Greetings earthlings,

Welcome to the May edition of Spark Intelligence. Emma here, guiding you through what matters from the past few weeks.

I’m not going to sugar-coat it—the most recent developments signal real momentum in how fast the way we work is shifting because of AI. And with disruption comes equal parts anxiety and opportunity.

Over the last few weeks the AI giants have thrown some big stones into the pond. Meta wants to run your ads for you, OpenAI wants to close your retail sales without ever visiting the retailers website, and Adobe is quietly teaming up with Google and OpenAI to plug its creative AI gaps.

So today we focus on this disruptive shift across advertising, marketing, media and retail—helping you understand what’s happening, beyond the headlines and get clarity on how to respond. You can read it all below, or catch the bumper May episode of our podcast What’s New in Creative AI, available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and YouTube.

For any newbies: I send out Spark Intelligence every fortnight, alternating between a deep dive into a single theme and news across multiple AI topics relevant to your businesses (like today). At Spark AI we help leaders navigate the AI transition with confidence and turn change into competitive advantage.

1. Advertising gets automated

At Meta’s first AI summit, LlamaCon, Mark Zuckerberg unveiled his bold vision - for AI agents that do it all. What Meta’s promising:

• Brands state their objective (awareness, conversion, etc.)

• Meta’s AI creates ads, runs campaigns, handles optimisation

• Even handles customer service too

• All built into Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp

Response has been sharply divided.

• Agencies & brands: concerned about brand safety, transparency, and IP risk

• Advertising and media: concerned for their business models

• Small businesses: excited about new access to tools once reserved for big budgets

Why it matters:

• Meta is coming for the whole funnel

• Agencies of all kinds must focus on strategic value, creative nuance, and ethical oversight

• This is a moment to define your point of difference

On that very topic of differentiation - join me on 3rd June at 11am for our webinar with Kate Ross (eight&four) and Luke Taylor (UnitedUs).

2. ChatGPT x Shopify: AI takes on e-commerce

OpenAI is integrating shopping into ChatGPT. Users will be able to:

• Ask for product suggestions

• Browse curated picks with images, reviews, and prices

• Buy directly in the chat (Shopify backend)

• All through a conversation - a very different shopping experience

There are a few impacts that come to mind immediately:

1. A direct challenge to Amazon, Google and traditional online shopping. What will this do to web hits on retailers websites?

2. SEO strategies start to shift toward GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation). But it’s early days and specialists are still figuring out what GEO actually is. Tools are starting to emerge like Peec.ai to track AI search analytics, but what people are searching for and the volume is still opaque. John Campbell wrote a great posted about this on LinkedIn last week.

3. Payments and logistics are catching up: Visa and Mastercard are rolling out AI-secure payment tools. Are you ready to give your card details to ChatGPT?

What this means for you: We don’t know the ranking factors for GEO yet—but those who test early will win.

3. Tools, tools, tools.

We know you love nothing more than to hear reviews of the latest tools - here’s a roundup of latest developments.

Adobe Firefly v4 + a back-pocket surprise from the corporate giant

Adobe’s latest Firefly upgrade comes with improved photo realism + video quality and text-to-vector capability (finally!).

And in a surprise move Adobe is now in talks to partner with OpenAI and Google to bridge its gaps. Could this be the smartest move from Adobe, to capitalise on it’s IP safe data set and compensate for the insufficencies in the model to date? One to watch.

Canva Sheets: From spreadsheet to studio

Canva Sheets make it easier to scale design using structured data. Features include:

• Bulk Create: generate batches of assets

• Scale and localise copy in seconds

• Resize designs into different formats at scale

This plays to their core audience: in-house marketing teams who need speed, brand consistency and output volume. Smart move Canva!

ChatGPT-o3: For thinkers, not just typers

o3 combines advanced reasoning, autonomous tool use (code, images, browsing), and visual understanding into one seamless system. It doesn’t spit out a quick draft—instead it reasons through complexity. It can:

• Conduct nuanced research with citations and sources

• Read, generate, and interpret images

• Write, debug, and review code in-context

• Combine all of the above in a single task chain

You’ll find it a bit slower than GPT-4o because it’s doing more thinking behind the scenes. For concept development, strategy exploration or research-heavy briefs, it’s proving incredibly useful.

Figma launches Buzz & Make Sites

Figma’s newly announced tools—Buzz and Make Sites—aim to help creatives move from idea to live product without leaving the design environment.

• Buzz helps you rapidly explore ideas, generate creative directions, and build page structure using AI. Think of it as an AI-powered creative partner.

• Make Sites is a site builder integrated directly into Figma. It lets you publish responsive websites with your own domain straight from your design canvas, with no code or developer hand-off required.

