Although little is still known about it, it has now been confirmed that a second sequel to the '80s action blockbuster Top Gun— following the enormous, billion-dollar success of its cinema-saving sequel, Top Gun: Maverick— is now in the works. Currently in early development at Paramount, Christopher McQuarrie has confirmed that the idea for a third Top Gun movie has been developed, with plans to pen a script now underway. Sometime soon, we're likely to get another update on the journey to more M
Although little is still known about it, it has now been confirmed that a second sequel to the '80s action blockbuster Top Gun— following the enormous, billion-dollar success of its cinema-saving sequel, Top Gun: Maverick— is now in the works. Currently in early development at Paramount, Christopher McQuarrie has confirmed that the idea for a third Top Gun movie has been developed, with plans to pen a script now underway. Sometime soon, we're likely to get another update on the journey to more Maverick.
Jean-Claude Van Damme's beloved action thriller SuddenDeath is currently available on 4K UHD from Kino Lorber, and fans can pick up the two-disc collector's edition at a substantial discount. Originally released on August 27, 2024, the set is now on sale through Kino Lorber for $26.57, down from its original retail price of $39.95.
Jean-Claude Van Damme's beloved action thriller SuddenDeath is currently available on 4K UHD from Kino Lorber, and fans can pick up the two-disc collector's edition at a substantial discount. Originally released on August 27, 2024, the set is now on sale through Kino Lorber for $26.57, down from its original retail price of $39.95.
An AI agent doesn't just respond to customers; it resolves their problems independently, without human involvement.About one-third of service calls are already handled by AI, according to Salesforce's November 2025 State of Service report, and that number will hit 50% by 2027. But what percentage of those calls are–or could be–resolved by AI without human intervention? That is an entirely different question. AI agents are no longer just for enterprise. SMBs are adopting them to reduce costs, han
An AI agent doesn't just respond to customers; it resolves their problems independently, without human involvement.
About one-third of service calls are already handled by AI, according to Salesforce's November 2025 State of Service report, and that number will hit 50% by 2027. But what percentage of those calls are–or could be–resolved by AI without human intervention? That is an entirely different question.
AI agents are no longer just for enterprise. SMBs are adopting them to reduce costs, handle volume, and compete with larger players on service quality.
This guide is for the SMB owner or operator evaluating these tools for the first time.
What Is an Agentic AI Agent for Customer Service?
Originally, AI agents were non-agentic, similar to chatbots and AI-powered support platforms. But the term gets used loosely, and the differences matter when you're deciding what to buy:
Differences Between Chatbots, AI-powered Support Platforms, and AI Agents
The term “AI agent” has a precise meaning in the industry, but you would not know it from browsing the market. True AI agents can reason through problems, take independent action, and complete multi-step tasks without a human directing each move.
Most of what gets sold under that label cannot do any of that. Instead, it is AI-powered customer service software, which can be genuinely useful, but it is not the same thing.
The distinction matters because if you search for "AI agent" and buy the first thing that comes up, there is a good chance you are buying something far less capable than the name implies.
This table explains the differences:
True AI agents typically cost 2-3x more than a chatbot, but a chatbot that can't resolve the issue just moves the cost to your support team.
Why SMBs Are Adopting AI Agents Now
Two-thirds of businesses that have already adopted AI agents report measurable productivity gains, according to PwC's AI Agent Survey. More than half say they're seeing real cost savings and faster decision-making. And 54% credit AI agents with improving the customer experience.
Customers today expect fast answers wherever they reach out, whether that's chat, email, or social. Hiring enough staff to cover all those channels around the clock isn't realistic for most small businesses. Basic chatbots are affordable, but anyone who's used one knows how quickly they hit a wall. AI agents are a different thing entirely. They can handle complex, multi-step conversations across channels without the overhead of a full support team.
Nearly three-quarters of executives surveyed expect their AI agent strategy to be a significant competitive advantage within the next 12 months, and 46% are already worried they're falling behind. That's not just enterprises competing with other enterprises. SMBs are going to feel this too, competing with other SMBs who move faster.
