OpenAI is testing Sponsored Agents in ChatGPT, letting you click a brand's ad and start a live chat with that brand's AI agent before you ever land on their site. Meta launched Meta One, a tiered subscription running from $2.99 up to $499 a month that unlocks AI image and video generation across Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp. And Google released Gemini 3.8 Live, a voice AI model that automatically switches between 97 languages mid-conversation, built for customer service and phone agents. Listen to the latest AI news and AI insights to stay ahead of the curve.
OpenAI is testing a new ad format inside ChatGPT called Sponsored Agents: click a brand's ad and start a live, clearly labeled chat with that brand to ask sizing, specs, or fit questions before you click through to their site. Meta launched Meta One this week, a tiered subscription running from $2.99 up to $499 a month that unlocks AI image and video generation across Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp. And Google released Gemini 3.8 Live, a real-time voice AI model that automatically switches between 97 languages mid-conversation, built for customer service and phone agents.
Ashley Coffey breaks down why the ChatGPT ad format is the one to watch if you advertise online, which Meta One tier is actually worth paying for, and why Gemini 3.8 Live might be the clearest small-business ROI story of the year. AI news you should know about, in under 10 minutes.
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Ashley Coffey (00:04)
And welcome back to AI news that you shouldn't know about for September 19th. I'm your host, Ashley Coffey There's a lot of AI news out there, so we give you the weekly highlights very quickly. This week on the show, we'll be talking about open AI testing sponsored agents and ChatGPT letting you chat with a brand's agent after clicking its ad.
Ashley Coffey (00:24)
Meta launched Meta One, a $2.99 a month subscription that unlocks AI image and video generation across its apps. And Google launched Gemini 3.8 Live, a voice model that switches between 97 languages. We'll be covering all of that on our show today, but first, here's a quick word from our sponsors.
Ashley Coffey (00:49)
Let's dive in. All right. OpenAI is testing sponsored agents and ChatGPT letting you chat with a brand's agent after clicking the ad. So let's talk about it. OpenAI is testing a new format called Sponsored Agents. And right now, ads in ChatGPT are static, but this lets you click an ad and start a live, clearly labeled chat with that brand's AI agent, separate from your regular ChatGPT conversation.
Ashley Coffey (01:17)
You can ask it questions such as sizing, specs, will this work for my situation, before deciding whether to click through the company's site. It's only testing with Select US advertisers for now with no confirmed brand names yet.
Ashley Coffey (01:33)
OpenAI's framing, shoppers usually have follow-up questions after seeing an ad, and this closes that gap instead of sending you straight to a website.
Ashley Coffey (01:43)
My take here, this is the first real signal of what ChatGPT's ad business will actually look like. And it's conversational, not just banner style. If you advertise anywhere digitally, this is the format to keep an eye on next year. And for small and medium-sized businesses, the interesting angle isn't running these ads yet, it's the pattern.
Ashley Coffey (02:02)
Pairing a product with a chat agent that can answer pre-sales questions removes friction that used to cost you a phone call or an abandoned cart.
Ashley Coffey (02:10)
Worth watching for trust concerns too. Once the assistant and the ads start blending together convent conversationally, businesses and OpenAI will need to be careful the two stay clearly separated. Alright. Next up. Meta launched Meta One, a $2.99 a month subscription that unlocks AI image and video generation across its apps.
Ashley Coffey (02:33)
Let's talk about it. So Meta launched Meta won this past week, a tiered subscription across Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp. And the entry tier is $2.99 to $3.99 a month for premium features on a single app.
Ashley Coffey (02:48)
Core bundle is $7.99 a month, which is where the real AI tools live, such as image generation and editing, video creation, tools like Instagram Restyle. The premium tier is $19.99 a month for higher AI usage limits. Now the business creator tiers run $14.99 up to $499 a month with analytics and verification. Whew. But it has been clear the free.
Ashley Coffey (03:17)
core experience isn't going anywhere and this is about charging extra for AI horsepower. my take here is if you're already using meta for content or ads, a month of core tier is kind of worth a look.
Ashley Coffey (03:30)
It's a cheap way to get AI generated images and video for social posts without needing a separate design tool or subscription, but this isn't about shifting to a pay for what you use AI model instead of pure ad revenue. Expect more platforms to follow that playbook.
Ashley Coffey (03:45)
The higher business tier, which is $14.99 all the way up to $500, is the one to watch if you're doing serious social marketing. And that's where the analytics and verification live. And it starts to compete with tools you might already be paying for separately. All right, we're gonna take a quick break, but when we come back, we'll be talking about Google launched Gemini 3.8 Live, a voice model that switches between 97 languages.
Ashley Coffey (04:12)
Welcome back, continuing with our stories. Alright, Google launched Gemini 3.8 Live, a voice model that switches between 97 languages. This is coming from the Google blog. I'll link it in the show notes that way you can read it for yourself. But let's talk about it. Google released Gemini 3.8 Live and a heavier extended thinking version, both real-time voice AI models.
Ashley Coffey (04:32)
The headline feature: it can detect and switch between 97 languages mid-conversation automatically, no manual toggling. Built for voice agents and customer service, things like onboarding, troubleshooting, and multi-step workflows handled entirely by voice. Google says it's priced to be cost effective, and it's already ranking near the top on independent speech agent benchmarks.
Ashley Coffey (04:55)
I take here. This is the one with the clear small business ROI story. If you get customers or job applicants who speak different languages, a phone or chat agent that switches languages on its own means you're not hiring for language coverage or losing people to a bad translation experience. Cost effective and built for scale matters more to a small and medium-sized business than the benchmark rankings. And this was squarely aimed at businesses that want an AI phone agent without an enterprise budget.
Ashley Coffey (05:24)
Worth flagging as a real alternative to the call center in a box tool, some small and medium-sized businesses have started piloting. This could undercut them on both language coverage and price. Alright, that's it for AI News You Should Know About this week. Show notes have links to everything we covered. And if you want more of this, that's what our socials are for. You can find me on Instagram and threads at AshleyRCoffey89.
Ashley Coffey (05:49)
Follow the show. Send us a topic you won't covered. And we'll see you next week for more AI news that you should know about. Thanks for listening.