One in three people worldwide now use AI chatbots every month

More than a third of the world now uses generative AI tools every month, according to the Digital 2027 report. That is 3.24 billion people, or 38.9 percent of the global population. The number grew by 1.2 billion in a year. Generative AI means tools like ChatGPT that write answers, text or images when you ask.

What changed

The report says active users of these tools rose 57.2 percent in 12 months. ChatGPT is still the leader, with twice as many monthly users as its nearest rival. Others are catching up. Users of Google's Gemini mobile apps grew fourfold over the past year, and its web audience is now over 60 percent the size of ChatGPT's. The report also names Anthropic's Claude as gaining ground.

Social media still grows

The report counts 5.81 billion social media user identities, equal to 69.9 percent of the world's population. That is up 2.7 percent, or 151 million, in a year. The typical internet user spends 19 hours and 18 minutes a week on social media and online video, up 3.8 percent.

YouTube gets the largest share of global social media time, followed closely by WhatsApp and Instagram. Per active user, TikTok leads at 1 hour and 55 minutes a day. Among internet users aged 16 to 24, 46.9 percent use platforms like Instagram and Facebook as their main source when researching brands and purchases.

The open web is shrinking

Across the world's top 10,000 websites, monthly traffic is down more than 10 percent since ChatGPT launched to the public. Total time spent on the web fell 11.2 percent in the past 24 months. The report says AI is not the only cause. People are also moving to social platforms and to mobile apps.

Search engines are not dead. Online adults are still 74 percent more likely to say they visit a search engine than an AI platform when researching brands.

What to do

The report comes from Meltwater, which sells tools to PR and marketing teams, and We Are Social, a creative agency. Both have an interest in brands paying attention. Still, the advice is practical for any business owner: customers now look in several places, not just on your website.

• Search for your business on Google and on the social apps your customers use.
• Ask an AI assistant about your business and your category, and note what it says.
• Fix anything wrong or out of date at the source, such as your listings and profiles.
• Post where your customers already spend time, especially if they are under 25.

What the report does not say

The material does not say how many people use AI daily, or how many pay for it. It also does not say how much of the web traffic decline AI alone explains. The full report runs 900 pages and draws on data from GWI, Similarweb, Statista and others.