A new Pew Research Center study reveals that Google’s AI-generated summaries are reducing how often users click on search result links. In March 2025, 58% of U.S. adults encountered these summaries, and users clicked links half as often when AI overviews appeared.
Just 1% clicked links within the summaries themselves, and a quarter of users ended their browsing session right after seeing one. The summaries most often cited sources like Wikipedia, Reddit, and .gov sites, but few users explored them directly.
AI overviews were more common in longer, question-based searches and typically ran about 67 words. Despite their prevalence, most users still leave Google without engaging with cited sources—reshaping how people access online information.
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