BY Eve Upton-Clark

Younger social media users may care more about follower counts than authenticity, a new survey says. What does it mean for real-life creators?

Feature Image Credit: noonoouri/Instagram

BY Eve Upton-Clark

Eve Upton-Clark is a writer at Fast Company who focuses on internet culture and trends, covering everything from politics to pop culture.. She has been a freelance features writer since 2020 and is a regular contributor to Business Insider, Telegraph, Dazed, and more More

Sourced from FastCompany

By Matt Cayless

E-commerce CTRs drop; smart brands adapt with new SEO strategies

I’ve worked in SEO for over a decade, and I can say with confidence: ecommerce brands have never had it tougher than they do right now when it comes to organic visibility.

Not because SEO is dying, but because the SERP (Search Engine Results Page) is undergoing a major transformation, whether we like it or not.

In 2024, we’ve seen a major shift in how search works. AI Overviews, Shopping Ads, and rich Google SERP features are no longer just experimental additions, they’re dominating the search experience, particularly on mobile.

Recent data from AccuRanker confirms what many in the industry have felt for months: ecommerce click-through rates (CTR) for organic results are nosediving, especially for high-intent transactional keywords.

The good news?

There’s still a path forward, but it requires e-commerce brands to rethink their approach to SEO completely.

In this article, I’ll break down what’s happening to organic traffic, why traditional SEO tactics are losing ground, and four ways ecommerce brands can adapt to stay visible and competitive.

The data: CTRs are down, especially on mobile

AccuRanker’s latest white paper examined how organic listings perform across various devices and user intents. The findings were stark:

1. CTR for transactional keywords is down across the board, with mobile suffering the biggest drops.

2. Even in the absence of paid ads, rich SERP features, such as “Popular Styles,” “Shop the Look,” image carousels, and AI Overviews, dominate the top of the page.

3. On mobile, organic CTRs are up to 50% lower than desktop for the same keywords.

In short, ranking #1 still has huge value, it just doesn’t guarantee the same volume of clicks it once did.

The rise of zero-click search, where users get answers directly within Google’s interface, means that even top-performing organic listings are seeing reduced traffic, not because SEO is ineffective, but because more users are engaging with SERP features before ever scrolling.

Why e-commerce SEO is under pressure

1. AI overviews are reducing the need to click

Google’s AI Overviews, which have now rolled out globally, are designed to answer user queries instantly, often pulling product suggestions from the Google Shopping Graph or summarizing content from multiple sources.

For informational or top-of-funnel searches (e.g., “best hiking boots for wet weather”), this used to be prime SEO real estate. Brands would publish buying guides or product roundups and earn high CTRs.

Now?

AI Overviews often display product suggestions directly in the search result, removing the need to visit a third-party site entirely.

2. Google Shopping is consuming the SERP

Google Shopping Ads and organic Shopping features are everywhere, even when you don’t pay for them.

SERP features like:

• Shop the Look
• Popular Stores
• Popular Styles
• Image Product Carousels

…are now appearing even when no paid Shopping Ads are present. They pull directly from merchant feeds and product schemas, providing Google with a visually rich, shoppable experience and reducing the likelihood that users will need to visit traditional listings.

This means traditional organic category and product pages are often buried below these features, especially on mobile, where screen real estate is limited.

3. SERP features create more competition for attention

Google’s obsession with rich features means your listing isn’t just competing with other brands; you’re competing with Google itself.

Here’s a rough example of what now appears above most organic ecommerce listings:

• Google Shopping Ads
• “Popular Stores” carousel
• AI Overview summary
• “Shop the Look” grid
• “People Also Ask” box
• Image product packs
• Youtube videos

Each one reduces the chance of a user clicking through to your site, even if you’re sitting at position #1.

What can e-commerce brands do about it?

So, how do you fight back when Google keeps pushing your organic listings further down the page?

Here are four core strategies we’re implementing with ecommerce clients right now that are helping them remain visible and competitive in an AI-dominated SERP:

1. Leverage digital PR to boost brand recognition and CTR

With organic visibility declining, brand recognition is more important than ever.

When users see your name in a cluttered SERP, familiarity can be the difference between a scroll and a click. And that’s where Digital PR comes in.

Digital PR isn’t just about backlinks, it’s about building authority and visibility across trusted publications and media outlets. These mentions not only enhance your brand strength but also increase brand recall when users encounter your listing in search results.

Action steps:

– Secure top-tier backlinks and mentions in industry publications.

– Promote branded content on platforms your audience trusts.

– Ensure that when your site does appear in search, users recognize and trust the brand enough to click.

2. Build digital authority outside of Google

This is the era of Digital Authority PR, where it’s not just about where you rank, but where else you show up that influences both human behaviour and algorithmic trust.

Google’s AI Overviews and LLM-powered tools, such as Gemini, Chatgpt, and Perplexity, rely heavily on high-authority, frequently cited web content to generate responses. That includes trusted blogs, media outlets, and other widely referenced sources that are publicly accessible.

Brands that appear in well-cited articles, contribute expert commentary, or are mentioned on platforms with crawlable transcripts, like YouTube videos with descriptions, Reddit threads, or podcast blogs, increase their chances of being referenced by AI tools in the future.

