ChatGPT ads could open up in a second window via a partnership with Smartly

As Black and Hispanic consumers seek mental and broader care guidance via AI, culturally sound content becomes key for brands.

With core card functions and customer experience broken, Bilt users feel outrage.

Intelligent Authorization streamlines acquirers’ processing for a new era of commerce.

64% use them, normalizing instant, personalized answers that brands must soon match to stay relevant.

AI is reshaping customer experience, but trust, accuracy, and channel preferences are challenges brands need to overcome. This infopack explores how consumers want to interact with brands, and where AI adds value.

AI tools are becoming some travelers’ first stop, reshaping discovery and pressuring search-driven players.

On today’s podcast episode, we discuss whether “ChatGPT with Ads” will scare users away, the effectiveness of chatbot ads versus traditional search ads, and whether there’s an ethical component to advertising during a search conversation compared with the blue-link format. Join Senior Director of Podcasts and host Marcus Johnson, along with Principal Analyst Nate Elliot and Analyst Marisa Jones. Listen everywhere, and watch on YouTube and Spotify.

Retail returns have quietly become one of the most expensive, complex, and customer-sensitive parts of commerce.

AI companions present ad potential through high trust and engagement, but safety and regulation pose real risks to advertisers.

AI platforms must tread carefully to avoid crossing into diagnosis and treatment advice

The ad industry kept busy during the holiday season, so we rounded up the biggest stories from the last two weeks you need to know about.

As patients arrive at their appointments with AI-sourced self-diagnoses, healthcare marketers must reassert providers’ authority.

Retailers faced a challenging year as economic factors, new technologies, and changing consumer behaviors reshaped the landscape. Here are our top five stories from this past year and what they meant to a tumultuous industry.

YouTube is experimenting with AI avatars based on a small group of popular creators via Google’s “Portraits” feature, which allows fans to have conversations with AI versions of real-life creators. Advertisers should approach AI creators with cautious interest, closely monitoring how the format evolves as an ad opportunity while balancing emerging AI capabilities with consumers’ sensitivity to authenticity.

This FAQ breaks down what AI companions are, how they differ from traditional chatbots, why they’re reshaping consumer loyalty, and what marketers need to prepare for as engagement, monetization, and advertising opportunities begin to take shape within these conversational environments.

Healthcare AI startup OpenEvidence is aiming to raise $250 million in equity funding, amping its valuation to $12 billion, which doubled from just two months ago, per The Information. OpenEvidence’s surge in valuation underscores physicians’ growing demand for AI tools that surface credible, peer-reviewed information.

In 2026, personal lines insurers will face a market reshaped by changing demand, risk, and consumer expectations. Growth hinges on smarter digital engagement, genAI transformation, richer data, real-time risk insights, and emerging coverage areas.

For social platforms, AI hype is colliding with user fatigue and rising regulations. In the US, they face stalled engagement and tougher rules as people demand more control and more human experiences.

31% of US SMB marketers and business owners use AI-driven design or layout recommendations to optimize landing pages, according to a June 2025 survey from Ascend2 and Unbounce.