Analytics & Insights

GA4 "AI Assistant" channel group (added 13 May 2026)

Google Analytics 4 added a new default channel group called "AI Assistant" on 13 May 2026 (GA4 channel groups doc). When a referrer matches a recognized AI Assistant (ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, etc.), GA4 automatically:

• Categorizes the session under the AI Assistant channel group
• Sets the Medium dimension to ai-assistant

This is the attribution-side counterpart to the new GSC AI Performance Report (rolled out 3 June 2026 — see /digital-marketing-pro:gsc-ai-performance). Because the GSC AI report intentionally excludes click data, the GA4 AI Assistant channel is currently the cleanest path to attribute actual traffic coming from generative AI surfaces.

Recommended GA4 setup checks when onboarding a brand: