Weekly index · week 5 edition

Reddit in AI search: week 5

How much each AI model cites Reddit in its answers, week by week, and where that presence is changing.

This is the week 5 edition, kept as published. See the current edition →

Week 5 · Published ← Week 4 Week 6 →

In short

In week 5, Grok was the model that cited Reddit most, in 52.2% of answers, followed by Perplexity (42.9%). Significant change from the previous week: Google AI Overviews (−6.0 pp), Grok (−4.5 pp), Perplexity (−3.9 pp), ChatGPT (−1.3 pp). Since week 1, the largest drop is Google AI Overviews' (−6.1 pp) and the largest rise is Grok's (+10.6 pp).

In week 5, by model

Share of answers citing Reddit and change from week 4.

Grok 52.2% ↓ −4.4 pp vs. W4 Significant
Perplexity 42.9% ↓ −3.9 pp vs. W4 Significant
ChatGPT 15.6% ↓ −1.3 pp vs. W4 Significant
Google AI Mode 13.0% ↑ +0.9 pp vs. W4 Within noise
Google AI Overviews 6.2% ↓ −5.9 pp vs. W4 Significant
Copilot 0.3% ↑ +0.1 pp vs. W4 Within noise
Gemini 0.1% → 0.0 pp vs. W4 Within noise

Timeline

Weekly presence since week 1. Each panel has its own scale; compare the shape of the curves, not heights across panels. Hollow circles mark weeks with a reduced base; blue markers are events, click to see them.

Google AI Overviews6.2%
scale 0–20%
W1W3W5 Google AI Overviews presence: from 12.3% in W1 to 6.2% in W5.
Google AI Mode13.0%
scale 0–15%
W1W3W5 Google AI Mode presence: from 9.4% in W1 to 13.0% in W5.
Grok52.2%
scale 0–60%
W1W3W5 Grok presence: from 41.6% in W1 to 52.2% in W5.
Gemini0.1%
scale 0–5%
W1W3W5 Gemini presence: from 0.1% in W1 to 0.1% in W5.
Perplexity42.9%
scale 0–50%
W1W3W5 Perplexity presence: from 36.8% in W1 to 42.9% in W5.
ChatGPT15.6%
scale 0–25%
W1W3W5 ChatGPT presence: from 21.1% in W1 to 15.6% in W5.
Copilot0.3%
scale 0–5%
W1W3W5 Copilot presence: from 0.0% in W1 to 0.3% in W5.
Reddit presence by model, weeks 1 to 5 of 2026. Source: data observed and catalogued by First Answer.

All weeks

Week 5 ranking

ModelPresenceWeek change4-week avg.Since W1Change
1. Grok 52.2% ↓ −4.4 pp 48.7% ↑ +10.6 pp Significant
2. Perplexity 42.9% ↓ −3.9 pp 44.3% ↑ +6.1 pp Significant
3. ChatGPT 15.6% ↓ −1.3 pp 18.6% ↓ −5.5 pp Significant
4. Google AI Mode 13.0% ↑ +0.9 pp 11.3% ↑ +3.6 pp Within noise
5. Google AI Overviews 6.2% ↓ −5.9 pp 12.2% ↓ −6.1 pp Significant
6. Copilot 0.3% ↑ +0.1 pp 0.2% ↑ +0.3 pp Within noise
7. Gemini 0.1% → 0.0 pp 0.1% ↑ +0.1 pp Within noise

Presence: share of the model's answers that cite reddit.com among their sources. Changes in percentage points (pp).

Events

Large changes in the series and what is known about them. We only log explanations with a source; when there is none, we say so.

No events logged up to this week.

Method, in short

Source: data observed and catalogued by First Answer. Each week, we measure by model the share of answers that cite reddit.com among their sources and compare it with the previous week. A change is flagged as significant only when it exceeds the 95% margin and is at least 1 pp. Weeks with a smaller-than-usual base are flagged and left out of the comparison.

Limitations

The index measures what First Answer's base observes, not every search made on the models. We do not disclose volumes, questions, topics, categories, brands or clients; only aggregate measures by model. Claude is not included in this series. Explanations under Events come from external sources and state how confirmed they are.

How to cite

Beckmann, R. (2026). Reddit in AI search: weekly index (week 5, Jan 26–Feb 1, 2026). First Answer. https://rodrigobeckmann.com/en/research/indices/reddit-in-ai-search/2026-w05