According to a new report from TrustRadius, 86 percent of Gen Z professionals now use AI at work every day. It reveals a sharp rise in AI adoption, a shift in the way B2B professionals conduct product research, and new content demands from marketers looking to remain visible in a generative AI-first environment.
AI tools are no longer emerging technology; they are everyday utilities. Of all respondents who use AI at work, 69% say they use it daily and 95% say they use it at least weekly. “From buzzword to backbone: how AI is powering and redefining B2B search and buying,” is based on a survey of the TrustRadius buyer community. Gen Z adoption is leading across all demographics, with engineers and product managers using the widest range of tools. Financial professionals, hampered by compliance, are being left behind.
Dig deeper: AI search is disrupting the B2B buyer journey
On average, respondents regularly use three different AI tools. C-suite executives use even more, an average of 3.9 tools per person, highlighting their hands-on role in evaluating and deploying AI investments.
Embedded AI is now a software baseline
While 79% of respondents use ChatGPT, embedded AI features in other software tools are just as common, used by 75% of respondents. Only 9% of them ignore AI functionality in their tools.
Writing assistance, summaries and AI-powered search are the most used features. A significant 78% of companies pay for at least one AI tool. That number rises to 90% among corporate employees, with Microsoft Copilot experiencing broad adoption across the company, likely due to Windows’ significant share of the PC market.
The top business drivers for AI adoption are improving efficiency (86%), supporting innovation (57%) and reducing costs (47%).
TrustRadius found that 46% of AI users rely on it as a primary research method, often replacing traditional search engines. Forty-five percent have used AI to support a software purchasing decision, including 51% of business buyers.
This shift is especially evident among C-suite executives (65%) and Gen Z professionals (51%), underscoring how early researchers and decision makers alike are turning to AI tools for discovery and evaluation. Of those using AI in purchasing processes, 94% found it useful or very useful.
Visibility in AI-generated content is now critical
With AI guiding many early purchasing interactions, visibility in generative search results is quickly becoming the new SEO. TrustRadius describes this shift as a step toward Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) – strategies to ensure a brand appears in AI-generated output.
Top AI use cases along the buying journey include early-stage discovery (80%), product comparisons (54%), and deeper evaluations (47%).
TrustRadius offers five key recommendations:
- Prioritize content that is sufficiently structured and detailed to be cited by major language models.
- Invest in user-generated content, which serves as a layer of trust for AI-savvy buyers.
- Maintain both traditional SEO and emerging GEO strategies.
- Make sure your content appears on different platforms to influence how AI tools summarize your brand.
- Encourage a fair value exchange between content creators and AI systems, especially as content visibility increasingly relies on third-party AI models.
Why it matters
The widespread use of AI – especially among Gen Z and executive decision makers – signals a lasting shift in the way B2B buyers search, research and choose products. To stay competitive, marketers must align their content and discovery strategies with the new AI-powered buyer journey.
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