‘84% South Africans might have incorporated AI into their holiday activities’, Research Reveals

Recent global research has shown a significant shift in AI usage during the holiday season.

Far from being just a reliable shopping or planning assistant, artificial intelligence has emerged as a multifaceted digital companion capable of delivering emotional support—a phenomenon particularly pronounced among the Gen Z and millennial groups.

Kaspersky experts caution that relying too heavily on AI could put data security at risk. It turns out that AI’s popularity in the 2025/2026 holiday is rather high, with 74% of survey participants globally and 84% in South Africa indicating they plan to incorporate AI into their holiday activities.

The younger generation demonstrates the strongest enthusiasm for AI usage, with 86% of respondents globally aged 18-34 expressing intentions to resort to artificial intelligence during the holiday period.

According to the survey, more than half of AI users surveyed in South Africa plan to utilize the tools during the holidays to search for recipes (60%) or restaurants and accommodation (63%), underscoring AI’s ongoing significance in simplifying research processes and reducing search-related time commitments.

Modern AI tools enable holiday shoppers to find offers that perfectly match individual preferences and budget constraints with just a few clicks. However, the reliability of chatbot-generated information remains a significant concern.

Beyond its capacity to tackle diverse challenges and generate new ideas, AI assumed a new role: serving as a virtual companion capable of offering emotional assistance. 24% of those surveyed in South Africa who use AI during holidays consider talking to it when they feel unhappy. Zoomers and millennials show the biggest interest in AI-powered support among all ages.

“As LLM models rapidly evolve, their potential for engaging in meaningful dialogue with users grows as well. However, it’s important to bear in mind that they learn to answer from data, most of which is sourced from the Internet, meaning they are prone to regurgitate the errors and biases from the text used for training. It’s highly recommended to approach AI suggestions with a healthy dose of skepticism and try to avoid oversharing,” comments Vladislav Tushkanov, Group Manager at Kaspersky AI Technology Research Center.

While communication with AI services may seem personal and private, it’s important to remember that most chatbots are owned by commercial companies with their own data collection and processing policies.

Here are several security tips that can help to enhance data privacy:

• Before starting any conversation, review the privacy policy of the AI tool you’re using. Check whether you can opt out of using your chats for such purposes as model training or marketing to minimize the amount of data collected.
• Try to avoid sharing deeply personal, identifying, or financial information with AI chatbots. Treat your messages as you would a public social post; never assume absolute confidentiality.
• Stick to AI services from reputable companies with strong privacy and security track records. Avoid using anonymous or unknown bots that could be designed to harvest data. Malicious or fake AI bots may attempt to extract personal information to commit fraud, phishing, or blackmail. To protect your data, use a security solution such as Kaspersky Premium that prevents clicking on unreliable links.