Major tech companies are actively expanding AI education access across the United States. Google partnered with two Missouri state agencies to offer free training to nearly 100,000 educators and 1.1 million students through the Grow with Google initiative. Participants gain access to Google Career Certificates and can utilize Gemini for Education to assist with lesson planning and research, provided school districts adopt the tools.
Similar initiatives are underway in other regions. Thunkable completed a pilot in West Virginia, teaching 120 high school students in Monongalia, Kanawha, and Berkeley counties to build mobile apps without code. Supported by The Rockefeller Foundation, the program resulted in about 80 applications designed to solve local community problems. Meanwhile, Samsung and the Mark Cuban Foundation announced a partnership to distribute a free AI curriculum to schools nationwide, focusing on research verification and ethical considerations like bias.
While education expands, the commercial AI sector sees significant market movement. Bloom Energy stock rose 24.5% in the past month as clean energy demand surges to power AI systems. Arm Holdings gained 15.4% in the second quarter of 2026 due to strong infrastructure demand, even as Meta Platforms and Amazon faced slight declines. The S&P 500 index rose 13.4% during this period.
Specific applications of AI are also evolving in business operations. Kuailu AI CRM 2.0 automates sales data entry, saving representatives two hours daily. Presentations.AI, used by 12 million users, added automation to generate slides from documents and refresh recurring reports using data from Salesforce or HubSpot. In the physical world, Maven Robotics raised $100 million to deploy autonomous warehouse robots capable of lifting 30 kilograms with 99% uptime.
Financial infrastructure and specialized hardware are also adapting. Five companies, including Visa, Amazon, and Affirm, are building infrastructure for AI agent spending, with Shopify reporting AI-driven orders tripled year over year. Inspiren raised $70 million to scale its Physical AI technology for senior living, helping partners reduce injury-causing falls by 63% and extend stay durations by 34%.
Key Takeaways
- Google partners with Missouri agencies to provide free AI training to 100,000 educators and 1.1 million students using Gemini for Education.
- Thunkable taught 120 West Virginia high school students to build 80 AI-powered mobile apps without writing code.
- Samsung and the Mark Cuban Foundation launched a free AI curriculum for U.S. students to teach research verification and ethics.
- Bloom Energy stock rose 24.5% as AI boom drives demand for clean energy technologies.
- Arm Holdings stock increased 15.4% in Q2 2026 due to strong demand for AI infrastructure hardware.
- Kuailu AI CRM 2.0 automates sales data entry, saving representatives two hours daily.
- Presentations.AI updated its platform to automate slide generation and refresh reports using Salesforce or HubSpot data.
- Inspiren raised $70 million to expand Physical AI for senior living, reducing falls by 63% for partners.
- Maven Robotics secured $100 million to build autonomous warehouse robots with 99% uptime.
- Visa, Amazon, and Affirm are building infrastructure for AI agent spending as Shopify reports AI orders tripled.
Missouri agencies partner with Google for free AI training
Two Missouri state agencies partnered with Google to offer free artificial intelligence training to educators, students, and job seekers. The Missouri Department of Higher Education and Workforce Development and the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education are using the Grow with Google initiative to provide access to Google Career Certificates and AI courses. This program aims to help nearly 100,000 educators and 1.1 million students in the state build skills for higher-earning careers. Participants can also use Google for Education AI tools like Gemini for Education to create lesson plans and support research. School districts have full discretion on whether to adopt these tools, which focus on safe and ethical AI use.
West Virginia students build apps in Thunkable AI pilot
Thunkable completed a pilot program in West Virginia that taught 120 high school students how to build mobile applications using artificial intelligence. Supported by The Rockefeller Foundation, the program took place in schools across Monongalia, Kanawha, and Berkeley counties. Students in grades 9 through 12 learned to create apps for iPhone, Android, and web platforms without writing code. About 80 final applications were built to help classmates and communities solve real-world problems. The initiative aimed to improve AI literacy in a state where many students previously had limited access to technology and broadband.
Samsung partners with Mark Cuban Foundation for free AI classes
Samsung Electronics and the Mark Cuban Foundation announced a partnership to distribute a free artificial intelligence curriculum to schools across the United States. The program offers seven sessions for students in grades six through 12 to teach them how to use AI for research and verify its results. Students will learn to build their own AI projects and understand ethical issues like bias in AI output. This collaboration responds to a survey finding that 97% of teachers need more support to bring new technologies into the classroom. The Mark Cuban Foundation has been running free AI bootcamps since 2019, focusing on students who have had limited access to technology education.
