ChatGPT Gets a Shopping Cart 🛒, Meta’s Watching Your Chats📱, Build Your Own AI App? 🧠

AI Quick Takes ⚡

1. Your AI Just Got a Shopping Cart 🛒 

Big news: OpenAI just launched Instant Checkout, letting you shop right inside ChatGPT. No apps, no tabs, no fuss. Ask for fall boots under $100, get the recs, and buy without ever leaving the chat. It's powered by the new Agentic Commerce Protocol, built with Stripe. This open standard lets AI agents help you shop quickly and securely. Read More

• Shoppers can now buy from Etsy in chat, with Shopify brands like Glossier and SKIMS coming soon.

• Sellers keep their own checkout and customer systems. ChatGPT just connects the dots.

• Devs can plug in easily. The protocol is open-source and ready to remix.

Why it matters:
AI chat is becoming the new front door for e-commerce. No more search bar detours. Your next buy might happen mid-convo, making ChatGPT your new personal shopper now too and giving Google’s search bar some serious competition.

2. California Just Passed the First AI Safety Law⚖️

California just became the first state to regulate powerful AI systems, with Governor Gavin Newsom signing SB 53, the Transparency in Frontier Artificial Intelligence Act, into law.

What it does:

• Requires developers to publish and update safety frameworks

• Creates a process for reporting critical safety incidents

• Protects whistleblowers who raise concerns about health or safety risks

The law focuses on high-impact “frontier” models (think ChatGPT-level tools) and is built on a state-led report recommending AI guardrails.

What it doesn’t do: It stops short of mandating third-party audits or strict enforcement, relying instead on transparency and civil fines. Supporters call it a smart first move. Critics say it’s too soft. Read More

Bottom line: California’s setting the tone for U.S. AI policy. If you’re building big, general-purpose models, expect this to be the first of many state-led moves.

3. Meta Wants to Monetize Your AI Chats 📱

Starting mid-December, Meta will begin using your interactions with its AI bots to personalize ads and content on Facebook and Instagram. Notifications roll out October 7. Users in the EU, U.K., and South Korea are exempt thanks to stricter privacy laws. Read More

The fine print:

• Sensitive chats (think religion, politics, sexuality, health, etc.) are off-limits for ad targeting.

• Everyone else? No opt-out button. Your AI banter will quietly feed the algorithm.

• Meta says its AI already touches 1 billion people monthly, and soon, those convos will be another “signal” for ads.

Why it matters:
Meta’s playbook hasn’t changed: squeeze every interaction into more precise ad targeting. With ad revenue topping $46.6B last quarter and expenses ballooning from AI investments, Meta’s betting that your chats will help pay for its AI spree.

4. OpenAI Upgrades Chat Safety with “Routing” + Parental Controls 🛡️

OpenAI is rolling out a safety routing system in ChatGPT, which detects emotionally sensitive or risky conversations and switches them mid-chat to a safer reasoning model (like GPT-5) for handling. At the same time, new parental controls are going live, letting parents (and teens) adjust settings like quiet hours, memory, voice/image features, and content exposure. Read More

• The routing is a move toward dynamic safety: instead of blanket rules, the system adapts in real time to risk levels.

• Parental controls respond to increasing concerns about AI’s impact on minors, giving some control back to families.

• It’s also a PR tightrope: users worry these controls might degrade performance or treat adults like children.

Bottom line: OpenAI is trying to evolve from “say no when things get weird” to “step in smartly.” If the routing and controls work well, they could reduce harm while preserving usability. If not, they’ll provoke backlash. Either way: this is a pivotal moment in how AI platforms own responsibility for what their systems say.

Try This Week 💡

At Work:
If you’re building a product or running a brand, it’s time to think beyond the grid. OpenAI’s Agentic Commerce Protocol means your online store could soon be shoppable inside AI chats, giving your brand another way to be discovered.

Want to prep your brand for the AI era? Start with your product descriptions. Ask yourself: if someone described this in a chat, would my item show up? Think conversational keywords and specific details. It’s like writing your product’s dating profile, but for AI.

Already on Shopify or Etsy? Good news: you may already be eligible to show up in ChatGPT’s new shopping experience. No extra work required (but better descriptions won’t hurt).

