Similarweb’s 2025 Generative AI Landscape: The State of Gen AI provides a concise breakdown of how AI has changed mobile search and digital interaction.
According to Similarweb, average monthly web visits to AI sites rose 76% YoY, and unique visitors increased 58%. Those numbers are nothing compared to mobile, where app downloads exploded by 319%. That is a sign of progression from experimentation to habitual use. Ecosystem participants must prepare for a mobile-first environment.
Credit ChatGPT as the big disruptor. Now more popular of a site than Amazon, it ranks fifth overall. ChatGPT and Google are tightly linked. Of ChatGPT’s 462 million users, virtually all, 95% also used Google.
“This shows ChatGPT isn’t replacing search, but becoming a parallel habit,” Similarweb’s report states.
Users are spreading their attention around. They are deftly shifting between such different use cases as productivity, problem-solving and exploration. This suggests a transition from single-platform dominance to a more holistic ecosystem.
AI’s user base is also maturing. In 2023, 61% of users were adults under 35; that percentage fell to 53% in two years. Users 45 and older now represent almost 30% of all visitors.
Forgive e-commerce proprietors for being less excited about the AI craze. Only 8.7% of Google searches are about purchasable products. ChatGPT’s are roughly one-fourth of that at 2.1%.
There is some small consolation for news producers.
“For information retrieval, both ChatGPT and AI Mode prioritize authoritative and user-generated content over brand sites,” Similarweb states. “News and publisher domains lead the citations, with reviews and UGC platforms such as Reddit close behind.”
Similarweb identifies a critical difference between AI and search sites.
“Traditional search engines are designed to send users out to external sites, generating large volumes of visits but often with lower engagement and intent. In contrast, AI platforms are built to keep users within their ecosystem, providing concise, contextual answers without requiring them to click through. As a result, when users do navigate to a site from an AI response, they arrive with clearer intent and higher engagement.
“Recent app integrations into ChatGPT offer users even more possibilities within the app. Integrations with PayPal and Spotify, among others, mean that users can perform key tasks directly within the ChatGPT app, from making online purchases to creating music playlists.”