Digiday’s 2024 timeline for transformation

by Marty Swant * January 31, 2024 *

Ivy Liu.

In January

the year began with a slew of AI-related announcements. Major tech companies and consumer brands showcased new tech, including AI chips for laptops, phones, and smart TVs. They also announced voice assistants for automobiles, AI-enabled cosmetics, and retailer activations. AI was the focus of NRF 2024 a few weeks later with nearly two dozen exhibiting companies.

• The holding companies of agency companies made important announcements as well. Publicis Groupe launched its Core AI platform, and announced plans to invest EUR300 millions (around $311 Million) in AI efforts for three years. WPP announced plans for more than $300,000,000 annually in AI technology.
• Samsung has announced a number of new AI features, including a partnership between Google and Samsung for Android’s debut Circle to Search. Google also expanded its “conversational”generative AI tools for advertising.
• U.S. government officials began the year by putting more pressure on Big Tech. Federal agencies and Congress are exploring ways to curb AI’s potential dangers. IBM and the Recording Academy teamed up to create a major AI marketing campaign at the Grammys.

February

Tech companies took a page from crypto’s playbook and tried to make AI more mainstream through Super Bowl ads by Microsoft, Google Crowdstrike, and Etsy. Other brands also ran AI-related campaigns in conjunction with the Super Bowl, including Avocados from Mexico. The company created a “GuacAImole”a platform that used OpenAI tech to generate recipes and photos using user-uploaded ingredients. Qualcomm launched a new sonic brand logo for its Snapdragon chips as part of an extensive marketing campaign for AI-enabled phones, PCs, and headsets.

• Pfizer launched a new generative AI called “Charlie”named after the founder of the pharmaceutical giant.
• Google rebranded the Bard chatbot as part of the Gemini Brand and launched various new generative AI Tools including ImageFX and MusicFX.
• FTC announced new rules for protecting people from fraudulent AI impersonations, and U.S. legislators introduced a bill criminalizing non-consensual “deepfakes”.
• Almost two dozen tech companies have made new voluntary commitments in order to combat AI-generated misinformation related to elections. Priceline has added new AI features to its Penny AI assistant, which helps people plan their trips.
• Publishers, including the Washington Post, wanted to make it more difficult for AI crawlers scrape content without permission. Apple released new generative AI applications for its Vision Pro headset, including ChatGPT and Adobe Firefly.

In March

The European Union’s Parliament passed the AI Act after three years and 800 changes. The AI Act was passed just one week after President Joe Biden warned about the dangers of AI deepfakes during his State of the Union speech in 2024. He also publicly urged Congress to pass bipartisan legislation that would “harness the promise of AI” to protect us.

• In a Wall Street Journal interview, OpenAI’s former-CTO answered questions about the content the startup used to create its Sora video. YouTube CEO Neal Mohan said to Bloomberg a few weeks later that OpenAI had violated YouTube terms by training Sora with content from Google’s streaming platform.
• Stagwell’s Gale has joined the ranks with other agencies that use their own generative AI platform, Alchemy.AI, to assist with media strategy and buying. OpenAI announced its first of many media partnership in 2024 with Le Monde and Prisa.
• Vimeo launched a new AI hub called Vimeo Central that allows users to create and edit videos with AI.
• A Willy Wonka-style pop-up ad in Scotland that was created by AI went viral, and some accused the event of false advertisement.

At the beginning of spring, major AI players began to develop more enterprise-grade updates. Cohere released an LLM for Microsoft Azure, Oracle and other platforms that promised to improve AI accuracy as well as expand the use of nearly a dozen different languages. OpenAI has expanded its features to allow companies to fine-tune AI models and customize them, while Amazon announced enterprise tools via an integration with French startup Mistral. Perplexity Pro, the company’s new enterprise-focused product, showcased its plans.

• The cloud wars are heating up. Snowflake announced its new Marketing Data Cloud, which will be able to assist with personalization as well as other aspects of marketing.
• Meta launched Llama 3 as well as several updates to its Meta AI chatbot on apps such Facebook, Instagram, and a new website version for its ChatGPT competitor.
• Adobe launched its Firefly 3 model, which will power AI tools on Adobe and other platforms.
• Coca-Cola announced that it had signed a five-year, $1.1 billion agreement with Microsoft focusing on generative AI. The company also launched a new app named “Coke Sounds”which creates AI-generated sounds.
• Yahoo has acquired Artifact, a news platform based on AI founded by Instagram co-founders and debuting in 2023.

