- The Prohuman
- Posts
- Subject line
Subject line
Plus: Add another story headline
Rimsha Bhardwaj, Hasan Toor & Ihtesham Haider
February 21, 2026
In partnership with
Hello, Prohuman
Today, we will talk about these stories:
ChatGPT has 100 million weekly users in India
Goldman builds an S&P without AI
AI gets blamed, data says slow impact
The best marketing ideas come from marketers who live it.
That’s what this newsletter delivers.
The Marketing Millennials is a look inside what’s working right now for other marketers. No theory. No fluff. Just real insights and ideas you can actually use—from marketers who’ve been there, done that, and are sharing the playbook.
Every newsletter is written by Daniel Murray, a marketer obsessed with what goes into great marketing. Expect fresh takes, hot topics, and the kind of stuff you’ll want to steal for your next campaign.
Because marketing shouldn’t feel like guesswork. And you shouldn’t have to dig for the good stuff.
India wants its own AI stack
Indian startup Sarvam just launched its Indus chat app, powered by a new 105 billion parameter model, and is rolling it out on limited compute. The app is live in beta on iOS, Android, and the web, two days after the company unveiled its 105B and 30B models in New Delhi.
This is less about another chatbot and more about control. India does not want its AI future fully dependent on OpenAI, Anthropic, or Google, especially when 5.8% of Claude’s usage already comes from India.
Sarvam’s $41 million war chest is small compared to U.S. rivals, but building local language models and partnerships with Nokia phones and Bosch shows a practical strategy.
If Indus gains traction, it gives policymakers proof that domestic AI infrastructure is possible, even if it starts with waitlists and tight compute limits. It also puts pressure on global players to treat India as a core market, not just a growth stat on a slide.
The real test is simple: will Indian users switch when the global apps already work?
AI stocks now make up about 45% of the S&P 500
Goldman Sachs just launched an S&P ex-AI index, ticker SPXXAI, that strips out companies tied to AI and automation. Over the past three years the S&P is up 76%, while this AI free version is up 32%.
This tells you how crowded the AI trade has become. When nearly half the benchmark is tied to one theme, investors start looking for a way to step back without selling everything.
Goldman is packaging that anxiety into a product and calling it diversification, which is a smart move when clients are uneasy but still want to stay in the market.
If money starts flowing into products like this, it signals investors think the AI run has stretched too far, too fast. It also quietly admits the S&P 500 no longer feels like a broad snapshot of the economy.
If you have to remove half the index to feel diversified, what does that say about the index itself?
Nearly 55,000 layoffs in 2025 were tied to AI
Image Credits: The Hindu
Layoffs crossed 108,000 in January alone, and executives from Citigroup to UPS have pointed to automation and AI as part of the reason. Sam Altman said at the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi that some of this is “AI washing,” meaning companies are blaming the tech for cuts they already planned.
He is probably right. The employment data still does not show broad job loss in roles most exposed to AI, even as CEOs talk about reshaping work and trimming headcount.
There is real pressure in junior roles, with a 13% drop in early career jobs since 2022, and that deserves attention without turning every round of cost cutting into a story about robots taking over.
If leaders keep pointing to AI, it gives them cover during uncertain economic cycles and immigration shifts that are harder to explain on an earnings call.
But if displacement accelerates, executives will not be able to hide behind vague language for long. When the next layoff memo cites AI, will the numbers back it up?
Prohuman team
Covers emerging technology, AI models, and the people building the next layer of the internet. |  Founder |
Writes about how new interfaces, reasoning models, and automation are reshaping human work. |  Founder |
Free Guides
Explore our free guides and products to get into AI and master it.
All of them are free to access and would stay free for you.
Feeling generous?
You know someone who loves breakthroughs as much as you do.
Share The Prohuman it’s how smart people stay one update ahead.