Data reported by companies
Active users reported by whoever runs the service, by its own definition.
AI search statistics
The numbers of AI search, with their source.
In 2026 ChatGPT reports more than a billion weekly users and Google’s AI Mode more than a billion monthly users; in the European Union about one person in three used generative AI in 2025. Here are the statistics from primary sources.
How to read them
Three kinds of number, three different readings.
The statistics gathered here come only from the source that produced them. They cannot be compared with one another without looking at who measured them, on whom and when.
Sample surveys
Interviews or browsing data from a group of people, in one country and one period.
Official statistics
Harmonised public surveys, such as Eurostat’s for the European Union.
How many use them
Users of assistants and of AI search.
The most quoted numbers are the ones companies report about their own services. They measure active users in a week or a month, with definitions each company chooses.
Four figures on the use of assistants and AI search reported by the companies or by a published study, each with what it measures, the source and the date.
| Figure | What it measures | Source and date |
|---|---|---|
| More than 1 billion weekly ChatGPT users | Active users in a week, reported by the company. | OpenAI, 31 August 2026 |
| 950 million monthly users of the Gemini app | Active users in a month, reported in the quarterly results. | Alphabet, 22 July 2026 |
| More than 1 billion monthly users of AI Mode | Users of Google Search’s AI mode in a month. | Alphabet, 22 July 2026 |
| About 10% of adults worldwide used ChatGPT | Estimate from a study of use up to July 2025. | NBER, working paper 34255, September 2025 |
Who uses them
In the United States and in Europe, from the surveys.
Representative sample surveys show how many people use assistants in a country. Eurostat’s figures are the only ones harmonised across the countries of the European Union.
Five shares of people using assistants or generative AI tools, from Pew Research Center surveys and Eurostat statistics, with scope and date.
| Figure | Scope | Source and date |
|---|---|---|
| 44% have used ChatGPT | Adults in the United States, survey of February 2026 of 5,119 people. | Pew Research Center, 17 June 2026 |
| 24% Gemini, 17% Copilot | Same survey, adults in the United States. | Pew Research Center, 17 June 2026 |
| 32.7% have used generative AI tools | People aged 16 to 74 in the European Union, in 2025. | Eurostat, 16 December 2025 |
| 19.9% in Italy | Same scope: one of the lowest values in the Union. | Eurostat, 16 December 2025 |
| 64% among the youngest | People aged 16 to 24 in the European Union, in 2025. | Eurostat, 10 February 2026 |
Clicks
What happens to clicks with an AI summary.
The Pew Research Center observed the real browsing of 900 US adults in March 2025, on Google. With an AI summary on the page, clicks on traditional results almost halve.
The study was published on 22 July 2025 and covers Google only. A Gartner survey published on 20 January 2026, of 377 US consumers, finds that only about a third consider chatbots as effective as search engines for learning something new.
Two measures of browsing behaviour on Google in March 2025 from the Pew Research Center study, compared between pages with an AI summary and pages without.
| With the AI summary | Without an AI summary | |
|---|---|---|
| Click on a traditional result | In 8% of visits to the page. | In 15% of visits to the page. |
| Session ended after the page | Browsing ends in 26% of cases. | Browsing ends in 16% of cases. |
| Click on a link inside the summary | It happens in 1% of visits to the page. | Not measured: the summary does not appear. |
The news
Getting the news from assistants, country by country.
The Reuters Institute’s Digital News Report measures every year how people get their news. The 2026 edition, published on 16 June, reports slow growth that is uneven across countries.
Four findings of the Reuters Institute’s Digital News Report 2026 on the weekly use of AI chatbots to get the news, compared with the previous year.
Reuters Institute · Digital News Report 2026
- Weekly use for news
- 10% of the overall sample, up from 7% in 2025.
- Under 35
- 16% use AI chatbots to get the news.
- Countries without growth
- United States, United Kingdom, France and Germany.
- Trust in the answers
- 20%, against 37% trust in the news.
Using them well
Before quoting an AI search statistic.
A figure taken without source, date and scope ends up saying more than it measures. Five checks avoid the most common mistakes.
The five checks a team runs on an AI search statistic before using it in a presentation, a plan or an article.
Go back to the source
The page of whoever measured it, not an article that repeats it.
Read the date
When it was collected and when it was published.
Read the scope
Country, age, service and definition of user.
Do not add up
Users of different services overlap.
Look at your own case
Your customers’ questions, in your market.
Frequently asked questions
Frequently asked questions about AI search statistics.
How many users ChatGPT has, how many people use generative AI in Europe and Italy, what happens to clicks and where these numbers come from.
How many users does ChatGPT have?
OpenAI reports more than a billion weekly active users, in a post of 31 August 2026. It is the company’s own figure, with its own definition of active user.
How many people use generative AI in Europe and Italy?
According to Eurostat, in 2025 32.7% of people aged 16 to 74 in the European Union used generative AI tools; in Italy, 19.9%.
Do AI summaries reduce clicks to websites?
In the Pew Research Center study on Google, in March 2025, clicks on traditional results fall from 15% to 8% of visits when an AI summary appears.
Where do these numbers come from?
Only from primary sources: companies that run the services, research institutes and official statistics. Every figure carries its source and the date of publication.
Related paths
After “AI search statistics”, the next step.
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