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How brands are moving beyond the ‘real-but-weird’ with synthetic humans

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Sourced from The Drum

From digital twins to virtual influencers, here’s how brands are testing synthetic media and where the ethical lines are being drawn in the era of AI-generated talent.

Virtual presenters, AI-generated spokespeople, hyper-realistic avatars that never break script. It sounds like science fiction, but in 2025, synthetic media has officially entered the marketing mainstream.

Brands aren’t just turning to video avatars for localization, they’re training custom AI agents to serve as virtual customer service reps, live content presenters and even shopping assistants. Powered by platforms such as Soul Machines, Meta AI Studio and Synthesia’s personalized video engine, these agents combine natural language, lifelike visuals and brand-trained tone to deliver always-on performance at scale.

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Following Klarna’s test of an AI shopping assistant powered by OpenAI that does the equivalent work of 700 full-time agents, other brands have followed suit, putting synthetic talent to work in very different but equally strategic ways.

Unveiled at VivaTech 2025, L’Oréal announced an expanded collaboration with Nvidia to supercharge its AI ecosystem, spanning everything from 3D product rendering to the launch of Noli, a first-of-its-kind AI-powered beauty marketplace. Through Creaitech, L’Oréal is scaling its use of generative AI and digital twins to create hyper-personalized, on-brand content across e-commerce, social and influencer channels – streamlining production and boosting engagement.

Meanwhile, H&M is pioneering the use of AI-generated ‘model clones,’ creating digital versions of 30 real-life models for campaign and social use. Each clone is watermarked and fully licensed, demonstrating how brands can responsibly scale synthetic content while respecting talent rights.

Both brands signal a broader shift: AI avatars and agents are no longer novelty acts, they’re being built into the brand system itself, trained on tone of voice, product data and usage intent.

These are just a few examples of how brands are now deploying synthetic reps across their e-commerce ecosystems – not just to front explainer content, but to interact in real-time with shoppers, pulling from product data, historical interactions and brand voice guidelines.

Next steps for Drummies

The appeal is obvious: scale, speed and localization – all without hiring or rebooking talent. But the rise of synthetic humans also raises some big questions. Are consumers comfortable with AI clones fronting their favourite brands? Do they need to know when a presenter isn’t real? And what happens when these avatars become indistinguishable from real humans?

Increasingly, transparency is non-negotiable. Consumers want to know when content is synthetic and regulators are starting to weigh in. Some brands have learned this the hard way, facing backlash for failing to disclose AI-generated imagery in ad campaigns.

And the industry is moving past the ‘real-but-weird’ aesthetic. Brands are opting for avatars that are clearly synthetic yet emotionally engaging, avoiding uncanny valley territory and leaning into stylized, branded personas that are recognizably AI-powered – but unmistakably on-message.

For marketers, the benefits are clear. Synthetic talent offers speed and scale, allowing content to be updated instantly in any language, tone or format. In some cases, AI presenters are outperforming live talent on key metrics including attention and recall, particularly in explainer content or localized training material. And with production costs slashed, synthetic media can deliver serious savings, especially for brands creating content at volume.

But here’s the top tip for Drummies: don’t rush to replace your human talent just yet. Instead, use AI avatars to augment your strategy, testing them in lower-risk areas like onboarding, FAQs or internal comms. And above all, be transparent. If content is AI-generated, say so, because trust, once lost, is hard to regenerate.

Feature Image Credit: Fernand De Canne on Unsplash

Sourced from The Drum

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Google Will Now Use AI to Summarize Your Search Results As a Podcast

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By Khamosh Pathak

AI audio podcasts, right in Google Search.

For Google, AI-generated podcasts are turning into quite a key feature. You can now generate a two-person AI podcast from a Deep Research report, or get a Daily Listen podcast that’s generated from your Discover feed. Now, Google is planning to expand this feature to Google Search as well.

 

Available as an experimental feature from Google Labs, this new option will help generate a short, 5-minute AI podcast based on your Google Search results.

Google Labs new features
Credit: Jake Peterson

 

To access the new feature, head over to your Google Labs page using this link and find the Audio Overviews section. There, you can either enable this feature or join a waitlist, depending on where you’re located. Unfortunately, while this is a global rollout, it’s not happening all at once, as is the case with many new Google AI features.

How Audio Overviews in Google Search work

This new search feature is lifted almost straight from Gemini, which itself got it from NotebookLM. Called Audio Overviews, the original incarnation of this feature let you generate a 10-minute AI podcast episode on any topic, although the new version has a few additional limitations.