This release signals Figma’s deeper push into the end-to-end workflow space, competing with tools like Webflow and Framer. If they succeed, it could mean fewer steps, fewer tools, and much faster routes from brand idea to web presence.

📎 See the announcement

Unified platforms: Flora, Krea, and co.

Speaking of fewer steps and fewer tools… platforms like Krea and Flora AI aim to unify AI workflows. Instead of jumping between GPT, Midjourney, Runway and more, these tools bring it all together.

• They offer access to everything under one subscription

• You can build and save workflows and share them with your team

But there are some things to consider: Slight loss of control vs native tools, and potential platform lock-in once you’ve built and saved all your workflows. Definitely worth a trial!

4. AI in the wild 🐅

• Pinterest has started flagging AI-generated content after complaints of low-quality "slop"

• H&M and Zalando license human models to create digital doubles for campaign shoots

• Italy's Il Foglio published an all-AI-written newspaper—verdict? Technically sound, but lacked emotional punch apparently. But watch this space, things (especially in the world of AI) improve first.

5. Big, bold National AI Reform in Sweden 🇸🇪 

Launched on Friday, the Swedish AI Reform is one of the most ambitious national AI initiatives we’ve seen so far. Backed by Sana, a pretty incredible Swedish AI company, and major Swedish donors, the reform aims to:

• Give 2.3 million Swedes free access to advanced AI tools

• Improve AI literacy across schools, civil service, and non-profits

• Modernise public sector workflows using Sana’s agentic AI

• Create AI-savvy students and educators through focused curriculum reform

Think of it as Sweden’s AI version of their Home PC revolution from the late 90s. The goal is to make Sweden a world leader in applied AI, not just R&D. We might have the AI Action Plan here in the UK - but we are yet to see the action. Sweden has shown real leadership here, impressive to say the least.

6. YC hail designers as the new founders

Y Combinator is calling 2025 the year of the designer-founder. Yes! 🙌 ✏️

In a video released last week, they argue that with AI and no-code tools lowering the barrier to engineering, what matters most now is taste, user empathy, and creative problem-solving—qualities designers bring in spades. They’re not wrong. Designers can now:

• Build proof of concepts in hours

• Run user testing, iterate, and launch without dev support

• Build and ship full products, solo

YC’s message is clear, they want to fund design-led companies from day one. If you’re a designer with a vision—now might be your moment.

7. From the Spark AI Crew

This month we are wrapping up AI Accelerator programmes with mark-making* and Analogue (we’ll miss you!) and delivered AI Fundamentals workshops with 2LK, ORCA, Curious PR and Shaped By.

We’re kicking off 5 more AI Accelerators at the moment—and now booking July/August. Want to learn more?
📧 [email protected]

Plus we are so excited to be developing our new AI for Client Services module, led by the brilliant Mette Davis—former client lead at global networks, co-founder of an agency, and CreativeMBA course leader at Cannes Lions.

Have you met our AI coaching team yet?

We are so proud to have a team of hand-picked top-of-their-game experts guiding teams across strategy, leadership, design and client services. Also the most wonderful people to work with!

• Simone Carasco — AI Fundamentals

• Steve Edwards — AI for Leaders

• Emma Jackson — AI for Leaders

• Alicia Grimes — AI for Leaders

• Matthew Maxwell — AI for Design + Strategy

• Jonas Haefele — AI Fundamentals, AI for Design + Strategy

• Mette Davis — AI for Client Services

We help teams shape how they think, work, and lead in the age of AI.

🔔 Upcoming events

Webinar: June 3rd @ 11:00am
Why distinctiveness is your survival strategy in the AI era

With Kate Ross (eight&four) & Luke Taylor (UnitedUs) - register here

Open Training: June 10th 11am - 5pm
AI Fundamentals for Agency + Marketing Leaders

In person, London, citizenM Bankside
Email us to join - book here

Conference: June 12th–13th
The AI Summit, London

We’re running a workshop + Emma’s chairing a panel. Come say hi!

☀️ Cannes anyone?

Me and Jules will both be there for the whole week - say hello if you see one of us or get in touch to arrange to meet.

🔍 In the next edition: AI and the environment

Many of you have asked about AI’s carbon footprint. We’re on it.

In our next issue we’ll share what we know (and don’t), who’s taking action, and how to ask the right questions of vendors, platforms and partners.

No fearmongering. Just the facts.

Until then!

Emma

AI isn’t just about tools - it’s a business shift. Spark AI helps you lead the AI transition strategically, not reactively, with confident teams and a strategy for the future.

Download a brochure 👉 AI for Agencies | AI for Marketers 

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