South Africa, Sept. 29 -- Marketers are rapidly increasing investment in AI assistants, even though consumers remain cautious about the recommendations they provide. This is according to Kantar's Media Reactions 2026 study, based on interviews with over 800 senior marketers and 23,000 consumers.

Almost two-thirds (62%) of marketers expect GenAI to play a pivotal role in brand recommendations and a net 75% plan to increase investment in AI assistants in 2027. However, while the majority of people feel positive about generative AI's possibilities and most already use AI assistants, only 32% of consumers are using them to research brands and products and only 23% trust their recommendations.

Many factors could be influencing this lack of t...