Week In Review: Retailers have launched a new AI styling tool called “Ella”, Lululemon uses AI for go-to-market processes, and Anthropic wins big in a Series F funding round.
Brands and Agencies
Fashion Retailers Launch ‘Ella,’ an AI Styling Tool
Fashion retailers Revolve and FWRD partnered with membership platform Vivrelle to launch “Ella”, an AI-powered personal styling platform designed to deliver hyper-personalised outfit recommendations. The tool provides product recommendations across the shopping platform based on user prompts, such as what to wear for a trip to a beach destination or what to wear to a formal gathering. Users can also catch a glimpse of what looks are currently trending on the platforms. The companies have another AI tool, called Complete The Look, which gives extra product suggestions for the user to add to their cart before making a purchase.
Lululemon Incorporates AI for Faster Design and Product Rollout
Lululemon has announced it will integrate AI into its design and go-to-market processes, aiming to compress the time it takes to bring new products to consumers. The company plans to use AI tools to analyse market trends, customer feedback, and materials performance; streamlining decision-making from concept through production. This adoption of AI is expected to reduce inefficiencies and speed up launches while maintaining product quality.
Publicis Sapient Appoints Nathalie Gaveau as Chief Client Officer
Publicis Groupe has appointed Nathalie Gaveau, founder of PriceMinister and Shopcade, as chief client officer of Publicis Sapient, its digital transformation hub, with a mandate to help clients fast-track into AI-enabled enterprises. Based in New York and also serving as EVP at Publicis Groupe, Gaveau will join the US ComEx leadership team. A seasoned entrepreneur and board member at Coca-Cola EuroPacific Partners and Lightspeed Commerce, she brings deep expertise in AI, digital innovation, and growth strategy to accelerate Publicis’ next phase of transformation.
Taco Bell Scales Back Voice AI Ordering After Customer Complaints
Taco Bell is reconsidering its AI-powered drive-through system after mixed results at more than 500 locations. Customers have reported glitches, delays, and awkward interactions, while some have taken to trolling the technology with absurd orders. Chief Digital and Technology Officer Dane Mathews acknowledged the challenges, saying the company is rethinking where voice AI is best deployed and when human staff should take over. Despite the issues, Taco Bell has processed more than two million AI-driven orders and still sees the technology as part of its long-term roadmap. The company’s parent, Yum Brands, is working with Nvidia on further AI applications, while rivals such as McDonald’s and Wendy’s continue their own experiments with Google Cloud–powered systems.
Havas India Launches Gate One Consultancy to Drive AI Transformation
Havas India has announced the launch of Gate One, its global business and digital transformation consultancy, in Bangalore, marking the agency’s fourth market after the UK, Ireland, and US. The move strengthens Havas India’s capabilities in customer experience, marketing transformation, digital, data, and AI strategy. The new practice will be led by Karan Ingle, client director at Gate One, who will report to Ben Tye, managing partner at Gate One, and Rana Barua, group CEO of Havas India, SEA and North Asia. Housed under the Havas Creative Network in India Village, Gate One becomes the sixth global agency introduced in India, reflecting the country’s growing importance for Havas. The consultancy will focus on high-impact business transformation programmes, bringing together local insight with global expertise to help brands accelerate AI-enabled growth.
Shein Probes AI-Generated Image of Luigi Mangione Used in Product Listing
Fast-fashion giant Shein is investigating whether AI was used to generate an image of accused murderer Luigi Mangione appearing to model one of its shirts. The listing, supplied by a third-party vendor, showed Mangione in a white floral shirt retailing for $11, which quickly sold out before the image was removed. Shein said it is strengthening monitoring processes and may take action against the vendor, stressing it has “stringent standards” for all platform listings. The incident highlights the rise of realistic AI-generated images in ads.
WPP Appoints Sarah Salter as Lead Global Partnerships and AI Innovation
WPP has named Sarah Salter as Vice President of Global Partnerships and AI Innovation, reflecting its growing commitment to scaling AI across its global network. Salter will focus on strengthening partnerships with technology leaders while accelerating WPP’s AI integration strategy. “I’m happy to share that I’m starting a new position as Vice President, Global Partnerships and AI Innovation at WPP,” Salter announced in a LinkedIn post. This move comes as WPP tries to ramp up its AI efforts, following the departure of its CEO Mark Read this year. The company appointed a former Microsoft executive to take on the role, Cindy Rose, who stated all WPP employees must be able to strategically utilise AI in the workplace.