When the feature is enabled in Google Search, you’ll see a little prompt to “Generate Audio Overview” while you scroll through compatible search results. Which results are compatible is a bit vague at this point—that’s one of the limitations. You won’t see it for simple questions like “what are some nearby cafés?” but it also won’t work for overly complex topics, like researching investment trends across Asia (where you might be better off using Deep Research tools).

Instead, Audio Overviews will kick in for queries that are somewhere in the middle. Let’s say you want a quick refresher on a Lord of the Rings character, or to know which Japanese knives to get started with when upgrading your kitchen. Just make an appropriate Google search, click the Generate Audio Overview button, and search will kick into Gemini mode. After a wait of about 30-40 seconds, which is considerably less than Gemini’s 2–5 minute wait time, you’ll see your audio overview. It will be about five minutes, tops, so you’ll get less detail than Gemini would give you, but it might be enough for a bird’s-eye view on whatever you’re searching for.

 

The audio player for your AI podcast will stay put as you browse the results page, and it will show links to its sources as well. And if it’s gotten something really wrong, you can give it a Thumbs Down. As is the case with any AI tool, it’s important to point out that these are based on Large Language Models, which can sometimes hallucinate. So make sure to check the sources that the Audio Overviews feature provides you before repeating what it says elsewhere.

Feature Image Credit: Google

By Khamosh Pathak

Khamosh Pathak is freelancer tech journalist with over 13 years of experience writing online. Read Full Bio

Sourced from LifeHacker

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AI Is Killing Marketing As We Know It — So What Comes Next?

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By Steven Wolfe Pereira

Marc Andreessen’s 2011 prediction that “software is eating the world” has proven prophetic, but nowhere has the transformation been more complete than in marketing.

At this year’s Cannes Lions — advertising’s equivalent of the Oscars — the technology takeover that’s been building for years is now complete.

Walking down the Croisette, the traditional advertising agencies that once dominated have been replaced by tech giants: Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, Netflix, Pinterest, Reddit, Spotify and Salesforce now command the iconic boulevard. But this shift represents just the beginning of a far more fundamental transformation.

We’re witnessing the death of marketing as we know it, replaced by an AI-driven paradigm that’s rewriting every rule in the playbook.

IDC predicts that by 2028, three out of five marketing functions will be handled by AI workers, while businesses will spend up to three times more on optimizing for AI systems than traditional search engines by 2029. This isn’t a gradual evolution but rather a complete reimagining of how brands and their marketing teams will connect with customers.

The Demise of the Search Paradigm

For two decades, search engine optimization anchored digital strategy. Companies invested billions in the $90 billion SEO industry, obsessing over Google rankings and keyword strategies. That playbook is becoming obsolete.

Search is rapidly migrating from traditional browsers to AI platforms. Apple’s integration of AI-powered tools like Perplexity directly into Safari represents just the beginning of Google’s declining monopoly on discovery. What’s emerging is what venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz calls generative engine optimization — optimizing for AI-driven answers instead of clickable links.

As AI use soars and companies shift from SEO to GEO, the implications are staggering. Instead of ranking high on search results pages, brands now need to be featured directly in AI responses. Traditional SEO tactics become worthless when AI models synthesize answers from multiple sources while maintaining context across conversations.

“How you’re encoded into the AI layer is the new competitive advantage,” explains Zach Cohen from a16z. Vercel CEO Guillermo Rauch recently noted that ChatGPT was already referring 10% of his company’s new customers simply by mentioning it in AI responses. This organic referral power represents a glimpse of AI’s customer acquisition potential.

Success metrics are fundamentally changing. Page views matter less than “reference rates” — how often AI systems cite your brand when answering customer queries. Companies are already deploying specialized tools to track AI mentions and optimize content accordingly such as Brandrank.ai, Peec.ai and Quni.ai.

The Rise of AI-to-AI Commerce

The next wave is even more disruptive: autonomous AI agents that act on behalf of both consumers and businesses. Every major tech company is focused on bringing agents to life — from global giants like Google, Microsoft and Salesforce and frontier models like Anthropic, OpenAI and xAI to AI-native startups like Glean, Sierra and Writer. They are racing to deploy agents that can make decisions, execute transactions and interact with other agents with minimal human oversight.

A recent PwC survey reveals 35% of companies are broadly adopting AI agents, with another 17% implementing them across nearly all workflows. While still early days, this isn’t experimental technology — it’s becoming operational reality.

