AI News Feed
Market watch
LG UltraFine Evo 32U990A-S Hits Record-Low $1,099 on Amazon, TechRadar ReportsNewegg Labor Day Deal: 32GB Kingston Fury Beast DDR4-3200 Kit Nearly Half Price at $179.99 with CodeGalaxy Z Fold 8 inner screen corners reported with excessive giveHuawei unveils Mate XT 2 tri-fold with privacy-screen edition as Apple prepares folding iPhoneWall Street Analysts Recommend Nvidia, Uber and Marvell for Long-Term GrowthLenovo, AMD and Huawei Put Local Large-Model AI at Center of New Devices
LG UltraFine Evo 32U990A-S Hits Record-Low $1,099 on Amazon, TechRadar ReportsNewegg Labor Day Deal: 32GB Kingston Fury Beast DDR4-3200 Kit Nearly Half Price at $179.99 with CodeGalaxy Z Fold 8 inner screen corners reported with excessive giveHuawei unveils Mate XT 2 tri-fold with privacy-screen edition as Apple prepares folding iPhoneWall Street Analysts Recommend Nvidia, Uber and Marvell for Long-Term GrowthLenovo, AMD and Huawei Put Local Large-Model AI at Center of New Devices
Large Language Models

AI Set to Overtake Web Traffic as Ads Fight Back in Desperate Ways

According to ifanr, Elon Musk endorsed a Cloudflare report predicting AI will generate most web traffic. Meanwhile, BMW, Roku, Microsoft, Google and Perplexity are embedding ads into devices, systems and AI answers, sparking user backlash.

AI News Feed · 2026-08-23 13:42

The Cloudflare report suggests future traffic will mostly occur in conversations between agents and servers, with no human eyes involved. This undermines the traditional attention economy, where ads are shown to users as they browse pages or click through apps.

One example of this ad counteroffensive involves BMW. After a recent over-the-air update, some overseas BMW owners reported seeing a promotional banner for the Sony/Marvel film “Spider-Man: Fresh Start” on their vehicle’s central display upon startup. BMW had previously promised not to use the dashboard or central screen for marketing. Its senior vice president Stephan Durach once said the central display is “the user’s private space” and that users would not be sold to advertisers. BMW previously drew criticism for offering seat heating as a paid subscription feature even though the hardware was already installed.

Streaming device maker Roku obtained a patent in 2024 for “custom HDMI ad insertion,” which monitors external HDMI signals and inserts ads when a pause event is detected — even if users are playing a game on a console without using the TV’s built-in software. Following public backlash, Roku said the patent was only a technical reserve and not planned for release.

Microsoft has added “recommended apps,” effectively sponsored ads, to the Windows Start menu, and also promotes MSN feeds, games and Bing ads on the lock screen. Domestic Android phones in China commonly embed ads in lock screens, wallpapers and home-screen information feeds, which are often difficult to disable.

Artificial intelligence itself is becoming a new ad carrier. Google’s AI Overviews directly integrate sponsored product cards or content into AI-generated answers. For example, when a user asks how to choose a coffee machine, the AI may insert a specific brand’s product card. Perplexity introduced “sponsored questions,” where brands bid to have their suggested follow-up questions appear in deep conversations. The company said follow-up questions account for 40% of all requests. Microsoft’s Copilot and other AI products are also reportedly embedding ad links within citations.

The line between content and ads is becoming increasingly blurred in the AI era, making it harder for users to recognize when they are being marketed to. As AI agents free humans from screen interaction, the old advertising industry is scrambling to capture the remaining attention through every available channel.