Artificial intelligence’s role in online shopping is evolving in 2025, with retailers from Guitar Center and Mango to Walmart and Amazon all trying out AI shopping assistants and related features. New survey data shows that online shoppers are interested in these tools — but also that they have some clear concerns.
Among the findings in July results published by the firm YouGov, 43% U.S. adults said they were aware of AI shopping assistants, but only 14% indicated that they had used one.
Trust proved to be a major issue, with interest in these assistants varying significantly across generations. In addition, some other common barriers to adoption seemed to be evident.
How consumers feel about AI shopping assistants
Overall, young adults appeared most likely to be interested in using AI shopping assistants. 24% of Gen Z (aged 18 to 28) respondents said they had already done so, according to YouGov’s survey results.
That response rate only decreased as survey participants got older. Only 7% of Boomers (aged 61 to 78) replied that they had used assistants to shop.
Moreover, the older survey participants were, the less likely they were to express interest in using assistants in the future, with 64% of Boomers saying they had no interest. That compared with 49% of Gen Z adults who said the same.
What AI shopping assistants need to overcome
The top reasons for skepticism cited in the survey highlighted attitudes that online retailers need to address when deploying AI assistants. At the top of the list was a lack of perceived need 54% checked as an obstacle for adoption.
Next, 45% said they preferred human help to these chatbot-style interfaces. Both of these most common answers underscored a reluctance to try new technology in the face of traditional interactions and customer service options.
Nevertheless, the third-most common answer, privacy or data security concerns, showed an actionable area where online merchants and technology providers could offer assurances and solutions. 34% of those responding in the survey selected this answer, indicating a lack of trust.
How shoppers prefer to use AI assistants
Importantly, the survey showed that some outputs from AI assistants were more desirable than others in shopping journeys. While a survey-high 44% participants said they had used assistants to find answers to questions about products, another 67% said they were interested in using them to find the best available prices or deals.
Those responses echoed sentiments in soon-to-be published survey results from Digital Commerce 360 that showed emerging comfort levels with AI tools such as ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini for conducting online shopping research. Digital Commerce 360 will publish those results in a July report spotlighting agentic commerce trends.
In addition, respondents showed elevated levels of interest in using assistants for comparing similar products (56%) or finding similar products (49%). Less enticing to them were options such as virtually trying on clothing (in which 4% were interested) and reading synthesized reviews (21%).
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