Work, Ads, and Ethics in Flux [Horizon 01 - Issue #2]

Too much text? Listen to AI talking this edition over at Apple Podcasts.

AI is no longer just an optimization tool—it’s actively reshaping how professionals work, how brands engage with customers, and how businesses navigate new regulations. This week’s developments highlight three major shifts: AI’s increasing ability to act on our behalf, the explosion of hyper-personalized content, and the growing scrutiny of AI’s role in consumer interactions.

First, AI is moving beyond automation and into representation. Tools like Pickle are redefining what “showing up” means, allowing professionals to maintain presence without physical participation. Meanwhile, Mistral’s Le Chat and Zonos v0.1 demonstrate that AI-driven communication—whether through chat or voice—is becoming faster, cheaper, and more customizable. Businesses will need to rethink how they balance authenticity and efficiency when deploying these tools.

At the same time, AI’s role in advertising and customer engagement is undergoing a major transformation. Snap’s on-device AI image generator makes it possible to craft real-time, personalized ad experiences, while Google’s Gemini 2.0 is pushing the cost of AI-powered marketing down, making advanced targeting and content generation more accessible than ever. But as AI takes over more interactions, regulations like California’s chatbot bill signal that the era of freewheeling AI-driven engagement may be coming to an end. The challenge for businesses? Leverage AI’s speed and scale while staying ahead of shifting ethical and legal boundaries.

📌 Pickle: The AI Doppelgänger That Attends Zoom Calls for You

Imagine this: You’re drowning in work, but you still have to sit through a meeting where your only contribution is nodding along. Enter Pickle, a new AI-powered “body double” that takes your place in Zoom calls. Your Pickle avatar moves, lip-syncs to your voice, and looks like you, but you don’t actually have to be there. Finally, a way to reclaim your time without awkwardly pretending your Wi-Fi cut out.

Unlike static avatars, Pickle actually mimics your natural head movements and facial expressions, ensuring that colleagues see a lifelike representation of you rather than a frozen image. It’s built for professionals who frequently juggle multiple calls or have meeting fatigue but still need to maintain a presence.

Why It Matters:

For marketing, sales, and customer success teams, Pickle could free up precious hours. Sales execs can sit in on discovery calls while multitasking elsewhere, and support managers can “attend” meetings without being glued to their screens. Think of it as a low-effort way to maintain a presence while keeping your calendar under control.

📸 Snap’s On-Device AI Image Generator: A Game Changer for Snapchat campaigns

Snapchat just rolled out a mobile-first AI image generator that creates high-quality visuals on-device. This could revolutionize Snap Ads, allowing brands to generate hyper-personalized ad creatives in real-time. Imagine an ad that dynamically generates custom visuals based on a user’s preferences—that’s where this is heading.

Snap's AI model is optimized for speed and efficiency, allowing marketers to design and test multiple ad variants almost instantly. With generative AI becoming more embedded in digital ad platforms, businesses will be able to deliver more personalized and engaging content at scale.

Why You Should Care:

If you’re running Snapchat campaigns, this tech could enable personalized, real-time ad creation, increasing engagement and conversions. And since it runs directly on users’ devices, privacy concerns are minimized.

🚀 Google’s Gemini 2.0: AI Power at Lower Costs

Google’s latest AI model, Gemini 2.0, is here, and it is making AI-powered workflows cheaper than ever. Whether you're using AI for content generation, customer analytics, or ad copy refinement, Gemini 2.0 offers enterprise-level performance at a fraction of the usual cost. Plus, it now integrates seamlessly with YouTube, Google Maps, and Search, turning Google’s ecosystem into an all-in-one AI-driven marketing machine.

Gemini 2.0 is designed for versatility, offering longer context windows, enhanced multimodal understanding, and improved reasoning capabilities. This means more accurate outputs for AI-driven campaign analysis, audience targeting, and predictive analytics, helping businesses make smarter marketing decisions.

How It Can Help You:

• Content marketing? Generate polished articles, social media posts, and ad creatives at scale.

• SEO & Ads? Analyze trends in real-time and optimize campaigns dynamically.

• Customer insights? Use AI to understand audience behavior across Google’s platforms.

This shift makes high-powered AI more accessible and cost-effective, setting a new standard for AI-driven marketing operations.

🎙️ Zonos v0.1: Your Brand’s AI Voice

A new open-source voice AI called Zonos v0.1 is making waves by offering high-quality, customizable speech synthesis for free.

Zonos is designed to generate realistic and emotionally expressive speech, making it a powerful tool for businesses looking to improve customer engagement. Whether for marketing campaigns, automated customer service, or dynamic sales interactions, this AI could transform how brands use voice technology.

How It Can Help You:

• Marketing: Auto-generate voiceovers for video ads and social content.

• Sales: Create personalized AI-driven cold calls.

• Customer Support: Improve IVR systems with natural-sounding AI agents.

If you’ve ever wanted an AI voice that truly represents your brand, Zonos could be the most cost-effective solution yet.

📜 California’s Chatbot Bill: A Warning for AI in Customer Support

A proposed California bill is cracking down on chatbots, especially those interacting with minors. If passed, businesses will need to clearly disclose when users are speaking to AI and implement safeguards against AI manipulation. The bill highlights concerns that AI chatbots could be designed to build rapport with young users in ways that might be misleading or even addictive.

What This Means for You:

• If you use AI chatbots for customer service, prepare for new compliance rules.

• AI-driven sales outreach may need explicit disclaimers.

• More states (and countries) could follow suit, making transparency a priority.

This could lead to significant changes in how businesses deploy chatbots for marketing, sales, and support. Companies relying heavily on AI-driven engagement will need to rethink how they design chatbot interactions to align with emerging regulations.

💬 Mistral’s Le Chat: The Fast, Budget-Friendly AI Chatbot

Mistral AI is making waves with Le Chat, an ultra-fast, cost-effective chatbot that can process up to 1,000 words per second. While it might not have ChatGPT’s brand recognition, it delivers speed and affordability, making it an attractive alternative for businesses. Some of Mistral’s models are also open-weight, meaning you can deploy them in-house, reducing the risk of data leaks—a big plus for enterprises concerned about security.

Le Chat is designed for businesses looking to maximize AI efficiency without breaking the bank. The model supports deep customization, allowing companies to fine-tune chat interactions and improve customer experiences. Whether it's automating FAQ responses or powering interactive chat-based marketing campaigns, Le Chat delivers impressive speed and reliability.

What It Means for Your Business:

• Marketing teams can use Le Chat to generate copy, automate responses, and create interactive customer experiences.

• Sales teams can integrate it into CRMs to assist with real-time prospect research.

• Customer support teams can offer instant, AI-driven responses without breaking the budget.

That’s it for this week! AI is moving fast, and the time to integrate it into your workflows is now. See you next week for another round of AI breakthroughs.

— Peter and Torsten