S4 Capital's Monks lets AI agents run autonomously for days
S4 Capital's Monks agency now deploys AI agents that operate autonomously for 36-48 hours (sometimes longer) on coding tasks, with minimal human oversight. This shift is part of a broader move into social and performance marketing, with client applications planned for next year. Clients demand oversight features like model transparency and centralized agent management. Monks has cut ~800 jobs in the past year and now allocates budget for AI tokens as part of its 'talent budget'. In other industry news, NBCUniversal, FreeWheel, Carat, and Newton launched a joint initiative using custom AI agents for CTV advertising, with a luxury retailer as the first client. Political ads for Ken Paxton aired nationally during NFL games due to lower costs, Mars is overhauling M&M's production to remove artificial colors, and Skydance closed its $110B acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery.