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People increasingly get information from AI in two different ways: they open a chatbot and ask a question, or they search Google and see an AI-generated answer on the results page. Both behaviors are growing, but available studies do not show that most people now ask a standalone chatbot before they use Google—or that they have stopped using Google.
How many people use AI to find information?
Recent U.S. surveys show that AI is already part of many people’s information habits, but each figure describes a different behavior. In a survey of 5,119 U.S. adults conducted February 17–23, 2026, Pew Research Center found that 49% had ever used an AI chatbot such as ChatGPT, Gemini, or Copilot, and 42% said they used chatbots to search for information. Separately, 60% said they had read AI summaries at the top of search results. These are self-reported answers to distinct questions, not evidence that respondents used a chatbot before Google in a particular search session. Pew Research Center, 2026
An earlier AP-NORC survey found that 60% of U.S. adults—and 74% of adults under 30—used AI to find information at least some of the time. That measure also indicates adoption, not which service people choose first. AP-NORC via Associated Press, 2025
What the Google click data show
A Pew Research Center analysis offers a view of behavior after Google displays results. Researchers analyzed browsing by 900 U.S. adults, covering 68,879 unique Google searches in March 2025. Traditional result links were clicked in 8% of visits to pages with an AI summary, compared with 15% of visits to pages without one. Links inside the AI summary itself were clicked in 1% of visits to pages that showed a summary. Pew Research Center, 2025
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This is a difference in observed next-page behavior, not proof that the summary caused the lower click rate. The analysis does not establish why someone did not click: they may have found enough information, continued searching, or ended their browsing. It also does not capture every web user or show whether a person began their search in a chatbot instead.
Why AI can feel like the first stop
AI answers are appearing inside search products people already use, so encountering one does not require opening a separate chatbot. In a six-country Reuters Institute survey in 2025, 54% of respondents said they had seen an AI-generated answer to a search query in the previous week. Reported exposure ranged from 70% in Argentina and 64% in the UK to 61% in the U.S. and 29% in France. The Institute linked the lower French figure in part to Google’s AI Overview rollout status during fieldwork. Availability and timing affect who is exposed. Reuters Institute, 2025
In that report, weekly exposure to AI-generated search answers (54%) exceeded reported weekly use of the standalone AI tools included in the survey (34%). Some respondents may not distinguish a generated summary from an ordinary search result, which makes exposure and deliberate chatbot use difficult to compare directly.
Google has described its own AI features as encouraging more involved queries: “With AI Overviews and more recently AI Mode, people are able to ask questions they could never ask before.” That is the company’s explanation of its product, not independent evidence that users search more or that AI answers improve results. Google, August 6, 2025
What the shift means for publishers
Fewer clicks from a results page with an AI summary matter to publishers that depend on search referrals. Separately, Reuters Institute’s 2026 trends report cites Chartbeat data from more than 2,500 sites showing Google organic-search traffic declined 33% globally and 38% in the U.S. between November 2024 and November 2025. The report says it is unclear how much of that decline is due to AI Overviews; the figures do not establish a specific AI-caused loss. Reuters Institute, 2026
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.When to use a chatbot or a search results page
Neither route is best for every question, and the studies above do not provide a task-matched test of which gives more accurate answers. Choose based on what you need from the interaction:
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- For a synthesized starting point: A chatbot can provide a conversational summary. For consequential claims, check the cited sources rather than relying on the summary alone.
- For source comparison or a specific destination: Search results make it easier to inspect multiple pages or go directly to a site. An AI summary may also appear within those results.
- For current or sensitive information: Look for identifiable, relevant sources and verify key details. A confident-sounding answer is not, by itself, verification.
The useful question is not simply whether AI has replaced Google. Chatbots, AI-enhanced search pages, and conventional links are overlapping routes to information; current surveys and browsing data do not establish a universal order in which people use them.
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