Bloom Energy stock rises as AI boom boosts power demand
Bloom Energy stock price rose by 24.5% in the past month due to increasing demand for clean energy driven by the artificial intelligence boom. American Century Investments highlighted this growth in its second-quarter 2026 investor letter for the Focused Dynamic Growth Fund. The letter noted that U.S. stocks advanced sharply with the S&P 500 index rising 13.4% during the quarter. As more companies invest in renewable energy sources to power AI systems, the demand for clean energy technologies is expected to increase. This trend is likely to continue driving growth in the stock price of companies like Bloom Energy.
Arm Holdings stock gains on strong AI infrastructure demand
Arm Holdings stock price increased by 15.4% during the second quarter of 2026 due to strong demand for its AI infrastructure and CPU technology. American Century Investments praised the company in its investor letter for the Focused Dynamic Growth Fund, noting a positive outlook for the technology sector. Although the technology sector saw a slight pullback because of declines in Meta Platforms and Amazon, overall market sentiment remained positive. The S&P 500 index rose 12.1% over the quarter as AI-related stocks continued to drive growth. Arm Holdings is recognized as a leading provider of the hardware needed to support the expanding artificial intelligence industry.
Kuailu AI CRM 2.0 Automates Sales Data Entry
Kuailu AI CRM has launched version 2.0 to help businesses track sales data more efficiently. The new platform uses advanced AI to automate manual data entry, which currently wastes two hours daily for many sales representatives. Key features include real-time analytics, personalized customer experiences, and seamless integration with existing systems. These upgrades aim to improve sales productivity, customer engagement, and revenue growth for businesses.
Inspiren Raises $70M to Scale Physical AI for Seniors
Inspiren raised $70 million in Series C funding to expand its Physical AI technology for senior living facilities. The company helps care teams monitor residents by detecting falls and predicting emergencies in real time. Partners like Aegis Living and Clearwater Living report significant improvements, including a 34% longer stay duration and a 63% drop in injury-causing falls. With this funding, Inspiren plans to grow its hardware ecosystem and deepen its AI platform to serve more communities.
Five Stocks Positioned for AI Agent Spending Growth
AI agents are gaining the ability to make purchases, but trust remains a barrier for autonomous transactions. Five companies are building the necessary infrastructure to handle these payments securely. Fair Isaac is seeing a 41% rise in scores revenue as agents query credit data. Shopify reports that AI-driven orders have tripled year over year. Visa, Amazon, and Affirm are also key players, with Visa processing over $4 trillion in payments and Amazon seeing a fivefold increase in Alexa shopping interactions.
Maven Robotics Raises $100M for Autonomous Warehouse Robots
Maven Robotics emerged from stealth after raising $100 million to build autonomous robots for warehouses. The company focuses on mixed palletizing, where robots arrange mixed goods onto wooden pallets based on real-time demand. Their third-generation robots move at 10 miles per hour and can lift 30 kilograms with 99% uptime. Founded by Derbas and his brother Khalid, the team leverages experience from self-driving car projects to create reliable industrial robots.
Presentations.AI Adds Automation for Business Slides
Presentations.AI, trusted by 12 million users, updated its platform to automate and scale professional slide generation. The tool creates presentations from prompts or documents in under a minute and applies company branding automatically. New features include Presentation Refresh technology to update recurring reports based on changing data from sources like Salesforce or HubSpot. Users can also generate audience-specific versions of a master presentation while keeping the core design and brand consistent.
Sources
- Missouri education agencies partner with Google for free AI training
- Thunkable Education Pilot for West Virginia Students Builds Future-Ready AI, Entrepreneurship, and App Development Skills
- Samsung Teams With Mark Cuban Foundation on Free AI Classes
- Increasing Power Demand Amid AI Boom Strengthens Bloom Energy (BE)
- Arm Holdings (ARM): AI Infrastructure and CPU Demand Drive Upbeat Outlook
- Reinvented & Upgraded: Kuailu AI CRM into the 2.0 Era
- Inspiren Raises $70M Series C to Scale Physical AI for Senior Living
- AI Agents Are About to Start Spending Your Money. 5 Stocks Sitting in the Line of Fire.
- Maven Robotics wants to steal your robot deployment deal
- Presentations.ai Slide Generator for Investor Pitch Decks and Sales PPT's 2026 Update - 12 Million Users Trust The AI Powerpoint Maker To Automate and Scale Professional AI Slide Generation With Branding, Design and Data
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