A recent article has shone a light on a fundamental shift in how people access and act on information, and how AI is changing consumer behaviour when it comes to search.

At Clusters, we’ve been following this shift closely. Our view is that the implications for brands and researchers may be stronger than they first appear. The rise of generative AI is transforming how trust is built, and critically, how consumer decisions are made.

How AI is changing consumer behaviour from “search and sift” to “ask and act”

Not so long ago, discovery started with a search bar. You typed a query, scanned a ranked list of links, clicked through, compared, and decided. It was a search-and-sift process – time-consuming, but rooted in a sense of control. Trust in the answer is built through this process of choosing appropriate sources to take information from.

Now, we’ve moved to an ask-and-act mindset. AI doesn’t just point you to information; it interprets it, packages it, and delivers a single, confident answer. And when that answer feels “good enough”, or better yet “exactly what I needed”, trust builds quickly. Over time, that trust is reshaping how people behave and how they make decisions.

Why brands should pay attention

This matters because trust is no longer just about visibility in a search engine. It’s about how your brand is described when AI becomes the first, and sometimes only, source a consumer or decision-maker consults.

Let’s think about how this could play out in the retail sector. A consumer looking for a new pair of headphones might previously have compared brands, browsed reviews, or checked social media before deciding. Now, they may simply ask an AI assistant for “the best headphones for noise cancellation” and act on that single recommendation. If your brand isn’t present in that response – or worse, if it’s misrepresented – you’ve lost influence before the buying journey has even begun.

This dynamic applies just as much in B2B. A procurement manager searching for industrial components or software solutions could just as easily ask an AI assistant which supplier is most reliable. Brands that don’t understand how they’re represented in these answers risk being written out of the decision-making process altogether.

The opportunity for market research

This shift creates a dual opportunity for brands and researchers:

• Influencing the inputs – understanding what data and narratives AI tools are learning from, and ensuring those inputs are clear, current, and consistent
• Measuring the outputs – testing how AI tools describe your brand, your competitors, and your category, and identifying any gaps between your intended positioning and the story AI tells

Approached in the right way, this could be a new evolution of brand tracking – one that considers not only human perception but also how algorithms are framing the market.

Moving from theory to action

Brands don’t need to overhaul their strategy to adapt, but they do need to have a clear plan in place. This could include:

• Auditing AI visibility: Regularly ask AI platforms how they describe your brand and category, and track changes over time
• Optimising for “AIO”: Just as SEO reshaped web copy, “AI optimisation” will reshape how product information, proof points, and credentials are written
• Monitoring the perception gap: Compare AI outputs with social chatter, online reviews, and customer feedback to build a rounded view of perception
• Embedding insights: Use what you learn to refine messaging, product descriptions, and content strategy

Looking ahead

This is less about AI replacing human decision-making, and more about how AI is reshaping consumer behaviour. The buying journey is becoming faster, more direct, and more reliant on a single source of information that feels personal and trustworthy.

For brands, this means influence is shifting upstream. Consumers aren’t patiently navigating multiple channels or weighing every option – they are leaning on AI for curated guidance and acting on it with confidence. If your brand is absent from those conversations, you risk being invisible at the exact moment decisions are being made.

For market research, this represents an interesting challenge. The brands that thrive will be those that truly understand how their customers are using AI, the behaviours it drives, and the triggers that build or erode trust. By analysing these behavioural shifts and embedding that insight into strategy, brands can ensure they remain relevant, discoverable, and trusted by consumers.

If you’re interested in learning more about how consumers search for information in your market, get in touch with us today.