The news: In the past year, 64% of US adults have used dedicated AI platforms, per a new PYMNTS report, and 42% of Gen Zers are now mainstream AI users who use the tech for an average of eight tasks per day. 

Consumers are increasingly planning, learning, shopping, and making decisions inside AI platforms rather than search engines, browsers, or apps, reshaping how discovery, intent, and commerce take form. 

Zooming in: Tools like ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Gemini are quickly becoming the first stop over traditional search and web browsers.

• 32% of Gen Zers and 37% of power users now start tasks with AI rather than search or browsing.
• 42% of consumers who primarily use dedicated AI platforms say they are using search engines less often. Among users who access AI through search results and overviews, that figure drops to 33%.

Power users—or those completing 25 or more AI-driven tasks daily—use AI across shopping, planning, learning, and wellness, treating it as a personal operating system for discovery and commerce. 

Light users stay cautious, sticking to lower-risk tasks. Only 12.5% of light users have mostly or completely replaced their old shopping methods with AI. That number jumps to 46.8% for power users.

As AI goes mainstream, consumer trust is building fast. That trust could rival decades of reliance on search engines—usage and engagement with search, browsers, and apps decline when AI becomes the internet’s new starting page.

What this means for marketers: Brand visibility now depends on being discoverable by AI systems, not just optimized for search or social feeds. 

• If AI is the first stop, brands that fail to show up in AI-generated answers risk never entering the consideration pool at all. 
• AI’s path to commerce is forming just as quickly. Consumers may not fully trust AI with shopping yet, but behavior is moving in that direction, per PYMNTS. 

AI is evolving into the front door of intent, challenging marketers to rethink discovery, brand presence, and checkout as a single AI-led journey rather than separate stages.

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