# OpenAI Says ChatGPT Now Handles About a Fifth of Google's Search Volume, Counting Every Question That Triggers a Web Search

Times of AI Desk · 2026-11-04 · Products

[https://timesof.ai/2026/11/openai-chatgpt-search-volume-fifth-of-google-1-2b-weekly-users](https://timesof.ai/2026/11/openai-chatgpt-search-volume-fifth-of-google-1-2b-weekly-users)

> ChatGPT's search-like queries now equal roughly one-fifth of Google's query volume, OpenAI consumer product lead Adam Fry said at a company dinner in New York. Fry also said ChatGPT went from 1 billion to 1.2 billion weekly users in 60 days and that 250 million people a week use voice. The search figure counts every question that sends ChatGPT to the web, and OpenAI has not said how it estimated Google's volume.

OpenAI is now pitching ChatGPT as a search rival in numbers, not just in features, but the number depends on how it counts. **ChatGPT's volume of search-like queries is "roughly one-fifth the volume of queries of Google,"** OpenAI consumer product lead **Adam Fry** said in a fireside chat with Big Technology's Alex Kantrowitz at an OpenAI-hosted dinner in New York on **Monday night**.

## What counts as a search

Asked whether a conversation with several web lookups counts once, Fry said: "Every time you ask a question and go search the web, that's a search." He said the growth has come from people asking ChatGPT about people, places, finance and health, where it looks up current information. Fry did not say how OpenAI estimated Google's query volume, The Verge reported.

## The other numbers

Fry said ChatGPT went from **1 billion to 1.2 billion weekly active users** in the past 60 days, Big Technology reported. He said **250 million** people a week now use voice, counting dictation and spoken conversations, and that users create **1.5 billion images** a week. He said ChatGPT's ad business passed **$1 billion** in annual recurring revenue within 200 days, and that OpenAI plans to merge ChatGPT's separate Chat and Work modes, which he said is "coming soon."

The figures land as Google pushes [ads deeper into AI Mode](https://timesof.ai/2026/10/google-ai-mode-ads-10-countries-india-multiturn-us), including in follow-up questions in the US.

## Limits

- All figures are OpenAI's own and were given at an OpenAI event; none has been independently checked.
- ChatGPT counts each web-searching question in a conversation, while Google does not publish comparable query counts, so the one-fifth comparison may not be like for like.
- OpenAI's own [October 5 ads post](https://timesof.ai/2026/10/openai-chatgpt-visual-ads-image-generation) already said ChatGPT reaches 1.2 billion people a week; OpenAI has not explained how that fits with Fry's account of reaching 1.2 billion weekly users only in the past 60 days.

## Sources

- [Big Technology: OpenAI: ChatGPT Search Is About 20% of Google's, 250 Million People Speak With ChatGPT, and Chat Is Merging With Work (November 3, 2026)](https://www.bigtechnology.com/p/openai-chatgpt-search-is-about-20)
- [The Verge: OpenAI says ChatGPT is catching up to Google in search (November 3, 2026)](https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/1025482/openai-says-chatgpt-is-catching-up-to-google-in-search)