G2 Taps AI Vets to Build Software Trust Engine Amid Major Consolidation

CHICAGO, IL – February 03, 2026 – In a significant move to cement its dominance in the B2B software market, G2 today announced a major leadership overhaul, appointing AI veteran Alexis Zheng as its new Chief Product and Technology Officer. The appointment signals an aggressive pivot to harness artificial intelligence, a strategy underscored by the simultaneous hiring of Alexandra London as Chief Marketing Officer and recent, market-shaking consolidation efforts.

Zheng, whose extensive resume includes leadership roles at Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Cruise, Grab, and Uber, is tasked with accelerating G2’s strategic growth and scaling innovation. Her appointment comes as the company aims to transform its vast repository of user-generated software reviews into the definitive data source for B2B decisions in an era increasingly governed by AI.

"As AI changes how software is discovered, evaluated, and purchased, we need a strong product leader at G2 who understands both the technology and the dynamics shaping the market," said Godard Abel, CEO and Co-Founder of G2. "Alexis brings an exceptional combination of AI product expertise, marketplace knowledge, and a strategic vision for our products that will enable us to build the next generation of G2 for the age of AI."

Complementing the technological push, Alexandra London joins G2 from Zoom, where she served as Head of Digital. As the new Chief Marketing Officer, London will lead the charge in repositioning the G2 brand and communicating its evolving value proposition to both software buyers and vendors.

Building the 'AI-Age Trust Flywheel'

The core of G2's new strategy revolves around a concept Zheng calls the "AI-age trust flywheel." The vision is to evolve G2’s existing data flywheel—built over years from millions of verified peer reviews—into an intelligent engine that actively powers AI-driven recommendations, automated agents, and complex workflows.

"The most successful platforms in the AI era will be those with the most reliable signals — making trust the true last mile of enterprise AI adoption," said Zheng in the company’s announcement. "G2 has spent years building deep, structured data about how software performs in the real world. That foundation gives us a unique opportunity... to help shape how software is discovered, evaluated, and adopted in the AI era."

Zheng's background makes her uniquely suited for this challenge. At Cruise, she was instrumental in leading the development of the autonomous vehicle company's "AI Brain." Her tenure at super-app Grab and marketplace giant Uber saw her managing machine learning-based products for dynamic pricing and personalization. Earlier, at LinkedIn, she led teams developing machine learning and natural language processing products for social analytics. This deep, hands-on experience in building and scaling AI-native products is precisely what G2 needs to transition from a data repository to a dynamic intelligence platform.

Consolidation as the Foundation for AI Dominance

G2's ambitious AI strategy is not being built in a vacuum. It is underpinned by a bold and transformative market consolidation. The company recently reached an agreement to acquire Capterra, Software Advice, and GetApp from industry giant Gartner. This blockbuster deal, expected to close in the first quarter of 2026, will bring several of the largest B2B software review sites under a single umbrella.

This move is about more than just market share; it is a data and scale play of immense proportions. By integrating these platforms, G2 will command an unparalleled volume of review data, user behavior signals, and vendor information. For any AI system, the quality and quantity of training data are paramount. This acquisition provides G2 with the foundational asset needed to build the most robust and trustworthy AI recommendation engine in the industry.

In a statement regarding the acquisition, CEO Godard Abel noted the goal was to build "the trusted data foundation for B2B software in the age of AI," promising the consolidated platform would deliver "deeper buyer intent signals" and a more consistent taxonomy for the entire software ecosystem. This consolidation effectively absorbs major competitors, repositioning G2 not just as a leader but as the central, indispensable hub for B2B software intelligence.

Navigating the Shift from Browsing to Decisioning

The executive appointments and strategic acquisitions are a direct response to a fundamental shift in enterprise behavior. The process of buying software is rapidly moving beyond manual browsing and spreadsheet comparisons. Instead, businesses are looking for AI-powered tools that can provide instant, reliable, and personalized recommendations—a transition from passive browsing to active decisioning.

"Software buying is fundamentally shifting from browsing to decisioning — and the winners will be the sources that AI can trust," noted new CMO Alexandra London. "G2 is uniquely positioned with authentic, verified insights at scale. I'm excited to help cement our role as the trusted foundation for software decisions in the age of AI."

This strategy is already visible in G2’s product roadmap. The company has launched "G2.ai," a feature allowing buyers to use natural language prompts to initiate conversational software searches. Furthermore, its partnership with Profound equips software vendors with tools for Answer Engine Optimization (AEO), helping them understand how their products are being represented and recommended by large language models (LLMs).

As G2 embarks on this new chapter, it faces the dual challenge of integrating its massive new assets while rapidly innovating on the AI front. The combination of Zheng's technical acumen and London's marketing expertise, built upon a newly expanded empire of data, represents a formidable strategy. By positioning itself as the ultimate trust layer, G2 is not just adapting to the AI era; it is making a calculated bid to define it for the entire B2B software world.