In this episode of The MadTech Podcast, ExchangeWire’s Anne-Marie Sheedy and Rachel Smith are joined by Madelin Farrington, head of client solutions at Kinesso to discuss the latest in the ad tech landscape. 

They take a look at Netflix’s new ad server, Google’s latest AI enhancements to its search engine, and Singaporean writers' decision to reject a government plan to train AI on their work. 

Netflix to build its own ad server (TechCrunch)

Netflix has announced the launch of its own ad tech platform. This move pits it against other industry heavyweights with ad servers, such as Google, Amazon and Comcast. 

Google updates Search with Generative AI (Google blog)

Google has unveiled an updated AI-enhanced version of its Search. AI Overviews will provide AI-generated answers which appear at the top of a user’s results page. Google Search will also incorporate new planning capabilities which can customise desired adjustments to its results. The move marks a shift in Google’s attempts to get ahead in the AI race. 

Singaporean writers and publishers reject government plan to train AI on their work (Rest of the world) 

Singaporean writers have pushed back against their government’s request to use their work to train a large language model (LLM). Singapore has set out to create its own LLM, intending to train it on material produced locally. However, the writers claim that there is little clarity on how their material will be used or how they will be compensated.