Brands are increasingly being added to or eliminated from consumer consideration inside AI conversations before a shopper ever visits 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 describes this phenomenon as The Invisible Shortlist: the brands AI adds to, or removes from, a shopper's consideration while a purchase decision is still open. "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. That creates a different challenge for brands. It is no longer enough simply to be visible. Brands need credible, attributable evidence that helps AI understand why they deserve to be considered and recommended."
The implications are significant for marketers who have long focused on search engine rankings and traditional advertising. The study also found that 73% of respondents open to using AI in purchase decisions considered AI recommendations influential, compared with 81% for search results and 79% for customer reviews. While AI trails search and reviews in perceived influence, its role in initial brand discovery and elimination suggests it is becoming a critical gatekeeper earlier in the customer journey.
Haslam added that "the brands that build authority early in the customer journey can win customers they may never previously have reached. The ones that do not may never even know they were excluded from the decision." This invisibility is particularly concerning because brands may be unaware they are being filtered out by AI systems, leaving them no opportunity to respond or correct misrepresentations.
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/, with a citation record at https://talkerresearch.com/the-invisible-shortlist/ and methodology details at https://talkerresearch.com/methodology/.
The findings suggest brands need to understand not just how they rank in search, but how they are represented inside AI-generated answers and recommendations. As AI assistants become more integrated into daily life, the ability to influence AI training data and cited sources may become as important as traditional SEO. For now, the study underscores that the battle for consumer attention is shifting to a space where brands have little direct control and even less visibility.
