AI agents are here, but they’ve had little effect on the consumer journey so far. That should change by the end of 2028.

New Character AI feature offers opt-in parental reports: While better than nothing, teen users still control visibility—highlighting fragmented safety standards across AI chatbots.

Research and planning across retail, travel, and finance are increasingly filtered through AI, making chatbots central to the customer journey.

Anthropic’s newest upgrade pits it against Google, Perplexity, and OpenAI—escalating the fight for information dominance.

Perplexity’s new ad makes Google a target: The company’s biggest ad yet, led by “Squid Game” star Lee Jung-jae, could continue the push toward a more divided AI market.

: Its low-stakes investment strategy lets it back Claude’s standout coding abilities while sidestepping antitrust heat.

Google, OpenAI explore ads: The moves indicate that ads will be a crucial part of how AI search engines generate future revenues.

AI Mode promises cleaner search summaries, but cutting out website links might backfire with users and crater referral traffic for publishers.

Generative AI (genAI) is fundamentally changing how consumers shop online, potentially eliminating the "treasure hunt" experience that drives impulse purchases and changing how marketers push products.

Its partnership with Perplexity aims to create an action-oriented AI smartphone, but market competition and questionable demand makes this a risky venture.

Consumers will pay for accurate AI responses, pressuring companies to provide better answers while navigating an uncertain legal landscape.

Its reporters are adopting AI tools to improve efficiency. Despite clear editorial guidelines, the move could fuel media mistrust and alienate readers.

AI-powered summaries from OpenAI, Google, Microsoft, and Perplexity misrepresent facts, yet audiences buy in—fueling misinformation and risking brand reputation

Microsoft, Oracle, and billionaire investors are vying for a TikTok buyout, with ByteDance keeping a stake. The deal could reshape TikTok’s data security and advertising model.

GenAI is taking the search market by storm, but market dynamics will stay largely the same this year.

As media struggles with declining traffic, the AP is cashing in on AI licensing deals. But smaller AI companies may struggle to compete in this high-cost content arms race.

Retailers and tech giants are rushing to roll out AI-powered search.

SpaceX, OpenAI, and others are choosing private funding over public markets to safeguard innovation, avoid scrutiny, and maintain competitive advantages.

For publishers, genAI is changing everything from search referrals to the way they produce content.

With tools like OpenAI’s Swarm and Google’s Mariner, businesses are using smarter AI to automate decisions, disrupt roles, and redefine how work gets done.