Lab Weekly - 12/16/2024
End-of-Year Trend Recap; New Floor 9 episode; Plus, the latest news on new Gemini models, Android XR, & more
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Editor’s note: Hi there, this email marks the last 2024 edition of Lab Weekly. On behalf of the IPG Media Lab team, thank you for following along this year and engaging with our content. As always, we will be back in early January to kick off the new year with some fresh insights from CES 2025. Until then, take care, and Happy Holidays!
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
In case you missed it…
The Battle is On for Control over the AI Narrative
So, is the AI bubble about to burst, or are we about to welcome our new AI overlord?
What the Incoming Trump Administration Means for Tech & Innovations
Everything from antitrust & AI regulations to trust in legacy media, this presidential election’s effects will be felt across every sector of the tech world.
The AI Agents Are Coming — Is Your Brand Ready?
Exploring what moving on from AI chatbots to agentic AI systems might mean for brands
Episode 165: 2024 Year-End Trend Recap
Closing out this remarkable year of innovations, the entire Lab team came together for our annual recap of the biggest trends that defined the tech and media landscape in 2024, and look ahead to see what 2025 may bring. Together, the team discussed:
The maturing deployment of AI and the long-term prospect of the AI hype
The future of search and the impact that AI-driven challengers could have on Google’s dominance
The shifting landscape of social media—more media, less “social”—and how creators navigate evolving platforms and parasocial dynamics.
The major developments in mixed reality, esp. in hardware, and how its user cases might evolve
The streaming landscape in the post-streaming wars era, doubling down on live sports and battling subscription fatigue
Join us for this year-end roundup as we celebrate our team, our guests, and you—our listeners—and head into 2025 with fresh insights and excitement.
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!
Google Unveils Project Mariner: AI Agents To Use The Web For You [TechCrunch]
On Wednesday, Google announced a lot of updates for its AI initiatives, including Gemini 2, an update of its flagship AI model. More importantly, Google AI is entering its agentic era with Mariner, a research prototype from the company’s DeepMind division. This AI agent is powered by Gemini 2 and can take control of your Chrome browser, and essentially navigate websites and complete digital tasks much like a human would.
In theory, AI agents could theoretically create more personalized lifestyle experiences by understanding our habits and preferences. For example, by integrating agentic AI like Mariner, a shopping app could become a “shopping companion,” not only offering recommendations but proactively adding relevant items to a customer’s cart or monitoring price changes. But, as with many other AI use cases, mass adoption of this type of personal AI agent would still hinge on solving the longstanding challenge of bridging the AI trust gap.
Related: Google rolls out faster Gemini AI model to power agents [Bloomberg]; Apple rolls out Siri’s ChatGPT integration in iOS 18.2 [CNBC]; A roundup of OpenAI’s 12 days of “ship-mas” of new announcements [The Verge]
Google Announces Android XR, Launching 2025 On Samsung Headset [9to5google]
Another major announcement from Google is their operating system (OS) for mixed reality devices. Named Android XR (which stands for extended reality, an umbrella term that covers everything from AR to VR to MR), this new OS will make its debut not on any Google device, but on Samsung's Project Moohan headset, which is reportedly set to launch in late 2025.
The platform's open nature and potential for more affordable devices could democratize access to XR technology, fostering innovation and market growth. Beyond Samsung, Sony, Lynx, and Xreal are all reportedly building Android XR devices too. All of them will contribute to the growing market of immersive hardware, which is currently led by Apple’s Vision Pro and Meta’s Quest headsets and Ray-Ban glasses.
Notably, Android XR is built around Google's Gemini AI, which should help create more intuitive, context-driven, and responsive user experiences. A key use case for generative AI has been speculated to be generating contextually relevant user interfaces for immersive environments, instead of relying on a set of menus, buttons, or gestures. If Google can pull off this AI integration smoothly, Apple would naturally need to elevate Apple Intelligence's positioning in visionOS to remain competitive.
