Developing
The usage claims are Google's. The 40% figure is TIME's reported number, with no stated source in the page we read.
In 60 seconds
- TIME reported on September 29, 2026 that Google moved its "Ask anything" box out from behind a "Show more" button and added an AI Mode button to the Search homepage for many users.
- Google has said AI Mode passed one billion monthly users; TIME reports AI Overviews appear in 40% of US searches.
- Search VP Robby Stein says people can expand an answer, ask a follow-up and get the information they want.
- Top news site traffic fell from 70 million visits in 2024 to 47.6 million in July 2026, per Similarweb data cited.
Impact Layer
- What changed
- AI Mode is easier to reach and, by Google's count, already used by more than a billion people a month.
- Why it matters
- More searches start with a conversational answer, which changes which pages are seen, and what a click is worth.
- Who is affected
- SEO and content teams, publishers, and brands that rely on organic search traffic.
- Martech stack area
- AI, SEO & Search
- Stack impact
- Track AI Mode and AI Overview presence for your key queries in addition to rankings.
- Business impact
- High Usage numbers are Google's; the 40% and traffic figures are reported by TIME from other sources. Referral declines cannot be attributed to AI alone.
- Related technologies
- Related vendors
- What to watch
- Search Console reporting for AI Mode, changes to the default search box, and referral trends after the homepage change.
TIME reported on September 29, 2026 that Google has changed its Search homepage to push people toward AI Mode. The “Ask anything” search bar was taken out from behind a “Show more” button, and an AI Mode button now appears directly on the homepage for many users.
The figures reported
- AI Mode has reached more than one billion monthly users, which TIME compares with ChatGPT’s estimated one billion monthly active users as of May 2026.
- AI Overviews appear in 40% of US Google searches. TIME says 60% of Americans read AI summaries, against 49% who use chatbots.
- People in AI Mode write queries about three times longer than usual searches and rarely check answers through external links, according to analysts quoted.
- Similarweb data shows top US news site traffic fell from 70 million visits in 2024 to 47.6 million in July 2026. TIME also cites a 58% reduction in click-through rate where AI Overviews appear.
Robby Stein, Google’s vice president of Search, says the experience is built so people “can expand it, they can ask a follow-up question, and they can get the info they want now,” and calls a healthy publisher ecosystem “of paramount importance.”
Our read
Moving the entry point matters as much as the model. A button on the homepage changes what millions of searches look like before any ranking is applied. The traffic decline cannot all be blamed on AI, and the usage figures are Google’s own, but the direction is plain: more sessions end on a Google-written answer. Teams should measure presence in AI answers for their key queries, not only blue-link position, and treat any click that arrives as more qualified than before.
Sources
- TIME: How Google is quietly turning millions of people into AI users (opens in a new tab)
Source of the homepage change, the usage figures, Google's statement and the Similarweb traffic data.