Six shifts already on the record
The AI trends of 2027 that matter for a business selling in Europe are already written into law and platform announcements. Google's AI Mode reached 35 more languages in October 2025, ads in ChatGPT reached 31 European markets on 24 August 2026, Google moves Dynamic Search Ads to AI Max automatically from February 2027, and the EU AI Act has required transparency about chatbots and AI content since 2 August 2026, also for companies based outside the Union.
Below are the six shifts we see in our work, each with what is already fixed, what it means for a company abroad, a small business, an online store and an agency, and what to plan for 2027. Not a list of thirty forecasts; the things that touch your budget and your plan.
The six at a glance
| Shift | What is already fixed | What you do in 2027 |
|---|---|---|
| Search becomes a conversation | AI Mode in 35 more languages since 7 October 2025, follow-up questions since May 2026 | Pages that answer questions fully |
| You see what AI does with your site | AI reports in Search Console since 31 August 2026 | Monthly check of which pages AI shows |
| Ads inside AI answers | ChatGPT ads in 31 European markets since 24 August 2026 | Test with a small budget |
| Campaigns that steer themselves | Dynamic Search Ads to AI Max from February 2027 | Review campaigns and exclusions |
| EU rules for AI apply | Transparency since 2 August 2026, marking from 2 December 2026 | An AI policy and a chatbot disclosure |
| Own data wins | AI assistants cite sources with clear facts | Figures, prices and answers on your site, in plain text |
Trend 1: search becomes a conversation
Google brought AI Mode to 35 more languages and over forty countries on 7 October 2025, Dutch and Belgium among them. At Google I/O on 19 May 2026 it added follow-up: someone reading an AI Overview can ask the next question straight in AI Mode. Google says AI Mode has more than a billion monthly users. See Google AI Mode after I/O 2026.
For a business that means buyers ask full questions ("which logistics software handles Belgian excise rules?") and get a summarised answer with sources. Pages that answer such a question fully and concretely make it into the answer; generic copy does not. For a foreign company, the question will often be asked in Dutch, French or German, so the answer needs to exist in those languages. The difference between classic SEO and optimising for AI answers is in SEO vs GEO. How Belgian companies compare on AI use is in AI adoption in the EU.
AI literacy and banned practicesSince 2 February 2025
AI Mode in 35 more languagesSince 7 October 2025
Transparency for chatbots and deepfakesSince 2 August 2026
Ads in ChatGPT across EuropeSince 24 August 2026
AI reports in Search ConsoleSince 31 August 2026
Marking of all generative AIFrom 2 December 2026
Dynamic Search Ads to AI MaxAutomatic from February 2027
High-risk AI, Annex IIIFrom 2 December 2027
- October 2026
Blue: rules in force. Light with a blue edge: new features. Dashed: fixed but still to come.
Trend 2: you can see what AI does with your site
Since 31 August 2026, Search Console shows every site how often its pages appear in AI Overviews, AI Mode and Discover. You can also opt out of those features: you lose AI impressions, the rest of Search stays the same. See the Search Console AI performance report and opting out of AI Overviews. New to Search Console? Start with how to use Google Search Console.
Trend 3: ads inside AI answers
Since 24 August 2026 ads appear in ChatGPT in 31 European markets, Belgium included, and since 31 August you can buy them yourself. In the European Economic Area they are not personalised; they follow the context of the conversation. Google has tested ads in AI Mode in the United States since 20 May 2026. Who it suits and what it costs is in ChatGPT ads in Europe. Our advice for 2027: test with a small budget alongside your existing campaigns, and measure on enquiries.
Trend 4: campaigns that steer themselves
Google moves Dynamic Search Ads to AI Max automatically from February 2027; AI then picks search terms, copy and landing pages. If you do nothing, your campaigns run differently in February. Review exclusions, landing pages and budgets per country in January; details in Dynamic Search Ads to AI Max. Estimate monthly spend with the Google Ads budget calculator.
Five items for your 2027 AI plan
- Check in Search Console how often AI features show your pages.
- Write a short AI policy: which tools, for what, who reviews.
- Make sure your chatbot says it is AI.
- Prepare your Google Ads campaigns for AI Max in January.
- Pick one weekly task AI can take off your team's hands.
Trend 5: the EU rules for AI apply, wherever you are based
The AI Act works in stages. Since 2 February 2025 the banned practices and the AI literacy duty apply; the omnibus of July 2026 simplified the latter. Since 2 August 2026 a chatbot must say it is AI, and deepfakes and AI text on matters of public interest must be disclosed. From 2 December 2026 older generative systems must mark their output too. High-risk rules were postponed to 2 December 2027 and 2 August 2028. The Act reaches companies outside the EU whose systems or output are used in the Union. Read the transparency obligations and the high-risk delay, run the EU AI Act checker, and see do I need an AI policy.
Trend 6: your own data is your edge
A language model can summarise everything already on the internet. What it does not know is what happens inside your company: your prices, lead times, projects, figures. Put those on your site in plain, clear text and you get cited. For Business Centrum we published key figures in a separate file and an llms.txt for AI search engines, next to hundreds of guides on real questions. In five weeks, Google impressions went from 220 to 10,200 a day, and the first visitors arrived via Google Gemini. See the Business Centrum case, and check with the AI crawler checker whether AI search engines may read your site.
Four places AI meets your buyer
- SearchAI Overviews and AI Mode in Google, in the buyer's language.
- AssistantsChatGPT, Gemini and Claude answer questions about your field.
- AdsIn ChatGPT since August, in Google through AI Max.
- Your own siteA chatbot or assistant that helps customers, with a disclosure.
What it means for your business
| Reader | What matters most | What you do |
|---|---|---|
| Company outside the EU selling into Europe | EU AI rules, local languages | Disclosure on chatbots and AI content, answers in the buyer's language |
| Small business or service company | Conversational search, own data | Pages with concrete answers and figures, an AI policy for your team |
| Online store | AI Max, ads in AI | Product data and landing pages in order, campaigns reviewed in January |
| Agency | Rules and reporting | Brief clients on disclosure, add AI reports to monthly reporting |
AI in your own operations
Most time savings are not in marketing but behind it: quotes, invoices, planning, customer questions. Start with one clear task that recurs every week. What an assistant costs you can estimate with the AI cost calculator; for writing, see ChatGPT prompts for marketing. Which assistant suits you is in ChatGPT vs Claude. Everything else that changes in 2027 is in new EU rules in 2027.
What we do not count as a trend
A website written entirely by AI that ranks by itself. Google judges pages on how useful they are, not on how they were made, and text without your own facts or experience falls away. Nor do we see a chatbot replacing a small company's entire customer service in 2027; an assistant that answers the simple questions and hands the rest to a person, yes.
How VBS builds AI for you
From Ghent, Belgium, we build AI for business: assistants, automations and connections with your own data, with the disclosure and the policy included, for companies across Europe. We make your site found in ChatGPT and in AI Mode, in the languages of your buyers. We also built our own AI marketing software, AMOSI, which went live in July 2026, so we know what sits between a demo and daily use. Book a call.