AI News

AI - Jan 12, 2026 Google and Apple's Gemini deal raises questions about AI market control

Apple and Google logos joining hands on globe illustrating AI partnership dominance

Google's Gemini models will power Apple Intelligence starting 2026. The multi-year partnership centralizes AI control amid industry criticism of platform dominance.

by Luis Espada

AI - Jan 11, 2026 Visa builds payment infrastructure for AI agents to shop on your behalf

Visa AI agent shopping across Amazon, Target, Walmart with biometric authentication and tokenization

Visa's Rubail Birwadker reveals how the company is building tokenized payment systems for agentic commerce, addressing fraud concerns as AI agents begin making purchases.

by Luis Espada

Retail - Jan 11, 2026 Target and Walmart bring checkout directly into Google's AI assistant

Google leads major retailers in the Universal Commerce Protocol

Target and Walmart enable direct purchasing through Google Gemini and AI Mode in Search, powered by Universal Commerce Protocol announced January 11, 2026.

by Luis Espada

AI - Jan 11, 2026 Ad industry veterans explain why AdCP isn't competing with real-time bidding

AdCP portfolio layer above OpenRTB execution layer showing allocation decisions and performance feedback loop

Industry leaders argue Ad Context Protocol enables portfolio management for advertising investments rather than snapshot bidding decisions programmatic advertising uses today.

by Luis Espada

Retail - Jan 11, 2026 Universal Commerce Protocol could make checkout buttons obsolete

AI agents disrupt traditional Buy Now button as Universal Commerce Protocol enables autonomous shopping.

The Universal Commerce Protocol threatens e-commerce platforms' differentiation while creating opportunities for merchants to escape platform lock-in.

by Luis Espada

Retail - Jan 11, 2026 Mastercard bets future payments run through AI agents instead of people

Mastercard Agent Pay infrastructure enables AI agents to execute secure autonomous payments.

Mastercard introduces Agent Pay today for autonomous commerce, partnering with Google on Universal Commerce Protocol as 800M OpenAI users signal demand.

by Luis Espada

Retail - Jan 11, 2026 Google launches protocol for AI agents to shop across platforms

Google Direct Offers displaying sponsored deals in AI Mode on mobile device interface.

Google launches Universal Commerce Protocol with major retailers on January 11, 2026, introducing checkout APIs and payment standards for autonomous AI agents.

by Luis Espada

AI - Jan 11, 2026 Web3 is dead and AI killed it

Web3 funding crashed 74% while AI investment hit $124.3B in 2024. Developers abandoned blockchain for AI tools as 90% of Web3 projects failed. Here's why it matters.

by Luis Espada