Two completely different types of “influencers” caused a press and viral storm this week…
🤖 Mia Zelu – an AI-generated model:
~~ “attended” Wimbledon
~~ racked up millions of views (and LinkedIn posts)
~~ left people wondering what (or who) was even real.
💅 Meg Stalter – actress, comedian, and pure joy:
~~ skipped onto The Today Show set in a robe and hair rollers
~~ caused Tracee Ellis Ross to break into non-stop laughter on Watch What Happens Live
~~ made The Colbert Show a must watch with her “impression of an actress on a late night talk show”
~~ I’ll take a real Meg 💅 over an AI Mia 🤖 any day. ~~
“In lieu of canned lines about the show or ham-fisted anecdotes about her childhood, she’s taking the opportunity to do what she does best: be unpredictable” Fran Hoepfner writes about Meg in their Vulture article this week.
Because as AI influencers flood the feed…polished, perfect, low-risk…we start craving the opposite:
✨ Real.
✨ Unhinged.
✨ Gloriously human.
This week’s issue of AI + Marketing Weekly dives into that tension, between scale and soul, trust and automation, templates and taste.
📰 What’s inside:
→ ChatGPT’s new in-app checkout system (Shopify + Pinterest had a smart baby?)
→ SEO’s evolution: not just findable, but believable
→ The Mia Zelu effect, and why authenticity is the real white space
→ 🩷 Posts I loved from Phyllis Fang (on what AI exposes), Will Poskett (on the synthetic influencer surge), Kady Srinivasan (on the three new roles marketing needs), Julian Cole (10 best comms strategy tools), and more.
I’m tracking what matters at the intersection of AI + marketing, tools, trends, jobs, and takes that help you stay smart without drowning in scroll.
👇 Check out the full issue below.
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Top AI + Marketing News
OpenAI plotting checkout system inside ChatGPT
Reuters | (2 min read)
Overview: OpenAI is readying an in-chat payment system, checkout inside ChatGPT, taking a cut with Shopify’s help.
Key Points:
- You’ll soon be able to buy products directly inside ChatGPT.
- OpenAI will take a merchant commission, hello, AI-commerce.
- They’re already testing how to present product recs in chat
My Take: Whoooa. ChatGPT is about to become your personal shopper. Feels like Shopify and Pinterest had a very smart baby. If you’re a brand: time to rethink your product descriptions as prompt-ready pitch decks.
AI is reshaping SEO, and the brand saves you
The Drum | (4 min read)
Overview: With AI-powered search tools taking over, it’s brand trust, not keywords, that drives visibility now.
Key Points:
- People now rely on brand signals in AI summaries, not just links.
- Search is shifting from “can I find you” to “do I believe you.”
- Structured, human, trustworthy content = the new SEO gold.
My Take: SEO is growing up. It’s not about cramming in keywords anymore (remember black hat SEO anyone?!... okay, I’m aging myself..), it’s about building trust people can spot in a 2-second summary. Get that brand story tight and your receipts (testimonials, data, consistency) even tighter.
Perplexity & OpenAI browsers rewrite brand discovery
DesignRush | (4 min read)
Overview: AI-native browsers like Perplexity deliver quick-answer snapshots, brands need to make the cut.
Key Points:
- Users read summaries, not websites. You get 15 words, make them pop.
- Structured data (FAQs, clean content) is your ticket in.
- Traditional SEO ≠ summary SEO.
My Take: It’s not about clicks, it’s about the snippet. Write like you’re pitching a headline, not a homepage. Perfect for brand, content, and SEO teams looking to stay relevant.
Lenovo CMO on using AI as creative detective
Adweek | (3 min read)
Overview: Lenovo’s Emily Ketchen explains how AI data insights fuel smarter, more creative campaigns.
Key Points:
- AI helped uncover campaign ideas in 180+ markets.
- Teams use AI to expand creative range, not replace it.
- Data governance stays central to trust.
My Take: Emily’s got the blueprint: use AI to ask better questions, not write your punchlines. This is for marketers running global or multi-channel, tons of signal, lots of opportunity if you can mine it right.
AI influencer "Mia Zelu" takes Wimbledon by storm
People | (2 min read)
Overview: AI-born influencer Mia Zelu showed up at Wimbledon IRL and sparked massive digital buzz.
Key Points:
- Millions engaged with her content, even though she’s not real.
- Raises big questions around disclosure, ethics, and audience manipulation. Brands love the engagement; critics are sounding alarms.
My Take: Mia Zelu is fascinating and kinda freaky. If you’re playing in the AI influencer space, you better bring transparency receipts..and a values-first strategy. I think more AI-influencers also means us craving more real and authentic. See Meg Stalter’s press tour magic this week! My true obsession. Zany, hilarious, one-of-a-kind.
