It’s official: AI kills the advertising star?

Written by: Aarthi Ramnath, Raghav Bikhchandani & Yash Budhwar

It’s official: AI kills the advertising star?

As we’ve reported before, Mark Zuckerberg has been dropping hints about a new ad strategy—primarily aimed at using AI to kill ad agencies. According to the Wall Street Journal, Meta will “fully automate ad creation” by the end of next year. What this means: Brands can create ads from scratch—and target them—using AI:

Using the ad tools Meta is developing, a brand could present an image of the product it wants to promote along with a budgetary goal, and AI would create the entire ad, including imagery, video and text. The system would then decide which Instagram and Facebook users to target and offer suggestions on budget.

Doesn’t sound fancy enough? Here’s more:

Meta also plans to enable advertisers to personalize ads using AI, so that users see different versions of the same ad in real time, based on factors such as geolocation, the people said. A person seeing an advertisement for a car in a snowy place, for example, might see the car driving up a mountain, whereas a person seeing an ad for that same car in an urban area would see it driving on a city street.

A big deal for Meta: Advertising brought in more than 97% of Meta’s revenue in 2024—and funds its multibillion-dollar investments in AI chips, models and data centers. This will transform the way it does business across its platforms—Insta, Facebook and WhatsApp.

A big deal for chota brands: Most of Meta’s money comes from small and midsize brands—which rely solely on digital advertising—but don’t have a big ad budget. This move is guaranteed to make them happy. Bigger brands probably won’t give Meta any control over their brand communication.

A big deal for Mad Men/Women: It’s not good news for advertising agencies—whose shares slumped soon after the announcement. It is also worrying for other AI tools like Midjourney, etc, that already allow you to create your own ads. Meta’s stock, OTOH, jumped 3%.

The big ‘But’: As with any AI pronouncement, the proof is in the pudding. Many in the ad industry are sceptical whether the machine can get the job done. At least, Indian execs hope so:

“For Indian agencies, this isn’t the end — it’s a remix,” said Krishna Iyer, Director of Marketing at MullenLowe Lintas Group. “AI can generate thousands of creatives, but it can’t tell you which one will resonate with a Tamil-speaking millennial in Chennai versus a Gen Z gamer in Gurgaon.”

According to Iyer, the role of the agency will evolve, from execution partner to brand steward. “We’ll need to interpret AI outputs, preserve brand meaning, and inject emotional depth into algorithmic logic.”

StoryBoard18 has more on that point of view. (Wall Street Journal, paywalled, The Guardian)

Break the blockade: Gaza aid ‘flotilla’ sets sail

On Sunday, a crew of 12 activists—including Greta Thunberg—set sail for Gaza from Sicily. The goal: Break Israel’s blockade of humanitarian aid. That face-off will likely take place in a week—when the boat arrives off the Gaza coast. Yes, it’s just a boat not a large ship—as you can see below:

So the journey is mainly symbolic, Thunberg explains:

We are doing this because no matter what odds we are against, we have to keep trying, because the moment we stop trying is when we lose our humanity…and, no matter how dangerous this mission is, it’s not even near as dangerous as the silence of the entire world in the face of the livestreamed genocide.

In other words, something is way better than absolutely nothing. At the very least you’re not watching people starve to death from the sidelines.

About the organisers: The journey is being organised by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC)—which has been challenging Israeli blockades since 2010. The crew onboard also includes European parliament member Rima Hassan—who is French of Palestinian descent.

Point to note: FFC’s previous attempt was foiled when the boat was attacked by mysterious drones off the coast of Malta—and it caught fire. (Al Jazeera)

Meanwhile, in Ukraine: Moscow and Kyiv cut a deal to swap prisoners—but a ceasefire is still a distant dream. OTOH, Ukraine pulled off the most audacious drone attack on Russia’s fleet of strategic bombers:

Forty-one planes – including supersonic Tu-22M long-range bombers, Tu-95 flying fortresses and A-50 early warning warplanes – were hit and damaged on Sunday on four airfields, including ones in the Arctic and Siberia.

Moscow did not confirm the damage but condemned the “terrorist attacks” on its airfields.

Why this matters: According to the Wall Street Journal:

A sizable portion of the fleet Moscow uses to launch guided-missile attacks on Ukraine—and would rely on to strike adversaries in the event of a nuclear war—was damaged or destroyed in the coordinated attacks.

Ukraine claims to have destroyed 40 of Russia’s 100 Tupolev bombers—which are decades old but critical because they are big: “Newer Russian planes are more modern and agile but lack vital characteristics of the destroyed bombers, most significantly their range and the quantity of munitions they can carry.” Al Jazeera explains why the attack damaged Russia’s image as a nuclear power.

Middle East militias prefer Visa: A debit card story

The US has long imposed strict sanctions on Iran to block its access to dollars. But they found a loophole to fund their militias and allies in Iraq—thanks to Visa and Mastercard debit cards.

The loophole: In late 2022, the US Treasury blocked the ability of Iraqi banks to make international wire transfers—which had allowed militias to move billions for over a decade. Always eager to make a buck, US card companies rushed to fill in the void. They signed up Iraqi banks—who then issued Mastercard and Visa-branded cash and debit cards. Soon enough, the money tap was open and flowing freely. There was a staggering 2,900% surge in transactions by April 2023:

The Iraqi militias acquired huge quantities of Mastercards and Visas loaded with funds, transported the cards to the United Arab Emirates and other neighboring countries and withdrew the money [in dollars]... The armed groups then transferred the cash back to Iraq, exchanged it for dinars.. The graft likely financed their operations, paid for weapons or just lined their pockets.

