Reference · Updated September 2026
How many people now search and shop through AI, and what it is doing to the click. Every figure below is traced to the organization that produced it — Pew Research Center, Google, OpenAI, Microsoft and Adobe — with the date it was reported. Numbers we could not confirm at a primary source are named and left out, not guessed.
AI search is mainstream. The reach of the major surfaces, from each company’s own announcements:
| Surface | Reach | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Google AI Overviews | 1.5 billion monthly users, 200 countries | Google, I/O May 2025 |
| Google AI Mode | 1 billion+ monthly users | Google, I/O May 2026 |
| ChatGPT | 700 million weekly users (18B messages/week); 800M+ later in 2025 | OpenAI, July 2025 |
| U.S. adults using any AI chatbot | 49% (24% daily) | Pew Research Center, Feb 2026 |
For context, ChatGPT’s 700 million weekly users represent roughly 10% of the world’s adults (OpenAI, July 2025), and a majority of its active users now use a language other than English.
This is the number that matters for publishers. In a Pew Research Center study of 68,879 real Google searches by 900 U.S. adults (March 2025):
Google does not publish its own click-through figure and disputes claims of a decline, so this Pew study is the most methodologically transparent source available. Being un-cited by AI is the new being on page two — see the AEO guide for how to become a cited source.
As of February 2026, 44% of U.S. adults say they use ChatGPT — up from 18% when Pew first measured it in 2023. Use skews young, and teens are ahead of adults: 64% of U.S. teens say they have used an AI chatbot, and about three in ten use one daily (Pew Research Center, late 2025).
| Age group | Have used ChatGPT |
|---|---|
| Under 30 | 58% |
| 30–49 | 41% |
| 50–64 | 25% |
| 65 and older | 10% |
Source: Pew Research Center, 5,123 U.S. adults, February–March 2025 (34% overall at that time; 44% by February 2026).
ChatGPT leads by a wide margin among U.S. chatbot users, but it is no longer the only one people reach for.
| Assistant | Share of chatbot users |
|---|---|
| ChatGPT | Leads (most-used) |
| Google Gemini | 24% |
| Microsoft Copilot | 17% |
| Meta AI | 14% |
Source: Pew Research Center, survey of 5,119 U.S. adults, February 2026.
Adobe Analytics, tracking more than a trillion visits to U.S. retail sites, found generative-AI referral traffic up 4,700% year over year by July 2025. These visitors used to convert far less than search or social traffic — that gap is closing fast.
Adoption inside companies is moving just as fast. OpenAI reported more than 1 million paying business customers and over 7 million ChatGPT for Work seats (Enterprise seats up 9x year over year) in late 2025, and Microsoft reported more than 30 million paid Microsoft 365 Copilot seats (July 2026).
Not yet. Pew found that most Americans (75%) say they never get news from AI chatbots, only about one in ten do so often or sometimes, and fewer than 1% say they prefer to. Of those who do, about half say they at least sometimes see news there they think is inaccurate (Pew Research Center, August 2025).
Every figure on this page was taken from the primary source that produced it:
Cite as: “AnswerScope, AI Search Statistics (September 2026), compiled from Pew Research Center, Google, OpenAI, Microsoft and Adobe, answerscope.co.”
Google’s AI Overviews reached 1.5 billion monthly users across 200 countries by May 2025 (Google), and its newer AI Mode passed 1 billion monthly users a year later. ChatGPT reported 700 million weekly users as of July 2025 (OpenAI). In the U.S., 49% of adults now use AI chatbots and 24% use one daily (Pew Research Center, February 2026).
In a Pew Research Center study of real browsing (March 2025), Google users clicked a result on just 8% of visits where an AI summary appeared, versus 15% of visits without one. Only 1% clicked a link inside the AI summary itself. Google does not publish its own click-through figure, so this Pew study is the most methodologically transparent source.
44% of U.S. adults said they use ChatGPT as of February 2026, up from 18% when Pew first measured it in 2023. Use skews young: 58% of adults under 30 have used it, versus 10% of those 65 and older.
Yes. Adobe Analytics found generative-AI referral traffic to U.S. retail sites up 4,700% year over year by July 2025, and the conversion gap between AI-referred and other traffic narrowed from -49% in January 2025 to -23% by July 2025.
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