The latest AI announcements from OpenAI, Walmart, Etsy, Shopify, Deloitte, the Australian Government, the Canadian Government, the Albanian Government, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Oracle.
VOL 2 NO 10 | OCT. 2025
INFO-TECH AI INSIGHTS
Featuring AI best practices and insights to enable our members to strategize, plan, develop, deploy, manage, and govern AI-based technologies and solutions.
In This Issue - > AI in the News | AI Research Highlights | Vendor Spotlight | Upcoming Events & Resources
AI IN THE NEWS
Walmart announces partnership with OpenAI and ushers in the era of agentic commerce
Read the Walmart OpenAI partnership announcement
On September 14, 2025, Walmart announced a partnership with OpenAI to create AI-first shopping experiences.Doug McMillon, President and CEO of Walmart Inc., said: "For many years now, e commerce shopping experiences have consisted of a search bar and a long list of item responses. That is about to change ... We are running toward that more enjoyable and convenient future with Sparky (the Walmart AI shopping assistant) and through partnerships including this important step with OpenAI."
ANALYST ANALYSIS
To support this partnership, Walmart is promoting an AI literacy program for its associates and is one of the first partners to embrace OpenAI certifications across its workforce.
According to SimilarWeb, about 15% of total referral traffic for Walmart in September was from ChatGPT, up from 9.5% in August. Working with OpenAI will help Walmart compete more effectively with its online rival, Amazon.
For OpenAI, this partnership also highlights how it can monetize its ChatGPT offering beyond a subscription model, and the partnership is similar to what they announced with Etsy and Shopify last month.
Deloitte AI fiasco – AI hallucinations caught in a A$440,000 report for the Australian government
In December 2024, Deloitte was commissioned to write a report for the Australian Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR) focused on reviewing the welfare system. The 237-page report was released in July 2025 at a cost of approximately AU$440,000 (US$290,000). Shortly after its publication, a welfare academic identified that the report was "littered with citation errors." It appeared the AI system (Azure OpenAI GPT 4-o) hallucinated academic references to nonexistent papers and books.
ANALYST ANALYSIS
This high-profile incident, where one of the largest consulting firms was caught using AI has gone viral, sparking debates over the credibility of AI-assisted consulting. From Deloitte's perspective, they (along with DEWR) have cited that the hallucinations were confined to footnotes and references and did not change the findings nor the recommendations of the review.
Deloitte republished a revised report in September 2025, disclosing that generative AI was used for part of the report, and they agreed to partially refund the government.
This will serve as an example of the reputational damage of not having an effective AI governance program. Specifically, the impact of an AI governance program lacking an effective risk assurance program to ensure accuracy, lacking human oversight, and lacking effective controls.
OpenAI for countries program targets Canada
Read the OpenAI for countries program
On May 7, 2025, OpenAI announced its OpenAI for Countries program, an extension of the US Stargate (technology partners include OpenAI, Nvidia, Microsoft, Oracle, Arm) project to:
- Partner with countries to help build in-country data center capacity.
- Provide customized ChatGPT to citizens.
- Continue evolving security and safety controls for AI models.
- Together, raise and deploy a national start-up fund.
- Partner countries also would invest in expanding the global Stargate Project.
The program proposes that countries will benefit in these areas:
- Technological sovereignty
- Economic development
- Enhanced public services
ANALYST ANALYSIS
Since its inception, this program has been adopted by:
- United Arab Emirates (UAE):
- United Kingdom
- Argentina
- Norway
- Korea
In addition, OpenAI executives have been openly proposing to Canadian officials the benefits of the OpenAI for Countries program. Critics of the program point out the following:
- Legal reach of a foreign government – even if data is stored locally, US laws may allow US authorities to access the data.
- Vendor lock-in – OpenAI benefits at the cost of providing local or open-source options and AI model sovereignty.
- Talent dependency – Local personnel required to operate and maintain OpenAI, this may also drive talent away for more open environments.
