AI search usage statistics: what does the 2026 data show for businesses?
AI search usage statistics for 2026 point one way: use has roughly doubled in a year. According to TÜİK’s 2026 Household ICT Usage Survey, 37.6 percent of people aged 16-74 in Türkiye use generative AI, up from 19.2 percent a year earlier. Globally, ChatGPT reaches 900 million weekly users and the Gemini app 950 million monthly users.
Businesses move more slowly. Among enterprises with 10 or more employees, AI use stands at 14 percent in 2026. So customers are asking assistants, while most businesses are not yet inside the answer. Below, each figure comes with its source and a one-line note on what it means for you.
How many people in Türkiye use AI in 2026?
According to TÜİK results published in early October 2026, about 37 in every 100 people aged 16-74 use generative AI. The rate is 19.2 percent in 2025 and 37.6 percent in 2026, close to double in one year. The same survey puts internet use at 92.3 percent. Roughly 4 in 10 internet users now also put questions to an AI tool.
Who uses it: what do age, education and purpose show?
Use is highest among the young but substantial in middle age. Per TÜİK, the rate is 64.9 percent at 16-24, 55.7 percent at 25-34 and 38.1 percent at 35-44. It rises with education, reaching 62.7 percent among university graduates; of users, 86.4 percent use AI for private purposes and 37.3 percent for work. In short, a wide audience asks it everyday questions.
Why the 25-44 bracket matters
This is usually the age of setting up homes, starting businesses and buying services. Use here runs from 38.1 to 55.7 percent. Note: a large share of the people looking for your clinic, lawyer or supplier know these tools.
Where do businesses stand in this race?
Businesses lag behind individuals. Per TÜİK’s ICT Usage Survey in Enterprises, AI use among firms with 10 or more employees is 2.7 percent in 2021, 7.5 percent in 2025 and 14 percent in 2026. Size makes a clear difference: 12.8 percent at 10-49 employees, 37.1 percent at 250 and above. Small businesses have not yet caught up with their customers.
How many people do assistants reach globally?
By the companies’ own figures, the numbers run into hundreds of millions. OpenAI announces on 27 February 2026 that ChatGPT has 900 million weekly active users. In Alphabet’s Q2 call of 22 July 2026, the Gemini app has 950 million monthly users and Google’s AI Mode over 1 billion. The same call reports Search revenue growing 17 percent.
Weekly and monthly are not the same
Weekly active users count anyone active in the last 7 days; monthly, the last 30. Setting the two side by side is comparing apples and pears. Note: what matters is not which is bigger, but that both are huge.
How does an AI summary change clicks?
A Pew Research Center study published in July 2025 examines the March 2025 Google searches of 900 US adults. About 18 percent of searches show an AI summary. Of those who see one, 8 percent click a result link, against 15 percent without a summary; clicks on a source link inside the summary are just 1 percent. The data is from the US, but the direction is clear.
Ending the session
After an AI summary, 26 percent of users end their browsing; without one, 16 percent. Note: when the question is answered inside the summary, traffic to your site can drop.
What this means for a business
Being seen and being clicked are now further apart. Your name appearing in the summary means being remembered at the moment of decision, even without a click. To count AI visits separately, use the setup in how to measure ChatGPT and Gemini traffic in GA4.
Six figures in one table: what do they mean for a business?
BU BÖLÜMÜN ÖZETİ
- Trap 1: mixing countries
- Trap 2: mistaking use for sales
- Trap 3: second-hand numbers
- What to do with this data
Talk is cheap; decisions are made on numbers. The table brings together the six main figures on this page, their sources and a one-line note for a business. Each figure comes from the named body’s own release or from news reporting it. Read the note column when you make your own call.
| Figure | Source and date | One line for a business |
|---|---|---|
| 37.6% individual use (2025: 19.2%) | TÜİK, Household ICT Survey, 2026 | Over a third of your customers ask an assistant. |
| 14% enterprise use | TÜİK, ICT Survey in Enterprises, 2026 | Most of your competitors have not started. |
| 64.9% use at age 16-24 | TÜİK, 2026 | Tomorrow’s customer arrives with this habit. |
| 900 million weekly ChatGPT users | OpenAI, February 2026 | A single assistant is a market on its own. |
| Over 1 billion monthly AI Mode users | Alphabet, July 2026 | On Google too, answers now start with a summary. |
| 8% versus 15% clicks | Pew Research Center, July 2025 | Missing from the summary means fewer clicks. |
Trap 1: mixing countries
Pew’s data is from the US, TÜİK’s from Türkiye. We found no official study measuring click rates in Türkiye. Use the direction, do not carry the number over.
Trap 2: mistaking use for sales
People who use AI do not buy with every question. The figures show the size of the audience, not what reaches your till. Your own measurement tells you that.
Trap 3: second-hand numbers
Plenty of unsourced “X percent” figures circulate online. Before using one, ask for the body and the date. You can check how your brand looks in assistants today with the method in how does my brand appear in AI.
What to do with this data
Customers are asking, most businesses are not in the answer yet; the gap is open today. Adapte’s AI SEO campaign builds the groundwork for that gap at a fixed TRY 36,000 + VAT, delivered in 30 days; it gives no recommendation guarantee, it measures. The full set-up is in AI SEO with 108 articles, and you apply on the AI SEO campaign page.
Quick Summary
- Generative AI use among 16-74 year olds in Türkiye is 37.6 percent in 2026, close to double in a year.
- The rate is 64.9 percent at 16-24 and 55.7 percent at 25-34.
- Among enterprises with 10+ employees use is 14 percent; small businesses lag.
- ChatGPT reaches 900 million weekly users, the Gemini app 950 million monthly.
- In US data, clicks fall from 15 to 8 percent when an AI summary shows.
- Check a figure’s country, date and unit before you use it.
Short Glossary
Generative AI: Generative AI is the term used for tools that produce a new answer to a question as text, image or sound.
Monthly active users: Monthly active users is a metric used to count people who use a service at least once in the last 30 days.
Click-through rate: Click-through rate is a measure used to show, as a percentage, how many people who see a result click its link.
Next Step
The figures show where the audience is; next is whether you show up there. Apply to the AI SEO campaign, share your site and target questions, and get your diagnosis card.
Frequently Asked Questions
Sık Sorulan Sorular
Barely: 38.1 percent of women and 37.2 percent of men. Note: there is no data behind “my customers would not use this” on gender grounds.
Per TÜİK, internet use is 90.9 percent in 2025 and 92.3 percent in 2026. Note: the internet is near its ceiling; growth now sits in new habits like AI.
Private purpose means personal use outside work or school: holidays, health, shopping, home repairs. Note: most questions a local shop answers sit exactly here.
According to reported figures, lack of expertise leads at 72.3 percent. Note: the problem is often not money but not knowing where to start.
The survey covers enterprises with 10 or more employees, so most neighbourhood shops sit outside it. Note: there is no official rate for small shops, but the table clearly shows the rate falling as size shrinks.
The figures do not say so. Google Search revenue keeps growing and AI Mode runs inside Search. Note: people asking questions use both routes. We track Google’s latest changes in Google AI Mode: the latest.
Classic SEO focuses on ranking in search results. AI SEO builds the readability and recognisability groundwork for a business’s name to appear in ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google’s AI answers.
No. The figures show the size of the audience. The AI SEO campaign gives no recommendation guarantee; it builds the groundwork and measures the result with opening and closing diagnosis cards.
In the campaign, AI-referred traffic is measured separately in GA4, Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools are set up, and opening and closing diagnosis cards are compared.
Updated: October 2026