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Ads in AI answers went global. Check who's writing yours.

Google took AI Mode ads to 10 more countries and into follow-up questions, ChatGPT Ads set automatic ad rewrites to switch on by default, and OpenAI and Google both shipped new models.

By Matt Lawler, President and CEO6 min read

This week in one line

AI answer ads are turning into a default buy, so decide who writes them and how you'll measure them before the platform settings decide for you.

Skip to this week's actions5 actions
012 items

Major LLM & Model Developments

OpenAI made agents that work a screen cheaper and faster.

Why it matters

Repetitive desktop work you ruled out on cost is worth pricing again.

GPT-6.1 Terra is built for computer use, visual reasoning and coding, the kind of model that fills out forms or edits video. It's in ChatGPT for Plus, Pro, Enterprise and Edu users and in the API at half the price of GPT-5.6 Terra and GPT-6.1 Sol, according to OpenAI. OpenAI also says it finishes tasks more than three times faster than GPT-6 Astra and GPT-6.1 Sol.

SourceBleepingComputer, Oct 26

Google's newest Gemini goes to security teams first.

Why it matters

Don't plan around Gemini 4 Carbon yet. Google hasn't said when everyone else gets it.

Google announced Gemini 4 Carbon on October 28 and is releasing it first to a subset of cybersecurity defenders through its Fairwind Program while it keeps testing safeguards. Google says it writes secure code at more than twice Gemini 4 Argon's success rate on internal benchmarks.

SourceReuters, Oct 28

023 items

User-Centric Use Cases & Features

ChatGPT can now read and send from iCloud Mail.

Why it matters

More of your buyers' inboxes and calendars now sit one prompt away from an assistant, on every ChatGPT plan.

OpenAI added iCloud Mail and Calendar plugins on every plan, on the web, desktop and iOS. ChatGPT can search and read mail, manage drafts, send email and look up contacts, and it can read, schedule and update calendar events. It only sees iCloud Mail, not Gmail or Outlook accounts added to Apple's Mail app.

SourceMacRumors, Oct 27

Apple's Keynote, Pages and Numbers are opening up to outside AI agents.

Why it matters

Your decks, docs and spreadsheets are becoming things an agent edits, not just files a person opens.

Apple is adding a beta assistant, built on Apple models and OpenAI, to Keynote, Pages and Numbers for Creator Studio subscribers, arriving on the App Store in November. On macOS 27, outside AI agents can connect through the Model Context Protocol to read content, make edits and run actions in those apps. The assistant is US English only and needs an Apple Intelligence-capable device.

SourceApple, Oct 27

Google is testing AI Overview buttons that send searchers into AI Mode.

Why it matters

More searches may end inside the conversation where Google just added more ads.

Query refinement bubbles are showing at the top of some AI Overviews, reportedly in some languages. Tapping one doesn't refine the results. It opens AI Mode with the bubble's text as the prompt.

SourceSearch Engine Roundtable, Oct 29

034 items

Industry Trends & Policy Signals

Google took AI Mode ads to 10 more countries and into follow-up questions.

Why it matters

In the US, every turn of an AI Mode conversation is now ad inventory.

Google added ads in AI Mode in Australia, Canada, India, Kenya, Malaysia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines and Singapore, with Brazil, Mexico and the UK planned for Q4. In the US it's launching multiturn ads that can show on follow-up queries. Google says click-through rates on sponsored product listings in AI Mode are already similar to organic ones.

SourceGoogle, Oct 28

Google's search revenue growth slowed again, to 12%.

Why it matters

That's the pressure behind the push to sell space inside the AI answer.

Alphabet reported Google Search revenue up 12% year over year in Q3, down from 17% in Q2 and 19% in Q1. Google announced the AI Mode ad expansion on the same earnings call, and Alphabet shares fell 8% after the results.

SourceTechCrunch, Oct 28

Google is mixing Shopping ads into AI Mode's product results.

Why it matters

The line between your organic product listing and a paid one is getting thinner.

A test spotted this week shows sponsored products blended into the product results in AI Mode. A Google spokesperson called it part of its "ongoing experiments with ads in AI Mode" and said every sponsored listing is labeled.

SourceSearch Engine Roundtable, Oct 29

ChatGPT Ads will rewrite your ads by default unless you opt out.

Why it matters

OpenAI's new ad terms put the responsibility for generated creative on you.

OpenAI plans to switch on creative enhancements for new and existing self-serve ChatGPT Ads campaigns. The setting can rewrite and translate ad text, resize images and send visitors to a different page on your site, without approval for each version. OpenAI's notices put the start at the end of October but disagree on the day, and the toggle sits in Ads Manager settings at the account or campaign level.

SourceThe State of AI Marketing, Oct 23

04 · Decisions

Strategic Takeaways for Marketing Leaders

Three calls we'd make this week if we ran your marketing.

Decision 01

Decide who writes your AI ads before the default does.

ChatGPT Ads now rewrites creative unless you say no, and its terms leave the result on you. Opt out until you've seen what it produces, then turn it on campaign by campaign.

Decision 02

Don't buy AI Mode ads until you can measure the ads you already run.

Google just made AI Mode follow-ups a place to buy. If the calls and forms your search ads drive aren't tracked today, a new surface only adds spend you can't grade.

Decision 03

Price agent work again before you write it off.

Cheaper, faster computer-use models change the math on repetitive desktop work. Re-run the cost on one task you shelved.

05 · Actions

What CMOs Should Do This Week

Each one is small enough to finish this week.

LVL3 data

70 of 261

Home services companies running Google Ads with no call tracking on their site

From our data

Google keeps adding places to buy inside AI answers. Our data says plenty of advertisers can't measure the places they already buy. In the LVL3 Home Services Growth Index, 70 of the 261 companies with a Google Ads tag on their site had no call tracking we could detect, more than one in four. When the phone books the job, that's spend nobody can grade. Fix it before you add a new surface.

Read the Growth Index
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From our dataThe Home Services Growth Index 2026Read the reportShort answerWho owns the Google Ads account?Read the answer

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