Are We Ready to Trust AI Shopping Agents?
Plus: AI Mode gets visuals, OpenAI gets social, and searching for videos gets easy.
👋 Happy Thursday AI Marketers. Now, you can shop on ChatGPT. Sort of. Google’s AI Mode is delivering visual search results. OpenAI’s new social network lets you deepfake your friends. And Moment Labs is solving one of content creators’ biggest pain points. Let’s get you caught up…
ChatGPT Says Shopping Agents are Finally Here
OpenAI just turned ChatGPT into a shopping agent. With Instant Checkout, U.S. users can now buy supported products from Etsy and soon Shopify sellers like Glossier, SKIMS, and Spanx without leaving the chat. It runs on a new Agentic Commerce Protocol co-developed with Stripe, which OpenAI has open-sourced for others.
Product results are organic and unsponsored, so discoverability will be key for ecommerce brands eager to tap into ChatGPT’s 700 million weekly users. It’s worth noting that OpenAI isn’t the only one intent on bringing checkout to the chatbot experience. The big question isn’t who will get there first. It’s who will deliver a shopping agent consumers can actually trust.
Read on for full details, how it works, and what’s coming next.
AI Mode Adds Visuals to the Search Experience
Google Search’s AI Mode is adding robust visual exploration. Users can upload images, snap photos, or ask conversational questions and get curated visual results. Try “barrel jeans that aren’t too baggy” and you’ll see how online shopping may never be the same. It’s a sign that search is getting smarter than ever. And that the future is bright for brands that learn how to get found in AI Mode.
Advertising Creatives are Fully Embracing AI
Once viewed as taboo, generative AI is now showing up in full-blown campaigns for TV and social. Benetton is using AI-generated models, Wizz Air ran an AI-produced spot, and even skeptics admit the cost savings and creative speed are irresistible. A Kantar study found no “effectiveness tax” on AI ads, with some performing as well as traditional campaigns. Hard to argue with that.
Doomscrolling Deepfakes: OpenAI Debuts New Social Media App
OpenAI just launched Sora, a TikTok-like iOS app that lets users remix 10-second videos and create AI deepfakes of friends (only with consent). Sora 2, the underlying video model, enables “cameos” where your likeness can be used by friends and revoked anytime. It’s pitched as a “ChatGPT moment for video,” but does it risk normalizing deepfake culture?
Turns Out AI Isn’t Killing Jobs
A new Yale and Brookings study finds little evidence generative AI is wiping out U.S. jobs. Since ChatGPT’s launch, employment shifts look no different than past tech waves like computers and the internet. Some roles are evolving, especially in tech, but no mass layoffs tied to AI are visible in the data. AI may reshape roles over time, but the “jobs apocalypse” narrative looks overblown. At least for now.
If there’s one thing content marketers dread, it’s digging through mountains of video files to find the perfect clip. Moment Labs’ Discovery Agent puts an end to the searching and scrubbing. It’s an AI research assistant that finds precise, timecoded clips in seconds just by asking in plain language. It even recommends ideas for new videos. For brands with massive archives, this could be a major game changer.
🎙️ My podcast picks this week:
MARKETING AGAINST THE GRAIN
Marketing Advice You’ll Thank Me for in 12 Months
Most brands optimize for today and adapt later. Kipp and Neil Patel share tactics that will pay off a year from now, from AEO strategies that lift conversions to creating content for both humans and AI, plus the surprising old-school methods driving revenue again.
CMO CONFIDENTIAL
How to Reduce Marketing Expense in an AI World
When the CFO says “grow the top line and cut the budget,” where do you start? Dwight Hutchins joins host Mike Linton to show how to spot waste without hurting performance, redeploy the savings into growth channels, and use AI selectively to drive efficiency.
THE HUSTLE DAILY SHOW
Your Guide to Inclusive Marketing That Actually Works
AI can help scale content, but it can’t replicate the human art of belonging. Sonia Thompson explains how inclusive marketing creates loyalty that lasts, showing why brands that make customers feel seen and valued will win in an era where tech risks erasing the human touch.
Have a favorite podcast to recommend? Shoot me the details.
🚨 AI-forward companies are looking for AI-forward marketers:
Growth Marketing Manager – SaaS B2B
Design.efficiently
Lead multi-channel growth campaigns for a fast-scaling SaaS company. Own Klaviyo workflows and landing pages, partner with sales, and leverage AI tools for content, targeting, and analytics.
Head of Marketing
Payman
Lead marketing at Payman by crafting narrative and thought leadership around AI-powered agentic payments, executing campaigns, engaging developer community, and shaping the future of AI money interactions.
Growth Marketing Lead
Tecla
Own Tecla’s demand generation by managing SEO, SEM and CRO experiments, guiding a team, creating campaigns and playbooks, and embedding ChatGPT and AI tools into marketing workflows for scale and personalization.
Marketing Specialist
97Display
Design and optimize digital campaigns for clients by leveraging AI tools for content, lead scoring, personalization, building automation workflows, executing multi-channel marketing, optimizing SEO and landing pages, and measuring performance.
Lead Content Strategist
SeatGeek
Lead SeatGeek’s content strategy by identifying AI-driven search opportunities, optimizing content for generative and semantic SEO, collaborating across teams, sourcing multimedia with AI, and championing AI for discovery and personalization.
📅 Join AI marketers these upcoming events:
DataConnect
Columbus, OH, October 2–3
Bringing together industry leaders, technical experts and entrepreneurs to discuss the latest trends, advancements, technologies, and innovations in data, analytics, machine learning, and AI.
LavaCon
Atlanta, GA, October 5–8
LavaCon is to help content strategists, documentation managers, user experience designers, and other content professionals increase revenue and decrease costs by solving content-related business problems.
WTSFest (Women in Tech)
Philadelphia, PA, October 7
Join some of the most innovative SEOs and marketers in the industry for a full-day WTSFest designed to keep you ahead of the SEO and marketing curve while also ensuring you feel welcome, included, and comfortable.
VidSummit
Dallas, TX, October 7–9
VidSummit is for video creators and influencers, marketers, agencies and brands involved in the content creation process. Get access to the world’s leading experts on audience growth all in one place.
1682: The Business of Innovation Conference
Philadelphia, PA, October 8
1682 explores the innovation landscape, with a focus on how AI is influencing profit and process, through behind-the-scenes demos and details. The event focuses on real-world use of AI. What works, what doesn’t, and why.
Conductor
New York City, NY, October 9
Join the brightest minds and most innovative leaders in AI and digital marketing at New York’s premier AEO Conference. Learn what it takes to amplify your brand and drive growth through new AI search experiences.
Have an event to add? Send me the details.
