ChatGPT use cases, but no ads

LLMs & CHATBOTS

OpenAI study: ChatGPT use cases (all of them)

OpenAI announced the release of a new study of answer engine ChatGPT, its users and use cases for the tool.

There is no mention of advertising and marketing —yet.

The study is like no other, according to the company:

“The study, a National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) working paper by OpenAI’s Economic Research team and Harvard economist David Deming, draws on a large-scale, privacy-preserving analysis of 1.5 million conversations to track how consumer usage has evolved since ChatGPT’s launch three years ago. Given the sample size and 700 million weekly active users of ChatGPT, this is the most comprehensive study of actual consumer use of AI ever released.”

The paper itself is dense and filled with fun stats. Here’s a sample:

“Education is a major use case for ChatGPT.

10.2% of all user messages and 36% of Practical Guidance messages are requests for Tutoring or Teaching.

Another large share — 8.5% in total and 30% of Practical Guidance — is general how-to advice on a variety of topics.

Technical Help includes Computer Programming (4.2% of messages), Mathematical Calculations (3%), and Data Analysis (0.4%).

Looking at the topic of Self-Expression, only 2.4% of all ChatGPT messages are about Relationships and Personal Reflection (1.9%) or Games and Role Play.”

The top ‘generalized work activity’ (GWA) is no surprise: “Getting information” at 19% of all activities. But, under “Seeking Information,” you’ll see the seeds of purchase intent with “purchasable products” coming in at 2.1%. (page 23 or click image below)

There are many more GWAs.

Read the OpenAI blog post. (September 15)

Get the research paper. (September 15)

From tipsheet: This is a great foundational piece of research for why humans are using chatbots.

LLMs & CHATBOTS

Perplexity needs to ‘add to cart’

In The Information yesterday, Catherine Perloff and Ann Gehan reviewed Perplexity’s strategy with consumers to date. And so far, there’s room for improvement.

Ms. Perloff summarized their findings on LinkedIn:

“Marketers and ecommerce firms are eager to try buying ads and selling products via AI chatbots as they gain popularity. But Perplexity, the AI firm that has made the biggest swings in advertising and ecommerce, has so far not provided advertisers and merchants a huge opportunity to try. A year into the AI search startup’s advertising and ecommerce programs, Perplexity is mostly turning advertisers away (only accepting .5%) and has yet to develop basic features like ‘add to cart’ that make ecommerce viable for retailers.”

More: Perplexity’s Commerce and Ads Experiments Are Stuck in Neutral (September 15) – The Information (subscription)

From tipsheet: The media can’t look away from answer engine Perplexity. Who can blame them/us? AI is white hot and chatbots are at the center of the hype. Also, Perplexity has been the only chatbot to take a swing at ads thus far – let alone make a wild offer for Chrome, launch a browser and attempt to sell to Apple.

A healthy dose of funding will help Perplexity take back the narrative.

LLMs & CHATBOTS

Developments

• Anthropic Economic Index report: Uneven geographic and enterprise AI adoption (September 15) – Anthropic
• OpenAI upgrades Codex with a new version of GPT-5 (September 15) – TechCrunch
• OpenAI Ramps Up Robotics Work in Race Toward AGI (September 15) – Wired

BRANDS

More AI tools for CTV

The Wall Street Journal covered several trends being addressed by Connected TV companies using AI in advertising today.

The WSJ’s Patrick Coffee wrote:

“The ad sellers are looking to bring down costs by offering their AI-powered services free of charge. Universal Ads next week will release its AI Video Generator assistant, developed with startup Creatify, that mirrors Meta’s plans to fully automate ad production. And Britain’s Channel 4 this summer introduced a generative AI service that can cut the cost of producing a 30-second commercial by around 90%, according to the organization.”

Read more in The Wall Street Journal. (September 15)

From tipsheet: The trends being addressed/ignited by AI in this article:

• SMB budget – “Free” means small and medium-sized business don’t need to use expensive agency service to create TV ads.

• CTV – How do CTV companies make it easier and cheaper to advertise for traditional TV advertisers? The same “free” price on AI creative tools extends to big budget advertisers, after all.

