The Phia cookie controversy isn’t ending with competitors like Kate Sanner, founder of resale platform Beni, finally breaking her silence on Phoebe Gates and Sophia Kianni’s start up on her substack.

In other Gates news, on a more positive note, Bill Gates, through his climate fund Breakthrough Energy Ventures, a primary investor in Heart Aerospace, a pioneering electric aviation company building the regional hybrid-electric airplane known as the ES-30. We cover news about its first flight in this issue and one i am personally excited to keep track of.

Finally, as we are building through the programming for our 4th annual Future+ summit in November, one of the key themes we will keep revisiting will be the human attention economy. This week a feature on follower count losing its footing as a measure of creator influence takes precedent.

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If you are new here, or want to catch up on the best of Codes of Culture, we’d recommend you start here and remember to subscribe for full access to our news, insights, podcast and global events.

📖In this issue:

1. Heart Aerospace has flown the world’s largest electric aircraft.

2. Follower count is losing its power as the defining measure of creator influence.

3. Neko Health is bringing its high-tech body scans to New York.

4. Higgsfield has reached a $5.4 billion valuation as demand for AI content surges.

5. Women’s soccer is becoming fashion’s next major opportunity.

1. AVIATION AND THE FUTURE OF TRAVEL

Heart Aerospace has flown the world’s largest electric aircraft.

What’s happening: Heart Aerospace has successfully completed the first flight of X1, its full-scale electric aircraft demonstrator and, at more than 25,000 pounds with a 106-foot wingspan, the largest battery-electric aircraft ever flown. The 27-minute test flight took place in Plattsburgh, New York, with the aircraft reaching 1,100 feet and generating more than one megawatt of electric power. X1 is designed to validate technology for Heart’s upcoming 30-seat ES-30 hybrid-electric regional aircraft, which has attracted commitments from airlines including United and Air Canada and is targeting entry into service in 2031.

TLDR:

• The X1 is the largest battery-electric aircraft ever to fly.

• Its first 27-minute flight used approximately $5 worth of electricity.

• Heart is using the demonstrator to develop its 30-seat ES-30 regional aircraft.

• The company says the ES-30 could reduce operating costs by more than 40% versus legacy regional aircraft.

Why it matters: Electric aviation has often felt like a distant sustainability promise, but Heart’s milestone begins to make the economics much more tangible. If electrification can materially lower energy, maintenance and operating costs, its impact could go beyond reducing emissions and reshape where and how frequently people fly, potentially making smaller regional routes commercially viable again.

2. CREATORS, INFLUENCE AND PERFORMANCE

Follower count is losing its power as the defining measure of creator influence.

What’s happening: Fashion brands are getting better at measuring what creators actually deliver, and that is changing who gets hired. Rather than treating follower count as the primary proxy for influence, brands increasingly have access to data around engagement, conversions and audience quality, allowing them to distinguish creators who generate genuine consumer action from those who simply command large audiences. The result is a creator ecosystem where performance and relevance are becoming increasingly important alongside reach.

TLDR:

• Bigger audiences no longer automatically mean greater value for brands.

• Engagement, conversions and audience quality are becoming more important metrics.

• Technology is making creator-driven sales significantly easier to track.

• Brands increasingly need diversified creator networks rather than simply a handful of large influencers.

Why it matters: Influencer marketing is entering a much more mature phase. The first era rewarded scale; the next will reward the ability to move specific communities and produce measurable outcomes. That benefits creators with high-trust, highly relevant audiences while forcing brands to think about influence as a portfolio rather than a popularity contest.

3. HEALTH, LONGEVITY AND PREMIUM EXPERIENCES

Neko Health is bringing its high-tech body scans to New York.

What’s happening: Neko Health, the preventative health startup founded by Spotify co-founder Daniel Ek and Hjalmar Nilsonne, is opening its first US location in SoHo, New York, on September 24. The company combines proprietary full-body scanning technology with blood testing and data from fitness devices to provide a broad assessment of a customer’s health. Neko already operates in the UK and Sweden, says more than 100,000 people have undergone scans and has attracted more than 25,000 people to its New York waitlist following a $700 million Series C raise last month.

TLDR:

• Neko Health opens its first US location in SoHo on September 24.

• More than 25,000 New Yorkers have reportedly joined the waitlist.

• The service combines body imaging, bloodwork and wearable data.

• Neko raised a $700 million Series C ahead of its US expansion.

