Issue #49: Agents, OpenAI o1, Sora, conversational commerce, AI ads

Good morning.

Something big just happened in AI land, and it's not what you think.

While everyone's buzzing about OpenAI's "12 Days" holiday updates, there's a deeper story unfolding.

One that signals where we're actually headed with AI in 2025.

Between o1's release, Sora finally dropping, and some fascinating moves in AI commerce, we're watching the next wave of AI take shape.

Not in flashy demos or PR releases, but in the quiet ways these tools are reshaping how we interact with technology.

And for us marketers? This is where it gets interesting.

—Sam

IN TODAY’S ISSUE 👨‍🚀 

• OpenAI's o1 model here and no one is ready.

• Sora finally arrives and it’s insane

• The future of search: Conversational Commerce

• Microsoft releases agentic companion for browsing

• AI advertising surges (what brands are doing)

Let’s dive in.

OpenAI's Holiday Gift Spree: The o1 Model Arrives

OpenAI's Sam Altman unveiled the full release of o1 as part of their "12 Days of OpenAI" holiday updates. 

And while they're playing up the festive timing, make no mistake—this is their most significant release since GPT-4.

The rollout starts with ChatGPT Plus and Team subscribers getting immediate access, while Enterprise and Education users are expected to join soon. 

They've also launched ChatGPT Pro at $200 monthly, targeting professionals who need serious AI muscle for research and advanced applications.

Let's break down what's actually significant here:

First, the accuracy improvements are substantial—we're talking a 34% reduction in major errors on complex problems. The speed boost means real-time analysis and optimization aren't just buzzwords anymore.

More interesting than the specs though are two developments that signal where AI is headed: groundbreaking image analysis capabilities and a fascinating partnership with Future media.

Let's unpack both.

Image Analysis:

The image analysis features are impressive.

This isn't basic object recognition - we're talking about deep, contextual understanding of visual content.

For marketers, this opens new doors:

• Pattern recognition across competitor visual content

• Data-driven creative optimization

• Rapid design iteration and feedback

• Chart and data visualization analysis at scale

For my own experiment, I grabbed a run-of-the-mill photo from Google images of an automotive carburetor, loaded it into ChatGPT, and gave it the following prompt:

“Give me a step-by-step guide for how to take this apart”

Here’s what I got:

The output goes on to give me comprehensive, step-by-step instructions for breaking down a carburetor including preparation and safety tips.

This feature is not something to sleep on.

The evolution from basic content generation to sophisticated analysis marks a key inflection point for GenAI.

Those who grasp these capabilities and apply them strategically will pull ahead.

But o1's newest features are only part of the story.

OpenAI just made another chess move that signals where they're really headed.

A Partnership with Future

OpenAI just partnered with Future (the media company behind TechRadar, Tom's Guide, and others), and while everyone's focused on the surface-level implications, I'm seeing something deeper here.

The tides are changing for media discovery.

Future's strategic move - plugging their specialist content into ChatGPT - does two things:

First, it makes the model exponentially smarter about niche topics. The kind of deep expertise you can't get from scraping the open web.

Second, and this is where it gets interesting—it reveals how media companies will make money in the AI age.

Future isn't just dumping their content into ChatGPT's brain. They're weaving OpenAI's tech into every corner of their operation—from sales to marketing to content creation.

Smart play. Very smart play.

For marketers, this matters for several reasons:

• AI-driven content discovery becomes the norm

• Specialist knowledge becomes more accessible

• New monetization models emerge for content

• Editorial processes get AI enhancement

I've been saying for a while that AI will transform content distribution. This partnership shows exactly how that transformation is starting to play out.

The publishers who figure out how to work with AI, rather than against it, will be the ones who thrive.

I’m once again asking you to pay attention.

These are the signals that matter, and you’ll uncover Alpha in these moves.

Sora’s Long-Awaited Release

If you've been following along since Issue 33, you know I've been tracking Sora's development since last February.

I've been watching the video demos, and I have to say, the output quality is mind-bending.

Now that it's finally hit the market, let's talk about what this really means for marketers – beyond the usual hype cycle.

First, the brass tacks: 

Sora's now available on sora.com for ChatGPT Plus and Pro subscribers, and they've thrown in Sora Turbo - a souped-up version promising faster processing and higher quality outputs.

Here’s the specs:

• ChatGPT Plus ($20/mo): 50 videos monthly at 480p (or fewer at 720p)

• ChatGPT Pro ($200/mo): 500 videos monthly

• All videos capped at 20 seconds

• Built-in C2PA watermarks (visible and invisible)

OpenAI's walking a familiar tightrope here between innovation and responsibility. They've baked in watermarks and verification metadata, kept it out of the EU and UK, and limited uploads of real people's images.

Smart moves that show they're thinking beyond just capabilities to long-term implications.

The Storyboard feature is where things get spicy for marketers:

Think traditional video editing but supercharged with AI. 

You can generate frames from text or images, remix sequences, and blend scenes.

 For anyone doing rapid content creation, this is a game-changer for testing different creative approaches quickly.

With that said, let’s temper the hype. This newest rollout has mixed reviews, with the community already announcing early-stage bugs:

We’ll see how OpenAI responds, but as with any major rollout, bugs are to be expected.

Here's my take: video generators are getting better, they may have a ways to go, but they’ll never be worse than they are today. 

Smart marketers will use Sora to test concepts fast, iterate creatively, and apply those insights strategically.

Just because we can make endless content doesn't mean we should.

The fundamentals haven't changed. It's still about connecting with your audience authentically, just with more powerful tools at your disposal.

