Weekly DaaS Roundup November 6

Welcome to the latest edition of the World of DaaS Roundup. This week, data leaders are rethinking retention in the AI era: turning renewals into growth through smarter integrations and ROI. Plus: Walmart’s AI workforce shift, the Amazon–Perplexity showdown, new funding in AI, and the latest World of DaaS podcast on fixing law enforcement data.

 📰 NEWS AND READS

The Great Renewal: How Data Leaders Are Reducing Churn World of DaaS

• At our latest roundtable, executives shared strategies for turning renewals into growth - focusing on faster integrations, measurable ROI, and relationship-driven retention in the AI era.

“Every Job Will Change”: Walmart CEO on AI Workforce BusinessChief

• Doug McMillon warns that AI will reshape roles at Walmart, from cashiers to C-suite leaders, and explains how the company is up-skilling its 2.1 million-strong workforce to stay relevant.

Is AI Really Thinking? Inside the Case for Machine “Intelligence” New Yorker

• James Somers explores whether large language models do more than shuffle words — questioning whether they’re approaching genuine understanding or just convincing illusions.

Amazon vs. Perplexity: The AI Shopping Agent Showdown Business Insider

• Perplexity claims Amazon threatened legal action to block its AI-agent from placing purchases on Amazon’s platform — a clash that reveals the growing friction between AI agents and platform commerce control.

🎧 THE LATEST WORLD OF DAAS PODCAST

Law Enforcement's Data Problem: Why 50% of Murders Go Unsolved

Garrett Langley is the co-founder and CEO of Flock Safety, an Atlanta-based public safety technology company recently valued at $7.5 billion. Flock manufactures hardware like license plate recognition cameras, drones, and gunshot detection systems, as well as software used by thousands of communities and law enforcement agencies across the U.S.

In this episode of World of DaaS, Garrett and Auren discuss:

• The broken state of law enforcement data infrastructure

• Why 60% of murders go unsolved in America

• Manufacturing high tech hardware in the United States

• How AI and drones are changing public safety

• Why Atlanta is winning at hard tech over Silicon Valleyhe job o

🔥 IN CASE YOU MISSED IT…

M&A Funding Roundup

• Resource for Artificial Intelligence Science in Europe (RAISE)- Launched by the European Commission with ~€107 million (~US$123 million) funding to advance AI in science across Europe

• Electric Mind- Raised $100 million, strategic investment by Motive Partners to super-charge AI-led transformation in financial services

• Teleskope- Raised $25 million (Series A), founded by a former Airbnb engineer, building an AI-security platform for enterprise risk and cyber defense

• Weavy- Acquired by Figma — Tel-Aviv based AI-powered media generation startup (image + video) joins Figma under new brand “Figma Weave”

👋 WELCOME NEW WORLD OF DAAS MEMBERS

We’re excited to welcome our newest Founding Members to the World of DaaS community: Jay Birk (Redica Systems), Kartik Chopra (Adelphi Data), Jan Čurn (Apify), Sara Fagen (Tunnl), Florent Breton (Paren), Julien Khaleghy (SerpApi), Dan Mosher (Deal Ground), Vincent Pietrafesa (Stirista), Carrie Ryan (Trustpilot), Dan Troup (Cribio), Ervin Ruci (Geolytica)

If you are a DaaS leader and want to be part of this growing community, apply to join World of DaaS and get access to private events, curated connections, and more.

 💼 WORLD OF DAAS JOB BOARD

Showcasing open roles at companies led by members of our community. A few standout opportunities this week:

• Product Management Director - Data Solutions at Stirista

• Founding Machine Learning Engineer at The Forecasting Company

• Head of Monetization Strategy at Trustpilot

Looking to showcase an open role? The World of DaaS job board highlights opportunities from members across our community. Apply to join and get access to exclusive perks including job board postings, curated introductions, private events, and more.

🔍 REGISTER FOR 2026 WORLD OF DAAS SUMMIT

We’re headed back to D.C. next May for our flagship event, bringing together 160+ DaaS leaders for a day of candid conversations, curated roundtables, and private networking experiences. Join the leaders shaping the future of data.

Apply to become a World of DaaS Founding Member and secure your summit ticket for just $500.

🤖🎨 MACHINE-MADE MASTERPIECE

prompt: baseball of the future