Measurement

How to Measure AI Referral Traffic in GA4 and Shopify

GA4 finally gave AI traffic its own row. On May 13, 2026, Google added a native "AI Assistant" channel that classifies visits from ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude with zero setup. That sounds like the measurement problem is solved. It isn't. The new channel counts the floor of your AI traffic, not the ceiling, and it leaves your biggest AI source hiding in plain sight. TL;DR: GA4's native "AI Assistant" channel (live May 13, 2026) auto-classifies ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude referrals, but 2