Why it matters: Longevity is increasingly becoming a consumer category rather than simply a healthcare category. Companies like Neko are packaging complex diagnostics into experiences that feel closer to premium wellness, hospitality and technology than the traditional doctor’s office, and locating its first US site in the middle of SoHo’s luxury retail ecosystem is indicative of that shift. As consumers become willing to spend on understanding and optimising themselves, the broader opportunity sits in turning previously specialist technology into accessible, beautifully designed products.

4. AI, MEDIA AND THE NEW CREATIVE INFRASTRUCTURE

Higgsfield has reached a $5.4 billion valuation as demand for AI content surges.

What’s happening: AI content platform Higgsfield has raised $400 million in a Series B led by DST Capital taking its valuation to $5.4 billion, roughly four times its valuation six months ago. The company, whose tools are used by creators, marketers and studios to generate images, video and storyboards, says annualised revenue has reached $700 million while its global user base has doubled since January to more than 30 million. The funding will support international expansion, infrastructure, research and hiring as enterprise demand for AI-generated advertising and entertainment content continues to accelerate.

TLDR:

• Higgsfield has raised $400 million at a $5.4 billion valuation.

• Its valuation has increased roughly fourfold in six months.

• Annualised revenue has reached $700 million.

• The platform now has more than 30 million users globally.

Why it matters: Generative AI is rapidly moving from experimentation into production infrastructure. A $5.4 billion valuation matters less on its own than the speed at which creators, agencies, marketers and entertainment companies appear to be incorporating these tools into existing workflows. The companies that win may therefore not simply build the most impressive models, but the platforms that become embedded in the commercial production of culture.

5. WOMEN’S SPORT, FASHION AND CULTURAL CAPITAL

Women’s soccer is becoming fashion’s next major opportunity.

What’s happening: Ahead of the 2027 Women’s World Cup, Hypebae argues that women’s soccer remains significantly underdeveloped as a fashion platform. Men’s football has increasingly built relationships with fashion and luxury brands, yet the women’s game has not experienced the same volume of high-profile fashion moments. With audiences, athlete profiles and commercial interest continuing to expand, that gap is beginning to look less like a niche opportunity and more like an obvious piece of whitespace for fashion brands.

TLDR:

• Fashion’s relationship with football has accelerated dramatically.

• Women’s soccer has yet to receive the same level of luxury and designer attention as the men’s game.

• The 2027 Women’s World Cup offers brands a major global cultural moment.

• The opportunity extends beyond sponsorship into athlete style, collaborations, storytelling and lifestyle product.

Why it matters: Women’s football is becoming one of the clearest intersections of sport, culture and commerce, but many brands are still approaching it primarily through conventional sponsorship. Fashion has the opportunity to go further by helping create the visual language, personalities and cultural moments surrounding the sport. The brands that build authentic relationships with players and communities before the next World Cup cycle peaks could benefit from something far more valuable than logo exposure: a meaningful position inside one of the fastest-evolving cultural ecosystems in sport.

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Escaping the heat waves to green, nature-soaked destinations has been a priority for most this summer. Having just returned from Malaysia and the rainforests of Borneo, I can confirm that forest bathing, mangrove kayaking, swimming in waterfalls and diving around the archipelagos of the Strait of Malacca left me completely refreshed- mind, body and soul. Also, nothing beats Asian hospitality. I will never take for granted what a privilege it is to travel and experience the world.

On that note, we are slowly but surely building momentum towards our 4th annual Codes of Culture summit this November. This year’s core theme will centre on creators, their media empires, the consumer brands they’ve built, and the capital flowing into them. Adweek’s article below recaps and reconfirms much of what we have been tracking over the last 12 months.

As the noise around AI replacing your job and producing slop quietens, we are also noticing an exponential increase, almost an insatiable craving for human connection- authentic, raw and unfiltered. Where we are headed is a widening gap between two ends of the spectrum - a very technologically advanced world, moving at the quantum speed of space and light on one end and real, authentic human connection, a deep urge to connect with nature, experiences and stillness on the other.

Subscribe to get special access and more details on what’s to come.

If you are new here, or want to catch up on the best of Codes of Culture, we’d recommend you start here and remember to subscribe for full access to our news, insights, podcast and global events.

