Are people using ChatGPT like Google? OpenAI data says 1 in 5 messages look things up
More and more, yes. OpenAI data released on 26 October shows that about 1 in 5 consumer ChatGPT messages now asks for information: facts, recipes and questions about products and services for sale. In August that share passed writing for the first time. So when customers ask ChatGPT about what you sell, your website needs to be the page it can read and cite.
- “Seeking information” was 20.7% of consumer ChatGPT messages in August 2026, just ahead of writing at 20.6%. In September writing led again, 21.4% to 20.2%.
- In July 2024 the split was 16.7% looking things up and 34.1% writing.
- The category covers facts, recipes and questions about products and services for sale. OpenAI does not say how big the product share is.
- The data comes from a sample of 1 million messages a month from adult users on Free, Go, Plus and Pro plans. Enterprise messages and Codex are not included.
What happened
On 26 October OpenAI published version 3.0 of OpenAI Signals, its regularly updated data on how people use ChatGPT. As Search Engine Journal reported, looking things up now takes about as big a share of consumer messages as writing, which was the main use when the data series began in mid-2024.
What this means for your site or store
Many people now use ChatGPT for questions they used to type into Google, including “how much is…” and “which one should I buy”. To be part of those answers:
- Check that your robots.txt lets OAI-SearchBot, the crawler behind ChatGPT search, reach your pages.
- Answer common questions in plain text on your own pages: prices, sizes, opening hours, delivery, returns.
- Keep product details current on the page, so the answer ChatGPT gives is the right one.
For a step-by-step list, read how to get your website cited by ChatGPT.
The technical details
OpenAI says automated systems classify each sampled message by subject after identifying information is removed, and nobody reads individual conversations. The figures are global shares of messages, not people, and later versions of the data can revise earlier months, so note the version (3.0) if you quote them. The release doesn’t show how often ChatGPT searched the web or cited a site in its replies, so it measures demand, not traffic.
Want to know if ChatGPT can find and read your site? Run our free AI check, or get robots.txt, llms.txt and schema written for you with the AI-Ready Kit.
FAQ
Sources
- OpenAI Signals v3.0 data, OpenAI
- ChatGPT’s expanding world of work, OpenAI
- Looking Things Up Now Rivals Writing In ChatGPT, OpenAI Data Shows, Search Engine Journal
