Lab Weekly - 10/31/2025
Why people are betting on everything; Plus, the latest news from OpenAI, Amazon, and more must-know news and stats
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Why Everything Feels Like Gambling Now
Why people are betting on just about everything, from the prediction markets to Labubus, and how brands can respond
In case you missed it…
The Future of Investing: Community-Driven & Gamified
Losing trust in legacy finance and leery of new fintech offerings, young people are increasingly relying on their own communities and intuition for advice
Why the Apple-Formula 1 Partnership is Major Deal
And what it says about the current sports media landscape and future brand opportunities
Sora and Vibes: AI Video Now Officially Going After Social Media
Here are some implications and opportunities for brands and marketers to consider
OpenAI Adds New Features to Sora [The Verge]
OpenAI has added reusable ‘characters’ and video stitching to Sora. Users of the viral AI app can now create character cameos and combine clips together to make longer multi-scene videos. Theoretically, these new features could help create more compelling videos while perhaps helping OpenAi skirt around some of the thorny copyright issues around using real people’s likeness.
So far, people have mostly been using the character cameos to generate AI videos featuring their pets, cartoon characters, or even random objects. And longer multi-scene videos will be crucial to hook more users into spending more time on the app. It remains unclear how OpenAI plans to monetize the app, although it has started selling extra Sora credits to power users who want to create more videos.
Related: OpenAI now sells extra Sora credits for $4, plans to reduce free gens in the future [Engadget]; OpenAI unveils ‘Aardvark,’ a GPT-5-powered agent for autonomous cybersecurity research [CNET]
PayPal Signs Deal with OpenAI for Integrated ChatGPT Payments [CNBC]
In other big OpenAI news this week, the ChatGPT maker secured a deal with PayPal for its Instant Payment feature. Starting next year, PayPal buyers and sellers will be able to complete transactions through ChatGPT, meaning that merchants that support PayPal checkout will have access to the 700 million-plus weekly users on ChatGPT, some of which are turning to the chatbot for online shopping research and product discovery.
As part of the deal, PayPal will also manage merchant routing, payment validation, and other behind-the-scenes aspects of payment processing for PayPal sellers on ChatGPT, so individual merchants don’t have to sign up with OpenAI. It is a smart move where PayPal gets to position itself as a payments backbone for the coming era of agentic AI shopping, especially considering its recent deals with Google and Perplexity AI.
Related: PayPal, AmEx expand commerce media networks [Digiday]; OpenAI takes on Google, Amazon with new agentic shopping system [TechCrunch]
Nvidia and Uber Team Up to Develop Network of Self-Driving Cars [Bloomberg]
Nvidia revealed a new computing system to let autonomous vehicle developers accelerate the advent of self-driving cars, with Uber signed on as an early collaborator. Uber is setting a goal to have a fleet of 100,000 autonomous vehicles powered by Nvidia’s chips. The companies expect the expansion to start in 2027, with Stellantis NV among the first automakers to deliver Nvidia-powered robotaxis for Uber’s operations.
The Nvidia partnership will help boost the availability of autonomous vehicles and eventually lower the cost of operating them, allowing Uber to make more robotaxis available on its platform over time. For brands, the arrival of self-driving Uber rides creates a new, always-on ad channel: more vehicles and ride time mean more chances to show route-aware messages on in-car screens, with clearer measurement from trip data. Agencies should prep now with short, context-aware creative, with offers tied to time of day, or trip destinations (such as airports or concert venues).
Related: Uber plans to launch its first robotaxi in the San Francisco Bay Area in late 2026 [Axios]; Tesla’s scaled-back robotaxi timeline is lagging in regulatory approval [Electrek]
Situational Awareness:
Amazon revamped its Luna game streaming service [Engadget]
The new Amazon Luna is available at no additional cost for Prime subscribers, and now includes new beginner-friendly multiplayer games. This move to make its game streaming service more widely accessible, both in terms of cost and player-friendliness, could push competitors to either double down on premium performance and big libraries or copy the casual bundle approach, while Amazon experiments with ads and shopping tie-ins.
Kayak launches an ‘AI Mode’ for travel questions, search, and bookings [TechCrunch]
The rollout builds on the company’s April launch of Kayak.ai, a testing ground that combined Kayak’s data and tools with OpenAI’s technology so the tech team could trial AI features before bringing them to Kayak.com. The new feature aims to assist travelers in the earliest stages of planning by helping them explore ideas, but it’s still unclear whether users who engage with these AI experiences will reliably convert into paying customers, or whether they would simply go straight to ChatGPT instead.
Amazon introduced a new AI-powered “Help Me Decide” button [The Verge]
Amazon introduced an AI-powered “Help Me Decide” button in the Amazon Shopping app that appears on product pages after a shopper has viewed a few similar items, recommending a single product based on browsing history and preferences, with a clear explanation and optional “upgrade” or “budget” alternatives before checkout. Aimed at reducing decision fatigue, the feature joins a broader industry push. Google recently upgraded AI Mode in search to add more visual options, and its Shopping Graph and Search Generative Experience suggest products based on intent and longer search queries.
Some creators are embracing AI tools in their workflow. A new Adobe survey of 16,000 creators in eight countries found that 86% of them use creative Gen AI tools and 60% use multiple tools. In terms of use cases, 48% use them for ideation, and 52% for creating video and more.
Employees are increasingly using AI to create ultra-realistic fake expense receipts; AppZen and others attribute the rise to advances in image generation models. Software provider AppZen said fake AI receipts accounted for about 14 per cent of fraudulent documents submitted in September, compared with none last year. Fintech group Ramp said its new software flagged more than $1mn in fraudulent invoices within 90 days, Financial Times reported.
Snack maker Mondelez opens new tab is using a new generative AI tool to cut costs for the production of marketing content by 30% to 50%, a senior executive told Reuters.The packaged-food manufacturer began developing the tool last year with ad company Publicis Groupe and IT firm Accenture.
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 Ryan Miller, our Director of Partnerships, at ryan.miller@ipglab.com.
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