Everyone in analyst relations is asking whether LLMs change the game. Our answer is a clear no. Not yet, anyway.
Here’s what we see happening. AI tools from Gartner, IDC, Forrester and many other firms are making it easier to search their published research, answer basic questions and compare known analyst positions. That changes the interface.
What does not change is how analyst understanding is formed. And that is where AR lives.
The entire value of AR sits upstream of whatever interface delivers the output.
AR’s role is to influence what analysts understand before they write, advise, compare or rank. If that understanding is shallow, outdated or distorted, then no AI layer will fix it. In fact, it will just make it worse – reproducing the perceived flaw at scale. But when an analyst’s understanding is current and evidence-based, then the AI output will reflect that strength.
Judging from the hype, AR teams are in danger of being distracted by the output layer: worrying about prompt engineering, what ChatGPT surfaces, and what AskGartner summarizes as their positioning.
Stop fretting and go upstream. The strategic question hasn’t changed: do the right analysts understand your company properly?
If yes, then whatever sits on top of their research will work in your favor. If no, then no amount of downstream tinkering will save you.
For a practical test, take a high-value analyst inquiry that delivered strong, contextual insight. Now ask an analyst AI tool the same question and compare the outputs.
We’d expect the AI to generalize, flatten nuance and strip out the specific examples and contextual depth that made the original inquiry valuable.
This is the gap between retrieval and judgment, and it’s exactly the space where AR still creates value by ensuring the human analyst has the best possible understanding to draw on.
What this means in practice is that the disciplines that matter to AR have not changed:
– Brief thoroughly
– Reinforce narrative and proof points over time, especially with references
– Validate what analysts believe about you
– Correct misunderstandings early
– Ensure sufficient exposure to roadmap, customers, differentiation and execution evidence
Let’s be clear about what AR is. AR is about influencing the people and institutions whose opinions shape (enterprise) buying behavior. That job remains human and relational.
The day that vendors start briefing an analyst LLM rather than analysts, we can revisit. Until then: stop conflating visibility with influence.