• Walled garden alternative -The title of the WSJ’s article says it all: “TV Industry Bets AI Can Peel Ad Dollars Away From Big Tech.”

Britain’s Channel 4 AI ad service appears to be powered by Magnite’s recent acquisition, streamr[dot]ai. Read more about Channel 4’s AI product here.

AGENCIES

AI hurting S4 Capital client spend

Sir Martin Sorrell’s agency holding company, S4 Capital, which includes ad agencies such as Monks and MightyHive, cut its annual revenue forecast again yesterday.

Though tariffs and macro “uncertainty” were reported as the ongoing culprits for S4, The Times also explained:

“Technology clients, which account for more than half the company’s revenue, have reduced spending as they prioritise multi-billion dollar investments in expanding their AI capacity. Spending by Google, which is owned by Alphabet, had ‘stabilised’, Sorrell said, while Amazon had been one of its ‘growth accounts’.”

Read more in The Times. (September 15)

Headcount is expected to be reduced from its current 6,900 in the coming months. Also, rumors are swirling about a possible takeover of S4. The Times reported that Sir Martin and his board are open to overtures.

From tipsheet: S4’s digital-only focus sets it apart from its much larger, holding company rivals. It will need to prove that it has ‘hit bottom’ for investors to climb back aboard. Perhaps S4’s decline is not a coincidence in that WPP, Sir Martin Sorrell’s former holding company, has also struggled.

Also – I have not seen any company say that AI investment is hurting client ad spend levels. It would appear that this is MightyHive client, Google. Assuming its only reducing budget, rather than moving it to another agency, the adjustments Google is making could be instructive on its own direction.

AGENCIES

Kantar hires consultant as CEO

Marketing and data analytics consulting agency Kantar Group has hired an Accenture innovation and “reinvention” executive, Paul Zwillenberg, as its CEO. He’ll start January 1.

Kantar is majority-owned by Bain Capital, with WPP retaining a minority stake.

In an interview, Zwillenberg emphasized the importance of AI for Kantar:

“Kantar is much more than a consulting business. (…) It’s a marketing insights business. It’s a data business. It’s an analytics business. I’ve had the privilege of running brands across that spectrum, helping them develop and implement their digital strategy. AI is the next wave of that digitization.”

Read more in Ad Age. (September 15)

SELL-SIDE

Who’s in control of agents?

Reporter Jessica Davies says that “Publishers and advertisers face new AI agent oversight hurdles” in a Digiday piece.

She presented her premise:

“The next wave of AI isn’t just about smarter tools, it’s about autonomous ones. And that poses some sticky questions: who is really in control when agents are instructing other agents, and who is accountable if they make mistakes? That’s a question that’s starting to keep some media and ad execs up at night…”

Liability concerns — where media companies may move slowly when it comes to enabling agent interactions — speak to a need for standards, according to Davies.

Read more in Digiday. (September 15)

More: “Agentic Commerce is a Collective Hallucination” (September 15) – Andrew Lipsman on “Media, Ads + Commerce” Substack

From tipsheet: This agentic world is still TBD when it comes to consumers empowering autonomous agents to buy stuff for them. Analyst Eric Seufert produced an excellent podcast with Andrew Lipsman on the conundrum here.

TECH

AI creative ad tech merger

AI creative ad tech startup Rembrand announced its merger with social ads startup Spaceback yesterday.

Adweek’s Trishla Ostwal reported:

“AI startup Rembrand and social ad firm Spaceback are merging in a private-to-private deal. The deal, a mix of cash and stock, will see Spaceback folded into Rembrand.

The merger is expected to close by the end of September, the companies said in a joint statement Monday, but did not disclose additional financial terms.

The combined company will have 75 employees, with Rembrand CEO Omar Tawakol remaining at the helm. Spaceback’s cofounders will join the executive team, and Spaceback CEO Casey Saran will have a seat on Rembrand’s board, according to the statement.”

