In this section of articles, we discuss all things marketing AI.

AI stands for artificial intelligence, and this is becoming an increasingly important component within marketing. You can use it to speed up processes, simplify them, be more productive and much more.

We make the connection between marketing and AI. For example, how do you automate marketing tasks or how do you use it to analyze your data.

We offer practical tips that can help you with all issues related to marketing and AI.

As a marketer, you know how quickly information piles up. From customer insights to competitive analysis to brainstorming documents, you need it all, but the overview can quickly get lost. NotebookLM, a smart tool from Google, helps you bring back exactly that overview. And now there's a new feature that makes that even easier: Mind Maps.

What is NotebookLM?

NotebookLM is an AI tool from Google that focuses on your own documents and resources. Instead of searching individual documents or cutting and pasting summaries, in it you upload all your content to one place. The tool analyzes your sources and makes it easy to quickly find information or make connections. You ask questions of your own data and get immediate, contextual answers. Ideal for research, strategy development or content creation, for example.

With the new Mindmaps feature, NotebookLM becomes more organized

The new Mindmaps feature makes NotebookLM even easier to understand your input. Once you load multiple documents into your notebook, NotebookLM automatically creates a visual mind map. This overview shows at a glance which topics are central to your resources and how they are connected.

Click on a topic? Then you immediately get the underlying information, including quotes from your documents. So you no longer have to search for relevant pieces of text or determine a structure yourself: NotebookLM does the work for you. The video below shows how Mindmaps works.

Working more efficiently with multiple sources

Are you working on a brand strategy with input from different teams? Or do you gather content from customer conversations, interviews and data analysis? Then you're probably familiar with the chaos of documents in different places. NotebookLM not only bundles everything in one central place, but with its Mindmaps feature, it also lets you literally see where you stand.

Structuring smarter is faster

Thus, NotebookLM with Mind Maps is a valuable extension for any marketer working with many sources of information. It helps you not only find answers faster, but also better structure your own thinking. And that's exactly what you need in a world where speed and relevance make all the difference.

Take a leap forward in your marketing AI transformation every week

Every Friday, we bring you the latest insights, news and real-world examples on the impact of AI in the marketing world. Whether you want to improve your marketing efficiency, increase customer engagement, sharpen your marketing strategy or digitally transform your business. 'Marketing AI Friday' is your weekly guide.

Sign up for Marketing AI Friday for free.

Marketing AI Friday

AI agents are the new trend in marketing. These advanced virtual colleagues go beyond traditional AI chatbots. They not only take over repetitive tasks, but can independently perform actions, make decisions and optimize marketing processes.

This presents enormous opportunities for marketers, but also raises important questions: how do you integrate AI colleagues into your team? What does this mean for the role of marketers?

Integration of AI Colleagues

At NXTLI, we work daily with AI colleagues like Brian, an AI-driven data analyst. He analyzes social media performance, generates insights and helps improve conversions. Instead of spending hours collecting data manually, Brian provides instant reports and advice, allowing marketers to focus on strategy and creativity.

Read the full article on Frankwatching

In a new article on Frankwatching, Michiel Schoonhoven, Managing Partner & Content Strategist at NXTLI, discusses six practical tips for effectively deploying AI agents. He discusses the different types of AI agents, such as personal AI assistants that manage inboxes, persona-based agents that develop entire campaigns and enterprise agents that automate customer interactions.

In addition, Michiel covers key concerns such as transparency, AI policies and the changing role of marketers in an AI-driven environment.

Want to know how to use AI colleagues smartly without losing the human factor? Then read the full article on Frankwatching.

Take a leap forward in your marketing AI transformation every week

Every Friday, get the latest insights, news and real-world examples on the impact of AI in the marketing world. Whether you want to improve your marketing efficiency, increase customer engagement, sharpen your marketing strategy or digitally transform your business. 'Marketing AI Friday' is your weekly guide.

Sign up for Marketing AI Friday for free.

Marketing AI Friday

Google has announced a series of powerful updates to Gemini. The latest enhancements bring smarter research functionality, personalized recommendations and visual AI capabilities to a wider audience. This means that users will not only be able to work faster and more efficiently, but also gain insights that better suit their personal needs.

Gemini 2.0 Flash Thinking: more powerful and faster than ever

The new Gemini 2.0 Flash Thinking Experimental version brings significant improvements. One of the most notable updates is the expansion of "memory" to 1 million tokens. This allows Gemini to process even more complex queries and analyze larger amounts of information at once. This makes the AI a powerful tool for academic research, data analysis and reporting.

In addition, this version introduces file uploads. Users can now import documents and datasets directly, generating analyses and insights faster. This makes it easier to summarize reports or discover trends in large data sets.

Deep Research: AI-driven research at a new level

Gemini's Deep Research functionality is now becoming available in more than 45 languages worldwide. This AI-driven research assistant helps users analyze and organize information. One of the key enhancements is the ability to see in real time how the AI searches, thinks and processes information. This means users can better understand how a conclusion is reached and whether additional sources are needed.

By combining Deep Research with the enhanced Flash Thinking functionality, users can generate even more detailed and accurate reports. This offers particular benefits to professionals preparing in-depth market research, scientific analysis or financial reports.

Users of the free version can use Deep Research a few times a month, while Gemini Advanced users get more frequent access to it.

Personalization: AI that learns your preferences

Another major innovation is the introduction of personalization. Gemini can now connect to your Google apps and services, such as Google Search, to provide answers that better match your interests and search history.

This means that Gemini:

  • Shows more relevant search results based on previous searches.
  • Provides personalized recommendations, such as restaurant suggestions or travel recommendations tailored to destinations you've previously looked up.
  • Better understand context, leading to smarter and more tailored responses.

You retain full control over this feature and can enable or disable personalization at any time.

AI-generated images and edits in chat

Gemini 2.0 Flash can now directly generate, edit and modify images within a chat conversation. This opens up new possibilities for content creators, designers and marketers.

With this functionality you can:

  • Have illustrations created based on a story or description.
  • Modify existing images by changing colors, shapes or details, for example.
  • Improve text in images, rendering them clearer and sharper than in previous AI models.

Developers can test this feature through Google AI Studio or the Gemini API.

Better integration with Google apps

Gemini is getting smarter about collaborating with other Google services. In addition to existing integrations with Google Calendar, Notes and Tasks, Google Photos will soon be fully integrated. This makes it possible to perform complex tasks faster and more efficiently.

Consider, for example:

  1. Looking up a YouTube recipe.
  2. Have ingredients automatically added to your shopping list in Google Tasks.
  3. Instantly find nearby supermarkets that stock the products you need.

These improvements make Gemini increasingly act as a personal AI assistant that seamlessly links different tasks in your workflow.

Gems: building your own AI assistants

One of the most innovative new features is Gems. It allows you to create custom AI assistants around specific topics, such as:

  • A translator who focuses on particular languages and subject areas.
  • A meal planner that makes suggestions based on dietary preferences.
  • A math coach who provides step-by-step explanations of complex formulas.

Gems is available through the Gems Manager on desktop and even lets users upload their own files to make the AI smarter. This concept is similar to ChatGPT's custom GPTs, but currently has less advanced features.

What does this mean for the future of AI?

With these updates, Google Gemini takes a big step forward in AI-driven productivity and personalization. Enhanced Deep Research functionality, advanced image processing, Google integrations and the introduction of Gems show how AI is becoming more deeply woven into our daily lives and work processes.

Wondering how these new features can improve your workflow? Try the free version of Gemini or explore Gemini Advanced capabilities for an even more powerful AI experience.

Take a leap forward in your marketing AI transformation every week

Every Friday, we bring you the latest insights, news and real-world examples on the impact of AI in the marketing world. Whether you want to improve your marketing efficiency, increase customer engagement, sharpen your marketing strategy or digitally transform your business. 'Marketing AI Friday' is your weekly guide.

Sign up for Marketing AI Friday for free.

Marketing AI Friday

OpenAI's Operator is now available in the Netherlands for users with a Pro subscription. This advanced AI agent automates the entire online search and ordering process, from product comparison to checkout. It is impressive to really experience this now.

How does OpenAI Operator work?

we asked Operator to buy a MacBook online and the AI agent automatically performed every step: search, select products and prepare the order. All we had to do ourselves was confirm the final purchase. During the process, we received occasional control questions to verify the correct choice, but otherwise Operator handled everything independently.

