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Microsoft Is Taking Control of the Buy Button!
Microsoft’s Copilot Checkout hints at a bigger shift in AI-led commerce.
Sidarttha Bezbora
January 12, 2026
In partnership with
Hey Creator,
Microsoft is pushing AI closer to the moment of purchase. With AI-driven shopping tools and PayPal now powering Copilot Checkout, the company is positioning itself between discovery and payment. Fewer clicks, fewer choices — more delegation to systems that act on the user’s behalf.
At the same time, Google is building protocols for AI agents to handle commerce independently, signalling a future where buying decisions are increasingly automated — and increasingly invisible.
And as creators and sellers head into 2026, the real question is no longer how to attract attention — but how to be chosen by machines making decisions quietly in the background.
Top AI News
Microsoft is rolling out “agentic” AI for retail that powers shopping assistants, smarter search, inventory and pricing optimization, and even autonomous checkout, aiming to boost conversion and order value while cutting manual merchandising work.
PayPal is powering Microsoft’s new Copilot Checkout so users can discover products, see synced merchant inventory, and pay via PayPal wallet, cards, or guest checkout without leaving Copilot—bringing buyer/seller protections into AI‑driven shopping flows.
SeaVerse has launched what it calls the first AI‑native creation and deployment platform, combining LLMs, image/video generation, and agents so a single prompt can spin up demos, apps, or web pages in one workspace—from idea to live product.
Google’s Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) is an open standard that lets AI agents discover products, compare prices and policies, negotiate with seller agents, and check out via structured APIs instead of scraping websites, paving the way for agent‑to‑agent shopping.
Digiday’s guide says 2026 will reward human, imperfect content, niche creators, and long‑term brand partnerships, while faceless AI content farms, growth‑at‑all‑costs posting, and one‑off deals slide out of favor in an authenticity‑repriced creator economy.
How much could AI save your support team?
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Gladly’s ROI calculator shows exactly what this looks like for your business: how many tickets AI could resolve, how much that costs, and what that means for your bottom line. Real numbers. Your data.
Tool Spotlight
What It is?
Zebracat is an AI video studio for people who want TikTok/Reels/Shorts output but don’t want to learn Premiere or hire an editor. You drop in text, a blog link, or audio and get back fully edited, captioned, platform‑ready clips in a few minutes.
It turns scripts, blog posts, or audio into short, social‑first videos with AI visuals, avatars, captions, and music. It’s built so non‑editors can get “finished” videos, then lightly tweak rather than starting from a blank timeline.
Who It’s For
Zebracat is built for creators, marketers, educators, and business owners who want high-quality video content but don’t have the time, tools, or skills for traditional production:
Social creators making shorts for TikTok, YouTube, or Instagram.
Marketers turning blogs, product pages, or campaign ideas into engaging visuals.
Educators and trainers wanting explainer and tutorial videos without cameras.
Small brands and startups looking to stretch content creation budgets.
How It Helps Creators
Text-to-video — Convert scripts, prompts, or blog links into videos with synced scenes and pacing.
Automated editing — Cuts, transitions, effects, and pacing are done for you behind the scenes.
Voiceovers & audio — Natural-sounding AI voices and music are automatically integrated.
Optimized visuals — Scenes and graphics are chosen to match your content’s narrative and engagement focus.
Key Features
Text / blog / audio → video: Turn scripts, articles, URLs, or podcast/audio files into edited videos with visuals, pacing, and captions chosen by the AI.
AI avatars and voice cloning: Choose from 100+ lifelike avatars or clone yourself as a digital twin; clone your voice or pick from realistic AI voices in 70+ languages.
Auto captions and social formats: Generates styled subtitles and vertical formats optimized for TikTok, Instagram, YouTube Shorts, and more.
Multilingual & brand‑safe: Supports 170+ languages overall, is part of the Content Authenticity Initiative, and gives commercial rights on paid plans.
Editing control without the headache: You can tweak script, visuals, pacing, music, and branding, but the AI handles the heavy assembly work.
Pricing Snapshot
Cat Mode (~$39/month): 15 videos/mo, 350 generative AI credits/mo, Fast processing, Generative video enabled, Limited AI Avatars, Standard AI voices (175+ languages), Basic stock clips & music, 1 Brand Kit
Super Cat (~$99/month): 40 videos/mo, 1400 generative AI credits/mo, Faster processing, everything in Cat Mode, Generative video enabled, 5 AI Avatars, 5 voice clones, 120+ premium AI avatars, Premium AI voices, Translate videos into 25+ languages, Full stock & music library, 5 Brand Kits
Unlimited Cat (~$199/month): unlimited videos, 3600 generative AI credits/mo, Fastest processing, everything in Super Cat Mode, Generative video enabled, 10 AI Avatars, 10 voice clones, Unlimited brand kits, priority support
Enterprise (~$599/month, custom pricing): unlimited videos, custom generative AI credits, everything in unlimited Cat Mode, more advanced features
Final Take
For creators who think in words but dream in video, Zebracat collapses the production barrier. You don’t need cameras, editing timelines, or voice talent — just an idea and some text or audio. It’s not just faster video production; it’s video that’s usable and shareable without the usual headaches.
Todays Creator Toolkit: AI Edition
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Collaborative builder for AI chat and voice agents that lets product and CX teams design, test, and deploy complex support and voice workflows visually, then plug them into existing LLMs, CRMs, and data sources without heavy custom code.
Speech‑to‑clear‑text app where you talk through messy thoughts and get back polished notes, emails, posts, or to‑dos, with 25+ rewrite styles, tags, translation, and cross‑device sync to make voice‑first journaling and drafting actually usable.
Multimodel AI image and video studio that taps engines like Seedance, Veo 3.1, Sora2, and Nano Banana for high‑quality text‑to‑video, image‑to‑video, and image generation, sold via credits or subscriptions with HD exports and commercial rights.
Meeting‑intelligence notetaker for teams that records calls, auto‑summarizes them into structured notes, pulls out action items and follow‑ups, and syncs highlights and fields straight into tools like HubSpot, Salesforce, and Slack.
💡 Creators Pro Tip For Zebracat
Start from what already works: Instead of writing fresh scripts, drop in your best‑performing blog posts, emails, or threads and let Zebracat turn them into videos—then A/B test hooks and captions inside the tool.
A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way."
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