On August 20, 2026, the AISS 2026 AI Search Summit, guided by the IAB China Globalization Committee, was held at the Model Space West岸 in Xuhui, Shanghai. Yves Wang, Partner and President of Frost & Sullivan Frost & Sullivan China, was invited to attend the summit and participate in the discussion.When AI becomes an assistant in consumer decision-making, how can brands reengineer content, sources, and consumer decision channels?? A roundtable discussion on this topic featured guests including Xie Peng, Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of DeepView Intelligence, and Ling Xiaoguan, Marketing Director of Sohu Company’s AI Search division. They engaged in in-depth discussions on the reshaping of consumer decisions by AI search, brand GEO (generative engine optimization) strategies, the construction of trustworthy knowledge ecosystems, and new growth paths for brands in the AI era.
Yves Wang (second from right) at the roundtable discussion on "When AI becomes an assistant in consumer decision-making, how can brands reengineer content, sources, and consumer decision channels?"
During the roundtable, Yves Wang pointed out that based on Frost & Sullivan’s long-term research on the digital economy, consumer market, and corporate growth, AI search has not only changed how consumers obtain information but also reshaped the trust relationship between brands and consumers. In this transformation, brands need to shift from "traffic management" to "knowledge management," and the industry should move from short-term GEO optimization to long-term co-construction of trustworthy knowledge ecosystems.
Yves Wang, Partner and President of Frost & Sullivan Frost & Sullivan China
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AI search reshapes the consumer decision-making process, and brand GEO strategies vary depending on the "lifecycle".
Yves Wang noted that currently, AI has deeply penetrated the pre-decision stage of consumers. Industry research data showed that over 80% of consumers refer to AI answers before making purchasing decisions, and AI search is evolving from a "support tool" into a key decision-making channel. This trend means that if brands fail to accurately understand and present AI answers, they may be excluded at the beginning of the consumer decision-making process.
Regarding brand strategy, Yves Wang emphasized that different brands have varying willingness and strategies for investing in GEO at different life cycle stages. Leading brands have systematically organized brand and knowledge assets before the arrival of the AI era, which provides a foundation for competition in the AI search era. Meanwhile, some service providers in the GEO industry help brands quickly gain AI exposure through non-compliant methods. Yves Wang stressed that for more brands, adopting compliant and scientific white-glove GEO methods and building trustworthy content over time is the long-term sustainable path.
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Knowledge across generations: From "being found" to "being trusted", brand assets are evolving through generations.
During the roundtable discussion, Yves Wang proposed the "knowledge across generations" framework, dividing the evolution of knowledge into three stages: Knowledge 1.0, where writing solved the problem of "記錄知識"; Knowledge 2.0, where the internet and search engines solved the problem of "spreading and finding knowledge"; most brands are still in this stage, with the weight of knowledge in large models determined by the authority of the publisher. The upcoming Knowledge 3.0 stage will see humans and machines jointly use new forms of knowledge, requiring not only perspectives but also reasoning, responsibility, practice, and version tracking—every knowledge update must be traceable and auditable. For brands, this means that the core of next-generation brand assets is not "creating exposure" but building trustworthy and traceable knowledge systems.
Yves Wang said that consumers will awaken, and large models will awaken even faster. Once awakened, short-term measures are negative for brands. The truly sustainable direction is to build trustworthy knowledge with consumers and achieve long-term coexistence.
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Frost & Sullivan transforms from traditional consulting firms to builders and guardians of public knowledge.
When discussing Frost & Sullivan’s unique role in the AI search ecosystem, Yves Wang said that Frost & Sullivan is not a GEO service provider but a knowledge provider, yet its business is naturally connected to the GEO ecosystem. On one hand, Frost & Sullivan’s industry research, award evaluations, and industry white papers are high-quality trustworthy materials for brand GEO communication. On the other hand, Frost & Sullivan connects many enterprise clients at different life cycle stages, allowing it to observe the real picture of GEO practices across the industry.
For the Knowledge 3.0 era, Yves Wang said that Frost & Sullivan is moving from traditional consulting firms to builders and guardians of public knowledge. He explained that internal business systems contain a lot of verifiable knowledge that does not require small-sample surveys from consulting companies; the company’s own database is sufficient. Frost & Sullivan’s new role is both guardian—verifying whether the data extracted from internal systems is trustworthy, compliant, consistent with brand promotion, and error-free—and builder—promoting verified trustworthy knowledge into public assets usable by large models and consumers, and co-building a trustworthy knowledge ecosystem with industry partners.
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Five-year outlook: From decision assistance to action execution.
In the final outlook session, Yves Wang shared his views on the future evolution of AI search over the next five years. He said that AI’s impact on consumption will shift from "decision assistance" to "action execution". For low-risk, standardized daily consumables, consumers can fully entrust the purchase decision to intelligent agents, who will automatically compare prices and make purchases across the network. However, different usage scenarios correspond to different risk levels, and the current knowledge and source system does not yet match risks appropriately—this is the direction that needs improvement and evolution.
Yves Wang said that AI search brings not only changes in marketing channels but also a deep restructuring of the trust relationship between brands and consumers. Frost & Sullivan will continue to leverage its industry research and industry think tank advantages, focus on the construction of trustworthy knowledge ecosystems and the healthy development of the AI search industry, and work with ecosystem partners to help more enterprises build sustainable growth capabilities in the AI era.
