Answer: People really do ask AI to find a local business. In a survey of 1,002 US adults, 45% said they had done that in the past year. In the same survey a year earlier it was 6% (Source: BrightLocal, 2026). So ask the AI chat apps, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Claude, who they name for your kind of business.
The habit arrived fast, and it is not spread evenly across age groups. Every number below comes from a named survey with its date on it. The last two sections are the ones a business owner can act on this week.
How many people ask AI to find a local business?
Close to half of them, and that is new. BrightLocal put the question to 1,002 US adults for its 2026 survey. 45% said they had used an AI chat app, such as ChatGPT, to find a local business in the past year. That covers any kind of local business, from a plumber to a cafe. The same survey put that figure at 6% a year earlier (Source: BrightLocal, 2026).
Age changes the answer a lot. Among adults aged 30 to 44, 64% said they had asked an AI tool for a business recommendation in the past year. Among people over 60 it was 24% (Source: BrightLocal, 2026). So if most of your customers are in their thirties and forties, roughly two in three of them have already asked AI to suggest a business. If most of them are over 60, it is closer to one in four.
Is AI taking the place of a search engine?
Not yet for most people, but it has climbed fast. In BrightLocal's 2026 survey, an AI chat app is now the third most used way to find a local business. Only Google and Facebook are used more, and AI has passed Yelp and TripAdvisor. In the same survey, the share of people who said they read Google reviews fell from 83% a year earlier to 71% (Source: BrightLocal, 2026).
Asking an AI tool is a mainstream habit now, not a niche one. About half of US adults say they use an AI chatbot, up from a third in 2024, and 44% say they use ChatGPT. Of the adults who use one, 42% say they use it to search for information, which was the most common reason in the survey (Source: Pew Research Center, 2026).
Do the people who ask AI actually buy anything?
The only solid numbers come from online shops. So read this as the trade next door, not your own. Adobe, the software company, counts where visitors come from for big US shopping websites. That adds up to more than a trillion visits. In the first three months of 2026, visits that came from an AI chat app were 393% higher than a year before. That is almost five times as many (Source: TechCrunch, 2026).
Those visits were worth more money, too. In March 2026, a visit that arrived from an AI tool brought in 37% more than a visit from somewhere else (Source: TechCrunch, 2026). By May 2026, visits from AI tools were up 138% on the year before, and the people arriving that way bought 54% more often than people arriving from anywhere else (Source: Digital Commerce 360, 2026).
What do these numbers not prove?
They do not prove that AI is sending work to your door. Every figure here describes people in general. None of them counts whether one business got suggested by name, and no survey can do that. The next section is how to find that part out, and it costs nothing.
Two of the figures need extra care. The move from 6% to 45% in twelve months is a very large jump for one survey to find, and the wording of a question can shift an answer that far, so the level is the finding and the multiple is the fragile part. The money figures are Adobe's reading of online shops, not of plumbers, clinics, or salons. Those figures also pointed the other way a year earlier: in March 2025, visits from AI tools bought 38% less often than other visits (Source: TechCrunch, 2026). A number that can flip inside a year is one to check again, not one to bank on.
How can a business owner check what AI says about their business?
By asking ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Claude the way a customer would, and writing down what comes back each time. A customer does not type a business name. They type a trade and a town, such as plumber in Leeds, so that is the question to use.
Four habits make the count worth having, and none of them cost anything. Log out first, or use a private window, so the answer is not shaped by one person's own history. Put the same question to ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Claude, several times each, because the names come back different from one ask to the next. Count how many answers name the business, instead of looking for a position in a list. And write the date beside every count, because the companies keep changing the AI behind the answers.
Where does that leave a business owner?
Enough customers now ask AI for a local recommendation that it is worth knowing what it says about yours. That check is what AI Says Who does. We ask the questions your buyers really use, several times each, on ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, and Claude, and we count how often your business gets named. The date and the full list of questions sit beside the count. Gemini is asked with no web search, so it answers from what it already knows and never shows a link. The first check is free, and the button below starts it.
Free. No card, no call.