New Delhi, April 3 -- Digital advertising has long revolved around a simple loop: search, click, convert. The rise of AI referral traffic-visits driven by answers from tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Perplexity-is beginning to disrupt that model. For now, the shift is small. AI platforms account for roughly 0.24% of global internet traffic, according to SE Ranking. But growth is accelerating. AI referral traffic, which was at 0.15% in 2025, had risen 1.6 times by January 2026, and is expected to climb further by year-end.

Nearly four out of five AI-driven visits originate from ChatGPT, which generates about eight times more traffic than the next-largest player Google Gemini, according to SE Ranking. Through much of the first half ...