the ancient war between arrogance and courtesy.”
The statement noted that the scene does not carry a polarizing purpose; on the contrary, it emphasized the importance of social consensus and common morality:
”The manipulated dining scene in our series Under the Same Rain is not a conflict of beliefs or lifestyles, but a modern depiction of the ancient war between arrogance and courtesy.
The design of the scene, when not taken out of context, shows that it is not polarizing, but rather highlights the importance of social consensus and common morality.”
“NOT DIVISION BUT EMPHASIS ON UNIVERSAL VALUES”
In the statement, it was noted that the established dining table is not a space for division, and it conveyed the message that even the sharpest differences of opinion can be erased in the face of universal values. It was pointed out that the reaction in the scene comes not from “the other side,” but from the family of the character displaying a rude attitude, indicating that this is a conscious dramatic choice.
”That dining table is not a space for division; on the contrary, it shows how even the sharpest differences of opinion can be erased in the face of universal values. The power of the scene lies in the fact that the reaction to rudeness is not from ‘the other side,’ but rather from the family of the character displaying that rude attitude.
The virtuous stance exhibited by our characters implies that the antidote to polarization is the courage to say ‘stop’ to the wrong within ourselves. This situation is also proof that morality and respect are too great to fit into any ideological mold and too universal to be confined to any identity.”
“THE BELIEF IN WALKING UNDER THE SAME RAIN”
Baba Yapım stated that they believe the values that make a person human are more profound than artificial agendas. It was expressed that the discussions conducted through a scene of the series did not break their determination, but rather strengthened the belief in “walking under the same rain by caring for each other’s sensitivities.”
While discussions continue on social media, it has become a matter of curiosity how the issue will be addressed in the new episodes of the series. -
Google Gemini Pro 3.1: Alphabet Updates Its Benchmark AI, Analysis Says It Undercuts OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Anthropic’s Claude On Cost
Gemini Pro 3.1 has already topped benchmarks such as Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index and APEX-Agents leaderboard.
Google shares hit a fresh high on Feb. 2 before sliding sharply amid a broad selloff in tech stocks.
Stocktwits sentiment for GOOGL is ‘bearish.’
The November rollout of the Gemini 3 and Gemini 3 Pro AI models drew broad industry praise, helped secure a key Apple AI partnership, and lifted Alphabet’s stock and last-quarter earnings. Now, their next iteration is pushing the benchmarks even higher.
Google released Gemini 3.1 Pro in preview on Thursday, and tech analysts note that it is a big step up from its predecessor.
The model has shot to the top of the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, four points ahead of Claude Opus 4.6. The model scores highest among peers across 6 of the 10 evaluation parameters and can run at less than half the cost of frontier models from OpenAI and Anthropic.
Gemini 3.1 Pro has shown the biggest gains in reasoning and knowledge, coding, and hallucination reduction, according to the analysis.
‘Gemini 3.1 Pro is now at the top of the APEX-Agents leaderboard,’ said Brendan Foody, the CEO of AI startup Mercor, whose benchmarking system, APEX, is designed to measure how well new AI models perform real professional tasks.
‘It also completes 5 tasks that no model has ever been able to do before,’ he said in the post, adding that the model’s impressive results show ‘how quickly agents are improving at real knowledge work.’
What This Means For Alphabet Stock
Google has been riding high since the Gemini 3 release put the company right at the forefront of AI development.
GOOGL shares gained by over 65% last year, the highest in the Magnificent Seven group. They hit a fresh record on Feb. 2, before a sharp slide amid a broad tech selloff from AI-related fears and high capex plans by Big Tech companies, including Google.
Amid the slide, Stocktwits sentiment for GOOGL remained ‘bearish,’ unchanged since Wednesday.
