AI Transforming the Financial Landscape

Agentic commerce, where AI agents autonomously research, compare, and purchase products, is rapidly expanding. While the technology is live, with platforms like ChatGPT’s Instant Checkout and Google’s Universal Commerce Protocol, no jurisdiction has established clear liability frameworks for these autonomous transactions. This regulatory gap creates uncertainty for consumers, AI providers, merchants, and platforms, impacting the future of European commerce.

President Trump banned federal agencies from contracting with Anthropic after the company refused to remove restrictions on domestic mass surveillance and fully autonomous weapons systems from its AI model, Claude. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced that the Defense Department will use ChatGPT, subject to the same restrictions, after Anthropic was designated a supply chain risk. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei stated the company will challenge the designation in court.

Generative AI is changing how startups scale, allowing them to become more productive and raise money with fewer workers. Research shows that startups most exposed to generative AI reduced employment by about 8% after ChatGPT’s launch, while becoming more productive and raising more funds. This shift is leading to a decoupling of growth from headcount, with more startups being formed in industries where a larger share of work is exposed to generative AI.