Machine marketing: rethinking the customer in the age of generative AI

Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) is transforming consumer decision-making by enabling large language models to function as collaborative AI assistants or autonomous AI agents. These developments signal a shift from AI as a passive tool to an active market participant, ultimately evolving into AI customers that navigate offers independently, interact with firms directly, and shape purchase decision processes. This research note examines the implications of AI customers for marketing practice and scholarship, arguing that their growing role necessitates the emergence of machine marketing as a new subdiscipline dedicated to understanding, predicting, and shaping the behavior of AI-based decision-makers.