How many of your conversations this week have started with some version of, "WTF?" Or, "I'm exhausted." Or, "What is happening?"

The onslaught of AI developments has come in lockstep with the almost unfathomable acceleration of the news cycle. Surely, this pace is unsustainable, we think. And then it gets faster.

What do we do?

The answer I believe most psychologists would endorse is to find something —anything — that you can control. But how do we give ourselves agency when so many of us are experiencing learned helplessness instead? 

My deluded, naive fantasy: maybe AI can help. 

(Insert pause for you to roll your eyes at your screen, or throw something at it.)

Well, I'm trying, at least. And my approach is turning my addiction into something potentially useful for others. That might sound like someone saying, "Here, take this pack of cigarettes to curb your appetite," but I think the approach I'll describe is healthier. Whether it’s effective is yet to be determined.

Two weeks ago, I saw I had more credits on vibe coding app Base44 than I realized, so I've been vibe coding daily — sites with AI resources, a therapeutic app, and a mockup for a client's content marketing project, to name just a few. Then I saw a terrible news headline, and I wondered if I could vibe code a site to help members of an immigrant community facing persecution.

I'm still not sure how great the site is, and as it was built overwhelmingly with AI, I want more human review to make sure it's accurate. But, it got me thinking, “What if we could vibe code for a cause?”

Vibecodingforgood.org was born.

It's in its infancy. I don't know what it is. Is it a project or a movement, or just a website out in the ether?

There will be an AI Marketers Guild event February 25 that'll be a brief vibe-coding hackathon, with the goal of everyone creating something that's in support of a cause you care about. Or it could be for any purpose that makes us explore how we can use these AI-powered tools to help and lift up others. The cause can be the proverbial helping a senior citizen cross the street or get a stuck cat out of a tree; if we can do some good with it, let's.

And let's inspire each other.

Beyond the event, what will we do with it? Beats me. But the idea that we can use some of these accessible, affordable tools to make an impact is one thing giving me a tiny bit of hope right now.

What else can we do? Let's keep learning from each other. And if you have any ideas for how we do so in better ways inside and outside of the AIMG community, I’m all ears. I’ll even give a personal reply back, without any AI assistance.

— David Berkowitz, Chief Community Officer, Marketecture Media

Accelerate your brand’s growth at the 2026 IAB Annual Leadership Meeting—where AI breakthroughs, commerce media, and cross-channel accountability reshape performance. Connect with industry leaders, uncover new revenue opportunities, and position your company for strategic growth.

Who: E-commerce Directors, Retail Marketers, UX Designers

What: Leather goods brand Leatherology is scaling up its "Yours, Truly" AI design tool to drive personalized gifting this Valentine's Day season. The tool allows shoppers to visualize and create custom product designs on the fly, moving from an experimental phase to a core sales driver for the brand’s direct-to-consumer site.

Why it matters: Personalization is moving past basic "names in emails" to actual product co-creation, which helps increase conversion and reduce returns.

(Modern Retail)

Who: CMOs, Technology Marketers

What: Marketers prioritize digital staples over AI in Mediaocean’s new “2026 H1 Advertising Outlook Report,” surveying over 6,100 marketing professionals. Mediaocean finds that while AI is the top consumer trend, actual budget increases are flowing most heavily into digital display, video, and social media. Marketers highlighted an "execution gap" where fragmented ad tech systems and data silos are currently preventing them from moving AI from experimentation into full-scale autonomous media buying.

Why it matters: There is a gap between AI enthusiasm and actual dollar allocation; until the plumbing of ad tech is unified, AI has to work way harder to justify being a spending priority compared with the proven reach of social and video (both of which, of course, can be enhanced in all kinds of ways with AI).

(MediaPost)

Who: Brand Managers, Content Strategists, Communications Leads

What: To mark its 25th anniversary, Wikipedia has launched a rare ad campaign that emphasizes human insight and collaboration over machine-generated content. The creative peels back the curtain on how human editors verify facts, positioning human-led knowledge as a premium asset in the age of AI.

Why it matters: As the web becomes flooded with synthetic content, brands that lean into human verification and authenticity may find a competitive advantage in building consumer trust. There is a hint of irony, though, given how influential Wikipedia is in informing major AI platforms’ responses. The human touch now often is delivered to other humans via AI-generated regurgitation.

(Marketing Brew)

Accelerate your brand’s growth at the 2026 IAB Annual Leadership Meeting—where AI breakthroughs, commerce media, and cross-channel accountability reshape performance. Connect with industry leaders, uncover new revenue opportunities, and position your company for strategic growth.

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