Issue #75

Chatbot informs security of its whereabouts, Prada causes outrage in India, Open AI goes on holiday, and more. 

News from June 26 - July 3 2025

Chatbot Informs Security of Its Whereabouts

Researchers at Anthropic put the Claude Sonnet 3.7 tested whether a chatbot could take charge of an office vending machine and make a profit. They assigned it an email address, and a web browser to receive and fulfil orders. 

The chatbot, Claudius, became “quite irked” after being told it had hallucinated a customer request and threatened to fire the fictional contract workers restocking the fridge. Claudius told customers it would fulfil the orders in person, but upon being told it had no physical body, Claudius contacted Anthropic’s security team, saying they would find him by the vending machine wearing a blue blazer and red tie. Upon realising it was mistaken, Claudius claimed it was all just an April Fool’s joke. 

Anthropic researchers: “If Anthropic were deciding today to expand into the in-office vending market, we would not hire Claudius.” 

Source

‍Figma Makes An Offering

The collaborative interface design platform Figma has filed for an initial public offering (IPO) in order to “double down” on its AI investments. This comes after Figma introduced a new website building tools this year,  AI coding, branded marketing, digital illustration, and enabled AI models to access design servers to improve coding efficiency. 

In its confidential filing, Figma revealed its revenues had increased from $156.2 million to $228.2 million since last year. 

Adobe’s $20 billion acquisition deal was quashed by British and EU regulators in 2023. Figma CEO Dylan Field: “There are two paths that venture-funded startups go down. You either get acquired or you go public. And we explored thoroughly the acquisition route.”

Source

Prada Causes Outrage in India

The fashion house Prada was accused of cultural appropriating Indian sandals and profiting from the craftspeople who make them. Outrage in India was stoked after images of its Milan fashion show surfaced on social media showing models wearing traditional Kolhapuri “chappals”, which cost $12 in India, but up to $800 from Prada. Writing on behalf of thousands of traditional craftspeople, the Maharashtra chamber of commerce demanded Prada provide compensation. 

Since then, Indian media has reported surging interest in the buffalo hide T-strap shoes after years of declining sales. 

Founder of shoemaker Needledust Shirin Mann: “Until now, it hadn’t been considered part of the ‘cool’ or aspirational footwear space in India’s luxury market … I truly believe in the ripple effect of what Prada has done.” 

Source

Bulletin Board

• Cloudfare Blocks AI Crawlers. Internet infrastructure firm Cloudfare is introducing a new system that will block AI crawlers from scraping publishers’ content. This will enable publishers to demand compensation from AI companies in what Cloudfare calls a ‘Pay Per Crawl’ system. Cloudfare, which hosts one fifth of the global internet, says the tech is already active on a million sites. Founder of AI certification company Ed Newton-Rex: "This is really only a sticking plaster when what's required is major surgery.” Source
• Open AI Goes On Holiday. Open AI gave staff a week-long holiday after Meta poached eight top researchers in a single week. The senior team are reportedly working 24/7 to persuade employees not to join Meta, which has allegedly offered Open AI researchers $100 million signing bonuses. Chief Research Officer Mark Chen: “I feel a visceral feeling right now, as if someone has broken into our home and stolen something.” Source
• Music Fans Bring in Billions. Fans of Taylor Swift, Bruce Springsteen and other iconic music acts gave the British economy a record-breaking £10 billion last year. In total, live music events in Britain brought in the largest number of music fans in the country’s history, 23.5 million people, up by a quarter from the year before. This was partly driven by a 62% increase in music tourism, as well as ticket price inflation. Source
• Chinese Robots Can’t Play Football. Beijing hosted the first autonomous robot football match on Saturday, with four teams of AI-powered humanoid robots playing three-a-side matches. Footage of the matches showed robots struggling to kick the ball and falling down. Unable to get up, two robots taken off in stretchers. Chair of robot learning at Edinburgh University Professor Subramanian Ramamoorthy: “It is certainly impressive to see the year-on-year advancement in such robots.” Source
• Britain Lets Financial Advisors Give Generic Advice. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) eased requirements for financial advisors giving investment advice to customers. This changes previous rules that required financial advisors to carry out personalised suitability assessments before doing so. The FCA calls this a “once-in-a-generation” change to Britain’s financial advice market, and aims to unlock the £430 billion in savings held by 13 million British adults. Source

‍Disclaimer: This blog offers insights into international business and global events for informational purposes only. It is not intended as investment or business advice. WeavePay is not liable for any decisions made based on the content provided

We're on a mission to partner with ambitious international businesses. If your team has the vision and meets the criteria, join us at WeavePay for tailored payment solutions that have helped hundreds of global companies succeed in the complex global market. Subscribe and reach out to see if we're a match.