---
id: "contrarian-ai-is-not-a-channel"
type: "contrarian-insight"
source_timestamps: ["§ Decades of Marketing Science Built for a Different Customer", "§ What Comes Next: Competing for an AI Customer's Preference"]
tags: ["strategy", "paradigm-shift", "contrarian"]
related: ["claim-ai-as-gatekeeper", "quote-new-type-of-customer"]
speakers: ["Kartik Hosanagar"]
challenges: "The conventional view that AI is merely a new technological channel or tool for reaching human buyers."
sources: ["geo"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-geo"
originDay: 3
articleStem: "hbr-tier2-05-market-to-ai-customer"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2026/06/how-do-you-market-to-an-ai-customer"
sourceTitle: "How Do You Market to an AI Customer?"
---
# AI is a new customer, not a new distribution channel

**Contrarian insight.** Conventional business thinking treats AI as a new **medium or channel** to reach human consumers — like the advent of social media or mobile. [[entity-kartik-hosanagar]] argues this is a **fatal category error**, akin to studios treating Netflix as just another distribution pipe before being commoditized (see [[claim-ai-as-gatekeeper]]).

Instead, AI is a **new *class of customer*** that makes autonomous decisions ([[concept-agentic-commerce-d5]]), demanding a complete restructuring of marketing strategy rather than a new channel strategy — the thesis captured in [[quote-new-type-of-customer]].

**Challenges:** the view that AI is merely a new technological channel or tool for reaching human buyers.

*Enrichment counter-perspective (steel-man the channel view):* many retailers still productively treat AI as a **new front-end channel** — a richer interface to existing sites/apps, and an extension of search/support rather than a fully autonomous buyer. Agents frequently act as **decision-support tools**, especially in higher-stakes categories. A **dual framing** may be more accurate near-term: AI as *both* a powerful new channel *and*, in some scenarios, a semi-autonomous customer. Over-emphasizing the "new species" frame risks understating human-centered design and consent.


## Related across articles
- [[contrarian-algorithm-as-customer]]
- [[concept-bnn-vs-ann]]
- [[quote-what-is-customer]]