These are the AI search statistics worth quoting in 2026: how many people use AI search, how often Google shows AI Overviews, what happens to clicks, and how much traffic AI sends to websites. There are 32 of them, each linked to its source, dated, and labelled by the kind of source it is, because a company describing itself and a vendor measuring its own keyword set are not the same kind of evidence.
All AI search statistics
Filter by topic or by kind of source, or search: the ChatGPT statistics, for example, are under Usage and How people use AI. 11 of the figures are companies’ own statements about themselves; the rest are independent research, vendor studies of their own datasets, and one prediction that has aged badly.
The trends in charts
| Period | AI Overviews monthly users (billions) |
|---|---|
| May 2025 | 1.5 |
| Jul 2025 | 2 |
| May 2026 | 2.5 |
| Clicked a result, no AI summary | 15% |
|---|---|
| Clicked a result, with AI summary | 8% |
| Clicked a link inside the summary | 1% |
| ChatGPT | 2700 |
|---|---|
| Perplexity | 230 |
| Gemini | 230 |
| Claude | 102 |
Questions people ask
How many people use AI search?
Google says its AI Overviews have over 2.5 billion monthly users and AI Mode over 1 billion, and the Gemini app passed 1 billion monthly users in August 2026. OpenAI reported 900 million weekly ChatGPT users in February 2026. Weekly and monthly figures are not directly comparable.
How often do AI Overviews appear?
It depends on the study. Pew found an AI summary on about 18% of searches in March 2025. Semrush measured between 6.49% and 24.61% during 2025, Ahrefs 20.5% of US desktop results, and BrightEdge about 48% of its tracked queries in early 2026.
Do AI Overviews reduce clicks?
Independent and vendor studies say yes. Pew found people clicked a traditional result in 8% of visits with an AI summary against 15% without. Ahrefs and Seer Interactive measured large drops in click-through rate on queries with AI Overviews. Google says overall organic clicks have been relatively stable, without publishing data.
How much traffic does ChatGPT send to websites?
Still little compared with Google. Across 74,752 sites in March 2026, Ahrefs found AI chatbots sent 3.5 million visits, 0.28% of traffic, with 2.7 million from ChatGPT, while Google sent 345 million.
Can I use these statistics?
Yes. Each one links to its original source; cite that source. The Copy citation button copies the figure with its source and date.