The impact on online visibility and search engines

What is striking is how Operator uses results from Bing when finding products and Web shops. This underlines an important shift: not consumers themselves, but AI will visit and evaluate Web sites in the future. SEO optimization for Bing will thus become increasingly important.

Do you want your webshop or website to be found well by AI-driven searches? Then relevant content, a strong SEO strategy and a presence on platforms with high authority are very important.

Optimize for Bing with these tips:

  • Activate Bing Webmaster Tools to analyze and improve your performance
  • Provide high-quality, relevant content that matches search intentions
  • Work on your authority with backlinks from reliable sources

Take a leap forward in your marketing AI transformation every week

Every Friday, we bring you the latest insights, news and real-world examples on the impact of AI in the marketing world. Whether you want to improve your marketing efficiency, increase customer engagement, sharpen your marketing strategy or digitally transform your business. 'Marketing AI Friday' is your weekly guide.

Sign up for Marketing AI Friday for free.

Marketing AI Friday

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is changing the way businesses operate and compete. Yet it appears that even organizations with a Chief AI Officer (CAIO) are struggling to successfully implement AI. Without the right approach, AI does not lead to the hoped-for efficiency, innovation and competitive advantage. Where does it go wrong, and more importantly, how do you ensure that AI does have an impact within your organization?

The challenges in AI integration

Many companies underestimate what it takes to make AI work effectively. This leads to three major stumbling blocks:

1. Lack of AI knowledge among leadership

AI requires strategic insight, but many boards and managers lack sufficient knowledge of AI and its implications. As a result, unrealistic expectations are set, leading to wrong investments and disappointment in results. Without proper understanding, AI remains a "black box" for management.

2. AI is not integrated into business strategy

AI is often seen as a stand-alone technology addition, rather than an integral part of strategy. This causes AI projects to remain fragmented and not contribute optimally to business goals. Without an overarching vision, AI lacks impact and remains isolated experiments without true scalability.

3. Unclear ethical guidelines and governance

The impact of AI on privacy, transparency and decision-making is enormous. Yet many companies do not have clear AI governance. This poses risks, such as unintended discrimination in AI models or reputational damage from privacy issues. Without clear guidelines, AI becomes a threat rather than an opportunity.

How do you solve these AI challenges?

To successfully land AI within your organization, there are three crucial steps:

1. Invest in AI education for leaders and stakeholders.

The success of AI hinges on leadership involvement. Ensure that management and stakeholders understand what AI is, what it can do, and what its limitations are. Practical training, workshops and hands-on AI experiments help create realistic expectations and deploy AI strategically.

2. Make AI part of your business strategy

AI should not be an "extra," but an integral part of your strategy. That means incorporating AI into strategic decision-making, business processes and innovation plans from the beginning. Not leaving AI decisions to IT alone, but involving various departments, creates a strong foundation for impactful AI applications.

3. Develop clear AI governance and ethical guidelines

AI brings many benefits but, without clear rules, also risks. Develop transparent governance guidelines that safeguard ethical and compliance issues. Consider frameworks around data use, bias in AI models and responsible decision-making. This increases trust in AI applications and minimizes risks.

AI integration: from pitfalls to success

Many organizations get stuck implementing AI because they want to move too fast, without sound knowledge and strategy. By strengthening AI leadership, strategically integrating AI and establishing clear governance, you will avoid pitfalls and maximize the impact of AI.

Want to know specifically how to successfully implement AI within your organization? Then read 6 steps for successful AI implementation for a practical and widely applicable approach.

Take a leap forward in your marketing AI transformation every week

Every Friday, we bring you the latest insights, news and real-world examples on the impact of AI in the marketing world. Whether you want to improve your marketing efficiency, increase customer engagement, sharpen your marketing strategy or digitally transform your business. 'Marketing AI Friday' is your weekly guide.

Sign up for Marketing AI Friday for free.

Marketing AI Friday


Google is coming out with two major AI updates within Search: AI Overviews will be expanded and improved, and a completely new feature called AI Mode will be added.

AI Overviews are short summaries that Google places at the top of search results. Starting now, these overviews are improved with Gemini 2.0. This gives you faster and better answers to questions about coding, complex math and questions that combine text, images or other media. Also, AI Overviews are now accessible to teens, and you no longer need to be logged in to use them. This feature is currently not yet fully available in the Netherlands, but is expected to be rolled out more widely soon.