If your brand is absent from these ecosystems, you may not show up in AI-generated responses, even if you rank well in traditional search.

Action steps:

– Get featured on niche podcasts, relevant YouTube channels, and Reddit threads.

– Contribute expert commentary to high-authority blogs and newsletters.

– Create thought leadership content that answers key audience questions, content that LLMs might pull into future AI Overviews.

3. Optimize for SERP features — not just rankings

It’s no longer enough to optimize for keywords. You need to optimize for the features Google is displaying.

That means treating your product feed and structured data with the same care you give your on-page SEO.

Action steps:

– Keep your Google Merchant Centre feed up to date. Product titles, descriptions, availability, pricing, reviews, and images all influence whether you appear in organic Shopping features.

– Implement a comprehensive product schema, including price, availability, reviews, and brand information.

– Use the FAQ schema carefully; it’s less likely to impact AI Overviews now, but still useful for People Also Ask boxes.

– Ensure your site loads quickly, looks clean on mobile devices, and features rich media (e.g., lifestyle product photos).

Optimizing for these SERP features gives you multiple entry points into the search experience, not just the traditional 10 blue links.

4. Shift from lead capture to demand generation

With fewer clicks available, you can’t just wait for users to search and find you; you need to create demand.

This involves building awareness through paid social, influencer marketing, and content campaigns that encourage users to search for your brand directly or convert through other channels.

Action steps:

– Use paid social media to promote new product launches and seasonal offers.

– Partner with creators and influencers to drive awareness.

– Nurture audiences through email and remarketing to bring them back, even if the initial discovery wasn’t from Google.

SEO is no longer the sole driver of e-commerce growth. It’s part of a larger demand generation ecosystem.

The AI search shift is just beginning

Currently, Google dominates the search market, but the rise of AI-powered tools is reshaping the playing field.

While SparkToro data shows that tools like Chatgpt haven’t yet displaced Google for consumer searches, we’re seeing early signs that users are increasingly relying on AI tools for discovery and research, particularly for complex or multi-step decisions.

That means now is the time to future-proof your presence. By showing up in trusted places, publications, podcasts, and social conversations, you increase your brand’s visibility in LLM training data and improve your odds of inclusion in AI-generated content.

The brands that adapt early will build long-term authority that can’t be gamed or reverse-engineered overnight.

Final Thoughts: SEO Isn’t Dead — But the Playbook Is

Yes, e-commerce click-through rates are declining, and yes, organic rankings don’t deliver what they used to.

But this isn’t the end of SEO. It’s a sign that SEO needs to evolve.

The brands winning today are doing more than optimizing their websites. They’re building authority, showing up in high-trust ecosystems, and future-proofing their visibility for an AI-driven future.

SEO in 2025 isn’t just about where you rank. It’s about where you’re recognized.

We’ve featured the best online marketing service.

Feature Image credit: One Photo / Shutterstock

By Matt Cayless

Sourced from techradar.pro

This article was produced as part of TechRadarPro’s Expert Insights channel where we feature the best and brightest minds in the technology industry today. The views expressed here are those of the author and are not necessarily those of TechRadarPro or Future plc. If you are interested in contributing find out more here: https://www.techradar.com/news/submit-your-story-to-techradar-pro

By Ankush Das

Twilio integrates conversational intelligence to offer deep behavioural insights.

AI is here to automate and simplify tasks for humans. Its inherent traits even enhance performance, boosting business outcomes. The results surprised many.

In a recent months-long experiment, a pizza brand tested AI-powered virtual agents, developed by Twilio, by allowing them to handle customer orders.

In a conversation with AIM, Christopher Connolly, director of solution engineering at Twilio, a customer engagement and communications platform, shared insights into how AI is not only keeping pace with customer interactions but also occasionally surpassing human agents.

Among the standout findings, AI agents sold more soft drinks than their human counterparts, not due to charm but because of their persistence and shameless upselling strategies.

The Virtual Agent with a Supervisor

Real-world data from Twilio’s new observability tools reveals that virtual agents, when monitored correctly, can improve both upselling and customer satisfaction. The company shared that using AI agents resulted in 25 times faster responses to customers requesting to speak with Sales, 75% of service ticket resolutions without escalation, and a 3.1 times higher conversion rate than before.

Twilio’s new ‘conversation relay’ feature aims to tackle a longstanding blind spot in AI deployments—how virtual agents behave after going live. Unveiled first internally and now shared with the broader developer ecosystem, the system enables companies to observe and analyse AI agents in production in real time.

Connolly told AIM that the tool works across virtual agents, whether built on Twilio or external platforms, and integrates with conversational intelligence to offer deep behavioural insights.

Twilio’s machine learning team has open-sourced six specialised AI agent observability language operators that are purpose-built for everyday use cases that have been requested by the platform’s customers. “These operators allow users to extract signals such as agent interruptions, hallucination events, conversation flow errors, and more,” Connolly said.

To ensure safety and reliability, Twilio uses a multi-model setup, where one large language model keeps another in check.

“We’ve effectively got one LLM checking another,” he highlighted. This internal network can detect hallucinations, ensure tasks are completed, and generate predictive customer satisfaction scores mid-call.

