900M
Weekly active users on ChatGPT
More than double the 400M reported in Feb 2025.
ALM Corp, Feb 2026
resources · 2026 mid-year snapshot
The state of AI search.
Where the category stands in mid-2026, sourced from public research and primary studies. Every number on this page is attributed; the source list is at the bottom. Read it as a snapshot — this category moves quarterly.
the numbers worth knowing
45B
Monthly sessions across AI platforms worldwide
Top-10 AI chatbots grew +81% YoY in 2025 to 55.2B visits.
Various, 2026
35%
Of US consumers use AI for product discovery
vs. 13.6% who use traditional search.
Similarweb, Jan 2026
-25%
Forecast drop in traditional search volume by 2026
Gartner expects -50%+ by 2028 as generative AI scales.
Gartner
-61%
Organic CTR when an AI Overview appears
On informational queries.
Seer Interactive, Sep 2025
17–38%
Top-10 Google rank → AI Overview citation overlap
Collapsed from 75% in mid-2025. Rankings no longer guarantee AI visibility.
Mid-2025 → early 2026
01 · the engine landscape
ChatGPT still dominates, but the gap is closing.
AI chatbot traffic share, January 2026. ChatGPT’s share dropped from 86.7% to 64.5% in twelve months, while Gemini tripled and Perplexity nearly quadrupled. AI Overviews — not shown here, since it’s a Google SERP layer not a chatbot — serve more than 2B users monthly through Google Search.
engineshare · jan 2026monthly visitsYoY
- ChatGPT5.35B/mo-22.2pt64.5%
- Gemini1.1B/mo+15.8pt21.5%
- Perplexity170M/mo+5.1pt7.0%
- Claude157M/mo+0.9pt3.0%
source: similarweb (jan 2026 traffic) · visits: similarweb / fatjoe / various 2026
02 · the buyer journey is moving
AI is winning the early stages. Search is hanging on at the close.
Where US consumers go for each phase of the purchase journey (January 2026, Similarweb). Discovery and evaluation are already lost to AI by 2-3×. Final-purchase intent is at near parity, but the trendline is one-directional.
- Product discoveryAI vs SearchAI35%Search13.6%
- EvaluationAI vs SearchAI32.9%Search15%
- Final purchaseAI vs SearchAI24.3%Search22.1%
source: similarweb (january 2026, US, n via web/desktop+mobile)
03 · what this is doing to traditional SEO
Ranking #1 doesn’t mean what it used to.
Three signals tell the same story. Organic clicks are shrinking, AI Overviews are intercepting them at the SERP, and the brands ranking on Google aren’t the brands ChatGPT decides to cite.
-25%
Forecast drop in traditional search volume by 2026 as users move queries to AI chatbots and virtual agents.
Gartner, 2024 forecast
-61%
Organic CTR drop on informational queries when an AI Overview appears in the SERP.
Seer Interactive, Sep 2025
75% → 17-38%
Overlap between top-10 Google ranks and AI Overview citations. Collapsed in less than a year.
Mid-2025 → early 2026 industry research
what this means for your brand
Tracking AI visibility is no longer optional.
Two of three buyer-journey stages have already moved to AI. The third is about to. The CTR on the queries you used to win has dropped 61% when an AI Overview lands. And the brands ChatGPT cites today aren’t the brands ranking #1 on Google for the same query.
That means the playbook for being “findable” in 2026 isn’t the playbook from 2022. The signals AI engines weight — Reddit threads, YouTube transcripts, G2 reviews, niche Q&A archives — barely registered in traditional SEO. Now they’re the front door.
Step one is knowing where you stand on each engine. That’s what we built LLMRanks to do.
sources
- Similarweb · Generative AI Statistics 2026— Visit data, market share, buyer-journey adoption split.
- ALM Corp · ChatGPT Reaches 900M Weekly Active Users— ChatGPT weekly active user count, Feb 2026.
- Gartner · Search Engine Volume Will Drop 25% by 2026— Search-volume forecast and AI chatbot displacement.
- Seer Interactive · AI Overview CTR study (Sep 2025)— 61% organic CTR drop on informational queries with AI Overview present.
- Stackmatix · AI Search Market Share 2026— ChatGPT/Gemini/Perplexity share, March 2026 update.
- Coinomist · Google Gemini Overtakes Perplexity as No. 2— StatCounter referral split, March 2026.
All numbers on this page were sourced from publicly-available research between Q4 2025 and Q2 2026. AI search statistics shift quickly — re-verify any number you intend to act on. Last updated May 2026.