Visa Builds AI Agent Checkout, Perplexity Hits $450M ARR

Google Blocks 8 Billion Ads with AI, Snap Cuts 16% of Staff

Google released its 2025 ad safety report revealing that Gemini AI models blocked a record 8.3 billion ads globally, up 63 percent from 5.1 billion the year before. More than 99 percent of policy-violating ads were caught before being shown to users. The company also shifted its enforcement strategy from banning entire advertiser accounts to blocking individual ads, reducing false advertiser suspensions by 80 percent. Google suspended 24.9 million accounts and flagged 602 million scam-related ads. Meanwhile, Snap announced it is eliminating roughly 1,000 roles, or 16 percent of its workforce, with CEO Evan Spiegel targeting more than 500 million dollars in savings and net income profitability by the second half of 2026. The cuts raise questions about the future of Snap's ad products and what happens to mid-tier platforms that can't match the AI investment of Meta and Google. Arete helps businesses turn AI into measurable marketing performance. Learn more at arete.so [https://www.arete.so/].

Canva Goes Full Marketing Platform, the Death of Per-Seat SaaS

At Canva Create 2026 in Los Angeles, Canva revealed its transformation from a design tool into a full marketing platform after five acquisitions in six weeks. The company acquired Ortto for marketing automation with over 11,000 customers across 190 countries, Simtheory for AI agents that autonomously qualify leads from Salesforce, plus Doohly for digital outdoor, Cavalry for animation, and MangoAI for ad performance. Magic Layers launched in public beta, turning flat images into editable multi-layer designs, while the Canva app in ChatGPT now supports full design workflows. The platform now threatens HubSpot, Mailchimp, and Salesforce Marketing Cloud territory at a fraction of the price. Meanwhile, the SaaS industry is undergoing a fundamental pricing shift after 285 billion dollars was wiped from software valuations in February 2026 when autonomous AI agents from Anthropic and OpenAI demonstrated the ability to replace entire workflows. Gartner reports 70 percent of businesses now prefer usage-based pricing over per-seat models, and McKinsey found 62 percent of SaaS platforms have introduced AI-premium tiers with buyers budgeting 25 to 35 percent higher for AI features. Marketing teams should audit tool contracts and push for usage-based terms ahead of renewal dates. Arete helps businesses turn AI into measurable marketing performance. Learn more at arete.so [https://www.arete.so/].

Brands Are Blind Inside AI, Plus the 1.4 Trillion Dollar Power Problem

Bluefish just raised 43 million dollars in Series B funding to help brands monitor and manage how they appear inside AI platforms like ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity, and Amazon Rufus. About 10 percent of the Fortune 500 already uses the platform, including Adidas, American Express, LVMH, and Ulta Beauty. Bluefish processes millions of AI prompts per day and positions itself in what it calls a 500 billion dollar agentic marketing opportunity. The round was co-led by Threshold Ventures and NEA with participation from Salesforce Ventures, Amex Ventures, and Bloomberg Beta. Meanwhile, a new report from nonprofit PowerLines reveals that US utilities have raised capital spending plans to 1.4 trillion dollars through 2030, up 27 percent from last year, with AI data centers as the leading driver. Consumer utility bills have already risen 40 percent since 2021, and residential customers could end up paying for nearly half of that total. For marketing teams, this means the infrastructure powering every AI tool is getting more expensive, and those costs will eventually flow through to SaaS pricing, cloud computing bills, and consumer purchasing power. Arete helps businesses turn AI into measurable marketing performance. Learn more at arete.so [https://www.arete.so/].

Meta Overtakes Google in Ad Revenue, Court Forces Search Open

Meta is projected to overtake Google as the world's largest digital advertising platform for the first time ever in 2026, according to new eMarketer forecasts. Meta is forecast to reach 243 billion dollars in global ad revenue this year versus Google's 239 billion, driven by 24 percent growth fueled by Advantage Plus AI tools and Reels. Meanwhile, a federal court formally issued the prohibition order in the DOJ antitrust case against Google on April 11, barring exclusive search deals on partner devices and requiring Google to share its search index and user interaction data with qualified competitors. The ruling ends Google's ability to pay for default search placement and could reshape SEO strategy as rival search engines and AI tools gain access to Google-quality data. Arete helps businesses turn AI into measurable marketing performance. Learn more at arete.so [https://www.arete.so/].

Visa Builds AI Agent Checkout, Perplexity Hits $450M ARR

Visa unveiled Intelligent Commerce Connect, a universal payment gateway that lets AI agents browse, compare, and buy products on behalf of consumers. The platform works across any card network through a single integration, and includes a discovery layer that makes merchant catalogs visible to AI agents. McKinsey projects AI agents could drive 1 trillion dollars in US transactions by 2030, and Visa expects millions of consumers to use agent-powered checkout by the 2026 holiday season. Perplexity's annual recurring revenue topped 450 million dollars in March after a 50 percent jump in a single month, with over 100 million monthly active users. The company has pivoted from AI search into AI agents that can shop and buy on behalf of users, including Buy with Pro checkout and Snap to Shop visual search. AI-referred traffic to retail sites grew 693 percent during the 2025 holiday season with 31 percent higher conversion rates. However, Amazon won a federal court injunction blocking Perplexity's shopping agent from accessing its platform, raising fundamental questions about who controls access in the agentic commerce era. Arete helps businesses turn AI into measurable marketing performance. Learn more at arete.so [https://www.arete.so/].