AI assistants are moving beyond general information searches and closer to the point where consumers actually make purchases, according to Comscore’s Q2 2026 AI Intelligence Report.
In the home and living category, 35% of desktop purchasers visited an AI assistant within 30 days of buying something in the second quarter, while 26% used an AI assistant during the same session as their purchase and 4% did so within five minutes of buying, Comscore found.
The pattern extends across several shopping categories. AI assistants reached 34% of books, music and video purchasers within 30 days of a purchase, 35% of toy and hobby purchasers and 39% of office supplies and business machines purchasers.
Comscore also found evidence that consumers were discussing products with AI rather than merely visiting a chatbot around the same time they shopped. Twenty-six percent of home and living purchasers had an AI conversation about that category within 30 days of a purchase, and 14% had an on-topic conversation during the same shopping session.
The findings add another dimension to the competition among ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and other assistants. The value of the platforms increasingly depends not only on how many people use them, but on whether they influence what those users eventually buy.
Advertising is following that behavior. Comscore found sponsored ads in 24% of ChatGPT conversations about toys and hobbies in June, up from 5% in March. In video games and consoles, the share reached 47% in June, up from 3% in March.
Sponsored placements are also emerging in travel. Among hotel-related ChatGPT prompts containing source links, 24% included sponsored ads in May, up from 6% in March. Comscore said Airbnb, Booking.com, Expedia and Priceline were among the travel brands observed in sponsored placements.
The report also shows AI becoming embedded in traditional search. Google searches displaying an AI Overview rose to 39.4% in June from 25.8% in July 2025. Bing searches with Copilot Search increased to 17.3% from 11.8% over the same period.
Comscore’s measurements are based on U.S. panel and custom digital data. The company tracks desktop and mobile activity and links user sessions to measure interactions such as prompts and responses.