AI Weekly News Update: 10/20/2025

Table of Contents

• This Week

• Business Use Cases

• Things to Pay Attention to

This Week

Bottom Line Up Front

• Anthropic has introduced a new feature called skills for everyday cloud users and developers, which allows users to package their processes and let AI use them on demand.

• This feature has the potential to change how AI workflows are powered and could unlock the barriers and shortcomings of AI assistants.

• Claude's skills can add new abilities to the AI, allowing it to learn new tasks and complete them in a repeatable way.

Business Use Cases

Why is this important

• OpenAI has made around $1 trillion worth of AI deals, including a $300 billion deal with Oracle for computer infrastructure and a $22 billion deal with CoreWeave for use of its data centers packed with Nvidia GPUs.

• Nvidia has invested $100 billion in OpenAI and has made several intertwining deals, including a stake in CoreWeave and an agreement to pay CoreWeave up to $6.3 billion for unsold cloud computing capacity.

• Other large tech players, such as Meta, Microsoft, and SoftBank, are also involved in the AI deals, with Meta investing $14 billion in data labeling company Scale AI and Microsoft investing $14 billion in OpenAI since 2019.

Why is this important

• Walmart is reinventing itself by blending traditional retail with Silicon Valley intelligence, specifically through a partnership with OpenAI.

• This partnership is reshaping the retail industry with AI-powered shopping, potentially changing the face of commerce.

• The collaboration between Walmart and OpenAI is expected to have a significant impact, with the question being who will own the answer to this new retail landscape.

Bottom Line Up Front

• AI is set to transform the economy by increasing efficiency, but history shows it will likely create new jobs rather than eliminate them entirely.

• When technology lowers the cost of a service, demand for that service and related expertise often skyrockets, as seen with radiologists and cloud computing.

• Many jobs automated by AI will evolve into more engaging supervisory or managerial roles, rather than disappearing outright.

• The rise of AI-powered tools is freeing workers from repetitive tasks, allowing them to focus on higher-value and more interesting work.

• The AI revolution is happening now, and those who act on their convictions will shape the future, rather than waiting for permission or fearing economic collapse.

Bottom Line Up Front

• The Gemini API now includes Grounding with Google Maps, allowing developers to build location-aware AI applications using data from over 250 million places.

• Developers can enable the Grounding with Google Maps tool in their Gemini API request to connect Gemini's reasoning capabilities with Google Maps data.

• This feature can be used to create more intuitive and helpful experiences across various industries, such as travel, real estate, and logistics, and can be combined with Grounding with Google Search for more powerful and contextually aware applications.

Things to Pay Attention to

Bottom Line Up Front

• To be successful, AI requires clean, governed, and context-rich data, making data the real backbone of effective AI, not just the models.

• Data access and governance are crucial, with data federation and data products being key solutions to make distributed datasets accessible and queryable without moving data.

• A successful AI adoption starts with using existing data, where it lives, and iterating through experimentation, validation, and adaptation, with data governance ensuring data security, quality, and business meaning.

Bottom Line Up Front

• Cyvl, a startup founded by Daniel Pelaez, Noah Budris, and Noah Parker, is working with governments to repave roads using AI technology, with a team of young engineers working long hours, often 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week.

• The company has reached millions in annual revenue, with over 400 municipalities partnered and hundreds of government projects completed, using a plug-and-play sensor kit and proprietary AI algorithms to assess road conditions.

• The founders and employees, with an average age of 26 or 27, are driven by a passion for transforming government infrastructure and are fueled by seeing their peers achieve impressive things, with a competitive drive that pushes them to work long hours to solve problems.

Bottom Line Up Front

• Artificial intelligence (AI) is being used to set personalized prices online, where the price of a product or service varies based on an individual's personal data, such as browsing history and purchase habits.

• This practice, known as "surveillance pricing", raises concerns about fairness, transparency, and regulation, as it may lead to discrimination against certain demographics and entrench inequality.

• Regulators, such as the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), are taking notice and calling for stronger oversight and transparency, with the ACCC stating that current laws are insufficient and regulatory reform is urgently needed.

Bottom Line Up Front

• Resistance to AI is growing among workers, students, coders, and creatives who value human-made work and are concerned about AI's impact.

• Some individuals, including 49% of Gen Z-ers surveyed by Gallup and the Walton Family Foundation, worry that AI will corrode their ability to think critically and make them overly reliant on technology.

• Despite this, many skeptics are also AI users, and experts like Helen Toner see an opportunity for companies to develop "AI for the people" that addresses users' concerns and needs.