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Research

One question, put to the people in the room at each event we work.

In partnership with Content Cucumber

At every event we cover, we put a single question to the people on the show floor and keep asking it afterward. Talk Commerce collects the answers in live interviews; Content Cucumber is the research partner. Each question below routes to the answers we can name — the rest stay unattributed while a study is still open.

eTail Boston 2026 · August 10-12, 2026

Should companies use AI to create content, and why?

“Yes for research, fact-checking, and speed but never for origination. AI is derivative by construction, meaning it can only recombine what already exists, so anything that starts in a model starts as someone else’s work with the attribution stripped out. We should use it to sharpen our thinking, but never to have the thought.”
Kelsey Knight Yes, with a human owning it
“No, companies should not use generative AI to create content because of the horrible and devastating effects on the environment, the dubious ethical position of stealing others’ work, and the laziness of using a computer algorithm to think for you.”
Ariel Slick No
Read the answers from eTail Boston 2026

Shoptalk Fall 2026 · September 29 - October 1, 2026

If 90% of the content is AI slop, what can you do to make your content stand out?

We are asking this at Shoptalk Fall 2026. Answers go up as people give us permission to name them.

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We record the interviews on your show floor and turn them into research you can point to. Content Cucumber runs the study behind it.