The Week in Generative AI: June 28, 2024 edition

Welcome to The Week in Generative AI, a weekly roundup for marketers from Quad Insights that sums up the latest news surrounding this rapidly evolving technology.

Some of the world’s largest record labels — including Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group — filed lawsuits this week against the makers of text-to-song generation tools Suno and Udio, NBC News’ Angela Yang reports. The lawsuits allege that building such services required “copying decades worth of the world’s most popular sound recordings” and that the developers of Suno and Udio have been “deliberately evasive” about what content was used to train their AI models.

Previously: “Some of music’s biggest stars sign open letter warning of AI threat to artists,” as we noted in the April 5 edition of this column.

As promised at its I/O developer conference last month, Google is now rolling out a Gemini AI-powered side panel for Gmail capable of summarizing email threads and drafting new emails, The Verge’s Jay Peters reports. The tool will only be available to paid Gemini users and will also launch on Docs, Sheets, Slides and Drive, Peters notes.

Previously: “Google search’s new AI Overviews offers hilariously bad advice,” as we noted in the May 31 edition of this column.

In an article titled “Toys R Us AI-generated ad sparks backlash in creative community,” Ad Age’s Adrianne Pasquarelli explores reactions to the toy retailer’s newest ad, which, per a company announcement, is “the first-ever brand film using OpenAI’s new text-to-video tool Sora.” The idea of Toys “R” Us leveraging AI to create an ad about its own creation journey was (unsurprisingly) not well met amongst creatives, who, as Pasquarelli notes, turned to social media to express their displeasure. Read the full story here.

Previously: “OpenAI teases new text-to-video AI model called Sora,” as we noted in the February 16 edition of this column.

PepsiCo’s Gatorade has been working on an AI-powered hydration coach, Marketing Dive’s Peter Adams reports. In a video display as part of an activation at Stagwell’s Sport Beach venue at Cannes, Gatorade unveiled the AI assistant, called Anna, which educates consumers on hydration science, Adams notes, adding that Gatorade is aiming for pilot testing in selected markets later this year or early 2025.

Previously: “Gatorade reboots ‘Is It In You?’ in largest campaign ever, featuring Michael Jordan, Caitlin Clark and others,” as we noted in the May 31 edition of The Week in Consumer Packaged Goods.

AI tools and advancements:

• ICYMI: “Target invests in generative AI tool for employees” (Retail Brew)
• “NBC Brings A.I. Al Michaels to Peacock for Customized Paris Olympics Recaps” (The Hollywood Reporter)
• “Zip Adds Generative AI Procurement Assistant to Spend Orchestration Platform” (PYMNTS)
• “Meta starts testing user-created AI chatbots on Instagram” (TechCrunch)

AI trends:

• ICYMI: “Forrester: 91% of US ad agencies are currently using, exploring generative AI” (Marketing Dive)

AI controversy:

• “Generative AI Can’t Cite Its Sources” (The Atlantic)
• “Power demands of AI computing could put power grid under major strain” (CBS News)

AI strategy:

• “Figma announces big redesign with AI” (The Verge)
• ICYMI: “Verizon uses GenAI to improve customer loyalty” (Reuters)
• ICYMI: “How Carl’s Jr. is driving in-store visits with AI-fueled CTV advertising” (Marketing Dive)

AI in the market:

• “Amazon Hits $2 Trillion in Value as AI Frenzy Fuels Rally” (Bloomberg)