AI Is Shortening Path From Wanting to Buying: PayPal Ads’ Jenna Griffith
Artificial intelligence may eventually write novels, diagnose diseases and decide what everyone should have for dinner. For advertisers, Jenna Griffith is focused on something considerably more immediate: figuring out when consumers are actually ready to buy.
“AI is changing the way people shop,” Jenna Griffith, vice president of operations at PayPal Ads, told Beet.TV contributor David Kaplan. “We’re really seeing the biggest difference in the shortening of the time between somebody wanting to buy something and actually making the purchase.”
That shrinking gap could have major implications for advertisers. PayPal sits unusually close to the moment when browsing turns into spending, giving its advertising business a view into transaction behavior across roughly 400 million consumers.
“At PayPal, we can see all of this transaction data across 400 million consumers,” Griffith said. That lets the company distinguish between people gathering information and those who appear ready to open their digital wallets.
Transactions tell a different story
Kaplan asked Griffith how PayPal’s proximity to the point of transaction affects its approach to AI-powered personalization and the customer experience.
The answer starts with what PayPal Ads calls its “transaction graph,” which draws on commerce activity to help advertisers personalize campaigns.
The distinction matters because much of digital advertising has historically relied on signals such as clicks, browsing behavior and models predicting what consumers might do. PayPal has another piece of evidence available: what people actually bought.
Advertisers can “personalize off of the transaction and not just modeling off of some clicks or perceived behavior on what somebody may or may not want to purchase,” Griffith said.
For marketers accustomed to divining consumer intent from a trail of clicks, transactions provide the rather inconveniently concrete evidence of whether someone ultimately spent money.
Griffith said AI also can make that data easier for advertisers to interrogate instead of requiring them to navigate complicated datasets.
“I get really excited when advertisers are able to actually speak with the data now,” she said. “We want them to have a conversation with it.”
Advertisers could ask what they’re trying to achieve, what kind of personalization they want or what campaign they’re looking to drive. AI can then help translate PayPal’s transaction information into something marketers can put to work.
Keep the humans in the loop
Of course, giving AI access to increasingly sophisticated commerce data raises the small matter of consumer trust.
Kaplan asked how PayPal balances automation with the expectations people have of a financial technology brand.
“Trust is central to PayPal,” Griffith said. “It really is central to how the company grew up and evolved.”
That principle extends to PayPal Ads’ use of AI agents internally. Griffith said her operations group seeks to keep teams small and use agents for automation where appropriate, while retaining human oversight.
Her operating philosophy can be summed up rather neatly: “Automate when possible, keep humans in the loop.”
In other words, the robots can help with the workload. They haven’t been handed the office keys just yet.
Attribution gets closer to the cash register
Kaplan then put Griffith on the spot: What AI application is already creating measurable value for advertisers rather than merely adding another entry to the industry’s rapidly expanding dictionary of AI buzzwords?
“Closed loop attribution is definitely it for us,” Griffith said.
PayPal’s position in the transaction gives it visibility into both ends of an advertising interaction. It can know when an ad was served and determine when that exposure ultimately translates into a transaction.
“On PayPal, we see both sides of that transaction,” Griffith said.
That creates a potentially valuable feedback loop for advertisers. Rather than stopping measurement at impressions, clicks or modeled outcomes, PayPal Ads can connect advertising exposure more directly with purchases.
For an advertising industry that has spent years trying to prove which half of the marketing budget is working, getting closer to the actual transaction isn’t the flashiest application of AI.
It may be one of the more useful ones.
You’re watching “From Discovery to Purchase: AI’s New Role in Retail,” a Beet.TV Leadership Series at Cannes Lions 2026, presented by Best Buy Ads. For more videos from this series, visit this page. You can find all of our coverage from Cannes Lions 2026 here.
Artificial intelligence may eventually write novels, diagnose diseases and decide what everyone should have for dinner. For advertisers, Jenna Griffith is focused on something considerably more immediate: figuring out when consumers are actually ready to buy.
“AI is changing the way people shop,” Jenna Griffith, vice president of operations at PayPal Ads, told Beet.TV contributor David Kaplan. “We’re really seeing the biggest difference in the shortening of the time between somebody wanting to buy something and actually making the purchase.”
That shrinking gap could have major implications for advertisers. PayPal sits unusually close to the moment when browsing turns into spending, giving its advertising business a view into transaction behavior across roughly 400 million consumers.
“At PayPal, we can see all of this transaction data across 400 million consumers,” Griffith said. That lets the company distinguish between people gathering information and those who appear ready to open their digital wallets.
Transactions tell a different story
Kaplan asked Griffith how PayPal’s proximity to the point of transaction affects its approach to AI-powered personalization and the customer experience.
The answer starts with what PayPal Ads calls its “transaction graph,” which draws on commerce activity to help advertisers personalize campaigns.
The distinction matters because much of digital advertising has historically relied on signals such as clicks, browsing behavior and models predicting what consumers might do. PayPal has another piece of evidence available: what people actually bought.
Advertisers can “personalize off of the transaction and not just modeling off of some clicks or perceived behavior on what somebody may or may not want to purchase,” Griffith said.
For marketers accustomed to divining consumer intent from a trail of clicks, transactions provide the rather inconveniently concrete evidence of whether someone ultimately spent money.
Griffith said AI also can make that data easier for advertisers to interrogate instead of requiring them to navigate complicated datasets.
“I get really excited when advertisers are able to actually speak with the data now,” she said. “We want them to have a conversation with it.”
Advertisers could ask what they’re trying to achieve, what kind of personalization they want or what campaign they’re looking to drive. AI can then help translate PayPal’s transaction information into something marketers can put to work.
Keep the humans in the loop
Of course, giving AI access to increasingly sophisticated commerce data raises the small matter of consumer trust.
Kaplan asked how PayPal balances automation with the expectations people have of a financial technology brand.
“Trust is central to PayPal,” Griffith said. “It really is central to how the company grew up and evolved.”
That principle extends to PayPal Ads’ use of AI agents internally. Griffith said her operations group seeks to keep teams small and use agents for automation where appropriate, while retaining human oversight.
Her operating philosophy can be summed up rather neatly: “Automate when possible, keep humans in the loop.”
In other words, the robots can help with the workload. They haven’t been handed the office keys just yet.
Attribution gets closer to the cash register
Kaplan then put Griffith on the spot: What AI application is already creating measurable value for advertisers rather than merely adding another entry to the industry’s rapidly expanding dictionary of AI buzzwords?
“Closed loop attribution is definitely it for us,” Griffith said.
PayPal’s position in the transaction gives it visibility into both ends of an advertising interaction. It can know when an ad was served and determine when that exposure ultimately translates into a transaction.
“On PayPal, we see both sides of that transaction,” Griffith said.
That creates a potentially valuable feedback loop for advertisers. Rather than stopping measurement at impressions, clicks or modeled outcomes, PayPal Ads can connect advertising exposure more directly with purchases.
For an advertising industry that has spent years trying to prove which half of the marketing budget is working, getting closer to the actual transaction isn’t the flashiest application of AI.
It may be one of the more useful ones.
You’re watching “From Discovery to Purchase: AI’s New Role in Retail,” a Beet.TV Leadership Series at Cannes Lions 2026, presented by Best Buy Ads. For more videos from this series, visit this page. You can find all of our coverage from Cannes Lions 2026 here.
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