Affiliate Roundup: Instagram Affiliate Tools Raise Liability Concerns, CMOs Lean On AI, OpenAI Expands ChatGPT Ads, & More

This week in FMTC’s Affiliate Roundup: Instagram’s affiliate tools are raising new liability concerns for brands. CMOs are using AI to offset tighter marketing budgets. OpenAI is expanding ChatGPT’s ad platform.

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• Instagram’s new affiliate tagging tools could expose brands to greater legal liability, as regulators increasingly hold companies responsible for how creators disclose sponsored and affiliate content.

• Agentic commerce may be transformative—or a mirage—as brands race to invest despite major unresolved issues around trust, infrastructure, and whether consumers actually want AI making purchases for them.

• CMOs are leaning on AI to do more with tighter budgets, with Gartner finding marketers increasingly using the technology to drive efficiency, personalization, and performance despite flat spending.

• UK affiliate and partner marketing spend has reached £1.8B, as brands continue shifting budgets toward high-ROI, performance-driven channels that extend beyond last-click attribution. 

• OpenAI is expanding ChatGPT’s ad business with a self-serve Ads Manager, CPC bidding, and new measurement tools—signaling its push to become a major player in AI-powered advertising.

• Penske Media is working to monetize “dark traffic” by better identifying and packaging audiences arriving from AI summaries, social sharing, and other hard-to-track sources as publishers adapt to declining referral visibility.

• AdExchanger’s latest roundup highlights growing pressure on the ad ecosystem, from AI-driven disruption and affiliate uncertainty to publishers and platforms racing to redefine attribution, monetization, and trust in a rapidly shifting market.