5 Things You Should Know in AI This Week — October 17, 2025
Simplifying the noise. Here are five signals that matter for non-technical workers.
1. OpenAI No Longer Forced to Keep Your Chats Forever
Earlier this year, OpenAI was forced to hold onto ChatGPT convos indefinitely.
The ruling came because The New York Times sued OpenAI.
The NYT claimed OpenAI used its content without paying for it.
So a court ordered them to keep every conversation as evidence.
That ruling just got overturned.
ChatGPT can now return to its normal 30-day deletion policy.
And you can breathe easier knowing your old chats won't be stored forever.
Only conversations flagged by NYT in their initial investigations will be kept.
The signal? Privacy is becoming a competitive advantage for AI companies.
Overreach risks losing user trust.
So they're motivated to fight for your preferences.
2. Salesforce Launches New AI Agent Platform
Remember last week's OpenAI and Google news about AI agents?
This week, Salesforce expanded its agent strategy.
They introduced Agentforce 360.
Agents to automate tasks across sales, HR, and marketing.
They have 12,000 companies already testing these "digital coworkers".
The signal? Specialized AI agents are coming for every business process.
It doesn't matter if you don't use Salesforce.
Similar products will be built for your tools, job function, and industry next.
3. Walmart is the Latest Retailer to Sell Inside ChatGPT
One of the big trends we've been watching this year?
Purchases shifting towards AI chat interfaces.
Soon you'll regularly be buying stuff right in your chat window.
Two weeks ago it was Etsy allowing you to purchase products in ChatGPT.
Now Walmart announced you'll be able to buy its stuff over chat too.
Groceries, clothes, and more... all shoppable through conversation.
No more hopping between apps and websites.
The signal? Chat interfaces are becoming storefronts.
Businesses are racing to be where customers are spending time.
If you're not in these spaces, you'll be getting left behind.
For big businesses: Start having convos to bring purchasing to major AI players.
Pretty soon every retailer will be accessible through AI platforms.
Small businesses, you probably don't have this leverage yet.
Focus on how you're showing up in AI organically.
Optimize your presence until small business purchases come to AI.
They will come.
4. OpenAI's Latest Move to Reduce AI Bias
Remember the debates about big tech's role in political bias?
OpenAI just took a swing at solving that.
Their new GPT-5 model promises more balanced responses.
They tested it across 100 political and cultural topics.
The result? 30% reduction in political bias.
Users can also customize the AI's neutrality.
Want a more balanced tone?
You can adjust for that.
The signal? These companies are engineering AI personalities.
They control the conversational narrative.
Just like social media algorithms shaped past elections...
AI models are the new platform driving our perspective.
Pay attention.
The conversations you're having aren't always as neutral as they seem.
These companies are crafting what you see and how it's framed.
5. The Numbers Behind AI Content
Two stats that caught my eye this week:
- 86% of AI chatbot answers come from brand-owned content
- Forget old assumptions about sources like Reddit driving results
- Companies are still steering the majority of the narrative
- Nearly 50% of web articles are now AI-generated
- But AI article growth has plateaued over the last 12 months
- The reason? AI-generated content doesn't perform as well in search
The signal? Content is changing, but quality still wins.
Keep creating authoritative, trustworthy content to stand out.
