If 2025 was the year AI infiltrated every corner of consumer life — from social feeds to shopping — 2026 is the year people are pausing for thought.
Do we want to see ads within AI chatbots? Can AI personal styling apps actually crack personal taste? Are the brand visuals we see online real or “AI slop”? Are social media companies using our personal photos to train their AI image generators? Why are tech companies all-in on smart glasses that can discreetly record our every move? Should social media be banned for younger consumers and held to account for addictive algorithmic design?
All these questions permeate Vogue Business’s conversations with fashion, tech and brand leaders every week, so it seems only natural to ask them what they’re reading to inform their stance. And what are they reading to inspire them for the next phase ahead?
The Vogue Business tech summer reading list is split between books that explore the ethics underpinning AI and other emerging technologies, how tech fits into our broader culture and political powers, how to cultivate a brand that resonates in the age of AI, and books that give practical advice and inspiration for how to think entrepreneurially, live well, and drive change.
It’s recommended reading as things wind down this summer — and hopefully delivers a timely dose of inspiration to energize you for the fall.
Julie Bornstein, founder and CEO of Daydream
Infallible: The Artificial Intelligence Ideology Reshaping Consumer Behavior by Chris Hood
Infallible is written by the same author, Chris Hood, who created the Customer Transformation framework — he’s deeply focused on how businesses actually evolve around the consumer.
It’s about the concept that in the rush for faster decisions and pure precision, companies are tempting themselves to prioritize efficiency over actual human empathy. But customers aren’t algorithms; they have emotions, aspirations, and stories that a standard dataset just can’t fully capture.
The core theme is the paradox of AI: how to balance massive technical innovation with genuine humanity so you don’t erode customer trust. What I love is how he breaks this down structurally. Each chapter pairs a specific AI discipline with a corresponding human intelligence across areas like customer experience and loyalty, using real-life examples.
In fashion and retail, taste and intent are incredibly nuanced. If you trust an AI’s defaults blindly without the layers of human curation and expertise that we invest in to personalize an experience, you lose the magic that builds real customer trust.
It’s a grounding read for any leader in the tech or consumer space right now. It looks past all the AI hype and forces you to think about intention. And it’s a reminder that the goal has to remain focused on solving actual human problems and creating a fundamentally better experience for the person on the other side of the screen.
Alexandra Zatarain, co-founder and VP of brand and marketing at Eight Sleep
Sneaker Wars, by Barbara Smit
Sneaker Wars tells the story of the two Dassler brothers, whose family business eventually became Adidas and Puma. It’s a story about sport, rivalry and brand-building, but also about family, ambition, timing and the many decisions that turn a small idea into something much bigger.
What I loved most is that it shows how companies that seem inevitable in hindsight rarely feel that way in real time. Today, Adidas and Puma look like iconic global brands with a clear master plan behind them. But the book shows how much of that story was shaped over time — through risks, tensions, personal relationships, leadership changes, competitive pressure and people taking opportunities as they came.
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