Around the World: The AI edition

AI is upending the global media and marketing landscape, reshaping how brands engage consumers, impacting the media industry and disrupting the agency world. Antony Young rounds up a mix of stories that highlight AI’s huge influence on the sector.

Coca-Cola’s AI – It’s the Real Thing

Coca-Cola is one brand that has embraced AI early. In marketing, the company pioneered generative AI- campaigns such as Create Real Magic, where artists worldwide used AI tools to generate over 120,000 original artworks for Coca-Cola’s iconic billboards. Last Christmas, I wrote about their AI-powered holiday TV campaign.

On the trade side, Coca-Cola is piloting AI-driven solutions with its bottling partners to enhance inventory management and optimise store orders. A predictive algorithm analyses historical sales data, weather, and geotracking to provide personalised SKU recommendations, helping retailers manage their stock more efficiently. 

AI drive-thru at Wendy’s

Wendy’s restaurants plans to expand its AI-driven voice ordering system to 600 drive-thru locations by the end of 2025, up from approximately 100 currently. This initiative, powered by Google Cloud’s FreshAI, aims to enhance order accuracy and customer experience hoping to avoid the embarrassing issues McDonald’s saw.

McDonald’s last year faced widespread criticism after viral TikTok videos showcased order mishaps with their AI ordering, such as adding unexpected items and misinterpreting customer requests.

Big tech betting big on AI in 2025

In 2024, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon and Meta reported a combined capital expenditure of $ 246 billion – yes that’s billion! – a significant increase from $ 151 billion in 2023.

For 2025, they plan to allocate over $ 320 billion toward AI-related investments, despite the current lack of a well-defined business model that guarantees a clear return on investment for such large-scale spending.

Publishers take AI to court

This latest legal action reflects ongoing tensions between publishers and AI firms over content usage rights. Several major publishers, including Condé Nast, McClatchy, and Vox Media, have filed a lawsuit against AI startup Cohere, alleging unauthorised use of at least 4,000 copyrighted articles to train its language model and display content without proper attribution.

The lawsuit, filed in the Southern District of New York, seeks damages of up to $ 150,000 per infringed work and aims to establish legal precedent for the licensed use of journalistic content by AI companies. 

AI is making us dumber

A study released by Microsoft and Carnegie Mellon University last week found that over-reliance on generative AI can erode critical thinking skills, as users who trust AI outputs too much engage less analytically. The research, which surveyed 319 knowledge workers across 936 AI-assisted tasks, revealed that automation can lead to cognitive decline, with participants defaulting to AI-generated solutions rather than refining them — especially under time pressure.  

ChatGPT opens up

OpenAI has updated its model spec, granting ChatGPT more flexibility in addressing sensitive topics while preventing outright rejection of specific perspectives. However, the platform continues to block content related to deepfakes, revenge porn, and misinformation (e.g., conspiracy theories like a flat Earth).

Some experts believe this shift is politically motivated, as OpenAI has faced criticism from figures such as Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and AI investor David Sacks, who claim ChatGPT exhibits a “woke” bias and overly cautious censorship, particularly on political topics.

How much energy does ChatGPT use?

Recent analysis suggests that the energy consumption of a typical ChatGPT query is significantly lower than previously estimated. While earlier claims suggested each query required 3 watt-hours — 10 times that of a Google search — updated calculations show that GPT-4o queries likely consume just 0.3 watt-hours, thanks to more efficient models and hardware.

This is comparable to the energy used by an LED bulb or a laptop for a few minutes and represents only a small fraction of overall electricity consumption for an average user, making ChatGPT’s environmental impact much lower than initially feared.

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