We've Got Receipts

    — Topic —

    AI in Advertising

    12 receipts tracked • 69% industry hit rate

    Generative AI, agentic media buying, creative AI.

    — Filed —

    12 receipts on AI in Advertising

    Browse all →

    RECEIPT #DAVID-

    JUL 19, 2012

    Called it.

    PREDICTION BY

    David Levy
    “Is it conceivable that Facebook knew/knows that the ~$4b desktop ad business was not the future of the company and began to focus its resources on sponsored stories/mobile ads that do show up in mobile feeds and can therefore be monetized (and apparently more effectively than their desktop counterparts)? You bet it is… implying that the company has no business model is extremely shortsighted.”

    FOLLOW-UP

    Filed Jul 19, 2012 — two months after the FB IPO flop, with consensus calling Facebook structurally unmonetizable on mobile. Mobile went from ~14% of FB ad revenue in Q2 2012 to ~49% one year later and >80% by 2015; FB stock 4x'd by 2015. The "no mobile business model" thesis was definitively wrong, exactly as Levy argued.

    ai-in-advertising

    RECEIPT #DAVID-

    APR 16, 2013

    Partially right.

    PREDICTION BY

    David Levy
    “I'm saying this for the third time. Facebook will do search. And [more importantly] they'll do it well.”

    FOLLOW-UP

    Called Apr 16, 2013. Graph Search itself flopped and was effectively retired by 2019, but the underlying claim — that Facebook would build serious search/discovery products — was vindicated by Reels search, AI-assisted feed ranking, and Meta AI's in-app search now serving billions of queries. Right thesis, wrong product vehicle.

    ai-in-advertising

    RECEIPT #TAMEKA

    DEC 31, 2025

    Partially right.

    PREDICTION BY

    Tameka Kee
    “By mid-2026, more than half of brand creative going through major holdco agencies will involve generative AI in some part of the production pipeline — even if the final spot looks "traditional."”

    FOLLOW-UP

    Q1 2026 holdco earnings calls (WPP, Publicis, Omnicom/IPG) confirmed generative AI is now in production workflows for the majority of creative briefs, but most disclosed only partial-pipeline use — closer to ideation and storyboarding than full final-asset generation.

    ORIGINAL SOURCE

    wevegotreceipts.com
    agency-holding-companiesai-in-advertising

    RECEIPT #IDIL-C

    APR 28, 2026

    Too early to tell.

    PREDICTION BY

    Idil Cakim
    “Content, this is where I think it gets interesting for marketers, will still be queen because screenbased media and music pop up as, you know, top of the activities when it comes to spending leisure time. So, people are still looking for that entertainment. And that means that advertisers will have more chances to connect with their customers, but they will need to be AI savvy when delivering because AI will push even more content and more choices to people.”

    FOLLOW-UP

    Filed for tracking. Outcome to be evaluated as the timeline plays out.

    ai-in-advertisingconsumer-entertainmentcontent-marketing

    RECEIPT #MISHA-

    APR 28, 2026

    Too early to tell.

    PREDICTION BY

    Misha Leybovich
    “I think that I don't know how long it's going to take, 5 years, 10 years, but performance advertising, I'm not even talking about brand advertising, that's a different thing cuz it's I'm talking about anything where you get a ton of shots on goal and a like a and a clear signal did this work or not through a conversion. For performance advertising specifically, I don't see room for humans in this.”

    FOLLOW-UP

    Filed for tracking. Outcome to be evaluated as the timeline plays out.

    ai-in-advertisingfuture-of-agenciesperformance-marketing

    RECEIPT #JEFF-S

    APR 28, 2026

    Too early to tell.

    PREDICTION BY

    Jeff Sundheim
    “I think that number [AI first creative spend] is still pretty low. But I think it's going to grow very quickly. As as advertisers realize that it's not only a time saver, but it's also something that can distinguish themselves uh, in terms of creating really cool content.”

