42% of Power Users Say They Now Use Search Less

Artificial intelligence is starting to look less like a novelty and more like a new kind of personal assistant, one that people increasingly tap first when they need to do something, not just look something up.

That shift was at the center of “How AI Becomes the Place Consumers Start Everything,” the December installment of PYMNTS Intelligence’s Agentic AI Report series. The report was based on a survey of 2,113 U.S. adult consumers and tracked adoption across 54 personal-use tasks in nine areas of daily life, including shopping, finances, health, education and travel.

What stood out was not just that people are using AI, but how they are using it. Consumers are turning to dedicated AI platforms to plan, learn, shop and decide, compressing the familiar search-to-purchase sequence into a more conversational flow where intent is stated once and then refined through follow-up prompts.

Key findings from the report include:

More than 6 in 10 consumers used dedicated AI platforms in the past year.

More than one-third of Generation Z consumers and Power Users (consumers who perform 25 or more distinct tasks) turned to a dedicated AI platform as their first tool when tackling personal tasks.

Among consumers who primarily use dedicated AI platforms, 43% reported fully replacing older methods, and 42% said they now use search less.

The task-level story helps explain why the “AI-first” pattern is taking hold, the report said. People start with jobs where a conversational interface saves time, and the downside of a bad answer is limited. The report pointed to personal tasks as the main driver of use, and it described Power Users as extending AI across shopping discovery, planning, learning and wellness.

Those are practical, repeatable activities, like drafting and polishing writing, mapping out an itinerary, summarizing information, narrowing product choices, or building a simple plan for a goal. Over time, those small wins create what the report called behavioral “muscle memory,” which can make AI-mediated decisioning feel normal once trust and user experience improve.

The report also showed why not everyone is moving at the same speed. PYMNTS Intelligence grouped consumers by how many distinct AI tasks they perform and how complex those tasks are, yielding four personas, including holdouts, Light Users, Mainstream Users and Power Users. Power Users represented 11% of consumers, while holdouts represented 43% of consumers. Adoption also varied by age. Gen Z was the least resistant to trying the technology, with 71% having experimented with it.

Where the next wave gets interesting for payments is in the bridge from helping consumers decide to helping them pay.

Consumers signaled that the most credible path is not storing a card inside an AI app. They lean toward familiar protections. One-third prefer linking a digital wallet to an AI platform for safer, easier payments, and the report said wallets could become the trust layer that makes AI-mediated commerce viable at scale.

Trust remains the gating factor. Consumers cited privacy and misunderstandings as key barriers, which is why disclosures, user-controlled permissions and a way to escalate when a model is uncertain matter. The encouraging part is that the everyday tasks are already building momentum. This is how habits change, slowly and then quickly.

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