Connolly noted that Governments, banks, and insurers in regulated industries are concerned about AI becoming too autonomous. They worry that AI will offer inappropriate advice or get stuck in repetitive loops when performing assigned tasks. Our solution addresses these concerns.

Unlike traditional call analytics, which mainly converts speech into searchable text, Twilio’s system taps into the potential of LLMs to derive meaning and context from conversations.

From his observations, Connolly said, “The shift that we’re seeing is we’re not just using NLP to turn it into text and do tagging, we’re now able to add the LLM capability into it to be a lot more abstract with our questioning.”

Bring Your Own Language Model

The company’s approach to virtual agents involves a flexible “bring your own language model” (BYOLM) strategy through something called conversation relay. They provide sample integrations for various platforms like Azure, OpenAI, Groq, and Hugging Face, allowing customers to plug in whichever LLM they prefer.

This approach is popular because it handles complex speech-related tasks, like Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) and Text-to-Speech (TTS) through partners like ElevenLabs and Deepgram, and sentence endpoints, through Twilio, leaving the LLM choice open.

However, they do provide an LLM option directly in some cases. In those scenarios, they currently offer support for OpenAI’s models. The focus remains on simplifying communications infrastructure and connecting disparate technologies rather than developing their own language models.

All of this is governed by clear data usage policies, the company claims. “Customers really value consent, and that is in all of our data, all of our testing. Consent is always required,” Connolly added.

To aid transparency, Twilio publishes AI “nutrition labels” explaining how models operate and where humans are involved in the loop.

The “Shameless” Upseller, AI in the Pizza Business

To see how AI agents perform on the ground, the customer engagement platform partnered with a pizza delivery chain to compare virtual and human agents in a live ordering environment. The experiment ran for several months and revealed some unexpected advantages of automation.

The company observed how many conversations it takes to order a pizza. Connolly explained that the number of turns increased when the virtual agent was introduced. He reasoned this because of the upsell insertions and tasks the virtual agent was asked to perform. Despite the longer interaction, customer satisfaction remained stable, and revenue per order actually rose.

Most notably, one product stood out. “The virtual agent sells more soft drinks than the human agent,” Connolly revealed. “The virtual agent is shameless,” he noted, adding that they don’t mind asking repeatedly, pushing for add-on drinks and snacks.

In contrast, human agents often tended to avoid repeated upsell prompts. “They’ll just want to get through the order, move on to the next order,” he said.

Not just food brands, Twilio also tested its AI-powered conversational relay feature with a financial services provider. For instance, it tested with Cedar for a healthcare client to streamline billing through automated patient communication and secure voice payments. Additionally, ING, a Dutch multinational and financial services company, integrates Twilio’s voice, chat, and video tools with its APIs to enhance contact centre interactions.

Looking ahead, Connolly sees AI voice agents becoming more human-like and responsive. “OpenAI has a real-time API that we’re working with. Gemini has the same. Google’s got the same,” he said.

By Ankush Das

Sourced from AIM

By Aki Ito

In March, Shopify‘s CEO told his managers he was implementing a new rule: Before asking for more head count, they had to prove that AI couldn’t do the job as well as a human would. A few weeks later, Duolingo‘s CEO announced a similar decree and went even further — saying the company would gradually phase out contractors and replace them with AI. The announcements matched what I’ve been hearing in my own conversations with employers: Because of AI, they are hiring less than before.

When I first started reporting on ChatGPT’s impact on the labor market, I thought it would take many years for AI to meaningfully reshape the job landscape. But in recent months, I’ve found myself wondering if the AI revolution has already arrived. To answer that question, I asked Revelio Labs, an analytics provider that aggregates huge reams of workforce data from across the internet, to see if it could tell which jobs are already being replaced by AI. Not in some hypothetical future, but right now — today.

Zanele Munyikwa, an economist at Revelio Labs, started by looking at the job descriptions in online postings and identifying the listed responsibilities that AI can already perform or augment. She found that over the past three years, the share of AI-doable tasks in online job postings has declined by 19%. After further analysis, she reached a startling conclusion: The vast majority of the drop took place because companies are hiring fewer people in roles that AI can do.

Next, Munyikwa segmented all the occupations into three buckets: those with a lot of AI-doable tasks (high-exposure roles), those with relatively few AI-doable tasks (low-exposure roles), and those in between. Since OpenAI released ChatGPT in 2022, she found, there has been a decline in job openings across the board. But the hiring downturn has been steeper for high-exposure roles (31%) than for low-exposure roles (25%). In short, jobs that AI can perform are disappearing from job boards faster than those that AI can’t handle.

Which jobs have the most exposure to AI? Those that handle a lot of tech functions: database administrators, IT specialists, information security, and data engineers. The jobs with the lowest exposure to AI, by contrast, are in-person roles like restaurant managers, foremen, and mechanics.

This isn’t the first analysis to show the early impact of AI on the labor market. In 2023, a group of researchers at Washington University and New York University homed in on a set of professionals who are particularly vulnerable: freelancers in writing-related occupations. After the introduction of ChatGPT, the number of jobs in those fields dropped by 2% on the freelancing platform Upwork — and monthly earnings declined by 5.2%. “In the short term,” the researchers wrote, “generative AI reduces overall demand for knowledge workers of all types.”

