Applied AI Review of the Past Month: What Are Companies Actually Building with AI?

Analyzed 136 AI adoption cases released over the last 20 days to compile 10 key examples showing how companies are actually leveraging AI. Each case distinguishes between company claims and future goals.

Key Application Areas

• Hospital Logistics Drones: Narayana Health and Airbound are using drones to transport diagnostic samples in Bengaluru. Airbound has completed over 1,000 flights, reducing a 2.5-mile (approx. 4 km) route from 3–5 hours by road to 7 minutes. Narayana’s new hospital is designed to connect to a central facility via drones without an on-site diagnostic lab.
• Autonomous Trucks: Gatik operates 41 autonomous trucks for PepsiCo’s Frito-Lay products in Dallas, Phoenix, and Northwest Arkansas. Initially limited to fixed routes under 10 miles, operations now include dynamic routes up to 400 miles with dozens of stops. Gatik’s CEO claimed $600 million in contract revenue, though this differs from booked revenue.
• Flight Path Optimization: Google Research and UK Air Traffic Services (NATS) are testing routes that avoid contrail formation over the North Atlantic using AI weather forecasts. This 30-month pilot targets approximately 10,000 flights annually, using satellite observations to verify whether predicted contrails actually form.
• AI Repair Assistant: Caterpillar introduced an AI assistant that allows technicians to search repair procedures, troubleshoot issues, and identify parts via voice. The system is built on 1.6 million connected machines and 16 petabytes of structured data. It also utilizes digital twins and AI agents for software development and testing.
• Permission Management Agents: Intapp introduced AI agents that follow company-specific playbooks using proprietary data, industry ontologies, and institutional memory. Key features include permission controls and audit logs.