Consider the customer journey transformation: Your customer’s personal AI assistant might research products, negotiate prices and complete purchases without the customer ever visiting your website. Meanwhile, your company’s AI agent handles inquiries, provides recommendations and closes deals 24/7. The entire transaction could happen between two AI systems.

“Previously, marketers would target campaigns directly at customers, but now the shortlisting and decisions are made by the AI,” notes a recent IDC report. This represents a fundamental shift in where influence occurs — companies must now market to algorithms as much as humans.

The speed of this transition is remarkable. What took decades with previous technology shifts is happening in months with AI. Companies that don’t adapt risk becoming invisible in an AI-mediated marketplace.

The Convergence of Marketing, Sales and Customer Service

AI agents are erasing traditional boundaries between marketing, sales and customer service. When a customer’s AI communicates with your company’s AI, it doesn’t matter whether the inquiry is about product features, pricing or technical support — it’s all one continuous conversation.

This convergence creates unprecedented opportunities for customer experience optimization. A well-designed AI agent can greet customers by name, recall purchase history, answer technical questions, process returns and suggest upgrades within a single interaction. The result is more efficient operations and significantly improved customer satisfaction.

However, it also demands organizational restructuring. Companies can no longer operate with siloed departments when AI systems need unified customer data and consistent messaging across all touchpoints. Early adopters are already reorganizing around integrated AI platforms rather than functional divisions.

The Workforce Reality

The employment implications are substantial and immediate. A 2024 industry survey found 78% of marketers expect at least a quarter of their tasks to be automated within three years, with over one-third anticipating more than half their work becoming AI-automated.

Meta’s public roadmap discusses fully automating advertising campaigns, where humans only set budgets and high-level objectives. Google, Amazon and Microsoft are developing systems that handle targeting, creative generation and optimization without human intervention.

But this disruption creates new opportunities for professionals who adapt. As AI handles routine tasks, human expertise shifts toward strategy, creativity, ethics and managing hybrid human-AI teams. Tomorrow’s marketing leaders will be part creative director, part technologist, part data scientist — orchestrating AI systems rather than managing manual processes.

What Assets Matter Now

In this AI-driven landscape, two assets become disproportionately valuable: brand strength and first-party data.

Strong brands gain significant advantages in AI-mediated interactions. When AI systems trained on billions of data points make recommendations, they naturally favour well-known, trusted brands. This creates a compounding effect where established brands become even more prominent in AI responses.

First-party customer data becomes the fuel for competitive AI systems. Companies with rich, consent-based customer information can train more sophisticated AI agents that deliver superior personalized experiences. In an era of privacy regulations and disappearing third-party cookies, this data represents a crucial competitive moat.

The Strategic Imperative

AI is growing exponentially, like a snowball gaining size and speed. In tasks like language and image generation, performance is doubling roughly every six months, driven by massive computing power, huge datasets and smarter algorithms. Companies that wait for certainty will find themselves permanently behind.

The strategic response requires three parallel efforts:

  1. Experimenting with AI tools and agents
  2. Retraining teams for hybrid human-AI collaboration
  3. Rebuilding systems around unified customer data and experiences

Most importantly, leaders must recognize this isn’t about adopting new tools. It’s about reimagining customer relationships in an AI-mediated world. The companies that thrive will be those that ensure their AI agents deliver genuine value, maintain trust and enhance rather than replace human connection.

We’re entering a world where billions of people will have trillions of AI agents. The question isn’t whether AI will transform customer engagement — it’s whether your company will lead or follow in that transformation. The rules of marketing are being rewritten by AI. The winners will be those who write the new playbook.

Feature Image Credit: NurPhoto via Getty Images

By Steven Wolfe Pereira

Find Steven Wolfe Pereira on LinkedIn and X.

Sourced from Forbes

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The ad agencies are staring down the barrel of AI

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By David Crowther

WPP’s CEO is stepping down as artificial intelligence threatens some of the core functions of the agency model.

The world of advertising feels like one that we all know intimately, with each of us faced with an almost overwhelming bombardment of logos, promos, and ads every single day.

But how many advertising firms can you actually name? If the answer is “not many,” you’re not alone.

That’s because there are thousands of advertising agencies, each bursting with creative individuals looking to nudge our collective consciousness to be a little bit more sympathetic to the brands they’re tasked with representing on billboards, screens, and in print. Many of those agencies are owned by one of six major players that dominate the landscape — each one is having a tough 2025.

