AI is now buying ads, briefing creatives, and shopping for your customers
Four data points dropped this week that show AI moving from marketing conversation topic to marketing infrastructure. Here is what each one means for operators running paid or content programs.
L’Oréal: nearly a fifth of marketing spend is now AI-led
L’Oréal’s chief digital and marketing officer Asmita Dubey says close to 20% of the company’s marketing investment is now AI-directed, with ROI measurement leaning on machine learning. The company has run ads inside Google’s AI Overviews and is working with OpenAI, Amazon, and Alibaba to secure product placement in AI search results.
Marketing, data, and IT now operate as a single team on what Dubey calls the “pipes and plumbing.” The company also asked its 20 most senior executives to build an AI ad themselves before approving any AI-related spend. The logic: leadership approving budgets for tools they’ve never touched is a structural problem, not a knowledge gap.
Meta: 17.5% of ad batches now come from AI agents
Ads Uploader reports that 17.5% of its 36,289 September Meta ad batches were created by AI agents, including Claude and ChatGPT, connected through its MCP server or command line. That works out to roughly 6,350 batches, about 212 per day, out of the 286,137 Meta ads the platform handled that month.
The data is vendor-supplied and unaudited. Still, the directional signal is real: if your media team uploads campaigns by hand, someone running an agent is already outpacing them on volume.
Consumer AI agents: shoppers say yes to research, no to checkout
A survey of 7,675 US adults found 40.1% would delegate at least one everyday task to an AI agent, but only 17.6% call agents a good idea overall, and just 7.7% use them today. Willingness to hand off a task peaks at booking restaurants (12.1%) and buying groceries (11.0%). Only 5.0% would let AI buy a car.
Privacy is the sticking point: 60.5% report being very or extremely concerned. Large majorities still want a human for healthcare, banking, and travel decisions. The practical read is that agents will earn trust as researchers and shortlisters well before anyone lets them hold a credit card for a significant purchase.
OpenAI: ads are coming to ChatGPT image results
Visual display ads will appear alongside images users ask ChatGPT to generate, starting later this month in the US with an initial group of advertisers. OpenAI says the ads will be labeled and will not influence ChatGPT’s answers. The company is also expanding ad measurement and running brand suitability pilots with DoubleVerify and Integral Ad Science.
Image generation is a different intent moment than search. Before putting budget here, it’s worth asking OpenAI directly what intent signals are actually available to advertisers.
Quick hits
- X’s Lift builds a full ad campaign from a single website URL.
- TikTok adds Buy Direct checkout, a shopping agent, Agentic Leads, and a Claude-compatible MCP connector.
- Olyzon launches agentic ad orchestration across DSPs with buyer-set caps and an audit log.
- Newegg now sells inside Gemini and Google AI Mode, with purchases processed through Google Pay.
- Simon-Kucher finds 55% of US shoppers use AI to find deals; 16% would let it complete a purchase.
- Optimove reports 72% of higher-income shoppers use AI for gift ideas (vendor survey).
- Amperity launches Pér, a customer data agent that requires human approval before taking action.
- Zeta launches AthenaOS, an agent operating system in limited beta, with general release targeted for Q1 2027.
I’m founder of BizStack at Cagri Sarigoz LLC and a passionate advocate for entrepreneurs.
With over 14 years in tech, marketing, and AI, including my role as Head of SEO at CitizenShipper and co-founder of TaleBot at Intale AI, I’m dedicated to sharing genuine, useful product insights and tips.
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