The news: TikTok announced several upgrades to its AI-powered portfolio at Advertising Week New York on Wednesday.

• Smart+, TikTok’s AI-powered ad solution, got greater controls for creative, budget, and targeting, along with new Symphony integrations to optimize performance content.
• A new dashboard known as GMV Max Creative Hub offers sellers visibility into the creators and creative assets driving top results—unlocking granular and customizable reporting to maximize ROI.
• An expanded Attribution Portfolio gives brands new opportunities to measure impact across the customer journey, including third-party optimization with Google Analytics and an Assisted Conversion tool to understand TikTok impact beyond last-click.

TikTok’s strategy: TikTok is betting on the power of its AI tools to solidify its leadership in short-form video as the market becomes more saturated.

• TikTok launched a suite of AI-powered ad tools in June designed to improve personalization, search optimization, and ad placements. The updates included AI platform Search Center, which uses keyword suggestions and measurement tools to simplify buying search ads, and TikTok One Content Suite, which identifies user-generated videos mentioning brand’s name or products while filtering for brand safety.
• It debuted AI Alive in May, an image-to-video AI tool that lets creators take static photos and transform them into short-form video content in TikTok stories—streamlining content creation to differentiate TikTok’s offerings from competitors like Instagram Reels.
• TikTok launched Symphony Creative Studio last year, an AI-powered tool designed to help brands create video ads in minutes. It updated this tool in June, integrating it with Smart+ so advertisers can launch ads from the creative studio.

Why now? While a US TikTok ban seems to be off the table, there’s lingering uncertainty surrounding the app because of the vagueness of President Donald Trump’s sale terms. While Trump signed an executive order to keep the app operational under new US ownership, advertisers remain concerned that new ownership could erode the user experience and make TikTok a less effective place for brands.

Accelerating its AI investment through tools designed to make advertising on the platform simpler and more effective could help curb some of these concerns until there’s more clarity around the deal’s consequences for advertisers.

What marketers can do: Use the new tools to increase creative control and drive results with key audiences—but keep in mind that the app’s future in its key market could change ad effectiveness, regardless of what tools the platform offers.

Diversifying into platforms like Reels and YouTube Shorts is necessary, as new ownership could reshape how consumers interact with TikTok, like how X’s user experience changed under Elon Musk’s ownership. But even with that uncertainty, TikTok is the dominant name in short-form video and a critical place to connect with younger demographics. Continuing to invest—while keeping an eye on audience behaviors—will protect brands.