Media
Amazon Prime Video Reshuffles Team to Accelerate AI Initiatives
Amazon Prime Video has reshuffled its senior leadership, creating a new AI-focused role while consolidating its US operations under one executive. Albert Cheng, previously VP of Prime Video US, now leads the company’s AI strategy, tasked with developing tools to empower creative partners and integrate AI into content creation alongside the Studios tech team. Meanwhile, Jay Marine takes over Cheng’s former responsibilities, overseeing both Prime Video’s US business and global sports and advertising operations. Mike Hopkins, head of Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios, cited AI’s rapid acceleration as the impetus for the shift, noting the company is pursuing faster, more efficient decision-making and “entirely new kinds of storytelling” powered by technology.
Publishers Urge UK Regulator to Include Gemini in Investigation
UK media publishers and trade groups, including DMG Media and Guardian Media Group, are pressuring the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to expand its Strategic Market Status (SMS) investigation of Google’s search services to explicitly include Gemini – the company’s AI assistant – alongside its AI search features AI Overviews and AI Mode. They argue that although Gemini may be presented differently, it performs the same function: fetching and summarising web content. Excluding Gemini would weaken efforts to ensure transparency, attribution, and fair use of publisher content across Google’s AI offerings.
Sunrise Rolls Out AI-Powered ‘TV Highlights’ to Boost Content Discovery
Swiss telecom provider Sunrise has launched an AI-driven feature called ‘TV Highlights’, leveraging Media Distillery’s Preview Distillery to automatically generate 15–20 second highlight clips from the 50 most-watched channels. Deployed in early September, the service creates around 100 daily clips, which are served across the Sunrise TV app – via carousels, dedicated rails, and personalised feeds – aimed at helping viewers decide what to watch faster and increasing engagement. The initiative reflects Sunrise’s focus on using GenAI and machine learning to enhance TV user experience and support smarter content discovery.
GenAI Accepted in Animation Industry, Research Reveals
A new study from data platform Luminate Intelligence shows that Gen AI is gaining mainstream acceptance within the animation industry. The information appears in the company’s Animation & AI Report, which views the ways AI is involved in the industry. The report shared that, while 46 percent of film and TV consumers said they disagree with AI replacing human actors, only 30 percent felt uncomfortable with AI being used in animation. The report mentioned that animation companies which use AI only utilise tech that has been trained on “ethical data”, and limit AI use to avoid copyright disputes.
Newsrooms Across EMEA Experiment with Conversational AI
News publishers across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa are increasingly experimenting with conversational AI to boost reader engagement, a report from FT Strategies revealed. The report, “Taking AI from the back-end to the front page”, investigates case studies from 16 newsrooms across the regions. The newsrooms were enrolled in a program called AI Launchpad, which was hosted by the Financial Times and Google last year. At the beginning of the program, many of the newsrooms utilised AI for tasks such as headline generation and automated story tagging. However, many began using the tech to build conversational chatbots, which open up new ways for readers to engage with content.
Warner Bros Discovery Sues Midjourney Over Superman Images
Warner Bros Discovery has filed a lawsuit against generative AI platform Midjourney, alleging infringement of intellectual property rights. The film company joins other media companies Disney and Universal, who filed similar lawsuits against the AI company in June. Warner Bros accused Midjourney of replicating trademarked characters from Warner Bros films such as Batman, Superman, and Scooby Doo. Warner Bros argues that the reproduction of its superhero content threatens brand control and undermines creative ownership. In a filing in the Disney and Universal case last month, Midjourney stated that copyright law “does not confer absolute control” over the use of copyrighted material.
Tech
HubSpot Unveils “The Loop” AI Marketing Playbook
At its Inbound 2025 conference, HubSpot launched “The Loop”, an AI marketing framework designed to help brands thrive in an AI-driven environment. The Loop spans four stages – Express (defining brand voice), Tailor (using AI for hyper-personalised messaging), Amplify (diversifying reach across channels like social and podcasts), and Evolve (continuous learning from performance). Alongside the playbook, HubSpot introduced over 15 Breeze AI agents that integrate CRM data to assist with customer engagement, content creation, and sales.
Anthropic Reaches Landmark Copyright Settlement in AI Training Case
Anthropic has struck a proposed settlement with US authors who accused the company of using pirated books to train its Claude AI assistant. The agreement comes ahead of a potentially catastrophic December trial and follows a mixed fair-use ruling that deemed model training lawful but criticised unlicensed book storage. Experts say the ruling could redefine how AI firms source training data. While the terms remain undisclosed, the deal is being hailed as a potential turning point in the evolving legal landscape of AI and copyright.
Meta Adds “Restricted Words” Feature to Control AI-Generated Ad Copy
Meta has introduced a new “Restricted Words” setting within its Advantage+ ad suite, empowering advertisers to block specific words or phrases from appearing in AI-generated text. Located in the Branding section of ad setup, this tool allows marketers to safeguard their brand voice by excluding problematic or overused terms – such as “fluff” or “unlock” – that may surface in automatically generated copy. This addition enhances creative control in an era of increasingly automated ad production.
