Chad Hetherington

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This AI in Marketing Roundup is all about ads and AI agents. But mostly ads. This month, ChatGPT opened up its self-serve ads manager with far fewer limitations, and Google unveiled some all-new ad formats in Search and AI Mode, along with an abundance of other upcoming Search updates that may just be the biggest changes the platform has seen in 25 years.

ChatGPT Ads Are Officially Here — Without Minimum Spend Requirements

Back in April, OpenAI launched its ChatGPT ad program. At the time, it was mostly reserved for brands with deep pockets for paid media and established industry connections. But in early May 2026, OpenAI made available its self-serve Ads Manager in a beta testing stage. And anyone can join.

Now, brands can sign up and begin purchasing ad space inside the popular chatbot with no minimum spend requirements — just like Google Ads. It’s an all-new and incredibly valuable sandbox for PPC advertising (Brafton’s PPC strategists are already set up and getting active within it).

That’s huge news for all businesses — with or without an existing paid media strategy — as it opens an entirely new door to connect with audiences and generate leads where 900+ million weekly active users are conducting their brand, product and service research before making purchase decisions.

Google Introduced Two New Ad Formats in AI Mode

Speaking of ads, on May 20, 2026, Google began testing new ad formats in Search that are meant to be more helpful for consumers within AI mode — Conversational Discovery ads and Highlighted Answers.

Here’s how each new format works, in brief:

Conversational Discovery

  • AI interprets nuanced, conversational searches.
  • Gemini generates customized ad messaging in real time.
  • Ads emphasize the most relevant product benefits for that specific query.
  • Designed to feel more helpful and context-aware than traditional Search ads.

Highlighted Answers

  • Ads are integrated into AI-generated recommendation experiences.
  • Only highly relevant, high-quality ads are eligible.
  • Sponsored recommendations appear alongside organic AI suggestions.
  • Focuses on discovery and decision-making moments rather than direct keyword targeting.

These new ad formats were just two of many updates unveiled at Google Marketing Live 2026. Other notable updates include:

  • AI-powered Shopping ads can now generate custom product explainers that highlight why a product fits a shopper’s needs.
  • A new “Business Agent for Leads” feature enables users to chat directly with an AI-powered brand assistant inside ads.
  • Google also unveiled “Ask Advisor,” a Gemini-powered assistant spanning Google Ads, Analytics, Merchant Center, and Marketing Platform tools.

For the full update and additional resources, see Google’s Ads & Commerce Blog update here.

New “Information Agents” In Google Search

Google’s latest Search updates may end up being even more disruptive than the new ad formats announced at Google Marketing Live. At Google I/O 2026, the company unveiled many new features and capabilities within Search.

One such update is something they’re calling “information agents” — AI-powered systems that continuously monitor the web on a user’s behalf and proactively deliver updates, recommendations and complete tasks inside Search.

For marketers, information agents could fundamentally change how consumers discover brands online. Instead of users manually searching, comparing options and revisiting websites over and over, these agents will likely handle a lot of that work automatically in the background.

A few potential implications:

  • Brand authority will matter even more, since AI agents will prioritize trusted, recognizable sources.
  • Structured content and product data will become critical for visibility inside AI-generated recommendations.
  • SEO will shift further away from single keyword optimization and toward creating genuinely useful, context-rich content and building topical authority that AI systems can easily interpret.
  • Comparison content, reviews, FAQs and product explainers may become increasingly valuable as agents use them to summarize and recommend solutions.
  • Customer journeys may happen more inside AI interfaces and less on traditional websites.

This aligns closely with Google’s new ad formats. If AI agents are helping users make purchasing decisions directly inside Search, ads need to be more conversational and contextual, or else they’ll feel totally out of place.

We talk more about some important and interesting changes coming to Google Search and its AI discovery tools here. It’s worth a read if you’ve been behind on your Google news. These updates are huge, and they might fundamentally change how marketers and SEO professionals approach their work.

Final Thoughts

Between new places to purchase ads, never-before-seen formats and Google Search updates that stand to shake up the industry and search strategies as we know them, there’s a lot to learn and wrap our heads around. Search is becoming more conversational, more personalized and far more agentic than we’ve ever seen before.

Note: This article was originally published on contentmarketing.ai.