TrustRadius 2026 report: 63% of B2B buyers use AI, 94% fact-check it
TrustRadius, an HG Insights company, published its 2026 B2B Buying Disconnect Report on July 15, 2026. The report is based on responses from 1,862 technology buyers and 444 technology vendors. It found that 63% of buyers used AI during their software purchase journey, but 94% of those buyers fact-check AI’s answers at least some of the time before trusting them.
What the TrustRadius B2B Buying Disconnect Report found
AI has become a normal part of B2B software research without becoming the final word. AI tools, or tools with AI features, made up 59% of all purchases buyers made in the past year, a sign of how fast AI adoption is moving through B2B tech budgets.
Older research habits are fading fast. Only 13% of buyers used analyst reports to make their purchase decisions, a 63% drop since 2022. In their place, buyers lean on direct, verifiable proof: product demos, free trials, prior experience, and user reviews rank among the most influential resources when picking a vendor, and 74% of buyers say reviews inform their decisions.
Buyers also move fast once they start. Eighty-three percent shortlisted three or fewer products before deciding. Among buyers who purchased an AI tool, 75% say it lived up to their expectations. And for four years running, since TrustRadius started asking in 2023, transparent pricing has stayed buyers’ number one wish-list item for vendors.
“Buyers are using AI to move faster, not to think less,” said Rajat Bhatnagar, SVP of Growth at HG Insights. “They want the efficiency of AI synthesis and the confidence of verified sources, and those two things have to coexist.”
The report also flags a shift from traditional search optimization toward what it calls Generative Engine Optimization, as buyers increasingly ask large language models to synthesize vendor information. Even so, the findings say AI-generated recommendations lean heavily on trusted third-party content, including customer reviews and independent publications, making brand credibility more important, not less.
Where the TrustRadius buyer data comes from
TrustRadius, an HG Insights company, published the full report and findings via PR Newswire on July 15, 2026. The survey was conducted globally in January 2026 among professionals involved in technology purchasing decisions over the prior year.
Why the AI-then-human pattern matters for B2B marketers
This report lands alongside other 2026 data showing B2B measurement and trust are both under strain. WFA and Ebiquity found only 15% of marketers use effectiveness data to set budgets, and B2B content teams already rank AI search ahead of SEO as their top distribution channel. TrustRadius adds the buyer-side half of that story: even as AI reshapes how buyers gather information, the final call still runs through demos, trials, and people the buyer already trusts.
Talking Shift: AI research and human proof are sequential, not competing
This is the cleanest outside confirmation yet of something Start Some Shift has argued all year: B2B buying now runs through two layers in order, not one. A Machine layer filters and summarizes options first, and only then does a Human layer decide, using proof an algorithm cannot fully judge, like a demo that feels right or a peer who vouches for the product. Ninety-four percent fact-checking AI is buyers proving the second layer still exists and still rules. Start Some Shift’s read: brands that only optimize for the Machine layer will get shortlisted and then lose the room. Brands that show up prepared for both stand to convert what the AI already surfaced. The Binary Buyer Audit scores exactly this gap, checking where a brand stands in each layer of the sequence this report just confirmed.
What the TrustRadius findings mean for B2B marketers
- Publish content built to be fact-checked: specific, sourced, and consistent everywhere a buyer might verify it.
- Invest in demos and trials that can carry the decision once AI narrows the field, since those remain top influencers.
- Treat customer reviews as a growth channel, not an afterthought, given 74% of buyers rely on them directly.
- Publish transparent pricing where you can. It has topped buyers’ wish list for four straight years.
- Expect a shorter shortlist. With 83% of buyers considering three or fewer vendors, being cited early matters more than ever.
- Track AI-search visibility as its own metric alongside demo and trial conversion, not as a replacement for either.
What to watch next on AI and B2B buyer trust
Watch whether the fact-check rate on AI answers changes as buyers grow more comfortable with the tools, and whether Generative Engine Optimization becomes a standard budget line the way SEO once did. TrustRadius plans to keep running this survey annually, so next year’s edition will show whether the AI-then-human sequence holds or shifts.