📖In this issue:

1. Louis Vuitton and Singer turn vintage Porsches into luxury objects.

2. YouTube brings creator premieres to TIFF.

3. Josh Kushner and Bob Iger acquire the LA Lakers for $12.5 billion.

4. China’s AI revolution moves into fashion and beauty.

5. Creators are becoming the new media moguls.

1. LUXURY, AUTOMOTIVE AND CULTURAL EXTENSION

Louis Vuitton and Singer turn vintage Porsches into luxury objects.

What’s happening: Louis Vuitton has collaborated with Singer to create two reimagined vintage Porsche 911s, unveiled during Monterey Car Week. The project reportedly began when Singer approached the house about creating a dashboard clock and evolved into a coupe and cabriolet incorporating Louis Vuitton codes throughout their interiors. The coupe uses the house’s monogram flower, malletage quilting and leather edge-dyeing techniques, while the cabriolet references the Noé bag and Tambour watches through subtler details. Neither company disclosed pricing, although comparable Singer commissions can reach around $2 million.

TLDR:

• Louis Vuitton and Singer have collaborated on two reimagined Porsche 911s.

• The partnership extends beyond branding into materials, techniques and product design.

• Louis Vuitton’s malletage quilting, leather finishing and monogram motifs have been translated into the cars.

• Details from the Noé bag and Tambour watches appear throughout the cabriolet.

• The collaboration positions automotive design as another canvas for luxury-house codes.

Why it matters: Luxury brands are increasingly treating their creative language as intellectual property that can travel across categories. Louis Vuitton does not need to become an automotive manufacturer for cars to become part of its universe; what matters is whether its codes remain recognisable and desirable when translated into another object. That creates new cultural territory without diluting the core fashion business and places luxury houses closer to the worlds of collecting, mobility and high-value experiences.

2. CREATORS, ENTERTAINMENT AND INSTITUTIONAL RECOGNITION

YouTube brings creator premieres to TIFF.

What’s happening: YouTube and Variety are launching an inaugural Creator Festival at the Toronto International Film Festival on 10 September, bringing creator-led programming into TIFF: The Market. Mark Vins of Brave Wilderness will premiere the feature-length documentary Reef to Ridge, following an expedition through the Galápagos. At the same time, Ziwe will debut two new episodes of You’d Be an Iconic Guest. Both projects will then become exclusive to YouTube, positioning creator-native programming alongside the industry showcase traditionally associated with film studios, broadcasters and streaming platforms.

TLDR:

• YouTube and Variety are launching an inaugural Creator Festival at TIFF.

• The event will take place on 10 September as part of TIFF: The Market.

• Mark Vins will premiere his feature-length documentary Reef to Ridge.

• Ziwe will screen two new episodes of You’d Be an Iconic Guest.

• Both projects will later be available exclusively on YouTube.

Why it matters: The creator economy is entering a new stage of institutional legitimacy. A TIFF premiere reframes creator content from platform-native entertainment into work that can participate in the same prestige ecosystem as film and television. At the same time, YouTube gains a route to position its creators as entertainment franchises rather than channels. For brands, agencies and investors, the distinction between creator, production company and media property is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain.

3. SPORTS, CAPITAL AND CULTURAL ASSETS

Josh Kushner and Bob Iger acquire LA Lakers for $12.5 billion.

What’s happening: Josh Kushner and Bob Iger are set to acquire the Los Angeles Lakers at a valuation of $12.5 billion, which would make the transaction the largest sale of a professional sports franchise to date. The pair pivoted from earlier involvement in potential NBA expansion in Las Vegas to an offer for the Lakers. However, the transaction still requires approval from the NBA Board of Governors. The deal brings together Kushner’s investment background through Thrive Capital and Iger’s decades of experience building global entertainment franchises, placing one of sport’s most culturally powerful brands under owners with deep expertise in capital, media and intellectual property.

TLDR:

• The Lakers are being acquired at a record valuation of $12.5 billion.

• The transaction would set a new benchmark for professional sports-franchise sales.

• Josh Kushner brings venture-capital and technology investing experience through Thrive Capital.

• Bob Iger brings decades of entertainment, media and franchise-building experience.

• The deal remains subject to approval from the NBA Board of Governors.

Why it matters: Sports franchises increasingly look less like teams and more like scarce global media and cultural assets. Their value spans live entertainment, intellectual property, sponsorship, merchandise, hospitality, content, and communities that can span generations. Bringing an investor synonymous with technology capital together with an executive synonymous with franchise-building is therefore notable: the opportunity around the Lakers extends far beyond basketball performance.

