The news: Consumers want creator perspectives and reviews to be considered inside AI recommendations and trust AI shopping assistance more when it’s informed by influencers.

• 56% of global consumers ages 16 and older who have recently used AI for shopping research prefer recommendations that draw on creator reviews, per an Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) survey conducted with Attest. That rises to 65% among Gen Zers and millennials.
• 65% of all respondents say they’re more confident in AI recommendations when they’re based on credible creator reviews.

But creators aren’t necessarily their top source: 27% of Gen Zers say creator reviews are their preferred input for AI recommendations. That’s on par with brand and advertiser information (29%) but below subject matter experts (34%) and user-generated ratings and reviews (50%).

What it means: AI shopping assistants are becoming a stronger distribution engine for creator content and opinions, but brands have limited visibility into exactly how those tools determine which influencers to surface.

• It’s crucial to audit which reviews and mentions for products appear across social and review sites, since those are assets that AI systems frequently pull from.
• A lack of creator content gaps on specific platforms could result in coverage blind spots around how AI tools will describe them to shoppers.

But brands need to keep in mind that creator input is not the dominant factor in how younger consumers want their AI experiences to function.

Subject matter experts and reviews from other consumers outweigh creator reviews—AI users still value opinions from true authority figures and from peers. The assumption that creators automatically have more reach than authorities and peers, and that more reach equals more influence, is challenged by the high value of nanoinfluencers.

Recommendations for marketers: Treat creator content and user-generated feedback as complementary channels—consumer reviews add to the volume of trust, while creators can offer a layer of premium credibility.

• Monitor how different AI tools cite sources and focus on working with creators who produce detailed, review-style content rather than clickbait.
• Evaluate where customer conversations are cropping up, including third-party sites like Reddit or Quora, and address negative feedback to improve product experiences and brand perceptions.
• Encourage creator partners to include content across multiple platforms to avoid coverage gaps.

This content is part of EMARKETER’s subscription Briefings, where we pair daily updates with data and analysis from forecasts and research reports. Our Briefings prepare you to start your day informed, to provide critical insights in an important meeting, and to understand the context of what’s happening in your industry. Non-clients can click here to get a demo of our full platform and coverage.