Ad Agencies

Sherwood News

 

The “big six,” the parent companies of dozens of smaller outlets, have all seen shares drop this year, but the largest — UK-based WPP — is hurting the most, with CEO Mark Read announcing his departure this morning, as the company’s stock has slumped by more than one-third so far this year.

Winter is coming

In the competitive world of advertising, industry execs are comfortable campaigning against each other for mandates to run all things advertising for major brands like Coca-Cola, Starbucks, and Nike. With the advent and popularization of AI, however, a new threat has emerged.

Just last week, Meta rocked the big six after The Wall Street Journal reported that the social media giant was planning to launch tools that would completely automate ad creation and targeting. That could mean the same product being shown in completely different settings to different users. For instance, an ad for a watch might show one user the timepiece on the wrist of a climber ascending to great heights, while someone else might see the same model on someone stepping out of a beautiful car, at a concert, playing a sport, or reading a newsletter on their phone.

With many other parts of the agency-brand relationship, like project management and media planning, already susceptible to AI tools, the creative part of the job was perhaps seen as one aspect that might be harder to replace. I’m not sure I’m ready for the ads on my Instagram to get any worse, but here we are.

Feature Image Credit: Jeff Spicer/Getty Images

By David Crowther

Sourced from Sherwood

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Business Insider will lay off 21% of staff amid AI disruption and “extreme traffic drops”

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By Sarah Scire 

Business Insider will lay off one in five employees and go “all-in on AI,” CEO Barbara Peng told staff on Thursday.

In a memo first reported by New York Times media reporter Ben Mullin, Peng announced that 21% of staff will lose their jobs as Business Insider moves to reduce its reliance on “traffic-sensitive” parts of the business. While some news publishers haven’t seen a drop in referral traffic amid the rise of Google AI Overviews and ChatGPT queries, others — including many small- and medium-sized sites — report their traffic has fallen off considerably.

“The media industry is at a crossroads. Business models are under pressure, distribution is unstable, and competition for attention is fiercer than ever,” Peng wrote. “At the same time, there’s a huge opportunity for companies who harness AI first. Our strategy is strong, but we don’t have the luxury of time. The pace of change combined with the opportunity ahead demands bold, focused action — and it’s our chance to lead the pack.”

The layoffs will touch “every department” of the media company, Peng said. In response, the Insider Union, which represents more than 250 editorial staffers, released a statement calling the layoffs a “brazen pivot away from journalism toward greed.”

“Our position as a union is that no AI tool or technology should – or can – take the place of human beings,” Insider Union said in the statement.

In its news coverage, Business Insider will scale back on “categories that once performed well on other platforms but no longer drive meaningful readership or aren’t areas where we can lead,” Peng said. That includes scrapping the majority of its e-commerce business “given its reliance on search.” The news organization, which was purchased by Axel Springer in 2015, will launch a new “live journalism” events business called BI Live.

“We’re at the start of a major shift in how people find and consume information, which is driving ongoing volatility in traffic and distribution for all publishers,” Peng wrote in the memo. “The impact on our industry has been profound, with many publications shuttering in recent years.”

Though each visit to Business Insider generates twice as much revenue as it did two years ago, 70% of the news site’s business “has some degree of traffic sensitivity,” according to Peng.

“We must be structured to endure extreme traffic drops outside of our control,” she wrote, “so we’re reducing our overall company to a size where we can absorb that volatility.”

Business Insider averages 100 million global monthly uniques and has 1.5 million newsletter subscribers, according to its media kit. The site has an AI-powered paywall and sells subscriptions for $13/month or $150/year but has not made recent subscription numbers public. It reported 330,000 paid subscribers in November 2023.

Nieman Lab staff writer Andrew Deck recently reported that Business Insider is tracking and incentivizing employee AI usage. In her memo today, Peng reiterated to staff that Business Insider is going “all-in on AI.” Peng also underlined the goal to have every employee using Enterprise ChatGPT regularly.

Here’s the full note:

Team, 

Today we’re making significant organizational changes that are part of the strategy we set in motion a year and a half ago: to be the essential source of business, tech, and innovation journalism for an audience determined to succeed and unafraid to challenge convention to do it.

Since returning to our roots as Business Insider, we’ve been building toward something new. This kind of transformation takes time — and it requires tough decisions along the way.

What happens today

We are reducing the size of our organization, a move that will impact about 21% of our colleagues and touch every department.

This will be a difficult day, and our first priority is to provide clarity and support to those colleagues whose roles are being eliminated.

If your role is impacted, you will receive an email from the People & Culture team in the next 15 minutes. The email will include details for a meeting today in which a member of our P&C team will walk you through next steps and answer any questions. You will only receive an email if your role is affected.

