Last Week in AI: Catch-Up for Business Leaders

Week Ending September 22, 2025

Artificial Intelligence continues to evolve at breakneck speed. The past week brought a mix of breakthroughs in research, billion-dollar corporate commitments, and major government policy announcements in both the United States and the United Kingdom. For business leaders, these developments matter because they directly influence the tools, resources, and regulatory environment you will be working within over the next year.

Research: Breakthroughs in AI Reasoning and Coding

DeepMind’s Gemini Milestone Google DeepMind announced a historic achievement. Its Gemini 2.5 system became the first AI to win a gold medal at the International Collegiate Programming Contest World Finals. The AI solved 10 of 12 advanced algorithmic problems, outperforming every human team and even cracking one problem no competitor could solve. CEO Demis Hassabis called this a profound leap in machine reasoning.

For business, this proves that AI is moving into domains that were previously thought of as uniquely human such as abstract problem-solving and creative reasoning. Expect applications in areas like logistics optimization, financial modeling, and scientific discovery.

OpenAI’s GPT-5 Codex OpenAI introduced GPT-5 Codex, a version of GPT-5 fine-tuned for programming tasks. It shows significant performance gains on industry benchmarks like SWE-bench and excels at code refactoring. This signals a new era of AI-powered development tools.

For companies, this means software projects can be accelerated, bugs can be identified faster, and technical debt can be reduced with less human effort.

Global Research Competition A peer-reviewed study in Nature evaluated DeepSeek’s R1 model from China. While outside the US and UK scope, it reinforces the global race in reasoning AI. Low-cost open models are gaining ground and will likely disrupt traditional cost structures in AI adoption.

👉 To see how these kinds of breakthroughs apply to real-world business challenges, explore the Knowledge Hub where we break down AI advances into practical playbooks for leaders.

Industry: Product Announcements and Big Investments

Nvidia’s UK Expansion Nvidia committed £2 billion to the British startup ecosystem and announced deployment of 120,000 GPUs in the UK. This includes its Grace Blackwell Ultra chips which will power Britain’s first major AI supercomputing hub at Cobalt Park. Nvidia also hinted at a £500 million investment in UK autonomous driving startup Wayve.

Nvidia and Intel Partnership Nvidia signed a major deal with Intel. The collaboration involves custom CPUs designed for Nvidia’s GPUs, integration of RTX GPU chiplets into Intel PC processors, and a $5 billion Nvidia investment in Intel stock. The partnership will shape future server and PC architectures, bringing AI acceleration into mainstream hardware.

Microsoft and Google in the UK Microsoft announced a £22 billion investment in UK AI and cloud infrastructure including a new 23,000 GPU supercomputer. Google pledged £5 billion to expand its UK cloud presence and R&D through DeepMind. Both companies expect AI demand in the UK to rise sharply and are laying foundations for scale.

For business leaders, the clear takeaway is that compute capacity will expand rapidly. Access to more powerful infrastructure will lower the barrier to entry for smaller firms to experiment with AI at scale.

👉 Want to see how to integrate these tools into daily workflows? Visit the Community Workflow Hub to access ready-to-use automation and AI templates designed for growing businesses.

Policy: US and UK Tech Prosperity Deal

The United States and the United Kingdom announced a new “Tech Prosperity Deal” during President Trump’s UK visit. This agreement focuses on collaboration in AI, quantum computing, and nuclear technology.

Key elements include:

• Joint funding of AI research and shared infrastructure
• Cross-border data and compute resource sharing
• A commitment to pro-innovation regulation compared with more restrictive EU approaches

The UK designated the North East of England as an “AI Growth Zone,” expecting more than 5,000 jobs and billions in private investment. Prime Minister Keir Starmer emphasized that Britain would encourage investment with lighter regulation.

At the same time, tech firms committed £31 billion to UK AI infrastructure. Microsoft, Google, Nvidia, OpenAI, and CoreWeave were among those announcing large-scale projects.

For business owners, this means a favorable climate for AI adoption in the UK and expanded opportunities for partnerships across the Atlantic.

Public Discourse: AI and Misinformation

Elon Musk’s X-platform chatbot Grok was caught spreading false information about a London protest, incorrectly labeling it as footage from 2020. The Metropolitan Police had to step in to correct the record.

This highlights the ongoing challenge of misinformation in generative AI systems. Companies will need to think carefully about brand reputation, customer trust, and risk management when deploying AI chatbots in public-facing roles.

👉 For strategies on handling these challenges at the local level, check out the Local Business Growth Hub. It provides step-by-step guides on how small businesses can use AI responsibly to attract and retain customers.

The Three Pillar Model for Growth

From this week’s developments, the AI growth model becomes clear:

1. Discovery – Short form AI tools and content help people find you
2. Depth – Long form tools like reports, podcasts, and in-depth articles build authority
3. Engagement – Interactive tools such as webinars, scorecards, and assessments convert attention into action

Companies that adopt this model will have a competitive edge in an AI-driven economy.

Final Thoughts

The week ending September 22 showed that AI is not slowing down. Breakthroughs in reasoning, massive infrastructure investments, and policy alignment between the US and UK make it clear: AI is moving from hype to real-world impact. For business leaders, the imperative is to act now. Integrate AI into workflows, monitor regulatory changes, and leverage new infrastructure before your competitors do.

👉 Visit the Knowledge Hub to dive deeper into this week’s insights, explore the Workflow Hub for actionable automation strategies, and use the Local Business Growth Hub for customer acquisition systems powered by AI.