Website Traffic From AI Agents Is Happening, Folks.
Plus: The hallucination scoreboard, the aging ad industry, and the gen-AI awards.
👋 Happy Thursday AI Marketers. A new report shows just how fast AI agents are replacing humans in search. AI new ranking shows which AI models make the most stuff up. And the Olympics of generative AI is coming. Grab a coffee. Let’s get you caught up…
AI Agents Now Represent a Third of Search Traffic
A new report from BrightEdge proves AI search is no longer a sideshow. Tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Claude already drive roughly a third of the traffic that would once have gone straight to brand websites. Instead of Googling, shoppers are increasingly beginning their journeys inside chat windows, asking AI to recommend products and do the research for them.
The report also found ChatGPT’s live web browsing activity doubled in July, underscoring just how much consumers are relying on agents to find and rank brand information. BrightEdge warns that to stay visible in these results, brands need fast-loading, well-structured, authoritative content that AI systems can easily read and recommend. The sooner, the better.
Which AI Models Make Stuff Up the Most?
Vectara’s HHEM benchmark ranks models by hallucination rates, scoring ChatGPT, Claude, Meta, xAI, Gemini, and others. GPT-5 with “thinking” mode performs best with a near one percent rate. Gemini Flash-Lite is closer to three percent. The takeaway? Even small reliability gaps can have big consequences. Use wisely.
The Ad Industry Isn’t Getting Any Younger
Entry-level roles in advertising and PR are vanishing as AI handles more research, reporting and production. In fact, workers under 25 are at the lowest level in 5 years. With fewer early-career hires, does the industry risks losing fresh perspectives and future leadership talent?
The Latest GPT… Ain’t No PhD
You’ve heard it by now. GPT-5 isn’t the super genius OpenAI promised. Allison Morrow’s piece captures both the comedy and the consequences, from president “Gearge Washingion” to the model’s map-making missteps with “Yirginia.” But when GPT-4o was pulled, loyal users didn’t think it was funny at all.
When Will This AI Thing Pay Off?
Businesses are throwing billions at AI, chasing efficiency gains that have yet to materialize. The paradox? Brands can’t afford to fall behind, but still can’t trust AI with high stakes knowledge work. While big tech is reaping the rewards of the AI revolution today, businesses in many other sectors might have to stick it out.
The Chroma Awards is a brilliant idea. Part competition. Part creative hub. It’s designed to find the next generation of innovative creators in AI film, music, and games while inspiring the rest of us. With free trials, education, and prizes across three divisions, it aims to break down barriers and show what’s possible with AI.
🎙️ My top 3 podcast episodes this week:
DECODER
Notion’s CEO Wants You to Demand Better From Your Tools
Notion cofounder Ivan Zhao shares his philosophy on productivity, building a global brand, and the future of work tools. He and Casey Newton discuss how Notion scaled over a decade and where productivity software is headed next.
THE MARKETING COMPANION
AI Signals to Influence the Purchasing Decision
Mark Schaefer and Andy Crestodina explore how AI makes decisions that shape customer choices, from vacations to recipes. They reveal new research on AI’s decision-making sources and what it means for content and marketing strategies.
TALKS AT GOOGLE
The Co-Intelligence Revolution: How Humans and AI Co-Create New Value
Authors Venkat Ramaswamy and Krishnan Narayanan discuss their book on how humans and AI can collaborate to create new value. They share practical strategies for leaders to harness co-intelligence in the workplace.
Have a favorite podcast to recommend? Shoot me the details.
🚨 AI-forward companies are looking for AI-forward marketers:
Gen AI Marketing Operations Manager
OutSystems
Lead marketing AI transformation by developing and executing AI initiatives, implementing AI models to personalize campaigns and automate workflows, and championing ethical adoption and governance while measuring impact.
AI Growth Marketing Manager
Conductor
Drive AI-first content growth at Conductor by building automated AI workflows, using LLMs and no-code tools, identifying and optimizing content opportunities, and collaborating across teams to deliver scalable content.
Growth Marketing Manager, B2B AI
Meta
Support Meta’s B2B AI growth by testing and scaling AI solutions, managing digital channels, collaborating with sales, product and data teams, designing agentic strategies, and optimizing campaigns for enterprise customers.
Senior Product Marketing Manager for HaloAI
SmartBear
Champion SmartBear’s HaloAI by crafting customer narratives, educational content and launch plans, defining positioning and metrics, and collaborating across teams to drive adoption of AI-powered development tools and processes.
AI Insights & Content Lead (Data Storyteller)
Evertune AI
Turn complex datasets into market narratives for AI Search, using storytelling to build Evertune’s visibility and authority, collaborating with product, marketing and GTM teams to reach enterprise marketers.
📅 Join AI marketers at conferences, summits, and industry events.
AI Accelerate
San Diego, CA, August 20–21
WordCamp
Portland, OR, August 26–29
Contact.io
Denver, CO, August 27–29
Inbound
San Francisco, CA, September 3–5
DTC Live
New York City, NY, September 4
Product Marketing Summit
San Francisco, CA, September 10–11
AI for Marketers Summit
San Francisco, CA, September 11
Content Marketing World
San Diego, CA, September 16–17
AI Conference
San Francisco, CA, September 17–18
HeroConf
San Diego, CA, September 23–24
GAI World
Boston, MA, September 29–30
Have an event to add? Send me the details.
Fantastic insights!