At Revelio Labs, Munyikwa is careful about expanding on the implications of her own findings. It’s unclear, she says, if AI in its current iteration is actually capable of doing all the white-collar work that employers think it can. It could be that CEOs at companies like Shopify and Duolingo will wake up one day and discover that hiring less for AI-exposed roles was a bad move. Will it affect the quality of the work or the creativity of employees — and, ultimately, the bottom line? The answer will determine how enduring the AI hiring standstill will prove to be in the years ahead.

Some companies already appear to be doing an about-face on their AI optimism. Last year, the fintech company Klarna boasted that its investment in artificial intelligence had enabled it to put a freeze on human hiring. An AI assistant, it reported, was doing “the equivalent work of 700 full-time agents.” But in recent months, Klarna has changed its tune. It has started hiring human agents again, acknowledging that its AI-driven cost-cutting push led to “lower quality.”

“It’s so critical that you are clear to your customer that there will always be a human,” CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski told Bloomberg. “Really investing in the quality of the human support is the way of the future for us.”

Will there be more chastened Siemiatkowskis in the months and years ahead? I’m not betting on it. All across tech, chief executives share an almost religious fervor to have fewer employees around — employees who complain and get demotivated and need breaks in all the ways AI doesn’t. At the same time, the AI tools at our disposal are getting better and better every month, enabling companies to shed employees. As long as that’s the case, I’m not sure white-collar occupations face an optimistic future.

Even Siemiatkowski still says he expects to reduce his workforce by another 500 through attrition in the coming year. And when Klarna’s technology improves enough, he predicts, he’ll be able to downsize at an even faster pace. Asked when that point will come, he replied: “I think it’s very likely within 12 months.”

Feature Image Credit: Getty Images; Ava Horton/BI

By Aki Ito

Aki Ito is a chief correspondent at Business Insider.

Sourced from AOL

By Tom May

For years, we’ve been told that, rather than try to be all things to all people, we should find a specific skill and focus on that. But in an industry shaken by budget cuts, AI disruption and shifting client needs, being multi-skilled in 2025 is no longer a compromise; it’s an advantage. And those who prefer to (say) juggle illustration, web design, photography and a bit of copy on the side might just be built for this new era.

Founder of Clearcut Derby, Mike Hindle puts it succinctly: “For years, creatives were told to niche down, specialise, pick a lane. But in 2025 —with shrinking budgets, AI disruption, and a quieter economy (yelp)—it feels being good at lots of things is no longer a compromise; it’s a competitive advantage.”

Why? Because today, clients are asking more from fewer suppliers, timelines are compressed, and the creative industry itself is evolving faster than anyone anticipated. And when the entire motorway is under construction, lane discipline becomes less relevant than adaptability.

Designer, artist and creative director Kyle Wilkinson sees this shift as fundamental to the industry’s evolution. “This industry is built upon evolution, which can be slower with a specialism,” he reasons. “This is why I’ve always believed in—and practised—a more generalist approach. And so far, it’s served me well.”

Built for the gig economy

Multiple income streams aren’t just smart business; right now, they’re an essential survival strategy. When one area of work dries up, generalists can pivot to another. When a client needs both brand strategy and social content, they can deliver both.

There’s a crucial distinction, though, between being genuinely multi-skilled and simply dabbling. The new generalist isn’t someone who does everything poorly; they’re someone who applies deep creative thinking across multiple disciplines with competence and confidence.

Web designer and developer Matthew Jackson draws a parallel with medicine. “Doctors don’t specialise immediately. They get a good grounding in all kinds of things for years before potentially specialising. Equally, how could it EVER not be useful to understand both design and also business, development, print, marketing, behavioural science, and sales?”

Visual storyteller Fiifi Džansi agrees: “It’s always a good thing to be a generalist first,” he says. “That way, you enrich your perspective and refine your taste.” He points to the famous designer Massimo Vignelli as an example of excellence across disciplines.

Steven Bonner, creative director at D8, adds that generalist skills make you better at everything “because you have an understanding of what the specialists you hire actually do”.

Why clients love a one-stop shop

Budget constraints and tight timelines mean clients increasingly value efficiency. If you can handle brand identity, motion graphics and social content strategy, you’re not just saving them money; you’re saving them the coordination headache of managing multiple suppliers.

Jose Nava, co-founder and CEO at Levie, has seen this play out in practice. “As we’ve grown our practice and expertise, we’ve seen that niching down comes with its own caveats and limitations,” he reveals. “Our range of work and capabilities are quite diverse, and that’s been a strength. As the landscape evolves, we see a need to continue to become generalists.”

Graphic designer Tony Clarkson takes this to its logical conclusion: “I’ve always been a generalist in that if a client asks, ‘Can you do XYZ?’, I’ll say yes and then figure out how,” he reveals. “Over the years, it hasn’t just been design; it’s included all sorts of things, from setting up email accounts on their various devices to building the wiring looms for their exhibition stands.”

How to own it without burning out

The key to successful generalist practice isn’t necessarily saying yes to everything, though. For many, it’s being strategic about your range.

