Consumer behavior is undergoing its biggest transformation since the popularization of smartphones. Assistants like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini are already actively participating in research, comparisons, and purchase decisions, and in many cases, they become the first point of contact between brand and user. However, almost none of this appears clearly in Google Analytics 4 metrics. For TEC4U , an agency specializing in digital performance, this gap creates a critical challenge for companies that depend on accurate attribution to grow.
The shift in user habits is confirmed by Gartner projections, which indicate a drop of up to 25 percent in app usage by 2027, while AI assistants take center stage in the discovery journey. Search is no longer a webpage but a conversation, redefining the path to websites and demanding new ways of interpreting and categorizing traffic. Today, accesses originating from interactions with AI appear as referrals and not set, masking the true impact of this new ecosystem.
For TEC4U, treating this volume as statistical noise creates a distorted view of the acquisition funnel. By not identifying the exact origin of the user, companies fail to understand which channels actually generate revenue and where they should invest. The invisibility of AI assistants in GA4 creates a gray area that compromises performance analyses, forecasts, and media strategies.
Melissa Pio, CEO of TEC4U, states that the lack of visibility into traffic originating from AI could become one of the biggest pain points in modern marketing. “We are experiencing the biggest shift in consumer behavior since the mobile era. Today, many people discover products, services, and comparisons through conversations with AI. If companies can't measure this, they will be making decisions with incomplete data,” explains Melissa.
The executive argues that the first step is to recognize AI assistants as a distinct channel within GA4, and not as an anomaly or classification deviation. This requires creating custom channel groups, defining specific rules to identify origin patterns, and establishing criteria to differentiate access from ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and other conversational systems. According to Melissa, the change is structural. "Without a dedicated channel, AI traffic gets lost within generic categories, preventing any optimization," she states.
The scenario becomes even more complex because many assistants use internal browsers or their own rendering environments, which alters how the hit reaches GA4. This increases the incidence of inaccurate records and requires complementary analyses, such as identifying unusual traffic spikes, engagement patterns, and post-click behavior. TEC4U already uses methods combining technical analysis and user behavior to clarify these origins.
For Melissa, the urgency of the issue is evident. “ChatGPT is already a channel. Perplexity is already a channel. But they remain invisible to most companies. When we can measure the real impact, we open up space for much more efficient strategies aligned with current consumer behavior,” says the CEO.
The projection for the coming years is that conversational searches will become the main starting point of the digital journey, especially in segments such as e-commerce, education, financial services, and B2B. User trust in AI responses is growing rapidly, and with it, the need for metrics capable of tracking this new navigation logic is also growing.
Melissa emphasizes that the solution is not just technical, but cultural. “Marketing needs to understand that we are entering the era of assisted discovery. Consumers are no longer browsing. They are asking questions. And increasingly, AI assistants are the ones answering. If we don't keep up with this change, we will lose competitiveness,” she explains.
To support companies in this new scenario, TEC4U has been developing methodologies, dashboards, and specific analysis routines for AI-generated traffic. This includes proprietary clustering models, session behavior analysis, and cross-validation between different assistants. The agency states that accurately measuring this origin will be one of the biggest competitive differentiators in 2025 and 2026.
The rise of conversational AI as a gateway to consumer engagement is irreversible and growing every month. The challenge now is ensuring that data keeps pace with this change. “The question isn’t whether AI assistants impact traffic and sales. The question is when companies will start measuring that impact correctly,” concludes Melissa.
