This week, agency AI-driven advertising took a leap forward, while governments tightened their grip on Big Tech and platforms raced to evolve their ecosystems. In today’s MadTech Daily, we discuss Meta being found in breach of EU law over child safety and opening its ads ecosystem to third-party AI. We also cover big tech surpassing $100bn in Q1 ad revenue as well as Uber expanding into hotels through an Expedia deal.

During Omnicom’s Q1 earnings call, CEO John Wren revealed the company has already executed live media buys using AI agents. The agent-to-agent framework allows software to autonomously purchase ad inventory directly from publishers, signalling a potential shift away from traditional programmatic intermediaries.

Anthropic, for its part, is pushing the boundaries of autonomous commerce. The company has tested a closed AI agent marketplace, where bots acted as both buyers and sellers, negotiating real transactions. 

Back in the commercial arena, OpenAI is expanding its advertising ambitions by showing ads to logged-out ChatGPT users. The move is designed to increase available inventory and meet advertiser demand, which has so far outpaced supply in its early ad experiments.

On the defence front, Google has reportedly signed a classified agreement with the US Department of Defense, permitting its AI models to be used for ‘any lawful government purpose’. The move places Google alongside OpenAI and xAI in securing government AI contracts.

Meanwhile, Australia is ramping up pressure on Big Tech with proposed legislation that would force platforms to pay for news or face a levy on local revenues. The News Bargaining Incentive targets companies including Meta, Google, and TikTok, reinforcing global efforts to rebalance the relationship between platforms and publishers.

Publishers are also innovating in response to shifting data dynamics. News UK has launched Times ExplorAItion, a synthetic audience planning tool that allows advertisers to simulate audience segments using a mix of subscriber data, panels, and engagement insights offering a new approach to campaign testing in a privacy-first era.

Finally, Meta is taking another swing at social engagement with the launch of Instants, a standalone app focused on spontaneous, disappearing photo sharing. With its camera-first design and ephemeral messaging, the app closely mirrors Snapchat’s core features.