AI Marketing Trends and Tools to Watch For in 2026

After a big year in 2025, where AI hit mainstream adoption across consumers and many companies, 2026 is shaping up to be defined by agent-driven interactions, improved generative tools, and major shifts in how information is surfaced (and consumed) online. Below is our view on some of the major things that took place with AI during 2025 and what marketers should expect as we move into 2026.

Summary of the Top AI Trends for 2025

If you read the news, then you will know that AI remained one of the most discussed topics in business, and in general, throughout 2025. LLMs like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and DeepSeek became foundational to everyday work, functioning as research partners, writing assistants, and automation engines. For many people, this was their first experience using AI as a daily utility rather than a novelty.

Enterprises also invested heavily in proprietary and domain-specific models, while generative AI advanced across every major modality: text, images, audio, and especially video. With generative AI tools such as OpenAI’s Sora gaining traction, social platforms and content feeds became filled with AI-generated media, often indistinguishable from manually produced content.

Interest in AI agents has grown quickly, especially towards the tail end of the year. Although consumer-facing adoption remained early, agent-like behaviors were already reflected in analytics data and research tools. Browsers and platforms began integrating autonomous capabilities, signaling a shift toward assistants that handle research, comparison shopping, and other tasks on behalf of users. Many marketers have felt this firsthand, experiencing the early effects of AI agents on disrupting website traffic and other key conversion points across digital spaces.

Despite the progress, the year wasn’t without issue for AI as an industry. Increased compute demands strained infrastructure, leading to occasional issues across digital spaces like the Cloudflare outage in November of 2025. Model updates across various AI platforms varied in impact, with some introducing breakthrough improvements, while others focused on efficiency or safety-related restrictions. Regulatory and ethical concerns continued to rise, especially around transparency, IP, data sourcing, and hallucinations. Still, organizations that implemented AI thoughtfully reported measurable improvements in productivity, innovation, and revenue impact.

Overview of the Top AI Marketing Trends for 2026

Several major changes that surfaced in 2025 now appear ready to accelerate. AI agents are moving from background tools to active participants in user behavior. Generative AI is becoming a central part of creative and marketing workflows. Search is shifting from keyword ranking to machine-mediated interpretation. And audiences, overwhelmed by synthetic content, increasingly seek creators and brands that feel distinctly human.

These trends collectively signal a broader shift: AI is no longer an add-on to marketing; it is becoming embedded in discovery, evaluation, and decision-making.

AI Agents for Marketing Are Changing the Game

In 2025, many AI agents operated quietly in the background, supporting tasks such as web crawling, research, and structured data retrieval. By the end of the year, however, it was clear this technology was moving toward everyday consumer use. Early autonomous shopping pilots and browser-based assistants like OpenAI’s Astra demonstrated how quickly agents can begin performing tasks traditionally done by humans. Additionally, Gartner predicts that by 2028, 90% of B2B buying will be AO agent intermediated resulting in over $15 million of B2B spend.

This shift has significant implications. Increasingly, businesses will not only be marketing to people but more so to the AI systems advising them. These AI agents will compare the options, interpret product information, and filter recommendations based on a wide set of criteria before the user ever sees them. Whether a product or brand appears in those recommendations will depend heavily on the strength of its digital footprint and the signals of authority it presents to that AI agent.

A growing share of discovery will be shaped by how well content is structured for machine interpretation, not just human interest. For many industries, this represents a fundamental change in how visibility is earned. While still early, B2B marketers and business leaders should keep a close watch on AI agents as we move throughout 2026.

Generative AI Will Be Big for 2026

Generative AI made significant strides in 2025, and its influence will expand further in 2026. Major brands continued experimenting with AI-assisted creative production, and the quality of AI-generated media reached a level where distinguishing between human and synthetic work often required careful scrutiny. It is at the point where some consumers question whether a real piece of content is AI, and others won’t even question if an AI generated piece is synthetic. Tools for text, image, audio, and especially video production became more capable, more accessible, and more integrated into mainstream workflows.

This shift dramatically lowers the barrier to creating high-quality marketing assets. A single skilled marketer can now prototype or produce content that previously required multiple teams, equipment, and extended timelines. While some small teams are taking steps in this direction, we’ve seen larger companies like Coca-Cola and other similar sized firms take the earliest swings at putting AI generated ads in front of consumers. Generative AI does not replace creative strategy, but it does have the potential to accelerate execution and improve faster iteration, more personalized content, and richer campaign testing.

As these technologies mature, generative work will move from experimental projects to core components of marketing production. In the meantime, the larger companies seem to be taking the boldest swings at the moment when it comes to putting generative AI in front of consumers (and the results are varied).

Generative Engine Optimization and AI SEO for 2026

AI-driven search and recommendation systems are reshaping how marketers think about SEO. As conversational engines and agents take on more responsibility for filtering and interpreting information, businesses must consider how AI evaluates credibility and expertise. Traditional SEO signals matter, but they are no longer enough on their own.

AI systems look for depth, clarity, real experience, and authority within the content. They cross-reference information across large datasets and identify patterns that humans do not see. As a result, content that seems shallow, generic, lacking authority, or overly automated is less likely to surface in AI-mediated discovery. This can be beneficial for some and can prove as a detriment to others.

That being said, a few principles are becoming increasingly important across GEO:

• Meaningful human experience and first-party insights carry greater weight than generic information.
• Longer-form, authoritative content is more likely to be interpreted as expert-level.
• Reputable backlinks and external validation help strengthen machine-readable trust signals.

With an increasing percentage of web traffic coming from AI agents, marketers must think about how their content satisfies both human readers and machine interpreters. GEO will become an essential strategy for industries where comparison, research, and documentation play central roles.

