Whitepapers
How AI Is Changing the Way We Buy
12,109 internet users across 11 countries spanning 5 continents were surveyed in November 2025 by GWI on a series of questions about their usage and attitudes towards AI within the context of purchase journeys.
ROAST have analysed this data in order to share insights into the future of purchase journeys with key clients and partners.
AI has been at the top of the agenda for marketers throughout 2025, with agencies and brands alike striving to comprehend how this seismic technological development will impact their brands, consumers and marketing efforts in 2026 and beyond.
A key issue with understanding how AI is impacting purchase journeys has always been a lack of reliable data with which to make decisions. With no keyword level data being released by OpenAI, marketers have been forced to rely on prompt-volume estimates from third parties, small-scale studies that rapidly become outdated, and, somewhat dangerously, their own gut-feel.
This latest survey from GWI is no silver bullet, but it does have some significant benefits in that it is global, demographically representative, run by a highly-trusted provider, and tied to a broader data set which allows us to slice-and-dice the data to reveal deeper insights.
As an industry, and as a society as a whole, we are still in the early stages of understanding how AI adoption is reinventing the purchase journey, but good consumer data is an excellent place to start
What’s included
Adoption and usage trends
Product categories most impacted
How consumers use AI during research
Key insights for brands and marketers
