Welcome back! The era of free data is officially on trial. One tech giant has filed a lawsuit that could permanently bolt the "back door" to the internet, threatening the data supply for thousands of startups. While the web gets smaller, the chatbots are getting bigger. The industry leader just turned its chat window into a full-blown operating system, betting you will never need to visit a standalone website again. And in a historic newsroom, algorithms are now suggesting the headlines. The internet is changing from a library to a walled garden.
In today’s Generative AI Newsletter:
Google sues to block scrapers from harvesting search data.
OpenAI launches an App Store to replace standalone software.
Al Jazeera uses Google’s AI to suggest angles for reporters.
AdMake lets you legally clone your competitor’s best ads.
Latest Developments
Google just filed a federal lawsuit against SerpApi, a firm that harvests and resells search engine data for software developers. The complaint alleges that SerpApi used deceptive tactics to bypass SearchGuard, a security system Google launched in January 2025 to block automated bots. Tech giants are moving to lock down the proprietary content and licensed data that power modern "answer engines." Google is drawing a hard line around who can profit from the index of the world's information.
What Google is alleging:
Circumvention: Google claims SerpApi built "fake browsers" and used massive proxy networks to make hundreds of millions of bot queries look like human traffic.
Data Theft: The suit alleges SerpApi stole high-value content Google pays to license, including Getty Images and real-time financial data from Knowledge Panels.
Economic Impact: SerpApi explicitly markets its structured data to teams building SEO dashboards, price monitors, and real-time retrieval systems for AI models.
Legal Precedent: Google is seeking statutory damages of up to $2,500 per violation, arguing that bypassing bot-blockers violates the anti-circumvention provisions of the DMCA.
The outcome of this case will likely dictate the overhead costs for every AI startup currently relying on scrapers to keep their models fresh. If the court validates SearchGuard as a protected legal barrier, the era of free data for retrieval systems will officially end. We are witnessing the transition from an open web to a walled economy where every token of intelligence requires a verified license. Companies like Perplexity may soon find that the back door to the internet has been permanently bolted shut. The open web is being replaced by a digital toll road.
OpenAI has launched public submissions for third-party apps, transforming ChatGPT from a chatbot into a platform for digital actions. Developers can now build experiences that handle real-world tasks like ordering groceries or designing slide decks directly within a chat. By introducing a dedicated App Directory and a specialized Apps SDK, OpenAI is positioning ChatGPT as a central operating system. This move turns the chat interface into a gateway for the broader web and marks the end of the standalone assistant era.
Inside the New App Marketplace:
App Directory: Users can browse, search, and connect to featured services via a new menu accessible from the sidebar.
Apps SDK: Developers use the Model Context Protocol to link ChatGPT with external data and specialized professional tools.
Contextual Triggers: Apps can be called into a thread using @ mentions or through suggestions based on the conversation.
Action Layers: These apps execute complex workflows such as searching for apartments or managing files without leaving the chat.
The transition from GPTs to full-scale apps signals a race to control the primary interface of the AI era. While earlier bots were limited to basic instructions, these applications allow for code-based tasks that interact with live services. OpenAI is building an ecosystem where users no longer need to jump between tabs to complete a project. As the first wave of approved apps rolls out in early 2026, the company is betting that the most valuable real estate in tech is the message bubble.
Al Jazeera (AJ) and Google Cloud recently launched 'The Core,' an AI-powered newsroom setup that Google calls a pivotal step toward the next generation of intelligent media. Al Jazeera has operated since 1996 with over 70 bureaus and is switching to a full newsroom operating system that can suggest what to ask, what to highlight, and how to package it. The promise is speed and scale, but comes with faster spread of mistakes and misinformation. Al Jazeera’s director general states that the goal is human expertise and artificial intelligence in tandem.
Here are the announcement details:
Hub: AJ now uses Vertex AI Search and Gemini Enterprise to suggest questions, angles, and summaries.
Brain: AJ-LLM is fine-tuned on AJ archives, with NotebookLM for research context.
Visuals: AJ Vision uses Imagen and Veo to help produce visuals and video.
Operations: BigQuery and Gemini tools help spot trends and automate internal tasks.
This is the wider AI industry story in tiny details, where vendors want to sit inside the editorial workflow, not just sell you software. That can help when a reporter faces a breaking story and the system pulls prior coverage, translates quotes, and drafts a clean summary fast but it can hurt when the system keeps recommending the same 'safe story' angle. If Al Jazeera pairs this with AI labels, audits and strict human review, it can raise the quality of reporting. Otherwise, it could become a highly effective error accelerator.
AdMake AI is a tool designed to help you create Meta (Facebook + Instagram) ads efficiently without the need to create them from scratch. You pull up what competitors are running, save the strongest examples, then copy the same layout with your branding or generate a few “same idea, different execution” versions. It’s mainly for static ad creatives, so you can move quickly.
Core functions (and how to use them):
Ad Research: Simply paste your website URL to discover competitors and view their active ads.
Winner spotting: Identify successful ads by sorting them based on longevity to uncover enduring concepts.
Swipe file saving: Save ads you find appealing and categorize them by project for future reference and reuse of concepts.
Copy Ad: Duplicate an ad by customizing it with your logo, product image, headline and CTA while maintaining the original layout but with your brand elements.
Create Similar + sizes: Generate variations and export in Square / Story / Landscape to skip manual resizing.
Try this yourself:
Pick one offer you want to promote this week. Run Ad Research using your site URL, then choose one competitor ad that’s been running the longest. Save it, hit Copy Ad, and swap in your branding (logo + product image + headline + CTA). Next, use Create Similar to generate 3 variations and export them in Square, Story, and Landscape. Now you’ve got 9 creatives you can test right away with the same idea but different angles.
