Eighty-five percent of US consumers now use AI tools at least once a week. Nearly half use them every day. These are not early adopters or tech enthusiasts — they represent a broad cross-section of the American consumer base, according to a December 2025 survey of 1,030 US shoppers by Semrush. The data paints a clear picture: AI tools have moved from novelty to infrastructure in the modern buyer journey.
For businesses, the question is no longer whether AI matters to their customers. It does. The question is whether your brand shows up when those customers ask an AI tool what to buy.
Key Takeaways
- 85% of US consumers now use AI tools at least once a week, with 64% using ChatGPT monthly and 49% using Gemini — the behaviour is platform-agnostic
- AI tools are used at every buyer journey stage: 51% for early discovery, 57% for shortlisting, 53% for comparison, and 50% at the moment of purchase
- 43% of consumers have discovered a brand for the first time through an AI tool, and only 8% ignore AI brand mentions entirely
- 86% of consumers verify AI recommendations before purchasing, but they are confirming a recommendation already made — the brand was shortlisted by AI before any independent action
- Websites have been repositioned from primary discovery channels to verification channels — 87% of consumers say AI summaries accelerate their understanding of a brand
Which AI Tools Consumers Actually Use
ChatGPT dominates the market with 64% of consumers using it monthly. Gemini follows at 49%, Meta AI at 39%, and Google's AI Mode at 28%. Perplexity and Claude sit at 9% and 8% respectively — smaller but growing rapidly. Globally, over one billion people now use standalone AI platforms every month, with ChatGPT's mobile app alone reaching 557 million monthly active users.
What matters here is not which tool leads — it is that the behaviour has become platform-agnostic. Consumers are not loyal to a single AI tool. They use whichever one is embedded in their workflow, whether that is ChatGPT in a browser, Gemini inside Google Search, or Meta AI within Instagram. A brand that is visible on one platform but invisible on others is missing most of its audience.
AI Is Present at Every Stage of the Buyer Journey
The Semrush data shows AI tools are not confined to a single phase of the purchase process. They are used at every stage, and the usage rates are remarkably consistent:
- Early discovery: 51% of consumers use AI tools to start their research
- Shortlisting: 57% use AI to narrow down their options
- Active comparison: 53% use AI when evaluating products side-by-side
- Final decision: 50% use AI at the moment of purchase
This near-uniform distribution across stages is significant. It means AI is not just a top-of-funnel discovery tool or a bottom-of-funnel convenience. It is the buyer's companion throughout the entire process. More than half of consumers specify constraints upfront when querying AI — a budget limit, a required feature, a compatibility need. They are not browsing casually. They are making targeted, high-intent requests that compress hours of research into a single interaction.
Brand Discovery Has a New Gatekeeper
Perhaps the most striking finding: 43% of consumers have discovered a brand for the first time through an AI tool. Not through a Google search result, not through a social media ad, not through a recommendation from a friend — through an AI response.
When an AI tool mentions a brand, 40% of consumers search Google for more information, 36% compare the brand with alternatives, 34% ask follow-up questions within the AI tool, and 28% visit the brand's website directly. Only 8% ignore the mention entirely.
This data reshapes how businesses should think about brand awareness. Traditional discovery relied on outbound signals — ads, content marketing, PR — pushing the brand toward the consumer. AI-mediated discovery works differently. The consumer pulls information from the AI, and the AI decides which brands to surface. If your brand lacks the structured data, authoritative citations, and consistent web presence that AI tools rely on, you will not be surfaced regardless of how much you spend on traditional marketing.
The IAB's 2026 research with Talk Shoppe confirms this at scale: 40% of US shoppers now use AI when shopping, and AI is projected to influence more than $260 billion in global e-commerce during the holiday season alone. These numbers are no longer projections about a possible future — they describe the present.
Consumer Trust Is Real but Conditional
The trust picture is nuanced. Seventy-five percent of consumers rate their trust in AI recommendations at 3 or 4 out of 5 — solid but not unconditional. Only 20% trust AI recommendations completely, while 7% express low trust. The majority sit in the middle: willing to act on AI suggestions but requiring verification.
This is precisely why 86% of consumers verify AI recommendations before making a purchase. They check the brand's website, read reviews, or search for additional context. But here is the critical insight — that verification step is itself shaped by what the AI told them. A consumer who verifies is not starting from scratch. They are confirming a recommendation that has already been made. The brand has already been shortlisted by the AI before the consumer takes any independent action.