- Cultural and legal misalignment – Despite claims of models customized to the local norms, these norms have been embedded into the AI models, and it is a non-trivial task to customize the model to align to local norms.
Nvidia, OpenAI and Oracle circular financing reminiscent of the disastrous Dot.com financing of the 1990s
Read the Circular AI Deals Reminiscent of Disastrous Dot.Com Vendor Financing of the 1990s article
During 2025, significant investments by the major AI vendors have been announced.
One of the more prominent set of announcements included:
- Nvidia announces $100B investment in OpenAI, and OpenAI will use funds to buy NVIDIA systems.
- OpenAI invests $300B in Oracle compute services in a five-year contract (part of the Stargate project).
- Oracle commits billions to buy Nvidia chips and servers.
ANALYST ANALYSIS
While this financing appears to be circular, there are complexities involved, specifically:
- NVIDIA's $100B investment is made up of hardware, equity, and a strategic partnership, not just cash.
- The Oracle contract begins in 2027, NVIDIA's deployments start in 2026, and the spending rolls out over years.
- Oracle's spending also covers power, cooling, staff, and operations, not just NVIDIA hardware.
An unexpected winner from this arrangement is that Oracle has emerged as a primary AI infrastructure provider and partner to OpenAI.
Companies concerned about this cycle and arrangement may want to consider diversifying their AI cloud services and model provider.
Albania appoints world's first AI-generated minister
On September 11, 2025, the world's first AI-generated minister, Diella, was introduced into Albania's government as the Minister of Public Procurement. Originally an assistant for an e-Albania platform, it was promoted to a ministerial role.Diella's primary objectives include:
- Combat corruption
- Transparency and speed
- Symbolic and technological innovation
ANALYST ANALYSIS
The development of Diella was led by the National Agency for Information Society of Albania (AKSHI) in cooperation with Microsoft, using an Azure OpenAI GPT model. The system is not fully in production yet and is planned to be used for drafting a contract's terms of reference, specifying eligibility criteria for parties, setting an upper-bound limit on a tender's price, and verifying the validity of submitted documents.
Procurement scandals have plagued the Albanian government, especially with construction and infrastructure projects. Assigning an AI system attempts to introduce neutral business-driven procurement. However, the EU AI Act treats public-sector decision tools as "high-risk," which generally benefits from human oversight.
AI RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS
Tech Trends 2026 - New!
Source: Tech Trends 2026
Info-Tech Research Group
Establish Data Governance - Updated!
Source: Establish Data Governance
Info-Tech Research Group
VENDOR SPOTLIGHT:
AI Marketplace
Unlock the potential of AI tailored to your needs and transform possibilities into reality with our dedicated support.
- Zoomtopia 2025: Zoom Bets on Agentic AI to Redefine Workplace and CX
- LexisNexis CounselLink+ Introduces AI to Enhance Its Legal Suite
- WebexOne 2025 Highlights AI Interoperability and Enterprise Collaboration Strategy
- Zoho's Dual Focus: Serving Small Business and Enterprise Through Product-Led Growth and AI Innovations
- Verint Engage 2025 Showcases New CX Workflow Automations Amid Thoma Bravo Acquisition
UPCOMING AND RECENT EVENTS
SAIT AI Summit 2025
Calgary, Alberta, October 22, 2025
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Sacramento, California, October 30, 2025
LIVE Barcelona Barcelona, Spain, October 21-22, 2025
LIVE Montreal Montreal, Quebec, November 25-26, 2025
LIVE Brisbane Brisbane, Australia, March 17-18, 2026
AI AND DATA ANALYTICS SOLUTIONS - RESOURCES
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- Workshops
- AI Strategy Workshop
- AI Proof of Value Workshop
- AI MLOps Workshop
- AI Governance Workshop
AI EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Bill Wong – Info-Tech AI Research Fellow
