Artificial intelligence can produce a shopping recommendation in seconds. New research suggests consumers should take longer before treating that answer as their choice.

A September research paper examined product advice generated by ChatGPT, Google's Gemini and Google Search's AI Overviews. The researchers found differences in how the systems presented recommendations, which sources they displayed and whether questions produced consistent answers.

For Logan County households preparing for holiday purchases, the findings offer a reminder that a recommendation needs checking. For local businesses, they highlight the importance of keeping information available wherever customers look.

The researchers assembled real consumer questions and analyzed more than 1,500 responses across consumer interfaces and developer tools. In the responses studied, ChatGPT expressed a first-person preference more frequently than Gemini or AI Overviews. The products recommended could change when a question was repeated.

That does not establish that any particular recommendation was wrong. It does show why conversational confidence should not be confused with a comparison of every available product….READ MORE….