Good morning. Today, marketers try to figure out how much AI optimization strategies differ from their longstanding SEO playbook; now you can go grocery shopping in ChatGPT; and Anthropic asks the Journal newsroom to stress-test its AI vending machine.

Is AI optimization really a thing—or just the same thing?

How businesses should make their websites AI-friendly is becoming an urgent question as traffic from chatbots grows, The WSJ Leadership Institute’s Patrick Coffee reports. Billions of dollars ride on who gets it right.

• One camp says “don’t touch that dial.”

An AI optimization tool called Lorelight shut down after about six months because its data reinforced standard approaches to search engine optimization. “I just stopped believing in the core premise of the product, which was that it could help companies rank higher on AI,” its founder said.

• Another school says SEO is dead, or at least entering eclipse.

Its strategies for include making sure large language models get enough to eat, for example by putting out more press releases.

That matters more than in traditional SEO because people ask AI to handle much deeper conversations, said James Cadwallader, CEO and co-founder of AI optimization startup Profound.

“There’s no mystery around it,” Cadwallader said. “If you create lots of content, the models will suck it in.”

Marketers are experimenting and learning.

Extremely detailed, internally produced product information does seem to help the travel company Expedia Group in AI chats, according to Chief Marketing Officer Jochen Koedijk.

Others say the suggestions they’re hearing resemble content farming, giving priority to quantity over quality. “We’ve seen this approach before,” said Jennifer Vianello, CMO at Cars Commerce, which runs Cars.com.

Some tweaks developed by Cars Commerce, like using bullet points and takeaway summaries to make webpages more easily digestible, have helped its content appeal to AI, but are also continuations of its established SEO practices, Vianello said.

Here’s another way to show up in chatbot replies: Make yourself useful.

ChatGPT users will soon be able to order groceries from DoorDash without leaving the conversation, Kelly Cloonan reports.

Under a new partnership rolling out over the coming weeks, users can ask ChatGPT for meal or recipe suggestions, then shop for ingredients on a DoorDash app that runs inside the chat.

A growing number of companies have partnered with OpenAI for shopping integrations. Instacart introduced its own app within ChatGPT earlier this month. Users can already buy some products from Etsy. And U.S. consumers within the next few months will be able to buy Walmart products instantly and directly in ChatGPT.

Don’t forget one of the biggest wild cards with AI: customers.

The Journal’s Joanna Stern today has a hilarious report on what happened when she agreed to an experiment:

But Claudius and its overseeing “CEO” bot, Seymour Cash, were soon sent spinning by mischievous journalists like Rob Barry, our director of data journalism.

Anthropic, which is treating the results as a road map for progress it can make, could of course just program a vending machine to hold prices at certain levels and otherwise stick to certain rules.

But the promise of AI depends on its ability to “think” for itself—and to tell sense from nonsense.

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YouTube will exclusively carry the Oscars from 2029 through 2033, sending a marquee TV event to streaming after decades airing on ABC. [WSJ]

Truth Social parent Trump Media & Technology agreed to merge with an Alphabet-backed fusion energy firm and help build giant power plants to serve the AI boom. [WSJ]

A startup called Doublespeed is using a mobile phone farm to run AI-generated influencer ads on TikTok, often without the required ad disclosures. [404 Media]

Chipotle’s new High Protein Menu includes a $4, four-ounce bowl of just chicken or steak. [USA Today]

Coinbase will let investors trade on the outcomes of sports games, elections and economic indicators as it continues its drive to become the Amazon of consumer financial services. [WSJ]

How marketing could power a much-needed turnaround for Target. [Ad Age]

The auto press is warming up to Jaguar’s controversial rebrand after getting a look at the production model for its next car. [AutoExpress]