Agentic AI Takes Over Marketing This Week

Agentic AI is the new buzzword in marketing, and companies are moving fast to use it. Unlike regular AI tools that help with small tasks, agentic AI works on its own to complete big jobs. Think of it like hiring a smart robot worker who can think through problems, make plans, and do things without you telling it exactly what to do every single step. This is changing how companies run their marketing and advertising.

Yahoo's New AI Agents for Ads

Yahoo DSP, a company that helps advertisers reach people online, just launched three new agentic AI tools. These tools can set up ad campaigns automatically without a person having to do it. If there is a problem with how many people are seeing an ad, the AI can find the problem and suggest a fix. Best of all, the AI can eventually make the fixes all by itself with just one approval from a human. This saves advertisers time and helps them fix ads faster.

Meta Buys Manus for Better AI Agents

Meta, the company behind Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, is buying Manus, a company based in Singapore that makes smart AI agents. Manus became popular fast because its AI agents can do hard research jobs and code writing with almost no help from people. Manus already makes over one hundred million dollars every year. Meta plans to add Manus's AI agents to Facebook, Instagram, and other Meta apps so people and businesses can use them. Marketers could use these agents to research audiences, test ads, and even help customers without a person having to do it.

CES 2026 Shows AI Agents Are the Future

At CES 2026, a huge technology conference, agentic AI was the biggest topic. Many companies showed off new ideas using AI agents. NBCUniversal, which owns TV channels and movie studios, told everyone it is testing AI agents that can sell advertisements to other companies. An organization called IAB Tech Lab released a roadmap, which is like a plan, for how all companies should build AI agents so they work well together. However, some experts said that agentic AI in advertising "isn't ready for prime time just yet," meaning it still needs more work before it is perfect.

Google Makes Money From AI Search in More Countries

Google is putting ads inside AI search summaries and expanding this to eleven more countries. These countries include Australia, Canada, India, and Singapore. When people search using Google's AI, they see a summary written by AI at the top, and ads show up there too. Google is doing this because people are using ChatGPT and other AI assistants more, and Google wants to stay competitive and make money.

How This Changes Shopping and Marketing

Experts say all of this means big changes are coming for how people find and buy products. Right now, people search for things themselves and click on websites. In the future, AI agents might do this searching for you. The agent could look at thousands of products, compare prices, read reviews, and then tell you what it thinks is best. Some companies already let people buy things directly inside ChatGPT using a tool called Instant Checkout.

Companies Are Combining AI Agents With Regular Software

Something surprising is happening: AI agents are not replacing older software, they are working together with it. Companies that help other companies run their businesses are combining SaaS (software that runs on the internet) with AI agents. SaaS provides rules, organization, and safety limits that big companies need. AI agents add speed and help do more work. Winners in 2026 will be companies that can combine these two ideas together.

What This Means for Marketers

Marketers need to start thinking differently about how to reach people. Instead of just making ads that people will see, companies need to make sure AI agents can find and understand their products. This is called Generative Engine Optimization, or GEO, which is like the new version of SEO (search engine optimization). Brands must organize their product information in a way that AI agents can easily read and recommend. The future of marketing is not about getting humans to click on ads—it is about getting AI agents to recommend your product first.