Support goes agentic, local search moves into chat
Today's 3 verified headlines: OpenAI launched Presence for enterprise voice and chat support agents, Alphabet's second quarter search advertising revenue grew 17% while AI Max reached 500,000 advertisers, and Yelp licensed its review and business data to OpenAI. Each story's full analysis, sources and business impact live on its own page.
OpenAI launches Presence for enterprise support agents
OpenAI introduced Presence, a platform built to run customer and employee support. Its agents work across voice and chat: they answer questions, connect to company systems, take approved actions and hand over to a person when needed. The platform is not sold self-service; access comes through a limited program and deployments are led by OpenAI engineers or selected integrators.
Search ads grow 17% as AI Max reaches 500,000 advertisers
In Alphabet's second quarter results, reported on July 22, Search and other advertising revenue rose 17% to $63.3 billion. Executives said AI Max has reached 500,000 advertisers and is opening billions of previously unmonetized queries to ads. As keyword-level visibility narrows, control shifts to product data, ad copy and the landing page.
Yelp licenses its content to OpenAI, ChatGPT plugs into local reviews
Yelp licensed its reviews, ratings, photos and business information to OpenAI. ChatGPT will surface that content on local questions with Yelp branding and links, and the Request a Quote feature is set to follow. The deal is not exclusive and financial terms were not disclosed. Local visibility is shifting from ranking in a list to being cited inside an answer.
The agenda moves fast, the system stays calm.
Let's talk about what these changes mean for your business and clarify which step fits you.