Adtech faces 'agentic protocol wars'

- The "agentic protocol wars" extend beyond adtech into e-commerce, where retailers and platforms are competing to establish interoperable standards for AI agents that autonomously handle consumer purchases. This push for agentic commerce is creating new demands for regulatory frameworks to ensure fair practices and prevent monopolies, with some experts predicting scrutiny from bodies like the FTC. - For a CTO, technical due diligence is a critical component of any M&A activity; key areas of assessment include the scalability of the system architecture, the level of technical debt, and the strength of cybersecurity protocols and compliance with standards like GDPR or HIPAA. Rather than an adversarial audit, the process should be a collaborative conversation with the target company's engineering leadership to gain candid insights. - In the UK tech ecosystem, London-based AI startups raised a record $3.5 billion in VC funding in 2024, making it Europe's leading AI hub. Notable funding rounds this week in London's tech scene include a £32m Series B for AI firm Fyld and a £30m round for defense tech company SatVu. - As third-party cookies are phased out, the ad industry is shifting focus from targeting to the more significant challenge of measurement and attribution. In this new landscape, data clean rooms are becoming a standard, allowing brands and publishers to match their first-party data in a privacy-compliant way without exposing raw personally identifiable information. - The 2026 Formula 1 season is facing criticism from drivers, including Max Verstappen, over new regulations that emphasize energy management, leading to concerns that it could detract from pure racing. F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali has acknowledged the concerns and stated that changes could be made if the new rules negatively impact the quality of the racing. - Creative automation is becoming a standard practice, allowing marketing teams to scale ad production by using templates and structured data to generate numerous variations of ad creatives for different platforms and audiences efficiently. The creative automation AI market is projected to reach USD 34.8 billion by 2033. - Developer tools in 2026 are heavily influenced by AI, with intelligent IDEs offering features like advanced code completion and automated bug detection becoming commonplace. There is also a growing emphasis on platform engineering, with Gartner predicting that by 2026, 80% of software engineering organizations will have dedicated platform teams to provide reusable services and tools. - In London local news, police have improved response times for high-priority calls, though the city also saw a record number of shootings last year. To address anti-social behavior, the borough of Hammersmith & Fulham has introduced new rules, including a ban on wearing balaclavas to conceal identity in public places.