YouGov’s new report, “Searching for answers: How AI is changing online discovery in 2026,” is one of the clearest pictures yet of how people actually find information online, and where AI assistants now sit in that journey. It draws on a multi-region survey of 19 markets conducted between April and May 2026, with the deep-dive edition focused on around 1,500 US adults.
There is a lot in it. Here are the findings that matter most, section by section.
Searching is a daily habit, and mobile comes first
More than half of Americans (54%) look up information online every day, and a third of Gen Z (32%) and Millennials (33%) do so six or more times daily. High earners search even more, with 45% searching six or more times a day. Smartphones are the primary search device for every generation except Baby Boomers+, who still lean on laptops and desktops. Among Gen Z, 69% search primarily on their phone.
Search engines are still the dominant channel
Despite everything written about the death of search, 86% of online searchers used a traditional search engine in the past 30 days, far ahead of any other channel. Video platforms and maps apps follow at 34% each, then social media (29%), news sites (28%) and AI assistants (25%).
Search engines are also the default starting point for every information task YouGov tested, from specific questions (69% start with search) to product research (62%). But each task has a meaningful runner-up: 25% start with a maps app when finding a local place, 27% start with a marketplace when buying products, and 16% start with an AI assistant when asking a specific question.
Younger adults treat far more platforms as search tools. Gen Z uses video platforms (48%) and online forums (31%) at much higher rates, while Millennials lead on AI assistants (33%) and social search (37%).
AI search adoption: the US is the global outlier
YouGov defines “AI searchers” as people who start at least some new queries with an AI assistant. Across the 19 markets surveyed, the spread is striking:
- India, Indonesia and the UAE lead the world at 89% each
- Saudi Arabia follows at 86%, then Singapore and Switzerland at 82%
- Hong Kong and Mexico sit at 81%, Spain at 76%
- Australia, Poland and Italy are at 72%, Germany 68%, Canada 67%
- Sweden (64%), France and Denmark (62%) and Great Britain (54%) trail
- The US is last at 48%, the lowest of every market surveyed
Within the US, 15% of online searchers start at least one AI query daily, 15% several per week, and 23% about once a week or less. Fully 40% never begin a search with AI. Millennials lead adoption, with 22% initiating queries with AI every day.
For those of us working in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, this is the section that matters most. Both markets sit in the global top four for AI-assisted search, and the numbers carry real weight: the UAE (n=1,006) and Saudi (n=1,008) samples are nationally representative of adults 18 and over, so these are population-level figures, not tech-enthusiast panels. Searchers in the region are among the most AI-forward in the world, which means visibility in AI-generated answers is already part of how audiences here discover brands, well ahead of the behaviour US-centric benchmarks would suggest.
Growth is coming from existing users, not new ones
Among current AI searchers, 58% say their usage has increased over the past year, including 27% who use it “much more.” Only 12% have cut back. Looking ahead, 35% of AI searchers expect to use these tools more in the next 12 months, rising to 53% among frequent users.
The story is very different among non-users: only 4% expect to start using AI for search, and 72% flatly do not expect to change. YouGov’s conclusion is that AI search growth points to deeper engagement among existing users rather than broad conversion of non-users.
What people actually use AI assistants for
The leading use case is getting a direct answer to a question (63%). After that come verifying information found elsewhere (37%, rising to 54% among frequent AI searchers), summarizing information (31%), comparing options (29%) and troubleshooting (24%). These are all tasks where people want information resolved, not just a list of links.
Even so, chatbots act as search companions more than starting points. Only 16% of AI searchers describe AI as their starting point. Most use it alongside other sources (19%), after other forms of search (32%) or occasionally for specific questions (27%).
What happens after AI answers a search
The AI-generated answer is rarely the end of the journey. Among AI searchers, 22% most often click through to the links the assistant supplies, 16% compare the answer with other apps, 8% keep searching on other topics, and 32% say it depends on the topic. Only 17% simply stop searching. Among frequent AI searchers, clicking AI-supplied links (33%) is more common than stopping at the answer (17%).
The trust gap is the main constraint on AI search
Maps apps are the most trusted information source (76%), followed by search engines (70%) and news sites (51%). AI assistants sit near the bottom at 28%, just ahead of social media (20%). Trust in AI does rise sharply with use: among people who actually use AI for search, 49% trust it.
The US stands out as the most skeptical AI search market surveyed on four measures: the lowest AI-search adoption (48% vs a 72% median market), the lowest trust in AI search (28% vs 42%), the hardest audience to persuade (28% say none of the listed trust signals would increase their trust, vs 9%), and the least comfort with personalization (47% are not comfortable with AI using their data for tailored answers, vs 18%).
When asked what would most increase trust in an AI answer, AI searchers point to clear links to sources (16%), the answer coming from an official source (15%) and seeing multiple sources side by side (14%). Non-users are a different story: 49% say none of these would sway them. YouGov’s read is that transparency features deepen trust among existing users more than they convert skeptics.
Personalization faces a privacy ceiling
Data use is a sticking point. Among non-AI searchers, 68% are not comfortable with AI assistants using their data for tailored answers. Among AI searchers, attitudes soften but stay conditional: 31% are comfortable with personalization only if they can easily control it or turn it off, and just 15% are comfortable outright.
Who are the frequent AI searchers?
Frequent AI searchers, the 15% of American online searchers who start at least one AI query a day, skew male (56%), Millennial (36%) and employed full time (44%). They are also more diligent than average: 75% verify AI answers by checking more than one source, 33% usually click through the links the assistant supplies, and 54% expect to use AI even more in the next 12 months.
The bottom line
The report’s central message, set out in the foreword by YouGov America’s Mark Fantino, is that the future of search is not a battle between links and answers. People want fast, useful answers backed by visible proof: source links, official sites, something to verify against. Search engines remain the backbone of online discovery, AI assistants are becoming the layer people use to resolve and verify information, and trust is the bridge between the two.
