The Vogue Business AI Tracker keeps a record of the most important AI developments that will influence our industry and our world, each week. From venture capital investments and startup launches to product drops and regulatory updates, we’ll make sure you never miss a beat when it comes to the AI news that matters.
Jan 6, 2026
The news: Equinox launches anti-AI brand campaign
Why it matters: Luxury wellness group Equinox has become the latest brand to launch a campaign with a deliberate anti-AI stance. The campaign in question, named “Question Everything But Yourself”, features a series of photo diptychs playing on the idea of AI-generated versus ‘real’ images. The left of each diptych features intentionally fake-appearing AI-generated images, such as Pope Francis donning a red glossy puffer coat, with a text overlay of “Question everything”, juxtaposed by real portraits of models in workout gear on the right, taken by fashion photographer Collier Schorr, with a text overlay of “but yourself”.
In a statement announcing the campaign, the group said the images are intended as a “powerful statement on authenticity, self-trust, and what it means to believe in something real in an increasingly artificial world”, and that they “confront the cultural moment head-on, juxtaposing intentionally fake, AI-generated visuals with striking real-life imagery that celebrates human strength, beauty, and presence.” It comes as experts predict branding teams will increasingly take a deliberate stance on AI through an intentionally human or AI-generated visual language in 2026.
The news: Meta acquires “general purpose” AI agent startup Manus.
Why it matters: Meta has acquired Chinese AI agent startup Manus for an undisclosed sum, as CEO Mark Zuckerberg continues the company’s AI spending spree. According to a Meta blog post announcing the deal, Manus has built “one of the leading autonomous general purpose agents” that can independently perform multi-step tasks like “market research, coding and data analysis”. This could impact commerce: one of the core use cases for agentic AI that’s touted by the tech’s developers is its potential to perform the research and (eventually) checkout stages of the shopping journey. The acquisition comes just a month after Meta acquired Limitless, a smaller AI startup that makes AI-powered “all listening” pendants, as part of its AI wearables push. Meta’s AI lead Alexandr Wang posted on X that the company is now recruiting more widely in Singapore, where Manus’s team is based.
December 23, 2025
The news: ChatGPT’s mobile app hits $3 billion in consumer spending.
Why it matters: Users of ChatGPT have spent $3 billion on accessing subscriptions on the platform’s mobile app since its launch in 2023, according to new data from app intelligence platform Appfigures. $2.48 billion of that was spent in 2025 alone; a 408% increase on the $487 million spent on ChatGPT mobile in 2024. These figures reflect when ChatGPT’s mobile users purchase the platform’s paid subscriptions, such as its $20-a-month ChatGPT Plus subscription or its $200-a-month ChatGPT Pro advanced subscription — suggesting that AI chat is something consumers are increasingly willing to spend on, and that the app is winning consumers’ trust. For OpenAI’s commerce ambitions, like agentic checkout, trust is key. Experts say that once consumers trust the platform in one area of their lives, they’re more likely to trust its personalised shopping recommendations.
December 16, 2025
The news: OpenAI launches ChatGPT-5.2.
Why it matters: After launching ChatGPT-5 in August this year, OpenAI has quickly followed with a significant update: Chat GPT-5.2, pitched as its smartest LLM model yet, across its writing, coding and reasoning capabilities.
/https://thumbor.globoi.com/unsafe/fit-in/1280x720/s04.video.glbimg.com/deo/vi/55/20/992055?w=120&resize=120,86&ssl=1 "Flávio Bolsonaro faz cirurgia em Brasília | G1")