We’re also proposing changes that impact our UK team, but the process is a bit different there; separate communication will follow from Claire Shelton.

While today’s changes are what we must do to build the most enduring Business Insider, it doesn’t make them any easier. We are fortunate to have built a company filled with thoughtful, kind, and creative people around the world, and we deeply appreciate the positive impact they have made within the company and on our readers, clients, and partners.

The changes we’re making today and why

Eighteen months ago we announced our new strategy: We went back to Business Insider and focused on delivering best-in-class business, tech, and innovation journalism to a smart, specific audience. That kicked off the beginning of our transformation from Insider — with its broad approach and appeal — to a more focused Business Insider.

Since Jamie Heller joined as EIC at the end of last year, we’ve made great progress — we’ve sharpened our standards and are shifting towards more reporting that is authoritative and matters deeply to the people who read it. We’ve doubled the amount of original reporting we publish and have substantially increased engagement in the past months.

This is a new Business Insider. It’s more focused. It’s intentional. And it’s working.

More broadly though, the media industry is at a crossroads. Business models are under pressure, distribution is unstable, and competition for attention is fiercer than ever. At the same time, there’s a huge opportunity for companies who harness AI first. Our strategy is strong, but we don’t have the luxury of time. The pace of change combined with the opportunity ahead demands bold, focused action — and it’s our chance to lead the pack.

Here’s what’s changing today:

1. We’re aligning our coverage to match our strategic focus.

We’re focusing where we can deliver unique, lasting value and serve our audience in ways only Business Insider can.

As Insider, we cast a wide net, covering a broad range of topics. Some of those still align with our strategy — stories that spotlight the smart moves (and mistakes!) people make as they actually experience the world.

At the same time, we’re scaling back on categories that once performed well on other platforms but no longer drive meaningful readership or aren’t areas where we can lead.

Our most loyal readers subscribe, engage, and consistently return for specific coverage — and we’re doubling down on those areas with expanded reporting and key hires.

2. We’re launching events and reducing our reliance on traffic-sensitive businesses.

We’re at the start of a major shift in how people find and consume information, which is driving ongoing volatility in traffic and distribution for all publishers. The impact on our industry has been profound, with many publications shuttering in recent years.

Our business is diversified, which has helped insulate us. We’ve also significantly improved how we monetize traffic — each visit to our site now generates twice as much revenue as it did just two years ago.

Still, 70% of our business has some degree of traffic sensitivity. We must be structured to endure extreme traffic drops outside of our control, so we’re reducing our overall company to a size where we can absorb that volatility.

We’re also exiting the majority of our Commerce business, given its reliance on search, and maintaining a few high performing verticals.

We’re launching and investing in BI Live, our new live journalism events business. It’s a space where we can showcase our journalism, connect directly with our audience, and build a strong portfolio of experiences. We’ve already seen demand, brought on key leaders, and will continue to build the team.

3. Finally, we are fully embracing AI.

As we shared during our April All-Hands, we are going all-in on AI — and we’re off to a strong start.

Over 70% of Business Insider employees are already using Enterprise ChatGPT regularly (our goal is 100%), and we’re building prompt libraries and sharing everyday use cases that help us work faster, smarter, and better.

In the past year, we’ve launched multiple AI-driven products to better serve our audience — from gen-AI onsite search to our AI-powered paywall — with new products set to launch in the coming months. We’re also exploring how AI can boost operations across shared services, helping us scale and operate more efficiently.

Change like this isn’t easy. But Business Insider was born in a time of disruption — when the smartphone was reshaping how people consumed news. We thrived by taking risks and building something new.

We’re at that moment again. It calls for bold experimentation, openness to change, and a willingness to lead.

Among all publications, we are uniquely positioned to do just that.

What’s next

I know this is a lot to absorb and it will take time to process. We’ll come together during the All-Hands today at 11:30AM ET and leaders will be hosting team meetings to answer your questions.

To those affected today, we are grateful to you for helping build Business Insider and for being wonderful colleagues. Your work has made an impact and we appreciate you.

Please support each other today and as we move through the coming days and weeks. While this change is extraordinarily difficult and will test us in many ways, it is a moment I know we’ll be able to meet. Thank you all for your resilience, as ever.

Barbara

By Sarah Scire 

Sourced from NiemanLab

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New data confirms it: AI is taking human jobs

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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

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​If AI doesn’t know your product, no one will

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By Gemma Spence,

AI is changing the shopfronts of our favourite brands. VML’s Gemma Spence explains just how said brands can position themselves to benefit.

