How many people use AI assistants like ChatGPT?
About half of U.S. adults now use AI chatbots, according to a Pew Research Center survey from February 2026, and 44% say they have used ChatGPT, up from 34% a year earlier and 18% in 2023. Adults under 50 use it far more than older adults. For a service business, a growing share of customers may ask an assistant before they search or call anyone.
What Pew found
Pew Research Center surveyed 5,119 U.S. adults from Feb. 17 to 23, 2026. It reports that about half of U.S. adults now use AI chatbots, up from a third in 2024 (Pew notes the 2024 question was worded differently), and that about a quarter use them daily.
For ChatGPT alone, the share of adults who report using it has more than doubled since Pew first asked in 2023. Pew notes that in 2026 the question also asked about other chatbots, so the latest jump is not a perfectly like-for-like comparison.
ChatGPT use by year
| Year | U.S. adults who report using ChatGPT |
|---|---|
| 2023 | 18% |
| 2024 | 23% |
| 2025 | 34% |
| 2026 | 44% |
Age makes a big difference
Pew found that adults under 50 are about twice as likely as those 50 and older to report using ChatGPT, 57% compared with 28%. If most of your customers are younger homeowners or new families, assistants are likely already part of how they look for help. If most are older, the shift is slower but still under way.
People now ask assistants for local businesses
A separate survey points the same way. BrightLocal's Local Consumer Review Survey 2026, based on 1,002 U.S. consumers and published February 11, 2026, found that use of ChatGPT and other AI tools for local recommendations rose from 6% the year before to 45%, making them the third most popular source of business recommendations. It also found that 40% of consumers trust AI platforms to provide business recommendations.
What it means for a service business
Assistants are now one more place customers look, alongside search and referrals, not a replacement for them. The related answers cover how customers use assistants to find businesses and how to check what assistants say about yours.
Sources
- Pew Research Center, "Americans and AI 2026: Chatbots, Smart Devices and Views on Impact" (June 17, 2026)
- BrightLocal, "Local Consumer Review Survey 2026" (February 11, 2026)
Related answers
- How do customers find businesses through AI assistants?
- How do you check what ChatGPT says about your business?
- What is GEO (generative engine optimization)?
GEO: recommended in AI answers
When a customer asks ChatGPT, Perplexity or Google's AI who to call, the answer names a few businesses. GEO is the work of making yours one of them.