CNBC's "The Exchange" team discusses how AI may transform shopping amid the holiday season with Shikha Jain, lead partner for consumer and retail at Simon-Kucher.

The release of Open AI's ChatGPT has accelerated the development of artificial intelligence and warnings about its impact on society.

Rise of AI

A recent survey by Simon-Kucher found that 54% of consumers plan to use artificial intelligence (AI) to assist with holiday shopping. The main uses for AI include finding product reviews, comparing prices, tracking deals, and generating gift ideas. 

Despite the growing adoption of AI, 46% of respondents said they would not use it, citing a preference for personal connection, distrust of AI recommendations, or lack of knowledge on how to use the technology. The report also notes that younger consumers, particularly Gen Z and millennials, are more likely to use AI, while older generations remain less inclined.

54% of consumers use AI for holiday shopping support: Simon-Kucher

That while AI is indeed going mainstream, many shoppers preferred that more personal approach, as Julie alluded to, when it comes to things like shopping and gifting. So joining me now to discuss this is Shikha Jain. She's the lead partner for consumer and retail over at Simon Kusher. This is interesting, again, the whole idea of agentic AI changing the paradigm by which we shop and spend money. Is it gonna be revolutionary this holiday season? And if not this holiday season, when does it become really full steam? Thanks for having me on the show, Dom. So Simon Kusher's seventh annual holiday shopping report that surveyed 3000 consumers found that 54%, so slightly lower number than the one we just saw, of consumers will be using AI for this upcoming holiday shopping season. Similar use cases will be looking for product reviews and comparisons. Searching for the best prices, tracking deals and so on, and also generating gift ideas for others. So among the 46% that said they won't be using it, it is because of that human touch element. They wanna be responsible for the personalization aspect of gifting, which is meant to be more of a connection and relationship thing. The other reasons why consumers may not be using AI is because they don't trust it. The recommendations, or they don't know how to use AI. But 2025 is the year where AI has gone mainstream and tied to the Q4 holiday shopping season. Shikha, just how much are demographic shifts and demographic nuances responsible for some of those statistics that you just cited? The people who trust it, don't trust it. The people who know how to use it, don't know how to use it. How does it break down by say age group or by generation or by cultural background? Are there any details about how that plays out? So similar to all technology, younger people tend to be more adopting and have affinity towards newer tech. So we do find that Gen Z and millennials are the ones who will be more open to using AI this season. Whereas Gen X and baby boomers are a little less likely to be using AI this upcoming season. So that tends to be a trend that holds no matter what it is. But again, a lot of even younger people we are finding are saying that loss of that human touch, that human element is what's preventing them from using AI so frequently and for almost every use case for this upcoming holiday.

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54% of consumers use AI for holiday shopping support: Simon-Kucher

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Rise of AI