AWNY 2026: Brands should be careful about AI when marketing to Gen Z

Gen Z’s spending power is projected to grow to $12 trillion globally by 2030.

So it’s not a shock that brands are so fixated on reaching the generation; not only are they making more buying decisions as they age, they are “truly online,” and therefore “more educated on media and brands, so marketers naturally want to know what makes them tick,” said Aarti Bhaskaran, global head of research and insights at Snap, during a panel at Advertising Week NY on Monday.

But in the age of AI, marketers should rethink how they’re using the tech to research or reach this demographic.

According to GWI data presented on Monday, 80% of respondents to a recent survey say that AI allows them to understand their audience more than traditional research. However, almost the same percentage said that they’ve encountered AI answers grounded in generational cliches.

“As an industry, we’re obsessed with age demographics,” said Jason Mander, chief insight officer at GWI, who moderated said panel. But the oldest of Gen Z is 29 years old this year; “they are aging up, and as generations age, insights need to age up with them,” he added (Perhaps the most telling sign of the industry’s obsession with age demos, though, was that nobody on the panel was Gen Z, but were discussing how to market to Gen Z).

That’s where generational marketing gets complicated in the AI age. As GWI’s Gen Z 2026 report puts it: “A broad label becomes a confident answer. A familiar stereotype starts to look evidence-based. A messy audience begins to look neatly defined.”

Bhaskaran echoed this on stage: “AI will help you arrive at the aggregate, but it’s up to the person to find the nuance."

And finding the nuance is essential for understanding Gen Z. As the GWI report notes, Gen Z is a “bundle of contradictions” that AI might not detect.

For instance, the report says that U.S. Gen Zers are skeptical of branding but influenced by creators. They’re also financially anxious, but willing to spend on experiences. When it comes to AI, the nuance within the age group is even more stark: U.S. Gen Z is less likely than global Gen Z to use AI tools for product purchasing advice.

Jonathan Stringfield, vice president and general manager of Xbox Media Solutions, added that brands are obsessed with youth because young people “are looked at as harbingers of culture.”

“But there’s a difference between having a purposeful engagement with this audience versus having a high-level aggregator of what they might care about,” he added.

Paul Peterson, head of ads product marketing at Discord, reiterated that Gen Z drives culture, saying on stage that “Gen Z is disproportionally influencing other generations because of the voice they have on social media.”

So, what exactly are some myths about Gen Z that the panelists wanted to dispel?

Stringfield said that Gen Z doesn’t hate advertising, they just “hate things that are not integrated well within their experience, not entirely like everyone else.” And Bhaskaran said that Gen Z doesn’t necessarily have a “lower attention span,” a common refrain, but that they just consume and process content far differently than older generations.

Ultimately, the panelists urged marketers to think more broadly about their audience.

“If you put a constraint like age on your targeted audience, you are missing an opportunity to reach users beyond that,” Peterson said. “Fewer restrictions and guardrails will improve your results.”