Why some holdcos will pay for clients' AI costs; Google requires Ads API customers to have passkeys; and microdramas struggle with the ethics of AI likenesses.
Google Ads mandates passkey authentication for all API users by August 5, with a seven-day trust window before full activation. Agencies and vendors must configure access immediately to prevent account disruption during team onboarding and token operations.
Tuesday, July 28th, 2026 – 12:03 am
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Principal Principles
Who bears the brunt of AI costs?
The advertising industry hasn’t settled on an answer yet, but many agency holding companies are striking a compromise with clients. They’re willing to pay the full AI infrastructure bill so long as the brand agrees to run a predetermined amount of paid media through principal inventory – meaning inventory the holdco purchased in bulk and resells at a markup.
AI doesn’t have a price. Principal media is absorbing it anyway.
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The critical challenge of establishing clear accountability frameworks as autonomous AI agents enter advertising workflows
Every choice has a price and the bill always comes due. Marketers are only just starting to work out what theirs actually costs…
Google roll out of new agentic AI ad tools is forcing marketers to grapple with transparency issues echoing the PMax "black box."