What to Look for When Choosing an AI Agent Platform
Knowing AI agents deliver results is one thing. Choosing the right platform is where most SMBs get stuck. Not all AI agent platforms are built the same, and the wrong choice can mean paying for capability you can't use or getting locked into something you'll outgrow. These six factors are worth evaluating before you commit to any platform:
1. Resolution Capability
The most important question to ask any vendor is whether their agent actually resolves issues or just routes them. Triaging a customer inquiry and handing it off to a human likely isn't much of an upgrade over what you already have.
Look for platforms with documented resolution rates across real customer interactions, not just demo scenarios. That track record is the clearest signal of whether the AI is actually doing the work.
2. Omnichannel Support
Your customers aren't reaching out through one channel, and your AI agent shouldn't be limited to one either. A platform that handles chat but not email, or email but not voice, creates gaps that fall on your team to cover.
The goal is a single platform managing every channel consistently, so customers get the same quality of response whether they text, call, email, or open a chat window.
3. Ease of Use for Non-Technical Teams
If your support team needs to file a ticket with engineering every time they want to update the agent, the platform is going to create friction fast. The best platforms let support leaders configure, adjust, and retrain the agent themselves. That independence matters, especially for SMBs, where engineering resources are limited and support needs change quickly.
4. Integration with Existing Tools
An AI agent that can't talk to your CRM, helpdesk, or knowledge base is working blind. It needs access to customer history, open tickets, and your existing documentation to give accurate, useful responses. Before committing to any platform, map out which tools it needs to connect to and verify those integrations exist and actually work, not just that they're listed on a features page.
5. Responsible AI and Governance
This one gets skipped more than it should, especially by SMBs. If your agent is handling customer data, billing questions, or anything sensitive, you need to know how it makes decisions and where humans provide oversight. Look for platforms with clear oversight controls, visibility into the agent's reasoning, and relevant compliance certifications. A governance failure isn't just a technical problem, it's a customer trust problem.
6. Scalability
The platform that fits your business today needs to fit even when you've doubled your support volume or expanded into new channels. Switching platforms mid-growth is expensive and disruptive. Ask vendors directly how their pricing and architecture scale, and look for case studies from businesses that started where you are now.
Platforms Worth Considering
These platforms specifically describe their offerings as agentic, meaning they can act autonomously rather than just assist humans. Here's what to know about each:
Zendesk
Zendesk AI for customer service deploys AI agents that handle customer requests end-to-end across every channel while giving human agents real-time access to relevant knowledge for the conversations they do handle. It's one of the more established platforms on this list, which shows in its governance approach. Zendesk holds ISO 42001 certification for AI management systems with clear transparency and human oversight controls, making it a good fit for SMBs that need enterprise-grade reliability without the infrastructure to match.
Tidio Lyro
Lyro Conversational AI Agent sits in a useful middle ground, more capable than basic automation, less complex than enterprise platforms. It handles customer conversations across chat, email, and social media while taking real action in your business systems, checking order statuses, updating customer records, scheduling appointments, and escalating to a human when needed. Every response is grounded in your verified support content to keep answers accurate. Lyro is designed for SMBs that want true agentic capability without enterprise-level complexity or cost.
Fin (formerly Intercom)
Fin AI Customer Agent handles more than half of all customer questions without human intervention, pulling answers from your internal content, websites, PDFs, and databases across 45 languages. What sets it apart is how deeply it connects to existing business systems. It can retrieve and update customer data, process account changes, and take action directly within Salesforce, HubSpot, and Freshdesk. For SMBs already running those tools, that level of integration means the agent isn't just answering questions, it's actually taking action.
Gorgias
AI Agent Gorgias is built specifically for ecommerce brands, which makes it a different kind of tool than the others on this list. It handles the full range of ecommerce support, including order status, returns, and shipping updates, while also functioning as a shopping assistant that can recommend products during the conversation. It resolves around 60% of inquiries autonomously, supports 80+ languages, and integrates directly with Shopify and other ecommerce platforms to access real-time order and inventory data. If your business sells online, it's worth a close look.