As creative director Mark Hutton Hutton Creative says: “I’m a great believer that as a creative you should be able to turn your hand to most areas of design but within reason. I can’t do 3D design or detailed coding, but I have the knowledge of them that if I use someone with that expertise, I’ll have an understanding of what’s involved in the process.”

Danie Stinchcombe, marketing director at co-working space Gather Round, has embraced this approach for decades: “I’ve worked in marketing for 25 years now but never specialised in anything in particular,” she says. “I’ve just tried a bit of everything, and it’s always been an advantage. ”

Range creates resilience and can be good for your work-life balance too. Illustrator Annie McGee explains how being multi-disciplinary actually enables sustainability. “I’m a multi-passionate creative, a multi-disciplinary illustrator and workshop facilitator,” she says. “And honestly, being a ‘Jack of all trades’ is what makes my creative life actually work. I’m disabled with fluctuating and unpredictable health issues, so my body doesn’t always let me show up the same way every day. Having a mix of creative work gives me the flexibility to adapt without burning out.”

In short, your breadth of skills is no longer a consolation prize for not being focused enough. It’s preparation for an industry that demands creativity, adaptability and the ability to see the bigger picture.

In a world where AI can handle the technical execution, human generalists who can think strategically across disciplines aren’t becoming obsolete; they’re becoming indispensable.

Feature Image Credit: Adobe Stock

By Tom May

Sourced from CREATIVE BOOM 

By Joe Foley

It should rebrand iPhone and Apple Watch while it’s at it.

It’s that time of the year when rumours about Apple‘s next operating system updates start flying. True to form, we’ve seen plenty of speculation about big visionOS-inspired UI design changes in iOS 19 and macOS 16. But is that what the next systems will even be called?

It’s now being suggested that Apple will overhaul its OS naming conventions and will brand the next generation of software by year rather than release number. That would mean that instead of iOS 19, macOS 16, WatchOS 12 and visionOS 3, we would see the releases of iOS 26, MacOS 26, WatchOS 26 and visionOS 26.

If that change sounds familiar, that might be because it’s like what Samsung did with its flagship Galaxy S phones back in 2020. It’s about time Apple made the same move.

Apple’s operating systems currently all have different numbers because they were all launched at different times. iPhones are currently on iOS 18, Macs on MacOS 15 and Vision Pro, which was released just last year, is on visionOS 2.

The rumour about a change in branding comes from a credible source. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has been right about many Apple rumours in the pasts. He writes: “Apple will use the upcoming year rather than the current one. Though its next operating systems will launch around September 2025, they’ll be named for 2026 — not unlike how car companies market their vehicles. If Apple keeps the strategy, the following set of releases will carry the 27 moniker.”

The move would bring consistency to Apple software branding and make it easier for both customers and developers to know what release each OS is on. There would be no more having to remember each system’s number since you would just have to know what year it is.

For the moment, it seems Apple isn’t considering the same change for its hardware, so the next iPhone will presumably be the iPhone 17 as expected (and iPhone 17 Air if the rumours are true). But why stop at software? I’d say it makes sense to apply the same logic to devices.

Gurman compares the move to car manufacturers, but it’s hard not to also recall how Samsung made a change like this with its hardware. Apple’s rival jumped from the Galaxy S10 in 2019 straight to the S20 in 2020. And it was an ingenious move.

Not only did it make it easier for customers to remember what phone they have and identify the current model, but Samsung leap-frogged over Apple in the process. Apple was on iPhone 11 at the time. By turning the Galaxy S11 into the Galaxy S22, it suddenly made it sound like Samsung was ahead.

The South Korean tech giant usually releases new Galaxy models in January, while Apple launches iPhones in September. If Apple called the next generation iPhone 26 instead of iPhone 17 it could beat Samsung at its own game and would always be a few months ahead. That might sound petty, but numbers can be powerful in branding. Just remember how Microsoft chose the name Xbox 360 to avoid being seen as a generation behind PlayStation.

I’m sure some fans like the iPhone release number tradition, but Apple’s already played fast and loose with that by skipping iPhone 9 so it could launch iPhone X on the phone’s 10th anniversary, and it would have to repeat that move if it wants to release an iPhone 20 in 2027. Let’s just ditch the release numbers and go with the year. You know it makes sense, Apple.

You can see the best deals on Apple’s current iPhone lineup below. Also see our pick of the best camera phones for other options.

Feature Image credit: Future / Apple

By Joe Foley

Joe is a regular freelance journalist and editor at Creative Bloq. He writes news, features and buying guides and keeps track of the best equipment and software for creatives, from video editing programs to monitors and accessories. A veteran news writer and photographer, he now works as a project manager at the London and Buenos Aires-based design, production and branding agency Hermana Creatives. There he manages a team of designers, photographers and video editors who specialise in producing visual content and design assets for the hospitality sector. He also dances Argentine tango.

Sourced from CREATIVE BLOQ

By Darren Orf

Predictions across the field range from a few months to a few decades, but experts agree—change is coming.

Here’s what you’ll learn when you read this story:

• The world is awash in predictions of when the singularity will occur or when artificial general intelligence (AGI) will arrive. Some experts predict it will never happen, while others are marking their calendars for 2026.
• A new macro analysis of surveys over the past 15 years shows where scientists and industry experts stand on the question and how their predictions have changed over time, especially after the arrival of large language models like ChatGPT.
• Although predictions vary across a span of almost a half-century, most agree than AGI will arrive before the end of the 21^st century.

