Embedded AI Is Losing the Trust Race to Dedicated Platforms

Consumer artificial intelligence adoption is broadening into daily routines, but the tools getting credit for being the most helpful are not the ones built into apps and websites.

The May Agentic AI Report from PYMNTS Intelligence, “The New AI Handshake: Data Shows When Consumers Want Help and When They Want Control,” found that AI is moving from an occasional research tool to something closer to a daily household assistant, one that helps consumers plan, compare and spend.

Based on a survey of 2,111 adults in the United States in March, the report covered AI use across nine activity categories and 54 individual activities. It revealed that AI use for household tasks is accelerating. Finding discount codes or deals grew 2.9 percentage points from the October-November average. Managing household logistics rose 2.8 points. Meal planning and grocery lists climbed 2.7 points.

However, a separate finding complicates the story. Even as more consumers encounter AI embedded in merchant apps and third-party websites, fewer are calling those tools the most helpful. Embedded AI lost ground as the top-rated tool in six of eight task categories. The steepest drops came in learning and self-improvement, down 12.1 percentage points, and health and wellness, down 7.1 points.

Dedicated AI platforms filled the gap. They gained ground in health and wellness, up 6.2 points, everyday planning, up 3.9 points, shopping and purchasing, up 3.5 points, and finance and banking, up 3.1 points.

The report offered a clear explanation. A merchant app may know its own inventory well. But consumers often begin with discovery, comparison and context before they narrow their choice to a specific product or service. Dedicated platforms offer that breadth. Embedded tools, by design, do not.

For payments and commerce companies, the implication is direct. Putting AI inside an app does not guarantee consumers will find it more useful. It only guarantees they will encounter it. The helpfulness credit, and the trust that follows from it, may go somewhere else entirely.

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