Freshdesk
Freddy AI Agent is Freshworks' autonomous customer support and IT service agent, handling questions across Freshdesk, Freshservice, and Freshchat from a single platform. It manages the full support process without human intervention, working across email, chat, voice, and messaging. The flexibility to build custom agents for specific use cases makes it a practical fit for mid-sized SMBs that have outgrown basic automation but aren't ready for enterprise complexity. If your business is already in the Freshworks ecosystem, the integration is seamless.
Questions to Ask Before You Buy
Here are some questions an SMB decision-maker should ask any vendor before signing:
What is the average resolution rate?
How are agents updated when your products or policies change?
What governance controls are in place?
How long does it take to set up and train the AI on my business?
What happens when the AI can't answer a question or gets stuck?
How much does it cost per conversation or per resolved ticket?
Can I see real customer data from companies similar to mine?
What integrations do you have with my existing tools?
How do you handle customer data privacy and security?
Getting Started: A Simple Path to First AI Agent Deployment
Choosing the right AI agent isn't about picking the most advanced technology. It's about finding a platform that resolves customer issues reliably, scales with your business, and operates with the transparency and accountability your customers expect.
Start With Low-Stakes Interactions
The smartest way to start is narrow. Pick one high-volume, low-complexity use case, like order status questions, password resets, or basic account inquiries. These are interactions your team handles dozens or hundreds of times a week, the answers don't change much, and a failed response doesn't put a customer relationship at serious risk.
Set Your Baseline Measurements First
Before you go live, define what success looks like in concrete terms: resolution rate, average handle time, customer satisfaction score, escalation rate. Pick one or two metrics that matter to your business and measure them before and after.
From there, adding a channel or a more complex use case is a much easier internal sell than asking leadership to approve an unproven investment. The businesses that get AI agents right aren't the ones who launched with the most sophisticated setup. They're the ones who started somewhere specific.
Customers Notice When Problems Actually Get Resolved
By 2027, AI will handle half of all service calls. What matters for your business is whether those interactions actually resolve your customers' problems. That's what agentic AI agents are built to do.
chris murkin posted a photo:
VH-HET 1945 Supermarine Spitfire HF.VIII RAF as MV239 RAAF A58-758 Marked up as A58-602 RG-V Grey Nurse
Photo Taken at Warbirds over Scone NSW Australia March 2026
VH-HET 1945 Supermarine Spitfire HF.VIII RAF as MV239 RAAF A58-758 Marked up as A58-602 RG-V Grey Nurse
Photo Taken at Warbirds over Scone NSW Australia March 2026
Ontario’s 2026 Budget, A Plan to Protect Ontario, arrives with familiar promises of economic resilience and infrastructure growth. But beneath the surface, a persistent gap remains: meaningful investments in nature. Similar to last year’s budget, the province continues to ignore the importance of biodiversity and nature to economic resilience, community well-being and Ontario’s long-term prosperity.
Recommendations Still Being Ignored
In 2025, Ontario Nature raised concerns that the provincia
Ontario’s 2026 Budget, A Plan to Protect Ontario, arrives with familiar promises of economic resilience and infrastructure growth. But beneath the surface, a persistent gap remains: meaningful investments in nature. Similar to last year’s budget, the province continues to ignore the importance of biodiversity and nature to economic resilience, community well-being and Ontario’s long-term prosperity.
The unified message was clear: protecting and restoring nature is not a barrier to economic growth but is a foundation for it. Yet the 2026 budget does not meaningfully respond to these recommendations. Our recommendations presented a clear path forward – strategic investments in nature can strengthen our economy, protect communities and reduce long-term costs.
Investing in Protected Areas Creates Jobs and Boosts the Economy
Ontario remains well behind the pace required to meet the national goal of protecting 30 percent of lands and water by 2030. With just over 11 percent currently protected, the province risks falling further behind without a significant redirection in its course. A clear solution remains unprioritized: investing in protected areas is not only an environmental imperative, but an economic strategy. A coordinated annual investment of $60 million to expand Ontario’s protected areas network, particularly on Crown land, would help close this gap and support regional land use planning to protect high biodiversity and cultural value areas from industrial development.
Expanding protected area networks invests in nature-based recreation job opportunities, boosting our economy alongside protecting valuable areas. Across Canada, nature-based recreation creates over one million jobs and generates $101.6 billion in economic activity annually, not including the many additional ecosystem services that nature provides such as absorbing carbon, offsetting flood risks and improving air quality.