Let’s cut through the noise: we’re not just evolving into a new phase of digital commerce, we’re rewriting the rules. Success is no longer about showing up on shelf or executing your media plan to perfection. It’s about being relevant at the speed of thought.

Welcome to the predictive era

Generative AI tools like ChatGPT and Amazon’s Rufus are no longer novelties—they’re the new power players in consumer decision-making. These systems don’t wait for shoppers to scroll. They anticipate intent. They parse language, read between the lines of behavior, and deliver products before consumers even articulate what they want.

Forget passive browsing. This is intelligent discovery—and if your brand isn’t part of that conversation, you’re already losing.

Digital availability just levelled up

Not long ago, we talked about digital availability as the sweet spot where mental and physical presence meets consumer attention. That principle still holds. But in the AI age, availability is only half the battle. Relevance is now the currency that counts.

AI doesn’t care about your brand equity unless it’s expressed in the right language, in the right context, through the right data. If your products can’t be surfaced, understood, and recommended by an algorithm? You’re invisible.

The battle for relevance has gone algorithmic

In 2023, marketplaces dominated global e-commerce with 60% of all sales. Fast forward to 2025, and the battlefield has shifted again. It’s no longer about listings or last-mile logistics, it’s about being selected, surfaced, and trusted by AI-native systems embedded across the shopping journey.

Rufus is already reshaping Amazon with conversational discovery. ChatGPT is empowering shoppers to describe their needs in natural language and get curated results in return. These tools don’t just facilitate commerce, they shape it.

Your brand needs to be fluent in AI. If it can’t speak to algorithms, it won’t speak to consumers.

The 4 rules of survival in predictive commerce

1. Predictive readiness: Train your catalogue for the algorithm

Forget retail readiness. If your data isn’t structured for large language models (LLMs), you’re unfindable.

Your product pages need to do more than look good—they need to talk in ways AI understands. That means semantic tagging, enriched metadata, value-based content, and natural-language copy that mirrors real human queries.

In short? Make your catalogue speak AI, or prepare to be ignored.

2. Conversational commerce: The shelf has started talking back

Consumers don’t search—they ask. They want a “night cream under £30 that’s cruelty-free and fragrance-free.” They want a solution, not a SKU list.

Every query is now a conversation, and your product needs to have a voice. Optimise your PDPs to respond like a helpful expert, not a dry spec sheet. If your brand can’t keep up with the dialogue, you’re out of the picture.

3. AI-native media: Stop targeting. Start teaching.

Retail media has moved beyond lookbacks and retargeting. Today’s best ads teach, guide, and assist. They adapt in real time to shopper intent.

Think DCO that evolves with each click. Think ads that act more like smart sales assistants than banners. If you’re not using predictive signals to shape your creative, you’re wasting your spend and your shot at relevance.

4. Ethics, trust & governance: The real competitive edge

AI at scale = personalisation at scale. But with great power comes… well, you know the rest.

Consumers are paying attention. They want to know how recommendations are made, what data you’re using, and whether you’re playing fair. One ethical misstep and your brand goes from trusted to toxic—fast.

Lead with transparency. Build for consent. Assume scrutiny. Because in the AI age, trust isn’t a side conversation—it’s the brand story.

Tear down the silos or be left behind

Here’s the truth: AI doesn’t care about your org chart. The brands that win will be the ones who integrate data, media, creative, and commerce into a single, predictive engine.

Picture this: media teams fuel real-time retail signals into creative production. Commerce teams adjust inventory based on AI-predicted demand. Creative adapts in the moment to shifting intent.

That’s not a pipe dream. That’s the new benchmark.

Fast is still the only speed that matters

Prediction is powerful but useless if you can’t act on it.

The best brands are building infrastructure for executional speed. They’re updating creative in real time, repricing SKUs based on trending queries, and shifting inventory before consumers even click.

AI tells you what’s coming. Your job is to meet it at the door.

This isn’t evolution. It’s commerce, reprogrammed.

Marketplaces are no longer digital storefronts, they’re algorithmic ecosystems. And AI isn’t just shaping demand, it’s becoming demand.

So let’s stop asking: Are you ready for marketplaces?

The real question is: Are you ready for AI to sell your brand, on your behalf?

Because ready or not, it already is.

Gemma Spence is the chief digital commerce officer at VML, where she leads global digital commerce strategy and oversees a network of over 7,000 practitioners. Previously, Gemma was the youngest CEO in Omnicom Media Group’s history.

