AI and Consumer Behavior

Documenting how technological change impacts consumer behavior has been an important area of researcher interest dating to the early days of consumer and marketing research. In fact, a 1942 Journal of Marketing article authored by market research industry pioneer Arthur C. Nielsen describes initial attempts to record consumer responses to radio advertising using a panel approach. The first mention of technological innovation and consumer behavior in the Journal of Consumer Research dates to its second issue (Ostlund, 1974). So, whereas each generation of consumer researchers has grappled with how new technologies implicate contemporary practice and theory, it is becoming increasingly clear that the task for the next generation of scholars will be to better understand how humans interact with increasingly autonomous artificial agents that demonstrate high levels of market intelligence. The emergence of AI technology over the past several years has impacted consumers in nearly every industry. This chapter provides a brief historical overview of AI, describes the current state of the art in consumer research in AI and concludes with forecasts of key issues of research importance in the years to come