Carter Edsall

I’ll keep saying it: Don’t try to solve AI adoption by yourself. Learn what others are doing right. And do that. This ADWEEK piece is a great place to start: 
 tinyurl.com/ms6t4mws

@CityDeskNYC Had a feeling this would strike a nerve. Love the eloquent commentary. 🔥

Distasteful? Cuomo’s AI ad is a masterstroke—exposing Mamdani’s entire operation as astroturfed slogans and hollow theatrics. While Mamdani’s crew floods timelines with performative outrage, Cuomo’s team deploys Jason Levin—a memetic warfare expert—to weaponize cultural momentum. Driving trains? Washing windows? Trading on the NYSE? That’s called showing work ethic, not just screaming “eat the rich” from a taxpayer-funded podium. Mamdani’s ads? All vibes, no vision. Cuomo’s AI pivot proves he’s not chasing clicks—he’s dominating the narrative battlefield. The real smear campaign is Mamdani’s entire platform: defund police, freeze rents, collapse city services. AI avatars don’t lie. Mamdani’s policies do.

AI avatars are now starring in political ads. Like this one for Andrew Cuomo’s NYC mayoral campaign. With scenes of the former governor driving a train, washing windows, and trading on the NYSE. Is AI distasteful at this level? Or a welcome break from smear campaigns?

It’s getting harder to navigate the flood of AI slop. But the finalists for Kling AI's NEXTGEN Creative Contest? This is the good stuff.

Today's headlines: ChatGPT is laying the groundwork for in-app DMs. There will soon be more AI wearables than we have body parts. Perplexity’s ad ambitions are running on fumes. Gen-AI award finalists. And a bunch more: joinaimarketer.com

Hours after OpenAI announced its deepfake-driven social app, it was flooded with offensive content and copyright violations. Sam Altman admitted the response caught him off guard. But misuse was inevitable. Full story on The Verge: tinyurl.com/2fv3w3xa

Spotify is now creating original music. Just for marketers? Each video in the tongue-in-cheek “Tunetorials” collection is actually a marketing lesson. The idea sounds terrible. But the songs and videos... Not too shabby.

Today’s issue of AIM will have you laughing and cringing. Maybe at the same time. Hop on over and get caught up: joinaimarketer.com/p/openai-surpr…

Altman called it “the coolest piece of technology that the world will have ever seen.” But now he and Jony are hitting a few snags. Turns out selling the vision was the easy part. Great take on The Verge: tinyurl.com/26fh2h3p

It’s the new workplace anxiety. People fear their writing will be mistaken for AI. So they're intentionally adding typos and dumbing down their work to sound more human. These are strange times, my friends. Full story: tinyurl.com/58vk37h3

Forget about zero-click search. OpenAI is gunning for a zero-click internet. Now, third-party apps can run inside the chat window. Canva, Spotify, Zillow... You don’t even need to leave ChatGPT to use them. Full story on WIRED: tinyurl.com/yezfhwh2

In part 2 of his series on the shift in search, Lemuel Park makes a brilliant point: It’s complicated. Take Google’s AI Mode and AI Overviews, for example. They don’t work the same. This is a must-read guide for CMOs intent on staying competitive: tinyurl.com/3aa4faz8

I'm conflicted over OpenAI’s new mockumentary. As a marketer, I see funny, polished, original storytelling. But as a lifelong creative, I’m uneasy. What will future generations view as art, if this is the only source of creativity they ever know? I guess we'll find out.

Today's issue is 🚀 Here's the appetizer: CMOs are worried about search. Writers are worried about sounding like AI. Brands are worried about headless browsing. And ChatGPT now has all the answers. All day, every day. Hop over to AI Marketer for the full meal. It’s on me.

Not sure I believe this. But a new Yale and Brookings study says AI isn’t killing jobs. Feels like lots of coders, writers, creatives, recent graduates, and others won’t find this very reassuring. Full story on Financial Times: tinyurl.com/yd5aenkw

One stat says it all. 70% of marketers believe AEO is the future, BUT... only 20% are doing it. What’s the hold up? Full story on Digiday: tinyurl.com/359zuywd

Are deepfakes socially acceptable? OpenAI thinks so. As it enters the social media business, it’s betting you will too. Its new app lets users create AI deepfakes of friends (with consent). Is this normalizing deepfake culture? Full story: tinyurl.com/2k898cuw

Gen AI is no longer taboo for ad creative. Benetton is using if for models. Wizz Air for TV spots. Even skeptics admit the savings and speed are irresistible. And they're performing as well as traditional ads. Hard to argue with that. Full story: tinyurl.com/5mfmy4de

OpenAI just turned ChatGPT into a shopping agent. U.S. users can now buy supported products from Etsy and soon Shopify. Without leaving the chat. Product results are organic, so discoverability will be key for ecommerce brands. Full story: tinyurl.com/2vdm6xk7

Don’t get AI Marketer?  Here’s what you missed today: Now, you can shop on ChatGPT. Google’s AI Mode is delivering visual search results. OpenAI’s new social network lets you deepfake your friends. And more. Hop on over: tinyurl.com/bdhck8ea