The large language model (LLM) that introduced many consumers to the current era of AI chatbots is still a popular source for answers, but other competitors are gaining fast. ChatGPT accounts for half of the “prompt volume” across the chatbot landscape, but Google Gemini‘s share is up to 30% and Anthropic‘s Claude is up to 11%.
Those are the main takeaways from Comscore‘s AI Intelligence Report for the second quarter of 2026. The media measurement firm, which has long published rankings of the most-used online video destinations, is now applying a similar framework to the world of LLMs.
Comscore used an opt-in panel to assemble a respondent base between 500,000 and 1 million users. Among that cohort, ChatGPT’s market share fell 20% over the past half-year, with Google Gemini rising 13% and Claude up 9% during the same period.
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During its first few months, ChatGPT enjoyed explosive user growth as it challenged traditional search engines. But as the LLM reaches its third birthday, consumers are finding reasons to look elsewhere for answers. ChatGPT’s biases have been exposed, and OpenAI’s challenges have led it to shut down video generation model Sora as Google Gemini’s Veo model rises. Gemini has also benefited from the proliferation of its search overviews and partnerships with influential creators like MrBeast.
One particularly big change has reshaped the LLM landscape since the start of the year. Answer engine optimization (AEO) has gone from a curiosity to a preferred marketing strategy that gives brands more visibility in chatbot results.
AEO has a lot of potential, but it also creates noticeable differences among LLMs that used to be more interchangeable. That’s why Michael King, the Founder and CEO of the agency iPullRank, recommended a more targeted approach to chatbot marketing.
“Publishers should stop asking ‘how do we show up in ChatGPT’ and start asking ‘where is our audience actually asking questions, and are we showing up there.’ That means measuring visibility per assistant and weighting it by where your readers are,” King told Digiday. “The fundamentals that get you cited are largely the same across all of them, so a durable strategy is built on those rather than on chasing whichever assistant is winning this quarter.”
Dozens of AEO tools have already popped up, which means that a lot more change is likely coming to Comscore’s rankings. By the time 2027 rolls around, will ChatGPT’s market share dwindle even further? For now, OpenAI can rest assured that it still runs the most used AI chatbot in the U.S.
