It’s a regular Tuesday, any other day as normal.
You wake up in the morning, grab your phone to have a look at what’s on the cards for the day, maybe catch up on US markets from overnight, and generally peruse the day’s global events.
You get a notification from ChatGPT.
“Ping!”
“Hey, so you’ve got Andrea’s birthday is coming up. I know you won’t want to forget it like you did two years ago. Now I’ve had a bit of a look and think, and I found she liked those handmade candles as she’d mentioned it in passing a little while back. Here are three options under £50. Want me to order one?”
ChatGPT the proceeds to show you three options, one from Etsy, and two others direct from websites. You like the look of the third one, so you click the “BUY” button in ChatGPT.
A couple days later, Andrea’s birthday present arrives, gift wrapped, ready to go.
That’s not some science fiction grab I took from a movie. This is the culmination of two massive new product releases from OpenAI in the last week.
Thanks to ChatGPT Pulse and the even newer release, Buy it in ChatGPT feature we are on the verge of a complete overhaul on how we use, interact with and transact on the internet.
Dare I say, the internet as we know it is at the precipice of fundamental change, and we’re right at the coal face ready to maximise the opportunity it presents.
The thing is, it’s not OpenAI that presents investors a massive opportunity. IT’s companies that are AI Adjacent where the big money will be made. And judging by the stocks already shooting higher from these OpenAI announcements, the time to make bank from all this is now.
So, let’s get a wriggle-on shall we…
An Amazon killer?
Until now, AI assistants have been reactive. You ask, they answer. But OpenAI’s latest move pushes us into the age of agentic AI, where ChatGPT doesn’t wait for you, it works for you, behind the scenes.
Last week, OpenAI launched ChatGPT Pulse, a proactive research tool that delivers personalised updates based on your chats, calendar, and own feedback.
As per my earlier example, imagine it nudging you with:
“You’ve got three client meetings in London next week. Want me to book the train and grab a discounted hotel?”
O,
“Your son’s birthday is in two weeks. I’ve found some golf clubs under £100 that he might like.”
This is the first step in how the way we use the internet changes.
The next step is the release of Buy it in ChatGPT.
You once you’ve got your AI agent to do the leg work for you, be it while you’re asleep or awake, you then have an easy option to just buy.
Source: OpenAI
AI finds the right events, recognisees the commercial transactions that are required, researches the options, and executes the transaction with your feedback and final decision.
Put simply, we are witnessing the dawn of the AI economy. A world where context, memory, and agency redefine how money moves.
It was only the other day that I walked past a travel agent on my local High Street, and thought to myself, how on earth is that thing still alive. But then my wife kindly reminded me that booking a complex holiday itinerary for overseas (or even domestic) travel can be done online, but it’s still an exhaustive process, that not everyone can be bothered with.
Likewise, I was talking to a mate, and he was signing the praises of his mortgage broker, how they just did all the leg work for him.
All of that disappears if AI makes those kinds of transactions as easy as picking one of a few options and hitting the buy button.
The internet as we know it, is still hard. Too many choices, too complex. What if it’s agentic AI that bubbles all that down to the rawest of simplicity that makes the internet a much easier, more reliable and user-friendly network?
Shopping or transacting isn’t such a chore when you’ve got your own personal AI agent working for you all the time.
This is how the internet changes, this is how the AI economy explodes, and this is why companies like Etsy (NASDAQ:ETSY) and Shopify (NASDAQ:SHOP) traded higher on the release of OpenAI’s announcements.
Rising tides, profitable boats
Etsy surged over 15% and Shopify climbed more than 6% on the news, as markets recognised that OpenAI just handed smaller merchants, via these mega platforms, a direct path to consumers in most widely used AI platforms in the world.
Good news for Etsy, Shopify and millions of merchants around the world…
Bad news for Amazon.
For decades, Amazon has thrived as the default “starting point” for online shopping. Need batteries, books, or a blender? You don’t Google it, you Amazon it.
But now? The starting point may change.
If your AI agent can understand context, remember preferences, and even anticipate needs, do you still need to scroll through Amazon’s endless aisles?
And besides, can you even trust Amazon anymore? So much of the first page searches are sponsored listings, and many just dodgy Chinese products that have gamed Amazon’s systems.
Amazon is closer to AliExpress these days than it is to Google or what it used to be.
Of course, this is a threat to Amazon’s ecommerce business, and Amazon won’t take this lying down.
I expect them to double down on their AI arsenal, whether that’s through their stake in Anthropic or by supercharging Alexa into something more useful than a glorified smart speaker.
For me, the race to dominate the AI economy is on!
Think back to the launch of the App Store in 2008. Suddenly, everything from taxis to dating to music went into an application. Entire industries were rebuilt.
Trillions in market value followed.
We’re now in the same place with AI. Only this time, instead of apps, it’s agents. These agents will reshape not only commerce but healthcare, finance, travel, and work.
OpenAI is planting a flag in e-commerce first because that’s where the friction is most obvious.
The smartest takeaway for investors? Don’t focus on OpenAI (of course mainly because it’s still private and still tangled with Microsoft). Look at the adjacent winners.
I’ve already shown you two that already have lifted already from these announcements in Shopify and Etsy.
What comes next? Well, it all depends on who will integrate with OpenAI and ChatGPT next. Uber? Airbnb? Booking.com? Or someone smaller, more agile and willing to roll the dice?
Put simply, a rising tide lifts all boats, just make sure you’re on the boats directly adjacent to OpenAI.
We are standing in the middle of the biggest shift in what the internet represents since the app economy landed. Only this time, it’s not apps, it’s AI agents and the rise of the AI economy.
Until next time,
Sam Volkering
Contributing Editor, Investor’s Daily
P.S. The rise of AI agents is just one tectonic shift underway. Another is unfolding in the precious metals market. As central banks wrestle with debt, inflation, and rate cuts, silver is breaking out. And according to Nick Hubble, the real move hasn’t even begun. If you’re ready to position yourself ahead of the next wave, this is where to start.