4. AI, FASHION AND CONSUMER INNOVATION

China’s AI revolution is moving into fashion and beauty.

What’s happening: The 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai showed how quickly China’s AI ecosystem is moving from experimental technology into consumer-facing applications. Fashion and beauty were increasingly visible across the event, from AI glasses and virtual try-on to AI-powered beauty experiences, with L’Oréal China among the companies demonstrating how the technology can become part of everyday consumer journeys. The significance lies less in any single product than in the breadth of deployment: AI is beginning to span discovery, consultation, personalisation, and physical interaction rather than remaining confined to software interfaces.

TLDR:

• WAIC 2026 showed AI moving deeper into consumer categories including fashion and beauty.

• AI glasses are emerging as another interface for accessing contextual information and services.

• Beauty companies are exploring AI across consultation, personalisation and customer experience.

• Virtual try-on continues to move closer to the purchasing journey rather than operating as a standalone novelty.

• China is providing an early view of what consumer AI looks like when technology becomes embedded across multiple touchpoints.

Why it matters: The next phase of consumer AI is increasingly about integration rather than experimentation. Fashion and beauty are particularly important because purchasing decisions depend heavily on context, taste and personalisation, making them natural categories for multimodal AI. China’s ecosystem is demonstrating how quickly these capabilities can move from demonstration to deployment, creating expectations that consumers elsewhere may eventually bring to global brands.

5. CREATORS, MEDIA AND VERTICAL INTEGRATION

Creators are becoming the new media moguls.

What’s happening: The largest creator businesses are increasingly adopting the structure of diversified media companies. ADWEEK reports that U.S. brands are expected to spend at least $21 billion on creators in 2026, almost double the 2022 figure, while businesses such as MrBeast’s Beast Industries have expanded far beyond content into consumer goods, financial services, toys, branded entertainment and new media properties. MrBeast surpassed 500 million YouTube subscribers this year, while Beast Industries itself now employs around 750 people. Elsewhere, creators including Dhar Mann, Binging with Babish and CatGPT are building product, production and service businesses, as institutional capital begins to enter the category through vehicles such as CAA and Integrated Media Company’s $250 million creator investment fund.

TLDR:

• U.S. creator marketing spend is expected to reach at least $21 billion in 2026.

• MrBeast has surpassed 500 million YouTube subscribers.

• Beast Industries now spans content, chocolate, toys, financial services and additional consumer businesses.

• Leading creators are hiring experienced CEOs and executives to professionalise their operations.

• CAA and Integrated Media Company have launched a $250 million fund targeting creator businesses.

Why it matters: The creator economy is shifting from monetising attention to owning the businesses built around it. The most sophisticated creators are using content as distribution infrastructure: audience creates demand, demand supports products and intellectual property, and diversification reduces dependence on any single platform or revenue stream. The challenge is organisational. Businesses built around a single individual carry concentrated reputational and operational risks, which explains the influx of professional management and institutional capital into the sector. The creators who endure are likely to be those who can convert personal influence into systems, brands, and intellectual property that can eventually operate beyond the person who created them.

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After a brief quiet period, we are back in your inbox and with a lot of news to share. We had an incredible week at Cannes Lions working with the likes of Steven Bartlett, Maggie Sellers Reum, Joby Aviation, a16z CLF, Epidemic Sound and more. A lot of the work we do at Future+ is centred on building proximity for brands, founders and investors to the highest-value opportunities. You can find our recap here.

Some of the themes we have been quietly building into and shaping for what we are working on next include closing the distance between top creators and CMOs. The brand budget conversation is moving away from media plans and toward direct relationships, which requires rooms designed for both sides to actually talk.

The top creators have their own mini media empires and are worth millions. They are no longer just talent; they’re LPs. They want in on frontier tech first funds, consumer and creator economy funds, and the investors, athletes and celebrities around them are chasing the same access. Building the infrastructure that connects that capital to the right opportunities, and the right people to each other, is where we have been putting real energy this year.

Finally, we have been building our global network for over two decades, drawing on cumulative experience and real relationships that have compounded over time. As the connective layer for all things creators, consumer, and capital, our ongoing relationship between luxury, culture and technology will culminate in our annual Codes of Culture summit in London this November.

If you are new here, or want to catch up on the best of Codes of Culture, we’d recommend you start here and remember to subscribe for full access to our news, insights, podcast and global events.

