Creator content shapes AI product recommendations

AI draws on creator reviews, product experiences, and consumer sentiment to inform recommendations. Here's why that matters for brands.

By Carryl Pierre-Drews,
EVP, Chief Marketing Officer, IAB
Published on 2026-10-22

AI is changing how consumers discover products, and creator content is helping shape what they find. The reviews, opinions, and firsthand experiences creators share give AI timely information that can inform its recommendations.

For marketers, that makes trusted creator content increasingly important to product discovery, consumer confidence, and purchase decisions.

How creator content informs AI recommendations

When someone asks AI, “Based on the latest reviews, what camera should I buy?” it needs timely, relevant information to formulate an answer.

Creators provide a steady stream of that information through product reviews, demonstrations, and firsthand experiences. Their content gives AI fresh signals about product quality, consumer sentiment, and emerging trends.

A review of the latest Samsung phone from last week, for example, provides more timely information than a review of an older model from 2022. AI can also track changes in sentiment over time, helping brands identify emerging issues. A spike in negative comments about battery swelling, for instance, can signal growing concerns about product quality.

Creator content also gives AI detailed information about specific products. When a creator reviews a Sony a7R VI mirrorless camera, AI can connect that review with information from other sources to build a more complete picture of the product.

That makes credible creators valuable sources of information that can influence what AI recommends to consumers.

At Cannes this year, I discussed the connection between creators, AI, and consumer trust with Mohaimina “Mina” Haque, global CEO of Tony Roma’s, Damon D. Jones, chief communications officer of P&G, creator Paulo Aguilar, and Trevor Fellows.
Jones captured the importance of trusted perspectives: “Consumers need to hear three voices: the brand, the expert, and their fellow consumer.” Creators fill that expert role, helping consumers evaluate products and feel more confident in their choices.

Why human-generated content matters to AI companies

Reddit content often appears when you ask AI a question. That’s by design. In February 2024, Google expanded its partnership with Reddit through a content licensing agreement reportedly worth $60 million per year. The agreement gives Google access to Reddit’s Data API, providing structured, real-time content it can use to improve how its products understand, display, and use Reddit discussions.

In May 2024, OpenAI struck a similar data-sharing agreement worth a reported $70 million a year. “As more content on the internet is written by machines, there’s an increasing premium on content that comes from real people,” Reddit CEO Steve Huffman said in one of his earnings calls. “And we have nearly two decades of authentic conversation.”

Trusted creators bring firsthand experience and expertise to AI-powered product discovery. AI helps consumers find relevant options, while creator perspectives help them evaluate those choices and feel more confident in their decisions.

This is what we’ve always known as discovery and brand preference — but where they happen is rapidly changing.

Why consumers want creator perspectives in AI recommendations

Increasingly, consumers discover products through AI, and the creator content it surfaces can influence which brands they consider and trust.

IAB research finds 56% of consumers prefer AI-generated shopping recommendations that include creator or influencer perspectives.

Research using the IAB Insights Engine surveyed 2,200 consumers in five global markets — the U.S., U.K., Australia, Mexico, and India — who recently used AI for shopping research.

Consumers know AI can find the products, but they still want someone to tell them why it’s right for them. Consumers want creators included in AI shopping recommendations — especially younger shoppers.

When AI recommendations include credible creator reviews, consumers report greater confidence in the guidance they receive. That gives marketers another reason to invest in creator expertise and credibility.

Creators help AI recommendations feel more credible, relevant, and grounded in human experience. It mirrors my shopping experience in a store: the salesperson might pick out some things for me to try on, but it’s another consumer in the fitting room who helps me decide what’s in the bags when I leave the store.

What to do next: AI companies, creators, and brands

Authenticity and expertise matter more than reach alone. As Haque put it, “Reach is rented, but trust compounds.” A creator with 5,000 highly engaged followers may be more effective than one with 100,000 followers if the smaller audience trusts and acts on that creator’s recommendations.

Brands

Partner with creators who have real expertise, real product experience, real credibility, and great storytelling.

If you feature creator reviews on your website, don’t make AI guess what they’re looking at. Use structured data to clearly identify the creator, product, review, publication date, and rating. Keep those details visible on the page, too. These details help AI interpret the content, although they don’t guarantee inclusion in AI-generated recommendations.

Pay attention to the comments. Track what consumers say about your brand because AI also uses those comments to gather information. As Haque put it, “AI stands for actual intelligence.” Hearing directly from consumers is as close to actual intelligence as a brand can get.

AI platforms

Give consumers what they want: make credible creator perspectives a part of the shopping journey. Consumers want AI shopping recommendations that blend reliable brand information with authentic, experience-based creator perspectives. Credible creator content can make recommendations more useful, relatable, and confidence-building.

Creators

Focus on becoming the expert that a consumer will trust most, and adapt your content for AI by writing more substantive text in your posts so that it can recognize that expertise. AI is also a channel for creator discovery, with 51% of Gen Z and 46% of millennials saying they discovered a creator through AI results.

Creator content isn’t just influencing consumers. It’s shaping what AI recommends.