Here are the business stories making the headlines across Scotland and the UK this morning.
Some people's chats with Claude AI found publicly available online
Hundreds of user conversations with Anthropic's popular artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot Claude were found to have been available to essentially anyone using Google or other web browsers.
Links to the chats, some of which included personal and work information, would show up if a user of a search engine like Google used a site-specific search term.
The searches showed Claude chats for which a user had decided to "share" a link had been saved by search engines like Google, leaving them accessible to the broader public.
Read more on the BBC website.
Number of millionaires in UK falls to lowest since financial crisis
The number of millionaires in the UK has fallen to the lowest level since the financial crisis, according to new analysis.
The Adam Smith Institute, a centre-right think tank, found that the number fell to 442,000 in 2025 — down by 7 per cent year-on-year and the lowest since 2008.
Its “millionaire tracker”, which uses data from the Office for National Statistics, measures the number of adults living in Britain with a net worth of at least £1 million. It includes assets such as property, pensions, cash and investments.
Read the full story in The Times.
Brewers Fayre venues in Aberdeenshire and Inverness to close permanently
Two Brewers Fayre sites in the north and north-east are set to close for good in September.
Mains Of Balquharn, in Portlethen, and Inshes Gate, in Inverness, will shut their doors on Monday, September 7.
Parent company Whitbread PLC, which also owns Beefeater, announced the closures would support their transition into becoming a “pure-play hotel business” which focuses on Premier Inn.
Read more in The P&J
Construction firm fined over deaths of 150 bats
A construction firm which admitted the reckless destruction of a colony of 150 bats has been fined £17,000.
Dumfries Sheriff Court heard that the soprano pipistrelle bats died when holes they were using to enter and exit their roost were blocked.
City Building (Glasgow) LLP carried out the building works at 1 Blacklocks Vennel in Lochmaben, Dumfries and Galloway, during the summer of 2023.
Read more from the BBC.
AstraZeneca boss denies AI will hit jobs
Artificial intelligence will not “kill” large numbers of jobs and will instead help to boost productivity, according to the chief executive of AstraZeneca, one of Britain’s biggest public companies
Sir Pascal Soriot said AI was making operations “faster and smarter” and that he does not expect a “big reduction of headcount” at the pharmaceutical group or in the life sciences industry.
The comments from the veteran FTSE 100 leader come as companies around the world race to invest in AI and deploy it, fuelling fears that the technology could lead to widespread job losses.
Read more in The Times.
Ocado drops fight for payout from Marks & Spencer
Ocado Group has quietly dropped its fight for a £190 million payout from Marks & Spencer, ending a long-running dispute — only for a fresh standoff to develop about the future expansion of their joint venture.
Sources told The Times that no final payment will be made by M&S, which joined forces with Ocado in 2019 to create Ocado Retail.
The £750 million deal was transformative for M&S, allowing it to sell its food online for the first time. However, the partnership failed to meet the financial targets that would have triggered a final payout. Under the terms of the agreement, M&S was due to pay Ocado a final instalment of £190.7 million, contingent on Ocado Retail meeting an undisclosed performance target in the year to November 2023.
Read more in The Times.