The news: AI is emerging as a low-risk entry point for discovery, with product link searches becoming a fast-growing use case.

• Using AI to find product links reached a 31.4% adoption rate in February among US AI users, per PYMNTS’ The AI On-Ramp report, being the only high-use case that is both trending up and penetrating all age groups.
• That’s a 1.6 percentage point increase from the period of October to January—higher than other use cases like editing or rewording personal writing (up 0.1 points) and drafting texts or emails (down 0.2 points).

What it means: One boon for the product link category’s growth is its low risk. Consumers may hesitate to let AI make purchases or financial decisions on their behalf, but clicking a suggested link requires little trust and doesn’t carry a big downside if results miss the mark—users can just try again.

This dynamic makes product link discovery a strong on-ramp to AI-powered commerce. As more consumers start their purchase journeys on AI interfaces, discovery is pushed away from traditional search engines and retailer sites and toward conversational platforms.

Why it matters: That behavioral shift raises the stakes for visibility within AI-generated results as product discovery is increasingly about ensuring products surface clearly in AI responses and less about ranking on Google and optimizing on-site search.

These low-stakes interactions could build the trust needed for higher-value actions, from personalized recommendations to fully agent-driven purchases, as legacy retailers and search providers try to keep discovery within their own ecosystems and adapt to consumer interests.

• Amazon is embedding genAI into its shopping experience through tools like Rufus, which answers product questions and surfaces recommendations.
• Google is integrating AI summaries and product suggestions into search, including shopping within its AI Mode.

Recommendations for brands: The fact that AI link discovery is popular across age groups shows AI-driven exploration is not confined to young adopters. That makes it especially crucial for brands to prioritize clear, descriptive product content—such as detailed use cases, specs, and comparisons—that aligns with how consumers naturally query AI tools.

As discovery shifts toward conversational interfaces, optimizing for AI visibility will be key to staying competitive in the evolving commerce landscape.

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