In the first quarter, traffic to US retailers' websites via AI tools increased by 393% year-over-year. These visitors spend more, stay longer, and purchase more actively compared to others, according to Adobe Analytics.
Source: Adobe.
“The growth continues the trend from last holiday season (November-December 2025), when AI-driven visits surged by 693% over 12 months,” experts noted.
A year ago, the conversion rate from AI traffic lagged behind that of paid search and email by 38%. Now, the situation has reversed: the conversion rate has reached a record high—42% above that of regular visitors.
The revenue per user coming through chatbots is 37% higher than average. A year ago, human traffic was valued at 128% more.
Source: Adobe.
These users also spend more time on websites: they stay 48% longer, view 13% more pages per visit, and show 12% higher engagement.
“Artificial intelligence is rapidly becoming the primary channel of communication between consumers and brands,” noted Vivek Pandya from Adobe Digital Insights.
According to a survey by Adobe of 5,000 Americans, 39% have already used AI for online shopping, with 85% of them stating it improved their experience.
Trust in artificial intelligence is growing: 66% are confident in the accuracy of the results they receive. Analysts noted that this explains the steady growth in conversion rates—without signs of plateauing.
Serious Business
For e-commerce market participants, AI traffic is becoming critically important—they need to understand who is generating views and clicks.
Earlier, a federal court saw a dispute between Amazon and Perplexity: can digital assistants make purchases on third-party platforms without explicit permission?
In March, a San Francisco judge issued a preliminary injunction, blocking the Comet browser from the AI startup from making purchases on the tech giant's site.
Amazon claimed the tool disguised automated sessions as human traffic. Perplexity called this “intimidation,” noting that agent-driven purchases would only bring more transactions to the company.
With the emergence of OpenClaw, AI agents have gained even more ways to make purchases: through APIs, MCP servers, skills, integrations, or by controlling the user's browser.
Expansion
Digital assistants are gradually expanding into new areas. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong shared that the company has begun testing AI agents in Slack and email.
Coinbase is testing AI agents that show up in slack/email at work, just like any human teammate. To start we're shipping two which are modeled after legendary former Coinbase employees, @FEhrsam and @balajis. (Who brutally frame mogged who in this matchup?)
— Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) April 18, 2026
Soon, it will be easy… pic.twitter.com/1bxfh8Dg9q
The assistants are named Fred and Balaji. Fred is named after co-founder Fred Ehrsam and will serve as a “strategic executive agent,” helping employees navigate strategic priorities and providing feedback at the executive level.
Balaji is the “agent of chaos and creativity,” inspired by former Coinbase CTO Balaji Srinivasan. His role is to challenge assumptions, encourage out-of-the-box thinking, and “ignite innovation.”
Currently, the agents are intended solely to assist employees with work tasks. However, Armstrong mentioned that in the future, there may be more agents than live employees:
“Soon, any employee will be able to easily launch a new agent for themselves or their team. I think we will soon have more agents than people.”
Recall that in March, analysts from a16z Crypto predicted the end of the internet advertising era due to digital assistants.