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AI Shopping Agents and ChatGPT Ads: What Marketers Should Do Now

Marketers plan to spend more on AI assistants, yet few consumers trust their recommendations. Learn how to prepare content, data and measurement for agent-led shopping.

TopicAI Marketing
Published
Last updated
Reading time6 minutes
Written byal-ai.ai team
AI Shopping Agents and ChatGPT Ads: What Marketers Should Do Now

Quick answer

A Kantar study found a net 75% of marketers plan to increase AI-assistant spending in 2027, yet only 32% of consumers use these tools to research brands and just 23% trust their recommendations. Prepare by making product data machine-readable, writing answer-first content and testing paid placements with measurement before scaling budgets.

What is changing in AI-assisted shopping?

ChatGPT has begun adding visual ad formats, testing first with US Free and Go users, and has launched virtual clothing try-on and a favourites feature. Meta, Walmart, Stripe and others have proposed an open protocol for how AI agents interact with businesses. Retailers now have to decide how much inventory, price and customer data to expose to third-party agents.

Do consumers trust AI recommendations?

Kantar Media Reactions 2026Result
Marketers planning to raise AI-assistant spend in 2027 (net)75%
Consumers using AI assistants to research brands32%
Consumers who trust the recommendations23%

The gap is the opportunity and the warning: investment is racing ahead of consumer confidence. Brands that earn trust with accurate, transparent information will be cited; those that over-promise will not.

How reliable is advertising measurement?

Reporting seven months after launch suggests measurement gaps keep advertisers at test-level budgets; one agency’s clients spend about $10 million a month on Google but under $100,000 on ChatGPT. One advertiser reported an acquisition cost 15.3% lower than its paid-search benchmark, which is promising but still a single case.

A practical plan for marketers

  • Fix product and service data: names, prices, availability and specifications in structured, consistent form.
  • Write answer-first pages and FAQs so assistants can quote you accurately.
  • Add schema markup and keep modified dates current.
  • Run small paid tests with clear incrementality measurement before scaling.
  • Decide which data agents may access, and log what they request.
  • Keep a human approval step for any agent that changes campaigns or prices.
Visibility in AI answers is earned by being the clearest, most accurate source.
Key takeaways
  1. AI assistant budgets are rising faster than consumer trust.
  2. Machine-readable product data and answer-first content improve citations.
  3. Test paid formats with measurement before scaling.
  4. Control which data agents can reach and keep humans approving changes.

Frequently asked questions

What are AI shopping agents?

Software that researches, compares and sometimes buys products for a person using AI, often through conversational assistants.

Are ads in ChatGPT available to everyone?

Reports describe testing with Free and Go users in the US first, with formats and measurement still developing.

How do I get my products recommended by AI assistants?

Provide accurate, structured product data, answer-first content with sources and schema markup, and earn mentions on trusted third-party sites.

Do consumers trust AI product recommendations?

Not yet at scale: Kantar found 23% trust them and 32% use them to research brands.

Sources

  1. MarketingProfs — AI Update, October 09, 2026
  2. Hello Growth — AI news October 2026

We summarise these sources in our own words. Figures come from the publishers named above and may be updated; vendor surveys can reflect the publisher’s interests.

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