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CRISPR Therapeutics Gains After Earnings as Pipeline Hope Grows
CRISPR Therapeutics Today CRSP CRISPR Therapeutics $53.49 -0.03 (-0.06%) 52-Week Range $30.04 ▼ $78.48 Price Target $64.24 Add to Watchlist CRISPR Therapeutics AG NASDAQ: CRSP stock is up more than 12% after the gene editing pioneer reported its Q4 2025 earnings on Feb. 13. At first glance, that may seem contradictory. The company posted a larger net loss than forecast, and revenue came in at a fraction of expectations. Get CRISPR Therapeutics alerts: Sign Up But CRISPR is a long-term story that is still in the early innings. The company has moved past its proof-of-concept phase, but investors will have to be patient. The payoff as the company moves into a mature growth phase is likely a year or two away. Putting the Earnings Report Into Context In December 2023, CRISPR received U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) approval for CASGEVY. This was the company’s flagship gene therapy for sickle cell disease and beta thalassemia. It was the first CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing technology to be approved by the FDA. CRSP stock, however, is down approximately 19% since that announcement. Some of that has to do with growth already being priced in. However, some of it has to do with the nature of CRISPR’s partnership with Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. NASDAQ: VRTX. The partnership was critical to getting CASGEVY approved. But it also comes with a revenue split arrangement whereby CRISPR only recognizes revenue after Vertex has recouped a certain share of its launch and manufacturing costs. So while CASGEVY generated $54 million in the most recent quarter, CRISPR reported quarterly revenue of just $0.86 million. This helps frame the investment thesis for CRSP stock. On the one hand, there is an increase in patients receiving CASGEVY. On the other hand, the company is reporting larger losses from operations as it works to bring additional pipeline candidates to market. The key number may be the company’s cash and investment balance of around $1.9 billion. That should provide a runway of three to four years. The Pipeline Holds the Key Even if adoption for CASGEVY continues to accelerate, there are structural costs that will make financial viability challenging. The treatments are given at once and at a high cost. That will require payment plans that stretch out revenue recognition. That’s where, as with most biotechnology stocks, CRISPR’s pipeline comes into play. One of the more promising candidates is CTX611. This is in clinical trials for the prevention of blood clots (caused by strokes or deep vein thrombosis). The treatment targets the Factor XI protein, which is involved in bad clot formation, without impacting normal blood clotting for minor, everyday cuts. CRISPR is currently testing CTX611 (SRSD107) in a Phase 2 trial for total knee arthroplasty (TKA). Blood clotting is a common post-operative complication in TKA procedures. Early data in humans show it’s been well tolerated and produces strong, durable effects, with the potential for dosing as infrequently as every six weeks via the company’s siRNA platform, which also allows for designed reversibility. If larger trials confirm lower bleeding risk plus convenient, infrequent dosing, CTX611 could tap into a roughly 20‑billion‑dollar global anticoagulation market and become a meaningful growth driver. One Thing to Check Before Getting Involved With CRSP Stock Analyst sentiment corroborates the ‘wait-and-see” story for CRISPR Therapeutics. The consensus rating is a Hold, punctuated by two sell ratings. That includes the recent Underweight rating issued by Morgan Stanley. Notably, the firm assigned a price target of $33 to CRSP stock, which would put it within approximately 10% of its 52-week low. While the overall chart wouldn’t seem to support such a move, which
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The ASHA worker’s mental health paradox
Netradipa Patil, an ASHA worker from Kolhapur, looks at 52-year-old Haseena Atar as a daughter she brought back to life. In 2019, when Atar lost her entire family within a year, she sank into depression. Patil and two other colleagues, trained in mental health awareness, stepped in. They conversed with Atar, visited her regularly and cleaned her home, brought food, and ensured she took her medicines on time. Today, Atar has regained her health and independence to a great extent, thanks to the three ASHA workers who went beyond their call of duty. Stories like these reveal the emotional labour that India’s 10.4 lakh Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) perform daily. Despite being a voluntary workforce, ASHAs are often the first point of contact in rural healthcare. They juggle maternal and child health, immunisation, TB monitoring, non-communicable disease surveys, record-keeping (online and offline), and countless other tasks. And their meagre monthly pay, varying by State — from ₹6,400 in Madhya Pradesh to ₹13,000 in Maharashtra — is often delayed. Recently, in some regions, ASHAs have taken on the duty of ‘mental health gatekeepers’ under both government and NGO programmes. The National Health Mission (NHM) has started integrating mental health modules into ASHA training nationwide. ASHAs are being asked to counsel adolescents, identify depression, anxiety and suicide risk, creating crucial awareness even as they themselves remain overburdened and underpaid. Distress calls Over 56 million Indians live with depression and 38 million with anxiety disorders. The National Crime Records Bureau recorded 1,71,418 suicides in 2023. Despite the 2017 Mental Healthcare Act decriminalising suicide, rural mental health support continues to be limited and is often stigma-ridden. This is where ASHAs, with their