Since the arrival of the large language models (LLMs) that have now seeped into seemingly every nook and cranny of our digital lives, scientists, experts, industry leaders, and pretty much everyone else have some opinion on AI and where it’s headed.

Some researchers who’ve studied the emergence of machine intelligence think that the singularity—the theoretical point where machine surpasses man in intelligence—could occur within decades.

On the other end of the prediction spectrum, there’s the CEO of Anthropic, who thinks we’re right on the threshold—give it about 6 more months or so.

Although this survey does look at different AI thresholds (such as artificial general intelligence (AGI) and AI superintelligence), AI industry leaders were overall more bullish on their predictions. Most respondents, however, believed AGI would likely occur within the next half-century.

However, that timeline for the arrival of both AGI and the singularity fundamentally changed with the arrival of the first LLMs over the past few years.

“Current surveys of AI researchers are predicting AGI around 2040,” the report states. “However, just a few years before the rapid advancements in large language models (LLMs), scientists were predicting it around 2060. Entrepreneurs are even more bullish, predicting it around ~2030.”

The macro-analysis also offers a few insights into why many experts believe AGI is inevitable. First is the idea that, unlike human intelligence, machine intelligence doesn’t appear to have any limits—at least, not any that have been discovered as of yet. As computing power doubles every 18 months (a concept known in computer engineering circles as Moore’s Law), LLMs should quickly be able to reach a calculations-per-second threshold that’s on par with human intelligence. The report also states that, if computing ever did hit some sort of engineering wall, quantum computing could possibly help pick up the slack.

“Most experts believe that Moore’s law is coming to an end during this decade,” the report reads. “The unique nature of quantum computing can be used to efficiently train neural networks, currently the most popular AI architecture in commercial applications. AI algorithms running on stable quantum computers have a chance to unlock singularity.”

However, not everyone thinks AGI is a dead certainty. Some experts argue that human intelligence is more multifaceted than what the current definition of AGI describes. For example, some AI experts think of the human mind in terms of eight intelligences, of which “logical-mathematical” is just one (alongside it exists, for example, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and existential intelligence).

Deep learning pioneer Yann LeCun thinks AGI should be rebranded to “advanced machine intelligence,” and argues that human intelligence is too specialized to be replicable. The report also suggests that, while AI can be an important tool in making new discoveries, it can’t make these discoveries on its own.

Sourced from Bruce Rolff/Stocktrek Images//Getty Images

By Darren Orf

Darren lives in Portland, has a cat, and writes/edits about sci-fi and how our world works. You can find his previous stuff at Gizmodo and Paste if you look hard enough.

Sourced from Popular Mechanics

By Tom May

When car brands make sneakers and festivals launch furniture lines, it’s time to rethink what ‘brand’ really means.

So, this was a bit weird.

I expected to find myself cooing over chairs at Milan Design Week. Just not ones made by a car company. But there I was, halfway through an espresso and already considering whether CUPRA’s sculptural parametric lounge seat would look good in my front room. (Answer: it definitely would.)

Let me rewind. CUPRA, for the uninitiated, is the moody, bronze-accented younger sibling of SEAT. You know, the Spanish car brand that sits somewhere between “reasonably priced” and “let’s make it look fast”. Only now, CUPRA’s not content with cars. They’ve unveiled the CUPRA Design House: a full-blown lifestyle division, hawking everything from adaptive knitwear to 3D-printed shoes, all dipped in their signature “we’re not Audi, we’re edgier” aesthetic. (This doesn’t mean we’ll be hanging prints of car logos on our walls, FYI).

And you know what? It works. Because CUPRA isn’t just flogging merch. They’re building a brand universe. They’re not designing products. Much like the best rebrands, they’re designing desire. And they’re not alone.

EDM to MORPHO

Take Tomorrowland, the Belgian EDM mega-festival that basically invented “festival as immersive experience.” It now has its own interior design line (MORPHO), Ibiza concept store, tattoo parlour, homeware collection, and (because why not?) its own sparkling wine.

Want to sit on a dragonfly-inspired sunbed while sipping Solo Vida and listening to a DJ set as the sun goes down? Tomorrowland’s got you. It’s like Glastonbury married Habitat and moved to Ibiza.

What we’re seeing here isn’t just lifestyle branding on steroids; it’s full-scale cultural colonisation. Yet weirdly, I’m not upset about it.

Because while traditional brands are still obsessing over social reach and impressions (apparently Wendy’s thinks picking fights with celebs on X is good marketing), these next-gen players are doing something bolder. They’re expanding their aesthetic philosophies into entirely new categories. They’re becoming design companies. And that’s a seismic shift.

Let’s look at a few more suspects hiding in plain sight.

Oases of calm

MUJI, the high priest of neutrals and notebooks, has quietly opened hotels. Not the usual slapped-logo-on-a-bedspread jobs, but fully MUJI-fied oases of calm. You get MUJI sheets, MUJI snacks, and presumably MUJI dreams about filing systems. It’s the brand as an atmosphere. And it’s brilliant.

