Standalone AI Assistants Gain Consumer Trust Over In-App Tools

Artificial intelligence tools are becoming routine helpers for American consumers, moving beyond occasional searches into everyday household management. People increasingly turn to AI for finding discount codes, organizing family schedules, and planning meals.

A March survey of 2,111 US adults found notable growth in several areas. Deal-finding with AI rose 2.9 percentage points compared to the October-November average. Household logistics management climbed 2.8 points, while meal planning and grocery list creation gained 2.7 points.

Despite widespread integration of AI into merchant apps and websites, these embedded tools are losing favour with users. Consumer ratings of helpfulness dropped for in-app AI across six of eight task categories.

The sharpest declines hit learning and self-improvement, where embedded AI fell 12.1 percentage points as the top-rated tool. Health and wellness saw a 7.1-point drop in consumer preference for built-in assistants.

Independent AI platforms like ChatGPT and similar services picked up the ground that embedded tools lost. These dedicated assistants gained consumer confidence across multiple categories:

• Health and wellness: up 6.2 points
• Everyday planning: up 3.9 points
• Shopping and purchasing: up 3.5 points
• Finance and banking: up 3.1 points

The research points to a fundamental mismatch between how consumers approach decisions and what embedded AI offers. A retailer's in-app assistant may excel at describing inventory, but shoppers typically need discovery, comparison, and context before narrowing choices.

Dedicated platforms provide that wide-angle view by design. Embedded tools, constrained to their parent app's ecosystem, cannot offer the same breadth without pushing users toward competing services.

The findings present a challenge for payments and commerce businesses investing in AI features. Simply placing an assistant inside an app ensures consumers will see it, but not that they'll find it most useful.

The trust and perceived helpfulness may flow to third-party platforms instead, even when those platforms ultimately direct users back to make purchases through merchant apps. Companies face a choice between optimising their embedded tools for post-decision tasks or accepting that early-stage discovery happens elsewhere.