What's up: FedEx parts ways with its chief digital and information officer; White House targets ‘woke AI’; meet Trump's new 'AI buddy'

Good morning. OpenAI rolled out its latest entry in the red-hot area of independently operating AI bots, an agent that lets users automate tasks like online shopping and create spreadsheets and PowerPoint presentations.

Dubbed ChatGPT agent, the tool combines the web capabilities of its Operator agent with “deep research” capabilities that allow it to synthesize larger amounts of information it gathers from the web.

OpenAI’s latest entry comes as agentic AI finds itself occupying the same space the cloud occupied decades ago: Big on promise, but not quite there on enterprise adoption.

Kevin Weil, OpenAI’s chief product officer, tells WSJ’s Belle Lin that ChatGPT agent is an “important step forward” in making ChatGPT valuable for not only answering questions, but doing things for users in the real world.

Those things include restaurant reservations–every AI firm’s favorite example of agentic AI–but also creating detailed research reports and PowerPoint presentations and performing financial analysis, the company said. Read the story.

FedEx is parting ways with its chief digital and information officer, Sriram Krishnasamy, WSJ reports. His departure follows a FedEx investigation into claims that the business performance of a unit he oversaw had been inflated, according to people familiar with the situation. Krishnasamy took over the role of chief digital and information officer in June 2024. He joined FedEx as a financial analyst in 1997.

One month after Amazon CEO Andy Jassy told employees that generative AI could lead to reductions in the corporate workforce, Amazon Web Services confirmed some cuts Thursday. Sources tell Reuters that the move impacts hundreds of jobs. 

White House officials are preparing an executive order that would dictate that AI companies getting federal contracts be politically neutral and unbiased in their AI models. The WSJ reports that the measure could be seen by some in the tech industry as playing favorites among developers. Elon Musk’s xAI, which has made “anti-woke” a priority faced criticism recently when its Grok chatbot presented antisemitic content praising Hitler.

After the abrupt departure of "first buddy" Musk from Washington, his rival, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, has found an open lane to secure government support for a huge global AI infrastructure build-out he needs—and to have more influence over AI regulation, WSJ reports.

Helsing, a 4-year-old AI defense startup, has quietly emerged as one of Europe’s fastest-growing companies—and a poster child for a continent urgently re-engineering its defense in an era of fracturing alliances, WSJ reports. The German company’s pitch: Only by fusing software and steel at scale can Europe safeguard its sovereignty.

Investing in AI innovation

WSJ reporter Isabelle Bousquette took the stage at Radio City Music Hall Thursday as part of Christie’s tenth annual Art + Tech Summit.

She spoke to Michael Stewart, managing partner at Microsoft’s venture fund, M12, Susannah Shipton, partner at AlleyCorp, and Jason Stoffer partner at Maveron about the AI funding landscape and the future of work.

Some highlights:

• Now that venture investment is moving beyond foundational models, the focus is on the application layer, they said. But since all the applications are leveraging the same handful of foundational models, it can be hard to figure out where to put those bets. The key? Great founders who can lock down proprietary datasets. 
• AI is going to hit the white collar workforce hard, especially at the entry level. 
• New grads shouldn’t try to pursue “AI proof” jobs. Those are the areas AI companies are actually most interested in automating.
• “High-touch” professions are not going away. No one will ever want to buy a house or get brain surgery without interacting with a human first.

Follow Isabelle on LinkedIn, Instagram and X for more behind the scenes on her reporting, and email tips and feedback to her at isabelle.bousquette@wsj.com.

President Trump called for the release of additional documents related to the investigation of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein following the publication of an article in The Wall Street Journal about a letter bearing Trump’s name that was included in a 2003 birthday album for the disgraced financier. (WSJ)

The GOP-controlled Congress canceled $9 billion in federal spending for foreign aid and public broadcasting, following through on President Trump’s efforts to defund the programs and overcoming some resistance among Republican lawmakers. (WSJ)

Economists this month dialed back their earlier pessimism that U.S. trade policies would lead to slower growth and higher inflation this year—at least for the near term. (WSJ)

A bubble at the top of the art market has burst. Auction sales of paintings that cost more than $10 million fell 44% last year, and continue to be depressed in 2025, data from ArtTactic shows. (WSJ)

The WSJ CIO Journal Team is Steven Rosenbush, Isabelle Bousquette and Belle Lin.

The editor, Tom Loftus, can be reached at thomas.loftus@wsj.com.