Despite these benefits, the 2026 budget does not significantly expand investments in wetland conservation, leaving communities exposed to rising costs.
Ontario’s 2026 budget speaks the language of resilience and protecting Ontario, but it fails to invest in the natural systems that make resilience possible. It seems that most Ontarians are not convinced the government is “protecting Ontario” based on recent polling. Until this changes, the province will continue to take on higher costs, greater risks and missed opportunities.
While provinces across Canada begin implementing meaningful conservation plans, Ontario is falling behind. Rather than weakening environmental protections and shifting the costs of conservation onto communities, the provincial government must commit to sustained, long-term investments in nature.
Protecting nature protects all of us. Stay informed, contact your MPP, and demand better protections for Ontario’s lands and waters. You can also take action today by signing one of Ontario Nature’s Action Alerts.
There’s a lot going on at factory farms that the owners don’t want us to see — and they’ve just won the right to keep it all secret.
That’s the sad result of a ruling last week by the Ontario Court of Appeal, which no doubt has executives in the pork and poultry industry celebrating. They can rest assured that the public won’t get even a glimpse of what they’re doing to the hundreds of millions of animals in their captivity.
The ruling will have the effect of preventing clandestine investig
There’s a lot going on at factory farms that the owners don’t want us to see — and they’ve just won the right to keep it all secret.
That’s the sad result of a ruling last week by the Ontario Court of Appeal, which no doubt has executives in the pork and poultry industry celebrating. They can rest assured that the public won’t get even a glimpse of what they’re doing to the hundreds of millions of animals in their captivity.
The ruling will have the effect of preventing clandestine investigators — including journalists and animal advocates — from making false statements in order to go undercover on factory farms. It overturns a lower-court ruling that found a provincial law preventing such exposés violated free speech guarantees in the Charter.
So, as a result of the upper court ruling, there will likely be no more undercover exposés. Secrecy will prevail.
That secrecy is crucial to maintaining the gap between two conflicting realities that exist today — on one hand, there is a growing sensitivity toward animals, as humans increasingly understand them to be sentient beings capable of experiencing pain, sadness, joy and grief.
On the other hand, dramatic changes in the farming business have created a horrific world for animals on modern industrial farms — or what New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristoff recently dubbed the “livestock gulag.”
No longer grazing in outdoor fields, most farm animals now live their lives in indoor facilities where they’re confined in cramped, crowded sunless spaces and subjected to painful cutting procedures beyond the public’s view.
Exposés of these conditions by undercover activists alarmed the public and led to calls for government intervention. But governments have tended to be more responsive to demands from the powerful agriculture industry to shut down the exposés.
In 2020, Ontario Premier Doug Ford brought in an “ag-gag” law that effectively made such exposés illegal.
Without exposés, however, there’s little to protect animals locked up in these facilities.
The only regulations governing their welfare are “codes of practice,” but these codes are drawn up by an industry-controlled organization, known as the National Farm Animal Care Council.
In other words, the industry is regulating itself. And, not surprisingly, it’s not very hard on itself.
Provinces have animal protection laws that prohibit causing “distress” to animals. But procedures that are generally accepted in the industry are exempt.
So, while it would be illegal to confine a cat or a dog to small cage for its entire life, the same sort of confinement is perfectly legal — and widely used on factory farms — for pigs and hens.
“To insulate a painful practice from legal scrutiny, the only thing the farm industry has to do is ensure that the practice is widely adopted,” according to a report prepared by Animal Justice and other advocacy groups. “Our animal welfare framework enables systemic cruelty.”
Canada received a “D” on the World Animal Protection Index for allowing practices — such as the use of confining crates for long time periods and painful procedures — that are banned in some comparable jurisdictions, including some U.S. states.
Although polls show Canadians strongly support protections for farmed animals, the issue attracts almost no mainstream media attention.
That can change abruptly however with the release of a graphic undercover video. For instance, there was huge media attention and public outrage in 2014 when an undercover video captured frightening scenes inside a large dairy farm in Chilliwack, B.C.
The video showed cows being repeatedly beaten, kicked, punched and whipped with chains and canes, and a cow being lifted by a tractor with a chain around her neck.