For businesses, this means appearing in AI responses is the new equivalent of making it to page one of Google. The verification step that follows is a formality for the brands that are already recommended — and an insurmountable hurdle for those that were never mentioned.
Which Product Categories Are Most Affected
AI influence is not distributed evenly across industries. The Semrush survey shows clear category leaders:
- Retail and consumer goods: 39% of consumers say AI has influenced a purchase
- Food: 29%
- Wellness: 29%
- Electronics: 27%
- Travel: 21%
- Education: 16%
- Home services: 15%
- Financial services: 13%
Retail leads by a wide margin, which tracks with the conversational nature of AI shopping queries — "What's the best wireless headphone under $200?" is a natural AI prompt. But the real growth is happening in categories where trust and expertise matter: wellness, education, and financial services. These are areas where consumers increasingly delegate research to AI because the decisions feel complex and the stakes feel high.
In B2B, the trend is even more pronounced. Eighty-nine percent of B2B buyers have adopted generative AI, and AI tools now rank among the top sources of self-guided information at every stage of the B2B buying process. The buyer journey that businesses optimised for — trade shows, sales calls, white papers — is being compressed into AI-assisted research sessions that happen long before a sales team is ever contacted.
The Website Is Not Dead — but Its Role Has Changed
One of the more surprising findings in the data: 68% of consumers visit brand websites at the same frequency or more than before AI tools became part of their research. Twenty-two percent say they are more likely to visit a brand website after an AI interaction. The website has not been replaced — it has been repositioned.
Instead of being the primary discovery channel, the website is now the verification channel. Consumers arrive at your site already knowing what the AI told them about you. They are looking for confirmation, not information. This means your website needs to validate what AI tools say about your brand — pricing, features, use cases, credibility signals — in a way that is immediately parseable by both humans and machines.
Eighty-seven percent of consumers say AI summaries accelerate their understanding of a brand. If your website contradicts, confuses, or simply fails to confirm what the AI already communicated, that 87% efficiency gain works against you.
What This Means for Brand Visibility Strategy
The data points to a clear conclusion: AI visibility is no longer a nice-to-have for forward-thinking brands. It is table stakes for any business that wants to participate in the modern buyer journey.
Seventy-seven percent of consumers use AI and traditional search together. Only 4% rely mostly on AI alone. This means the transition is not a replacement but a layering — AI tools sit on top of existing search behaviour, filtering and curating before the consumer ever reaches a search engine result page. Businesses that optimise only for traditional search are optimising for the second step in a two-step process.
The most actionable insight from the data: 69% of consumers expect AI's role in shopping to expand further, while only 3% expect it to decline. The window for early-mover advantage is closing. Brands that invest in AI visibility now — through structured data, authoritative content, multi-platform citation testing, and continuous monitoring — will compound their advantage as consumer reliance on AI deepens.
Frequently Asked Questions
What percentage of consumers use AI tools in their buying process?
According to a December 2025 Semrush survey of 1,030 US shoppers, 85% of consumers use AI tools at least once a week, and nearly half use them daily. Usage is consistent across the entire buyer journey: 51% for discovery, 57% for shortlisting, 53% for comparison, and 50% at the moment of purchase.
Which product categories are most affected by AI-influenced buying?
Retail and consumer goods lead at 39% of consumers reporting AI-influenced purchases, followed by food and wellness (both 29%), electronics (27%), and travel (21%). In B2B, the impact is even more pronounced — 89% of B2B buyers have adopted generative AI, and AI tools now rank among top sources of self-guided information at every stage of the B2B buying process.
Do consumers still visit brand websites if they use AI tools?
Yes. 68% of consumers visit brand websites at the same frequency or more than before AI tools. However, the website's role has shifted from primary discovery channel to verification channel. Consumers arrive already knowing what AI told them about your brand and are looking for confirmation — pricing, features, credibility signals — not initial information.
How do AI brand recommendations affect consumer behaviour?
When an AI tool mentions a brand, 40% of consumers search Google for more information, 36% compare the brand with alternatives, 34% ask follow-up questions within the AI tool, and 28% visit the brand's website directly. Only 8% ignore the mention. Since 86% verify recommendations before purchasing, appearing in AI responses is the new equivalent of making page one on Google.
You can check your own brand's AI visibility with a free AI scan — it takes 30 seconds and reveals how AI sees your business. For the complete picture, SwingIntel's AI Readiness Audit tests across 9 AI platforms and measures exactly when and how each one recommends your brand.