deep-rooted community knowledge, come in. ‘Specialised training is provided in areas where mental health issues are more prevalent. ASHAs are capable of handling this training as they understand their community well, which gives them an advantage,’ says Mohd. Sadiq Khan, a trainer with the National Health Systems Resource Centre in Jammu and Kashmir. At NIMHANS, Bengaluru, Dr. Anish V. Cherian leads Project Suraksha, a community-based suicide prevention initiative in nearby Channapatna Taluk. NIMHANS has trained over 1,000 ASHAs and Anganwadi workers to raise suicide awareness, identify people at risk, ‘reduce access to means like pesticides and alcohol’, and link them with mental healthcare options. ‘We’ve already identified over 800 cases of attempted suicide, many through ASHAs. Suicide is rarely impulsive, so identifying attempters and providing timely interventions is key,’ says Dr. Cherian. Anusuya Lokesh now recognises symptoms like hallucination, anxiety, excessive anger and restlessness as possible signs of mental illness. These would be attributed to superstitious beliefs earlier. ‘Now we know it’s brain chemistry. And there’s no shame, treatment is possible,’ says the ASHA worker from Rampura, Channapatna. In Madhya Pradesh, 14,570 ASHAs have been trained in mental health, neurological disorders, and substance abuse since 2020, says Dr. Prabhakar Tiwari, Senior Joint Director, National Health Mission. Though there is no data yet, mental health clinics in the State are showing evidence of this awareness initiative ‘percolating to rural areas,’ he says. For most ASHAs, mental health is new terrain. ‘I didn’t know we could talk and make someone feel better,’ says Sita Chaurey, an ASHA from Narmadapuram, who was trained by Sangath, a mental health non-profit working with the Madhya Pradesh government. Since 2019, about 5,000 ASHAs have been trained across several districts, says Dr. Anant Bhan, principal investigator at Sangath. The organisation pays the ASHAs a small sum for their work. Chaurey and her peers screen pregnant and postpartum women using the PHQ-9, a question-based depression checklist. ‘Building trust is
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Automated Lead Response: The Fastest-Growing SMB Use Case
AI continues to expand across enterprise software. In the SMB SaaS sector, one use case is quickly gaining traction: automated lead response. For small and mid-sized businesses, speed is often the difference between winning and losing new customers. AI-powered systems now enable instant replies to incoming emails, messaging, or website contact forms. AI can do well in these functions because it’s response speed reduces operational drag and improves conversion rates. It checks the biggest box for SMB AI deployments, which is to save them the scarcest resource of all: time. As we often say, the value proposition for SMB software shouldn’t be the typical list of feature-based jargon, but simply to give them more time with their kids. They also want more time to be dentists and roofers and nail artists, rather than huddled over a laptop to respond to customer questions. For them, time is revenue. Of course, many SMBs have support staff for marketing and operational workflows, such as scheduling appointments. But those resources can be costly and slow. AI doesn’t take lunch breaks nor vacations, and can respond to incoming leads in seconds – which is often what it takes to win new business. ‘In an industry where the first to respond often wins the job, this integration gives pros a critical edge, turning speed to lead into a real competitive advantage,’ Yelp SVP of Business and Corporate Development Chad Richard told Localogy last week in reference to a new AI lead-response tool. Show Rather than Tell To synthesize some of the activity in this area, we’ve rounded up examples to show rather than tell. Below are a few recent products that automate the process of turning inbound leads into new business. 1. Yelp’s Job Inbox Yelp last week launched a new integration with lead management tool Housecall Pro. Together, they offer a Job Inbox that’s connected to Yelp’s Request a Quote feature. The latter has become a staple of Yelp’s UX, and of the lead-generation pipeline for home services SMBs. Nowm Housecall Pro plugs right into it, thereby automating replies and freeing SMBs to do what they’re good at. 2. Thryv’s Growth-Marketing Engine Thryv recently launched a set of marketing tools to help SMBs scale by automating lead-optimization and fulfillment functions. Targeted towards home-services businesses (sensing a theme?), it specializes in processing leads via input forms, agentic estimates, appointment scheduling, and other automation that can carry the voice and intentions of the business. Thryv’s take: Home services pros are often too busy in the field or uninterested in dealing with such manual tasks, so it’s offering to have their back. 3. Scorpion Closes the Lead Gap The dirty little secret of local advertising & commerce is that businesses spend all kinds of money on getting their phones to ring… then they don’t answer the phone. In that sense, SMBs don’t have a marketing problem… they have an operational problem, says Scorpion CRO Jamie Adams. For that reason, Scorpion recently launched a new product called Convert, meant to be a first line of defense for SMB inbound leads. Like many of the above products, it automates quick responses to inbound leads so that prospects can get an immediate feedback loop. SMBs can then intervene with a human touch for the highest-value and pressing leads. 4. Vendasta Pioneers AIFM There’s been a longstanding sliding scale in the world of SMB marketing: DIY versus DIWM (do it with me) and DIFM (do it for me). Vendasta is pioneering the next point on that continuum: Automate it for me (AIFM). Its new line of custom AI employees is meant to