In addition, Google is introducing AI Mode, a feature that allows you to engage directly with AI. With AI Mode, you can not only ask complex questions, but also compare answers and immediately ask deeper follow-up questions. This feature uses an advanced version of Gemini 2.0 and simultaneously pulls information from various sources, such as Google's Knowledge Graph, current product information and Web data. This provides fast, comprehensive and concretely actionable answers.

Google AI Mode

Colleague Denis Doeland wrote an article on the big implications of AI Mode for companies that want to be found well online. He advises marketers and content creators to adapt their strategies to this AI-driven search environment. This means, for example, that content should be structured more clearly to better reflect how AI generates answers.

Want to know exactly how to adapt your content strategy to these changes? Then also read our article on how to go from traditional SEO to AI Optimization (AIO).

Google is currently still testing AI Mode through Google Labs among a small group of users (Google One AI Premium subscribers). If successfully rolled out, this feature is going to fundamentally change the way people search and find information online through Google Search. In which you no longer have to scroll through endless search results, but get clear answers instantly.

Take a leap forward in your marketing AI transformation every week

Every Friday, we bring you the latest insights, news and real-world examples on the impact of AI in the marketing world. Whether you want to improve your marketing efficiency, increase customer engagement, sharpen your marketing strategy or digitally transform your business. 'Marketing AI Friday' is your weekly guide.

Sign up for Marketing AI Friday for free.

Marketing AI Friday

Perplexity has also launched Deep Research, which provides comprehensive and reasoned answers to complex questions. In doing so, it follows ChatGPT and Gemini, but with one big difference: it is free to use (as with Grok 3 and DeepSeek R1).

The core features

  • Free access to 5 queries per day: Pro users get 500 queries per day.
  • Research with reasoning: The AI searches, reads and reasons to refine a research plan step by step.
  • Export Reports: Export your research report to PDF, document or a shareable Perplexity Page.
  • Fast processing: Most surveys are completed in less than 3 minutes.

How good is it?

According to Humanity's Last Exam, Perplexity scores 21.1%, slightly lower than ChatGPT Deep Research (26.6%), but better than o1, o3-mini-high and Gemini. And according to SimpleQA, it scores 93.9% accuracy on factual questions, well above most leading models. This makes it one of the most powerful free research tools on the market.

How do you use it?


1️⃣ Go to Perplexity's website.
2️⃣ Log in or create a free account.
3️⃣ Select "Deep Research" from the model selector.
4️⃣ Type your question and submit the prompt.

Learn more about Deep Research and watch the introduction below.

Take a leap forward in your marketing AI transformation every week

Every Friday, we bring you the latest insights, news and real-world examples on the impact of AI in the marketing world. Whether you want to improve your marketing efficiency, increase customer engagement, sharpen your marketing strategy or digitally transform your business. 'Marketing AI Friday' is your weekly guide.

Sign up for Marketing AI Friday for free.

Marketing AI Friday

Elon Musk's xAI last week launched Grok 3, an AI model that Musk himself says is "the smartest in the world." The promise? A model that not only reasons better than GPT-4o, but also delivers impressive performance on benchmarks such as AIME (mathematical reasoning) and GPQA (PhD-level science). With ten times more computing power than its predecessor, xAI seems to be positioning itself ever more strongly as a competitor to OpenAI and Google.

But does that really mean an edge?

Stronger in logic and problem solving

What makes Grok 3 different is its emphasis on reasoning and strategic decision-making. In Think Mode, the model solves more complex problems and appears to perform strongly in board games such as Settlers of Catan, a test that many other AIs struggle with.

In addition, xAI is introducing DeepSearch, a search and analysis feature similar to OpenAI's Deep Research and Google's Gemini. This allows the model to process information and better handle complex queries.

Another differentiator is that Grok 3 always stays up-to-date through direct integration with X-data (formerly Twitter). Where other models are limited to their training data, Grok 3 can take real-time information into responses.

From underdog to number one?

A year ago, Grok was barely a player in the AI market. Now the model is the first to break the 1400 score in the Chatbot Arena LLM Leaderboard and is number one. The speed at which xAI is evolving is impressive.

