Main by morning: OpenAI relaxes erotica policy and seeks money for $1 trillion spending spree

OpenAI seeks new revenue streams and partnerships to cover trillion-dollar costs and relaxes content policy to allow adult erotic material. The gold price hit a record $4185 per ounce, reflecting rising tensions between the US and China and expectations of a Fed rate cut. On these and other topics - in our review of key events for the morning of October 15.

Gold rose to a record $4185 an ounce and silver prices exceeded $53.5 amid heightened tensions between the U.S. and China and expectations that the Federal Reserve will cut rates twice before the end of the year, Bloomberg reports. The decline in Treasury bond yields and growing expectations of cheaper borrowing increased demand for precious metals that do not yield interest.

Investors are retreating to safe havens after Donald Trump pledged to end vegetable oil trade with China and Beijing promised to respond to Washington's threats to impose an additional 100% duty. This has renewed fears of trade escalation between the world's largest economies.

Walmart shares rose nearly 5% to a record $107.21 after announcing a partnership with OpenAI. Users will now be able to shop directly through ChatGPT with Instant Checkout, as well as use the chatbot for conversational search on Walmart and Sam's Club websites. According to the retailer's CEO Doug McMillon, the company is moving toward a "personalized and multimedia AI shopping experience."

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said the partnership with Walmart will make "everyday shopping a little easier." The partnership fits into OpenAI's strategy of integrating with major platforms: the company already works with AMD, Broadcom, Etsy and Shopify, and Nvidia plans to invest up to $100 billion in OpenAI.

UBS analysts noted that the introduction of ChatGPT could give Walmart a competitive advantage, given ChatGPT's 700 million weekly active users.

OpenAI is seeking new revenue streams, entering into debt partnerships and planning a further round of capital raising as part of a five-year strategy to cover more than $1 trillion in reported expenses, sources told the Financial Times. The company plans to win new contracts from governments and corporations, develop customized products and trading tools, develop sales through video app Sora and AI agents, and enter the online advertising and consumer electronics markets, they said.

At the same time, it became known that the ChaGPT developer will give adult users access to erotic content. According to Altman, a less censored version of the chatbot will appear in December, which will work on the principle of "treating adults as adults," CNBC reports. Altman noted that early versions of the bot were "too restrictive" due to concerns about users' mental health, but the company now has "new tools" to safely loosen restrictions.

In addition, OpenAI is preparing a new version of ChatGPT with the ability to customize "personalities" from more human to informal, with heavy use of emoji.

- Japan's broad Topix index added 1.4 percent, while the Nikkei 225 added 1.6 percent.

- South Korea's Kospi index jumped 2.1 percent, while the Kosdaq was up 1.4 percent.

- Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.9 percent.

- S&P 500 futures rose 0.4 percent, Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.5 percent and Dow Jones Industrial Average exchange-traded contracts added 0.2 percent.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor