AI search is no longer a rounding error next to Google. It's a channel that processes billions of queries per day and directly influences buying decisions. Here's what the latest data shows.
The scale is undeniable
ChatGPT now has 800–900 million weekly active users, processing 2.5 billion prompts per day. It's the 4th most visited website globally, behind only Google, YouTube, and Facebook. Sam Altman stated at TED that roughly 10% of the world now uses ChatGPT.
Google Gemini has reached 400 million monthly active users with a 237% year-over-year surge in market share — from 5.4% to 18.2% — largely because it's embedded directly into Android, Chrome, and Google Search.
Perplexity AI has 45 million monthly active users processing 780 million search queries per month, with an 800% year-over-year growth rate. The platform skews professional: 80% of its audience holds a degree, 30% are senior leaders, and 65% are high-income professionals.
People are using AI to buy things
58% of consumers have already replaced traditional search engines with AI tools for product and service discovery, according to Capgemini's 2025 research. Not 'plan to' — have replaced.
49% of all ChatGPT usage is asking questions. OpenAI's study of 1.5 million conversations found that nearly half of all usage is information-seeking — the exact behavior that used to happen exclusively on Google.
64% of customers say they're ready to purchase products recommended by AI. AI recommendations aren't just informational — they directly influence buying decisions.
AI referral traffic is real
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Similarweb's January 2026 data shows over 1.1 billion monthly referral visits from AI platforms to websites, with Gemini referrals growing 388% year-over-year.
Semrush found ChatGPT sent 4 billion visits to websites in the second half of 2025 alone — accounting for 82% of all traffic from AI platforms.
63% of websites now receive traffic from AI-based search engines, according to Ahrefs. AI search visitors are predicted to surpass traditional search visitors by 2028.
The zero-click reality
Standard Google Search has a 34% zero-click rate. With AI Overviews, that jumps to 43%. In Google AI Mode, 93% of queries end without a click to any external website.
This means the brand mention inside the AI response IS the touchpoint. Getting cited in the answer is the new 'ranking on page one.'
What this means for your brand
The brands that treat AI visibility as a dedicated channel — with measurement, monitoring, and strategy — will be the ones customers find. The brands that wait will find themselves invisible to a growing share of their market.
At Honeyb, we track exactly how AI models talk about your brand across every major platform — ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity, and more — daily, automatically. Because if you can't measure it, you can't improve it.