AI search adoption: how many people use AI to find businesses

AI search usage statistics show that use of AI assistants is growing quickly, but most people still find local businesses through Google, and AI is usually one step among several. That is the picture from the most reliable public data: Pew Research Center's nationally representative surveys of chatbot use and BrightLocal's 2026 study of how consumers search for local businesses.

Claims that AI has already replaced Google for local discovery are not supported by these sources. Claims that AI does not matter are not supported either. This report compiles the measured numbers, shows where surveys disagree and explains why, so your team can plan for both channels.

About a third to just under half of U.S. adults, depending on the year and the question. Pew Research Center's survey of 5,123 adults, fielded February 24 to March 2, 2025, found 34% had ever used ChatGPT, roughly double the share in 2023. Use was highest among adults under 30, at 58%, and lowest among those 65 and older, at 10%.

Pew's 2026 survey, fielded in February 2026, found 44% had used ChatGPT. Pew notes the 2026 question also asked about other chatbots and was asked of all adults, so it is not directly comparable to earlier years. Even so, the trend is consistent: 18% in 2023, 23% in 2024, 34% in 2025.

Mostly work, learning and entertainment, according to Pew's 2025 survey. 28% of employed adults had used ChatGPT for work, 26% of all adults for learning something new and 22% for entertainment. Pew's published figures do not break out finding a local business as a separate use, which is why the BrightLocal data below matters for service businesses.

Each of these uses has grown fast. Pew reported that work use rose 20 percentage points between March 2023 and early 2025, and learning use rose from 8% to 26% over the same period. Awareness is also high: 79% of adults had heard at least a little about ChatGPT in 2025, up from 58% in March 2023. That growing familiarity is the base on which local recommendations through AI are being built.

Younger and more educated adults use AI chatbots the most, which matters if those are your customers. In Pew's 2025 survey, 52% of adults with a postgraduate degree and 51% with a bachelor's degree had used ChatGPT, compared with 33% of those with some college and 18% of those with a high school education or less. Among adults under 30, 46% had used it to learn something new.

Work use follows the same pattern. Pew found 38% of employed adults aged 18 to 29 had used ChatGPT for work in 2025, compared with 30% of those 30 to 49 and 18% of those 50 and older. Pew did not ask whether those workers also use chatbots to choose businesses, so treat this as a signal of familiarity with the tools rather than of local search behavior.

For a service business, this suggests the share of AI-assisted searches varies by audience. A firm advising young professionals on taxes or a med spa with a client base in their late twenties and thirties is likely to see more AI-assisted discovery than a practice whose clients are mostly retirees. Asking new customers how they found you, with AI tools as a listed option, is the most direct way to see your own number.

A minority, but a meaningful one. BrightLocal surveyed 1,227 U.S. consumers who had searched for a local business in the previous three months and published the results in July 2026. For their most recent local search, 52% started on Google Search, 9% on Google Maps, 9% on social media and 8% on an AI tool such as ChatGPT. Across the whole search, 71% used Google Search, 30% social media, 29% Google Maps, 23% an AI tool and 19% review sites.

Three-quarters (75%) used more than one channel. And AI rarely worked alone: of consumers who started with an AI tool, 43% went on to check Google, 39% checked social media and only 2% used AI exclusively. BrightLocal also found 31% use AI tools for local business recommendations at least monthly.

Because they ask different questions of different samples. BrightLocal's own 2026 Local Consumer Review Survey, published in February 2026, reported that 45% of consumers used AI tools such as ChatGPT when researching businesses, up from 6% the year before. That is a broader question about research across all sources, and it is much higher than the 23% who used AI during a specific recent local search in BrightLocal's July 2026 study.

At the low end, a June 2025 survey by the digital agency Youtech, reported by PPC Land, found 78.7% mainly used traditional search engines to find local businesses and only 2.0% mainly used AI assistants, while 56.7% had never used an AI assistant for a local search. That sample was just 150 people, so it is indicative at best.

Trust is also mixed. BrightLocal's 2026 review survey found 40% of consumers trust AI platforms for business recommendations, compared with 32% who do not, and 42% trust AI recommendations as much as traditional reviews. In the Youtech survey, 56.8% said accuracy of information was their main concern when choosing between AI and traditional search, and 57.3% expected their search habits to stay the same over the following six months.

• Ever used versus used for this search: lifetime use always reads higher than use on a given occasion.
• Started with versus used at any point: AI is far more common as a second or third step than as the first.
• Sample size and quality: Pew uses a random-sample national panel; vendor and agency surveys vary widely.
• Timing: adoption is moving quickly, so a 2025 figure can be out of date by 2026.

There is no public measurement showing it did. In February 2024 Gartner predicted that by 2026 traditional search engine volume would drop 25%, with search marketing losing share to AI chatbots and other virtual agents. In an interview reported by CMSWire, Gartner's Alan Antin described the figure as a prediction that came from internal debate and probability estimates rather than a precise calculation, and said Gartner would likely revisit it.

The consumer data above is more useful for planning than the forecast. It shows Google is still where most local searches begin and end, with AI tools growing as an added step, especially among younger adults.

Plan for Google first and AI second, and do the work that helps both. AI assistants draw on the same public information customers check elsewhere: your website, your Google Business Profile, reviews and directory listings. A law firm, a med spa or a property manager with clear service pages, accurate hours and steady reviews is in a better position on both channels.

Monvell's Marketing and Consulting work starts by checking how a business shows up in Google results and in answers from tools like ChatGPT, then fixes the gaps that affect both.

• Keep your Google Business Profile complete and current, since most local searches still start there.
• Write clear service pages that answer common questions directly, which AI tools can quote.
• Keep your name, address, phone and hours consistent across directories.
• Ask a few AI assistants the questions your customers ask and note whether your business appears and whether the details are correct.
• Ask new customers how they found you and add AI tools as an answer option.