Related: Apple, Sony discuss teaming up on gaming controllers for Vision Pro [Bloomberg]; Solos challenges Meta’s Ray-Bans with $299 ChatGPT smart glasses [The Verge]
GM Pulls The Plug On Cruise’s Robotaxi Business [The Verge]
General Motors has pulled the funding for its self-driving subsidiary, Cruise, citing the prolonged time, substantial resources, and increasing competition in the robotaxi market as key reasons for the decision.
The decision came as a surprise to many in the mobility sector, as autonomous vehicles, and robotaxi in particular, have been on an upswing this year in terms of in-market deployment. Perhaps the intensifying competition from key robotaxi players like Waymo and Tesla influenced GM’s decision, or perhaps Cruise just became too expensive for GM to justify spending money on it, especially considering that robotaxi services are likely still years away from becoming profitable businesses.
Whatever the reason, the end of Cruise doesn’t necessarily mean the end of GM’s presence in the AV space. Instead, the automaker will look to consolidate its autonomous driving teams under one roof, and refocus on enhancing its advanced driver assistance system, Super Cruise. Perhaps the decision comes down to the fact that it is easier to sell commoditized self-driving software than to run your own robotaxi service.
Related: Ford takes $2.7 billion hit as it drops efforts to develop full self-driving cars [CNN]; Uber will offer robotaxi rides in Abu Dhabi through partnership with WeRide [CNBC]
Situational Awareness:
Meta strikes deal with James Cameron’s Lightstorm to Bring More “Big-Name IP” to Quest devices [THR]
This is an interesting development that could put some pressure on Apple’s Immersive Video format, hopefully spurring more IP-driven immersive content to mixed reality headsets.
TikTok Shop Goes Live for Spain, Ireland in Europe Rollout [Bloomberg]
Despite the looming U.S. ban, TikTok seems determined to continue its global expansion of its social commerce initiative. Even in the U.S., it is trying to shore up user engagement and promote TikTok Shop by offering users in-app shopping credits when they invite friends to join the app.
Google Lens will now help you decide what to buy in-store [The Verge]
Android and iOS users in the US can now take a picture in the Google app to get useful product information and find similar items in the same store. A great implementation of multimodal AI that brands can leverage to innovate your in-store experience.
CNBC Plans Q1 Launch for Targeted Streaming Service [Variety]
We don’t necessarily need another niche streaming service, but the launch would mark the migration of yet another cable TV stable to streaming. The recent spin-off of cable channels by NBUniversal clearly is a factor as well.
Meta’s Threads is developing its own take on Bluesky’s ‘Starter Packs’ [TechCrunch]
You can tell Meta is worried about a competitor whenever they start copying a key feature from them. It’d be curious to see whether Bluesky’s momentum continues to build and outpace Thread’s user growth in 2025.
Some of the latest streaming numbers to note: Amazon’s streaming coverage of the NFL’s Black Friday game drew an audience of 13.5 million viewers, a 41% increase from the company’s first such broadcast last year, Bloomberg reports. Meanwhile, YouTube says viewers worldwide streamed over 1 billion hours of content daily on TVs in 2024, including 400 million hours of podcasts monthly; watchtime of sports content on YouTube also grew 30% year-over-year.
The number of generative AI users in China reached 230 million at the end of June, as a crop of start-ups and Big Tech firms rushed to offer their large language model services, according to government data, SCMP reports.Chinese tech giant Baidu’s Ernie Bot, known as Wenxiaoyan in Chinese, is the most frequently used Gen AI product by domestic users, with an 11.5% share, followed by OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini, with 7% and 3.8% share respectively,
TikTok Shop generated more than $100 million in single-day sales on Black Friday, triple the amount of sales from that day last year, the social media platform announced Between Black Friday and Cyber Monday, the share of TikTok shoppers spiked 165% year over year. Among the top-selling brands were Crocs, Fenty Beauty, Estée Lauder and The Ordinary, according to the announcement.
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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