According to Techmeme, Microsoft has launched Copilot Checkout in the United States, enabling users to complete purchases directly within the Copilot chat interface. The feature integrates with payment platforms including PayPal, Shopify, and Stripe. Notably, Shopify merchants are being automatically enrolled in the new system. The launch coincides with OpenAI announcing a new ChatGPT Health initiative, which Instacart CEO Fidji Simo highlighted as a personal mission to navigate healthcare complexities. This comes amid a flurry of other OpenAI announcements, including a social media app and partnerships, starkly contrasting with rival Anthropic’s repeated, singular focus on AI recursive self-improvement towards superintelligence.
Two Very Different Races
Look, the vibe shift in AI right now is impossible to ignore. On one track, you have Microsoft and OpenAI sprinting towards productization and utility. Copilot Checkout is a classic Microsoft enterprise move—boring, practical, and potentially huge for commerce. It’s about embedding AI into the actual flow of *doing stuff*, like spending money. OpenAI, meanwhile, is throwing apps at the wall: health, social, shopping integrations with Instacart, you name it. Fidji Simo’s personal endorsement of ChatGPT Health gives it a human touch you don’t often see. But here’s the thing: is this a strategy or just a scattershot attempt to find the next big use case?
The Anthropic Doctrine
And then there’s Anthropic. While OpenAI tweets about Disney character videos, Anthropic’s message, echoed by folks like Peter Wildeford, is essentially a constant, solemn hum about the path to superintelligence. It’s recursive self-improvement, imminent capability gains, the big, scary, world-altering picture. They’re not talking about checkout flows. They’re talking about building a god. This creates a surreal split in the industry narrative. One company is trying to be your helpful assistant for chores and doctor visits; the other is warning you (or promising you?) they’re building an entity that will soon surpass human intellect. Which narrative is more compelling? Which is more responsible? It’s a wild time.
What It Means For Everyone Else
For users and developers, this divergence is crucial. Microsoft’s move with Shopify means merchants now have AI-powered commerce whether they asked for it or not—that’s distribution at scale. It’s a feature that will just exist. OpenAI’s app experiments mean more niche tools might pop up, but it feels fragmented. Anthropic’s path, though, asks for a different kind of faith. It’s a long-term, high-stakes bet that everything else is just a distraction. For the market, it sets up a fascinating tension: do you invest in the company making today’s useful tools, or the one betting everything on tomorrow’s epoch-defining breakthrough? As Tom Warren and others track the product launches, the real story might be this philosophical canyon opening up between the AI giants. Basically, we’re watching two different species evolve in real-time.