Canva + Claude: design by text prompt
Yahoo | (3 min read)
Overview: Anthropic’s Claude now connects with Canva, design by chat: templates, resizing, editing, straight from a prompt.
Key Points:
- You can now say “make this a holiday email” and boom...done.
- Covers everything from creative tweaks to brand consistency.
- Uses Model Context Protocol to stay smart across chats.
My Take: Claude’s about to be your new creative ops bestie, bestie! Great for lean teams, founders, or any marketer who needs a fast first draft that still looks pro.
Majority of ad buyers now using AI for video
Marketing Dive | (3 min read)
Overview: IAB says 30% of digital video ads are now AI-generated or enhanced, on track to hit 39% next year.
Key Points:
- Small brands are leading the way...flexibility > polish.
- AI tools help crank out multiple versions per audience.
- In CTV, programmatic + AI is making mass customization real.
My Take: Video doesn’t need to be a whole production anymore. AI makes it possible to move fast, personalize faster, and skip the studio budget. Especially great for growth teams and media buyers.
Posts I Love
Will Poskett – “Everyone Is Talking About This AI Influencer”
Will uses the hype around virtual creator Mia Zelu to make a sharper point: the more our feeds fill with flawless, AI‑generated “slop,” the bigger the whitespace for raw, messy, human stories. Authenticity as the real disruptor. See Post →
Phyllis Fang – “AI Is Changing How We Work, Not Just What We Make”
Phyllis (Head of Marketing at Transcend) says creation is no longer scarce; the edge is in filtering signal from noise, storytelling, and system‑level thinking. AI exposes which parts of marketing are truly craft. See Post →
Kady Srinivasan – “The Future of Marketing Needs Three New Roles”
Kady (ex‑Lightspeed CMO) introduces the Prompt Marketer, Influence Engineer, and Forward‑Deployed Marketer, hybrids who speak API and audience. She’s already hiring for them. See Post →
Aisling McCabe – “AI Didn’t Replace My Paid‑Media Job—It Supercharged It”
Aisling lists the everyday ways AI helps her plan audiences, test creatives, and mine insights, while noting it still can’t read nuance or make gutsy calls. See Post →
Julian Cole – “10 Free Tools to Un‑block Your Comms Strategy”
Julian drops a cheat‑sheet of templates, data sites, and mapping tools, plus a free workshop invite. Instant swipe‑file material for strategy teams and solo founders alike. See Post →
Dmitry Shapiro – “Want to Become a Certified AI Agent Builder?”
Dmitry announces a free 30‑day bootcamp that ends with a formal certification and a talent directory listing. He positions agent‑building as the career moat for the next wave. I applied! See Post →
AI + Marketing Tools
All tools covered continue to be added to the 140+ AI + Marketing tool directory!
Linkby
Performance-based PR platform powered by AI that connects brands with vetted publishers and automates outreach, charging only when traffic or conversions happen.
Agents GPTs for Ecommerce (by JCorey)
Open-source collection of GPT agents designed to handle ecommerce marketing workflows like SEO, product bundling, review mining, and influencer outreach, all customizable for your stack.
Tracksuit AI Brand Tracker
Automated brand awareness tracking tool that delivers weekly data on brand recall, consideration, and NPS, making brand tracking affordable and startup-friendly.
Onar x Zing (AI Marketing Platform Acquisition)
Onar’s acquisition of Zing brings GPT-powered customer journey flows, lead scoring, and omnichannel campaign automation into one stack aimed at scaling personalized marketing.
ChatGPT Agent
OpenAI’s new agent allows ChatGPT to perform complex, multistep tasks via its own “virtual computer”, from browsing, clicking, and form-filling to generating slide decks, spreadsheets, and research reports, with user supervision and built-in safety measures
Claude for Financial Services
Anthropic released "Claude for Financial Services," a finance‑specific AI tool using Claude 4 models, Claude Code, and pre-built connectors to sources like Snowflake, FactSet, and Morningstar. It supports due diligence, market research, and modeling, passing 5 of 7 complex Excel tasks at 83% accuracy, all while keeping data private.
Events on My Radar
Below is one more interesting AI + marketing event added this week to the full AI + Marketing Events blog post!
AI Agenda Live NYC: The Next Wave
Tuesday, September 30, 2025 — New York, NY
Hosted by Stephanie Palazzolo, Amir Efrati and other reporters from The Information, AI Agenda Live: The Next Wave will feature fireside chats and panel discussions with AI executives, startup founders, and the VCs who back them and business customers who use AI effectively. Learn more
Cool AI + Marketing Jobs
Deep Learning . AI - Head of Marketing
ASICS Technology - Specialist, Digital Marketing CX Innovation
AI Fund - Head of Marketing
Five9 - Senior Director, Product Marketing - AI
Prophecy - AI Growth Marketer
Thanks for reading!
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