IAB releases a framework for crediting AI's role in purchases

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) has published the AI-Era Attribution Blueprint, a framework for deciding how much credit AI assistants and other parties get when a purchase happens, according to a press release.

The problem it targets is that AI assistants increasingly shape what people buy without leaving the clicks and referrals that attribution tools rely on, so AI-influenced sales can show up as search or direct traffic. In IAB's September survey, 45% of ad buyers named comparing AI-driven and traditional customer journeys as their top measurement challenge, and 44% use branded search and direct traffic as stand-ins for AI influence they cannot track.

The blueprint asks who created the intent, who made the decision and who completed the purchase, then labels each conversion Human-Owned, AI-Assisted or AI-Executed. That label decides which parties can claim credit and what evidence they need. IAB also calls on AI platforms to disclose whether recommendations are paid or organic, which sources informed them, and to label AI-originated traffic consistently.