Industry executives and their allies in the Ford government want to make sure there’s no such disturbing videos disseminated in the future, so they’re clamping down hard — not on potential abusers but on those brave enough to try to capture the abuse on film.
This article originally appeared in the Toronto Star.
The Boys went out the way that it lived: loud, bloody, and utterly uncompromising. The pretty much perfect series finale delivered us a dead Homelander, a broken (and dead) Butcher, and a team scattered to the wind — a bleak but necessary conclusion to a series that never truly believed in happy endings. Despite its gut-punching audacity, the show's finale left many viewers feeling hollow, as endings tend to.
The Boys went out the way that it lived: loud, bloody, and utterly uncompromising. The pretty much perfect series finale delivered us a dead Homelander, a broken (and dead) Butcher, and a team scattered to the wind — a bleak but necessary conclusion to a series that never truly believed in happy endings. Despite its gut-punching audacity, the show's finale left many viewers feeling hollow, as endings tend to.
SINGAPORE: Singapore workers are increasingly questioning whether their pay truly reflects their contributions, with a new survey showing that although many employees see their salaries as reasonable, far fewer are actually satisfied with what they earn.
According to Jobstreet by SEEK’s Salary Pulse: Singapore 2026 report released on Monday (May 25), Singapore recorded one of the lowest salary satisfaction levels in the Asia-Pacific region.
The job search platform surveyed 1,008 employees in Sin
SINGAPORE: Singapore workers are increasingly questioning whether their pay truly reflects their contributions, with a new survey showing that although many employees see their salaries as reasonable, far fewer are actually satisfied with what they earn.
According to Jobstreet by SEEK’s Salary Pulse: Singapore 2026 report released on Monday (May 25), Singapore recorded one of the lowest salary satisfaction levels in the Asia-Pacific region.
The job search platform surveyed 1,008 employees in Singapore aged between 18 and 64 from October last year to March this year. The findings revealed that nearly three-quarters of respondents believed their salaries were proportionate to their job responsibilities. However, only 37% said they were satisfied with their current pay.
The report noted that employees are no longer judging salaries based purely on income levels. Instead, workers are increasingly assessing whether their compensation reflects the value of their contributions, supports their desired lifestyle, and offers opportunities for career progression and advancement.
Even among employees who considered their salaries “reasonable,” dissatisfaction remained widespread. Seven in 10 respondents in this group still said they were unhappy with their compensation.
The survey also highlighted growing discomfort around salary negotiations. While one in two employees said they had asked for a pay rise, and 73% of them eventually received either a full or partial increment, confidence in initiating such conversations remained low.
Only 7% of respondents said they felt “very comfortable” asking for a raise. Women and junior employees were found to be the least comfortable when discussing salary increases with employers.
However, the findings suggested that experience improves confidence. Employees who had repeatedly negotiated for higher pay were generally more comfortable initiating future salary discussions.
Generational differences also emerged in how employees respond to dissatisfaction with pay. Younger workers were significantly more likely to reconsider their career paths if salary increments fell short of expectations.
Among Gen Z respondents, 29% said they would look for a new job if the pay rise was smaller than expected, while 25% of Millennials said the same. In comparison, only 20% of Gen X workers and 13% of Baby Boomers indicated they would consider leaving.
Younger employees were also more inclined to seek additional income streams outside their primary jobs. Six in 10 Gen Z respondents said they were considering starting a side hustle within the next 12 months.
The report also pointed to what it described as a “loyalty tax” in Singapore workplaces.
Although most employees received their latest pay increment from their current employer, workers who changed jobs were five times more likely to secure a significant salary increase of more than 10% compared with those who stayed with the same company.
More than one in five respondents also said they might leave their employer if their pay increment failed to meet expectations.
Jaslyn Koh, Head of Compensation and Benefits for Asia at Jobstreet by SEEK, said the issue was not necessarily that employees believed they were underpaid, but rather that they felt their efforts were going unrewarded.
She said many workers felt they were taking on greater workloads and responsibilities while remaining loyal to their organisations, yet were not seeing meaningful returns through higher salaries, promotions, or recognition.
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