The most shameless bit: The banks were given financial incentives to boost transaction levels. In fact, Visa and Mastercard made around $120 million in fees in 2023.

Where we are now: Washington belatedly woke up to the scam—and had repeatedly warned the card companies. They have now started cracking down on around 200,000 “fraudulent” cards—but millions of dollars are still flowing via the militias to Iran. Why any of this matters:

Iraq’s most potent Iran-backed militias, including the Badr Brigade, Kataib Hezbollah and Asaib Ahl al-Haq, have the clout within Iraq’s government and financial sectors to help Tehran circumvent sanctions, forming what Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in April called a “clandestine network of financial facilitators.”

Let’s not forget—Iraq is officially a US ally. (Wall Street Journal, paywalled, Moneycontrol)

'Living concrete' heals Its own cracks

US scientists have developed a self-repairing concrete that can heal its own cracks—using synthetic lichen. Wtf is that? For starters, lichens are not a single organism but “a hybrid colony of organisms that have symbiotic partnership”—usually between fungus and cyanobacteria or algae. This “bespoke” version has a special combination that produces calcium carbonate—“the material that makes eggshell, sea shells, coral, and chalk.” As they grow, this material fills the cracks in the concrete.

The big step forward: Until now, scientists used bacteria which had to be physically sprayed on the concrete. But “the lichen doesn't need to be fed: it just hangs out, doing its thing, and doesn't need to be tended by humans.” Read the study here. (The Microbiologist)

what caught our eye

business & tech

Tesla is unlikely to manufacture in India and will focus only on imports. Economic Times has the story.
AI chatbots are taking a page out of the social media playbook by pivoting to the ad model and optimising for eyeballs.
Tinder’s love story hits a rough patch—its owner Match Group’s shares tumble 7% as paid users drop 700,000 amid layoffs and slowing growth.

sports & entertainment

Rajeev Shukla is set to become the BCCI’s interim president until elections are held in September. The incumbent Roger Binny will trigger the BCCI’s age-limit cause when he turns 70 in July.
Pakistan’s Women’s Cricket World Cup games are heading to Sri Lanka, as the hybrid hosting plan shakes up the India-hosted tournament due to be held in September and October this year.
Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris ensured a top-two finish for McLaren, while defending champion Max Verstappen finished in tenth due to a 10-second penalty.
Ariana Grande will star opposite Robert de Niro and Ben Stiller in ‘Meet the Parents 4’—set to release in November 2026.
It’s official—Taylor Swift has finally bought back all of her first six albums—ending a years-long music rights dispute. Hollywood Reporter has a history lesson.
Also in Hollywood Reporter: are music and other celebrity films killing the documentary?
Tom Cruise is back on top—'Mission: Impossible–The Final Reckoning' just scored the biggest US film opening in China this year, trade tensions be damned.

health & environment

South Africa is literally rising—scientists say parts of the country are lifting out of the ocean by up to 2mm a year, thanks to climate change.
Trump’s latest energy cuts have forced climate startups to shut down, lay off staff, and go broke—after losing $3.7 billion in federal funding.
Pakistan’s anti-polio fight takes a hit—Gilgit-Baltistan reports its first case in 7 years, marking the country’s 11th this year.
That daily cup of coffee just got a glow-up—a new study links it to healthier aging in over 47,000 women.

meanwhile, in the world

Reuters has the deets on Karol Nawrocki—the gun-toting, Trump-backed conservative historian who just clinched Poland’s presidency after a campaign straight out of a boxing ring.
Al Jazeera has all you need to know ahead of South Korea’s high-stakes snap election later today—triggered by a martial law scandal and poised to reshape its ties with the US, China, and Japan.
CNN has the details of the Colorado attack suspect’s life before the assault on the pro-Israel demonstration. BBC News has the full report and breakdown of the attack.

meanwhile, in India

Economic Times has details on why Delhi still can’t house over 3 lakh homeless—years of schemes, but shelters are way too few, plans fall short, and help is stretched thin.
Northeast floods worsen—4 dead, 3.64 lakh hit in Assam, and 1,500 tourists stuck in landslide-hit Sikkim as rivers burst banks and rains keep pounding.
Chennai’s Mahila Court sentenced A Gnanasekaran, the Anna University rape convict, to life imprisonment without remission—a rare and strong message against sexual violence on campuses.

Five things to see

One: NASA has sent many missions into space with human images and music—hoping to attract the attention of aliens. Sadly, Johann Strauss’s “Blue Danube” has never made the cut (though it did earn a spot in Stanley Kubrick’s ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’). The European Space Agency fixed this unpardonable error on the composer’s 200th birthday. A live performance by the Vienna Symphony Orchestra was “transmitted in the form of electromagnetic waves” into space—just in case ET has a very powerful radio antenna. (Phys.org)

Two: A robot developed by Purdue University students can solve the Rubik’s Cube in just 0.103 seconds—setting a new Guinness World Record. Check out the vid of this achievement below. (The Verge)

Three: ‘Stranger Things’ fans, we now have a calendar and trailer for the last season. The first set of episodes will drop on November 26—followed by another batch on Christmas, and the finale on New Year’s Eve. Watch the new trailer below. (Variety)

Four: It’s retro horror season in Hollywood—where great directors churn out iterations of beloved classics. Luc Besson is working on his version of Dracula. And Guillermo del Toro is ready to churn out his version of ‘Frankenstein’—with Oscar Isaac and Jacob Elordi! The movie will stream on Netflix sometime in November. Watch the trailer below. (Gizmodo)

Five: Ethan Hawke returns as the Grabber in the sequel to the 2021 supernatural flick ‘The Black Phone’—which brings the serial killer back from the dead. The movie drops in theatres on October 17. See the trailer below. (Gizmodo)