B2B Buyers Use AI Heavily for Research — But Validate Against Humans Before They Trust It
Enterprise buyers have adopted generative AI as a core research tool while keeping a structural distrust of its output — a "split-brain" that defines where sellers still win. Gartner's survey of 645 B2B buyers (fielded August–September 2025, presented May 20, 2026 at the CSO & Sales Leader Conference) puts numbers on it:
- Buyers used an average of seven information sources during a recent purchase; 45% used GenAI, primarily to gather information on vendors and products.
- Yet 69% of B2B buyers turn to sales reps to validate AI-generated insights1.
- The distrust is now symmetric: 51% of buyers say they're more likely to encounter misleading information from GenAI; 49% say the same about sales reps.
- Preference for self-service remains dominant: 67% prefer a rep-free experience and 70% prefer a completely digital, self-service buying experience.
Robert Blaisdell, VP Analyst at Gartner: "B2B buyers are more comfortable using digital channels and GenAI to navigate the purchase process on their own, but that does not eliminate the role of the seller… Buyers still turn to sales reps to validate AI-generated insights, and support decision-making at critical moments in the journey." And on what changes for sellers: "It is a signal that sellers need to show up differently, engaging where they can help buyers validate information, reduce risk and move forward with greater confidence."
G2's March 2026 buyer survey (see G2's Answer Economy: AI Chatbots Are Now the #1 Shortlist Gate, and Review Citations Are the Trust Signal) adds the buyer-side caveat: 64% of buyers encounter inaccurate AI chatbot recommendations often or very often, and when a chatbot conflicts with a brand they trust, 24% turn to peer reviews as their next step. The vendor-credibility angle of this distrust — buyers skeptical of vendors, not of AI itself — is tracked separately in The Trust Collapse: Enterprise Buyers Are Skeptical of Vendors, Not AI — and Incumbents Win 5-to-1.
What a founder selling to enterprises should take from it
- The rep isn't dead; the rep is repositioned as the validation layer. With 69% using reps to check AI output and misleading-info perception at near-parity (51% GenAI vs. 49% reps), the win is arming reps to verify and de-risk, not to be the information source.
- Show up at the validation moments, not the discovery moments. Gartner notes reps remain most important when buyers are researching a business problem, identifying a preferred supplier and securing internal support, and finalizing the purchase — i.e., after the AI-assisted shortlist exists.
- Assume every claim you make will be checked against an AI answer and a review site. With 64% of buyers frequently seeing inaccurate AI recommendations, being the vendor whose claims survive verification is itself a differentiator.
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An instance of A trust deficit in AI search results forces buyers back to human-led verification. — Distrust of AI output pushes buyers back to human-led verification, repositioning the rep as the validation layer. ↩︎