New advertising markets and customer journeys. Explore emerging opportunities with clear distinctions between a test, an announcement and a rollout.
Industry
Google is exploring ways to let websites opt out of AI generative search features, including AI Overviews and AI Mode. No specific mechanism has been confirmed yet.
Industry
The UK Competition and Markets Authority published proposed conduct requirements for Google under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act (DMCC). Proposals include mandatory search choice screens on Android and Chrome, publisher opt-out controls for AI features such as AI Overviews, fair ranking obligations that ban self-preferencing, and consumer data portability.
Anthropic
Anthropic has made file creation and editing available on Claude's Free plan, alongside skills and compaction features previously limited to paid users. This enables free users to handle more complex tasks and to stay logged in for longer.
Anthropic
Anthropic released plugin support for Cowork, its desktop automation tool. Plugins bundle skills, connectors, slash commands, and sub-agents into role-specific packages.
Industry
The European Commission published the provisional non-confidential version of its 363-page AdTech decision, fining Google €2.95 billion for abusive leveraging across display advertising intermediation markets. The decision states that merely stopping the conduct is insufficient and that the underlying conflicts of interest must be eliminated.
Campaign Manager 360
Google will shut down Campaign Manager 360 API v4 on February 26, 2026. All v4 requests will fail after that date.
Anthropic
Claude now displays connected work tools directly inside conversations, enabling users to draft Slack messages, create Figma diagrams, or manage Asana timelines without switching tabs. Supported integrations include Slack, Figma, Asana, Amplitude, Box, Canva, Clay, Hex, and Monday.com.
Industry
Google's Project Genie uses the Genie 3 model to create full navigable 3D environments from text prompts. Users can walk through, explore, and remix generated worlds in real time, with physics and interactions simulated on the fly.
Gemini
Google announced that Gemini in Chrome is shifting from a conversational assistant to an agent that can navigate, reason, and execute multi-step tasks across the web. The update includes an "auto browse" feature to handle workflows such as comparing listings or scheduling across multiple sites.
Industry
Microsoft reported Q2 FY26 revenue of $81.3 billion, up 17 per cent year over year, with operating income growing 21 per cent to $38.3 billion. Search and news advertising revenue excluding TAC grew 10 per cent, while Azure and cloud services grew 39 per cent.
YouTube
YouTube has upgraded its Promotion tool for creators to include interest-based targeting beyond basic demographics. Interest categories are built on aggregated, anonymised signals.
Industry
X released its latest 'For You' feed algorithm on GitHub, confirmed by Elon Musk as 'purely AI' since November via xAI servers. The feed includes Thunder (posts from followed accounts, ranked by engagement) and Phoenix (AI recommendations analysing your last 128 engaged posts).
Anthropic
Claude in Excel is now available for Pro plan subscribers. New capabilities include accepting multiple files via drag-and-drop, avoiding overwriting existing cells, and supporting longer sessions with auto-compaction.
Display & Video 360
Google will sunset Campaign and Insertion Order targeting in the Display & Video 360 API and Structured Data Files on February 23, 2026, aligning with the DV360 UI removal. After this date, API requests for AssignedTargetingOption resources under Campaign or InsertionOrder will return 404 errors, as will requests to advertisers.lineItems.generateDefault.
OpenAI
OpenAI has published technical documentation on the Codex CLI agent loop, their local, cross-platform agent for making code changes. The documentation covers how Codex builds and manages context, queries models, and applies patterns useful for anyone building agents on the Responses API.
OpenAI
OpenAI is charging a 4% fee on every sale made through ChatGPT's instant checkout. Starting January 26, Shopify merchants can opt in to sell directly through ChatGPT, Google AI Mode, Gemini, and Microsoft Copilot.
Anthropic
Claude Code can now run for free using Ollama's Anthropic API compatibility. Developers can run Claude Code locally with open-source models while maintaining full agent and tool workflows.
Industry
Microsoft has launched the Agent Architecture Guidance Hub on Microsoft Learn. The guidance outlines principles and patterns for building secure, reliable agent solutions with a focus on Microsoft 365 Copilot.
Industry
Google's Ads Product Liaison Ginny Marvin has officially launched Season 1 of Ads Decoded podcast. The show moves past headlines into the mechanics of how Google Ads products actually work.
ChatGPT Ads
OpenAI is lining up advertisers for ChatGPT ads launching in early February. The company is asking for commitments of under $1 million over a several-week trial period.
Anthropic
Anthropic has launched health data integrations for Claude in beta. Four integrations are available: Apple Health (iOS), Health Connect (Android), HealthEx, and Function.
Industry
Google has filed an affidavit asking a federal judge to pause DOJ antitrust remedies, warning that court-ordered search and ad syndication would permanently expose its proprietary ad technology. Director of Product Management Jesse Adkins argues that large-scale syndication would allow competitors to reverse-engineer ad targeting, relevance signals, and auction mechanics developed over decades of R&D.
Google Merchant Center
A detailed implementation guide explains how to enable Universal Commerce Protocol payments in your Google Merchant Centre feed. UCP is Google's new open standard enabling AI agents to complete purchases on behalf of users.
Industry
Google and Apple have announced a multi-year collaboration under which the next generation of Apple Foundation Models will be based on Google's Gemini models and cloud technology. These models will power future Apple Intelligence features, including a more personalised Siri coming this year.
Google Trends
Google has reimagined the Trends Explore page with Gemini capabilities to make it easier to find insights. When researching a topic, a new side panel automatically identifies and compares up to eight relevant search terms.
Anthropic
Anthropic has released Cowork, a tool that lets users complete non-technical tasks similar to how developers use Claude Code. Cowork accesses a folder on your computer to read, edit, or create files.
Google Merchant Center
Testing reveals that Google Merchant Centre's automatic import feature, which claims 24-hour updates, is showing 9-10-day delays. Product data was last updated on January 4th and checked on January 13th.
Industry
Google has announced the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP), enabling AI agents to execute purchases on behalf of users. Instead of providing links, Gemini can now find items, verify stock, apply shipping preferences, and handle checkout without leaving the conversation.
OpenAI
OpenAI has announced plans to test advertising in ChatGPT for logged-in adults in the US on free and Go tiers. Ads will appear at the bottom of answers when there's a relevant sponsored product or service based on the conversation, clearly labelled and separated from organic responses.
OpenAI
OpenAI has released GPT-5.2 Codex in the Responses API, the same model available in Codex. The model handles long-running background tasks, including large refactors, code migrations, and multi-step feature builds.
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