This week in AI + Marketing: Your weekly roundup is here!....
J.Crew got dragged for sneaking AI-generated images past their audience, consumer trust research shows people want disclosure when brands use AI, and there's growing evidence that AI is quietly making all brand voices sound the same.
Plus: Snapchat data on how marketers actually use GenAI (spoiler: mostly for variants and testing), why Google and ChatGPT recommend totally different brands, and Lululemon's smart move hiring an AI exec for product innovation.
The pattern I'm seeing? Brands that hide AI use are getting called out, while the ones being transparent and strategic are building audience trust and appreciation (and just overall having cooler, more genuine and authentic brand voices and campaigns, too)!
As usual, I'm sharing:
- 🔵 Top AI + Marketing News
- 🟣 Posts I Love
- 🟡 AI + Marketing Tools
- 🟢 Events on My Radar
- ⚫️ Cool AI + Marketing Jobs
What's your take on AI transparency? Should brands always disclose when they use it?
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Thanks, y'all! Happy shorten work week to most of us in the 🇺🇸!
🔵 Top AI + Marketing News
Consumer Trust And Perception Of AI In Marketing
Search Engine Journal | ~13-minute read.
Overview: Global study shows trust in AI marketing varies widely by culture, context, and use case.
Key Points:
- Trust splits into competence (does it work?) and integrity (is it fair/transparent?), and both matter for adoption.
- Consumers want disclosure when AI is used, especially in content and customer service.
- Acceptance is higher for utility use cases (search, recommendations) than emotive ones (creative/storytelling).
My take: I don’t think all of our customers hate AI; they just don’t want to feel they are being tricked.
Snapchat: What Marketers Are Actually Doing With GenAI
Social Media Today | ~4-minute read
Overview: New Snap round-up spotlights rising use of GenAI for creative iteration, faster asset production, and A/B velocity.
Key Points:
- Marketers lean on AI for variants, sizing, and copy tweaks rather than net-new concepts.
- Reported gains: quicker time-to-publish and improved testing cadence across ads and AR placements.
- Governance is creeping in: more teams are codifying “AI use” policies for brand safety.
My take: Use AI to ship more tests, not to replace taste. Volume and taste beats volume alone. I think it would be smart to set a simple guardrail: test with AI, decide with humans. Works best for lean social teams and performance marketers who live by the A/B. :)
How GenAI Quietly Distorts Brand Messages
MarTech | ~7-minute read
Overview: Subtle prompt defaults and training biases can nudge language toward “brand-adjacent,” flattening tone and distinctiveness.
Key Points:
- Model priors tilt toward generic phrasing; without guardrails, voice converges to sameness.
- Teams that maintain brand lexicons and negative style rules preserve distinctiveness.
- Best practice: humans originate, AI adapts; scripts/templates protect positioning in scale-ups.
My take: Brand voice and authenticity are going to be even more important as we become surrounded by more and more AI fluff and sameness. Keep your voice human, weird, and unique because consumers are going to crave this more and more!
Google vs. ChatGPT: Brand Recs Rarely Match
Search Engine Land | ~6-minute read.
Overview: New analysis finds Google AI and ChatGPT often recommend different brands for similar queries.
Key Points:
- Divergence suggests training sources and ranking signals lead to inconsistent commercial outcomes.
- “Be everywhere” matters: structured data and reviews increase presence across assistants.
- Measurement needs to expand from SEO to “AIO” coverage across AI surfaces.
My take: Don’t bank your funnel on all AI referrals. Organic and owned are still doing the heavy lifting, so we can treat AI as a discovery assist, not our main traffic engine.
Lululemon Names AI Exec To Speed Product Innovation
Retail Dive | ~3-minute read.
Overview: Lululemon hired a senior AI lead to shorten the path from idea to store and sharpen demand forecasting.
Key Points:
- Remit spans product R&D, forecasting, supply chain, and ops, not just “marketing tools.”
- Goal: faster concept-to-launch timelines and fewer inventory misses.
My take: Love the tighter loops between community signals (reviews, returns, TikTok) and production decisions that this role will work on.
J.Crew Accused Of “Counterfeiting Their Own Vibes” With AI
Blackbird Spyplane | ~9-minute read.
Overview: Apparently, recent J.Crew Instagram images were AI-generated without clear labeling, sparking authenticity backlash.
Key Points:
- Post highlights tell-tale AI artifacts and credits an “AI photographer.”
- Brand later edited captions to credit “digital art,” but not AI explicitly.
- Core issue: unlabeled AI erodes brand aura, especially for heritage aesthetics.
My take: Nostalgia sells because it feels real. If you fake the vibe, say so…or better, pay real creatives to bring it back. (Shout out to Maggie Farley for sharing this Substack!)