📖In this issue:

1. OpenAI’s merch line turns an AI company into a lifestyle brand.

2. Forbes’ next billion-dollar companies list.

3. Netflix pays over $500 million for Ben Affleck’s AI filmmaking startup.

4. Jay Shetty is turning a $100 million podcast deal into a conscious empire.

5. Daydream brings conversational fashion search onto brand websites.

1. TECHNOLOGY, IDENTITY AND BRAND CULTURE

OpenAI’s merch line turns an AI company into a lifestyle brand.

What’s happening: OpenAI has expanded Supply Co., originally an internal merchandise destination for employees, into a wider-facing apparel and accessories line featuring a “Research” quarter-zip, “Good Research Takes Time” T-shirts, branded socks and a ChatGPT basketball, which has already sold out. The visual language draws on collegiate sportswear, restrained branding and the elevated corporate-merchandise aesthetic that has become familiar across technology, hospitality and fashion.

TLDR:

• Supply Co. has moved from internal employee merchandise into a public expression of the OpenAI brand.

• The collection translates technical language such as “Research” and “Good Research Takes Time” into wearable identity markers.

• The sold-out ChatGPT basketball indicates demand for physical products attached to an otherwise digital company.

• The aesthetic follows a familiar lifestyle playbook built around nostalgic sportswear and understated branding.

• OpenAI is creating ways for users and supporters to engage with the brand beyond the product interface.

Why it matters: Merchandise is becoming part of the identity infrastructure around AI companies. The physical products may be commercially secondary, but they turn affiliation with a technology platform into a visible cultural signal and give OpenAI a presence beyond ChatGPT. As AI companies compete for public trust, talent and attention, brand expression becomes a strategic capability rather than a decorative layer.

2. VENTURE CAPITAL AND THE NEXT UNICORN PIPELINE

Forbes’ next billion-dollar companies list.

What’s happening: Forbes published its 2026 Next Billion-Dollar Startups list, an annual selection of 25 venture-backed US companies considered most likely to reach a valuation of at least $1 billion and sustain growth beyond that milestone. The list evaluates companies based on metrics including revenue, growth, valuation, addressable market, and business model strength. While AI remains a dominant force across the venture market, the companies attracting the greatest attention are increasingly those applying the technology to specific operational, commercial and sector-level problems rather than building undifferentiated general-purpose tools.

TLDR:

• Forbes selected 25 venture-backed companies positioned to cross the $1 billion valuation threshold.

• The list focuses on privately held US startups that have not yet reached unicorn status.

• Revenue trajectory, growth, market size, and business model durability remain central to the selection process.

• AI is increasingly embedded across startup categories rather than operating as a standalone investment thesis.

• The strongest emerging companies combine differentiated technology with a clearly defined customer or workflow.

Why it matters: The list provides a useful indicator of where investors expect value to accumulate next. The current cycle is moving towards applied infrastructure: businesses that embed themselves into healthcare, finance, enterprise operations, commerce and other high-value workflows. Access to powerful models is becoming more widely available, while proprietary distribution, customer data, workflow integration and sector expertise remain harder to replicate. This is why strategic buyers are increasingly choosing to acquire entire AI capabilities rather than licensing them from outside providers.

3. ENTERTAINMENT, PRODUCTION AND AI INFRASTRUCTURE

Netflix pays over $500 million for Ben Affleck’s AI filmmaking startup.

What’s happening: InterPositive, the AI filmmaking startup co-founded by Ben Affleck, develops AI tools for post-production, particularly to solve production problems such as missing shots, unsuitable backgrounds, and incorrect lighting. InterPositive’s team has joined Netflix, while Affleck has taken on a senior advisory role. Netflix has also said that approximately 300 of its titles have already used generative AI, showing that the acquisition is not an isolated experiment but part of a wider effort to build AI directly into the company’s production system.

TLDR:

• Netflix paid $587 million in cash for InterPositive.

• The technology focuses on post-production issues including missing footage, background replacement and lighting correction.

• InterPositive’s full team has joined Netflix, while Ben Affleck will advise the company.

• Around 300 Netflix titles have already incorporated generative AI.

• Netflix is bringing AI production capability in-house rather than relying entirely on external software providers.

Why it matters: The acquisition signals that AI production infrastructure is becoming a strategic asset for media companies. Netflix’s advantage has historically come from distribution, subscriber data and global commissioning at scale; owning the tools used to create and modify content adds another layer to that system. Yet the deal also underscores that technology alone is not enough: adoption in entertainment will depend on whether AI is positioned as extending creative control or diminishing creative labour.

