That Verge article has 2 different statements, the first sounds like this was for sure an AD though they try like hell to make it sound like it's not an ad...

That Verge article has 2 different statements, the first sounds like this was for sure an AD though they try like hell to make it sound like it's not an ad... “This isn't an ad; the beauty in the Assistant is that it invites our partners to be our guest and share their tales.” But then the second sounds like no, it wasn't so much an ad as something an algorithm dug up. "What’s circulating online was a part of our My Day feature, where after providing helpful information about your day, we sometimes call out timely content." Giving them the benefit of the doubt here, those 2 statements seem to describe things that can be different. One "came from a partner" the other was just "timely content".