This week, the global non-profit group Partnership on AI said that it is launching initiatives to assess how AI is being governed and how the technology is being used. Speaking of AI effectiveness, Measured’s latest research shows how Google’s “AI Overviews” is driving incremental growth. And finally, new research shows the Digital Product Passport (DPP) market will experience explosive growth over the next seven years.
Incremental growth for revenue and orders seen with ‘AI Overviews’
Measured, the AI-powered marketing effectiveness platform, released new research Tuesday showing that incremental revenue and orders for brands increased after Google fully launched its “AI Overviews” last fall. The analysis was based on 139 brands and found that median incremental revenue increased 3.4 percent while median incremental orders increased 3.2 percent. Ad spend remained flat.
The findings challenge the assumption that AI-generated search results “weaken traditional search as a performance channel,” the company said in a statement.
The authors of the report said that while platform metrics may have given marketers reason to question whether AI Overviews were reducing search effectiveness during the time period Measured conducted the analysis, the company’s “incrementality data shows that brands in its data set actually saw stronger results across key metrics.”
Trevor Testwuide, CEO and co-founder of Measured, said many marketers “spent the back half of 2025 worried that Google’s AI Overviews would erode search effectiveness. What our data shows is that the channel didn’t weaken search; it concentrated it.”
The CEO said the clicks that went away were the ones that were never going to convert anyway. “The advertisers who watched incrementality instead of click-through rate saw that clearly. They kept investing and they came out ahead.”
The data reveals a distinct disconnect between what a platform reports and incrementality measurement. The report’s authors said this is central to the analysis and said in an AI-shaped search environment, “traditional metrics such as click-through rate may no longer tell the full story.”
The analysis also revealed something interesting about the behavior of online shoppers. The report found that AI Overviews is effective at answering informational queries directly, “but those queries are often from lower-intent users who were less likely to convert in the first place. The remaining clicks may come from shoppers who are further along in the purchase journey.”
Regarding other key findings from the analysis, researchers said omnichannel brands that use digital ads to drive in-store sales stood out. The report found that among the brands that also measure the incremental impact of paid media on retail store sales, median retail incremental revenue grew 43.7 percent and incremental orders grew 22.5 percent.
DPP market to reach $3 billion by 2033
The global Digital Product Passport (DPP) market is on the verge of an unprecedented explosion. Valued at $275.1 million in 2025, the industry is projected to skyrocket to nearly $3 billion by 2033. This represents a 35.5 percent compounded annual growth rate, according to a report from Grand View Research.
Naturally, Europe is currently leading the charge. Tight environmental rules are pushing this growth rate and investments. Policy changes is forcing manufacturers worldwide to rethink how they track, share and manage material lifecycles from production to disposal, the report’s authors said.
New laws demand that companies openly disclose a product’s carbon footprint, repairability and recyclability. Consumer demand is also changing. People want real ethical sourcing. To meet these demands, software platforms have dominated the market by offering scalable databases and cloud-native tracking. This data tells the product’s story.
To keep pace with these regulations, the technology powering these DPPs is evolving rapidly. Advanced tools such as blockchain-enabled tracking and artificial intelligence are being embedded into supply chains. AI now automates data validation, and new software identifies environmental risks instantly.
Meanwhile, North America has positioned itself as the fastest-growing region for these technologies, the report’s authors said. Major industry players such as 3E and Avery Dennison are leading the rollout of smart labeling and digital twin networks.
Revealing AI practices
The nonprofit organization Partnership on AI (PAI) has announced two new global initiatives to help the public see how artificial intelligence is being governed. Revealed during a recent United Nations meeting, these projects aim to create a clear, shared record of whether organizations are actually following through on their promises to build safe and trustworthy AI.
The leaders of the organization said in a statement this week that while the tech world has plenty of ethical principles, it currently lacks real-world proof and data showing what safe AI practices look like in action.
To bridge this gap, the group is launching the Global AI Progress Hub and a regular report called “Global Responsible AI: Measures of Progress.” The online hub will allow tech companies, researchers, and other groups to document their real-world actions and track how AI affects human connection, jobs, and the economy.
The annual report will then serve as an independent assessment of this data to judge the industry’s progress fairly. Early contributions are already underway, and the digital platform is scheduled to open for public access in the spring of 2027.
