Need to Know News - November 30th, 2025
In this week's Need to Know News edition:
🤖 Black Friday's AI traffic surged 805%... as Americans used chatbots to avoid one specific thing they hate about stores.
🤖 Perplexity's new AI shopper remembers your commute... then suggests boots that match the jacket it recommended three days ago.
🤖 Brands are spending $3,000/month to get noticed... by AI scrapers that regular shoppers will never, ever see.
And a whole lot more!
The New Claude Opus 4.5 Handles Spreadsheets, Research, and Long Conversations
Lengthy chats with Claude no longer hit a wall. Anthropic's new Opus 4.5 model automatically summarizes earlier context so conversations can keep going indefinitely. Early testers said the model "just gets it" when handling ambiguous requests and complex tradeoffs.
It performs noticeably better on everyday work like deep research, slides, and spreadsheets too. Pricing dropped to $5 per million input tokens, which opens up enterprise-level AI to smaller teams.
Perplexity Launches Free AI Shopping That Remembers Your Preferences
Your ferry commute might shape your next boot recommendation. Perplexity's new shopping feature remembers past conversations to personalize future product suggestions. Ask about a jacket for cold Bay Area mornings, and later queries about footwear draw from that context.
US users can buy directly through PayPal without leaving the chat. The company took shots at traditional search bars and affiliate-driven reviews, claiming its AI "understands intent" rather than just matching keywords.
🚀 Missing One of These 5 Essential 'Copy Blocks' Could Cost You A Fortune!
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
Black Friday AI Traffic to Retail Sites Jumped 805% Year Over Year
Americans spent $11.8 billion online this Black Friday. That's a 9.1% jump from last year, according to Adobe Analytics. But the wilder number is 805%. That's how much AI-driven traffic to retail websites spiked compared to 2024, when tools like Walmart's Sparky and Amazon's Rufus didn't exist yet.
Nearly half of US shoppers have used or plan to use AI for holiday purchases. Top sellers included Pokémon cards, LEGO sets, AirPods, and the PlayStation 5.
Morgan Stanley: AI Shopping Agents Will Add $115 Billion by 2030
Nearly half of American online shoppers will use AI agents by the end of this decade. That's the prediction from Morgan Stanley, which sees these tools adding $115 billion to US ecommerce spending. The firm calls agentic commerce "the next substantial GenAI-enabled unlock."
Groceries could become the breakout category, followed by household products and apparel. Amazon's Rufus already contributes over $700 million in operating profit this year. CEO Andy Jassy says the customer experience still needs work, but he's betting big on this shift.
Alibaba Enters AI Glasses Race with $268 Quark Headset
They look like regular black plastic frames. But Alibaba's new Quark glasses run on the company's Qwen AI model and connect to Alipay, Taobao, and translation tools. Priced starting at 1,899 yuan, about $268, the product puts Alibaba into a wearables fight dominated by Meta's 80% market share.
Analyst Li Chengdong says Alibaba wants AI glasses to become its next traffic gateway as ecommerce competition intensifies in China. Xiaomi and Baidu already sell similar products. Samsung and Apple have their own headset plays too.
Brands Are Shelling Out Big to Get Noticed by AI Agents
Some retailers have built entire websites humans never see. These hidden pages exist solely for AI crawlers feeding platforms like ChatGPT and Gemini. Companies that once published four blog posts monthly now push out 200.
Evertune.ai charges around $3,000 a month helping brands get discovered by large language models. Bed linen company Brooklinen pays influencers partly hoping AI scrapers pick up the mentions. Traffic from agentic sources remains tiny for now, but brands see opportunity.
Home Depot's AI Now Reads Blueprints and Builds Material Lists
Contractors upload house plans. Days later, they get complete material lists with pricing. Home Depot's new Blueprint Takeoffs tool uses AI to interpret residential blueprints and generate detailed quotes. The move puts Home Depot in direct competition with specialty distributors and estimating services that have owned this step for decades.
Each uploaded blueprint also feeds the retailer data about regional construction activity. Lowe's has pushed its own AI tools recently, but Home Depot's play goes deeper into the project planning phase where big purchasing decisions happen.
AI Marketing Hits $82 Billion Projection Despite "Slop" Problem
Marketers spend hours every week fixing AI mistakes. Neil Patel surveyed industry professionals and found nearly everyone admits to using AI tools while also constantly correcting their errors. The outputs often miss cultural nuance or fabricate data points entirely.
Despite this friction, the global AI marketing sector should grow from $20 billion today to $82 billion by 2030. The fix? Human oversight at every step. Companies building disciplined prompt strategies and review processes are pulling ahead.
AI Influencers Now Have Backstories, Feelings, and Fandoms
A pink-haired Instagram model named Aitana Lopez earns up to $11,000 a month promoting brands. She has a favorite pizza topping, a natal chart, and memories of her first concert. She also doesn't exist.
Aitana is one of a growing wave of AI influencers landing deals with Amazon, Prada, and Samsung, and AI musicians are climbing the charts right alongside them. A gospel singer named Solomon Ray hit number one on Billboard without ever stepping into a church. Critics find the whole thing unsettling, but fans keep following anyway.
Thanks for reading.
Until next time!
The AI Marketers
P.S. Help shape the future of this newsletter – take a short 2-minute survey so we can deliver even better AI marketing insights, prompts, and tools.
[Take Survey Here]
