Marketers often cite poor data quality as an obstacle to AI success, but IT and tech professionals surveyed for DataBank have a rosier view. They cited technical issues, including integration, scaling, and deployment, as the biggest obstacles to AI success, while ranking data quality and access fourth on the list. An impressive 71% said their customer data is “very well prepared” for AI use, a far higher rate than any other data type.

The reason we’re hearing so much about optimizing for AI search is that it’s growing fast: Brightedge reports that referrals from ChatGPT grew 21% in a single month this July. Unfortunately for publishers, website visits by the ChatGPT agent doubled, meaning a growing share of queries were resolved without humans reaching publisher pages. This doesn’t bode well, although it’s hard to interpret the data because the report doesn’t show the actual number of searches.

Instacart and TikTok have announced an integration for ad targeting to reach specific groups of Instacart shoppers. Advertisers will be able to use Instacart data and access their product catalog from within TikTok’s Ad Manager. It’s another example of retailers monetizing their data outside of their own platforms.