Lab Weekly - 05/30/2025
New floor 9 episode on Google I/O; Plus, the latest news about Shopify, Claude 4, Discord Orbs, and more must-know news and stats
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Episode 170: AI Mode, Agentic Web, & More from Google I/O 2025 Event
On the latest Floor 9 episode, four members of the Lab team — Tom, Ryan, Richard, and Elisa — assemble to discuss in-depth about everything brand marketers that need to know about the AI-centric announcements coming out of Google’s annual developer event.
From Google’s ambition of using AI Mode to transform its search products, to the “agentic web” that the AI stakeholders are aiming towards, the team places the various key announcements within the larger industry context and discuss their implications for consumers and brands alike. Listen now to learn more about how you brand should respond to the latest developments in consumer-facing AI.
If you enjoyed the episode, please consider giving us a five-star review on Apple Podcast. Follow the Lab on LinkedIn and on Medium for our latest insights. Thanks for listening!
In case you missed it…
Google I/O 2025 recap: AI Mode, Activated
At I/O 2025, Google unveiled its boldest vision yet for an AI-first future; Here’s what brands need to know
How “A Minecraft Movie” Hit Box Office Gold
Decoding how the latest video game adaptation broke out and became a huge hit by riding on memes, deeply engaging its fan base, while also appealing to broader audiences
Airbnb’s Rebranding & What It Says About the Service Economy
The issue with scaling local services and experiences, and how AI might play a part in Airbnb’s future
Shopify Launches An AI-Powered Store Builder [TechCrunch]
Shopify has launched a suite of new AI tools to streamline and personalize ecommerce for small businesses. Highlights include an AI-powered store builder that creates storefronts from a single prompt, an enhanced “Horizon” theme with modular AI-customizable design blocks, and upgraded capabilities for its AI assistant Sidekick, now with voice chat, screen sharing, and mobile integration.
AI is rapidly becoming a core infrastructure for ecommerce, particularly for SMBs who lack large design or dev teams. By turning tasks like storefront setup, banner creation, and platform navigation into conversational or prompt-based experiences, Shopify is lowering technical barriers and accelerating time-to-launch. As AI continues to empower retail brands to move faster, personalize experiences at scale, and operate with fewer resources, retailers need to focus more on storytelling and innovation, but also challenges them to differentiate in an increasingly AI-powered competitive landscape.
Related: Shopify CEO says staffers need to prove jobs can’t be done by AI before asking for more headcount [CNBC]; Online retailers in the US spent an average of $400k on AI last year [Retail Dive]
Anthropic Launches Claude 4, Its Most Powerful AI Model Yet [CNBC]
Claude 4 reportedly demonstrates robust capabilities in data analysis, executing long-running tasks, and aligning with brand safety standards, but differences between top models like Claude, GPT-4o, and Gemini are narrowing fast. As star analyst and investor Mary Meeker recently noted, AI models are becoming commoditized, meaning the value now lies in how brands integrate them into workflows and tailor them to their voice.
For marketers, the real advantage will come from using AI to enhance creativity, streamline operations, and deepen audience insights, rather than chasing marginal gains associated with the selection of a purportedly superior model.
Related: Netflix co-founder and former CEO Reed Hastings joins Anthropic board [Reuters]; Perplexity launches Perplexity Labs, letting users craft reports, spreadsheets, dashboards, and more [TechCrunch]; DeepSeek’s distilled new R1 AI model can run on a single GPU [TechCrunch]
Discord’s New Currency Pays Users To Interact With Ads [The Verge]
Discord is beta testing “Orbs,” an in-app currency users can earn by engaging with branded Quests, such as watching advertiser videos or streaming specific games. These Orbs can be redeemed for items in the Discord Shop, exclusive digital badges, or temporary access to Discord Nitro. Previously, brands running Quests had to provide their own rewards; now they can use Orbs as a built-in incentive.
As traditional ad-supported models face disruption from AI search and content creation, gamified and interactive advertising like Discord’s Orbs points to a potential new monetization model for the web. Instead of passively consuming ads, users are rewarded for engaging with branded content in ways that (hopefully) feel more like play than promotion. This approach increases time spent on-platform and offers clearer value exchange. As the online experience becomes less search-based and more community-driven, gamified engagement like this could become the new currency of digital marketing, especially among younger, ad-resistant audiences.
Related: HairDAO is a discord community developing its own hair loss drugs [404 Media]; Crunchyroll and Discord team up for My Hero Academia collection [Crunchy Roll]
Volvo Will Be The First To Install Google’s Gemini In Its Cars [The Verge]
Volvo said it will be the first carmaker to integrate Gemini into its lineup, which reflects a growing shift in in-car AI, evolving from simple voice commands to more conversational assistants that can support navigation and hands-free control through natural language speech. This development raises the bar for auto OEMs, and might put more pressure on Apple, whose CarPlay and Siri may lag in AI capabilities and integrations. As generative AI becomes more natural and useful, its adoption in cars is likely to increase, pushing more auto brands to reassess their in-car tech strategies.
Related: Android Auto is getting more video and browser apps and more weather apps [9to5Google]; Apple finally launches next-gen ‘CarPlay Ultra’ software, starting with Aston Martin [TechCrunch]
Situational Awareness:
Poppi launches retro-style arcade Fortnite mini-game [Retail DIve]
Poppi teamed with licensed Fortnite studio Creator Corp to launch an exclusive Fortnite mini-game called Alpine Blasters, which saw about 126,000 plays in just four days. The mini-game was amplified by Twitch streamer Cody “Clix” Conrod. By embracing platforms like Fortnite and Twitch, in addition to a retro arcade-style game that draws a nostalgia audience, the brand cleverly targets a bigger gaming audience underserved by better-for-you beverages, having exhausted the audiences for lifestyle / wellness creators that similar brands typically work with.
The New York Times struck AI licensing deal to Amazon for its editorial content [NYT]
The New York Times has entered its first AI licensing deal with Amazon, granting access to articles, recipes, and sports content for integration into products like Alexa, which will attribute NYT content and provide links to read more. This multi-year agreement marks a shift for the NYT, which is currently involved in lawsuits against OpenAI and Microsoft regarding content usage for AI training.
YouTube plans to roll out Google Lens integration to Shorts [TechCrunch]
Viewers will soon be able to use Google Lens to search what they see while watching Shorts, which, in turn, could lead to more product discovery in Shorts and potentially for Google to build out more shoppable ad units in Shorts. The enhanced product discovery capabilities within Shorts present a potential avenue for Google to further develop its advertising offerings as it goes all-in on AI.
More than three-quarters of Americans (77%) want companies to create AI slowly and get it right the first time, even if that delays breakthroughs, the 2025 Axios Harris 100 poll found. Only 23% of Americans want companies to develop AI quickly to speed breakthroughs, even at the price of mistakes along the way.
Improvements in voice-based AI bots are making them more prolific and humanlike in phone calls. In response VC investment in voice AI startups rose from $315 million in 2022 to $2.1 billion in 2024, driven by growing business adoption of voice AI agents in call centers, Wall Street Journal reports citing data from CB Insights.
More than three in four Americans (77%) plan to travel in 2025, in line with February's results of 76%, according to the latest round of polling conducted by The Harris Poll for TPG. 34% of Americans plan to spend more on travel in 2025 than they did last year, the survey also found, while 37% will spend about the same and just 10% say they will spend less on travel this year, despite the current economic and political environment.
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