AI ads go prime-time

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Hi AI Futurists,

A startup just made history when it created the first fully AI-generated TV ad. The commercial aired during the NBA Finals. The creation process was fast, cheap, and iterative, and it reveals the ways AI is shaking up the advertising business. Let’s take a look.

Here’s our agenda.

• Our Sponsors: AdQuick and Wall Street Prep

• Top AI news

• AI ads go prime-time

• Top 3 selected AI tools

• AI in the wild

Best,
Lex

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Top AI news

• 🌍 AI Emissions Face Surprising Tipping Point
AI could slash global carbon by 5.4 Gt yearly—net wins.

• 🧐 LinkedIn's AI Write‑Bot Hits Low Engagement
CEO Roslansky admits fewer users than anticipated.

• 🤖 Meta Hires AI Engineers Like They're Going Out of Style
Zuck’s pivot: recruiting AI talent at full speed ahead.

• 📞 India’s BPO Industry Gets a Voice Makeover
Accent‑smoothing AI helps 42,000 agents sound 'neutral'.

• 🤝 Apple’s Eyeing $14B Perplexity Pickup
Internal talks hint at a mega‑deal to give Siri and Safari an AI boost.

•🏦 Goldman Sachs Rolls Out Firmwide AI Assistant
Internal tool now live for all employees, memo confirms.

• 🧠 Reid Hoffman Bets on AI Brainwaves Startup
Sanmai aims to use ultrasound and AI to enhance cognition.

• 📄 Job Apps Go AI, But Hiring Managers Roll Their Eyes
Firms see a flood of AI‑written resumes and it shows.

• 💻 Google’s New Chromebook Packs Local AI Muscle
New model adds on-device AI features with no cloud needed.

• 🎓 AI-Powered College Matchmaking
Helping students pick schools, majors, and scholarships smarter.

AI ads go prime-time

A startup called NX.S1 just became the first company to air an entirely AI-generated video ad during the NBA Finals with no actors, no film crew, and no sets. The ad, promoting the prediction market platform Kalshi, was created in under a week using a range of generative AI tools. Every visual and voice was synthetic, down to the actors who don’t actually exist. While CGI in ads is nothing new, this is the first major broadcast spot built entirely using recent advances in text-to-video and AI voice.

The ad’s creators used tools like Runway for video generation, ElevenLabs for voice, and Pika Labs for facial animation. The production process cost a fraction of what a traditional shoot would demand. “This is not a gimmick — this is a new production model,” said NX.S1 co-founder Yash Sahay, who believes this approach will soon dominate advertising for startups and enterprise brands alike. Kalshi’s team also emphasized the speed of iteration: they ran over 200 ad versions in just five days to see what worked.

While the ad was short, its implications are long-term. Creative production now looks more like coding or prompt engineering than directing or filming. The shift may reshape jobs in advertising, media, and beyond. The human imagination hasn’t disappeared, but the tools to express it have multiplied and they move faster than ever. In a world where attention is scarce, the ability to test 200 versions of your story in a week may matter more than hiring a celebrity.

Takeaways at a glance

• Entire ad created using generative AI (text-to-video, AI voice, synthetic actors)

• Production completed in under 7 days with no human actors

• Cost and time were significantly lower than traditional ad production

• AI allows rapid A/B testing and iteration of video creative

• This approach may redefine media, advertising, and content pipelines

What We Think About It:

• This is a milestone in real-world application of multimodal AI, not just tech demos, but scalable commercial use. It lowers the bar for entry to high-end ad production and empowers lean teams to move fast. Expect this model to become standard in VC-funded startup growth loops and enterprise marketing experiments.

What You Can Do Right Now:

• Try spotting which ads are real and which are AI-generated — the line is getting blurry, and it sharpens your media literacy. If you're working on personal projects, use free or low-cost tools like Runway or Pika to experiment with turning your own ideas into short videos.

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AI in the wild

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