Although the use of AI-powered tools like ChatGPT has been growing rapidly in the US, that does not yet appear to be substantially affecting the use of traditional search engines, according to recent research from SparkToro.
The report was based on clickstream data from Datos. The researchers looked at US panelist visits to two sets of tools: traditional search engines (Google, Bing, Yahoo, and DuckDuckGo) and popular AI tools (ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, Gemini, Perplexity, and DeepSeek).
The researchers found that 95% of Americans remain regular users (more than one visit per month) of traditional search engines. That proportion has stayed essentially the same since January 2023, even as the regular use of AI tools has nearly quintupled (from 8% to 38%).
The story is the same for heavy users, with the proportion of Americans who use traditional search engines 10+ times per month staying the same while the proportion of those who use AI tools 10+ times per month increasing dramatically (from 3% in January 2023 to 21% in June 2025).
The researchers also found that the overall volume of traditional searches did not measurably decline between April 2024 and June 2025—and in fact increased in some months during that time period.
About the research: The report was based on clickstream data from Datos. The researchers looked at US panelist visits to two sets of tools: traditional search engines (Google, Bing, Yahoo, and DuckDuckGo) and popular AI tools (ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, Gemini, Perplexity, and Deepseek).