May

Despite concerns about copyright violations, publishers signed AI content deals with Google and OpenAI. News Corp, the AP and Time were among the first companies to announce new OpenAI deals. (Dozens have signed deals with OpenAI since then.) DotDash Meredith has also signed a deal with OpenAI to allow the startup to train using content. The deals were made just weeks after a major lawsuit was brought against OpenAI by a group owned by Alden Capital on behalf of newspapers.

• Major TV networks and streaming platforms showcased new ways to use generative AI and machine-learning to reach new audiences through targeted ads at the annual upfront event held in New York.
• In a fight to identify and tag AI content, TikTok and OpenAI have joined the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity. They plan to begin auto-labeling AI – something that companies like Google and Meta had already agreed to.
• A24 was the latest company to be criticized for using AI-generated content in its promotion of “Civil War.”
• AI Audio startup ElevenLabs showcased a new tool that allows users to create AI-generated music with just a text prompt.

The June

AI Video was in the spotlight. Toys R Us launched a new AI ad days after OpenAI and Runway partnered up with Tribeca Film Festival to screen AI-generated shorts. The ad received both praise and criticism. AI audio had a busy, month as well. Some AI music startups announced new platforms and partnerships, while others — such as Suno and Udio – became defendants in lawsuits brought by major record labels alleging infringement of copyright.

• AI was a major hit at Cannes Lions. Various agencies, brands, and tech companies used the week to announce new features and partnerships. WPP, for example, announced a partnership to create an AI-powered production studio.
• Jasper, HeyGen, and Ada are among the AI companies that have hired new marketers to join their C-suite.
• Perplexity’s first ad was a fake trailer for a movie during the NBA Finals.
• Getty Images announced a new partnership with Picsart.

Tech firms tried to woo people with AI during the summer Olympics of 2024. Alibaba offered a free shopping experience in Paris, showcasing its intelligent assistant. Microsoft also launched a new campaign featuring athletes using Copilot as a tool to enhance human performance. Google’s “Dear Sydney”a campaign for Gemini, was criticized for portraying a young girl who uses AI to write fanmail to her favorite athlete. Google was also the “Official Partner” of Team USA, and worked with NBCUniversal in order to showcase generative AI via AI audio commentary and integrations within apps such as Google Maps and Google Lens.

• Ad spending on AI-related product was 19 times more in the first half 2024 than it was in 2023. It rose to $107 millions from $5.6 million just a year before.
• The AI start-up Writer released updates for its AI platform, and introduced a way to integrate retrieval-augmented generator (RAG) in the process of developing chat apps.
• eBay has added new AI tools for advertising, including a feature that allows sellers to use AI to create campaigns around current and emerging market trends. A second tool provides personalized campaign recommendations based upon a seller’s listing for a specific day.
• Omnicom launched a new AI-based content platform, ArtBotAI, that uses large language model to help marketers optimize the creative assets for campaigns. Canva made headlines when it acquired Leonardo.AI, a startup that specializes in AI video and image.
• U.S. Justice Department released the findings of a probe alleging that Russian actors used AI generated images and text to spread election misinformation on social media platforms, including X (Twitter).

State

and federal officials spent their summer addressing AI risks both related and not related to the 2024 election. Washington State continued its campaign of educating people about election security, warning about AI misinformation and passing new legislation in California to require new detection tools as well as disclosure requirements for AI content. The FCC also explored new rules regarding AI in political advertising.

• Meta praised the growth of its Llama AI model, which it said had increased 10x since 2023. The company also claimed that the total number of downloads was nearing 350 millions and 20,000,000 in the previous month. (Examples include AT&T and Spotify. Niantic, DoorDash, Shopify, and Shopify are all corporate users.)
• As AI’s glimmer faded in some industries, ad funded tech giants claim they are already seeing signs of major investments paying off for advertisers. Adalytics’ latest report has raised new concerns about the effectiveness and efficiency of AI systems used by measurement companies. A separate report by Check My Ads shed some light on AI-generated obituaries that were created for advertising.
• The US Tennis Association presented new AI features powered by IBM Watsonx at the 2024 US Open. Perplexity’s advertising deck, which was released a month after the announcement of a new publisher partner program, has been making the rounds with marketers. It has sparked a lot of interest in the future of ads. As the AI race gained momentum, Hubspot and Profound developed more tools to measure how brands appear in LLMs.
• McAfee released a tool that allows people to detect audio deepfakes on their laptop. The tool also included a platform for educating people about AI scams.

At 2024 Meta Connect, CEO Mark Zuckerberg, along with other executives, unveiled a number new products and features that will power the giant platform’s vision for AI and mixed reality, as well as online content. Meta announced its Llama 3.0 model for images and texts, and also showed off new AI voices, including collaborations between John Lena and Keegan Michael Key. The company also unveiled an upgraded version its AI-powered Ray-Ban Smart Glasses.

• AI was discussed during Google’s antitrust trial of September in relation to the fact that Google’s size gives it major advantages when it comes to machine learning and generative AI.
• One year after NotebookLM was launched, the Google product became viral when it introduced a way to create AI generated audio summaries similar to podcasts.
• As part of a larger crackdown on deceptive marketing claims and AI products and services, the FTC announced legal action against five companies.
• Spotify launched a new AI-powered playlist generator, powered by LLMs. McAfee unveiled a new feature that helps detect AI deepfakes.

More AI powered ad tools are now available for marketers on various platforms. Pinterest has launched new AI tools to help advertisers create ad creativity and automate media buys through its newly unveiled Pinterest Performance+ platform. One of the new tools allows users to turn blank backgrounds into “lifestyle images” to enhance brand products. Microsoft launched new ad-tools for Copilot, Bing, and Edge. Google expanded its ads for AI Overviews search summaries. Meta released a new AI video. Reddit added more AI tools to help with contextual targeting and keyword suggestions. TikTok has announced its Smart+ platform, which will help automate creative, ad buying, ad targeting and optimization.

• Walmart has announced a new AI model for retail called Wallaby that will help create “adaptive” retail tools for employees and customers, as well as personalized shopping. NewsCorp filed a lawsuit against Perplexity in 19659072, alleging that the AI search startup had violated copyright laws and trademark laws through its misappropriation of content from The Wall Street Journal & The New York Post. Adobe launched a free Content Authenticity App for creators, allowing them to add credentials to their content to protect their IP. This app also blocks companies from training AI models without permission.
• Trainspot launched a new AI marketplace, co-founded with the former chief product office of Brave. The marketplace allows developers to source licensed training data.
• Former OpenAI research Suchir Balaji became an whistleblower when he claimed that the company violated copyright laws. Balaji died a month later in what officials have declared to be a suicide, just days after being named as a potential witness in The New York Times legal battle against OpenAI.

Perplexity’s much-anticipated debut of ads for their AI search platform, with early advertisers such as Whole Foods and Indeed, made headlines. The firm added a new AI assistant to its arsenal, which created new opportunities and challenges in the AI age for e-commerce.

• Concerns grew ahead of the U.S. elections over AI-generated misinformation. This included paid content, algorithmic biased, and foreign influence. Some researchers believe that the impact of this misinformation may have been less than expected.
• According to legal filings, Google subpoenaed its three biggest AI rivals – OpenAI, Perplexity AI and Microsoft – as part of the antitrust trial’s discovery process. OpenAI was served a separate subpoena by the DOJ in the same month.
• Google launched a mobile iPhone app dedicated to Gemini that allows users to text and talk with the bot, create AI-generated pictures, and access other Google applications.
• Coca-Cola produced an AI-generated holiday advertisement for its holiday campaign in 2024 in the U.K.
• Cognitiv and Index Exchange are the latest partners who have added ways to integrate generative artificial intelligence and deep learning in SSPs to target contextual ads.

Major AI companies unveiled big updates before the holidays, including much-anticipated AI video tools. OpenAI released the Sora text to video platform, Google released Veo and Amazon unveiled a new suite Nova models, including one for studio quality AI videos. Runway ML also rolled out updates. The updates came after TikTok expanded access to its Symphony Creative Studio which allows advertisers to create AI-generated video. Samsung announced a new XR head-set and a partnership with Google to create AI-generated content.

• Google released a number of new features with its release of Gemini 2.0. One of these was a preview of Project Mariner, a new agent that will help people use bots for autonomously browsing and shopping online. Apple released iOS 18.2 which includes new Apple Intelligence functions, as well as ChatGPT integrations with Siri and Writing Tools.
• Omnicom’s and IPG’s plans to merge left some wondering what the combined holding companies might mean for larger AI investments. Reddit has announced a new method of generating answers using generative AI.

It’s hard to imagine that the timeline for 2025 will be even longer given how quickly AI — generative or otherwise — is being integrated into every corner of marketing and media.

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