One of our favorite takes on how to prepare for Agentic Commerce comes from Josh Blyskal’s (AEO Strategy & Research @ Profound) LinkedIn Post, where he writes:

At Home:
Let ChatGPT take over your next shopping mission. Open a chat and try:

"I need a birthday gift for a 9-year-old who’s into space and crafts."
Or
"Find me a weekender bag under $150 that’s cute but not too flashy."

You’ll get AI-curated picks from real sellers, and yes, you can buy them right there in the chat (no judgment for 2 a.m. impulse buys).

You Asked 🙋‍♀️

“We know we need to do something with AI before our competitors do. But we don’t know where to start. How do we decide what to adopt?”

Ah yes, the “we’re behind” panic. You’re not alone. We’ve heard this exact fear from CTOs, CEOs, and team leads who are already using AI…and still feel like they’re scrambling to catch up.

Our answer: Stop trying to adopt everything. Start adopting strategically.

We put together a framework called The AI Spectrum to help you do exactly that. It breaks down AI tools by two things that actually matter:

• How much direction they need from a human (a.k.a. autonomy)

• How much time or effort they can save your team (a.k.a. productivity impact)

It’s a smarter way to match tools to team readiness, because Sales doesn’t need the same AI solution as Engineering, and not everyone is ready for agents that think like interns on espresso.

🧭 Check it out here→ The AI Spectrum

Resource Roundup 🛠️

Microsoft Copilot’s Big Glow-Up 🔥

If you use Microsoft Word, Excel, or PowerPoint (hi, everyone), Copilot just got a major upgrade. Microsoft introduced Agent Mode and Office Agent

• Agent Mode lives inside your docs and spreadsheets. It understands the content you're working on and proactively helps: think cleaning up data, fixing formatting, or improving your writing without needing a perfectly worded prompt.

• Office Agent works from the Copilot chat. Give it a task like “summarize this meeting and draft a pitch deck,” and it pulls from your files to generate a first draft that’s actually usable.

📎 Start here: Meet Agent Mode + Office Agent

ChatGPT for Any Role 🙌
Whether you’re in HR, marketing, finance, or just trying to keep your inbox from eating you alive, OpenAI put together a handy guide showing how ChatGPT can flex across different jobs. It’s basically a menu of prompt packs tailored to real workplace tasks, like drafting emails, analyzing data, brainstorming campaigns, or prepping for meetings. If you’ve ever wondered, “Okay, but how do I actually use this at work?” this is a solid place to start.

👉 Explore the guide →

Quick Poll: Claude Code Workshop 📊 

We’ve been deep in the build lab, using tools like Claude Code, Cursor, and v0.dev to create custom AI-powered apps without the usual dev bottlenecks.

Now we’re thinking: What if we opened up the process?

We’re considering hosting a hands-on Claude Code workshop where you’d:

• Learn how to build with AI-native dev tools

• Follow step-by-step guidance from idea to launch

• Walk away with a fully functional custom app

• Bonus: Get tips for iterating and scaling your build

👀 It’d be a paid experience, but value-packed and perfect for founders, leaders, and builders ready to stop scrolling and start shipping.

A Scheduling Shift In Her AI Drops 🔁

Q4 is here (yes, already), and we know what that means: planning mode, investor updates, team offsites, and a calendar that somehow quadruples in size. To keep things sustainable and smart, Her AI Drop is shifting to every other Monday drops. Fewer emails, same energy and and even more curated insights to help you make sharper AI moves when it counts.

Her AI Vault 🗂️

Your go-to stash of top resources we’ve created so you never have to dig through old emails to find that one gem.

📘 5 Ways To Get Started With AI At Work: Quick-start guide to delegate the “ugh” tasks and focus on what actually matters.

🔐 AI Privacy Guide: What your AI tools really collect and how to lock down your settings like a pro.

🔍 Her AI Glossary: 40+ essential AI terms, broken down in plain English.

🧠 AI Model Cheat Sheet: Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini... we decoded who does what best, so you can stop guessing and start impressing.

🛠️ Build-Your-Own Productivity Tool: A one-prompt web app for tasks, timers, and focus that is custom-built by Claude and copy-pasted by you.

Before You Go... 💭