AI Highlights: Week of March 20, 2026 – Agentic AI, Monetization Experiments, and Policy Shifts

The MarketingProfs AI Update for March 20, 2026, captured a busy week where AI moved deeper into commerce, advertising, and enterprise operations. Here's a comprehensive breakdown of the key developments. Advertising and Monetization Google exploring ads in Gemini: Google signaled potential future advertising inside its Gemini AI interface. As AI answers reduce traditional search clicks, new conversational ad formats are being considered. Challenges include maintaining user trust, transparency, and navigating regulations. Experimentation is expected soon. AI-driven ad growth: AI-powered advertising is forecasted to surge 63% in 2026, reaching $57 billion in the US, fueled by automation in targeting, bidding, and creative optimization. The Rise of Agentic AI and Commerce This was one of the strongest themes of the week — AI agents evolving from assistants to autonomous actors. Shopify preparing for agentic shopping: Shopify is building tools so AI agents can act as personal shoppers — d