Well, Actually, Your AI Power Users Are Google's Best Customers
A May 2026 EMARKETER survey found that 82 percent of weekly AI users use Google Search daily. That figure stands at merely 71 percent for all internet users. The heaviest AI adopters are not abandoning traditional search; they are intensifying their use of it.
This teaches you that AI tools and search engines are complements, not substitutes, in user behavior. Your workflow should integrate both rather than forcing an either-or choice. The principle here is tool stacking: the most sophisticated users layer multiple information retrieval systems rather than replacing one with another.
EMARKETER conducted this survey in May 2026. The research firm measured daily Google Search usage across user segments.
Step 1: Track your own search behavior for one day. Count how many times you use Google versus an AI chatbot. Step 2: For your next three information-seeking tasks, deliberately start with one tool then switch to the other. Note which starting point yields better results. Step 3: Document a simple two-step workflow: one sentence defining when you start with Google, one sentence defining when you start with AI.