Wasn't AI supposed to make our jobs easier?
It looks like we may have to start catering to two audiences. ughz. Our core customers, of course, who matter most. But now also their ~AI agents~. And they both want completely different things.
According to Fast Company, for human shoppers, loyalty is still earned through rich brand experiences and tailored-to-you storytelling. Agents, on the other hand, demand a very different kind of digital courtship.
We may not just be marketing to people anymore. We should start thinking about what it means to market to their AI shopping assistants.
And these agents don't care about our brand story or that TikTok campaign. (I think? Still figuring this all out with you.) According to the article, they want clean data, reliable fulfillment, competitive pricing, and seamless checkout.
While you're crafting emotional brand experiences for humans, you also need to optimize for robots that just want the facts, fast.
Read more in this week’s digest.
Also covered this week: CEOs scrambling to look AI-ready, one-third of search traffic now going to AI agents instead of your website, and I have included the first internal company job I have seen focused solely on AI brand visibility. It’s happening, people!
As a reminder, here's what's covered each week:
- 🔵 Top AI + Marketing News
- 🟣 (LinkedIn) Posts I Love
- 🟡 AI + Marketing Tools
- 🟢 Events on My Radar
- ⚫️ Cool AI + Marketing Jobs
❓Question of the week: How are you adapting your brand for AI agents and are you tracking if they're choosing you?
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🔵 Top AI + Marketing News
Why C.E.O.s Are Rushing to Embrace A.I.
The New York Times | 7-minute read
Overview: The NY Times covers how CEOs across industries are scrambling to adopt AI, both to impress investors and to not look like the last kid picked in gym class. Some are making serious investments, while others are just sprinkling “AI” into every sentence…
Key Points:
- CEOs see AI as both an innovation driver and a PR flex.
- Many are prioritizing speed over thoughtful implementation.
- Pressure is mounting from boards and investors to “have an AI plan.”
My take: The hype cycle is real, and while some companies will use AI meaningfully, a lot will just slap “AI-powered” on a press release. The winners will be the ones who actually solve customer problems with AI, not the ones using it for the buzzwords.
AI Will Shape the Future of Marketing
Harvard Professional Blog | 14-minute read
Overview: Harvard’s blog breaks down how AI is reshaping marketing, from personalization to predictive analytics, while also stressing that marketers need new skills to actually use the tech effectively.
Key Points:
- AI is already boosting personalization, automation, and targeting.
- Marketers will need hybrid skills: tech literacy + creativity.
- Ethical considerations and consumer trust remain make-or-break.
My take: This one is from April but still so helpful and needed to include it because it is a great AI Marketing 101.
AI Shopping Tools Threaten Affiliates
Practical Ecommerce | 5-minute read
Overview: With AI shopping assistants (like Perplexity and others) eating into search traffic, affiliates are nervous. If AI answers questions directly, where’s the click for publishers and affiliate links?
Key Points:
- AI assistants can bypass traditional affiliate paths.
- Affiliates may lose traffic and revenue as AI search grows.
- New models could emerge where AI tools share referral credit.
My take: Unless AI tools start cutting them in on referral economics, a lot of affiliate-based businesses are going to struggle. My guess: we’ll see an “AI affiliate layer” pop up soon…otherwise, publishers are just working for free while chatbots pocket the value.
How GenAI Is Changing the SEO Playbook
Marketing Brew | 6-minute read
Overview: Google’s AI Overviews are rewriting SEO rules. Instead of “ranking #1,” brands are now fighting to be cited in AI-generated summaries.
Key Points:
- Organic search traffic is declining for many sites.
- Content strategies must now focus on structured data + authority.
- Brands may need to optimize for being referenced by AI, not just humans.
My take: SEO used to be about rankings. Now it's about getting your content quoted by an AI summary. Trickier, but way more awesome if we can nail it…
AI for Marketing Leaders eBook
CMO Alliance | ~15-minute read
Overview: A handbook for CMOs laid out by other CMOs, how to adopt AI strategically, integrate it into your tech stack, and avoid going full autopilot.
Key Points:
- Packed with real-world case studies and tool frameworks.
- Helps you build humanizing governance and upskill your team.
- Includes practical advice on search, personalization, and risk.
My take: So so helpful and in-depth. Great for marketing leaders and founders who want to lead smart with AI, not just follow hype.
Agentic AI Is About to Transform the Martech Stack
MarTech | 6-minute read
Overview: Meet agentic AI, the next level where AI doesn't just assist, it acts autonomously across marketing tasks.
Key Points:
- Automates campaign triggering, testing, and optimization.
- Big efficiency boost, especially for repetitive or time-sensitive workflows.
- Brings up big questions around quality control and brand safety.
My take: There agents are handy when it saves you time, but a little nerve-wracking if it mixes up “order me a salad” with “order me 100 bags of lettuce” on Instacart. (I don't know if this has happened before but would be funny!)…
Reclaiming Relevance in an AI-Overloaded, Buyer-Led Market
MarTech | 5-minute read
Overview: When AI is everywhere, buyers tune out. The article argues that empathy, context, and understanding must lead.
Key Points:
- AI fatigue is real, buyers want personalized connection, not noise.
- Marketers need to listen for tiny behavioral cues, not just stages.
- Leaders who anticipate needs outperform others, but empathy wins trust.
My take: AI can help surface signals, but it can’t replace the human touch of knowing when to step in.
Honda’s Marketing Leader Talks Olympics, AI Chatbots & Budgeting
Ad Age | ~6-minute read
Overview: All about how they’re planning for LA28 sponsorship, blending AI chatbots with tentpole event marketing and smart budgeting.
Key Points:
- Olympic tie-up opens high-profile brand touchpoints.
