Each day, New Digital Age gathers the most interesting digital marketing industry news from around the web…
AI
The Guardian – Julia Kollewe, 29th September 2026
OpenAI scraps release of new model over safety concerns in internal testing
OpenAI is scrapping the release of a next-generation AI model after researchers raised safety concerns during internal testing. The model, GPT-6.1 Astra, was expected to appear in ChatGPT and Codex in October, designed to handle more complex tasks without human assistance.
The Guardian – Johana Bhuiyan, 29th September 2026
Meta’s AI agent Muse gives out user’s home address without permission, sending buyer to his house
When Usman asked if a keyboard for sale on Facebook Marketplace was still available on Saturday, he received an enthusiastic and immediate response.
PPC Land – Luis Rijo, 28th September 2026
AI buying agents gain AudienceMix data segments through an MCP server
AudienceMix, a New York audience data company, has opened its segment catalogue to AI software through three new channels: a Model Context Protocol server, a service called Audience Concierge, and Slack integrations.
AD SPEND
The Media Leader – Jack Benjamin, 29th September 2026
UK digital adspend in H1 2026 exceeds whole of 2020
The UK digital ad market grew 13% year-on-year in H1 2026 to £21.6bn, according to the latest Digital Adspend report produced by IAB UK in partnership with Mediasense.
DOOH
The Media Leader – Charli West, 29th September 2026
Retail leads global programmatic DOOH spend as omni-channel buying gains ground
Retail is the biggest advertiser vertical in global programmatic digital out-of-home (DOOH), accounting for $165m (12.4%) of spend in 2025, according to the latest report from the World Out of Home Organisation. (WOO)
Agency Reporter – Sakshi Malik, 29th September 2026
AI-generated OOH – How dynamic creative is reaching billboards, not just banners
For years, the language of dynamic creative belonged largely to digital advertising. Banners changed with the weather. Product recommendations shifted according to browsing behaviour. Search ads adapted to intent. Social feeds served different messages to different audiences, often within seconds.
SOCIAL MEDIA
BBC News – Megan Lawton, 29th September 2026
I paid £30,000 for an ‘influencer’ degree, here’s why
As university courses go, it may raise a few eyebrows, but Destiny McGowan has no doubt that hers was very useful. In July the 21-year-old graduated from Nottingham Trent University with a degree in content creation.
CONSUMER
The Media Leader – Jack Benjamin, 29th September 2026
Consumers don’t trust AI assistants for product recommendations. Brands are investing anyway
A net 75% of marketers plan to increase investment in AI assistants in 2027, even as just one-third (32%) of consumers say they currently use AI assistants to research brands and products, with only 23% saying they trust their product or service recommendations.
LEGISLATION
Digiday – Sara Guaglione, 29th September
Condé Nast, Hearst among 300 media execs to push federal ‘bad bots’ bill on AI scraping
Executives from Condé Nast, Hearst Magazines, USA Today Co., and The Seattle Times will be among more than 300 news publishers heading to Washington D.C. today to press Congress to crack down on “bad bots” that scrape their content for AI training without permission.
ABC News – Steven Portnoy, Nicholas Kerr, and Benjamin Siegel, 28th September 2026
White House airs more taxpayer-funded ads promoting Trump
The federal government has spent at least $1.7 million to air three different TV ads featuring President Donald Trump in recent days, according to an estimate from AdImpact, which tracks and analyses political ad spending across television, digital and connected TV channels.