🟣 Posts I Love
Rachel Roundy - “How I used AI in marketing before my team was outsourced”
Rachel shares four experiments she ran before her team was outsourced. She built persona‑specific AI agents loaded with customer insights to test messaging; created a modular content library that AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude and Jasper could assemble into 1:1 ABM assets; used a scrappy agent to enrich and route leads into the right nurture paths; and began training a propensity‑to‑buy model that combined traditional lead scoring with CRM data and intent signals. See post
Keith Richman - “OpenAI is hiring for storytelling and communications roles”
Richman (and many others this past week) notes the irony that OpenAI is recruiting high‑paid storytellers while users rely on ChatGPT for the same content. He argues that as AI floods the market with generic copy, the value of authentic storytelling rises; AI can mimic tone, but it can’t build genuine connection. See post
David Fallarme - “7 contrarian things I believe about marketing”
Fallarme lays out seven provocations: hiding pricing can be smart, your first marketing hire should be demand gen, it’s never the CEO’s fault when marketing falls short, LLMs are best used as thought partners, product–marketing alignment beats sales–marketing alignment, brand is about every experience (not just campaigns), and there’s no such thing as “B2B” or “B2C” marketing. See post
Kevin Mark Carter - “How to Use AI for Marketing Success”
Carter argues that every multimillion‑dollar business he knows is adapting to AI marketing, and failing businesses aren’t. He outlines an AI‑powered funnel: use AEO/GEO to optimise content for AI search and citations, nurture prospects with AI‑scraped communities and mid‑funnel content, capture intent with AI chatbots and bottom‑funnel SEO, convert with personalised CTAs and AI‑generated page variants, and retain customers with predictive churn alerts and community‑driven loyalty loops. See post
David Manela - “Search is splitting in five directions”
Manela says search has outgrown traditional SEO and now includes: SEO (high‑intent rankings), AEO (zero‑click answers), GEO (getting cited by AI chatbots like ChatGPT), AIO (training models on your data), and SXO (optimising post‑click conversions). He argues that as organic search evolves, marketers need to master all five to stay visible. See Post
🟡 AI + Marketing Tools
All tools covered continue to be added to the 190+ AI + Marketing tool directory!
SEO.ai
AI-powered SEO platform that blends keyword data with generative writing tools to produce fully optimized content briefs and articles in minutes. Best for: SEO Specialist • Content Marketer • Growth Marketer
BenchmarkONE
CRM + email automation suite with new AI features that score leads, suggest nurture sequences, and personalize campaigns for SMBs. Best for: SMB Marketer • Email Marketer • Sales/Marketing Ops
Air
Creative ops workspace that uses AI to auto-tag, organize, and repurpose brand assets, making content libraries searchable and ready for campaigns. Best for: Brand Marketer • Creative Ops • Content Manager
NeuralText
Combines keyword research, AI content generation, and on-page optimization in a single dashboard to speed up SEO workflows. Best for: SEO Specialist • Content Marketer • Digital Strategist
Frase
AI writing and optimization assistant that builds outlines, answers topic questions, and scores content against competitors to boost rankings. Best for: SEO Writer • Content Strategist • Demand Gen Marketer
Yotpo
Ecommerce marketing platform now embedding AI to generate review summaries, UGC insights, and predictive recommendations for online stores. Best for: Ecommerce Marketer • Retention Manager • Growth Marketer
Klaviyo
Email + SMS marketing platform adding predictive AI for churn scoring, send-time optimization, and automated subject line testing. Best for: Lifecycle Marketer • Ecommerce Marketer • CRM Manager
SendPulse
Multichannel automation tool with AI-powered email copy, chatbots, and SMS campaigns, streamlining communication for lean teams. Best for: SMB Marketer • Email Marketer • Automation Manager
Privy
Shopify-focused email/SMS popup and automation tool, now layering in AI to suggest campaigns and optimize subscriber growth funnels. Best for: Ecommerce Marketer • SMB Growth Lead • Retention Marketer
🟢 Events on My Radar
Below are more interesting events added this week to the full AI + Marketing Events blog post!
Adobe Summit
April 19–22, 2026 - Las Vegas, NV
Martech’s tent‑pole event. GenAI in content, journey orchestration, and measurement. Learn More
OMR Festival
May 5–6, 2026 - Hamburg, Germany Europe’s marquee marketing festival; strong AI + creator/brand thinking. Learn More
⚫️ Cool AI + Marketing Jobs
Intuit - Senior Marketing Manager, AI and Personalization
Open AI - Brand Designer, Marketing
Ramp - Vibe Growth Marketing Manager
Luma AI - Senior Product Marketing Manager
Google - Creative Technologist, AI Marketing
Jasper - Director of Brand & Creative
Thanks for reading! Enjoyed this TL;DR take on all things AI + Marketing this week? 💌
xo,
Carley