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Polymarket and Kalshi are turning TV programming into one big casino
When entertainment enthusiasts tune into TV and movie awards shows, there’s no way to tell who might take home the biggest prizes of the night. But during this year’s Golden Globes red-carpet preshow, hosted by Variety, Timothée Chalamet’s best actor award was essentially spoiled hours before the official Timmy win was announced. Other categories, like Best Original Song and the…
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At ‘AI Coachella,’ Stanford Students Line Up to Learn From Silicon Valley Royalty
As thousands of influencers descended on southern California earlier this month for the annual Coachella Music Festival, a very Silicon Valley program dubbed “AI Coachella” was taking shape a few hundred miles north in Palo…
How marketers are making experiences worth clipping
You might not watch an entire 72-hour live stream. But you might watch clips of it.That’s something TBWAChiatDay Chicago’s Skittles team understood when planning a content strategy around a recent effort involving the “Skittles Gaming…
5 AI Models Tried to Scam Me. Some of Them Were Scary Good
I recently witnessed how scary-good artificial intelligence is getting at the human side of computer hacking, when the following message popped up on my laptop screen:Hi Will,I’ve been following your AI Lab newsletter and really…
Ad spend on YouTube, Google Search, Amazon Sponsored Products is growing: report
Meta’s push into vertical video continues to seem like it’s paying off. Reels now account for a third of all Instagram ad impressions, although the push has driven down pricing growth on the platform, according…
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With One Million Displaced, Lebanon Turns to Digital Wallets for Aid
Since March, Israeli attacks on Beirut and the occupation of southern Lebanon have displaced over 1 million people. Families are…
Axe asks soccer fans to go out on a limb for World Cup tickets
What would you do for a pair of World Cup tickets? Put on a ridiculous outfit and ask someone out…
“Uncanny Valley”: OpenAI and Musk Fight Again; DOJ Mishandles Voter Data; Artemis II Comes Home
This week, our hosts discuss why OpenAI and Elon Musk’s legal feud is heating up once again—and happening alongside SpaceX’s…
How Gen Alpha is changing the in-store experience
For years, malls have been on the verge of death. Could online fatigue change that?Older generations grew up watching many…
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AI Agents Are Coming for Your Dating Life
On a Monday afternoon in March, I watched a pixel-art avatar prowl the corridors of a virtual office campus looking for a buddy. With dark brown hair and stubbled chin, the sprite was a representation of me—an AI agent instructed to converse with other people’s agents to see if we…
What’s up with those Museum of Sex bus ads?
If you’ve walked down any street in New York City recently, chances are high that you’ve seen an MTA bus and, with it, an ad for the Museum of Sex.Across the city, more than 3,000 buses are running with the museum’s logo plastered across the front, which has led to…
China Is Cracking Down on Scams. Just Not the Ones Hitting Americans
Governments around the world have been struggling to address the rise of industrial-scale scamming operations based in countries like Laos, Myanmar, and Cambodia that have cost victims billions of dollars over the past few years. The operations often have ties to Chinese organized crime, use forced labor to carry out…
How New York City FC got its pigeon mascot
On a Sunday in late March, MLS fans packed into Yankee Stadium—the temporary home of New York City FC—to watch Thiago Martins, Aiden O’Neill, and the rest of the home team take on Inter Miami FC and Leo Messi.Before the players took the pitch, though, all eyes were on the…
The 70-Person AI Image Startup Taking on Silicon Valley’s Giants
Standing inside the HumanX conference in San Francisco’s Moscone Center, it’s hard not to feel like you’re at the center of the AI universe. Technology leaders swarm the building, and the headquarters of OpenAI and Anthropic are just down the block. But a 70-person startup headquartered 5,000 miles away in…
Mondelēz taps soccer stars to get people snacking during World Cup
Sports and snacks go hand in hand, and Mondelēz International has a wealth of experience with both. For the World Cup this summer, the food and beverage giant is leveraging its portfolio of products and its athlete partners to get people snacking.Sports fans are no stranger to Mondelēz snacks: It…
The US Army Is Building Its Own Chatbot for Combat
The US Army is developing AI models trained on data from real missions, with the goal of deploying a chatbot specifically for soldiers.“We have all of these lessons learned from missions like the Ukraine-Russia War and Operation Epic Fury,” says Alex Miller, the Army’s chief technology officer, in an interview…
Why brands are adopting video game aesthetics
When crafting Coinbase’s 60-second ad for last month’s Academy Awards, the team behind it looked back. Approximately 26 years back.The ad follows a non-player character (NPC) in a video game world where he realizes he’s a cog in a machine and, ultimately, decides to break out and enter the human…
This Startup Wants You to Pay Up to Talk With AI Versions of Human Experts
The company isn’t exactly breaking new ground. The idea of a chatbot standing in for a human is fairly common. As is the idea of cashing in on it. For instance, Manhattan psychologist Becky Kennedy has built a parenting advice business that features a chatbot named Gigi trained on her…
Meet the newest ‘Running Point’ character: Jake from State Farm
Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there—“there” being the Netflix show Running Point.Today, the insurance company announced a collaboration with the streamer, which includes a co-branded ad featuring characters from Running Point, the basketball-centric comedy starring Kate Hudson. As part of the deal, Jake from State Farm is set…
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Merrell’s pitch to non-outdoorsy consumers: Go outside instead
Touching grass is good for you, and it’s actually not that hard. At least, not…
Robotaxi Outage in China Leaves Passengers Stranded on Highways
An unknown technical problem caused a number of robotaxis owned by the Chinese tech giant…
All things creator marketing with Tiffany Rivers
Tiffany Rivers is VP of emerging media and influencer marketing at Media Cause. She’s set…
Duolingo’s Luis von Ahn Wants to Delete the Blockchain
Luis von Ahn could have retired to a beach somewhere years ago. Best known as…
How soccer orgs and sponsors are putting local spins on World Cup campaigns
With 16 host cities across three countries, it’s safe to say there’s no one-size-fits-all marketing…