4. CREATORS, MEDIA AND VERTICAL INTEGRATION

Jay Shetty is turning a $100 million podcast deal into a conscious empire.

What’s happening: Jay Shetty is expanding On Purpose from a successful podcast into a wider media, education and wellness business. Forbes reports that Shetty earned an estimated $21 million over the past 12 months, supported by a podcast agreement reportedly worth $100 million and a growing portfolio of ventures spanning content, live appearances, books, partnerships, coaching, and products centred on mindfulness, relationships, and personal development. Rather than treating the podcast as the final product, Shetty is using its reach, trust and recurring distribution to support a broader ecosystem built around conscious living.

TLDR:

• Shetty reportedly earned an estimated $21 million over the past year.

• His podcast agreement provides the financial and distribution base for a wider media and wellness platform.

• On Purpose operates as the top of the funnel for books, events, partnerships, education and consumer propositions.

• The business is organised around a consistent worldview rather than a single content format.

• Shetty can move across media, experiences and products without rebuilding trust for every launch.

Why it matters: The creator economy is shifting from sponsorship-led monetisation to vertically integrated intellectual property businesses. The most valuable creators are building systems in which content creates audience, audience creates trust and trust supports a portfolio of products, services and experiences. Shetty’s model is particularly relevant because the underlying asset is not simply reach, but a coherent belief system that can be expressed across multiple formats. For brands, this means entering an established cultural and commercial ecosystem rather than purchasing access to an isolated audience. The same principle of owning the customer relationship is now shaping fashion commerce, as AI-powered discovery moves directly into brand-controlled environments.

5. FASHION COMMERCE AND CONVERSATIONAL DISCOVERY

Daydream brings conversational fashion search onto brand websites.

What’s happening: Daydream has launched an AI-powered search and discovery product for fashion brands and retailers, bringing its conversational shopping technology directly from its standalone consumer platform to partner websites. The solution allows shoppers to search using natural language, visual references and occasion-led requests rather than relying on conventional categories and filters. STAUD, Alice + Olivia, Cult Mia and more are participating in the initial pilot, while more than 25 additional brands and retailers, including Anine Bing, ba&sh, Sandro and Maje, have signed on. Daydream’s consumer platform has surpassed 1.5 million users, and the embedded product gives brands access to its discovery model while keeping customers within their owned digital environment.

TLDR:

• Daydream is embedding natural-language fashion search directly into brand and retailer websites.

• Shoppers can describe an occasion, aesthetic, reference or specific need instead of navigating static filters.

• Five partners are live in the initial pilot, with more than 25 additional fashion businesses signed on.

• The product brings Daydream’s AI discovery architecture into the retailer’s own customer journey.

• Brands gain access to the language customers use when expressing intent, including the occasions and references behind a purchase.

Why it matters: Fashion search has traditionally forced the shopper to translate desire into catalogue language: category, colour, size, material and price. Conversational discovery reverses that process by allowing the customer to begin with. At the same time, the embedded model gives brands a way to introduce AI without surrendering the customer relationship to a third-party platform. The resulting data is also richer than conventional site search because it reveals why someone is shopping, which references shape their taste and what constraints are blocking the purchase.

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June has been a wild ride so far, and I’m sending this newsletter out en route to Founders Forum Global at Soho Farmhouse. Over the next few weeks…

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At the Code with Claude event in London today, listening to founders using Claude to build one-person companies, doing live workshops with the tea…

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This week’s issue is slightly longer with 10 stories on our radar covering recap of the recent Shoptalk event in Las Vegas where the best technology solutions present to the biggest retailers. Agentic commerce has been at the top of everyone’s agenda, and tracking announcements at events gives us a macro understanding of the trends and capital flowing into the space.

We also recap both Prada’s Frames symposium, which highlighted the existential question of our times: who owns AI image generation, and EssilorLuxottica’s wearables summit, which interestingly positioned the eye and its wearables as a health platform that tracks data and uses AI to detect systemic conditions.

Especially interesting (and worrying) this week was The New Yorker’s coverage of Sam Altman’s growing influence on the future of AI and whether one person can really be trusted with all the control. Scroll on for all the stories.

Finally, we have officially re-launched the newly updated Future+ website, which has been a labour of love since the start of the year.