Demand for Human-First Media Will Continue to Grow

As AI-generated content becomes more common, audiences seem to increasingly show a strong preference for authentic, identifiable voices. People want to know who is behind the content they consume, whether it’s a brand, a subject-matter expert, or a creator. Even faceless channels attract comments from viewers who simply appreciate that a real person is narrating or sharing insight. Regardless of your firm or brand, human-first media and human-centric content will be essential to gaining the trust of consumers as we move through 2026.

This trend suggests a rising value in visible authorship, personal commentary, and small communities. Micro-creators and niche experts will likely play a larger role in brand storytelling, as audiences gravitate toward content grounded in lived experience instead of synthetic output.

Human-first content not only supports trust but also serves as a differentiator in increasingly AI-saturated feeds.

AI-Assisted Workflows, LLMs, Data Analytics, and Other AI Tools

Progress across LLMs and AI tools in 2025 was notable but varied, with some updates offering significant leaps while others centered on cost efficiency or safety. Organizations adopting AI effectively focused more so on integrating models into specific workflows rather than attempting broad, unfocused automation. In essence, the mainstream AI tools have hit a point where they can assist workflows and productivity when used correctly, but they still lack in many ways that require human oversight and expertise. AI is not yet ‘do-it-all’ tool and does not show any signs of getting to that point in the foreseeable future.

AI supported teams in research, summarization, content drafting, predictive analytics, creative production, and automation. Synthetic data provided a new approach to modeling and testing; however, the effectiveness of these tools rested heavily on human oversight and still lacked in key areas of reliability. Teams benefited most when they understood not only how to use AI, but also its limitations and error patterns.

When implemented correctly, AI can be extremely powerful for productivity, streamlining tasks while leaving judgment, correction, and strategy in human hands.

Top AI Marketing Tools to Watch Out For in 2026

The landscape of influential AI tools entering 2026 looks similar to the strongest performers of 2025. ChatGPT and Perplexity continue to stand out as complementary platforms—ChatGPT better for writing, ideation, and general reasoning, and Perplexity excelling in research and real-time information retrieval.

Several other tools remain used across marketing:

• Copy.ai, Jasper, and Surfer SEO for content and search optimization
• HubSpot AI for CRM-driven insights and automation
• Canva and Grammarly as creative and editing supports

Additionally, video-generation platforms such as Sora and emerging agent-driven browsers are likely to shape new content formats and discovery behaviors. These tools should remain on the radar for marketers planning long-term investments.

Instead of trying to use as many AI tools as possible, B2B firms should instead focus on how they can best implement AI tools in ways that meaningfully boost productivity as well as how to stay ahead of the consumer effects of AI on your firm (i.e. AI agents).

Concerns with AI in Marketing for 2026

Although adoption continues accelerating, questions remain around risk, governance, and sustainability. Some worry that the rapid expansion of AI investment may reflect an emerging bubble, particularly given rising infrastructure demands, uneven performance improvements across models, and questionable Q4 financial uncertainty on the AI industry.

Regulatory concerns also continue to grow. Gartner has projected that legal claims involving AI misuse or insufficient guardrails may rise significantly by the end of 2026. Through 2027, generative AI and agents may challenge long-standing productivity tools, contributing to a large-scale market shift. And by 2028, Gartner expects that a substantial majority of B2B buying could be mediated by AI agents, representing trillions of dollars in spending moving through agent-driven systems.

These projections highlight the importance of ethical design, responsible implementation, and ongoing human oversight, especially as AI plays a larger role in complex decision-making.

Ultimately, AI is a rapidly changing landscape and staying ahead of the curve on this evolving technology can be a crucial strategic move for your business. Read the news, follow AI blogs, read AI reports, and stay informed to ensure you can anticipate the changes that will come as a result of AI on the marketing landscape.

AI in Marketing FAQs for 2026

• What are the top AI marketing trends B2B organizations should prepare for in 2026?

In 2026, B2B marketers should expect major shifts driven by AI agents, Generative AI (GenAI), Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), and increased demand for human-first content. AI-mediated search, agent-driven buying behaviors, and the rise of autonomous research tools will reshape how brands earn visibility and trust online.

• How will AI agents impact B2B marketing and buying decisions?

AI agents will increasingly mediate B2B purchasing by comparing vendors, interpreting product data, and filtering recommendations before humans ever see them. This means companies must optimize their digital footprint, strengthen authority signals, and structure content so it is easily interpreted by machine systems—not just human readers.

• What AI tools should B2B marketers adopt in 2026?

Leading AI tools for 2026 include ChatGPT and Perplexity for research and content creation, Jasper, Copy.ai, and Surfer SEO for optimization, HubSpot AI for CRM automation, Grammarly and Canva for production, and Sora for advanced video generation. The priority isn’t using all tools—it’s integrating the right ones into workflows that improve productivity and marketing performance.

• What is Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), and why is it important for 2026?

GEO focuses on optimizing content for AI-driven search engines and conversational agents, which evaluate authority based on depth, clarity, first-party insights, and machine-readable expertise. As more traffic comes from AI agents instead of humans, GEO becomes essential for B2B firms that rely on comparison, research, and documentation-heavy content.

• How can marketers balance AI-generated content with the growing demand for human-first media?

As GenAI becomes mainstream, audiences increasingly prefer content that feels authentic, personal, and grounded in real experience. Marketers can balance the two by using AI for production efficiency while ensuring humans lead strategy, storytelling, commentary, and expertise. This builds trust and differentiates brands in AI-saturated content environments.