Where do brands show up in an AI-shaped world? That was one of the most interesting questions from our third and final Cannes session last week, which brought Mobsta Ltd - Certified B Corp® and Mintel together for an evening conversation where Rich Shepherd shared exclusive insight into how consumers are responding to AI: how they are using it, where adoption is growing, what still feels uncomfortable, and why trust, transparency and control will matter so much for brands.

After a week where AI weaved through everything, talking about people and behaviours felt like exactly the right place to land.

A few themes stood out:

• Consumers are using AI, but they are still conflicted.
  Usage is growing quickly, but acceptance is not the same as full trust. People can see the value, especially when AI helps with practical tasks, but concerns around control, privacy, jobs and what is real are not going away. As Rich put it: “AI is seen as useful, but it is still weird. There are still trust issues there that need to be overcome.”

• Brands need to lead with benefits, not capability.
  Consumers do not need to be impressed by what the technology can do. They need to understand what it does for them.

• Transparency and human oversight matter.
  People need to know where AI is present, what it is doing, and where the human sits, especially as AI moves from assistance into decision-making. As Allison Gislason, our CFO, summed it up: “it comes down to trust and humanity. We can have the tools and use the tools, but there still has to be a very human overlay.”

• The next brand challenge is placement.
  One of the best questions from the room was around what happens when brands start advertising inside AI environments like ChatGPT. It moved the conversation from “how do we use AI?” to “where do brands show up in an AI-shaped world with trust and authenticity?”

Matt Longley closed the session with a thought that captured a missed opportunity from Cannes this year: “Everyone is talking about AI and efficiencies: how it improves infrastructure, processes and productivity. But I don’t think enough people are talking about the opportunity for advertisers in the future. New media channels, new ways of reaching people, new ways of inspiring people and giving people aspiration. The really exciting bit for me is working out how brands show up in those spaces in a way that feels fresh and ambitious, but also useful, trusted and genuinely valuable.”

Ultimately, AI is changing how people discover, decide, trust and buy, and the conversation in this space has only just begun to unfold.

A huge thank you to everyone who joined us for the final Mobsta conversation of the week. And that's a wrap from us on all things Cannes.

Check out more Cannes Lions 2026 highlights here >>>