Mistral Adds “Memories” to AI Assistant ‘Le Chat’
French AI startup Mistral AI has upgraded its assistant, Le Chat, with a new “Memories” feature – allowing the AI to remember past user interactions for more coherent, context-rich replies. Users retain full control over these memories with opt-in settings to add, edit, or delete entries. The memory capacity notably exceeds that of its competitors – offering 10× for premium users and 5× for free users. The company positions the upgrade as a privacy-first, enterprise-ready AI assistant – a claim bolstered by research ranking Le Chat as the least privacy-invasive major AI.
Adobe Brings Premiere Video Editor to iPhone with Firefly AI Features
Adobe is launching Premiere for iPhone on September 30, offering creators a mobile version of its flagship video editor equipped with AI-powered tools from its Firefly models. The app will allow users to generate images, audio, and video from text prompts, alongside core editing features like trimming, layering, automatic captions, and 4K HDR support. It also includes “Enhance Speech” for noise reduction and integrates Adobe’s stock library of media assets. While free to download, AI credits and cloud storage will require payment.
Amazon Launches AI-Powered Visual Shopping Feature
Amazon has unveiled an AI-powered Lens Live, a new visual-search feature in its Shopping app that allows users to scan items through their camera and instantly view product matches. The feature, rolling out to tens of millions of iOS users in the US, uses AI-powered object recognition to deliver product matches in a carousel at the bottom of the screen. Shoppers can tap to focus on a single item, add it to their cart or wish list, and access product summaries and suggested questions through Amazon’s AI assistant, Rufus. The integration of Rufus allows for conversational prompts and instant product insights directly within the live camera view. This move represents more than just a new feature – it’s a step toward embedding AI-driven, real-time discovery within its digital shopping.
Apple Set to Launch AI Search Engine
Apple is planning to launch its own AI-powered search tool next year, according to reports from Bloomberg. The tech giant, which has largely trailed behind competitors when it comes to AI development, would be in direct competition with ChatGPT-parent OpenAI and Perplexity, who both have a stake in the AI browser market. US startup Perplexity launched its own browser ‘Comet’ a few months ago. It was reported shortly after that OpenAI was developing its own AI browser. So far, OpenAI has introduced Operator, an agent that can go to the web to perform tasks for you independently. Apple has reportedly named the answer engine ‘World Knowledge Answers’, and is set to be integrated into the tech giant’s Siri voice assistant. Bloomberg also reports the tech could be added to Safari and Spotlight browsers.
DeepL Launches AI Agent, Competing With Other AI Giants
DeepL unveiled its first AI agent, “DeepL Agent”. The agent is aimed at enterprises, offering multilingual support, workflow automation, and communication efficiency. It responds to natural language commands, and can be used for various industries–from human resources to marketing–, the company said. DeepL, an AI translation platform, has held a separate focus from other major AI companies like OpenAI and Anthropic. The release of this enterprise-geared agent places DeepL in closer range with its competitors and opens an opportunity for the startup to become a bigger name in the AI space.
Sierra AI Hits $10 Billion Valuation With Major Funding Round
AI startup Sierra, co-founded in 2023 by Bret Taylor, former Salesforce co-CEO and OpenAI board chair, and Clay Bavor, former Google Labs executive, has reached a $10bn valuation. The startup raised $350m in a funding round led by investment company Greenoaks Capital. This valuation is more than double the startup’s $4.5m valuation reported last October. Sierra focuses on AI agents for customer engagement and enterprise use cases. The company said it will use the funds to advance its platform and expand domestically and internationally.
Captions Rebrands to Mirage, Launches AI Video Foundation Model
Captions, an AI video editing and creation app, rebranded as Mirage. The company, which has an estimated valuation of $500m, is shifting its focus to be an AI research lab for social media video content. The company will offer multimodal AI models specifically catering to platforms like TikTok and YouTube, integrating the AI video capabilities of Captions with the brand-focused, ad production vision of Mirage Studio. Mirage Studio, unveiled in June, helps brands create video ad content through uploaded audio files, complete with customisable backgrounds and AI avatars.
Number of the Week
$183 billion. That’s how much AI startup Anthropic is worth following a staggering $13 billion Series F funding round, pushing its post-money valuation to $183 billion, roughly triple its value from earlier this year. The round was led by Iconiq Capital alongside Fidelity and Lightspeed, and drew participation from major investors including the Qatar Investment Authority, Blackstone, and Coatue. The company’s revenue run-rate surged from $1 billion to over $5 billion by August, fuelled by strong growth in its Claude AI models and enterprise demand. Anthropic now ranks as the fourth most valuable private company globally, surpassed only by SpaceX, OpenAI, and ByteDance.
