In the AI Age, Don’t Let Others Define Your Category’s Narrative

By Peggy Tierney Galvin 

AI is transforming how current product categories get positioned and compared. When a category is redefined with respect to AI, previous narratives may no longer work. Organizations that fail to proactively reframe their messaging are likely to be repositioned by competitors, analysts and AI systems instead. Investment figures bear this out. Last year, 61% of global VC spending went to AI companies. And this year, 80% of all global startup investment during Q1 went to AI-based firms. In fact, more funding for AI occurred in Q1 2026 than in all of 2025. 

That makes AI category repositioning an existential requirement for long-standing tech companies. 

To keep relevant in a white-hot new AI-centered economy, enterprises need to understand how mature categories get repositioned, recognize the market signals that hint at a category shift, and the fact that companies that don’t actively direct the new narrative risk letting AI systems, analysts and competitors direct it instead. 

AI solutions and services are a new necessity 

One clear example is AI security. Now that generative AI, AI agents and large language models (LLMs) exist, there is an industry need to defend against them in a variety of environments and with the ability to match AI attackers’ scale and speed. 

The adaptation comes when standard cybersecurity tools that were already using automation switch to AI-powered automation or develop new offerings that combine several frontier models under the hood. 

All software companies are susceptible to AI disruption; it’s just a question of to what extent and scale. Low-code/no-code vendors, for example, are quickly redesigning, repackaging and rebranding their products as vibe coding solutions.  

Those who make IT purchasing decisions are feeling the heat with respect to buying AI solutions that promise to increase efficiency, visibility, opportunity and so on. This seismic shift in IT spending means that non-AI software tools and SaaS services are wilting on the vine – along with their revenue streams. 

Thus, it’s become a matter of survival to retool your product and your marketing so you can reposition it as AI-native or -enabled so that today’s buyers don’t pass you by. You need to be making the case for how and why your offering uses AI; otherwise, you’re risking your revenue streams and long-term health. 

How to tell if you should reposition 

It’s helpful to have a framework for deciding if you need to reposition your product in the AI age. Here are the signals to look for that indicate a shift is underway: 

• Study the market – specifically, look at how companies having been spending their tech budget in the last few years. Where is most of the money being spent? What’s getting the lion’s share of investment capital?  

• If your company makes hardware, now is the time to begin positioning your company as a must-have component in high-performance data center infrastructure as it sees a simultaneous explosion of investment.  

• Study new categories or recategorization. If you’re a robotics vendor, machining manufacturer or cabling designer that was selling to automotive or healthcare previously, it’s time to refurbish your brand and product to ensure the market knows they’re AI-ready. 

A vendor’s narrative should include key components for the AI landscape. As a tech provider attempting to reposition in a new category or create a completely new one, the fundamentals of good branding still apply. What’s the differentiator that makes you better than your competitors? What problem(s) do you solve that the competition doesn’t? How do your partners and customers save time and money and enable new lines of revenue? Ultimately, the key to messaging remains the same: making your case clearly and consistently. 

Define your own narrative 

The coming of AI has disrupted everything that’s gone before in the tech world and beyond. That includes categories and customer expectations. There’s not putting this genie back in its bottle; its pervasive influence requires businesses to reposition themselves to remain competitive. We’re certainly not recommending “AI washing” – claiming to have AI capabilities that don’t exist or are at best fancy automations. Instead, you must position your legitimate AI tools and services in a credible way that makes them stands out. 

When the market and investors are expecting AI framing, using the same old positioning won’t work. You need to declare your product’s AI (or AI-enabling) capabilities loudly and clearly. Don’t let your offering be defined by competitors and analysts; that’s a sure-fire way to lose narrative control and get left in the dust. The antidote to this fate is to use strong positioning to drive your carefully crafted messaging. AI disrupted many things but not the fundamental need to describe how you solve your customers’ or partners’ pain points – no matter what the category is. As always, that’s the key to market relevance and success.