AI Is Now Fighting Hackers, Fixing Clinical Trials, and Beating Search Engines at Their Own Game

The 2026 World Changing Ideas winners in Business Products and Services share one throughline: AI doing work that was previously too slow, too expensive, or too dangerous to automate.

Written by Elena Brooks · Bureau Business · Jun 19, 2026

The Business Case for AI Is No Longer Theoretical

For years, enterprise AI adoption was measured in pilots and press releases. The 2026 World Changing Ideas winners in Business Products and Services suggest that window is closing. The three top honorees — Xbow, Dewey Labs, and Manifold.AI — each deployed AI against a specific, costly operational failure. The results are early but concrete.

Xbow: Using AI to Outmaneuver AI Attackers

Cybersecurity has a scaling problem. AI is now embedded in roughly 80% of cyberattacks, accelerating everything from data breaches to service disruptions. Human security teams cannot match that pace on defense alone.

Xbow's answer is to automate the offense. Its platform deploys an AI that simulates a hacker, probing systems for vulnerabilities before real attackers find them. The continuous scanning model frees human professionals to focus on reactive defense — the judgment-heavy work that automation handles poorly.

In 2025, Xbow ranked as the number-one ethical hacker tool in the world. The company also frames its pricing as a structural fix: enterprise-grade security has historically been out of reach for startups, nonprofits, and public-sector organizations. Xbow is positioning itself as the entry point for that underserved market.

Dewey Labs: Fixing the Search Problem That LLMs Created

As users migrate from traditional search to large language models like ChatGPT and Google Gemini, a new problem has emerged: hallucination. LLMs confidently produce incorrect answers, and users often can't tell the difference.

Dewey Labs targets a narrower, more tractable version of the search problem. Most websites sit on deep, domain-specific knowledge bases — but their native search functions are weak. Dewey's AI site search tool lets site owners surface that expertise accurately.

A pilot with ParentData, the data-driven parenting platform run by economist Emily Oster, produced a 91% user success rate in finding relevant information. Traditional site search hit 28%. That gap is a business metric, not just a UX improvement — it directly affects whether users trust a site and return to it.

Dewey has since expanded to Spotlight PA for election information and is targeting nonprofits and public health organizations as its next growth segment. With 1.6 million answers delivered, the scale is no longer pilot-sized.

Manifold.AI: Attacking the $80 Billion Drag on Drug Development

Clinical trials remain one of the most expensive and inefficient processes in any industry. Legacy infrastructure — Excel spreadsheets, manual data entry, siloed systems — creates delays that cost researchers time, cost patients access to treatments, and cost the industry an estimated $80 billion annually.

Most existing solutions address isolated steps in the trial process. Manifold.AI is attempting something more ambitious: AI agents that orchestrate the entire workflow, from trial design through execution and analysis.

The platform moved from concept to product in 2024 and has already landed institutional partners. The Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard used it to build a new AI life sciences research platform. The American Cancer Society is using it to manage one of the largest population studies of Black women in the United States.

Those are not small proof-of-concept deployments. They are high-stakes research programs where failure has real human consequences — which makes Manifold.AI's early traction a meaningful signal.

What the Pattern Says

Three different industries, three different problems, one structural argument: AI is most valuable not as a feature but as infrastructure. Each of these companies is replacing a process that was too slow, too expensive, or too error-prone to run at scale with human labor alone. The business model in each case depends on that replacement being reliable enough to trust with consequential work. So far, the early numbers suggest it is.

Key takeaways

Xbow's AI-enabled platform simulates cyberattacks to find vulnerabilities before real hackers do — it became the top-ranked ethical hacker tool globally in 2025.
Dewey Labs' site search tool delivered a 91% user success rate in a pilot with ParentData, versus 28% for traditional site search.
Manifold.AI is being used by the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and the American Cancer Society to automate clinical trial workflows — targeting an estimated $80 billion in annual industry inefficiency.
All three winners position AI as a democratizing force: Xbow explicitly targets smaller companies and nonprofits priced out of enterprise-grade security.
The awards signal a shift from AI as a productivity add-on to AI as core operational infrastructure across security, research, and information access.

FAQ

What is Xbow and how does its cybersecurity platform work?

Xbow is a cybersecurity company whose AI platform simulates a hacker to identify system vulnerabilities before real attackers can exploit them. By automating continuous offensive scanning, it allows human security professionals to concentrate on reactive defense. In 2025, it became the top-ranked ethical hacker tool globally.

What problem does Dewey Labs' site search tool solve?

Most websites have poor native search functions despite holding deep domain expertise. Dewey Labs' AI-powered site search helps users find accurate, relevant information within a site. In a pilot with ParentData, it achieved a 91% user success rate compared to 28% for traditional site search.

How is Manifold.AI being used in clinical trials?

Manifold.AI uses AI agents to manage the full clinical trial workflow — from design to execution to analysis — replacing legacy manual systems. It has been deployed by the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and is being used by the American Cancer Society for a major population study of Black women in the U.S.

Why does Xbow emphasize access for smaller organizations?

Enterprise-grade cybersecurity has historically been priced out of reach for startups, nonprofits, and public-sector organizations. Xbow positions its platform as a way to democratize access to top-tier security tools for those markets.

What is the estimated annual cost of inefficiency in clinical trials?

Industry estimates put the annual cost of inefficiency in clinical trials at approximately $80 billion, driven largely by legacy systems reliant on manual data entry and siloed processes.

Citations

Business Products and Services: World Changing Ideas 2026Artificial intelligence is the common theme connecting the winners in the Business Products and Services category of Fast Company's 2026 World Changing Ideas awards.
Business Products and Services: World Changing Ideas 2026Xbow became the number-one ethical hacker tool in the world in 2025, and 80% of cyberattacks now use AI.
Business Products and Services: World Changing Ideas 2026Dewey Labs' pilot with ParentData achieved a 91% user success rate in finding information, compared to 28% for traditional site search.
Business Products and Services: World Changing Ideas 2026Manifold.AI estimates clinical trial inefficiency costs the industry $80 billion annually and has been deployed by the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and the American Cancer Society.