Woman walking next to humanoid robot carrying shopping bags

(Getty Images)

one-stop bot shop

Americans still have hang-ups about using AI as a shopping assistant

Could ChatGPT’s new instant checkout help move the needle?

9/30/25 9:12AM

Chat, is this $30 handmade candle in the shape of a cutesy Highland cow actually worth it?

Yesterday, Sam Altman’s OpenAI announced that ChatGPT Plus, Pro, and Free users can now buy Etsy products directly through the chat, meaning they won’t have to move to another tab after it tells them exactly which artisanal birthday gift captures the perfect balance of thoughtfulness and thrift while ensuring it can still be delivered in time for their friend’s party in three days.

Investors in Etsy and Shopify, another platform that will soon benefit from ChatGPT’s new instant checkout feature, cheered the news; some consumers, with various reservations about AI shopping assistants, may still take a little more persuading.

AI shopping assistants chart — Sherwood News

Per a YouGov survey published this summer, American adults have held back from using chatbots to help them shop for a number of reasons, from concerns about not getting the right information to preferring to enlist the help of a real person in the retail process.

Still, putting aside the hang-ups expressed by some potential users, the same polling found that many Americans have already been experimenting with using AI as personal shopping assistants — particularly younger generations. Indeed, 24% of Gen Z respondents said they’d already used the tech on a website, app, or other platform, while a further 20% said they’d be interested in using it going forward, suggesting that the true age of chatbot shopping could be just around the corner.

Whether “it’s the thought that counts” will still hold true if an LLM picked out the gift and even helped you purchase it going forward, however, is another matter entirely.

Jon Keegan2/13/26

Ahead of IPO, Anthropic adds veteran executive and former Trump administration official to board

Anthropic is moving to put the pieces in place for a successful IPO this year.

Today, the company announced that Chris Liddel would join its board of directors.

Liddel is an seasoned executive who previously served as CFO for Microsoft, GM, and International Paper.

Liddel also comes with experience in government, having served as the deputy White House chief of staff during the first Trump administration.

Ties to the Trump world could be helpful for Anthropic as it pushes to enter the public market. It’s reportedly not on the greatest terms with the current administration, as the startup has pushed back on using its Claude AI for surveillance applications.

Exclusive | Anthropic Adds New Board Member as It Eyes IPO

Liddel is an seasoned executive who previously served as CFO for Microsoft, GM, and International Paper.

Liddel also comes with experience in government, having served as the deputy White House chief of staff during the first Trump administration.

Rani Molla2/13/26

Meta is bringing back facial recognition for its smart glasses

Meta is reviving its highly controversial facial recognition efforts, with plans to incorporate the tech into its smart glasses as soon as this year, The New York Times reports.

In 2021, around the time Facebook rebranded as Meta, the company shut down the facial recognition software it had used to tag people in photos, saying it needed to “find the right balance.”

Now, according to an internal memo reviewed by the Times, Meta seems to feel that it’s at least found the right moment, noting that the fraught and crowded political climate could allow the feature to attract less scrutiny.

“We will launch during a dynamic political environment where many civil society groups that we would expect to attack us would have their resources focused on other concerns,” the document reads.

The tech, called “Name Tag” internally, would let smart glass wearers identify and surface information about people they see with the glasses by using Meta’s artificial intelligence assistant.

Meta Plans to Add Facial Recognition Technology to Its Smart Glasses

“We will launch during a dynamic political environment where many civil society groups that we would expect to attack us would have their resources focused on other concerns,” the document reads.

The tech, called “Name Tag” internally, would let smart glass wearers identify and surface information about people they see with the glasses by using Meta’s artificial intelligence assistant.

Tom Jones

the elder scrolls

2/13/26

Older Americans are spending more time on their phones than younger cohorts, per new data

Some members of the TikTok generation are (very slightly) less glued to their phones than other adults, it turns out.

A man, a woman and a child with a phone instead of a head

Rani Molla

2/13/26

Apple doesn’t have an AI spending problem. It has an AI execution problem.

Apple isn’t falling far from the AI tree.

Super Bowl LX: New England Patriots v Seattle Seahawks

Jon Keegan2/12/26

Anthropic raises $30 billion, now valued at $380 billion

Anthropic is now valued at $380 billion, after closing on its latest round of fundraising, taking in $30 billion from a wide range of investors. The Series G round was co-led by D. E. Shaw Ventures, Dragoneer, Founders Fund, ICONIQ, and the UAE’s investment arm, MGX.

Some other investors include: Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), Sequoia Capital, Fidelity Management & Research Company, JPMorgan Chase, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Microsoft, and Nvidia.

Anthropic offered a few details on the current state of its business:

Anthropic said that its annual run-rate revenue has reached $14 billion, seeing 10x growth each of the past three years.
“The number of customers spending over $100,000 annually on Claude (as represented by run-rate revenue) has grown 7x in the past year.”
“Claude Code’s run-rate revenue has grown to over $2.5 billion; this figure has more than doubled since the beginning of 2026.”
Business subscriptions to Claude Code have quadrupled since the start of 2026.

In a blog post announcing the round, the company said:

“We train and run Claude on a diversified range of AI hardware — AWS Trainium, Google TPUs, and NVIDIA GPUs — which means we can match workloads to the chips best suited for them. This diversity of platforms translates to better performance and greater resilience for the enterprise customers that depend on Claude for critical work.”

Anthropic raises $30 billion in Series G funding at $380 billion post-money valuation