Redefining consumption

Markus Giesler Chris Robinson

Marketing Professor Markus Giesler of York University’s Schulich School of Business analyzes how technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) influence consumer behaviour and buying choices, and what it means for free will, whether purchasing a shiny new pair of shoes or the next vacation destination.

His work has been published in top-tier academic journals and media outlets, such as The New York Times and Time Magazine, and his insights shared with policy-makers to improve markets. We asked him a few questions about how AI is shaping the consumer experience for better or worse.

How is AI influencing or shaping consumer behaviour, buying choices and changing consumption patterns?

At Schulich, I lead several research projects that look at precisely this question. What we see is that AI transforms consumption in two directions at once. On the one hand, it depersonalizes choice by reducing consumers to streams of probabilities. On the other, it reintroduces personalization by tailoring recommendations and experiences back to us. This back-and-forth doesn’t just change what people buy; it reshapes how they see themselves as consumers – more data legible, more responsibilized and more entangled with markets.

It is changing how consumers engage with brands and products, such as with targeted recommendations?

Yes, and our research shows recommendations are just the tip of the iceberg. Consumers increasingly delegate choices to algorithms, often treating them as responsible agents. That changes how trust and loyalty are formed – not only toward brands but also toward the systems that mediate them. At Schulich, we’re documenting how platforms that balance depersonalization and repersonalization – scaling interactions while keeping them personal – are redefining engagement.

How is AI shaping consumer experiences from customer service to interactive shopping?

In our ongoing projects, we observe AI reshaping experiences in ways that are seamless yet paradoxical. AI assistants, chatbots and generative interfaces can enchant shopping by making it interactive and human-like. But they also create new frictions when consumers sense too much automation or a lack of empathy. What emerges, and what we study closely, are “entanglement-centric” experiences – co-created encounters where consumers and AI systems jointly produce meaning and efficiency.

Are there ethical and data privacy concerns with how consumer data is used?

Definitely. Across multiple Schulich studies, we see that AI doesn’t just consume data – it creates new forms of responsibility for consumers. People are asked to manage algorithmic risks, to be “AI-ready consumers.” This moralizes consumption around compliance and fairness, effectively shifting governance onto individuals and marketers. So the ethical challenge is not only about privacy but also about who bears the burden of making AI safe and fair.

What can we expect in the future?

Our work suggests that AI will increasingly be embedded into core institutions like family, health, education and housing. That means consumption itself will be redefined – not just in terms of products and services but also in how people experience intimacy, security and identity through markets. The critical question is whether this embedding of AI will reproduce inequalities or create genuinely human-centred opportunities for consumption.