Feature Image Credit: Adobe Stock

By Gemma Spence,

Get in touch with Gemma on LinkedIn.

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Meta reportedly plans to fully automate advertising with AI by 2026

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Meta Platforms  META-Q -0.60%decrease  aims to allow brands to fully create and target advertisements with its artificial intelligence tools by the end of next year, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the matter.

The social media company’s apps have 3.43 billion unique active users globally and its AI-driven tools help create personalized ad variations, image backgrounds and automated adjustments to video ads, making it lucrative for advertisers.

A brand could provide a product image and a budget, and Meta’s AI would generate the ad, including image, video and text, and then determine user targeting on Instagram and Facebook with budget suggestions, the report said.

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Meta also plans to let advertisers personalize ads using AI, so that users see different versions of the same ad in real time, based on factors such as geolocation, according to the report.

The owner of Facebook and Instagram, whose majority of revenue comes from ad sales, did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Social media firms such as Snap, Pinterest and Reddit are increasingly investing in AI and machine learning tools to attract advertisers in an intensely competitive and crowded digital ad market.

Technology firms such as Google and OpenAI have also launched video and image-generation AI tools, but their widespread adoption in advertising remains in doubt as marketers weigh concerns over brand safety, creative control and quality.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg stressed that advertisers needed AI products that delivered “measurable results at scale” in the not-so-distant future. He added that the company aimed to build an AI one-stop shop where businesses can set goals, allocate budgets and let the platform handle the logistics.

Feature Image Credit: Jeff Chiu/The Associated Press

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Sorry, Ad Execs, AI Is Also Coming for You As Meta Eyes Ads Made Entirely by AI

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By James Peckham

An advertiser could provide an image of a product and ask AI to create a photo, text, or video ad and target it to specific audiences through services like Facebook or Instagram.

Expect to see more AI-generated ads in your Facebook, Instagram, and Threads feeds in the future. According to The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, Meta is on track to offer a fully AI-powered ad service by the end of 2026.

According to the report, Meta is developing a tool that takes advertisers through every step of the process, from ad ideation to publication. An advertiser could provide an image of a product and ask AI to create a photo, text, or video ad, for instance. It would then publish them and target specific audiences through services like Facebook or Instagram.

An example used in the report is that those who live in a snowy location could see an ad for a car driving up a mountain, while those who live in a city may get one where the car drives through an urban environment. It may even allow advertisers to tailor specifically to your location.

Advertising accounted for over 97% of Meta’s overall revenue in 2024, the Journal says. Meta believes combining AI with all the targeted data it has on users will help it become an even bigger destination for advertisers, particularly mid-size companies with smaller budgets. As CEO Mark Zuckerberg said last month, “[It’s a] redefinition of the category of advertising.”

We’ll have to see if this results in a quality drop if footage is generated with no human input.

Feature Image Credit: Jens Büttner/picture alliance/Getty Images

By James Peckham

I’ve written tech news for over a decade, and as a Reporter at PCMag, I cover the latest developments across the gadgets and services you use every day. Previously, I worked for Android Police, TechRadar, and more.

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7 Trends Shaping The Future Of B2B Commerce

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By John Bruno

The B2B commerce landscape is undergoing a profound transformation driven by advancements in AI, shifting buyer expectations, and increasing economic pressures. Companies effectively leveraging digital technologies while staying consumer-focused will gain a competitive edge while those slow to adapt risk falling behind in an evolving market.

This article explores seven major trends expected to define the future of B2B commerce based on insights from Forrester, IDC, and leading industry examples.

1. Artificial Intelligence Revolutionizes B2B Commerce

AI has shifted from experimental technology to a vital instrument embedded in every aspect of B2B operations. Organizations are utilizing AI to enhance product recommendations, optimize search relevance, and implement AI-powered strategies like dynamic pricing.

Key applications of AI in B2B commerce include predictive analytics and generative AI. With predictive analytics business can detect customer churn risks, enabling proactive retention strategies. From drafting automated responses to helping sales teams make informed decisions in real time, generative AI is reshaping the customer experience.

Despite AI’s potential, some businesses still struggle to achieve meaningful results due to disconnected data and fragmented systems. Establishing a robust AI adoption strategy remains critical as companies aim to fully integrate AI into their operations.

