Brilliant or Bonkers? New AI Business Model Emerges

Cloudflare just rolled out "Pay Per Crawl," a bold new model charging AI companies for scraping content—redefining how publishers get compensated as AI chatbots replace traditional search engines. It signals a significant shift in the dynamics of content ownership, AI training, and the creator economy. Big names like AP, Fortune, and Quora are already on board. Is this a brilliant pivot or another digital paywall in disguise?

Drama Mama of the Month

High School Math Olympiad: OpenAI Jumps the Gun, Google Cries Foul

Google and OpenAI both stunned the AI community in July by achieving gold-medal scores in the prestigious International Math Olympiad (IMO)—a competition for the world’s top high school math students. The drama? To keep the spotlight on the students, Google formally competed and politely waited for official scores, while OpenAI skipped the line by running the tests early, publishing results first, and stealing the spotlight from the students.

Google publicly accused OpenAI of undermining students’ achievements. OpenAI shrugged it off, noting they technically followed all IMO rules. But the controversy raised eyebrows across the industry: Just because AI can compete against humans—should it? I’m a no when this approach is taken.

Megatrend in Motion: Delivery Robots in Your City

Robots delivering dinner—and occasionally drama

White Castle rolled out Coco Robotics bots in Chicago via Uber Eats on July 28. Hungry locals can now get sliders delivered by autonomous bots—no driver needed. As robotic food delivery expands, so do the funny videos online, capturing them as they try to navigate. In LA, a Coco delivery bot was stuck amongst some sidewalk jetsam and flotsam and needed a bit of help. Expect the entertainment to continue. In July a report came out summarizing some stats. Robotics for delivery has received $3.5B in investment since 2019, and is scaling fast in U.S. cities. These systems are already live in Chicago, LA, and Miami—and human representatives occasionally ride shotgun in vans to manage the inevitable edge cases as this new food tech tries to come of age.

Why it matters: Novel now but not forever. Improvements in robotics in the long run can help small and medium business reduce costs and expand reach (Flippy Fry Station by Miso Robotics, robotic baristas, automated order taking and table delivery). Think it’s not here? Richtech Robotics’ barista and bartender robot, Adam, served its 16,000th beverage at Clouffee & Tea in Vegas last month.

Leap, Lunge, or Lag? Agentic Browsers Arrive

Agentic browsers are here—who’s leading the charge? 

A quick intro: In today’s browsers you look at websites, click on links, type in search bars, and basically tell it exactly what to do. with “agentic browsers” you tell it what you want to achieve—give it a goal—and it can work across websites, take actions like click buttons and fill out forms, and navigate to your goal. In a traditional browser you drive the car; in an agentic browser you tell it where to go and it gets you there. These are super new so just wanted to get this on your radar.

So, who’s playing and ahead right out the gate?

Spoiler: Comet and Copilot are closest to business-ready; OpenAI leads with bleeding-edge ambition; niche players may offer surprising alignment with certain industry tasks. Business leaders could watch for pilots in customer service, research, and internal ops. More deets if you’re up for it:

• Perplexity’s Comet (launched July 9): Users report Comet automates tasks like booking a restaurant or unsubscribing from email lists—with full transparency showing each step taken. Noted as user-friendly and intuitive— it can summarize pages, offer live chat-side insights, and turn browsing into an interactive assistant. For SMBs, good for sales, general efficiancy or competitive intelligence.

• OpenAI’s ChatGPT Agent Browser (launched July 17, 2025): The bleeding edge of browsing—able to autonomously book appointments, compare products, and even pass CAPTCHAs (hmmmm). Still in pilot mode with availability to Pro, Plus and Team users, it essentially combines “Operator” and “Deep Research” for a more unified agentic experience for potentially dazzling in capability.

• Microsoft Edge Copilot Mode (launched July 28, 2025): Aspiring to bring AI further into the mainstream this is launched as an experimental opt-in feature, free (likely free only for a limited time). It’s voice-enabled, context-aware for powerful task extraction plus calendar or email assistance. If you’re a Microsoft house, this might be hard to ignore.

• Genspark AI Browser: A bit more under the radar, Genspark allows you to activate agents while browsing. For example, you are on the Best Buy site shopping for a webcam; activate Genspark and it goes to other sites and finds the same product, options to consider, lists prices, terms, instead of you doing a shopping comparison. It can place calls for you, book appointments, etc.

• Niche players: Expect to see many more  gain traction and/or emerge in the coming months; some with hyper-vertical focus (retail, finance, healthcare).

Hot & Handy: Tools You'll Actually Use

This month’s tools shipping real business impact. Much of this rides off the emerging browser race.

• Runway Aleph (launched late July): A no-code video editor controlled by text prompts—remove people, change angles, relight scenes—all without complexity or heavy editing skills.

• ChatGPT Agent for Pro/Plus/Team: More than talk—this agent researches, auto-generates presentations (although not great ones IMO), sends emails, books meetings, and even handles CAPTCHAs. Command via prompt, control via interface.

• Presentation Auto-Gen Mode: Built into Agent above—submit briefing bullet points and get a purported polished slide deck in minutes. No designers required. Great for a first pass IMO, but I still do my final slides in Canva or PPT.

Trend Watch: AI + E‑Commerce Merge

ChatGPT may become your next storefront—with a twist

• With Shopify/ChatGPT integration live, ChatGPT now shows product images, reviews, and prices within chat, not just redirected links.

• OpenAI is reportedly building in-chat checkout, allowing users to complete orders without leaving the conversation—and taking a fee from each sale.

• That sets ChatGPT on a collision course with Google’s search commerce dominance—and could trigger new debates over AI-first optimization vs SEO-first marketing.

• What if your brand becomes discoverable via conversation, not search? Early adopter companies may get prime placement—others risk invisibility.

AI's Mic Drop Moment: AI Designed Cancer-Fighting Proteins

Again, the future of our health and healthcare makes this list—something I am deeply passionate about. Here’s an uplifting leap from Northern Europe.

Researchers at the Technical University of Denmark announced a breakthrough in July: an AI platform that designs custom proteins to train a patient's immune cells to hunt down melanoma tumors—with precision and safety. From code to lab-tested leads in just 4–6 weeks, their IMPAC‑T cell system works like molecular GPS for T cells. In laboratory tests, these AI-designed proteins guided immune cells to kill melanoma cells efficiently and safely—suggesting personalized immunotherapy could soon go mainstream.

What makes it special: Denmark’s team used virtual safety checks to eliminate side‑effect risks before any wet-lab work. The result feels ethical, efficient, and inspiring—proof that science isn’t just the domain of giant labs, it's accessible, fast-moving, and human-centered.

Sandra Peterson, CEO & Founder
Sandstone Partners