60.9% of US marketers prioritize generative insight summaries as their top AI enhancement for next-gen marketing mix modeling (MMM), nearly double the share focused on dynamic learning features, according to an October 2025 survey from EMARKETER and Rakuten.
On today’s podcast episode, we discuss the impact of President Trump’s second year on media, advertising, and technology, including how AI chips are influencing innovation, marketing contingency plans, and the changing role of the CEO. Join Senior Director of Podcasts and host Marcus Johnson, along with Senior Director of Content Jeremy Goldman and Senior Analyst Gadjo Sevilla. Listen everywhere, and watch on YouTube and Spotify.
71% of US marketers say establishing ethical and privacy standards is the top step for preparing for AI agent-led commerce, according to an October 2025 survey from ANA and The Harris Poll.
After years of digital acceleration, US retailers are heading into 2026 facing a more complicated reality. Tariff-related cost pressures still exist, retail media is maturing from experimentation to discipline, and AI is moving from back-end efficiency to front-of-house influence. Across all three forces, one theme is emerging for retail leaders: The physical store is becoming more, not less, central to how retailers protect margins, influence decisions, and differentiate experiences.
AI platforms’ long-held anti-advertising stance changed in January 2026. The rising cost of competing in AI has forced OpenAI and Google to launch AI ad pilots, and other platforms will likely follow suit. But advertisers may not be the winners in this gold rush.
Gen Z trades data for personalization; bland targeting threatens trust and long-term spend.
More than one-third of Gen Z and millennials turn to AI for stigma-free support.
CEO neutrality carries brand risk; OpenAI and Anthropic leaders’ cautious political responses are an illustration of how hedging on values can erode trust rather than protect it.
Apple’s rare mega-acquisition shows urgency, marking its push beyond chatbots toward private, nonverbal AI baked into wearables.
Banks’ AI fantasies collide with reality.
IAB projects a 9.5% US ad-spend rise in 2026 while AI agents scale performance, retention, and automation.
Scout turns answers into ad inventory, using Yahoo’s data scale to fund free AI discovery.
A new policy bans buy-for-me bots without permission, as the retailer looks to control the agentic shopping experience.
Follow-up Search questions now flow into AI Mode, changing results from link lists to closed-loop, conversational research.
AI ads mistaken for human-made drive high CTRs, showing AI works best when uncanny cues are avoided.
Advertisers use AI across creative and targeting, yet 61% report no meaningful gains and only 30% trust it.
Pinterest’s AI pivot looks defensive: Workforce cuts aim to fund automation, but investors remain unconvinced that AI investment alone will restore growth momentum.
Clinicians and staff adopt “shadow AI” tools to move faster, exposing gaps in hospital AI strategy.
Premium subscriptions gate AI, productivity, and creation tools—probing how far users can be monetized beyond ads.