Meta has rolled out major upgrades to partnership ads on Facebook and Instagram, introducing new AI-enabled tools, broader creator discovery surfaces, and an API that lets advertisers programmatically convert UGC and creator posts into paid ads at scale. Partnership ads already outperform standard formats—19% lower CPAs and 13% higher CTRs—and with Gen Z more receptive to creator messaging and most consumers taking action quickly after seeing creator content, Meta is formalizing the path from organic influence to paid performance. For marketers, the message is clear: creator content is now a foundational performance lever, not an experimental add-on.

OpenAI revised its projected cash burn through 2029 to $115 billion—about 230% higher than earlier estimates. This alteration demonstrates how capital-intensive model training and deployment have become and how far those costs are beyond what traditional startup economics can sustain. These financial forecasts illustrate a ballooning cash burn matched by surging investments and rising revenue expectations. OpenAI might need to explore tactics like affiliate links or in-chat advertising for monetization and added incentives and premium features to convert free users into paying ones.

The news: Despite reports that the CFPB plans to repeal Section 1033 of its Open Banking Rule due to legal challenges, financial institutions (FIs) shouldn’t abandon their open banking efforts. Citizens Bank, for instance, still intends to leverage open banking for secure data sharing and an improved customer experience, driven by market demand rather than regulatory requirements. Our take: Open banking is still the "next step in banking technology" and will continue to advance due to rising customer expectations around data sharing. FIs that retreat risk falling behind in a market that demands transparency, personalization, and interoperability.

National Bank is distinguishing itself as the first major Canadian bank to implement a secure data feed (API) for its retail customers to share financial information with approved fintech applications, putting it ahead of Canada's potential 2026 open banking rollout. This innovative approach significantly reduces security risks by redirecting customers to National Bank's own website for identity verification, eliminating the need for customers to share online banking passwords with third-party aggregators (known as "screen scraping"). By taking an 80% stake in Flinks, a financial data aggregator that now accredits fintechs, National Bank transforms a potential threat to customer loyalty into an opportunity to deepen relationships, ensuring it remains the central hub for customers' financial lives even as they use other apps.

Claude’s new tool offers developers a way to skip the browser and run real-time, cited searches—threatening ad models and SEO strategies alike.

Retail media networks (RMNs) are using APIs to give advertisers more control over the management, measurement, and optimization of their campaigns.

NextRoll, in partnership with Audigent, recently used Google's Protected Audience API (PAAPI) advertising tool to generate nearly 5 million impressions in a privacy-safe way. As third-party cookies disappear, this new use case shows that large scale reach is still possible.

PayPal's outage highlights rising API-related flaws in finance. With 80% of U.S. adults relying on app-based payments, regulatory scrutiny and customer frustration could reshape the competitive landscape.

The digital advertising industry has begun sharing feedback on Google’s Privacy Sandbox as individual stakeholders conclude their tests. While many believe the current Privacy Sandbox needs tweaks before it can function as an alternative to cookies, that’s not surprising, according to Andrew Pascoe, vice president, data science engineering at NextRoll.

Advertisers have dragged their feet on developing third-party cookie alternatives and are now under pressure to implement effective measurement solutions, our analyst Evelyn Mitchell said in a recent webinar. But new measurement options come with their own challenges, including slow adoption, lack of published test results, and limitations of first-party data.

Credit card digital account openings are normalizing after pandemic-driven fluctuations. Recessionary factors and Gen Z’s shifting behaviors are slowing growth, but it will stay positive as issuers tap digital innovations—like open banking and alternative credit models—to convert more consumers into cardholders.

Google put ads in its Search Generative Experience. YouTube has a new unskippable 30-second ad spot. HBO Max relaunched as Max. And The Kroger Co. is paving the way with in-store retail media. Here are what updates from these companies and more mean for advertisers.

Thirty percent of all insurance transactions will occur in embedded channels within the next five years. Insurers who don’t act now will miss out on reaching new customers—and risk losing current ones to innovative competitors offering embedded policies.

Powered by cloud-based APIs, modern card issuing leapfrogs traditional issuer processing to help non-financial services companies launch and customize card programs. Here’s where their offerings will be most disruptive.

Google quickens its pace in the generative AI race: Playing catch-up to generative AI rivals, it unveils enterprise and developer offerings this week. Performance and consumer privacy trump release timelines.

Budgeting app Money Lover went quiet after learning its APIs could be easily hacked. FIs must take steps to ensure they’re not next.

Public comments revealed that many feel like the plan for banks and card companies falls short.

Three fintechs that specialize in anti-money laundering controls—including one powered by AI—caught investors’ eyes amid regulatory crackdowns.

Reels, Reels, and more Reels: Facebook released an API for Reels, allowing users to share short-form videos to the app from outside platforms.

Much of the UK financial system relies on a few key tech providers. But such concentration could lead to big risks if left unchecked.