AI’s spending surge is moving from ambition to accountability. Rising AI costs, agentic commerce, Apple’s assistant strategy, and consumer trust issues are changing the marketing landscape.

Acquiring the AI startup would allow Stripe to expand its footprint in agentic and AI commerce.

SpaceX's record-shattering public debut has become the first major test of whether investors will continue funding AI companies that burn billions while chasing distant profitability. The rocket company's $75 billion raise, larger than all US IPOs combined over the past two years, signals both the enormous capital requirements of AI development and growing uncertainty about returns. "The move itself is a kind of a double-edged sword for xAI," said our analyst Jacob Bourne on a recent episode of "Behind the Numbers," referring to Elon Musk's AI startup that SpaceX acquired earlier this year. "On the one hand, it now has access to SpaceX's resources and clout. The downside is that xAI now is part of SpaceX's lack of profitability story."

Tech firms launch new coalition: The group backs open-source models, which could give marketers more AI options but deepen industry divide.

Consumers embrace ChatGPT for health questions, but may remain reluctant to connect sensitive health data with AI tools.

Agentic commerce is reorganizing retail around five ecosystem layers. As AI agents gain influence, retailers and brands must decide where to compete, where to partner, and who controls the customer relationship.

In today’s podcast episode, we discuss what would happen if the EU banned infinite scroll, whether Facebook can become cool again, and whether OpenAI could actually generate $100 billion in advertising revenue by 2030. Join Senior Director of Podcasts and host Marcus Johnson, Director of Reports Editing Rahul Chadha, and Principal Analysts Nate Elliott and Max Willens. Listen wherever you get your podcasts, or watch on YouTube or Spotify.

The new channel broadens discovery, yet a weak reputation can still sink conversions.

ChatGPT ads optimize for conversions: Marketers have a stronger case to test the platform, but should wait for more reliable attribution before scaling.

OpenAI's latest ChatGPT health advice lawsuit could force stronger AI medical guardrails.

GenAI user penetration is high across Asia-Pacific, but every country has its nuances. Government policy, local AI ecosystems, demographics, and digital infrastructure are creating distinct paths to adoption in China, India, Japan, and South Korea.

In May, Google unveiled its most significant search redesign in 25 years: an intelligent search box that expands for longer queries and accepts multimodal inputs including videos, pictures, and files. The redesign is Google's bid to hold its dominant position as AI-powered search alternatives gain traction. "This is how Google wins," said our analyst Nate Elliott on a recent episode of "Behind the Numbers." "Google wins in AI by convincing people that they don't need to go to a different place to get AI answers."

OpenAI's ad target is not realistic: A 90% shortfall points to ad infrastructure that still isn't ready to attract major marketing budgets.

The race to build AI infrastructure has triggered an unprecedented rush for capital and spending, reshaping capital markets and creating new pricing, platform, and vendor risks for marketers.

A successful takeover could reorder the balance of power for digital wallets and agentic commerce.

Issuers should design products around value and essentials as consumers demonstrate resilience.

OpenAI ads open in European markets: OpenAI is seeking proof that ads can fuel revenues before its IPO.

Profound brings AI search ads into focus: New visibility and relevance metrics could help marketers size up rivals as AI search remains tough to measure.

This FAQ covers what vibe coding is, how it is reshaping marketing work and the martech stack, and how teams should adopt it responsibly.

Retail brands are discovering that securing visibility in AI-generated responses is just the first step in a far more complex challenge. According to new research from Bluefish tracking nearly 200 brands across nine verticals, the brands appearing most frequently in AI answers are often not the ones being described most favorably, a fundamental shift from traditional search marketing.