AI no longer sits quietly in the background. In this episode of The Speed of Culture podcast, Suzy founder and host Matt Britton explains why 2026 will become a turning point for consumers, not just companies.
He breaks down the top consumer AI trends for 2026 that will change how people search, buy, create, and learn. From conversational discovery to personalized experiences at scale, this conversation helps brands understand how technology connects to real human behavior.
Matt Britton is the founder and CEO of Suzy, a consumer insights platform that has raised over $100 million in venture capital and works with top brands like Coca-Cola, Google, Procter & Gamble, and Nike.
Matt is also the bestselling author of YouthNation, a blueprint for understanding the seismic shifts shaping our future economy, and Generation AI, which explores how Gen Alpha and artificial intelligence will transform business, culture, and society.
Key takeaways:
[00:01] Ideas Move From Thought to Execution at Unmatched Speed — Matt explains that AI removes the historical barriers between imagination and execution. What once required capital, specialized skills, or large teams can now be created by individuals in hours. This shift changes how consumers think about productivity, ownership, and creative power. As Consumer AI adoption behavior expands, people expect tools that help them act immediately on ideas, not plan endlessly. Speed becomes a baseline expectation, and hesitation becomes the real constraint.
[07:45] The Gen Alpha AI Generation Resets Consumer Expectations — The Gen Alpha AI generation grows up in a world where AI always exists. Interacting with technology conversationally feels natural, not futuristic. Matt explains how this reshapes trust, learning, creativity, and emotional attachment to tools. For brands, this means future consumers expect systems to understand context, respond personally, and evolve with them. Gen Alpha sets the standard for personalization, intuition, and responsiveness across digital experiences.
[11:49] AI Progress Moves So Fast That Past Experience Loses Strategic Value — Matt makes a strong point that many people misunderstand the pace of AI change by anchoring their judgment to what tools could or could not do months ago. He explains that today represents the weakest AI anyone will ever experience, not a stable benchmark. Language, imagery, video, and reasoning improve in parallel, not in isolation. Planning for Top consumer AI trends 2026 requires abandoning linear thinking and accepting compounding progress. Brands that delay action while waiting for polish risk designing strategies for a version of AI that no longer exists by launch.
[23:30] AI Adoption Starts in Personal Life and Forces Enterprise Change Later — Matt compares AI adoption to the early iPhone era, where consumers first used technology freely at home while companies resisted it at work. People already rely on AI for personal health tracking, family support, finances, and everyday decisions because there are no approval layers or restrictions. This hands-on experimentation accelerates Consumer AI adoption behavior and builds real confidence through use, not theory. Over time, this creates pressure on organizations, since employees bring expectations shaped by personal efficiency into professional environments that still lag behind.
[30:20] AI Signals the End of the Knowledge Economy — Matt explains that entire career paths were built on memorization, procedural expertise, and repeated execution. AI absorbs much of that work beneath the surface, which signals AI and the end of the knowledge economy as we know it. The advantage shifts away from knowing answers toward defining the right questions, interpreting implications, and guiding human decisions. Professions like accounting, law, and medicine do not disappear, but their value moves upstream into judgment, empathy, and context. The future rewards those who can think clearly, not those who simply recall information.
[38:20] AI-Powered Search Becomes the New Front Door to the Internet — Matt outlines how AI-powered search new front door replaces the habit of scanning lists of links. Consumers now enter conversations that carry memory, intent, and context forward. Instead of one-shot queries, people refine needs over time, which pushes discovery deeper into the decision journey. This shift rewards specificity and relevance rather than brand size alone. Smaller companies can surface alongside incumbents if their content directly matches real intent. Visibility becomes dynamic, contextual, and earned through usefulness rather than historical dominance.