The news: IT leaders are increasingly concerned about unauthorized employee use of AI and its risk to company security and compliance. 90% are concerned about “shadow AI,” or employees adopting AI tools without IT team approval, per Komprise’s IT Survey: AI, Data & Enterprise Risk. 13% of companies said genAI has harmed their finances, customers, or reputation—proof that AI’s risks aren’t just hypothetical. Our take: Companies should pair data management and protection of sensitive data with worker training. Giving employees access to tools they’ll actually use and keeping them in the loop on AI plans could help prevent the use of unauthorized tools and data leaks, foster trust, and deter sabotage of genAI initiatives.
The news: Tesla stock rebounded about 5% Friday after a 14.3% crash during a public social media feud between President Donald Trump and Tesla CEO Elon Musk over the “Big Beautiful Bill.” The EV giant lost $152.4 billion in market value Thursday—its biggest one-day decline ever, per The Wall Street Journal. Our take: The Musk-Trump quarrel could drag on or it could end as abruptly as it started. Its effects on Tesla’s stock are a reminder that Musk is the company’s de facto spokesperson and that his persona is inseparable from Tesla’s brand. The Big Beautiful Bill, paired with cautious US consumer spending and economic uncertainty, could slow Tesla’s EV adoption just when the company can least afford it.
The news: On Thursday, Nintendo released the Switch 2, its first new console since the Nintendo Switch was launched in 2017. The handheld device comes with upgraded specs, social gaming features, and bundles with exclusive titles like Mario Kart World and Donkey Kong Bananza. It also includes GameChat, a feature that combines voice and video and lets up to 12 people chat while playing games. Our take: With a growing package of subscription perks and social hooks like GameChat, Nintendo may be taking a page from Apple’s playbook by turning its hardware into a recurring revenue engine. The Switch 2 could be a sticky ecosystem for Nintendo, even if the price goes up.
The news: Roblox’s lack of third-party measurement tools is becoming a hurdle for advertisers. The platform has minimal independent insights into standard metrics like reach and performance outcomes, per Digiday. As a result, potential customers are hesitant to start investing in ads on Roblox, which could dampen company growth. Our take: Roblox commands enormous engagement, especially with younger users, and it has a wealth of assets to attract advertisers and bolster its revenue. However, without accessible measurement offerings that meet industry standards, Roblox’s growth as a major ad channel may remain limited.
The news: Meta is planning another VR headset, codenamed Loma, to compete with Apple’s beleaguered Vision Pro, per The Wall Street Journal. The product will look similar to its Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses—rather than a traditional headset goggles design—and feature higher-fidelity video than the Quest line of headsets. Meta is offering millions of dollars to Disney, A24, and others for exclusive IP-based gaming content to avoid the Vision Pro’s pitfall of lacking compelling content. Our take: Meta’s renewed headset push shows the company is learning from past missteps, but success will hinge on whether Loma can offer must-have experiences at a justifiable price.
The news: OpenAI’s business user base surged 50% since February, reaching 3 million paying enterprise customers. To deepen its footprint in the space, the company released workplace features aimed squarely at Microsoft and Google, per VentureBeat. New options let employees pull and interact with cloud data from SharePoint, Dropbox, Google Drive, and more—directly in ChatGPT. Also added: Record Mode for transcribing meetings and upgrades to Codex and Deep Research. Our take: Expect ChatGPT to continue evolving from a standalone AI app to a productivity platform. Business leaders should evaluate OpenAI’s new business suite not just as a productivity upgrade, but as a strategic shift toward AI-driven business platforms.
Tools like Smart+ and Content Suite help brands find trending creator content, predict ad success, and target more precisely.
The news: A wave of cyberattacks is sweeping through the retail industry, with Cartier and North Face the latest to report breaches. Both companies recently notified customers that their names and email addresses had been stolen, although financial information remained secure. Our take: The surge in cyber incidents is coming at the worst possible time for retailers, who are already dealing with extreme upheaval in their supply chains and looking for any opportunity to cut costs. But M&S’ cautionary tale should be a wake-up call for companies to invest in cybersecurity.
Perplexity Labs signals a pivot from AI search to full-stack enterprise tools, positioning the startup as a rising competitor to Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI in workplace automation.
93% of business and tech leaders view it as a way to offer proactive support but caution that human empathy and oversight still matter.
It will rely on automated systems to approve algorithm updates and safety features, potentially sidelining privacy teams and risking half-baked feature launches.
XChat introduces file sharing, disappearing messages, and calls—but user skepticism over privacy and vague “Bitcoin-style” encryption may hinder adoption.
Apple’s appeal against DMA rules frames interoperability as a privacy risk, testing how far regulators can go in dismantling its tightly guarded ecosystem.
WPP, Publicis, and others are buying data-rich firms to outmaneuver Google and Amazon but risk creating the same closed systems they’re rebelling against.
Businesses could soon plug in budgets and products, and Meta will handle the rest—threatening the role of agencies in the digital ad pipeline.
30% of employees use AI productivity tools secretly out of fear that their job might be reduced or cut, per a February Ivanti survey.
On today’s podcast episode, we discuss where GIFs came from, how GIF user behavior changes, and which ones work best for brands. Join Senior Director of Podcasts and host Marcus Johnson, Senior Director of Briefings Jeremy Goldman, Analyst Emmy Liederman, and the Vice President of Client Solutions at Giphy Alix McAlpine. Listen everywhere and watch on YouTube and Spotify.
Choosing the right tech solutions can be like entering a long-term relationship with vendor partners. “There has to be a long-term gain more than just a nice-to-have quick incremental add,” said Ann Marie Ippoliti, vice president of ecommerce and marketing for Michael Kors at The Lead Summit in New York City earlier this week.
Fewer content removals signal better precision, but reduced proactivity could slow responses to hate speech and misinformation.
Consumers prefer email, but low-quality lists and lack of verification are keeping campaigns out of inboxes and risking ISP blacklisting.