A week in Generative AI: Thinking, Prosperity & Orders
News for the week ending 21st September 2025
No big new AI technology updates this week, but lots of interesting stories and research to share. Anthropic launched their first brand campaign and Starmer/Trump announced the Tech Prosperity Deal. We also had some great research from OpenAI on ChatGPT usage patterns and there were more signs that the company are soon going to be launching their Orders product. Lastly, Google launched a new protocol for AI agents to buy things online.
Plenty to read around Web 4.0 this week with an article about how Google thinks we can have a healthy open web as well as AI summaries, Cloudflare’s CEO forecasts how AI will ruin the internet, and Reddit wants a better deal with Google for all it’s data.
Lots of Ethics news this week as well with OpenAI sharing some research on AI models deliberately lying, Italy passes the first EU laws for regulating AI, and a man is on hunger strike outside Anthropic’s offices calling them to stop the race to AGI.
Good long read from Simon Willison too, who has news that we might have collectively now settled on a definition of an AI agent.
Keep thinking with Claude
Really nice brand spot from Anthropic here which marks their first big marketing push. As consumer adoption of AI platforms begins to accelerate we’re seeing each of the major frontier companies start to position themselves slightly differently and compete directly for consumers through large marketing investments.
OpenAI kicked this off with their “Intelligence Age” Super Bowl ad in February and now we have this from Anthropic. They both focus on intelligence/thinking but whilst OpenAI’s ad used graphics, Anthropic has chosen to use real life scenarios. I think they’re both broadly getting at the same thing though - our platforms are great for helping solve problems and act like a co-intelligence.
US firms pledge £150bn investment in UK in Tech Prosperity Deal
Along with Trump’s second state visit to the UK came a ‘deal’. Unsurprising really, and as a headline it sounds pretty impressive. Most of the money comes from Blackstone Investment who had already pledged to spend £370bn across Europe over the next 10 years, and seems mostly focused on data centres and infrastructure.
However, Trump’s visit and this deal seemed to prompt many of the major tech companies to also pledge AI investments in the UK, with Jensen Huang of NVIDIA pronouncing that the UK is going to be an ‘AI superpower’. I think they all wanted bragging rights at the state banquet hosted at Windsor Castle! Again, most of these investments are focused on infrastructure, more details below:
Google announces £5bn AI investment in UK before Trump visit
Microsoft trumps Google with $30 billion investment in the UK
UK is going to be ‘AI superpower’, says Nvidia boss as he invests £500m
OpenAI Reveals How (and Which) People Are Using ChatGPT
One of the biggest blind spots we’ve had over the last couple of years with AI platforms is how people are actually using them, so its great to see some genuine research published by OpenAI around this, especially as ChatGPT is the most popular platform.
The three biggest areas of usage are Practical Guidance, Seeking Information, and Writing. But some of the macro trends are also fascinating. Personal vs. Work usage used to be about 50/50 on the platform a year ago, but now about 75% of use is personal. This supports the idea that we’re now seeing the early majority adopt the technology as it becomes more mainstream.
There’s also been a change in the gender split of users over the last 12 months. It used to be that ChatGPT was used more by men (c.80% of users 12 months ago) and now this is more balanced and slightly female-skewed with a 48/52 male/female split.
It’s also useful to think about what this is displacing. Practical Guidance is usually sought on video platforms like YouTube and TikTok, and obviously Seeking Information has been the preserve of search engines for decades. Writing is an entirely new use case though, and is additive to the digital ecosystem.
Some fascinating insights in here!
OpenAI readies Orders in ChatGPT for native checkout and tracking
We’re seeing more signs that OpenAI’s rumoured collaboration with Shopify is coming to fruition and that we’ll soon be seeing a native checkout experience in ChatGPT. This will be a big play for OpenAI and is part of their plan on how to monetise their free users which make up over 90% of their total user base.
If this plays out according to OpenAI’s plans it’s likely that ChatGPT will be processing $1tr of sales per year by 2030, which is a huge amount, and taking a 2-3% fee from every sale, generating $25bn in annual revenues.
ChatGPT Orders feature will allow users to store credit card information for purchases as well as letting ChatGPT to directly track orders, making the AI platform a fully end-to-end commerce platform like we haven’t seen before. Even Amazon hasn’t fully implemented order tracking in their systems.
If this feature is a success and widely adopted then this will have a huge impact on how consumers search, choose, and purchase products online. It’s likely to get rolled out in the US first, and I expect we’ll see this before the end of the year.
Google launches new protocol for agent-driven purchases
Speaking of AI platforms helping with purchasing, this week Google launched a new protocol to facilitate this. Whilst OpenAI has focused on a partnership with Shopify, Google has been quietly working with over 60 organisations to develop a system to allow their AI agents to pay for online products.
The system is interoperable between AI platforms, payment systems and online vendors, providing a traceable paper trail for each transaction and launched with support from American Express, Mastercard, PayPal, and many more.
Agents Payments Protocol (AP2) requires agents to register two separate approvals before a purchase can be made. The “intent mandate” requires clarity on exactly the type of product to be acquired, and the “cart mandate” which gives final approval on a specific item to be purchased. I think we’re going to see a lot around this space over the next 6 months, so one to keep an eye on.
Web 4.0
Google thinks it can have AI summaries and a healthy web, too
Cloudflare CEO’s ‘Frighteningly Likely’ Forecast for How AI Will Ruin the Internet
Gemini tops the App Store thanks to new AI image model, Nano Banana
Reddit wants a better AI deal with Google: users in exchange for content
AI Ethics News
Italy first in EU to pass comprehensive law regulating use of AI
Google’s huge new Essex datacentre to emit 570,000 tonnes of CO2 a year
Rolling Stone, Billboard owner Penske sues Google over AI overviews
OpenAI will apply new restrictions to ChatGPT users under 18
New AI tool can predict a person’s risk of more than 1,000 diseases, say experts
‘I have to do it’: Why one of the world’s most brilliant AI scientists left the US for China
China Just Fired Its Latest Shot in the Chip Wars — and Nvidia Took the Hit
‘I love you too!’ My family’s creepy, unsettling week with an AI toy
Some People Are Definitely Losing Their Jobs Because of AI (the Ones Building it)
Long Reads
Simon Willison - I think “agent” may finally have a widely enough agreed upon definition to be useful jargon now
“The future is already here, it’s just not evenly distributed.“
William Gibson