Soho House started as a members’ club for media types who thought wine should be drunk from tumblers and art should push boundaries. Now it’s a global real estate empire selling you not just a place to hang out, but a way to live. Eat, sleep, co-work, repeat; all in that muted, candlelit palette that screams “We’re tasteful, but we’re fun.”

Even the fast fashion crowd – Zara, H&M and pals – have cottoned on. It’s not enough to sell you clothes any more. They want your bathroom, your bedding, your beauty regime. Zara now has Zara Beauty and Zara Hair. It’s only a matter of time before they launch a toothpaste with notes of bergamot and heartbreak.

So, what does this all mean?

Good news for creatives

I’d argue it means this: the most future-fit brands are the ones that treat design not as a department, but as a doctrine.

They don’t just make stuff. They create cohesive aesthetic ecosystems. And they know that once you have a strong visual and emotional identity, you can apply it anywhere. Chairs. Candles. Cocktails. Car interiors. Curtains. You name it.

And this is good news for creatives. At a time when AI is coming for everything from your copywriting gig to your Photoshop skills, brands doubling down on human-led design thinking could be a rare and precious lifeline.

Because algorithms can optimise, but they can’t enchant. They can copy, but they can’t originate.

When a brand like Tomorrowland decides to build an entire furniture line around dragonflies and Gaudí, it’s not doing it because a spreadsheet told it to. It’s doing it because someone with vision (and probably a slightly unhinged moodboard) said: Why not?

And when a car company decides to make fashion, not because it’s profitable but because it extends their design language into your wardrobe? That’s not just product diversification. That’s brand narrative in 3D.

This is your moment

So, if you’re a designer, illustrator, art director, stylist, spatial thinker or just someone with excellent taste and a well-worn copy of Apartamento – this is your moment. Because the brands of the future need people like you.

Not just to make things pretty, but to make them matter. To build universes. To invent vibes.

Here’s the rule of thumb: if a brand is thinking like a media company, it’s already out of date. The ones to watch are thinking like design studios. Not “what else can we sell?” but “where else can we be ourselves?”

Next time you see a car brand making a cardigan, then, or a music festival launching a lamp, don’t roll your eyes. Lean in. The brand verse is expanding. And it’s hiring.

To supplement those human skills, see the AI skills you need to get ahead.

Feature Image credit: Cupra

By Tom May

Tom May is an award-winning journalist and author specialising in design, photography and technology. His latest book, The 50th Greatest Designers, was released in June 2025. He’s also author of the Amazon #1 bestseller Great TED Talks: Creativity, published by Pavilion Books, Tom was previously editor of Professional Photography magazine, associate editor at Creative Bloq, and deputy editor at net magazine.

Sourced from CREATIVE BLOG

By Simon Woolford

Simon Woolford discusses how brand strategy distinguishes enduring brands from those easily overlooked in a fast-paced, AI-driven content landscape.

In a world of templates, brand strategy is what sets you apart

The digital age has lowered the barriers to launching a brand. AI tools, pre-made design templates, and plug-and-play platforms allow anyone to bring a business to life in days, not months. For startups and DTC players, the promise is speed and scale — launch fast, iterate later.

But in the luxury space, speed is rarely the goal. And iteration only works if the foundation is sound to begin with. At SUM, we work with brands that understand this. Strategy is not something they bolt on later — it is the architecture that holds the whole brand together.

Brand strategy is a creative act, not a business formality

Too often, strategy is mistaken for paperwork. A slide deck, a positioning statement, a tick-box exercise before the ‘real’ creative work begins. But in reality, brand strategy is the most creative part of the process — it is where decisions get made.

What does the brand stand for? What does it not stand for? Who are we really speaking to — and how do they want to be spoken to? These questions are not answered by visuals or slogans. They require a deep understanding of context, culture, and intent.

For luxury brands in particular, the answers are rarely obvious. It is not enough to be premium — everyone says that. The challenge is defining a point of view and building a brand world that expresses it in a way that feels both refined and distinctive.

Fast brands vs lasting brands

Today’s market is full of well-executed, visually pleasing brands that fail to make any lasting impression. The fonts are right. The photography is polished. But the substance is missing — because the strategy was never there.

The strongest brands we have worked with do not start with visuals. They start with questions:

• What space do we want to occupy in the market — and in people’s minds?
• What story are we telling, and how do we ensure it is credible?
• What principles will guide our decisions as we grow?

Without clarity on these points, it is all too easy to default to trends — chasing the aesthetic of the moment without ever defining what sets you apart. Strategy is what stops that from happening. It acts as both compass and filter.

The role of strategy in a post-AI landscape

The arrival of generative tools has changed the game. You can now create logos, packaging ideas, and social captions in minutes. But the question is not whether you can generate brand assets quickly — it is whether those assets actually say anything unique.

“AI is good at mimicking. It can remix existing data, follow prompts, and simulate voice. But it cannot define purpose.”

AI is good at mimicking. It can remix existing data, follow prompts, and simulate voice. But it cannot define purpose. It cannot craft nuance from lived experience or cultural insight. And it certainly cannot tell you what a brand should be.

This is where brand strategy becomes more valuable, not less. In a world where everything starts to look the same, it is the thought behind the brand that gives it weight. If AI makes design easier, then strategy is how you make it matter.

