Two numbers, two different decisions
According to the Similarweb analysis reported by TechCrunch, Google's AI Overviews appeared in 15% of searches a year ago and appear in 43% today. Visits to AI Mode, a separate surface, rose from 126 million in June 2025 to 279 million in May 2026. The same analysis found that only 6.8% of US desktop ChatGPT queries carried citations as of May, while ChatGPT's referral rate to webpages climbed from 25% in March to close to 60% by the end of May, after a search update on 7 May. The figures come from a measurement firm's own panel.[1]
The two quantities should not be weighed on the same footing. The 43% counts how often Google shows the summary; it can rise without a single user changing behaviour, because the decision sits on the other side. AI Mode's 279 million visits requires someone to go somewhere, and of the two it is the only one that comes close to a preference. The 6.8% of queries carrying citations belongs beside it: the chance to see where an answer came from is not as widespread as the answer.[1]
The same move inside Threads
On Monday Meta added its Meta AI assistant to Threads direct messages; the rollout began globally, and the assistant was already in messages on Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. Users can share posts, images, links and videos with it and ask follow-up questions. Those who would rather not have three separate routes: mute @meta.ai, choose "Not interested", or hide Meta AI replies. Use of the assistant in the public feed remains in limited testing in a few markets.[2]
Seen from the street, the two moves share one thing: the assistant settles where the user already is — above the search box and inside the message box. A usage figure taken after such a placement measures the placement first and the preference second. There is a case on the other side too: putting a feature in front of someone can be more honest than expecting them to download a separate app to find it, and anyone still using it once the novelty passes has chosen it in the way that counts.[1], [2]
What to look at after a week
On the Threads side the detail worth reading is that there are three separate ways out. Muting, "Not interested" and hiding replies do not do the same job; each implies the assistant shows up somewhere different. If it becomes intrusive in the message box, those are the settings to look for. That the public-feed test is still limited is useful too: the behaviour someone meets today may not be the same in every country.[2]
The measurement that would separate placement from preference is already available. If AI Mode's visit count keeps climbing through the end of 2026 while AI Overviews' share of searches stays flat, people are going to that surface because they choose to rather than because it is shown to them. If both rise together the two cannot be told apart, and what the 43% means still depends on a placement decision.[1]