GEO statistics

How many people use an AI chatbot?

49% of U.S. adults say they ever use an AI chatbot such as ChatGPT, Gemini, or Copilot, up from 33% in 2024. About 24% say they use one daily. The 2026 survey asked 5,119 U.S. adults from 17 to 23 February 2026. In 2024 the same question went only to people who had heard at least a little about chatbots. Pew Research Center, 17 June 2026.

44% of U.S. adults say they ever use ChatGPT. Pew’s earlier readings of that question were 18% in 2023, 23% in 2024, and 34% in 2025. From 2023 to 2025 the question was “Have you ever used ChatGPT?” and it was asked of people who had heard at least a little about it. In 2026 the question also asked about other chatbots. Pew Research Center chart, 11 June 2026.

Use is much higher among younger adults. In the same February 2026 survey, 66% of adults ages 18 to 29 say they ever use an AI chatbot, as do 61% of those 30 to 49, 42% of those 50 to 64, and 23% of those 65 and older. Pew Research Center, 9 October 2026.

About four in ten U.S. adults say they use chatbots to search for information. Pew Research Center, 17 June 2026.

64% of U.S. teens ages 13 to 17 say they ever use an AI chatbot. ChatGPT is the one a majority of teens name: 59% say they use it. That survey is from fall 2025, separate from the adult survey above. Pew Research Center, 9 December 2025.

How many people ask an AI for a recommendation?

45% of U.S. consumers used an AI tool for a local business recommendation in the past year, up from 6% the year before. BrightLocal’s Local Consumer Review Survey 2026 asked a panel of 1,002 U.S. adults. BrightLocal, 10 March 2026.

31% used ChatGPT for a business recommendation in the last 12 months. Google’s AI Mode was next, at 23%. BrightLocal, 10 March 2026.

Adults ages 30 to 44 were the most likely to ask: 64% had asked an AI tool for a business recommendation in the past year. Among people over 60, that share was 24%. BrightLocal, 10 March 2026.

Asking is not the same as trusting the answer and stopping. Among the 455 respondents who had used an AI tool for a local recommendation, 88% checked a cited review or looked at the source. 12% did not check. BrightLocal, 10 March 2026.

What happens when a Google result includes an AI summary?

60% of U.S. adults say they read the AI summaries at the top of a search result. 30% say they do not. 10% are not sure. Same February 2026 survey of 5,119 adults. Pew Research Center chart, 17 June 2026.

A separate Pew study followed the browsing of 900 U.S. adults in March 2025, covering 68,879 Google searches. On visits where an AI summary appeared, people clicked a traditional result in 8% of visits. On visits with no AI summary, they clicked a result in 15% of visits. A click on a link inside the summary itself happened in 1% of visits that had one. Pew Research Center, 22 July 2025.

In that same March 2025 set, 18% of the Google searches produced an AI summary. The share was 60% for queries that began with a question word such as who, what, when, or why, and 8% for searches of one or two words. People ended the browsing session on 26% of pages with an AI summary, compared with 16% of pages that had only the usual results. Pew Research Center, 22 July 2025.

What Google has published about the size of these features

Google wrote, on 3 June 2026, that AI Overviews had over 2.5 billion monthly active users, and that AI Mode had surpassed one billion monthly users. The post was updated 31 August 2026, when Google said the new Search Console controls and insights had rolled out worldwide. Google, 3 June 2026.

That is a company figure about people who use the products. It is not a Pew survey, it is not a count of businesses named inside an answer, and it is not a click-through rate. On its AI features documentation, Google also says clicks from results pages that include AI Overviews are higher quality, meaning people are more likely to spend more time on the site. Google does not print a percentage there. Google Search Central, updated 10 December 2025.

What these numbers do not say

1% of U.S. adults say they go first to an AI chatbot for more information about a breaking news event. A search engine is still where 28% start, and 36% start with a news organization they already use. Adoption of chatbots is not the same thing as abandoning every other source. Pew Research Center, 24 March 2026.

None of these studies, including Google’s user count, measured whether a particular business was named, or whether a page on this site was quoted. A rise in chatbot use is a reason to publish a clear answer. It is not a ranking. DiscoSEO does not guarantee rankings or citations. The definition of the work is on What Is GEO (Generative Engine Optimization)?, and the price of the roadmap is on Pricing. For one query handled as a page, see How to show up in ChatGPT. How Google describes the features behind the 2.5 billion figure is on Google AI Overviews and AI Mode.

The figures will move. Pew changed the wording of the ChatGPT question. BrightLocal’s 45% is U.S. adults in that panel, not every person on the internet. When a newer survey from the same publisher replaces a number, this page should cite the newer one and keep the link.