On a trip to San Francisco this summer, I couldn’t help noticing that the buses, billboards and even an airplane banner in the sky were all advertising AI-powered products.
I realize San Francisco is the world’s technology capital, but you still have to appreciate the commitment.
It got me wondering: Does the term “AI-powered,” despite its ubiquity, still spark intrigue among its target market? Does it still mean something?
In September, TechInformed ran a pulse survey to find out. We split 100 technology buyers into two groups of 50. Respondents were assigned to the control or AI-powered description groups at random:
“A-to-Z is a[n AI-powered] project-management platform that helps teams plan work, track progress, and automate routine reporting.”
One word, two different reactions
Buyers who saw the AI-powered version were more likely to expect a higher-quality product — 68% versus 52% for the plain description. On price, the gap was slightly wider, with 64% of the AI-powered group expecting the product to cost more than average, against 40% of the control group.
But while the term itself appears to influence perceptions of quality and price, respondents also indicated that an AI claim needs to be backed up.
What makes an AI claim credible
Asked what would make an “AI-powered” claim credible, the top choice among buyers (55%) was the vendor explaining what the AI actually does. Half (51%) wanted it to be clear why AI would improve this particular product, and 45% wanted evidence that it outperforms the alternative.
Further down the list, 34% of buyers said a claim made by vendor with a track record in the field that predates AI would be more credible, while 28% said an organization like theirs already using the product and vouching for it would help. Only 23% said already knowing and trusting the vendor’s brand would make the claim more credible.
Just 2% of buyers said “nothing” would make “AI-powered” seem like a credible claim to them.
How vendors back up an “AI-powered” claim
The results suggest that, despite the term’s pervasiveness, a company advertising itself as AI-powered can still get a positive response from technology buyers — but that response needs to be supported by evidence.
To explore what that evidence might look like, I asked vendors, marketers and organizations focused on AI governance for their views on the term “AI-powered” and how companies can prove their claims.
Edosa Odaro, founding steward of the AI Values Institute, believes the term is “increasingly creating a burden of proof.”
“Buyers should be able to understand what the AI actually does, why it is better suited to the task and what measurable difference it makes compared with the alternative.”
Odaro says credible proof therefore starts with outcomes, not the presence of AI.
“That might mean demonstrable improvements in accuracy, productivity, decision quality, customer experience or another clearly defined measure of value,” he says. “But a credible account of value should also acknowledge the trade-offs: what changes as a result of using AI, who benefits, who carries additional risk or cost, and what unintended consequences may follow.”
Kat Rodway, co-owner of digital marketing agency First Internet, says buyers should be asking: “‘What exactly is the AI doing? What data is it working from? What checks are in place?’ If a company can’t explain the human oversight behind an AI-driven process, then ‘AI-powered’ risks becoming little more than a marketing label.”
Santi Pochat, vice president of brand and AI at Lenovo, says transparency needs to be understandable: “What role is AI playing in this product? Does it run on the device, in the cloud or across both? What data leaves the customer’s environment, how is it used, and what control does the customer retain? Where does a person need to review the output?”
“Those answers should be available before purchase, alongside any known limitations,” Pochat says, adding: “AI-powered should start the explanation, not replace it.”
Regulated, standardized or just devalued?
If evidence and transparency are so vital, should the phrase “AI-powered” go the way of regulated and standardized terms such as “organic” and “carbon neutral”?
Experts gave mixed responses. Some expect AI to become so embedded in technology that it will simply be assumed; others say regulation has already arrived; and still others think the market will settle the question before regulators do.
“I expect evidence required to support AI claims to become more standardized, whether through regulation, industry standards or procurement requirements,” says Lenovo’s Pochat. “I’m less convinced that a single ‘AI-powered’ label will tell buyers the full story.”
Dave Kimberley, CEO of web hosting platform Krystal, says regulation is “already here.”
“We’ve seen the EU AI Act’s transparency obligations come into force in August this year, which requires businesses to disclose when someone is interacting with AI, or if content they are consuming is AI-generated or has been altered by AI.”
“Unlike ‘organic’ — which relies on a certifying body being able to audit and award the label — the EU AI Act makes it a legal duty that’s enforced by regulators. It also applies to any business whose AI offering reaches users in the EU, regardless of where they’re based,” Kimberley says.
These rules ensure disclosure of AI that is present rather than whether an “AI-powered” claim is justified, but Kimberley argues the effect on US and UK vendors will be much the same, because procurement teams may not distinguish.
“The practical effect of this is probably less like a single certification badge, and more like buyers and procurement teams demanding disclosure as a baseline, because once one part of the market has to prove it, the bar is set high across the board.”
Shandra Gemmiti, senior director of product marketing at security platform Black Duck, is more cautious “about predicting where regulators land.”
In her view, “AI-powered” is more likely to be devalued than regulated.
“We’ve seen this before. A term emerges, genuinely describes something new, and for a while it’s a differentiator. Then it spreads to products it doesn’t accurately describe. That’s the point it stops carrying useful information and buyers start discounting it automatically.”
“When a label like this appears on everything, its presence tells a buyer nothing,” Gemmiti says.
Daniel Todaro, CEO of IT consultancy Gekko, has watched the same cycle play out in consumer electronics and believes the term will eventually become embarrassing for some brands to use, as customers come to expect it.
It will go, he says, “just like historical features such as FM, portable, stereo and digital or HD [that] were once considered premium before becoming irrelevant as the product life cycle and a brand’s messaging moved on.”
Todaro adds: “The rapid integration of AI across hardware promises a compelling new wave of products, which means it’s going to become expected, not desired, in the not-too-distant future.”
For now, our survey suggests the label still buys a vendor something: a presumption of quality and a little more room on price. Back in San Francisco, the buses and billboards haven’t changed their copy — and judging by our respondents, they may not need to yet, but it only works if the product does.
Research methodology
In partnership with sister company iResearch Services, TechInformed surveyed 100 technology buyers in September 2026. All respondents are involved in approving, choosing, or recommending technology purchases at their organizations. Respondents were randomly assigned to two groups of 50.