Google and Big Tech aren’t the only ones thinking commercially about AI. Commerce platform FERMÀT has launched an AI Search Commerce Engine to help convert traffic from AI tools into sales. It includes content performance tracking, prompt monitoring, and page generation for optimal indexing.
This was inevitable: Google is now testing ads in AI Mode. The next question is if (or when) AI Mode will include embedded commerce and/or autonomous buying.
An Invoca report finds that 86% of marketers believe AI is improving the buying experience, but only 35% of consumers say AI has made their buying experience better. Less dramatically, 49% of marketers think consumers prefer AI for complex tasks, but only 30% of consumers are confident AI can resolve complex issues. Invoca recommends using closed-loop mechanisms to validate AI initiatives against customer preference data.
Meta has announced agreements with USA Today, People Inc., and other news publishers to pay for access to their content and link to their articles in its AI chatbot. It’s a sharp contrast to Perplexity, which the Chicago Tribune and New York Times are separately suing for allegedly scraping content and bypassing paywalls. Despite this deal, Meta apparently still opposes compensating publishers for news links in social media posts.