AI isn’t coming. It’s here. And most e-commerce brands are sleepwalking straight into extinction. In this episode of Marketing Misfits, Norm Farrar and Kevin King talk with Lutz Finger, Cornell faculty member, AI researcher, and former Google & LinkedIn exec, about how AI is rewriting the rules of e-commerce, branding, and marketing. Lutz breaks down what 99% of sellers don’t understand: ChatGPT and Perplexity are the new gatekeepers of visibility. Aggregators like Amazon and Google? Their model is breaking.

You’ll learn:

✅ Why brands that rely on Amazon will vanish.

✅ What “Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)” means and how to rank in AI results.

✅ Why AI-generated content can hurt your visibility.

✅ How real human communities are the new algorithm hack.

✅ What OpenAI’s deal with Walmart means for sellers.

✅ The 3 things every brand must do before 2026 to survive.

Featuring:

🎙️ Lutz Finger – Head of AI at XGen AI, Cornell University Faculty

🎙️ Hosts: Norm Farrar & Kevin King

00:00 Introduction to Chat GPT in Investment Management

00:50 Welcome to Marketing Misfits

01:00 Discussion on AI and Coffee

01:17 The Evolution of AI Terminology

01:53 The Rise of AI in Agencies

02:21 Introducing the Guest Speaker

04:31 Guest Speaker's Background and Experience

06:42 The Impact of AI on E-commerce

12:15 The Future of AI in Various Industries

29:19 The Role of AI in Marketing

32:31 Debt Quality and Control

32:52 The Pitfalls of AI-Generated Content

33:20 Model Decline Explained

34:50 Influencer Marketing with Stack Influence

35:49 Human vs AI-Generated Content

39:28 Novelty in AI Training

41:28 Building Brand Authority

46:35 The Future of Brand Communities

51:40 Adoption of AI in E-commerce

54:54 Avoiding Shiny Object Syndrome

57:29 Final Thoughts and Outro

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