AI shopping helpers reach checkout more often than people do

When an AI assistant browses a website for someone, the checkout step shows up far more often than when a person browses alone. Microsoft's Clarity analytics tool recorded checkout in 25.21% of AI agent visits, against 14.65% of human visits. The catch is that Microsoft cannot say who pressed what, and the numbers do not prove that AI agents are buying things.

What the study found

Microsoft looked at more than 5.2 million visits it classed as AI-driven, across 230,511 sites, from August 13 to September 9, 2026. The visits came from tools tied to OpenAI, Google and Anthropic. Microsoft says AI-driven visits grew 88% in three weeks, but does not say which weeks, or what the starting level was.

The two kinds of visits look alike in many ways. Eight of the top ten actions appear on both lists. The difference is how often each happens.

• Checkout: 25.21% of AI visits, 14.65% of human visits
• Search: 7.16% versus 4.79%
• Form submissions: 19.85% versus 18.56%
• Outbound clicks: 14.28% of AI visits, but 26.99% of human visits
• Booking an appointment: 8.42% of AI visits, and it did not make the human top ten

What the numbers do not show

A visit counted as AI-driven can include a person taking over. Many AI agents pause and hand control back when a login, payment card or confirmation appears. Microsoft says its findings describe activity during visits involving agents, not actions an agent finished alone.

Checkout is also not defined. The study does not say whether it means a click on a checkout button, a visit to a checkout page or a finished purchase. Among humans, checkout appears in 14.65% of visits but order success in only 1.79%, so they are clearly different things.

The sample may also be smaller than it looks. PPC Land notes that the published percentages imply a base of about 1.2 million visits, not the 5.2 million in the headline. The study does not describe how it detected AI visits.

Who it affects

Anyone who sells online or reports sales figures. AI-driven visits land in the same analytics as everyone else, so a checkout count may no longer mean what it used to. Businesses built on bookings, such as travel, hospitality, healthcare and local services, may notice more appointment and availability activity from AI visits.

What to do

Treat checkout starts as a sign of interest, not as sales. Compare them with completed orders. Microsoft also announced a free Agent Activity Dashboard inside Clarity, which is meant to show how AI visitors behave on a site.