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 10:12AM

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.

Chris Stokel-Walker

Bot bias

6/17/26

Companies are getting AI chatbots to smear their competitors

The race to influence AI chatbots is leading to some companies to adopt shady competitive tactics.

Tom Jones6/17/26

Prediction markets have, predictably, been given a boost by the summer of sports

Major platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket have seen huge upticks in users of late, thanks in no small part to what’s felt like a recent sporting smorgasbord, with major competitions across hockey, basketball, and soccer soaking up fans’ time (and spending, clearly) at the outset of summer.

While gaming industry groups may not like it, there’s been a huge change in the methods people are using to put money on the big games, with everyone from fortunate NYC bar owners, to a far less fortunate Spanish supporter, turning to prediction markets to try and turn their sports know-how into cold, hard cash.

According to a new report from Adam Blacker for apptopia, that shift might have been even more seismic than imagined in the wake of the NBA and NHL finals and around the 2026 World Cup kicking off.

2026 World Cup Reverses Seasonal Lull for Sports Betting Apps

According to a new report from Adam Blacker for apptopia, that shift might have been even more seismic than imagined in the wake of the NBA and NHL finals and around the 2026 World Cup kicking off.

South by Southwest Conference and Festivals

Gold Tesla Cybercabs are piling up, but they’re not picking up passengers yet

Low-volume production started in April. Now people are noticing them more and more in the wild.

Rani Molla6/15/26

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TAKING ACCOUNTS

6/15/26

Britain announces social media ban for under-16s starting early 2027

The UK government plans to use the same model for the restrictions as Australia — but how successful has that case study been so far?

UK Prime Minister Announces Under-16s Social Media Ban

Jon Keegan6/15/26

Anthropic pulls Fable and Mythos access worldwide after Trump administration bars their use by foreign nationals

Only days after releasing two versions of its next-gen AI model, Anthropic has disabled them for users worldwide.

Anthropic says it received a Friday night order from the Trump administration to suspend access to the models for any foreign national (anywhere in the world) — a group that included some Anthropic employees. In response, the company turned off access to everyone.

Last week, the company released to the public its much-anticipated Claude Fable 5 model (and its restricted version Claude Mythos 5, which is still being tested with trusted partners). Anthropic said in a blog post announcing the action that officials cited national security concerns with the new models, while offering few specific details.

The post said that the government gave the company “verbal evidence of a potential narrow, non-universal jailbreak” of the public Fable 5 model. A jailbreak is a means by which users can evade restrictions built into the code to unlock prohibited functionality. Anthropic downplayed the significance of the attack, and said other major models, such as OpenAI’s GPT-5.5, could also be affected by the technique described.

Fears of these first Mythos-class models being misused are running high, after Anthropic warned the cybersecurity world in May that the advanced cyber capabilities of Mythos have rapidly discovered thousands of vulnerabilities in ubiquitous software, leading to the decision to restrict the full version of the model to a close group of trusted partners for testing.

This morning, Axios reported that Anthropic technical staff have flown to Washington to meet with White House officials to resolve the issue.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the Trump administration’s decision to take action against Anthropic was prompted by discussions that Amazon CEO Andy Jassy had with officials, including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. According to the report, Amazon researchers said they had been able to evade some of Fable 5’s security restrictions using specific prompts. Amazon is a major investor in Anthropic.

Anthropic is currently suing the US government to fight the Pentagon’s blacklisting of the company on national security grounds.

Statement on the US government directive to suspend access to Fable 5 and Mythos 5