Anthropic keeps winning, Google launches agentic commerce, and your brand probably isn't showing up in AI
Plus: fresh content now beats SEO, Gamma outperforms humans in 6 minutes, and Lego hands the AI conversation to kids instead of adults.
What you need to know this week in AI + Marketing in 15 seconds:
Anthropic launches Claude Cowork - agentic desktop app that makes Claude Code accessible to non-technical users. Works with local files, Google Docs, unifies scattered notes (Anthropic)
Google launches Universal Commerce Protocol - open standard for agentic commerce with Shopify, Etsy, Wayfair, Target, Walmart. Buy buttons directly in AI Mode and Gemini (Google)
Only 30% of brands appear consistently across AI answers - pages updated less than quarterly lose citations. Fresh content and third-party validation matter more than SEO (Josh Grant)
When AI agents become the customer - marketing shifts when autonomous agents recommend, negotiate, and select products on behalf of humans (MarTech)
Lego hands AI conversation to kids - instead of fear or hype, puts exploration and play at the forefront (Adweek)
4 ways AI breaks marketing trust - poor personalization, opaque decisions, inconsistent tone, over-automation. Transparency and guardrails are the fix (CMSWire)
More top news, tools, jobs, LI posts, and events belowđ.
Not subscribed? Sign up here.
đľ TOP AI + MARKETING NEWS/GUIDES
Because you canât have enough 2026 AI marketing predictions
How AI agents will reshape every part of marketing in 2026
MarTech | ~6 minutes
AI agents are expected to move beyond task automation into decision coordination, orchestration, and continuous optimization. The article lays out how this will touch planning, creative, execution, and measurement.
Marketing predictions for 2026
Marketing Dive | ~5 minutes
A roundup of what industry analysts expect next year: tighter privacy interplay, AI adoption maturity, and deeper integration between data and creative. The pendulum swings from âwhatâs possibleâ to âwhat actually works.â
Ad Age reporters on 2026 marketing trends and pivots
Ad Age | ~7 minutes
Ad Age editors share what theyâre watching for 2026: consumer behavior shifts, measurement evolution, and brand-building in an AI context.
AI and the human touch in marketing, from CES insights
Marketing Brew | ~4 minutes
From CES, brands are talking about balancing AI efficiency with emotional connection. The theme: automation canât replace empathy.
4 ways AI breaks marketing trust - and what comes next
CMSWire | ~5 minutes
AI misalignment can break trust through poor personalization, opaque decisions, inconsistent tone, and over-automation. The article lays out fixes, including transparency and shared guardrails.
5 ways to strengthen your brand in the age of AI
MarTech | ~5 minutes
This piece highlights clarity, purpose, consistency, distinct voice, and human loops as brand defenses against algorithmic sameness. AI can multiply your brand voice, but it can also drown it if you donât define it first.
The AI ad backlash is here and big brands are leaning in
Inc. | ~5 minutes
As consumers push back against low-quality generative ads, some brands are embracing the criticism and using it to spark conversations about creativity and authenticity.
When AI agents become the customer
MarTech | ~6 minutes
This explores how marketing will shift when autonomous agents act on behalf of customers, recommending, negotiating, and selecting products.
As adult anxieties around AI grow, Lego hands the conversation to kids
Adweek | ~4 minutes
Legoâs new campaign centers kids - a group less bogged down by fear or hype - to frame conversations about AI and creativity. Instead of technical features, it puts exploration and play at the forefront. Simple humanity beats technical complexity in the way people actually feel about AI.
đŁ LINKEDIN POSTS YOU SHOULDNâT MISS
Fresh tips for Gamma, AI Search, Claude Cowork and Code
JoshâŻGrant â âAI Search: Why Consistency & Freshness Matter for Visibilityâ
Josh explains that AI search often bypasses âpage oneâ: only about 30âŻ% of brands appear consistently across backâtoâback AI answers, while pages updated less than quarterly lose citations and many citations come from outside Googleâs top 20. He urges marketers to refresh content frequently, structure it cleanly and earn validation on thirdâparty sites and community forums, because AI models pull from conversations and userâgenerated content.
