2026 prediction:
Analyst Relations has adapted to AI — now AR will start shaping AI itself.
As generative AI becomes the first stop for vendor discovery, it doesn’t invent answers from thin air. It inherits signals.
One of the strongest — and least understood — signals? Industry analyst publications.
Analyst publications are quietly becoming part of the knowledge layer LLMs rely on when buyers ask:
- "Which trends will impact our tech strategy?"
- "How can we get ahead of the wave?"
- “Which innovators should we look at beyond the usual suspects?”
→ That changes the role of Analyst Relations fundamentally.
Outbound AR is no longer only about influencing human buyers across strategy and buying cycles.
It’s also about shaping the knowledge corpus AI models draw from.
In other words:
- If analysts don’t have confidence in you, buyers won’t see you.
- If analysts don’t reference you, AI might not surface you.
Welcome to the AEO / GEO era — where analyst citations, structured research, and trusted third-party context directly affect algorithmic visibility.
The implication is blunt:
- AR is no longer "just" a credibility function.
- It’s becoming an AI-visibility function, too.
I’ll unpack the mechanics, risks, and practical implications in an upcoming paper. But the headline is already clear:
👉 If you’re invisible to analysts, you’re increasingly invisible to machines — and therefore to markets.
The time to take action is right now.