AI This Week

PayPal and OpenAI announced a new partnership that integrates the payment firm’s wallet directly into ChatGPT, allowing users to purchase products from within the popular AI tool. News of the deal sent PayPal’s stock surging 13% in premarket trading. The company also raised its annual financial forecast and declared its first-ever dividend in its 27-year history, signaling strong confidence in its cash generation and long-term financial health. The collaboration connects PayPal’s global merchant network to ChatGPT. This positions the company in the new market of AI shopping agents that autonomously research, compare, and buy products for people.

OpenAI is making waves as it enters the $2.8 billion AI-driven music industry, aiming to challenge competitors like Suno and Google. With innovative tools and significant resources, OpenAI steps into a field buzzing with potential, where technology redefines how music is created and consumed. OpenAI’s involvement could reshape industry dynamics, focusing on competition and creativity across platforms. OpenAI plans to rival established players and push boundaries in automated music generation, highlighting the growing intersection of artificial intelligence with artistic expression.

Reddit filed a lawsuit in New York, accusing four companies of harvesting its content for AI training. The complaint names Perplexity AI, SerpApi, Oxylabs, and AWMProxy. Reddit says the firms dodged its ban on bots by pulling Reddit text from Google results, then selling data to OpenAI and Meta. It seeks damages and a permanent injunction. The case lands amid a broader fight over data scraping. Reddit recently sued Anthropic over repeated visits after saying it stopped. LinkedIn sued ProAPIs for using robotic accounts. Legal hurdles loom: the defendants sit outside New York, and X lost a similar case last year. Oxylabs responded, “no company should claim ownership of public data that does not belong to them.”

Snapchat has introduced its AI-powered “Imagine Lens” to U.S. users for free, marking a shift from its previous availability limited to premium subscribers. The Lens allows people to create custom images by typing prompts, enabling transformations like turning a selfie into a painting or imagining fantastical visuals. The feature leverages generative AI technology, aligning with industry trends that see social platforms integrating AI tools into user experiences. Snapchat now aims to balance creativity and accessibility by offering limited free use to non-paying members. While promoting seamless visual content creation remains key, the move may also enhance competition with other tech giants increasingly investing in consumer-focused AI tools. Positioned within Snapchat’s Lens Carousel, this rollout demonstrates the platform’s broader AI ambitions.

OpenAI has introduced ChatGPT Atlas, an artificial intelligence-powered web browser built around its popular chatbot. Reuters reports that this launch directly challenges Google Chrome’s dominance in the browser market. Atlas offers AI features like content summarization and task automation, potentially accelerating the shift towards AI-driven search. The browser allows users to open a ChatGPT sidebar in any window and includes an “agent mode” for paid users, enabling ChatGPT to interact with websites on their behalf. Atlas is currently available globally on Apple’s macOS, with versions for other platforms coming soon