you use ai and don't know it

you use ai and don't know it

From Peter Saddington - AGILE, STARTUPS, SELF-IMPROVEMENT! by PETER SADDINGTON

May 20, 2026 · 3 min

About this episode

The episode discusses the rising adoption of AI technologies and the decreasing consumer awareness of their use, drawing parallels to mobile banking.

PYMNTS Intelligence's April Agentic AI Report found that AI adoption is rising while consumer awareness of using AI is falling. People summarize emails, draft messages, compare products, organize their schedules — and increasingly don't register that AI is the thing doing it. The average active user is now on 2.69 platforms. Power users on almost four. The technology is becoming invisible the same way mobile banking became invisible. Invisibility is the new adoption metric. A user who thinks "I'm using my phone" applies zero skepticism. A user who thinks "I'm using AI" applies a lot. ChatGPT ad CPMs hit sixty dollars because invisibility removes the filter. The companies that make AI most invisible will print the most money. That's not a side effect of the design. That's the design. 2.69 platforms per active user. That's not adoption of a tool. That's surrender of a habit-formation channel to almost three different companies that now compete for which one shapes your next decision. Mobile banking moves your money. AI moves your reasoning. Same scaffold, different load. The mobile banking analogy is structurally right and morally backwards. Mobile banking made an existing behavior…

People in this episode

Host: PETER SADDINGTON

Topics covered

  • AI adoption
  • consumer awareness
  • technology invisibility
  • mobile banking analogy
  • cognitive delegation

Keywords

  • AI
  • adoption
  • consumer awareness
  • technology
  • mobile banking
  • cognition
  • behavior
  • decision making

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: PYMNTS Intelligence

Products: ChatGPT

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