About
An independent, outcome-first guide to the business of AI
The goal is simple: cut through the hype and show how AI actually creates value — for independent operators, founders, and investors — with real numbers and honest ROI.
Most coverage of AI is either breathless hype or a directory of 28,000 tools with no view on which ones earn their keep. We take the opposite approach — fewer, deeper answers built around a single question: does it work, and is it worth it? Every piece is anchored in concrete figures, named companies, and usable frameworks rather than speculation.
What we cover
Solo
AI for independent operators — services, productized offers, and lean systems.
Startups
Funding, go-to-market, and the economics of building AI products.
B2B
Enterprise implementation — cost savings, ROI, and what actually works.
VC
How capital moves in AI: funds, rounds, valuations, and returns.
Government
Public spending, procurement, regulation, and sovereign AI.
Robots
The economics of physical AI — costs, supply chains, and opportunities.
Society
How AI reshapes jobs, education, and daily life — beyond the hype.
Learn
AI skills, careers, and the certifications that map to real salaries.
Tools & Models
350+ AI tools reviewed against ROI, plus an LLM model leaderboard.
The Library: free original guides
Alongside the articles, we publish an author’s Library of original methods for governing AI from the human side — free, with no email or registration required. It currently holds 7 guides, built around a three-document system: a public AI Policy, an AI Service Passport, and an AI Receipt.
- Your Company's AI Through the Customer's Eyes For entrepreneurs
the five requests of your most demanding customer, with worked samples of all three documents.
- Demand the AI Receipt For consumers
the companion guide — what to demand from corporate AI, with a ready-to-send message per chapter.
- Start with Your Services For leaders
a 7-step playbook for adopting AI in business, nonprofits, and public institutions.
- AI Transparency Kit Templates
editable materials for telling customers about your AI — EU AI Act disclosure done the caring way.
- Consumer Control of AI Method
how ordinary people can judge the quality of any AI service, with an assessment card.
What we offer
The methods published in the Library are also available as hands-on services. They are run by Sergei Ponomarev personally, not by an agency.
AI Service Check
An independent test purchase of your customer-facing AI agent: does it keep the promises your company published, and does its own account of the conversation match what your system recorded? Findings come with verbatim quotes, a ranked fix list and a re-check.
Learn more →AI Visibility Audit
A report on how ChatGPT and AI search engines read and cite your website (GEO), measured live on your domain.
Learn more →Submit Your Story
A free written interview for companies building with AI, published under our masthead with an editorial check.
Learn more →More services will be added as the methodology develops. Everything published in the Library stays free regardless.
Editorial standards
What we hold ourselves to
We prioritize verifiable numbers, clearly stated assumptions, and practical takeaways. When something is uncertain, we say so. When a tool or strategy has a downside, we name it. Commercial services never buy coverage: a listing, a story, or a mention is never for sale.
How these articles are made
Research and first drafts are produced with the help of AI; every article is then edited and fact-checked personally by Sergei Ponomarev, who holds editorial responsibility for everything published on this site. AI helps gather material and draft — the judgment, the checking, and the final word are human.
Who’s behind it
AI Business was founded and is led by Sergei Ponomarev, who writes and edits across the site.
For more than 20 years I have worked on making services open, clear and usable for the people who use them: seven years running nationwide monitoring of public services, hundreds of independent quality assessments and test purchases, and the Information Openness Standard written for the Perm City Duma. For the last year and a half I have been building software and AI agents hands-on.
AI Business is where those two worlds meet: two decades of understanding how institutions really adopt technology, pointed at the question everyone now asks, where does AI create real value?
Education, academic publications and international programmes are on the personal page. Questions or feedback? See our privacy policy or reach out via LinkedIn.