- Chatbots will help manage surge in consumer questions.
- Budgets reflect a shift to flexible, AI-aided activations.
My take: This is the kind of AI use that just makes sense. If a chatbot can answer “where do I park for the Olympics?” before your customer even thinks to Google it, you’ve already won. That’s not futuristic marketing…it’s just smart, practical, and saves everyone a headache.
Will AI Cite Your Brand?
Inc. | 6-minute read
Overview: As AI becomes the new search engine, your brand’s visibility depends on whether it’s cited in AI-generated answers, not just ranked.
Key Points:
- LLMs pull direct answers and may credit authoritative sources.
- SEO now includes Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) strategies.
- Structuring content for AI-ready response formats matters more than ever.
My take: The old game of chasing first-page SEO is fading. Now it’s about making sure your brand is part of the answers AI gives back. If your content isn’t built to be cited, you risk disappearing completely.
Why Brands Need to Court AI Agents
Fast Company | 5-minute read
Overview: The future buyer might never click. Instead, AI agents make decisions based on data and brands need to be ready.
Key Points:
- Agents handle research, decisions, and purchases, all human-free.
- They need accurate data, clear policies, and low friction to choose your brand.
- Brands that optimize for agents will win by default.
My take: If you miss their checklist, you don’t exist to the agents. I can’t believe we might now need to create briefs for the “bots”.
Reddit Is Pivoting Toward Search
Digiday Podcast | ~40-minute listen
Overview: Reddit is evolving from social feed to search engine, combining community answers with AI to power discovery.
Key Points:
- Reddit Answers mixes human responses with AI summarization.
- COO Jennifer Wong hints at merging Reddit search and AI features.
- Aiming to become the go-to for authentic, trusted discovery.
My take: Reddit is quietly becoming Google’s challenger, only with real voices, not scraped quotes. Brands should lean into expert subs and high-quality posts now, before it’s the place where “answering wins.”
AI Agents Now Handle a Third of Brand-Bound Searches
CNET | 4-minute read
Overview: A recent report says AI agents already account for about a third of search traffic that used to go directly to brand sites.
Key Points:
- Branded search clicks are dropping; agents are answering instead.
- Structured data and verified answers matter more than ever.
- Brands need new KPIs: citation share, answer presence, not just clicks.
My take: If you didn’t get the hint from all the other articles above, too,…time to switch gears, optimize for “Is it in the answer box?” instead of “Is it page one?”
🟣 Posts I Love
Kady Srinivasan - “Don’t Confuse Taste with Judgment”
Kady writes an important reminder: AI can give you shiny outputs, but only judgment tells you what actually drives business results. Her playbook: document hypotheses, do frequent post-mortems, listen to the market (not just your LLM), and use AI to check blind spots.
Ann Handley - “Wingperson Era vs. Outsourcing Era”
Ann’s post (with a sparkly Orbit Media chart) shows early data on how creators use AI: Strongest results when AI is a wingperson, helping with ideas, outlines, or editing. Weakest results when AI does all the writing.
Tim Soulo - “AEO is the New SEO”
Tim and the Ahrefs team have been running experiments on Answer Engine Optimization (AEO), optimizing how AI cites your brand in responses. Their tips:
- Track your brand’s AI visibility.
- Publish the kind of content LLMs love: stats, comparisons, research.
- Keep your site structured and easy to parse.
- Seed mentions across the web (Reddit, Quora, UGC platforms).
🟡 AI + Marketing Tools
All tools covered continue to be added to the 170+ AI + Marketing tool directory!
Profound
Raised $35M Series B to become a “marketing command center for the AI-first internet.” Tracks how AI describes your brand, auto-generates optimized content, and dramatically boosts visibility across AI assistants. Best for: Brand Marketer • Content Strategist • Performance Marketer
Evertune
Just closed $15M in Series A to power its Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) suite. Runs 100,000+ AI prompts per brand to measure AI perception, sentiment, and AI voice share, then delivers strategic messaging recommendations in real time. Best for: Brand Strategist • Content Marketer • SEO/PR Teams
RivalSee
Keeps tabs on your brand’s visibility across ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and more, all in one dashboard. Offers competitor benchmarking and actionable content improvement suggestions. Best for: SEO Specialist • Content Marketer • Digital Marketing Lead
Attio
Built-in AI delivers instant insights right within your CRM workspace, summarizes records, classifies data, enriches lead profiles, and automates go-to-market workflows without context-switching. Best for: Sales Ops • Revenue Teams • Growth Marketer
AdLens AI
Beta platform that analyzes top-performing ads across social + display networks, then surfaces key hooks, visuals, and formats to inspire your next creative. Great for small teams who want to shortcut what works. Best for: Growth Hacker • Paid Media Buyer • Performance Marketer
PromptPilot
New tool for TikTok and Reels creators: replays your top videos and breaks down which hook, edit, or music combo worked, then auto-generates outlines for your next post. Best for: Creator • Social Media Manager • Short-Form Video Marketer
🟢 Events on My Radar
Below are more interesting events added this week to the full AI + Marketing Events blog post!
NRF 2026: Retail’s Big Show
📍 January 11–13, 2026 - New York, NY
Retail media, personalization, and store/omni AI, must‑track if you touch commerce. Learn more
AI & Big Data Expo Global
📍 February 4–5, 2026 - London, UK (Olympia)
Cross‑industry applied AI; good technical breadth for marketing leaders. Learn more
⚫️ Cool AI + Marketing Jobs
Golden Hippo - Director, AI Brand Visibility
Abnormal AI - Brand Manager
Meta - Creative Director, Gen AI Monetization
Conductor - AI Growth Marketing Manager
Lightricks - Product Marketing Manager – AI
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