Today's Digest looks at Instagram's partnership ads, upgrades in the AI sector and IAB's report on agencies, brands, and publishers' implementation of full-scale AI adoption.

Instagram Enhances Partnership Ads

Instagram is expanding its Marketing API, making it easier for advertisers to run partnership ads with creators, brands, and other businesses. These ads feature both the advertiser and partner accounts in the ad’s header, leveraging signals from both for improved ranking and performance.

Advertisers can now repurpose existing Instagram posts for partnership ads when creating campaigns via API, using Placement Asset Customisation and Advantage+ Creative.

For advertisers, these updates enable the creation of more authentic and engaging content in collaboration with creators, leading to higher-performing ads. Creators can also expand their reach by working with brands that align with their personal brand.

ChatGPT’s Image Generator Gets an Upgrade

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has announced the first major upgrade to ChatGPT’s image-generation capabilities in over a year. The chatbot can now create and modify images using OpenAI’s GPT-4o model, expanding its functionality beyond text generation.

Meanwhile, Google and Microsoft have also introduced new updates. Google has launched Gemini 2.5, which features a significantly enhanced base model which allows Gemini to interpret text, audio, images, video, and code. 

Microsoft announced two "deep reasoning" agents for Microsoft 365 Copilot—Researcher and Analyst, designed to handle complex research and integrate insights from external sources like Salesforce and ServiceNow.

Half of Agencies, Brands, and Publishers to Implement Full-scale AI Adoption by 2026 

 IAB has published its latest State of Data report, looking at how AI is set to transform the advertising industry. The report provides the first ever industry benchmarks on AI adoption, usage, and perceptions, while also highlighting key challenges, opportunities, and future requirements across the media campaign lifecycle.

The report highlights that AI adoption remains fragmented, with agencies, brands, and publishers yet to fully integrate it across media planning, activation, and analysis. However, half expect full-scale adoption by 2026. Agencies and publishers are leading the way, with over 70% finding AI effective in reducing manual work and improving efficiency. Key challenges the report found include data security, quality, and tool fragmentation, rather than job displacement. Despite these hurdles, only 49% of companies have implemented strategic roadmaps or governance measures to address them.