FAQ on AI chatbots: How they work and their impact on marketing – eMarketer

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AI chatbot adoption has accelerated rapidly: ChatGPT surpassed 800 million weekly active users in late 2025, up from 300 million a year earlier, per TechCrunch and CNBC. Platforms like Google Gemini, Claude, and Perplexity are competing for market share while expanding into commerce, search, and autonomous task completion. For marketers, this growth presents both opportunities and challenges.
Seventy-seven percent of consumers worldwide are comfortable with AI resolving a question or issue, per CSG, yet consumer skepticism persists. The share viewing generative AI as a negative disruptor has nearly doubled since November 2023, from 18% to 32%, per Billion Dollar Boy. This FAQ addresses what marketers need to know about AI chatbots as adoption increases in 2026.
An AI chatbot is software that simulates human conversation through text or voice, using natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning to understand and respond to user queries. Unlike rule-based chatbots that follow scripted decision trees, AI chatbots analyze context, recognize intent, and generate original responses in real time.
These systems power customer service interactions, product recommendations, lead qualification, and transactional functions across websites, messaging apps, and dedicated platforms. Standalone chatbots like ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and Claude operate as general-purpose assistants, while embedded versions like Amazon's Rufus and Walmart's Sparky focus on commerce-specific tasks. The technology has evolved from simple FAQ responders to agentic systems capable of completing multi-step tasks and conversations autonomously.
Traditional chatbots operate on predetermined scripts and decision trees. They match user inputs to specific keywords and return pre-written responses. When users deviate from expected patterns, these systems fail or escalate to human agents.
AI chatbots use machine learning algorithms trained on massive datasets to understand language nuance, context, and intent. They generate responses dynamically rather than selecting from a fixed library. Three capabilities distinguish them from legacy systems:
This flexibility explains consumer openness: 73% of US consumers accept AI interactions as long as they can escalate to a human if needed, per Five9.
The AI chatbot market has consolidated around several major platforms, each with distinct strengths:
AI chatbots are restructuring how consumers discover information and products. Rather than scanning lists of links, users receive synthesized answers that pull from multiple sources. This shift has profound implications for marketers.
Google’s AI Overviews now present conversational responses atop traditional search results, reducing clicks to external sites. AI browsers like OpenAI’s Atlas and Perplexity’s Comet aim to own the entire discovery journey, building personalized, agentic search ecosystems that bypass traditional ad models.
For product discovery, the impact is already measurable. Twenty percent of global orders during Cyber Week 2025 were influenced by AI and agents, per Salesforce. Adobe reported a 670% YoY increase in AI traffic to US retail sites during the holiday season. EMARKETER expects AI platforms to account for 1.5% of total retail ecommerce sales in 2026, or $20.9 billion, nearly quadrupling 2025 figures.
Marketers deploy AI chatbots across four primary functions:
Despite rapid adoption, AI chatbots present specific challenges that marketers must address:
Measuring AI chatbot influence requires tracking both direct traffic and broader discovery effects:
Generative engine optimization (GEO) is now a strategic imperative for brands seeking visibility in AI chatbot responses:
AI search advertising.Google, Microsoft, and Perplexity are testing ads within AI search results. Amazon and Walmart are exploring sponsored prompts in their AI assistants. Experiment with these emerging formats to understand their effectiveness.
We prepared this article with the assistance of generative AI tools and stand behind its accuracy, quality, and originality.
EMARKETER forecast data was current at publication and may have changed. EMARKETER clients have access to up-to-date forecast data. To explore EMARKETER solutions, click here.
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