Media Intelligence · 2026-07-31 · 45 min
In the first installment of a four-part summer miniseries, hosts Kate Scott-Dawkins and Sam Weston pressure-test one of four plausible - and deliberately contrasting - futures for AI, advertising, and power by 2035. The scenario under the microscope: The Closed Loop , a world where a handful of vertically integrated platform ecosystems, not governments or open markets, come to govern everyday commercial life. The overarching story: convenience becomes a form of private governance, AI agents become the primary interface between brands and consumers, and marketing itself evolves into an exercise in shaping the instructions humans give their digital assistants.
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