Read more in Adweek. (September 15 – subscription)

From LinkedIn, Spaceback CEO Casey Saran was clear that the roadmap ahead for the combined company will be Rembrand’s CEO Omar Tawakol’s vision:

“Now we’re joining forces with Omar Tawakol and the amazing Rembrand team to build what’s next: AI-powered creative automation and virtual product placement for the future of TV. Together, we believe the future of advertising won’t look like the past—it will be more personalized, more contextual, and most importantly, more valuable for people.”

Read it on LinkedIn. (September 15)

But, Mr. Tawakol made clear on LinkedIn that Spaceback’s social reach is still part of the plan:

Post-merger Rembrand will be the first company with a platform for AI creative for programmatic advertising across all organic and paid video channels, enabling brands to embed themselves in video conversations at the speed of culture.

Read more from Mr. Tawakol on LinkedIn. (September 15)

More: “Rembrand Merges with Spaceback, Launching First Platform For AI Creative In Programmatic Advertising Across All Video Channels” – press release (September 15)

From tipsheet: Rembrand has significantly deepened its bench of experienced ad tech employees as the company aims at an AI & video future for ads.

Also of note: Roku uses Spaceback: “to help buyers turn existing social posts like TikTok videos into commercials that can send texts to viewers who click with their Roku remotes.” Read about it in the WSJ’s AI CTV article yesterday.

TECH

Amazon Ads survey: AI Opportunity for SMBs

A new study released yesterday from Amazon Ads suggests AI advertising tools will accelerate growth for small and medium-sized businesses.

See the study. (September 15)

In fact, there are plenty of positive stats about the hopes by SMBs for new opportunity ahead. But kudos to Amazon Ads for publishing the not-so-happy data, too:

“Despite widespread use and testing of AI tools, confidence isn’t universal among small and medium-sized businesses. The study found that 35% of marketing leaders feel overwhelmed by the number of tools available, 43% are excited about AI in advertising but don’t know where to start, and 30% admitted feeling like they’re “faking it” when using AI—highlighting the need for easy-to-use advertising solutions that can be adopted without technical expertise or a steep learning curve.”

Read a summary on business publication Inc., too. (September 15)

From tipsheet: This survey is indicative of another macro theme in advertising technology: AI-enabled ad tech companies see significant opportunity coming from SMBs. As ad campaigns get easier for the ‘little guy’ to create, the more these ‘small budgets’ will gravitate to AI ad platforms and tools. In aggregate, small budgets are big.

TECH

‘Ad network for AI’ ZeroClick collecting clients

Los Angeles Business Journal covered contextual ad network (or affiliate ad network) for AI ZeroClick and its recent launch. The LA-based company’s clients are already notable:

“Advertisers like Walmart Inc., Amazon[dot]com Inc. and Target Corp. are able to use platforms like ZeroClick to get AI to seamlessly integrate advertising into their generated answers, thus creating new opportunities for advertising. Software-as-a-service platforms, for example, spend tens of thousands of dollars on sales teams that push the product.”

ZeroClick CEO Ryan Hudson explained that advertising in SaaS tools is a new opportunity worth pursuing as well as how his company addressed under-served news publishers that were outside ‘walled gardens.’

Scrunch AI and Dailymotion chimed in with quotes affirming the trend of AI in advertising and its potential for igniting growth. Read more. (September 15)

PROMPT

What makes you think consumers will use AI agents to buy things?

Response from Anthropic’s Claude:

There are several compelling factors that suggest consumers will increasingly use AI agents for purchasing, though adoption will likely be gradual and vary by category:

• Convenience and time-saving

• Personalization at scale

• Price optimization

• Cognitive load reduction…

Read more on tipsheet.

MORE

• “10 questions on the future of advertising. 60 seconds on the clock. Challenge accepted” (September 15) – Dan Taylor, VP, Google Ads, Google on LinkedIn
• Podcast: AI-Driven Ad Tech Acquisitions (September 15) – AdExchanger’s The Big Story
• Mastercard is helping shape the future of AI-powered payments and setting the foundation for trusted agentic transaction standards (September 10) – Mastercard
• Opinion: “AI is Powerful. Creativity is Irreplaceable.” (September 15) – Simon Thorne, Managing Director, EMEA, Innovid on The AI Journal