If you are new here, or want to catch up on the best of Codes of Culture, we recommend you start here and remember to subscribe for full access to our news, insights, podcast and global events.

📖In this issue:

1. Shoptalk 2026 reveals how AI agents are transforming the shopping experience from discovery to checkout.

2. Sam Altman’s increasing influence over the future of AI.

3. Google’s AI-powered adverts drove an 80% increase in sales for Aritzia.

4. Prada Frames explores who controls imagery in the age of AI at Milan Design Week.

5. Pixel Moda demonstrates how AI is revolutionising large-scale fashion imagery production.

6. Nothing announces its entry into the AI glasses market with a design-led approach.

7. EssilorLuxottica highlights the convergence of eyewear, AI, and healthcare innovation.

8. Indian startup Rocket launches an AI tool offering strategy consulting at a fraction of the usual cost.

9. Medvi faces scrutiny after revelations of fabricated data behind its AI success story.

10. NASA’s Artemis II mission advances human spaceflight further, pushing lunar ambitions.

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    Agentic commerce owns discovery. The storefront still owns the close.

    The defining story at Shoptalk Spring was OpenAI quietly sunsetting Instant Checkout, its attempt to complete purchases inside ChatGPT, and pivoting to a discovery-and-handoff model through its Agentic Commerce Protocol, with Target, Sephora, Nordstrom, and Wayfair already integrated. Sephora is now inside ChatGPT. Gap is purchase-enabled inside Gemini. Meta has rebuilt shopping summaries and checkout across Instagram and Facebook. The floor data was sobering: 60% of shoppers who receive an AI recommendation still go and research before buying; only 18% transact immediately. That gap is the whole story. AI is taking over the moment of intent, but it is not yet closing the sale. For retail and brand operators, the question is whether your product feeds, pricing logic, and data infrastructure are clean enough to convert attention that now arrives from an interface you do not own.

    The New Yorker is asking the governance question OpenAI keeps deferring.

    Drawing on new interviews and internal documents, The New Yorker’s profile revisits the 2023 OpenAI board crisis and lands in an uncomfortable place: the doubts about Altman were never really about personality. They were about candour, the concentration of power, and whether the people constructing this technology are sufficiently accountable for what they produce. OpenAI has spent two years managing that story. The New Yorker is reopening it. For capital allocators and enterprise buyers with material exposure to OpenAI’s ecosystem, the governance question is not an abstract one. A single founder’s control over a general-purpose technology at this pace and scale is one of the most significant structural risks in the market right now. The profile is asking it on the record. The answer is still open.

    Google’s AI ad tools drove Aritzia’s revenue up 80%. Performance marketing has a new architecture.

    Google’s AI Max campaign tool reads a brand’s creative assets and product catalogue, then interprets conversational search queries, now averaging 45 words against the old two-to-three keyword standard, to match intent to inventory in real time. Aritzia’s 80% lift in online revenue is not a creative optimisation story. It is evidence that the matching layer between customer intent and product is being rebuilt by the platforms that own the search interface, and is being rebuilt fast. For fashion and retail brands with significant paid acquisition budgets, the question is not whether to engage with these tools. It is whether your creative assets, product data, and catalogue structure are clean enough to perform inside them. The brands that are waiting are not just missing out on efficiency gains. They are being outpaced on discoverability by those that are not.

    Prada Frames is asking who controls the image.

    The fifth edition of Prada’s annual symposium, In Sight, held at the Santa Maria delle Grazie complex in Milan, was focused on image-making as a political and material force: the infrastructure it depends on, the energy and labour it consumes, and who controls the conditions of its production. Conceived by Formafantasma, the event spent five editions building toward exactly the question AI image generation has now made unavoidable. What is striking is where the conversation has arrived. This is no longer a cultural theory seminar. The struggle over who owns visual culture and who controls the systems that produce it is showing up in boardrooms, in content contracts, and in procurement decisions. Prada is staging that conversation in one of the most symbolically loaded spaces in Milan. That is not incidental.

    Pixel Moda produced 14 million fashion images with AI.

    Pixel Moda creates AI-assisted and AI-generated content for more than 900 global brands, and presented its model at BoF VOICES alongside Etro’s chief executive, who credited the partnership with 46% e-commerce growth over 12 months. The model is deliberately human-led: AI directs photographers, stylists, and models on set, then uses those assets as inputs for generative outputs, including body swaps, background changes, and per-SKU video, content that used to be cost-prohibitive for all but the largest houses. The signal here is not that AI is replacing the studio. It is that the studio now has a different architecture, and the question is whether the creative layer directing it is strong enough to maintain brand identity as volume multiplies. The brands still running workflows designed for 500 images a season are already operating in a different era than the ones that are not.

