Consumers are increasingly forming brand preferences inside AI conversations, often before they ever visit a company website, according to a new study from research-led communications agency We are Talker. The Invisible Shortlist study, conducted by Talker Research among 2,000 U.S. adults who had used AI for a personal purpose in the previous three months, found that 70% had discovered a brand, product or service for the first time through AI. Nearly two-thirds of respondents, 64%, had gone on to buy or use something from a brand AI first introduced to them.
At the same time, 68% said information from AI had caused them to rule out a brand or product they were considering. We are Talker calls this the Invisible Shortlist: the brands AI adds to, or removes from, a shopper's consideration while a purchase decision is still open. The findings matter because they suggest that brand discovery and rejection are increasingly happening in a space that brands cannot directly observe or control, shifting the battleground from search rankings to AI-generated answers.
“The shortlist is increasingly being shaped before a consumer ever reaches a brand's website,” said Tim Haslam, CEO of We are Talker. “AI isn't just helping people find information. It is starting to influence which brands get considered, which get rejected and ultimately which get chosen.” Haslam added that visibility alone is no longer sufficient. “Brands need credible, attributable evidence that helps AI understand why they deserve to be considered and recommended,” he said.
The research forms part of We are Talker's work around AI-era brand authority and its Talker Pulse™ program, which examines how major AI platforms answer commercial questions, which sources they rely on and whether brands appear in recommendations. The agency's approach combines original research, primary-source publishing and earned media with monitoring of how AI systems interpret and cite that evidence. The full study is available at https://wearetalker.com/the-invisible-shortlist-ai-brand-discovery-study-2026/, and a citation record can be found at https://talkerresearch.com/the-invisible-shortlist/.
Despite the growing role of AI, the study found that AI recommendations are not yet as influential as some other sources. Among respondents open to using AI in purchase decisions, 73% considered AI recommendations influential, compared with 81% for search results and 79% for customer reviews. Still, the findings suggest brands increasingly need to understand not just how they rank in search, but how they are represented inside AI-generated answers and recommendations.
“The brands that build authority early in the customer journey can win customers they may never previously have reached,” Haslam said. “The ones that do not may never even know they were excluded from the decision.” The implication is that companies must treat AI systems as a critical audience, ensuring their evidence and credibility are accessible and interpretable by the platforms that increasingly mediate consumer choice.
