In the not-so-distant past, buying enterprise software was a process. It was long, arduous, and filled with countless hours spent reading whitepapers, attending demos, and gathering feedback from colleagues. Today, that process is changing. Drastically. Quietly. And with AI agents leading the way, the shift is becoming impossible to ignore.
Imagine this: a manager at a Fortune 500 company doesn’t spend weeks researching tools, scheduling demos, and combing through reviews. Instead, an AI agent—let’s call it “Jarvis”—completes the job in hours. Jarvis scours the internet, identifies vendors that meet specific criteria, evaluates customer reviews, summarizes pricing models, and even negotiates discounts. By the time the human decision-maker enters the conversation, 80–90% of the work is done.
Welcome to the era of the invisible buyer.
What are AI agents, and why do they matter?
An AI agent is a system capable of acting autonomously and proactively to achieve specific goals. While traditional software executes predefined instructions, AI agents adapt, learn and take initiative by analyzing their environment, making decisions, and performing complex tasks with minimal human intervention.
Key attributes of AI agents include:
- Autonomy. The ability to operate independently within defined parameters.
- Proactiveness. Anticipating needs and taking action without explicit prompts.
- Learning. Improving performance over time by incorporating feedback and new information.
- Orchestration. Advanced agents can coordinate and recruit other agents or systems to complete complex objectives.
This paradigm shift was succinctly captured by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, who recently stated, “Agents will replace all software.” While provocative, this prediction underscores the growing role of AI agents in replacing fragmented workflows with seamless, intelligent systems that integrate tasks and simplify decision-making.
The rise of the invisible buyer.
Traditionally, B2B buying involves a predictable dance between buyers and sellers. Buyers search for solutions, consume marketing content and engage sales teams. Sellers, in turn, position their value propositions to stand out in a crowded field.
Today’s buyers increasingly rely on AI to act as their first and primary tool of engagement. Tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google NotebookLM , and Google Gemini Deep Research are not just capable of synthesizing large datasets; they can also contextualize insights based on the buyer’s specific role, organization and unique priorities. Beyond this, they will be capable of adapting to how buyers prefer to consume information—whether through detailed reports, concise summaries, custom podcasts or videos.
Imagine an AI agent that doesn’t just deliver a ranked list of vendors but tailors its presentation to the CMO who prefers high-level insights via an executive summary, the IT director who needs technical specs, or the procurement team that requires pricing breakdowns in a visual format. This level of personalization transforms the buyer experience, making complex decisions more intuitive and efficient.
Google’s Deep Research agent.
The sheer volume of information available to today’s buyers is staggering. B2B buyers consume numerous pieces of content during the research and consideration phases.
Specialized AI agents, like Google’s Gemini with Deep Research, can alleviate this burden by autonomously gathering, analyzing, and synthesizing data to deliver tailored insights. This eliminates the traditional bottlenecks of manual research, enabling faster and more confident decision-making.
For instance, imagine a company evaluating webinar software vendors. A buyer exploring webinar platform solutions can prompt the research agent to “compare the top 5–6 webinar platform vendors based on features, pricing, and integrations.”
Within minutes, Deep Research can autonomously analyze data from a vast array of sources, including vendor websites, product reviews and technical documentation. It then authors a detailed report complete with footnotes and recommendations. No whitepaper downloads. No sifting through reviews. Just answers.
Here’s an example of a Google Deep Mind report we created to research and compare B2B webinar platforms. In mere minutes, the research agent reviewed 266 websites resulting in a 14-page report with 75 references cited.
While impressive in its scope and speed, the report’s quality still has room for improvement. It’s not yet a perfect replacement for human expertise, but does demonstrate a significant step forward in automating information gathering and analysis, with the potential to dramatically reshape how B2B buying decisions are made.
From AI-assisted to AI-driven research.
We’ve seen how AI agents like Google’s Deep Research can revolutionize the research phase of B2B buying, generating comprehensive reports and insights in minutes.
Now imagine an agent that doesn’t just research webinar platforms and produce a report, but autonomously selects the best options based on predefined criteria and budget constraints. This AI agent could also proactively anticipate the next steps in the buying process. It might automatically schedule product demos, pre-populate calendars with meeting details, and even send meeting summaries to stakeholders. With each interaction, the AI agent learns and refines its understanding of the company’s needs and preferences. It might analyze feedback from stakeholders and even market trends to continuously improve its vendor selection and negotiation strategies. Finally, through orchestration, the AI agent could collaborate with legal teams to review contracts or even communicate with AI agents representing vendors to negotiate deals and finalize agreements.
This evolution from AI-assisted research to AI-driven decision-making is not just a futuristic vision; it’s a natural progression powered by the inherent capabilities of AI agents I mentioned above (autonomy, proactiveness, learning and orchestration). As these agents become more sophisticated, they could take on a more active and autonomous role in the B2B buying process. The role of humans in these transactions may shift to oversight rather than direct involvement.
What does this mean for B2B marketers?
For marketers, the rise of AI agents means adapting to a new reality where the human buyer is no longer the first touchpoint. To thrive in this new landscape, adaptation is key. Here’s how marketers can prepare:
Get to know your new agentic audience. AI agents are becoming key decision influencers. Marketers need to understand how these agents consume and process information.
Make your content accessible to humans and machines. Craft content that engages human readers while also being easily processed by AI. This means clear language, structured data and machine-readable formats. The more comprehensive your data, the better AI can identify your company as a potential solution.
Help Sales prepare for more informed human buyers. AI agents will equip buyers with in-depth knowledge before they even engage with your sales team. Be prepared to offer a highly personalized and efficient experience that caters to these informed buyers.
The Iron Horse insight.
AI agents are not just tools—they’re transformational forces reshaping the B2B buying landscape. For marketers and sales leaders, the message is clear: adapt or risk irrelevance. By understanding how AI agents operate and aligning your strategies to meet this new reality, you can ensure your business thrives in the age of the invisible buyer.
The question isn’t whether AI will change B2B buying. It’s how far-reaching that change will be—and whether you’re ready to lead it.
