Will AI assistants replace Google search?
No one can say. What is measurable today is that the two overlap: Google puts AI answers inside its own Search, and in a February 2026 Pew Research Center survey about six in ten U.S. adults said they ever read AI summaries in search results, while about four in ten said they use chatbots to search for information. For a service business, the sensible plan is to be easy to find and described correctly in both.
It is not simply Google or AI
Google is adding AI to Search itself. Its guide for site owners treats AI Overviews and AI Mode as AI features within Search, and says the best practices for SEO "remain relevant for AI features in Google Search". It also says AI Overviews are shown only when its systems judge them additive to classic Search, and that they "often don't trigger".
So a person can use Google and still get an AI-written answer. The choice for an owner is not one or the other.
What the surveys measured
The Pew Research Center surveyed 5,119 U.S. adults from February 17 to 23, 2026. It reports that six in ten say they ever read AI summaries at the top of search engine results, and says about four in ten use chatbots for information searching. The related answer on how many people use AI assistants has the wider numbers, and the related answer on AI answers and clicks covers what happens to clicks when a summary appears.
These are counts of what adults said they did in early 2026. These are shares of adults who said in February 2026 that they do this; they are not a forecast, and it cannot say whether the same people will keep using search the same way.
What nobody can know
Any claim that search will vanish, or that nothing will change, by a given date is a prediction, not a measurement. Treat such claims, whether they come from AI companies, search companies or marketers, with caution. Habits may shift quickly or slowly, and only later surveys can show which.
What to do while it plays out
Be a business that both a results page and an assistant can describe correctly: clear about what you do, where and for whom, with real reviews earned the right way and current, correct details about your business. The related answer on GEO and SEO explains how the two differ and overlap.
Then watch your own records. Tag every inquiry with where it came from, and the numbers can show how many customers reach you from search and how many from AI answers, whatever the wider trend does.
Sources
- Pew Research Center, "Americans and AI 2026: Chatbots, Smart Devices and Views on Impact" (June 17, 2026)
- Google Search Central, "AI features and your website"
Related answers
- How many people use AI assistants like ChatGPT?
- Are AI answers taking clicks away from Google search results?
- GEO vs SEO: what is the difference, and do you need both?
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.