Independent research · Refreshed August 7, 2026 · vivekally.github.io

The market, and the minds behind it.

Five reports on AI in 2026. The Stack Landscape maps where the money and the moats sit, layer by layer. The Labs Briefing maps what the people building it actually believe. The Frontier Board tracks who is attacking the problems nobody has solved yet, and where this year's capital actually landed. Two Robot Industries leaves the software behind and asks what physical AI has actually shipped, and The Robotics Stack maps the whole industry beneath it, layer by layer.

TRACKER · UPDATED AUG 7 2026 03 · THE FRONTIER

Who is working on the problems nobody has solved

38 frontier bets sorted by unsolved problem — Skyfall, Mirendil, Oak Lab, Ineffable, Discovery Loop, Ndea. Plus a sortable ledger of 2026's funding, what came out of YC, and the method for tracking it yourself.

38
Frontier bets
192
Rounds logged
$394B
Tracked
199
YC W26
Open the tracker →
Q1
APR
MAY
JUN
JUL
AUG
GLOBAL VC BY MONTH, 2026 · Q1 $300B
MAY $92B — SECOND-LARGEST MONTH ON RECORD
TWO COMPANIES TOOK 43% OF H1
AUG 7 2026 · 181 COMPANIES 05 · THE ROBOTICS STACK

The Robotics Stack
Definitive Landscape Report

14 layers from rare-earth magnets to robot-delivered services, mapping the entire industry — humanoids, autonomous vehicles, drones and defence, surgical, agricultural, warehouse and industrial. Competitive tables, a searchable company index, a force-directed knowledge graph, and strategic build opportunities by funding tier.

14
Layers
181
Companies
422
Relationships
84
Sub-layers
Open the stack map →
AUG 7 2026 · TIER-1 SOURCED 04 · PHYSICAL AI

Two robot industries,
and a wall going up between them

One robot industry earns billions and is almost entirely teleoperated. The other has raised more capital in eight months than the first earns in a year, and mostly cannot say how many units it has in the field. Every deployment claim graded against a stated evidence bar — plus the fortnight the US closed its market to Chinese robots and Unitree went public.

20
Graded
11
Stack layers
6
Fault lines
8
Conflicts logged
Open the briefing →
R3 · JUL 13 2026 01 · SUPPLY SIDE

The AI Technology Stack
Definitive Landscape Report

12 layers from silicon to verticals. Competitive tables, market sizing, funding metrics, strategic gaps, company knowledge graph.

12
Layers
97
Companies
$2T+
Ecosystem
19
Fact-checks
Open the stack map →
JUL 13 2026 · FACT-CHECKED 02 · DEMAND SIDE

One consensus,
four doctrines

What 22 frontier labs are actually building — where they contradict one another, where they quietly agree, and who is betting against LLMs entirely.

22
Labs
4
Doctrines
$2B+
Non-LLM bets
6
Sections
Open the briefing →

Read the stack first if…

you're deciding where to build or invest. It ranks every layer's players, sizes the markets, and flags the gaps worth funding, from bootstrappable to deep-pocketed.

Read the labs first if…

you're deciding what to believe. It maps the strategic bets of the 22 labs that set the direction the entire stack has to follow.

Read the tracker first if…

you're deciding what to watch. It sorts the newest labs by the problem they claim to be solving, follows the money month by month, and lists the dated events that would prove any of it.

Read the robotics stack first if…

you need the map. 14 layers and 181 companies from rare earths to robotaxi services, with a searchable index and a knowledge graph — the reference document for who sits where in physical AI.

Read the robotics briefing first if…

you want to know what is actually running. It grades every physical-AI deployment claim against a stated evidence bar, separates the robot industry that earns from the one that raises, and maps the supply chain neither can escape.

ALL FIVE REPORTS: VOLATILITY-TIERED FACT-CHECK DISCIPLINE · CONFLICTS LOGGED, NOT SMOOTHED · SOURCE-CITED · SINGLE-FILE HTML, NO TRACKING