2. The Rise of Smart Procurement Systems

Industrial B2B organizations are beginning to deploy AI-driven procurement agents to automate purchasing decisions. These agents can analyze massive amounts of data to quickly evaluate factors such as costs, ESG compliance, and supplier data, ensuring informed decision-making. Per Forrester, almost 30% of B2B firms will integrate AI buying agents1.

For example, Siemens has applied AI procurement tools to streamline supplier management, achieving cost efficiencies while adhering to sustainability mandates. Businesses prioritizing ESG-compliant procurement tools will find themselves better positioned as these practices become industry standards.

3. Challenges in Chatbot Adoption

While advances in conversational AI technologies are evident, many organizations remain hesitant to adopt them broadly. According to Forrester, only 20% of brands are projected to implement conversational AI for commerce by 20251.

A key concern lies in the limitations of traditional, deterministic chatbots—systems designed to follow predefined paths and respond within a fixed decision tree. These chatbots often fall short in handling the complexity and variability of real-world human interactions. In contrast, agentic AI systems offer a more dynamic alternative. By learning autonomously and adapting in real time, they can navigate evolving conversations and create their own paths forward. For businesses, investing in this next generation of conversational AI agents unlocks more natural, responsive client interactions while helping to overcome persistent integration and user experience challenges.

4. Augmenting Human Relationships with AI

AI’s role in enhancing efficiency does not diminish the need for human expertise in B2B interactions. While AI simplifies tasks like personalization and data processing, strategic partnerships and high-value sales still rely on relationship-building. According to IDC, integrating AI efficiencies with high-touch customer engagement will drive the strongest business results2.

Leading organizations are integrating AI as a supportive tool alongside traditional methods. For instance, PROS Collaborative Quoting empowers sales teams by combining AI tools with human oversight for seamless, bi-directional client interactions. This hybrid approach preserves trust while boosting efficiency.

5. Redefining Sales Strategies with AI “Coworkers”

Sales teams are finding that partnering with AI agents can provide support in managing customer data, analyzing patterns, automating repetitive tasks, and optimizing sales strategies—ultimately enhancing productivity. Forrester predicts that by 2025, 40% of businesses will adopt these virtual assistants3.

An example of this is the 2024 collaboration between PROS and Microsoft to create smart quoting solutions. These tools enable sellers to generate emails with accurate, personalized quotes attached, demonstrating how AI coworkers can simplify daily tasks and enhance responsiveness, solidifying the role of AI coworkers moving forward.

6. Composable Architectures Offer Agility and Growth

To manage the growing complexities of B2B commerce, IDC recommends businesses move toward composable architectures and API-first solutions2. Unlike traditional systems, these modular platforms provide flexibility, scalability, and seamless integration with other tools.

With composable architectures, businesses gain the agility to adapt quickly to market demands, streamline workflows, and create personalized customer experiences. Businesses should leverage pre-defined out of the box experiences and workflows, followed by bespoke and unique experiences leveraging some of their core commerce componentry. Organizations leveraging these advanced platforms can innovate rapidly while maintaining competitive advantages in an evolving commerce ecosystem.

7. Compliance Moves to the Forefront of Strategy

As data privacy regulations and sustainability standards evolve, forward-thinking businesses recognize the importance of embedding compliance mechanisms directly into their strategies. IDC highlights that proactive compliance is no longer optional; it is a necessity for avoiding financial and reputational harm2.

Advanced risk monitoring tools, automated reporting, and responsible AI frameworks are helping companies meet regulatory requirements. Businesses that integrate transparency, ethical AI practices, and sustainability efforts into governance structures will benefit from enhanced trust and reduced risks.

Looking Ahead

The future of B2B commerce lies at the intersection of AI, strategy, and execution. Companies that prioritize innovation, implement customer-centric solutions, and adapt to compliance standards will emerge as industry leaders. Those that hesitate to modernize risk becoming less competitive in today’s fast-moving market.

If your organization is considering integrating AI to transform operations and customer interaction, now is the time to act. Whether it’s optimizing procurement, redefining sales processes, or adopting composable architectures, today’s investments will set the foundation for tomorrow’s success. Competitive advantage is no longer a choice; it’s a business imperative.

Feature Image Credit: Dowell via Getty Images

By John Bruno

By John Bruno

BRANDVOICE | Paid Program

John Bruno, VP of Strategy at PROS, leads the analyst relations, competitive intelligence, and strategy teams at PROS. He is responsible for go-to-market strategies across PROS travel and B2B solutions. John has more than 15 years of B2B software experience, and has formerly served as the head of product at an enterprise eCommerce platform and as a Senior Analyst at Forrester Research. Read More

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