AI Transitions From Strategy to Infrastructure: Google, Chinese Models, and Government Transparency Lead Shift

Welcome to today's edition of AI Business Weekly. From Google's $30-per-month enterprise AI platform to the quiet surge of Chinese open-source models reshaping Silicon Valley, this week reveals artificial intelligence transitioning from boardroom strategy to operational infrastructure. Canada launches North America's first comprehensive government AI transparency register, while vertical-specific platforms secure substantial funding: Gosta Labs raises €7.5 million for oncology workflows and Onton captures $7.5 million to expand AI-powered shopping beyond furniture. These developments underscore a pivotal shift—AI is no longer being evaluated as a potential advantage but deployed as essential infrastructure across commerce, healthcare, and government operations. Let's dive in.

Google Cloud launched Gemini Enterprise at $30 per user monthly, integrating workplace AI across Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, Salesforce, and SAP through a single conversational interface. The platform distinguishes itself through cross-ecosystem compatibility and no-code agent building, with early customers including Virgin Voyages (50+ deployed agents) and HCA Healthcare reporting potential savings of millions of annual hours through automated nurse handoff documentation. Read more

American AI companies are adopting open-source Chinese models from DeepSeek and Alibaba that now rival proprietary US systems while offering substantial cost advantages, according to interviews with over 15 founders and engineers. Productivity app Dayflow reports 40 percent of users choose open-source models over GPT-5, with closed-model usage costing up to $1,000 per person versus dramatically cheaper alternatives. The shift has prompted American responses including OpenAI's first open-source release in five years and the Allen Institute's ATOM Project to reclaim US leadership. Read more

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Canada's Treasury Board launched the federal government's first public AI register on November 28, cataloging over 400 artificial intelligence systems across 43 organizations from exploration through deployment stages. The transparency initiative, announced by President Shafqat Ali, provides details on each system's purpose, current use, and vendor status, positioning Canada among the first nations to provide comprehensive government AI disclosure. Public consultations throughout 2026 will refine the register's design as part of Prime Minister Carney's digital transformation agenda. Read more

Helsinki-based Gosta Labs closed an oversubscribed €7.5 million seed round led by Voima Ventures to expand its AI operating system that reduces oncology documentation time to under two minutes—a two-thirds reduction per patient visit. Founded by serial entrepreneurs who previously built Kaiku Health (acquired by Elekta in 2020), the platform operates with providers across Finland, Switzerland, the Baltics, and Australia, with ESMO 2025 Congress results validating real-world clinical effectiveness. The round brings total funding to nearly €10 million as the company pursues medical device certification. Read more

San Francisco-based Onton secured $7.5 million led by Footwork to expand its neuro-symbolic AI shopping platform from furniture into apparel and electronics, following 40-fold user growth from 50,000 to over 2 million monthly active users. The company differentiates through hybrid architecture combining neural networks with explicit rules to eliminate hallucination problems, achieving conversion rates 3 to 5 times higher than traditional e-commerce according to company data. The funding brings total capital raised to approximately $10 million as Onton aims to collapse the average 79-day purchase decision timeline. Read more

Today's developments reveal artificial intelligence crossing a threshold from experimentation to infrastructure—yet the economic and strategic questions grow more complex, not simpler. Google's Gemini Enterprise and Canada's transparency register represent institutionalization, while the Chinese open-source surge challenges fundamental assumptions about whether closed, proprietary models justify their premium pricing when free alternatives approach comparable performance. Vertical applications like Gosta Labs and Onton demonstrate AI's ability to collapse decision timelines and administrative burden, but sustainable value capture remains unproven as retailers and healthcare systems evaluate building similar capabilities internally. The most consequential tension emerging isn't technological—it's whether AI platforms become defensible businesses or commoditized infrastructure that shifts value to whoever controls distribution and customer relationships. As capital pours into deployment, the winners will likely be determined not by who builds the most sophisticated models, but by who solves the economics of sustained differentiation in an increasingly open-source world.