Still, opinions are divided. Andrej Karpathy, AI researcher and former director of AI at Tesla, calls Grok 3 "state-of-the-art" when it comes to reasoning, similar to OpenAI's o1-Pro. He concluded that despite some shortcomings, Grok 3 rivals OpenAI's strongest models and outperforms DeepSeek-R1 and Gemini 2.0 Flash Thinking.

Professor Ethan Mollick also looked at the performance of Grok 3 and saw some interesting patterns:

  • xAI is working quickly toward the top, but has yet to prove itself at scale.
  • The strategy is very similar to OpenAI's, from product launches to positioning.
  • Big challenge: enterprise partnerships. OpenAI and Google have deals with Microsoft (Azure) and Amazon (AWS), something xAI has yet to build.

And then there are the benchmarks. Grok 3 scores better than GPT-4o in some respects, but is not yet demonstrably stronger than OpenAI's latest o3-mini-high or the unreleased o3 model.

What does this mean for businesses and marketers?

Grok 3 is a serious step forward for xAI, but the question is: How quickly can the model capture market share? OpenAI and Google have strong networks and extensive product integrations. xAI has yet to develop those.

What Musk does have is a unique data structure and strategic positions through X, Tesla and SpaceX. Add the financial resources, and xAI could remain a serious challenger in the long run.

On another note, Musk has suggested that Grok 3 will become open-source. If that happens, it could be a major asset against the closed models of OpenAI and Google.

For companies and marketers, this means that their X strategy may become more important. As Grok 3 grows, X as a platform will become an increasingly relevant channel for AI-driven interactions and search results.

How do you use Grok 3?

Currently, Grok 3 is available through X and a new app. Musk is temporarily offering the model for free ("until the servers overload"), but users of X Premium+ and SuperGrok get more extensive features, such as Voice Mode.

How long will it take for Grok to really make an impact in the marketplace? That depends on how quickly xAI can scale up and whether companies switch over. One thing is certain: Musk is throwing everything at it to secure his place in the AI market.

Take a leap forward in your marketing AI transformation every week

Every Friday, we bring you the latest insights, news and real-world examples on the impact of AI in the marketing world. Whether you want to improve your marketing efficiency, increase customer engagement, sharpen your marketing strategy or digitally transform your business. 'Marketing AI Friday' is your weekly guide.

Sign up for Marketing AI Friday for free.

Marketing AI Friday

OpenAI has shared the roadmap for ChatGPT and plans to greatly simplify the AI models. Finally!  

The next step? GPT-4.5 is coming, known internally as Orion (check out what we wrote about Orion earlier here), and will be the last version without advanced reasoning capability(chain-of-thought). 

Next comes GPT-5, an even more powerful model in which OpenAI puts everything together: o-series, GPT-series and their various tools. This 'all-in-one system' switches between models by itself and automatically knows when it needs to 'think' longer. This makes it much easier to use, you no longer have to go through the maze of model names and versions (4o, 4o with tasks, 4o-mini, o1, 3o-mini, 3o-high, Pro). 

Key changes:

  • GPT-4.5 will be released soon, followed by GPT-5 as a complete integrated system.
  • The free version of ChatGPT gets unlimited access to GPT-5 on the default setting.
  • Plus and Pro users get access to more powerful versions with additional features, such as voice, canvas, search functionality and deep research.
  • OpenAI stops using separate o3 models and integrates everything into GPT-5.

When?

  • GPT-4.5: within a few weeks.
  • GPT-5: within months.

OpenAI expands features

In addition to the upcoming releases of GPT-4.5 and GPT-5, OpenAI also improved existing models last week:

  • Uploading files and images is now possible in ChatGPT for o1 and o3-mini.
  • Higher limits for o3-mini-high: Plus users can now make up to 50 requests per day, 7 times as many as before.

Sam Altman's vision for the future of AI

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, shared his vision for the future of AI this week. According to him, developments in AI from 2025 to 2027 will be even greater than those of the past two years. He especially expects advances in scientific research.Within a few years, AI systems could accelerate 10 years of scientific discoveries to one year. This could have big on climate research and the development of new treatments for diseases, for example. In addition, Altman spoke specifically about GPT-5 and the step this model is taking, "I don't think I will be smarter than GPT-5, and I don't mind that. It means we can use it to explore new possibilities."

