How Many People Use AI for Search in 2025

Global AI Search Adoption Statistics

The adoption of AI-powered search engines has experienced remarkable growth since ChatGPT’s public launch in late 2022. According to the latest data from 2025, well over 1 billion people now use standalone AI tools each month globally. This represents a significant shift in how users discover information online, though the relationship between AI search and traditional search is more complementary than competitive. The growth trajectory demonstrates that AI search has moved from a novelty to an essential tool for millions of users worldwide seeking faster, more synthesized answers to their questions.

ChatGPT remains the dominant player in the AI search landscape, with 800 million weekly active users as of October 2025, according to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. This figure represents explosive growth from just 400 million weekly users in February 2025, indicating a doubling of the user base within eight months. Beyond ChatGPT, approximately 100 to 200 million active AI users do not use ChatGPT monthly, instead preferring alternative platforms like Google Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, Perplexity, Claude, and Deepseek. When accounting for AI usage in China, where ChatGPT is blocked, the global figure reaches approximately 1.5 billion monthly users across all standalone AI platforms combined.

Regional and Demographic Breakdown of AI Search Users

The distribution of AI search users varies significantly across geographic regions and demographic groups. India represents the largest user base for AI search platforms, with 22.75% of Perplexity’s audience originating from the country, followed by the United States at 17.63%. This geographic distribution reflects broader internet adoption patterns, with emerging markets showing particularly high enthusiasm for AI technologies. In fact, OpenAI reported that ChatGPT adoption growth rates in the lowest income countries were over 4 times higher than those in the highest income countries by May 2025, suggesting that AI search is becoming increasingly accessible to developing economies.

The demographic profile of AI search users skews toward younger, educated, and affluent populations. The largest user group consists of people aged 25 to 34, representing 29.66% of Perplexity’s audience, followed by the 18-24 age group at 19.23%. Gender distribution shows a relatively balanced split, with 54.13% male and 45.87% female users. Educational attainment is notably high, with 80% of Perplexity’s audience consisting of graduates, while 65% are high-income white-collar professionals and 30% hold senior company leadership positions. Language preferences reflect global diversity, with 34% of users speaking English as their primary language, 18% speaking Spanish, and 12% speaking Hindi.

AI Search vs. Traditional Search Engine Usage

Despite the rapid growth of AI search adoption, traditional search engines remain dominant in user behavior. According to recent data from 2025, 95% of Americans still use Google, Bing, Yahoo, or DuckDuckGo monthly, with 87% considered heavy Google users—actually up from 84% in 2023. This apparent contradiction reveals an important insight: AI search and traditional search are complementary rather than competitive. Research from Semrush and SparkToro demonstrates that users who adopt AI tools actually increase their Google searches rather than replacing them entirely. Heavy AI users conduct more searches overall, using both AI platforms and traditional search engines for different purposes.

The traffic comparison between AI platforms and traditional search reveals the magnitude of this difference. Google.com attracts approximately 15 times more visits than ChatGPT.com, with Google receiving 83.9 billion monthly visits compared to ChatGPT’s 5.85 billion in August 2025. However, ChatGPT’s monthly visits have more than doubled over the past year, from 2.63 billion in August 2024, while Google’s visits increased by only 0.4% during the same period. This suggests that while traditional search remains dominant, AI search is growing at a significantly faster rate. When examining referral traffic to third-party websites, the disparity is even more pronounced—organic search delivers over 90% of web traffic, while AI platforms currently account for less than 1% of referrals to most websites.

AI Search Platform Usage Patterns and Behaviors

Understanding how people use AI for search reveals distinct patterns compared to traditional search behavior. Research analyzing 1.5 million ChatGPT conversations found that the three most common topics are Practical Guidance (29%), Seeking Information (24%), and Writing (24%), collectively accounting for approximately 77% of all conversations. More specifically, seeking specific information represents the single most prevalent topic, accounting for 18.3% of user queries. This indicates that users leverage AI search for information retrieval, but the nature of queries differs from traditional search—they tend to be longer, more conversational, and more complex.

The average ChatGPT prompt length is approximately 100 characters, which is roughly 30 times longer than the typical Google search query of 3.37 keywords. Users spend an average of 12 minutes and 18 seconds per session on Perplexity, with 16% of users spending over 30 minutes during a single visit. Mobile usage patterns differ significantly from desktop, with 80.1% of Perplexity visits occurring on desktop devices compared to only 19.9% on mobile. The platform demonstrates strong user loyalty, with an impressive 85% user retention rate and 90% of users returning within 30 days of their first visit. Daily active users represent only 19% of the user base, while 27% use the platform several times per week, suggesting that AI search serves as a supplementary tool rather than a daily necessity for most users.

Key Takeaways on AI Search Adoption

The data clearly demonstrates that AI search adoption has reached mainstream status with over 1 billion monthly users globally, yet traditional search engines remain the primary discovery channel for most internet users. The growth trajectory of AI search platforms is accelerating, with ChatGPT doubling its weekly user base in just eight months and Perplexity processing 435 million monthly queries with 20% month-over-month growth. However, the relationship between AI search and traditional search is not zero-sum—users who adopt AI tools typically increase their overall search activity rather than replacing traditional search entirely. For businesses and marketers, this means optimizing for both AI search visibility and traditional search remains essential, as the two channels serve complementary purposes in the user’s information-seeking journey.