    FOLLOW-UP

    Filed for tracking. Outcome to be evaluated as the timeline plays out.

    ai-in-advertisingcreative-spend

    RECEIPT #BERKOW

    JAN 15, 2026

    Too early to tell.

    PREDICTION BY

    David Berkowitz
    “Not everyone needs to buy everything through AI for it to become a healthy sales channel. This year, many of the sources of friction are going away. Consumers may be surprised at first that they can buy that weather-sealing tape without leaving the conversation. Soon enough, they'll expect it.”

    FOLLOW-UP

    Made at NRF 2026 as in-chat checkout was just rolling out across ChatGPT (Instant Checkout), Perplexity (Shop with Pro), and Amazon Rufus. The thesis is testable through 2026–2027: does conversational commerce hit a "healthy sales channel" share, or stall like Alexa shopping did?

    ai-in-advertisingretail-media

    RECEIPT #BERKOW

    MAR 22, 2024

    Called it.

    PREDICTION BY

    David Berkowitz
    “While streaming services once felt like the death knell for TV advertisers but now are ramping up ad inventory and rolling out ad-supported plans, we'll see that happening in AI too.”

    FOLLOW-UP

    Within 18 months, every major consumer AI platform Berkowitz pointed to was experimenting with ads. Microsoft Copilot rolled out ads in chat answers, Perplexity launched sponsored questions in November 2024, and OpenAI publicly began exploring ad-supported tiers in 2025. The "subscription-only AI" model he questioned has effectively given way to the streaming-style hybrid he predicted.

    ai-in-advertisingprogrammatic-adtech

    RECEIPT #BERKOW

    NOV 19, 2012

    Partially right.

    PREDICTION BY

    David Berkowitz
    “I predict that search will be dead in 2020.”

    FOLLOW-UP

    Search wasn't dead in 2020 — Google search revenue actually grew. But Berkowitz's broader thesis (predictive recommendations replacing "head" and "tail" queries, behavioral data displacing typed queries) is exactly what AI Overviews, ChatGPT, and Perplexity are now doing. He publicly graded himself in 2024: "I was wrong. And I was right. And I was right for the wrong reasons."

    ai-in-advertisingsearch-seo-disruption

    RECEIPT #OWYANG

    SEP 15, 2024

    Partially right.

    PREDICTION BY

    Jeremiah Owyang
    “AI agents will become a new class of customer that brands must market to and serve directly.”

    FOLLOW-UP

    AI agents became a new class of customer in B2B contexts, with significant direct engagement as evidenced by Salesforce's Agentforce success, but did not emerge as a distinct consumer-facing customer segment for direct marketing.

    ORIGINAL SOURCE

    Web Strategist
    ai-developmentai-in-advertising

    RECEIPT #TAMEKA

    DEC 08, 2025

    Partially right.

    PREDICTION BY

    Tameka Kee
    “By mid-2026, more than half of brand creative going through major holdco agencies will involve generative AI in some part of the production pipeline — even if the final spot looks "traditional."”

    FOLLOW-UP

    Q1 2026 holdco earnings calls (WPP, Publicis, Omnicom/IPG) confirmed generative AI is now in production workflows for the majority of creative briefs, but most disclosed only partial-pipeline use — closer to ideation and storyboarding than full final-asset generation.

    ORIGINAL SOURCE

    LinkedIn essay
    agency-holdcosai-in-advertising

    RECEIPT #ALEDA-

    JAN 27, 2026

    Called it.

    PREDICTION BY

    Aleda Stam
    “PR agencies will publicly add "AI editorial standards" pages to their sites in 2026 — partly performative, partly because clients are starting to ask.”

    FOLLOW-UP

    Edelman, Weber Shandwick, and BCW all published AI use disclosures or editorial standards in Q1 2026, with smaller indies following. PRWeek's own tracker now lists 22 such pages.

    ORIGINAL SOURCE

    PRWeek
    agency-holdcosai-in-advertising