Strategy as quiet confidence

For luxury brands, being different does not mean being louder. In fact, it often means the opposite. The most powerful strategies are usually the most subtle — the kind that express themselves in tone, restraint, and consistency.

“We have worked with brands who have no tagline, no manifesto, and no overt claims — and yet they feel unmistakably clear. That is not an accident.”

We have worked with brands who have no tagline, no manifesto, and no overt claims — and yet they feel unmistakably clear. That is not an accident. It is the result of strategic discipline. A willingness to define what belongs, what does not, and how the brand should behave across every touchpoint.

Whether it is a fragrance bottle, a website, or an in-store moment, the role of strategy is to ensure all these elements feel coherent. Not identical, but aligned.

Strategy aligns teams, not just visuals

Brand strategy is not just a tool for designers or marketers — it is a tool for internal alignment. We have seen again and again how a strong strategic framework brings clarity to cross-functional teams.

When done well, strategy becomes a shared language. It gives everyone — from founders and investors to designers and developers — a way to evaluate ideas, solve problems, and protect the brand over time.

Without that framework, brand decisions become reactive. Messaging shifts. Priorities change. And over time, the brand drifts away from its original intent.

Why luxury brands need strategy more than ever

Luxury audiences are discerning. They expect more than product — they expect meaning, craft, and credibility. And they have an exceptional radar for inconsistency.

For these audiences, a weak strategy shows up quickly. It might be a jarring product line extension, an inauthentic campaign, or a tone of voice that feels off-brand. The result? Erosion of trust — and in the luxury space, trust is everything.

A strong strategy ensures this does not happen. It keeps the brand honest, consistent, and focused — not just in year one, but in year five, ten, and beyond.

Final Thought

There will always be faster ways to build a brand. But if you want to build something with depth, longevity, and real value — strategy still matters. Perhaps more than ever.

It is not about slogans or slides. It is about decisions. The ones that define who you are, what you stand for, and how you earn your place in the world.

Feature Image Credit: The Faces, YFS Magazine

By Simon Woolford

Simon Woolford is the founder of SUM, a London-based branding agency specialising in strategy-led work for luxury and design-led brands. With over 25 years of experience, he has helped position and scale brands across fashion, fragrance, hospitality, and lifestyle. His work combines strategic clarity with visual refinement – helping brands build lasting equity in saturated markets.

Sourced from YSF Magazine

By Janita Pannu

When was the last time you felt like a brand truly understood you? Chances are it wasn’t because of a statistic or product launch, but because of a story.

Neuromarketing proves that storytelling is not just a creative endeavour, but a scientific tool for building loyalty through emotion.

Storytelling images the limbic nervous system, which is where the brain makes emotions. A driving force for how we make decisions. Unlike facts and figures, stories can trigger feelings of joy, trust or nostalgia, creating long-lasting connections with businesses and brands.

• Emotional impact: Narratives can activate the amygdala and associate positive feelings with a brand.

• Memory enhancement: A structured story with an arc can make it easier to encode long-term memory.

• Trust and connection: When a brand tells a story that resonates with a customer’s value or their personal experiences, it fosters trust and can build a deeper relationship.

Marketing leaders today have the tools to measure the impact of storytelling on a neurological level.

• EEGs and fMRI scans can show us how consumer brains react to narrative elements in real time.

• Facial coding analysis can show us micro-expressions, so marketers can decode our emotional reactions to videos and images.

Great storytelling is not accidental, it’s engineered.

Creating characters that are relatable can evoke an emotional investment. Think of Apple’s iconic ad “Here’s to the crazy ones” that celebrates people who defy convention.

Emotional arcs with conflict, resolution and emotional highs and lows are easy to remember; think of Coca-Cola’s “Share a Coke” campaign for personal moments to create emotion.

When was the last time you felt like a brand truly understood you? Chances are it wasn’t because of a statistic or product launch, but because of a story.

Neuromarketing proves that storytelling is not just a creative endeavour, but a scientific tool for building loyalty through emotion.

Storytelling images the limbic nervous system, which is where the brain makes emotions. A driving force for how we make decisions. Unlike facts and figures, stories can trigger feelings of joy, trust or nostalgia, creating long-lasting connections with businesses and brands.

• Emotional impact: Narratives can activate the amygdala and associate positive feelings with a brand.

• Memory enhancement: A structured story with an arc can make it easier to encode long-term memory.

• Trust and connection: When a brand tells a story that resonates with a customer’s value or their personal experiences, it fosters trust and can build a deeper relationship.

Marketing leaders today have the tools to measure the impact of storytelling on a neurological level.

• EEGs and fMRI scans can show us how consumer brains react to narrative elements in real time.

• Facial coding analysis can show us micro-expressions, so marketers can decode our emotional reactions to videos and images.

Great storytelling is not accidental, it’s engineered.

Creating characters that are relatable can evoke an emotional investment. Think of Apple’s iconic ad “Here’s to the crazy ones” that celebrates people who defy convention.

Emotional arcs with conflict, resolution and emotional highs and lows are easy to remember; think of Coca-Cola’s “Share a Coke” campaign for personal moments to create emotion.

Feature Image Credit: getty

By Janita Pannu

Sourced from Forbes