AI search tools are growing fast, but Google’s dominance remains almost untouched – especially in discovery
Oct 6, 2025
While ChatGPT’s usage is rising, it still handles just a fraction of the world’s daily search activity. New data from SparkToro shows Google processes around 14 billion searches per day — about 210 times more than ChatGPT’s 66 million “search-like” prompts.
Key takeaways
- Massive scale gap: Google processes roughly 14 billion searches daily versus ChatGPT’s 66 million, keeping a 210x lead.
- Growth from API use: Much of ChatGPT’s overall prompt growth comes from API integrations rather than direct user searches.
- Search-intent prompts: Only about 21% of ChatGPT interactions resemble searches, according to Harvard/OpenAI research.
- AI referrals remain tiny: AI-driven search referrals account for less than 1% of total traffic online, per BrightEdge data.
- Adoption fuels both sides: Users adopting AI tools tend to increase, not decrease, their Google search activity.
- Perspective check: Despite the hype, AI search remains niche — Google still dominates how people discover and access information.
Get the full story at Search Engine Land
