Shopping just might be in its AI era.

Brands are getting disintermediated by the chatbot. Consumer trust is shifting towards new platforms and media. And the shopping journey is starting to move away from the places brands have spent years optimizing for: search bars, websites, ad buys…towards a new frontier.

I spoke with Glossy about this shift:

My broader view: AI shopping is still early, but the directional shift is clear.

Discovery is moving into AI interfaces. Consumers are asking chatbots what to buy, what to compare, and what is worth their money. Retailers are now racing to understand where they fit when the first point of influence may no longer be in their control.

There’s another angle here too: engagement. And it reminds me a lot of my time at Meta:

Shopping has always been the holy grail for platforms because it sits at the bottom of the funnel: the point where discovery, intent and monetization all come together.

And now, as ChatGPT builds an ads model for free users, the incentive are even more clear: keep people inside the chatbot longer, make the experience more useful (addicting?), and eventually, move closer to conversion.

Useful to customers. Monetizable for chatbots. Disruptive to a broken industry.

Is AI shopping a win-win-win?

(Or is it never quite as straightforward as it seems)

Something to brew on. ☕️

1. Anthropic raises $30B at a $900B valuation

My Tea: This comes just three months after Anthropic raised $30B at a $380B valuation. Enterprise AI winner…or bubble math? 

2. 71% of Americans oppose the construction of AI data centers

My Tea: Gallup says Americans are more opposed to nearby data centers than nuclear plants. The AI boom finally hits reality: real people and their daily lives. 

3. President Trump’s landmark China trip has a NVIDIA-sized subplot

My Tea: It’s clear this trip is also about selling more chips to China. Good for American business, or a national security threat? Both might be true. 

4. Google announced Gemini Intelligence for Android

My Tea: Everyone is racing to turn devices and tools into agentic operating systems. About time Google finally caught up.

5. Cerebras stock soars in the first big AI IPO of 2026

My Tea: Markets are starving for AI infrastructure stories (especially anything that smells like a NVIDIA alternative).

Last week, I was invited to a CIO dinner hosted by Asana, alongside CIOs from CoreWeave, Samsara, Workato, and Workday. We had a lively discussion on how AI will impact the future of work.

One comment that stuck with me came from Asana’s CIO, Saket Srivastava:

AI implementation across the enterprise won’t just be a technology shift. It’ll be a people shift, too. CIOs and technologists are increasingly thinking like HR leaders as they rethink org structures, team behaviors, and how work actually gets done.

Three takeaways from my conversation with the CIOs:

1. Bottom-up adoption beats top-down mandates.
The companies seeing traction are finding employees already driving ROI with AI and celebrating them as internal champions, letting excitement spread alongside enablement.

2. AI success is moving from usage to outcomes.
Token usage and adoption rates are useful early signals, but the real question is whether AI is reducing support volume, improving sales productivity, speeding up collections, or helping teams do better work.

3. The next org chart may include “agent managers.”
Several leaders talked about job descriptions being rewritten around managing AI agents, not just using AI tools. This could meaningfully boost output and employee satisfaction with the work they are doing.

Besides that, it’s been a busy week. No sleep. Tech events. Meetings. Panels. Tea brewed. Repeat. Here’s a peek:

LinkedIn invited me to their Scale Up event showcasing new Linkedin tools to support founders and entrepreneurs.

I went to a Business Insider event on the future of Tech, AI, and Media. New media covering mainstream media. It was a fun crossover.

I joined a panel discussion at Archetype HQ on AI and the future of media. I got the chance to climb on my soapbox about the rise of new media, the changing nature of trust, and why mainstream media is losing its grip.

Pour one out for the Venmo stalkers.

Venmo is finally changing its privacy defaults for new users, which is probably good for society, but devastating for those of us who built entire investigative workflows off of “🍕” “🏨,” and one suspicious “💕” (they’re definitely dating! I knew it!)

Meanwhile, GameStop made an attempt to buy eBay, which feels less like corporate strategy and more like a meme stock fever dream. eBay summarily rejected the $56B bid, but honestly, the CEO’s trainwreck interview alone makes this one worth a sip.

Have a great week ahead and I hope your long weekend is brewed to perfection, steeped in relaxation, and…*chat insert more tea analogies*
Meghana