The news: Rates of adoption and familiarity with AI are surging—53% of US consumers either regularly use genAI or have experimented with it, per Deloitte’s 2025 Connected Consumer Survey, up from 38% in 2024 and 16% in 2023.
How consumers access AI:
- 69% of US genAI users engage with AI through social apps, everyday software, and online services.
- 60% find genAI tools through first-party AI websites and 48% via desktop applications.
As consumers engage with AI through everyday software and services, brands have a clear opportunity to meet users where they already are by embedding genAI into owned websites, apps, and digital experiences.
Digging into the data: People who use genAI for personal, non-work reasons are beginning to trust its recommendations, leaning on the technology more for content discovery and personal support than for basic applications like helping with documents.
- For personal genAI use in 2024, chatbot conversations, document editing, web search, and image generation ranked as the top four use cases.
- Now, consumers are turning to the technology for product recommendations (53% of genAI users), personal advice (44%), and physical health or medical assistance (38%).
What marketers should do: Companies should look beyond customer service chatbots and integrate AI-powered search, product discovery, and personalization tools into brand websites.
How to make the most of AI integrations:
- Ensure AI-powered support is available throughout the shopping and browsing journey to drive loyalty and offer differentiation.
- Gather zero-party data to understand users’ preferences and intentions.
- Boost intelligent tools such as AI personal shopping assistants to increase engagement and time spent, removing the need to navigate elsewhere to find answers or recommendations.
- Offer interactive experiences such as virtual try-on features to meet consumers’ growing comfort with AI’s suggestions and desire for personalized experiences.