Deloitte Bets Big on Anthropic AI Despite $10M Refund; Plus Navan IPO Gamble, Zendesk Agents, and Workplace AI Reality

The Messy Reality of Enterprise AI Adoption: Deloitte’s $10M Paradox

The much-anticipated enterprise adoption of Generative AI is producing wildly inconsistent results, captured perfectly by a single day’s news cycle involving Deloitte. The consulting giant announced it is aggressively rolling out Anthropic’s Claude AI to its massive workforce of 500,000 employees. Yet, on the very same day, the Australian government forced Deloitte to issue a $10 million refund on a contract because their AI-generated report was found to be riddled with fake citations. This paradoxical snapshot perfectly illustrates the current challenge: companies are racing to adopt AI tools before they have fully figured out how to use them responsibly or accurately.

On this episode of TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, hosts Kirsten Korosec, Anthony Ha, and Sean O’Kane dig into this messy reality of AI in the workplace, alongside major funding news and high-stakes regulatory drama across the tech and transportation sectors.

Navan’s IPO Gamble and the Government Shutdown

The episode also covers the surprising maneuver by corporate travel management company Navan—formerly known as TripActions. Navan filed updated IPO documents with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Friday, despite the ongoing federal government shutdown. Navan is proceeding under new SEC rules that allow companies in limbo during a shutdown to file updated financial information, including share count and pricing, and have their statements automatically cleared in 20 days without traditional staff scrutiny. Once effective, Navan can launch its roadshow.

This move is a bold gamble, as the shutdown was expected to freeze an already fragile IPO market. Navan’s updated filing shows the company plans to sell 30 million shares (plus 7 million from insiders), pricing its range at $24 to $26. At the high-end, the company could raise over $960 million and be valued at $6.45 billion. Navan is notably backed by top-tier Venture Capital firms including Lightspeed, Andreessen Horowitz, Zeev Ventures, and Greenoaks. The company generated rolling 12-month revenue of $613 million (up 32%), with losses of $188 million. The tech world is closely watching to see how this Navan IPO gambit fares.

Also on Equity: Zendesk’s Autonomous AI and Tech News

Tune into the full episode for more news from the week, including a deep dive into Zendesk’s bold claim that its new AI agents can autonomously handle 80% of customer service tickets. The hosts analyze the technological implications of this efficiency and debate what happens when human intervention is still required for the crucial remaining 20% of customer interactions.

Equity is TechCrunch’s flagship podcast, produced by Theresa Loconsolo, and posts every Wednesday and Friday. Subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You can also follow Equity on X and Threads at @EquityPod.

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