---
id: "quote-ann-new-species"
type: "quote"
source_timestamps: ["§ What Comes Next: Competing for an AI Customer's Preference"]
tags: ["marketing-science", "artificial-neural-networks"]
related: ["concept-bnn-vs-ann", "claim-persuasion-science-gap"]
speaker: "Kartik Hosanagar"
speakers: ["Kartik Hosanagar"]
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?"
---
# ANNs as a new species

> "You have spent decades figuring out how to influence humans (BNNs). The same approaches may no longer work. ANNs are like a new species, and you therefore need a new science for how this species makes shopping decisions."
> — [[entity-kartik-hosanagar]]

**Significance:** The article's signature metaphor for why decades of human-centric marketing science ([[concept-bnn-vs-ann|BNNs]]) will fail on AI agents (ANNs). Grounds [[claim-persuasion-science-gap]] and the call to action [[action-develop-ai-persuasion]]. *(Enrichment: conceptually resonant with Rahwan et al.'s "machine behavior" framing — AI "preferences" as emergent from training signals, not human psychology.)*