While we're all fixated on AI's ability to churn out endless video content, a quieter but potentially more disruptive revolution is brewing in how we actually buy things online.

The Age of Conversational Commerce is Here

On November 11th, Perplexity launched "Buy with Pro" and the implications run deep. 

Their $20/month subscribers can now search, research, and purchase products directly through their platform.

Looking for marathon-ready running shoes?

Tell the AI exactly what you want. The system analyzes your query, grasps the context, and delivers curated recommendations complete with pros, cons, and authentic user perspectives.

Through Shopify integrations, Perplexity already has Victoria's Secret, On Running, and other major brands on board. 

While most platforms rush to monetize every transaction, Perplexity's taking a longer view—zero fees as they expand merchant partnerships and build out their product data. 

This flies in the face of typical startup playbooks, but it might just give them the edge they need in the AI commerce race.

Yet beneath the surface lies something far more significant than another e-commerce venture.

What we're witnessing is the emergence of natural language commerce. An era where conversation becomes the new search interface.

Consider the current state of online shopping:

Sponsored listings masquerading as organic results, product descriptions stuffed with keywords, and recommendation algorithms that prioritize inventory clearance over customer needs.

Perplexity aims to flip this script entirely. Though success hinges on one critical factor:

Trust.

Their AI must consistently deliver genuinely helpful recommendations while avoiding the biases and preferential treatment that plague traditional e-commerce search.

Keep your eyes on this one.

While Perplexity wrestles with building trust in AI-powered shopping recommendations, Microsoft is tackling an even more fundamental question: how we interact with online content in the first place.

Co-browsing with Microsoft Edge

Microsoft unleashed Copilot Vision in the U.S. this week, transforming your browser into an active reading companion.

The implications for how we consume and process online content run deep.

You can watch the full interview with Microsoft AI CEO, Mustafa Suleyman here.

The new Copilot Vision delivers:

• Real-time analysis of text and images

• Cross-language translation

• Automatic discount detection while shopping

• Game assistance features (currently on Chess.com)

Entry requires Copilot Pro ($20/month) and enrollment in their experimental Labs program.

Microsoft crafted tight privacy guardrails here. Sessions clear automatically with no data storage or training on browsing patterns. They've restricted access to pre-approved sites, excluding paywalled and "sensitive" content completely.

The vision extends beyond basic browsing assistance. Microsoft sees AI as your digital research partner, processing and understanding web content alongside you. Think of an always-ready assistant who digests complex topics while you browse.

Publishers aren't sitting quietly. The New York Times lawsuit over paywalled content marks just the beginning. 

As AI tools grow more sophisticated at interpreting web content, several key shifts loom ahead:

• How publishers adapt to AI content consumption

• Paywalls evolving for an AI-first world

• Changes in content discovery systems

• Shifts in user browsing patterns

Microsoft's betting big on AI companions becoming as natural as bookmarks or browser tabs. 

The race to shape this future? It’s already at full throttle.

The State of AI Advertising: Reality Check

The advertising world hit some interesting milestones this quarter. Coca-Cola, Vodafone, and several other major brands are pushing into AI-generated commercials—with wildly different results and reactions.

Here's what's actually happening on the ground: While marketing professionals and industry insiders are up in arms about "uncanny valley" effects and technical flaws, regular consumers don't seem to care. 

Testing shows they're responding to these ads just like any other content, focusing on the emotional connection rather than how it was made.

According to research reported by the Wall Street Journal, System1, a U.K.-based company that tests ad effectiveness, "found that Coke's holiday ads scored very highly among consumers, hardly any of whom noted the AI-generated flaws and glossy faces highlighted by critics."

You can watch NBC’s coverage here.

Despite the industry criticism, they managed to create 12 different versions targeting specific U.S. cities—the kind of personalization that would've been financially impossible with traditional production methods. 

The production timeline has collapsed too, with creative processes that used to take months now happening in hours.

Meta's also jumping into this space hard, rolling out new AI video tools that are already showing impressive results. Their data points to an 11% boost in click-through rates for AI-generated campaigns. 

But the real game-changer isn't just performance metrics – it's the shift in what's possible for brands of any size.

Brands are beta testing these tools in public right now, providing a live demonstration of both the pitfalls and possibilities in AI-assisted advertising. 

Every success and failure shapes the playbook for what comes next.

Here’s a great POV on the Culture Pop ad:

And here’s an AI ad example from telecom company Vodaphone.

The technology's trajectory only points up from here. 

The marketers who study these early experiments, noting what resonates and what falls flat, will be best positioned to leverage whatever comes next.

We're watching the first wave of major brands experimenting with these tools in highly visible ways. 

Whether this represents a fundamental shift in advertising production or simply another tool in the creative arsenal remains to be seen.

Sora, Perplexity, and Microsoft's co-browsing are rewiring our technology and the internet.

These developments are signals of fundamental shifts in how we'll create, distribute, and monetize content.

For a few years, I’ve told people that the internet will largely become AI’s talking to other AI’s.

With agents, that’s happening fast.

They're new ways for how humans discover, evaluate, and engage with information and commerce. The strategic integration of AI is making technology feel more intuitive, more human.

The marketers who'll lead are those watching these subtle shifts, and ride the waves as they come. One of the most important skills you need to cultivate is discernment—situational and contextual awareness of what’s happening—so you can make the right shifts and moves.

The future arrives gradually, then suddenly.

The “suddenly” part is here now.

What are you doing with your life?

Stay tuned, I have an update on the future of Bionic Marketing and what’s coming next shortly.

Talk soon,
Sam Woods
The Editor