AI and knowledge work: impact on the labor market

In addition to the arrival of GPT-5, Altman also emphasized the rapid advance of AI in knowledge work. According to him, OpenAI's deep research can already perform 5% of all knowledge work tasks today. Its impact will become increasingly visible in the coming years. Where it normally takes two generations to adapt to technological change, it now happens in 5 to 10 years. If you have already tried deep research, this will come as no surprise. This technology is already letting you experience how AI is changing knowledge work.

Three key insights

Altman also published "Three Observations," explaining why AI is developing so rapidly:

  1. AI gets better as more computing power and data are available: The more resources are deployed, the greater the advances in intelligence.
  2. The cost of AI is falling fast: The price to use a certain level of AI falls by a factor of 10 every 12 months, meaning AI is becoming accessible to more and more people and businesses.
  3. Even small improvements in AI can deliver great value: A modest increase in AI capabilities can generate significant benefits, further driving investment in AI.

AI agents and the future of work

Altman expects that within 12-18 months, AI agents will be able to perform tasks that now take a junior software engineer 2-3 days. But this is just as true for junior marketers, for example.

In time, AI will be widely available for business applications at low cost. This will affect the labor market, especially in sectors where there are shortages now, such as insurance, healthcare and accounting. AI here can help with routine tasks and support work.

Exactly how big the impact will be is not yet clear. But that AI will change the way we work seems inevitable.

Why is this relevant?

Some see this as clever PR to attract investment, for others it is a realistic view. In any case, Altman has the right insights to paint a good picture of the AI developments we can expect in the next two years. Whether he is right will remain to be seen. But the speed of AI innovation remains high, and companies that prepare for it can benefit. What seems certain is that AI is going to change a lot in the coming years.

Take a leap forward in your marketing AI transformation every week

Every Friday, we bring you the latest insights, news and real-world examples on the impact of AI in the marketing world. Whether you want to improve your marketing efficiency, increase customer engagement, sharpen your marketing strategy or digitally transform your business. 'Marketing AI Friday' is your weekly guide.

Sign up for Marketing AI Friday for free.

Marketing AI Friday

As of Feb. 2, 2025, the first phase of the EU AI Act came into force. A key part? Employers will become responsible for the AI skills (or "AI literacy") of their employees.

The law goes further than you might think. AI literacy is defined as "skills, knowledge and understanding that enable informed deployment of AI systems, and awareness of AI opportunities, risks and potential harms." So it's not just about knowing how to use ChatGPT, but also understanding the social, ethical and practical aspects of AI.

The exact enforcement of this law is still in the implementation phase. While the EU AI Act entered into force on Aug. 1, 2024, full enforcement will be rolled out incrementally over the next three years.

Think of this primarily as an opportunity: organizations that invest in AI knowledge and skills now will soon have a head start. For now, you can see the law as a welcome stick to accelerate your team's development without immediate fear of penalties.

What is expected of organizations?

  • The Personal Data Authority recommends a four-step structured approach:
  • Identify: Map what AI systems you are using and what the risks are
  • Define goals: Determine the level of knowledge needed by role and function
  • Implement: Provide training, awareness and a clear AI policy
  • Evaluate: Monitor regularly whether your goals are being met


The Authority emphasizes that not everyone needs to have the same level of knowledge. The level should fit the role and extent to which someone works with AI. However, everyone in the organization does need to understand why and how AI is deployed.

Download the "Getting Started with AI Literacy" action plan here.

From NXTLI, we help organizations prepare. Through these weekly Marketing AI Friday and monthly webinars, you'll keep your knowledge up-to-date. We also offer targeted workshops to make marketing teams AI proficient.

Read more details about the EU AI Act and practical steps to successfully implement AI here.

Take a leap forward in your marketing AI transformation every week

Every Friday, we bring you the latest insights, news and real-world examples on the impact of AI in the marketing world. Whether you want to improve your marketing efficiency, increase customer engagement, sharpen your marketing strategy or digitally transform your business. 'Marketing AI Friday' is your weekly guide.

Sign up for Marketing AI Friday for free.

Marketing AI Friday