No independent survey found while writing this post measures med spa clients who use ChatGPT instead of Google, but the adjacent data is large. BrightLocal's 2026 Local Consumer Review Survey found 45 percent of U.S. consumers used AI for a local business recommendation, up from 6 percent a year earlier. Pew found 44 percent of U.S. adults now use ChatGPT.
AEO, GEO, AI visibility, and AI SEO are four names for the same work: getting a business named and cited inside AI answers. This post uses AEO. Every figure below comes from a survey or platform disclosure found while writing, with the source named in the sentence, and ClinicAds has not estimated any adoption rate of its own. The [plastic surgery version of this question](/blog/how-many-plastic-surgery-patients-research-in-chatgpt) is built on patient research surveys; med spas have a different evidence base, because the client is choosing a nearby business for a repeat service, not a single surgeon for one operation.
Do med spa clients research in ChatGPT instead of Google?
No independent survey found while writing this post measures med spa clients who research in ChatGPT instead of Google. The evidence supports a narrower claim: a large and fast-growing share of consumers now ask AI for local business recommendations, and a med spa is a local business. Treat AI as a second front door beside Google, not a replacement for it.
That distinction matters for planning. A med spa that reads the headline numbers as proof that Google is finished would cut the search and Maps work that still produces most booked appointments. A spa that reads them as proof AI does not matter would miss the shortlist stage entirely.
What does the local-business data show?
BrightLocal's Local Consumer Review Survey 2026, fielded to 1,002 U.S. adults, is the closest independent measure of the behavior a med spa cares about, which is choosing a nearby business. It reports on how consumers find local businesses and how fast AI has entered that mix.
- 45 percent of consumers used ChatGPT or other generative AI tools for local recommendations, up from 6 percent in 2025
- AI is now the third most used source of local business recommendations, behind Google and Facebook
- Google's share as a recommendation source was 71 percent, down from 83 percent in 2025
- The 45 percent covers ChatGPT and other AI tools combined, so it is not a ChatGPT-only number
How many U.S. adults use ChatGPT at all?
Pew Research Center's June 2026 report, based on a February 2026 survey of 5,119 U.S. adults, found 44 percent use ChatGPT, up from 34 percent in 2025. Pew's series runs 18 percent in 2023, 23 percent in 2024, 34 percent in 2025, and 44 percent in 2026. ChatGPT was the most used chatbot, ahead of Gemini.
Pew notes the question changed in 2026: it was asked of all adults and covered other chatbots too, so the year-over-year jump is not perfectly like for like. The direction is still clear. The population a med spa markets to is now mostly people who have used an AI assistant.
What do aesthetics surveys say about online research?
Aesthetics-specific evidence is thinner and mostly measures online research in general, not AI. The American Med Spa Association is cited by Metricus as reporting that 72 percent of med spa patients research treatments online before booking a consultation. The citing article gives no method or sample size, so it is a directional figure.
Perfect Corp's May 2026 Modern Aesthetics Consumer report, a survey of 300 consumers, found 84 percent said AI-generated previews of procedures such as Botox and filler would raise their confidence in trying a treatment. That measures interest in AI visualization tools, not use of chatbots to pick a spa, and the sample is small.
Why is a med spa different from a surgical practice here?
A med spa decision is local, repeatable, and often price-led, which makes it a better fit for AI recommendation prompts than a one-time surgery. A client asking for the best Botox near them, a membership price, or a first-visit offer is making the same kind of request BrightLocal measures. A surgery candidate is usually researching a procedure first and a surgeon later.
The value per client also differs. ClinicAds plans med spa paid media at $28 to $80 per booked appointment and member lifetime value at $120 to $280 per month, so a client who joins a membership after an AI-assisted first visit is worth far more than the single appointment. Those are agency averages, not guarantees.
Why do the adoption numbers differ so much?
The numbers differ because each survey defines the behavior, the population, and the window differently. BrightLocal counts any use of an AI tool for a local recommendation in the past year. Pew counts use of ChatGPT by any adult. The AmSpa figure counts online research of any kind. None of these is the share of a spa's clients who used ChatGPT.
A med spa should never quote one national number as the share of its own clients. The defensible statement is a range with each end tied to its definition: about 44 to 45 percent of adults for ChatGPT use or AI local recommendations in 2026, and a measured figure from the spa's own intake form.
What should a med spa measure and do about it?
A med spa should measure its own position in AI answers and its own client sources before changing budget. National data says the channel is large enough to test. A monthly prompt log for the spa's lead treatments says whether the spa is named, and an intake question says whether it is working.
This sits inside the [med spa marketing](/medspa) system alongside paid media and speed-to-lead, not as a separate service. Paid search and Meta keep running, because nothing in the data supports dropping them.
- Run 10 treatment-plus-city prompts monthly, such as Botox, filler, laser, and memberships, and log every spa named
- Match business name, injector names, address, and hours across the site, Google Business Profile, and directories
- Add a booking question asking whether an AI assistant helped the client choose
- Track member sign-ups from AI-assisted first visits separately for 6 months
What will these numbers look like next year?
The independent trend points up. BrightLocal moved from 6 percent to 45 percent in one year and Pew from 34 percent to 44 percent. Neither is a forecast, and a spa should plan on continued growth without assuming a date when AI overtakes Google.
Rerun the same comparison each quarter. When a new BrightLocal or Pew release moves the range, update the planning assumption, and keep the spa's own prompt log and intake data as the source of truth for its market.
What share of consumers use AI to find local businesses?
BrightLocal's Local Consumer Review Survey 2026, fielded to 1,002 U.S. adults, found 45 percent used ChatGPT or other AI tools for local recommendations, up from 6 percent in 2025.
Is ChatGPT replacing Google for med spa searches?
No independent survey found while writing this post shows that. Google was still a larger recommendation source than AI in BrightLocal's data, at 71 percent versus AI in third place.
How many U.S. adults use ChatGPT?
Pew Research Center's June 2026 report found 44 percent of U.S. adults use ChatGPT, up from 34 percent in 2025, with the caveat that the 2026 question was worded more broadly.
Is there a survey of med spa clients using ChatGPT specifically?
None was found while writing this post. The closest aesthetics figures measure general online research or interest in AI previews, so a spa should measure its own clients with an intake question.
Does ClinicAds sell AEO as a separate service?
No. ClinicAds treats AEO as part of the search visibility system inside its three-system scope, alongside paid media and speed-to-lead, and does not sell GEO, AEO, or AI SEO as separate line items.