Need to Know News - February 12th, 2026
In this week's Need to Know News edition:
🤖 Gucci just turned Snapchat into a luxury fitting room... the AI behind it is a first for the entire fashion industry.
🤖 70% of consumers would let AI agents shop for them... but there's one trust barrier still to overcome.
🤖 FedEx built AI tools that made "where is my order?" nearly disappear... the retention numbers from early adopters are striking.
And a whole lot more!
Google and Microsoft Are Paying Creators $500K+ to Promote AI Tools
Up to $600,000 per creator deal. That's what Google and Microsoft are paying influencers to promote AI tools, per CNBC. They're not alone. OpenAI, Anthropic, and Meta are all in. AI platforms spent over $1 billion on U.S. digital ads in 2025, up 126% year over year.
Not everyone's taking the money. Creator Jack Lepiarz has 7 million followers and turned down $20,000 for an AI deal. He says he'd refuse $500,000 too.
Gucci Launches Luxury's First Sponsored AI Lens on Snapchat
Snapchat users can now become a Gucci character with a single tap. The Italian house is the first luxury brand to launch a Sponsored AI Lens on the platform, built around its La Famiglia collection. Generative AI transforms your selfie into one of six styled personas, from a '60s red coat rebel to a tailored suit boss.
It's already live in France, the UK, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia. The rest of the world can access it through Gucci's Snapchat profile.
🚀 Every Ad, Landing Page, & Offer Need these 5 Crucial 'Copy Blocks'
Two $100+ million copywriters discovered what REALLY drives conversions...5 simple building blocks arranged in a specific order. This framework is so powerful that beginners are generating 5-figure profits with it. And you can learn the full system in just 33 minutes.
Discover All 5 'Copy Blocks' Now
Pinterest Now Lets Brands Test AI That Personalizes Ads to User Taste
While most platforms slap AI onto existing ad formats, Pinterest is building something more personal. Their new Ad Labs program lets select brands test generative AI tools tuned to each user's taste. The standout feature creates custom lifestyle backgrounds for product images. Instead of a chair on white, you see it in a room that matches your style.
Nike, Wayfair, and NYX are also testing shoppable collages where users can tap products and buy straight from curated visual boards.
Amazon Says AI Agents Are the Future of B2B Buying
"The primary way companies will get value from AI is with agents," Amazon CEO Andy Jassy told analysts during the Q4 earnings call. He painted a future where software agents research products, compare options, and place orders inside business systems, no human needed. Amazon's AI shopping tool Rufus reached 300 million users in 2025, and those users were 60% more likely to buy.
The message for B2B sellers is direct. If your product data isn't clean and machine-readable, AI agents will skip right past you.
Perplexity Upgrades Deep Research and Ships Model Council
Perplexity's Deep Research now runs on Claude Opus 4.5 and outperforms competing tools on accuracy across leading benchmarks. Pro and Max users get access first. But the bigger shift might be Model Council, which runs your query through three AI models at once and shows where they agree or clash. Think of it as a second opinion, times three.
Their memory engine also got sharper, recalling details 95% of the time, up from 77%. And step-by-step learning mode is now open to all users, not just students.
LIV Golf Launches AI 'Fan Caddie' Powered by Salesforce
LIV Golf's fourth season kicked off in Riyadh with a new AI companion in tow. "Chip" is a fan-facing agent built on Salesforce's Agentforce 360, living inside the LIV Golf app. It delivers real-time tournament data, hole-by-hole scoring, and player comparisons while you watch.
Fans can also shop player outfits directly through the app. On the broadcast side, a separate Agent Caddie feeds live shot data to commentators via Slack for richer storytelling across all 72 holes.
Full Story
OpenAI Starts Testing Ads in ChatGPT
Free and Go tier ChatGPT users in the U.S. will now see sponsored content in their conversations. OpenAI says ads are matched to your chat topics and history, but they're always labeled and kept separate from answers. Nothing about what ChatGPT tells you changes, and advertisers never see your conversations.
If you'd rather skip ads, upgrading to Plus or Pro removes them entirely. Free users can opt out too, but at the cost of fewer daily messages. Health and political topics are off limits for ads.
70% of Consumers Say Yes to AI Agents for Shopping
Seven in ten consumers want AI agents to help them shop, according to a PYMNTS survey of 2,299 U.S. adults. Health, wellness, and travel top the list of tasks people would hand off, with subscriptions and groceries close behind.
But money changes things. Half would let AI complete purchases on its own, yet they still insist on previewing actions and approving transactions first. And when it comes to who they trust to run these agents, banks and digital wallets win easily. Trust in AI platforms among non-regular users sits at just 3%.
Reddit Looks to AI Search as Its Next Big Opportunity
Reddit Answers grew from 1 million weekly users to 15 million in 2025. That surge has the company betting AI search is its next big revenue play. CEO Steve Huffman says Reddit is especially strong on questions with no single right answer, where hearing from many voices is the whole point.
Now the company is merging traditional search and AI answers into one tool. By Q3 2026, Reddit plans to erase the logged-in versus logged-out divide and personalize the site for everyone.
Full Story
FedEx AI Tools Tackle "Where Is My Order?" for Retailers
"Where is my order?" is one of the most common support questions online retailers face. FedEx wants to make it disappear. Their new AI tools, Tracking+ and Returns+, plug directly into a merchant's website and handle delivery and returns questions automatically. Brands using similar tech from partner parcelLab have seen 42% fewer order-status inquiries and 85% higher customer retention.
Returns get smarter too. The AI can adjust return policies on the fly using rules set by the merchant, with no manual updates needed.
Thanks for reading.
Until next time!
The AI Marketers
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