This week’s Week In Review: H&M to use AI models in social media campaigns, Havas appoints new tech leaders, Meta launches AI tool to boost marketing, and more.
Agency & Brands
H&M to Use AI-Generated Models in Social Media Campaigns
H&M has announced plans to feature AI-generated versions of real-life models in its upcoming social media and advertising campaigns. The 30 digital replicas, created with consent, will be developed in partnership with Swedish tech firm Uncut to ensure lifelike appearances. The human models will retain rights to their AI counterparts and receive commission similar to traditional campaigns. AI-generated images will be clearly labelled, in line with transparency rules on platforms like Instagram and TikTok, the clothing brand explained. While the move allows for more content at lower costs – an approach also adopted by brands like Levi’s – creative industry groups have raised concerns, warning that AI could displace jobs for photographers, stylists, and performers, calling for stronger protections against AI cloning in the UK.
Havas Appoints New Data and Tech Leaders to Drive AI and Converged Strategy
Havas has announced a new global leadership team to accelerate its AI-powered Converged operating system and strengthen its data and technology strategy across the group. Dan Hagen has been promoted to Global Chief Data and Technology Officer, tasked with advancing the marketing agency’s AI Converged strategy, aligning global operations, and enhancing data and tech capabilities across Havas’ 23,000 employees. He has been succeeded by Jamie Seltzer, now Global Chief Data and Technology Officer for Havas Media Network, where she will lead the development of the Converged media roadmap and further embed data-driven practices throughout the network.
Peter Mears, Global CEO, Havas Media Network commented on the new appointments: “Clients are demanding future forward agency partners who are data‑led and outcome driven; Jamie has been critical to ensuring Havas Media Network is positioned to deliver on that promise. We look forward to seeing Dan and Jamie’s continued collaboration across the entire Havas ecosystem to accelerate the group’s broader Converged strategy and data and tech ambitions.”
Monks Partners with Hightouch to Deliver AI-Powered Personalisation in APAC
Monks has announced a new partnership with US-based customer data and AI platform Hightouch to bring AI-driven personalisation to clients across the Asia-Pacific region. The collaboration aims to help brands overcome challenges like fragmented data and messy pipelines by enabling the deployment of Composable Customer Data Platforms (CDPs) – a modular approach to managing and activating first-party data. Monks said that once “data readiness” is achieved, clients can use Hightouch’s platform to build campaigns and AI-powered experiences using pre-built integrations.
Media
US Media Trade Association Claims AI Newsletter Scrapes Data
The News/Media Alliance, a trade association representing over 2,200 US and Canadian publishers, has issued a formal letter to Good Daily, accusing the AI-driven newsletter company of unauthorised content scraping, including from paywalled sources. Good Daily uses AI to compile local news roundups with summaries and links to original articles. However, the Alliance claims this violates publisher terms of service and bypasses protections.
Danielle Coffey, President and CEO of the News/Media Alliance, said: “Publishers must have control of how and where their copyrighted material is used. As AI tools proliferate, we have to ensure that they are used responsibly. AI can be a powerful tool to empower journalists and to better inform communities across America, but if used recklessly it can undermine the health of the organisations that dedicate substantial resources to creating news and other media content for the American people. News media and AI-based entities can both continue to exist and thrive, but for that to happen sustainably, they must do so in cooperation, with publisher rights fully respected.”
Australian Authors Allege Use of Their Books to Train Meta’s AI
Australian authors are claiming their works have been used without consent to train Meta’s AI models. The dataset, called LibGen, reportedly used by Meta, includes books by prominent Australians such as former prime ministers Malcolm Turnbull and Kevin Rudd, and other famous Australian authors like Holden Sheppard and Tracey Spicer. Many authors have expressed feeling ‘violated’ from the use of their works. This case is one of many across the globe involving creatives challenging the free-use of their work to train AI models.
