The AI Marketing Newsletter #37
This week's AI marketing newsletter: ChatGPT's "Overly Positive" Tone Sparks User Backlash, Oscars Now Open to AI-Assisted Films, Google's AI Search Surges Past 1 Billion Users, How to Build Your Own AI Agent, Google Shares 601 Real-World Generative AI Use Cases and more...
ChatGPT's "Overly Positive" Tone Sparks User Backlash
OpenAI's ChatGPT is facing user criticism for being relentlessly upbeat. Users on Reddit and other forums have complained that the chatbot's tone has become "saccharine" and overly enthusiastic, regardless of the seriousness of the topic.
This shift seems to stem from OpenAI's alignment efforts aimed at making ChatGPT more polite and inoffensive.
Future versions are expected to include "Custom Instructions" and expanded memory features, giving users the ability to steer conversations towards a preferred style.
What does this mean for marketing?
The tone is everything in marketing communications, and this story is a timely reminder that copying and pasting from AI has its risks.
Oscars Now Open to AI-Assisted Films
In a major shift, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has confirmed that AI-assisted films will be eligible for Oscar consideration. The decision acknowledges the growing influence of AI in film production, from scriptwriting and storyboarding to special effects and even editing.
The Academy stressed that storytelling, emotional depth, and human creativity must still drive any nominated work.
This landmark decision follows a year of intense debate within Hollywood over the role of AI in creative industries.
What does this mean for marketing?
Marketers working in branded content, advertising, and entertainment can now be more confident using AI creatively.
Google's AI Search Surges Past 1 Billion Users
Google's AI-powered Search tool, known as Search Generative Experience (SGE), is rapidly gaining ground. According to internal figures shared by Google, SGE now attracts over 1 billion users monthly, with the numbers continuing to rise steadily. While technically in an "experimental" phase, the company has quietly integrated AI summaries and overviews into mainstream search experiences, especially on mobile.
What does this mean for marketing?
Marketers must now reckon with AI becoming an invisible but powerful force in search behaviour. SEO strategies must shift focus from purely ranking traditional web links to appearing in AI-generated summaries. Brands that can optimise content for AI context will be better placed to maintain visibility and traffic as traditional search experiences evolve.
Microsoft 365 Copilot Gets Reasoning Agents and Company Search
Microsoft is levelling up its 365 Copilot offering with new "reasoning agents" and a company-wide search feature. The new agents will actively work across emails, documents, calendars and corporate systems to help users complete complex tasks with minimal input. Microsoft is also enhancing Copilot's ability to search across internal data stores securely, meaning employees can retrieve precise company information using natural language queries.
What does this mean for marketing?
This should make finding useful documents easier, but some companies may want to roll this out slowly to avoid 365 becoming too snoopy and revealing confidential information. It also hints at a near future where AI agents can automate routine marketing workflows.
How to Build Your Own AI Agents Guide
OpenAI has published a comprehensive new guide titled A Practical Guide to Building Agents, drawn from lessons across 300 real-world implementations. The guide offers a clear playbook for designing AI agents that work effectively inside businesses, from setting task boundaries and integrating tools to evaluating outcomes.
It also introduces practical concepts like “multi-agent collaboration” and “graded autonomy,” helping organisations determine how much freedom to give their AI systems. The emphasis is on functionality, reliability, and cost-efficiency, highlighting that a well-scoped, capable agent beats a general-purpose chatbot every time.
What does this mean for marketing?
For marketers, this guide is a must-read. AI agents are rapidly moving from novelty to necessity, handling customer support, campaign reporting, personalisation, and even copywriting. OpenAI’s framework helps marketing teams think strategically about how to deploy agents that deliver measurable value without over-engineering.
For AI audiophiles…
Open-Source Model Takes on ElevenLabs
A new open-source text-to-speech (TTS) model named "Dia" has just entered the scene, aiming to challenge giants like ElevenLabs and OpenAI. Developed by researchers from Mila and the Université de Montréal, Dia promises ultra-realistic voice generation, matching the quality of leading commercial models, but with open access.
Unlike many TTS models locked behind paywalls or API restrictions, Dia is freely available under a non-commercial licence. Early tests suggest Dia delivers human-like prosody and emotional nuance, potentially raising the bar for open-source voice AI.
Its arrival comes as marketers increasingly seek more personalised, natural-sounding AI voices for everything from ads to virtual assistants.
What does this mean for marketing?
Dia opens new possibilities for brands that want high-quality AI voiceovers without vendor lock-in. It could significantly lower production costs for ads, podcasts, and audio content. However, its non-commercial licence may limit direct use in advertising campaigns.
Adobe Sets New Standard for AI Creativity
Adobe has launched Firefly Image Models 4 and 4 Ultra, pushing the boundaries of AI-driven creativity. Firefly 4 brings improvements in image realism, fine detail, and consistency, making it a major upgrade for creators looking for professional-grade visuals.
Meanwhile, Firefly 4 Ultra is designed for premium users, offering even more nuanced artistic control and higher fidelity output. Adobe has also introduced new editing features like Structure Reference and Style Reference, allowing users to match a generated image’s composition or aesthetic to an existing picture.
What does this mean for marketing?
Firefly 4 and 4 Ultra offer faster and more sophisticated creative production capabilities. Whether it’s generating campaign imagery, social content, or visual prototypes, these tools significantly reduce production time without sacrificing quality.
Google Shares 601 Real-World Generative AI Use Cases
Google has published a major new guide outlining 601 real-world generative AI use cases across industries, including retail, healthcare, travel and media. The report showcases how generative AI is moving beyond hype into serious, practical deployment.
Highlights include AI-powered personalised shopping experiences, hyper-efficient content creation, smarter customer support agents, and predictive analytics driving business decisions.
Here are some examples from the sources regarding the use of AI in marketing:
What does this mean for marketing?
Google notes that many companies are now focusing on "AI-first workflows" rather than simply bolting AI onto old processes, a crucial shift for those looking to gain a competitive advantage.
AI and Agents Are Reshaping Work: Meet the "Frontier Firms"
The workplace is on the edge of a major transformation as AI and intelligent agents redefine knowledge work. Microsoft's latest research highlights the rise of "Frontier Firms", companies powered by "intelligence on tap" and human-agent teams.
Enter AI agents and digital labour that can scale workforce capacity and meet business demands. Leaders increasingly expect to use these agents to extend their teams. Future workplaces could be organised not around traditional functions but around "Work Charts" focused on getting jobs done, where every employee becomes an "agent boss" building, delegating to, and managing their own AI helpers.
Already, workers are turning to AI for what humans can't easily provide: 24/7 availability (42%), faster machine-speed execution (30%), and unlimited creative ideas (28%).
However, a readiness gap looms: AI literacy is expected to be the hottest skill of 2025.
What does this mean for marketing?
For marketing teams, the message is clear: AI is not just a tool; it's becoming a core part of the workforce. Those who adapt quickly will have a distinct advantage as this new era of marketing work unfolds.
And finally,
In a move that sounds straight out of science fiction, Meta's latest AI project, nicknamed "Space Llama", is heading to the International Space Station (ISS). Built on the Llama 2 model family, Space Llama will be tested in orbit to explore how advanced AI can support astronauts with real-time assistance in communications, data analysis, and decision-making.
The project is a collaboration between Meta, NASA, and private space partners, marking a new era where AI is helping astronauts navigate the final frontier. Space Llama's deployment aims to study how machine learning models perform in low-gravity environments and under conditions of limited bandwidth and computing resources.
Thank you for reading and have a wonderful week.
David Sloly