Which brands are AI's favorites? Now brands need to appeal not only to people, but also to AI-driven technologies

Artificial intelligence is redefining how people access information, discover new products and make purchasing decisions. According to the Adobe AI & Digital Trends Consumer Report 2026, 25% of consumers already use AI platforms as their primary search tool, turning chatbots and AI assistants into a new gateway to brands. On the one hand, consumers value the convenience, speed and level of personalization provided by AI. On the other, they are still unwilling to give up control over their sensitive data or fully delegate their most important decisions to artificial intelligence. AI has become an advisor, but not yet a replacement.

Meanwhile, brands are competing in what could be described as the algorithm of speed, where they have just 2 to 5 seconds to capture a consumer's attention while delivering content that is relevant, original and genuinely useful. The real shift is that the audience is no longer just the person, but also the AI that selects, summarizes and filters information before it even reaches the consumer.

In fact, 49% of respondents already use AI to receive personalized product recommendations, while 44% consider it a valuable tool for obtaining immediate assistance. Shopping is therefore becoming a conversation between the consumer and a digital assistant, in which a brand appears only if it succeeds in being recognized as relevant. As a result, companies must rethink not only their storytelling but also their online presence. So who will survive this new form of "artificial selection"?

Nike and adidas Win the Algorithm

Today, if we ask ChatGPT, Gemini or Google AI Overview which sneakers are the best for walking, there is a good chance that Nike and adidas will appear among the top results. This is the outcome of a true training process, built on billions of web pages, reviews, articles and online content in which these brands appear far more frequently than their competitors. One study found that Nike was mentioned approximately 2.2 million times in responses generated by the leading AI search platforms, while adidas exceeded one million mentions. In practice, when AI associates concepts such as "sports shoes" or "walking shoes", the brands that emerge first are those that appear most frequently throughout its training data.

The key point is that the model does not distinguish why a brand is well known. Nike may appear so often because it makes outstanding products, or because it invests roughly $4 billion in marketing every year, fueling affiliate programs, generating reviews, articles and influencer marketing campaigns. AI therefore does not measure a brand's absolute quality. Instead, it measures its statistical relevance: the more content a brand generates, the more the models learn from it. The more the models learn from it, the more often it is recommended. The more often it is recommended, the stronger its position becomes.

This happens because the world of AI Search relies on two distinct metrics: mentions and citations. A mention simply means that a brand is named in an AI-generated response. A citation, on the other hand, is the source linked by the AI to build that response, making it the true driver of website traffic. The two are not necessarily the same. A brand can be mentioned countless times without its website ever being linked. At the same time, an authoritative website can be used as a source without becoming the main focus of the answer.

The study highlights exactly this phenomenon. Although Nike and adidas are the most frequently mentioned brands in AI-generated responses related to fashion and sportswear, the most cited sources belong to entirely different publishers. Vogue leads the ranking with approximately 1.2 million citations, followed by Poshmark with 951,000 and Who What Wear with 757,000. Visibility therefore operates on two different levels. On one side is brand authority, which generates mentions. On the other is content depth, which generates citations. For brands, this means that being well known is no longer enough. They must also produce content that is authoritative, trustworthy and well structured enough to be selected as a source by AI assistants.

AI as a Filter

However, a single meaningful interaction is rarely enough to generate a conversion. Only 12% of consumers say they are ready to make a purchase after receiving a personalized email, chatting with a brand or receiving one of its recommendations. The turning point appears to come after three to five interactions, which influence the purchasing decisions of 40% of respondents. This dynamic confirms that trust is still built over time, even in the age of artificial intelligence.

The problem is that brands have very little room for error: 69% of consumers say that a promotional email, advertisement or social media post has only a few seconds to capture their attention. In this context, personalization alone is not enough, because the timing of communications is just as important. 45% of respondents would stop engaging with a brand if they received too many promotions, even if those promotions were perfectly relevant.

Meanwhile, 50% stop engaging when personalized content feels out of place or irrelevant, while around 40% lose interest when offers do not match their stage in the purchasing journey or their budget, making hyper-personalization effective only when it is also contextual.

So How Do Brands Earn Trust?

Reaching the point of purchase with a high level of confidence still requires research, comparison and time. Although around half of consumers say they generally feel confident in their decisions, 39% report conducting in-depth research and comparing different options before choosing a product or service. In fact, only 29% say they frequently buy products discovered through online promotions, while a similar percentage report purchasing something after seeing an advertisement during activities that had nothing to do with shopping. Meanwhile, 39% of consumers now feel overwhelmed by the volume of promotional content they receive from a single brand.

More communication does not automatically mean more trust. Artificial intelligence can certainly make recommendations more accurate, but it does not eliminate the need for authenticity. If anything, it makes that need even more apparent. The real challenge over the coming years will not simply be getting discovered by algorithms, but creating content that is authoritative enough to be selected by AI and credible enough to ultimately persuade a human being. Because in the new attention economy there are now two audiences: people and the AI assistants deciding what deserves to be seen.