IAB Report Finds Advertising Industry Cautious on AI Integration
The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) released a new report revealing that while interest in AI is high, most of the advertising industry has yet to fully adopt it. Titled State of Data 2025, the report shows that 70 percent of agencies, brands, and publishers haven’t fully integrated AI into campaign processes, with concerns around data security cited as a top barrier. However, half of those not yet using AI plan to adopt it within the next year. The report, based on a survey of over 500 industry experts, found agencies and publishers are ahead of brands in AI adoption. Only 49 percent of professionals have implemented or plan to implement structured solutions like formal training or AI-specific KPIs.
Gannett-Owned Boston Newsrooms Use AI Tools for News
Several Gannett-owned publications in Massachusetts, US, including The Patriot Ledger and Cape Cod Times, have begun using a GenAI tool called Espresso to assist in producing local news content. The tool helps reporters draft polished articles from press releases and community announcements. Editors say the tool is intended to expand local coverage while freeing up staff journalists for more in-depth reporting. Gannett emphasises that AI-generated content is overseen by journalists and maintains editorial standards. However, some media experts have raised transparency concerns about how much of the work is AI-generated versus human-written.
Jellyfish Launches AI-Powered Media Platform Following Rebrand
Digital marketing agency Jellyfish has launched a new AI-driven media platform designed to streamline media planning, content strategy, and campaign activation. Built on proprietary AI tools and integrated with its existing Media Ops Agent, the platform creates automated, agentic workflows for marketers. Already in use with clients, the platform offers full in-house access to all media programmes. Jellyfish claims it delivers 65 percent faster campaign launches, 22 percent lower costs, and a 30 percent performance boost, all with zero errors due to AI precision. The launch follows Jellyfish’s recent rebrand, including a new logo and the tagline “Move Faster, Smarter, Together”, marking the completion of its 12-month AI transformation.
Tech
CoreWeave Hires New CMO
Cloud-computing company CoreWeave has appointed Jean English as Chief Marketing Officer to enhance its brand presence in the AI cloud sector. English joins the team with over 20 years of marketing experience, including leadership roles at cloud, AI, and cybersecurity firms and has held CMO positions at Juniper Networks, Palo Alto Networks, NetApp, and IBM Cloud, where she helped scale enterprise growth and AI cloud solutions. English will oversee CoreWeave’s global marketing strategy.
“Jean’s data-driven, multi-channel marketing expertise will support CoreWeave’s role in driving AI innovations across industries,” said CoreWeave CEO Michael Intrator.
Meta Launches AI Tools to Boost Creator Marketing on Instagram
Meta has introduced new AI-driven marketing tools to help brands discover and collaborate with creators more effectively on Instagram’s Creator Marketplace. The updates include AI-powered creator recommendations, smarter content suggestions, and enhanced search and insights features. Brands can now use keyword searches to find creators and receive personalised content recommendations through the Partnership Ads Hub. Meta says the new AI tools will drive stronger brand-creator partnerships.
Pureprofile Launches AI-Powered Tools for Online Consumer Trends
Global data and insights company Pureprofile has launched three new AI-powered products, developed in partnership with Quilt.AI, to help brands identify emerging consumer trends. The new tools, Social Meaning, Emerging Consumer Trends, and Beauty Trends, analyses unstructured data from social media, search engines, blogs, and news sites to provide deeper insights into consumer sentiment and cultural shifts. These solutions are designed to help marketers cut through digital noise and make faster, research-informed decisions.
Amazon Tests AI Tool ‘Interests’ to Personalise Shopping Experience
Amazon is trialing a new AI-powered shopping feature called Interests, designed to match users with products based on their preferences. The tool uses large language models (LLMs) to turn prompts into actionable search queries and operates continuously to surface new products. Currently being tested on Amazon’s mobile app and website, Interests will roll out to all US users in the coming months. The launch is part of Amazon’s broader push into GenAI.
Microsoft Upgrades Copilot with Advanced Reasoning and Research Tools
Microsoft has enhanced its AI chatbot Copilot with deep research and reasoning capabilities, enabling it to deliver more complex answers and perform advanced tasks. The upgraded Copilot can now integrate with third-party data connectors and pull insights from across company tools. This move follows a broader trend in AI, with Google’s Gemini and xAI’s Grok 3 also introducing advanced reasoning features. However, spectators have raised concerns about AI reliability, especially in a work-context where chatbots become embedded in business operations.
