On today’s podcast episode, we discuss what OpenAI as the next big operating system maker looks like, how they might make money from this, which integrated apps will become most popular inside ChatGPT, and how this potential super app could impact consumer AI devices. Join Senior Director of Podcasts and host, Marcus Johnson, Analyst, Grace Harmon, and Principal Analyst, Yory Wurmser. Listen everywhere and watch on YouTube and Spotify.

Holding company WPP launched WPP Open Pro on Thursday, a self-serve AI tool piloted by Google and other clients that creates ad campaigns from start to finish in a push to attract small businesses. WPP’s newest move means marketers can continue to expect greater automation, cost savings, and a shift in agency relationships.

Our exclusive research reveals what factors are influencing the path to purchase for personal care and beauty products.

Alphabet subsidiary Verily is launching a free health app offering personalized guidance from clinicians. The Verily Me app will also have an AI agent to answer people’s health questions based on their medical records. Verily’s competitive advantage over bigger companies with brand-name is that it has clinician partners and access to some medical record data. The company should leverage its network of doctors to endorse Verily Me to their patients, using real-world examples to demonstrate the benefit of combining a person’s health history with a medical expert’s view for individualized guidance.

Forty percent of US adults have used AI as a shopping assistant in the past year, per a study by PayPal—and 77% of past or potential AI shoppers plan to use it while holiday shopping this year. Younger consumers are driving the change. Sixty-one percent of Gen Zers and 57% of millennials have used AI to assist with a purchase in the past year. The holiday season’s cheer has been dimmed. We lowered our forecast for November-December sales growth to 1.3% in light of tariffs and economic uncertainty. For merchants to compete amid that slowing spend, adopting AI is critical. To score the most volume from ecommerce-led sales, merchants need to make sure their partnerships with AI platforms prioritize mobile-first ecommerce: Mobile commerce will propel over 56.5% of holiday ecommerce sales, per retail mcommerce holiday forecast.

Airbnb opted against launching a third-party app integration with ChatGPT because it “didn’t think [the technology] was quite ready,” CEO Brian Chesky told Bloomberg. While the company hasn’t ruled out joining the platform, its measured approach contrasts sharply with the enthusiasm of competitors like Expedia and Booking.com. Airbnb is prudent to have reservations about OpenAI’s commerce capabilities. While chatbots could reshape travel discovery and booking, early reports indicate ChatGPT’s utility for now is hampered by a clunky, finicky interface that is more frustrating than helpful. Rather than forge commerce partnerships with AI companies, Airbnb is focused on making its service an indispensable travel resource to keep its platform sticky.

Leading healthcare AI startups, including OpenEvidence, Abridge, UpToDate, and Doximity, are rolling out new products and capabilities in the race to compete for physician adoption and investment funding. Companies could gain an advantage by making their products easily integrated into clinicians’ existing workflows, such as their EHRs. Startups should also showcase the outcomes of their technology to influential stakeholders like medical associations to help establish credibility at the clinician level.

OpenAI's new Instant Checkout feature for ChatGPT allows users to purchase products directly through the platform without ever leaving the interface, potentially creating a new retail channel that could reshape online shopping behaviors. However, analysts remain cautious about its immediate impact.

AI adoption is accelerating faster than regulation, reshaping consumer behavior. Younger generations lead the charge for mainstream acceptance, forcing brands to navigate new risks and opportunities in AI-powered content.

This sponsored article by PartnerCentric will explore AI’s impact on affiliate marketing.

AI will soon redefine how people find information. As search engines and generative AI engines converge, the next wave of discovery is emerging—and marketers who invest in AI optimization now will secure an early advantage.

90% or more of consumer goods’ decision-makers are using AI technologies, including generative, predictive, and agentic AI, or plan to use them in the next two years, according to a June 2025 survey from Salesforce.

Content maintenance is no longer optional if brands want to stay visible in generative engines and chatbot answers. Over 70% of pages cited by ChatGPT were updated within the past 12 months, per AirOps’ The Silent Pipeline Killer report, making content renewal and refreshing a must for relevance in AI outputs. Brands that treat content as an ongoing performance lever, not just a one-time project, will earn sustained visibility and trust in generative AI (genAI) results. For CMOs, that means rethinking content strategy as a living ecosystem, where freshness is the new SEO.

OpenAI created an Expert Council on Well-Being and AI—a panel of eight behavioral and mental health specialists tasked to guide how AI tools like ChatGPT and Sora interact with users, per Ars Technica. CEO Sam Altman also announced on X that, “now that we have been able to mitigate the serious mental health issues and have new tools, we are going to be able to safely relax the restrictions in most cases.” OpenAI’s loosening guardrails shift responsibility to brands and users who must now share in the responsibility to define and enforce their own ethical boundaries.

Lyra Health is debuting a generative AI (genAI) chatbot for mild to moderate mental health challenges like burnout, sleep or stress. AI chatbots for mental health will likely keep growing as consumers, especially younger generations, seek more affordable, lower-pressure alternatives to traditional in-person therapy. Lyra’s measured rollout shows how AI therapy could be deployed responsibly: limiting chatbot use to lower-risk mental health issues and emphasizing safety.

Holding company Publicis Groupe reported a strong Q3 2025, growing organic net revenues 5.7% YoY, above analyst growth expectations of 5.19%. The company now expects 2025 revenues to grow between 5% to 5.5%, up from its previous forecast of 4% to 5%. Publicis’ heavy AI push and performance-driven strategy means it is well-positioned to continue growing while rival agencies struggle to remain competitive amid economic turbulence.

Walmart Inc. announced a partnership with OpenAI to enable Walmart and Sam’s Club customers to make purchases within ChatGPT using the latter’s Instant Commerce feature. Even if agentic commerce’s adoption is gradual, early movers like Walmart will have the outsize advantage. Being discoverable in channels where users conduct product and pricing research could help retailers reinforce their value proposition and stay top-of-mind with prospective customers as this commerce scales up.

47% of US banking decision-makers say their institutions have already rolled out generative AI, up from 10% in 2023, said data from EY-Parthenon.

A Yext analysis of 6.8 million citations across ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity found that 86% of AI-generated answers rely on brand-managed content—from official websites and listings to reviews. First-party sites led with 44% of citations, followed by listings (42%) and reviews (8%). The findings suggest AI models increasingly trust structured, authoritative data over publisher or community sources. But fewer users click through—only 8% from AI summaries versus 15% from standard search—indicating that generative platforms are capturing more engagement directly. To stay discoverable, marketers must pair clean, structured first-party data with strong social visibility as AI search reshapes traffic flows.

Gen Zers are avid personal care and beauty shoppers, and their habits often diverge from those of older consumers. While they shop in-store as much as non-Gen Zers, they're more likely to turn to digital channels for research and purchases. This report contrasts Gen Z behaviors with those of non-Gen Z shoppers across the personal care and beauty landscape.