Shawn’s AI new marketing breakdown so you don’t have to frantically follow everything in the AI news space. 1. OpenAI flirts with an ad-supported ChatGPT What dropped – Multiple industry reports say OpenAI is actively “pressure-testing” in-chat ad formats to ease spiralling compute costs. My take – If conversational ads arrive, search budgets will splinter overnight. We’re talking intent signals that live after the keyword—context, emotion, follow-ups. The smartest CMOs will A/B a conversation line-item in Q4 just to capture early learnings. 2. Apple Intelligence opens the walled garden (a bit) Apple’s on-device model and new APIs announced at WWDC 25 let devs target push, email, and in-app content without data ever leaving the user’s phone. Systems angle – Zero-party data you don’t have to store is catnip for regulated verticals (finance, health). Start mapping which customer journeys can move to Apple’s on-device layer; latency alone can lift conversion. 3. Meta wants to automate the entire ad funnel by 2026 Fresh off rolling 11 new Advantage+ tools (image-to-video, brand-safe templates), internal docs show Meta aiming for fully AI-built campaigns from a single product photo and budget. Creative POV – Good news for fast-iterating DTC brands; rough seas for agencies built on billable production hours. Strategy and first-party data activation just got more valuable. 4. Google Ads’ Asset Studio graduates from gimmick to growth lever The new generative asset builder now spits out images, short clips, and copy directly inside the Ads UI. Early testers report 20-30 % faster campaign launches. What I’m watching – Whether Google ties quality-score credits to AI-generated creative. If that happens, manual assets become a tax. 5. TikTok’s Symphony suite lands in Adobe & WPP Symphony can morph static pack shots into five-second TikTok-native videos and even drop your product into an AI avatar’s hand. Marketer move – Use it for versioning, not hero creative. Run Symphony variants against your control to see where TikTok’s algo gives you “creative fatigue” warnings. 6. EU AI Act countdown: transparency rules hit this August General-purpose AI systems that touch EU users must start labeling outputs and documenting data sources by Aug 2, 2025. Checklist – • Inventory every model touching EU traffic. • Add output-labeling to your design system. • Draft a “data lineage” paragraph for future pitch decks—buyers will ask. 7. Agency drama watch: WPP issues a profit warning Britain’s biggest holding company blamed client cutbacks and in-house AI tooling for a 3-5 % sales drop, sending shares to a 16-year low. Signal – The squeeze is real. If you’re an in-house team, double-down on performance analytics; external partners will need to prove lift, not hours. See content credentials Tools I’m Stress-Testing This Week Meta Advantage+ Image-to-Video → Turn last year’s still-image catalog into 15-second reels for mid-funnel retargeting—no editor needed. Google Asset Studio → Generate variant-rich creative sets; pipe winners straight into Performance Max without leaving the UI. TikTok Symphony → Rapid-fire product demos in five-second clips; perfect for testing offer hooks before a full shoot. Apple Intelligence API →Build on-device personalization that sidesteps GDPR headaches—think “next-best-action” widgets in iOS 26. OpenAI Ad Experiments (early) → Prototype conversational funnel ads; measure drop-off when the bot shifts from helper to pitch. Bottom line: The system—not the slogan—is the moat. Every new AI release this month either slashes production time, tightens data loops, or forces transparency. Pick two and run controlled pilots before August. I’ll report back with numbers.