Why WPP’s AI boss believes agents are still in the ‘teenage sex’ stage of development

WPP’s chief AI officer has a theory about agentic AI. It is, Dr Daniel Hulm told attendees at the IAB U.K. ‘s AI growth summit in the “teenage sex phase” — everyone thinks everyone else is doing it but when they actually look, they’re not. 

It’s a crude metaphor. It’s also probably accurate.

The past 12 months have produced a remarkable volume of agentic AI announcements from across the industry. Holdcos have unveiled AI operating systems, ad tech vendors have launched agentic campaign creation tools. Consultancies have published frameworks, CMOs have given keynote speeches about the autonomous future of marketing. And yet, when the people who are supposed to be deploying the tech — the agency traders, the media planners ad the campaign managers — are pressed, the honest answer is usually a version of: “we’re exploring it, we’re in pilot or we’re building the business case.”

Continue reading this article on digiday.com. Sign up for Digiday newsletters to get the latest on media, marketing and the future of TV.

,Read More

TikTok Shop says sales from U.S. small businesses climbed 66% in 2025

This article was first published by Digiday sibling Modern Retail.

TikTok Shop says it’s continuing to drive rapid growth for small businesses, even as bigger brands swarm the platform.

U.S. small businesses on TikTok Shop — sellers with less than $15 million in annual revenue — increased sales by 66% in 2025 compared to the year before, TikTok Shop shared exclusively with Modern Retail. TikTok Shop now has more than 215,000 small businesses actively selling on the platform in the U.S., up 25% year over year. The numbers come alongside a new report from GlobalData commissioned by TikTok Shop that examined how people discover and buy brands on the platform. The report was based on a nationally representative survey of 6,000 U.S. consumers ages 16 and older conducted in April and May.

Continue reading this article on digiday.com. Sign up for Digiday newsletters to get the latest on media, marketing and the future of TV.

,Read More