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# Your Most Important Customer Might Not Be Human
- URL: https://www.thedigitalspeaker.com/your-most-important-customer-might-not-be-human/
- Published: 2025-02-20T09:55:07.000Z
- Updated: 2026-07-27T05:24:37.000Z
- Description: Forget about convincing people to buy your product. AI might be the one making the decision. If your brand isn’t optimized for AI-generated recommendations, you’re already losing customers you never even knew you had.
- Author: Dr Mark van Rijmenam, CSP
- Tags: News, #seo-post-1

Forget about convincing people to buy your product. [AI](https://www.thedigitalspeaker.com/ai-keynote-speaker/) might be the one making the decision. If your brand isn’t optimized for AI-generated recommendations, you’re already losing customers you never even knew you had.

As AI-powered search and purchasing assistants rise, brands must shift their marketing from persuading humans to influencing AI models. A study from Boston Consulting Group reveals that 28% of consumers already use AI to get product recommendations, and this number is growing.

Companies like Pernod Ricard are experimenting with subtle shift, changing images, descriptions, and narratives, to train AI to see their brands differently. But it’s a fine line between optimization and manipulation.

As AI models gain more control over buying decisions, businesses must rethink brand strategy entirely. But if AI models determine which brands succeed, do we still control our own choices? Are we heading toward a world where branding isn’t just for people, but for algorithms?

Read the full article on [MIT Technology Review](https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/02/19/1112076/your-most-important-customer-may-be-ai/?ref=thedigitalspeaker.com).

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