FutureWeek

Amazon Unifies Ad Platform Under Amazon Ads Agent Amazon has relaunched its advertising platform as Amazon Ads Agent, bringing sponsored ads, display, video and audio into one AI-first environment. New capabilities include conversational media planning, natural-language targeting and analytics, and automated campaign optimisation. Why it matters: Amazon is pushing advertising towards a model where marketers provide the brief and AI handles much of the execution.

Today, the company behind FutureWeek is launching AIMM Forum – the AI in Media & Marketing Forum – a new, independent organisation for senior leaders navigating the impact of artificial intelligence on our industry. AIMM Forum brings together global leaders, primarily from brands and agencies, alongside selected technology companies, consultancies and media companies.

As AI takes on more responsibility in programmatic advertising, what does that leave for the human ad trader? According to Paula Bacariza Perez, GM, Data & Strategy, EMEA at The Trade Desk, there is still a lot for media traders to do, and the role may be becoming more proactive.

Filmed at DMEXCO 2026 in Cologne, FutureWeek caught up with Dimitris Beis, Data & Innovation Strategist at IAB Europe for a wide-ranging conversation on where digital advertising measurement is heading and how the industry is navigating the latest wave of AI. Beis makes the case for why growth, not just efficiency, should sit at the heart of how marketers measure success, and what it takes for brands and publishers to move beyond short-term cost metrics toward outcomes that build long-term value.

Scope3 Rebrands to Apostra Ad tech company Scope3, which has so far focused on sustainability in the ad supply chain, has changed its name to Apostra and is pivoting its focus to AI, reflecting the firm’s heavy focus on agentic media buying in recent times. Why it matters: Scope3 built its reputation on becoming one of the biggest carbon intelligence platforms in the industry for programmatic.

AI has rapidly become the first step on the customer journey: more than a third of UK shoppers now consult it to find products or services, according to dentsu UK’s latest Consumer Navigator report. As AI becomes more embedded in how people search for, compare and buy products, these stages are beginning to merge into a single interaction.

OpenAI Introduces Sponsored Agents OpenAI has introduced to select clients a new type of AI-native ad format for ChatGPT that lets brands turn an ad click into a conversation with their AI agent, rather than sending users to a website.

In this latest episode of the FutureWeek Podcast, Assistant Editor Serena Haththotuwa speaks with Katelyn Taylor, Global Head of Search at WPP Media, about how tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Google’s AI Overviews are reshaping product discovery. Katelyn breaks down what Generative Search Optimisation (GSO) means in practice, why the old rules of Search no longer apply, and how brands can measure success now that consumers increasingly browse within AI channels instead of a brand’s online store.

The new research, which surveyed 2606 US consumers, found that AI tools send shoppers who have already decided on their purchase to brand websites, not consumers who are likely to browse – out of 58.8 percent of shoppers who visited a brand website, 80.7 percent had already made up their mind about what they were going to purchase. This hints at a phenomenon of brand websites becoming more of a channel for final transaction, when consumers use AI tools for browsing.

Meta Launches Muse, Its First Personal AI Agent Meta announced the launch of Muse, its first AI agent designed to help people with goals, tasks, and projects across their daily apps. Muse can open a browser, fill out forms, negotiate on a user’s behalf, send emails, book travel, and make purchases via Link – the digital wallet built by Stripe. Why it matters: So far, AI agents have been largely enterprise or developer tools.