{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"Assistant to the CMO","title":"AI drives real retail orders now. Reddit seeding becomes an agency product.","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":2070,"description":"In the tenth episode of *Assistant to the CMO*, Lexie Meskouris speaks with Will Nash and Harjot Singh about whether AI discovery is worth real money yet, and whether you can buy your way into the evidence an AI reads.\nShopify reported that AI-driven traffic and orders to its merchants both tripled year on year, and said AI is a complement to search rather than a substitute. Both men accept the growth and distrust different halves of the report. Will questions the number, a slowdown on Shopify's own earlier figure with no denominator. Harjot questions the sentence, calling the complement framing lazy or disingenuous.\nThat splits them on money. Will would not move budget yet, since the structures worth optimising for are not settled and big spend now gets wasted. Harjot would move at least fifteen percent of the SEO budget into experiments now. The second half turns to agencies selling Reddit seeding, which Will refuses outright and Harjot would only build in-house. The practical move is smaller than both: write the questions you want to be the answer to, then find who owns the facts you are missing.\nHighlights of this Episode Include:Tripled, But Decelerating: Will recalls Shopify citing near thirteen times growth in Q1, so tripling is a slowdown, and no denominator is given.Complement, or Just Reassurance: Harjot calls the complement-not-substitute line lazy or disingenuous, and aimed at stopping merchants panicking.Three Layers of Retrieval: Live search, a crawler-built vector index, and what is baked into the weights, each with very different lag.A Model Doesn't Care About Your Brand: Harjot argues live search flattens brand equity, so a day-one brand can compete with an incumbent.Fifteen Percent, or Wait: Harjot would move fifteen percent of SEO budget now. Will backs a test but not a yearly escalation.The Reddit Deck Nobody Would Sign: Will calls it fake reviews under UK rules, and Harjot gives the tactic six to eight months at best.Ten Questions and a Name:...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/NcY-p1clitfxsKl5IjdjjBQt0954iyhB6hkeN91an6Y/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9iNGI3/YzA2OGQ2NjE0MmFk/ODIzY2IzZTQzZTZk/ZmM4Yy5wbmc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}