Brands must adapt marketing for humans and AI agents

Why AI agents change marketing

According to Crunchbase News, AI agents are becoming active participants in purchasing decisions, analyzing images, understanding preferences, and even completing transactions on behalf of users. This shift means brands are effectively selling to two distinct audiences: humans and AI agents.

AI agents evaluate products differently than humans, often making decisions before a human ever sees the product page. For example, an AI agent might prioritize efficiency, cost, or compatibility over emotional or aesthetic factors that sway human buyers.

How brands can adapt

Coulthard emphasizes that brands must define a distinct voice and document it explicitly to ensure consistency for both humans and AI. This includes testing how AI tools summarize or interpret marketing content, such as email subject lines in Gmail or product descriptions on e-commerce platforms.

Product descriptions are now core brand assets, as they often serve as the primary interface between AI agents and the brand. Coulthard advises marketers to focus on business outcomes—like conversions and revenue—rather than just the volume of content produced.

Newer startups have an opportunity to build brand voices from the ground up that cater to both audiences. Legacy brands, in contrast, may need to retroactively align their messaging with AI-readable formats.

Balancing human and AI priorities

While AI agents are gaining influence, humans remain the primary audience for most marketing efforts. Coulthard cautions against optimizing exclusively for AI, as losing the human connection could undermine long-term brand loyalty.

AI tools require explicit rules to function effectively. Without clear guidelines, they may misinterpret brand messaging or drift from intended outcomes. For example, brands should audit how their content appears in AI-generated summaries to ensure alignment with their voice.

What this means

Lazyfounder analysis — our interpretation, not reported fact.

For founders and operators, this shift signals a fundamental change in how products are discovered and evaluated. Startups that design their brand voices and product descriptions to be legible to both humans and AI agents from day one will have a competitive edge. This isn’t just about adding metadata or keywords—it’s about rethinking how brand identity is communicated in an environment where algorithms make decisions autonomously.

Legacy brands may face challenges in retrofitting their existing messaging for AI readability, but they can start by testing AI-generated summaries of their content and refining their guidelines. The focus on business outcomes over content volume also suggests that marketing teams will need to tie every piece of content to measurable impact, rather than relying on vanity metrics.

Key takeaways

• Startups have an advantage in building dual-audience brand voices from the outset, avoiding the need for costly retrofits.
• Product descriptions and AI-readable content are now critical brand assets, not afterthoughts.
• Testing AI-generated summaries of marketing content can reveal gaps in brand consistency.
• Marketing success should be measured by business outcomes, not content output.

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