Lab Weekly - 01/31/2025
Lessons from DeepSeek’s sudden rise; Plus, the latest news on the Waymo expansion, Meta AI, and more
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DeepSeek Lessons for Brand Marketers
Three key takeaways from the brouhaha surrounding the latest AI challenger
In case you missed it…
CES 2025 Trend Recap
Despite these year-to-year changes in presence, or perhaps because of them, CES remains a reliable reflection of the consumer tech industry, as well as a harbinger of emerging trends. After spending several days walking all over the show floor to scout new and noteworthy gadgets and innovations, we here at the Lab have identified the following four cross-category trends that we believe will shape the future of consumer tech in 2025 and beyond.
2024 Innovation Trend Recap
A major year of deployment for multimodal AI and Mixed Reality, as well as major behavioral and landscape shifts in search, streaming, and social media.
Waymo To Test In 10 New Cities In 2025 [The Verge]
Waymo continues its robotaxi expansion, with plans to test its driverless taxis in 10 new US cities in 2025, starting with Las Vegas and San Diego. It seems that 2025 will be a year of continued expansion and deployment for autonomous vehicles across the country, and it will be interesting to consider its impact on both consumer perceptions and behavior.
For one thing, increased exposure to robotaxi services will help normalize autonomous vehicles (AVs) in the eyes of consumers. While skepticism remains—particularly around safety and reliability—the more people experience driverless rides firsthand, the more their perceptions may shift from curiosity or distrust to comfort and even preference. Waymo’s expansion into cities like Las Vegas and San Diego suggests a strategic approach: targeting high-density, tourist-heavy markets where riders might be more willing to try AVs in a controlled, regulated environment.
Furthermore, the rise of AVs could reinforce the trend of car interiors evolving into mobile entertainment hubs. Just as airlines have capitalized on in-flight media experiences, robotaxi services might integrate personalized content recommendations, or even mixed reality or social experiences tailored to the duration of a trip. This shift could accelerate new partnerships between AV companies and media brands, blurring the lines between transportation and entertainment in new, unexpected ways.
Related: Waymo’s driverless cars are finally ready for the highway [The Verge]; Waymo and Uber will bring robotaxis to Austin and Atlanta [Axios]
Meta AI Can Now Use Your Facebook And Instagram Data To Personalize Its Responses [TechCrunch]
We’ve written about the “AI trust gap” last year and how AI adoptions will hinge on how much consumers trust the answers that AI tools provide to be correct and relevant. It’s a complicated dance between utility values and transparency. Now, Meta is trying to bridge this gap by providing more personalized answers with two new features.
For one, Meta AI can now remember details from user conversations across Facebook, Messenger, and WhatsApp in the U.S. and Canada, based on what users voluntarily share. This will allow Meta’s chatbot to offer more personalized responses. Additionally, Meta AI will now utilize user data from across Meta’s platforms—including home location from Facebook and recently viewed Instagram videos—to offer more tailored responses. This second feature is on by default, and there won’t be an option to opt out, as a Meta spokesperson told TechCrunch.
While a chatbot that recalls your love for travel or dietary preferences can make AI assistance feel genuinely helpful and personal, gleaming things about you from your recently viewed Instagram videos might seem a bit intrusive to some users. The trust gap in AI isn’t just about whether AI provides correct answers—it’s about whether users feel they understand and control how AI interacts with them. Therefore, some user education will be needed to make sure that people understand Meta AI might already know them a little better than they think.
Related: OpenAI Expands ChatGPT 'memory' feature to all Plus users [PC Mag]; Meta’s AI tools attract more advertisers as tech enters ‘defining’ year [Marketing Dive]
iOS 18.3 Is Out With Tweaks To AI Notification Summaries [The Verge]
Apple has officially released the latest version of iOS, which brings several updates, most notably changes to AI-powered notification summaries. Apple has temporarily disabled notification summaries for news and entertainment apps after drawing criticism from the BBC regarding inaccurate headline summaries.
Otherwise, Apple Intelligence is now enabled by default for those who upgraded to iOS 18.3 with supporting devices. This update brings previously announced AI features, such as Visual Intelligence for adding events to the Calendar app from posters or flyers and enhanced recognition for plants and animals, to millions of iPhone users.
By making Apple Intelligence the default setting, Apple ensures broader exposure to its AI capabilities, accelerating user adoption. This rollout aligns with Apple’s “it just works” approach to software design, as it aims to position AI as a seamless, system-level enhancement rather than an add-on feature. That said, incidents like the BBC complaint highlight risks in rolling out AI features too quickly. And it does seem like Apple is taking a more cautious approach now.
Related: X Games adds an AI judge for snowboard event [USA Today]; Perplexity launches an assistant for Android [TechCrunch]
Situational Awareness:
Super Bowl 2025 advertisers will balance nostalgia and innovation [eMarketer]
This preview of the Super Bowl ads makes a lot of sense. As we recently noted in our new Outlook 2025 report, consumers are increasingly looking for comfort and stability in this era of discord and polarization. Nostalgia, of course, can be very comforting and safe, so it’s no surprise that it has been a mood for brands to capitalize on in recent years.
Nielsen received accreditation for its Big Data + Panel national TV measurement from the MRC [Axios]
The certification will enable Nielsen to better capture viewership for TV networks and advertisers across streaming and old fashioned cable TV, which is important given the rise of media fragmentation and streaming challenged its traditional methods.
Live translations on Meta’s smart glasses work well — until they don’t [The Verge]
Given that we’re still in an early stage of AI deployment on wearable devices, there’s obviously still some room for improvement in execution and implementation. The review found that the live translation feature works as intended for the most part, but struggles with slang and with multiple voices at once — both seem like kinks that need to be worked out with more real-world testing and fine-tuning.
A Netflix restaurant is coming to the MGM Grand Las Vegas [The Points Guy]
Experiential travel is becoming a hot touchpoint for entertainment brands to engage with audiences. Netflix Bites will open on the casino floor, offering a menu with references to Netflix originals. The rise of thematic resorts and experiential stays, such as Airbnb’s Icon series, suggests that hotels are no longer just places to sleep—they are becoming content-driven entertainment destinations.
Threads, Meta’s microblogging service, is growing at a fast pace. During the company’s Q4 earnings call this week, CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed that Threads now has 320 million monthly active users, up from 300 million last month, averaging around over 1 million daily sign-ups, TechCrunch reports.
FOX has jacked the prices for the select Super Bowl 30-second ad slots that have become available last minute up to a new record of $8 million, CNBC reports. For context, they were previously selling for a little over $7 million in the heart of the buying season last fall.
America is in an alcohol recession, writes The Hustle. IWSR, a global data firm that researches beverages, found that the United States’ year-over-year alcohol volumes fell 2.6% in 2023 and 2.8% for the first seven months of 2024. Even premium spirit brands suffered. Remy Cointreau reported a decline of nearly 23% last fall.
If you find our insights valuable and would like to have a deeper conversation on technology and media innovations, or need to sound smarter in a client meeting or a pitch, please feel free to reach out to Chelsea Freitas, our VP of Strategy, at chelsea@ipglab.com.
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