    Nothing is entering AI glasses.

    London-based Nothing is developing AI glasses targeted for the first half of 2027, featuring cameras, microphones, and speakers in a design similar to Meta’s Ray-Ban glasses. CEO Carl Pei shifted from initial resistance to a multi-device view after seeing the category’s early traction, itself a signal worth noting. For luxury brands and hardware operators tracking ambient AI devices, Nothing’s entry matters for the same reason Samsung’s partnership with Gentle Monster mattered: it confirms that the primary constraint on mass adoption is design and social acceptability, not the technology. Meta, Samsung, Google, and Nothing have now converged on the same hardware thesis within a narrow window. When operators of that scale reach the same conclusion at the same time, the question for luxury is not whether eyewear strategy belongs in the conversation. It is how quickly it moves to the centre of it.

    EssilorLuxottica is repositioning the eye as a health platform.

    EssilorLuxottica’s inaugural SWITCH summit convened more than 1,000 doctors, scientists, and technologists around oculomics: using advanced retinal imaging and AI to detect systemic conditions, including diabetes and neurological disease, through the eye. The company already controls the dominant global eyewear distribution infrastructure through Ray-Ban Meta, Oakley, LensCrafters, and Sunglass Hut. That combination, diagnostic capability sitting inside a distribution system that already reaches hundreds of millions of people, is the thing worth paying attention to. For luxury wellness, longevity, and premium healthcare investors, the category is repositioning from optical correction to continuous health monitoring. The interface closest to the face is becoming the one that reads it most intimately. What sits above that layer, in experience design, data governance, and brand relationship, is still wide open.

    A startup in Surat is pricing McKinsey-style strategy reports at $250 a month.

    Rocket, based in Surat with operations in Palo Alto, generates consulting-style strategy documents covering pricing, unit economics, go-to-market, and competitive intelligence, drawing on more than 1,000 data sources. Its thesis is direct: as coding is commoditised by AI, the strategic layer above it is where the next value gap opens. The outputs still require human verification. But the more consequential point is the price signal itself. The market is beginning to set a floor for AI-assisted strategy work, and that floor is lower than most incumbents have modelled or are comfortable acknowledging. The firms most exposed are those whose value proposition rested on access to proprietary frameworks and aggregated data rather than judgment built from genuine operating experience. That distinction between analytical access and earned perspective is where the value will concentrate and where the pressure will fall hardest.

    Medvi was celebrated as the first one-person unicorn, but it was built on 800 fake doctors.

    The New York Times profiled Matthew Gallagher as proof that one person with AI could build a billion-dollar company. The revenue figures cited, $401 million in 2025 from two employees, came from an unaudited private LLC with no independent verification. What has been independently documented is rather different: more than 800 fake Facebook doctor profiles with AI-generated images, deepfaked before-and-after patient visuals, and an FDA warning letter for misbranding violations that arrived six weeks before the profile ran. A class action and a data breach affecting 1.6 million patient records followed. The Times piece has since been heavily scrutinised. For investors and enterprise buyers tracking AI in healthcare and wellness, Medvi is the clearest illustration yet of what happens when AI is used to fabricate the trust layer rather than earn it. The regulatory window that made this possible is closing. The harder question is how many companies in adjacent categories are operating closer to this model than their positioning suggests.

    Artemis II has taken humans farther from Earth than any crew in history. The infrastructure for a lunar economy is being tested now.

    NASA’s Artemis II crew has completed a circumlunar flyby, surpassing the distance record set by Apollo 13. This is not a landing, but that is precisely the point. The strategic significance lies in what the mission is building toward: Artemis III targets the lunar south pole, with the longer ambition of sustained human presence beyond Earth. For deep-tech investors and capital allocators tracking the space economy, the Artemis programme is public infrastructure in the most literal sense: the enabling layer on which commercial lunar operations, resource extraction, and eventually off-Earth compute will depend. The test is live. The commercial layer above it is being built in parallel. The organisations that understand the infrastructure timeline are the ones positioned to shape what eventually runs on top of it.

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I have been thinking about the difference between a funding round and a land grab. Yesterday, with OpenAI closing $122 billion at an $852 billion …

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