FirstFT: Google to power ads with generative AI

We have a scoop today on Google’s plans to introduce generative artificial intelligence into its advertising business over the coming months, in the latest move by tech giants to incorporate the groundbreaking technology into their products.

According to an internal presentation to advertisers seen by the Financial Times, the Alphabet-owned company intends to begin using the AI to create novel advertisements based on materials produced by human marketers.

Google already uses AI in its advertising business to create simple prompts that encourage users to buy products. However, the integration of its latest generative AI — which also powers its Bard chatbot — means it will be able to produce far more sophisticated campaigns resembling those created by marketing agencies.

According to the presentation, advertisers can supply “creative” content such as imagery, video and text relating to a particular campaign. The AI will then “remix” this material to generate ads based on the audience it aims to reach, as well as other goals such as sales targets.

Here’s what I’m keeping tabs on today:

• ECB: The European Central Bank publishes its monetary policy discussions from its meeting held last month.

• UK: The CBI and PwC publish their quarterly survey of financial services, tracking optimism, profits and employment for the first quarter.

• Results: WHSmith, Ipsos, Renault, AT&T, American Express and Philip Morris International report.

Five more top stories

1. EXCLUSIVE: Bank of America has raised concerns with Lloyd’s of London about excluding “state-backed” cyber attacks from standard insurance policies, underscoring unease among financial institutions about changes to a crucial safety net. Read the full story.

• More banks: Morgan Stanley’s chief has warned that investment banking revenues may not recover until next year after the group reported a fall in profits.

• Opinion: Banks now look well positioned to outperform just as some in the market have deemed them to be uninvestable, writes Algebris Investments founder Davide Serra.

2. Pension funds have urged UK chancellor Jeremy Hunt not to force them to invest in riskier assets such as fast-growing, young British companies and infrastructure. Hunt has said he would not be “instinctively comfortable” with ordering pension funds where to invest some of their money, but he has not ruled out such a move.

3. Virgin Media O2 has kicked off the sale of at least half of its stake in Cornerstone, which manages the UK’s largest mobile tower network and is likely to be valued at up to £3bn. Here’s how Virgin Media O2 could use the money from the sale.

4. Elon Musk indicated he was willing to sacrifice Tesla’s short-term profits for market share in order to make more money later when the company’s cars can operate as fully autonomous “robotaxis”. The unconventional justification sent shares down 6 per cent in after-market trading yesterday.

5. The EU is planning emergency curbs on Ukrainian grain imports to five member states close to the war-torn country, bowing to pressure from Poland and Hungary after they took unilateral action to protect local farmers from the cheap imports. Read more on Brussels’s unusual response to a challenge of its trade policy powers.

The Big Read

With India set to surpass China as the world’s most populous country, its public digital infrastructure has become a core part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s efforts to present India as a nascent economic superpower and alternative investment destination to its neighbour. But the “India Stack”, its novel approach to integrate private and public digital services, has sparked worries over privacy and data protection.

We’re also reading . . . 

Chart of the day

Data released yesterday showed UK inflation fell less than expected and remained in double digits at 10.1 per cent last month, significantly higher than in the US and the eurozone. But the details and underlying trends also indicate that Britain is not the outlier that initial comparisons suggest.

Take a break from the news

Double Vanilla is a vlogger on street style who asks strangers to detail their looks — and asks them the price. On a trip to Paris, she interviewed a tourist wearing Tom Ford sunglasses, a Dior handbag, Chanel trainers and Van Cleef & Arpels jewellery and was able to reveal the not insignificant sum for her “walking-around-Paris-with-my-daughter” outfit.

“People are always interested in seeing how much other people spend on their clothes,” Double Vanilla says.

Additional contributions by Gordon Smith and Emily Goldberg