Wondering when AI will fundamentally alter online research, discovery, and search behavior? You’re too late. Hot on the heels of the ascent of social media as a means of researching and buying products, consumers are quickly defaulting to AI-powered search (though both AI-powered apps like ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot, Perplexity, and Claude, and Google’s AI Overview) to guide their choices, evaluate brands, and increasingly to discover new ones.
NB: This is an article from McKinsey & Co.
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About 50 percent of Google searches already have AI summaries, a figure expected to rise to more than 75 percent by 2028, according to trend analysis. Half of consumers polled in a McKinsey survey now intentionally seek out AI-powered search engines, with a majority of users saying it’s the top digital source they use to make buying decisions.1 Use of AI-powered search spans all ages, including a majority of older generations (for example, baby boomers) already adopting it.2 In fact, by 2028, $750 billion in US revenue will funnel through AI-powered search.3
The result of this tectonic shift in the consumer landscape is that unprepared brands may experience a decline in traffic from the traditional search channels: anywhere from 20 to 50 percent.4 Further, remaining clicks from traditional search will shift in importance, and will now be more likely to come from informed consumers further along the purchase funnel, as decision-making moves to AI platforms before the click happens.
Winning brands will take action to improve visibility and positive sentiment on both AI summaries and AI platforms. Achieving that requires brands to rethink their approach to both digital content and organic search. They will need to consider modifying their content strategy and ultimately how they influence the broader set of sources that AI-powered search uses to generate answers to consumer questions. This shift carries risk, but it’s also an opportunity to quickly and strategically adapt, driving competitive advantage in the process.
The AI-powered consumer decision journey
While more than 70 percent of AI-powered search users ask questions at the top of the funnel – that is, to learn about a category, brand, product, or service – the technology is also heavily used across the entire consumer decision journey (Exhibit 1).