MariaâŻGharib â âGammaâs AI Presentation Tool Surpasses Human Effortâ
Maria shares how Gammaâs AI Prompt Guide generated a full slide deck from a 30âword prompt in minutes, outperforming a presentation she spent six hours crafting. The tool has been trained on millions of professional decks, so it knows that audienceâfirst storytelling and visualâfirst design win; more than 70âŻmillion people are using it, and Maria says itâs now her fastest way to build clear, compelling decks.
OmâŻNalinde â âFounder of The Browser Company: âIf you donât work Claude Codeânative ASAP your teamâs going to get left behind.ââ
Om shares a warning from The Browser Companyâs founder that teams must become âClaude Codeânativeâ or risk falling behind, and provides a stepâbyâstep 2026 roadmap. The guide spans quickâstart tutorials, universityâlevel courses, toolboxes of commands and templates, video manuals, and reading lists to help engineers adopt Claude Code as a workflow, not just a tool.
LaniâŻAssaf â âMonths ago I got this DM about Claude Code, now Cowork solves itâ
Lani (Brand Comms / Marketing @ Anthropic) confesses she once avoided Claude Code because the commandâline felt too technical, but Anthropicâs new Cowork interface wraps the coding agent in a userâfriendly desktop app. Cowork can read and write local files, unify years of notes from Roam and Apple Notes, access Google Docs and help with tasks like sorting files, pulling images and synthesizing scattered project notes - making Claude Code accessible to nonâtechnical users.
â
If youâve been hearing about Claude Code but didnât know where to start⌠Cowork is it.
- Lani Assaf, Brand Comms / Marketing @ Anthropic
đĄ LATEST & TRENDING AI MARKETING TOOLS
All the top LLMs have something for you
Claude Cowork â Anthropic's new agentic desktop experience that lets Claude work alongside you on your computer, launched as a research preview.
Anthropic Labs â Expanded internal incubator for experimental products at the frontier of Claude's capabilities. Mike Krieger (Instagram co-founder) moves from CPO to co-lead Labs.
Ralph Wiggum Technique â Development methodology for continuous AI agent loops - keep feeding an agent a task until the job is done, with verification and feedback between iterations. Check out tips on how to use.
ChatGPT Health â Dedicated health experience where users can securely connect medical records and wellness apps (Apple Health, Function, MyFitnessPal) with enhanced privacy protections.
Optimove AI Marketing Tools Hub â Comprehensive resource helping marketers operate with greater speed and autonomy - discover insights, create assets, run self-optimizing campaigns without waiting on other teams.
Bento Tanuki AI â AI agent that transforms plain-English descriptions into production-ready email automations. Describe what you need; Tanuki generates the complete workflow in seconds.
COEY â AI-first media company from Ted Murphy (IZEA founder, "father of influencer marketing"). Three divisions: AI Automation, AI Studios, and AI Mediaâa proprietary network of AI-first channels.
Google Universal Commerce Protocol â Open standard for agentic commerce across the full shopping journey. Built with Shopify, Etsy, Wayfair, Target, Walmart. Enables buy buttons directly in AI Mode and Gemini.
Emberos â AI brand visibility platform that predicts how brands will appear in AI engines and pushes fixes directly into marketing workflows via Slack, HubSpot, Jira.
âŤď¸ COOL AI + MARKETING JOBS
Meta to Intuit: who's hiring this week
Monday . com - AI GTM ManagerÂ
Navan - Product Marketing Manager, AI SolutionsÂ
Intuit - Staff Marketing Manager, GEOÂ Â
NVIDIA - Senior Manager, CPU Technical Product Marketing Â
Meta - Consumer Product Marketing Manager, AI
đ˘ EVENT TO CHECK OUT
NVIDIA GTC AI Conference
March 16-19, 2026 | San Jose
The premier global AI conference for developers, researchers, and business leaders exploring the next wave of AI innovation.
đ You made it to trivia!
In the movie "Her," what is the AI assistant's name that Theodore falls in love with?
Login or Subscribe to participate
Need a message to more easily share this newsletter with friends/colleagues? Here is some copy you can grab:
Sharing this because it's been super helpful: a weekly AI + marketing newsletter that curates all the news, tools, and posts worth knowing about. I was spending way too much time trying to keep up with what's happening in AI, and this does it for me. Quick read every Tuesday: [your referral link]
Have feedback? Suggestions? Questions? Want to advertise/collaborate?
Message [email protected]
Thanks, yâall! Get those stickers!
- Carley