Last updated October 2026. Every number below links to its source. If a figure is a projection or a single study, we say so.
We get asked the same question every week by HVAC owners, dentists and attorneys: “Do people actually use ChatGPT to find a business like mine?” The short answer is yes, and the share grew fast in the last 12 months. Here is the data we use when we explain it.
The short version
- ChatGPT reaches more than 1.2 billion people a week (OpenAI, Oct 2026).
- 45% of U.S. consumers used an AI tool to get a local business recommendation in the past year, up from 6% the year before (BrightLocal, 2026).
- When Google shows an AI summary, people click a regular result 8% of the time versus 15% without one (Pew Research Center).
- An AI Overview now correlates with a 58% lower click-through rate for the #1 result (Ahrefs, Dec 2025 data).
How many people use AI search
ChatGPT
OpenAI said ChatGPT had 800 million weekly users in October 2025 and 900 million in February 2026 (TechCrunch). By October 2026 it was “more than 1.2 billion people” a week (OpenAI).
Google AI Overviews and AI Mode
Google reported AI Overviews passed 2 billion monthly users in Q2 2025 (Alphabet Q2 2025 earnings call). AI Mode, Google’s chat-style search, passed 1 billion monthly active users about a year after launch (Google). Google also says the average AI Mode query is three times as long as a traditional search.
That last point matters for local businesses. Nobody types “plumber” into AI Mode. They type “who can fix a slab leak in Mesa this week and do they take Home Warranty of America.”
How often AI Overviews appear
Semrush tracked AI Overviews on 6.49% of U.S. desktop queries in January 2025 and 13.14% by March 2025 (Search Engine Land on the Semrush study). Pew’s panel saw AI summaries on about 18% of real searches in March 2025 (Pew Research Center). Longer, question-style queries were the most likely to trigger one.
What AI answers do to clicks
- With an AI summary on the page, users clicked a traditional result in 8% of visits. Without one, 15% (Pew Research Center, 68,879 searches).
- Users clicked a link inside the AI summary in just 1% of visits (Pew Research Center).
- Sessions ended on the results page 26% of the time with an AI summary versus 16% without (Pew Research Center).
- Ahrefs measured a 34.5% CTR drop for the top result in April 2025. Re-run on December 2025 data, the drop was 58% (Ahrefs).
What it means: ranking #1 for an informational question (“how often should I service my AC”) earns about half the clicks it did two years ago. Being the source the AI answer pulls from is the new goal. That is what generative engine optimization (GEO) is for.
AI and local business discovery
This is the section that matters most if you run a service business. All figures are from BrightLocal‘s 2026 Local Consumer Review Survey (1,002 U.S. adults).
- 45% used ChatGPT or another AI tool for local business recommendations in the past year, up from 6%.
- ChatGPT was the most used (31%), followed by Google AI Mode (23%).
- Adults 30 to 44 lead: 64% have asked AI for a local recommendation. Over-60s: 24%.
- Use of Google reviews slipped from 83% to 71%.
- 88% of AI users fact-check what the AI tells them, usually by checking the review source.
What it means: a dental practice with 400 Google reviews and nothing anywhere else can still be invisible to ChatGPT, which does not read Google’s reviews directly. Reviews on Yelp, Healthgrades, Avvo or Angi, plus clear service pages on your own site, are what AI tools can see. And because 88% double-check, those reviews still have to hold up.
AI referral traffic
Similarweb counted 1.13 billion referral visits from AI platforms to the top 1,000 websites in June 2025, up 357% year over year. ChatGPT sent more than 80% of them (TechCrunch on Similarweb data).
That is still small next to Google. For most of our local clients, Google search and the map pack still send most calls. AI referrals are the fastest growing slice, not the biggest one.
Predictions worth knowing (and doubting)
Gartner predicted in February 2024 that traditional search engine volume would drop 25% by 2026 (Gartner). It gets quoted everywhere. It was a forecast, not a measurement, and Google says its total query volume is at an all-time high (Alphabet Q1 2026). The more accurate read: searching is not shrinking, but more of it ends inside an AI answer.
What the research says gets you cited
In the original GEO paper (Princeton and IIT Delhi researchers, KDD 2024), adding citations, quotations and statistics to a page raised its visibility in AI answers by up to 40% on their benchmark, and up to 37% on Perplexity. “Up to” is the key phrase: results varied a lot by topic.
In practice, for a local business that looks like:
- A service page that states real prices or ranges. For example, a hypothetical Tempe plumber might write “drain cleaning starts at $189.”
- Specific facts AI can quote: license numbers, years in business, service area cities, response times.
- Consistent name, address and phone across every directory.
- Reviews on more than one platform.
What to do with this
- Ask ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity the questions your customers ask. Write down who gets named.
- Fix your foundations first: Google Business Profile, citations, reviews. That is local SEO, and AI tools lean on the same signals.
- Add quotable facts to your service pages.
- Track it. We log AI mentions monthly next to phone calls, because calls are what pay the bills.
FAQ
How many people use ChatGPT in 2026?
OpenAI said in October 2026 that more than 1.2 billion people use ChatGPT each week, up from 900 million in February 2026.
Do customers use AI to find local businesses?
Yes. BrightLocal’s 2026 survey found 45% of U.S. consumers used an AI tool for a local business recommendation in the past year, up from 6% the year before.
Do AI Overviews reduce website clicks?
Studies say yes. Pew found people click a regular result 8% of the time when an AI summary appears versus 15% without one, and Ahrefs measured a 58% lower click-through rate for the top result.
How often is this page updated?
We review these statistics every quarter and replace any figure that has a newer source.
Related reading
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