Data study · How websites talk about AI
"AI-Powered" in Homepage Meta Descriptions Grew 13 Times Since 2022, but Only 32.5% of Sites Making AI Claims Publish llms.txt
Top-1M homepages describing themselves as AI-powered went from 54 in July 2022 to 720 in October 2026. Of 883 sites with any AI-powered, AI-driven or AI-first style claim, 287 serve llms.txt.
Meta descriptions from top-1M homepages, July 2021 to October 2026 · HTTP Archive
Key findings
- 1
"AI-powered" or "powered by AI" appeared in 54 top-1M homepage meta descriptions in July 2022 and 720 in October 2026, 13.3 times as many.
- 2
Any AI capability claim (AI-powered, AI-driven, AI-based, AI-first, AI-native or AI-enabled) rose from 0.016% to 0.173% of descriptions, 10.8 times the 2022 rate.
- 3
"AI agent" and "agentic" went from 0 descriptions in July 2022 to 282 in October 2026.
- 4
"Machine learning" moved the other way, from 109 descriptions in July 2021 to 61 in October 2026.
- 5
287 of the 883 homepages making an AI claim (32.5%) serve llms.txt, and 111 of 812 with a readable robots.txt (13.7%) restrict at least one AI crawler.
Summary
Picture a marketing agency that adds "AI-powered" to its homepage description. So does the agency down the street, and a payroll app, and a dentist's booking tool. The phrase that once signaled something new is turning into wallpaper.
We tracked AI capability claims in homepage meta descriptions across 11 HTTP Archive crawls since 2021. These are the summaries sites give search engines, so they show how companies choose to describe themselves.
"AI-powered" grew from 54 descriptions in mid-2022 to 720 in October 2026. Yet saying AI and being ready for AI search are different things: only 32.5% of sites making an AI claim publish llms.txt, and some restrict the very crawlers that power AI answers.
What we measured
We used the HTTP Archive mobile crawl in BigQuery (httparchive.crawl.pages) for top-1M homepages in 11 crawls from July 2021 to October 2026 and read the meta description from the wpt_bodies metric. We matched phrases case-insensitively: AI-powered, powered by AI, AI-driven, AI-based, AI-first, AI-native and AI-enabled count as AI claims; we also tracked AI agent or agentic, with or using AI, ChatGPT, and machine learning.
For October 2026 we joined claims with llms.txt and robots.txt data from the same crawl. Title tags are not part of this study.
AI claims climbed every year after 2022
Share of meta descriptions with an AI capability claim.
% of meta descriptions
| Crawl | Homepages with a meta description | With an AI claim | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 2021 | 629,181 | 90 | 0.01 |
| Jul 2022 | 571,417 | 92 | 0.02 |
| Jan 2023 | 595,541 | 126 | 0.02 |
| Jul 2023 | 595,993 | 233 | 0.04 |
| Jan 2024 | 556,791 | 290 | 0.05 |
| Jul 2024 | 541,608 | 387 | 0.07 |
| Jan 2025 | 533,752 | 504 | 0.09 |
| Jul 2025 | 530,304 | 647 | 0.12 |
| Jan 2026 | 528,563 | 767 | 0.15 |
| Jul 2026 | 518,989 | 910 | 0.18 |
| Oct 2026 | 509,883 | 883 | 0.17 |
Source: aisearchoptimization.net analysis of Meta descriptions from top-1M homepages, July 2021 to October 2026 · HTTP Archive
The share was flat around 0.015% through 2022, then rose in every crawl. The October 2026 count dipped slightly from July 2026, 883 against 910, so growth may be leveling off.
The vocabulary shifted from machine learning to agents
Phrase counts, July 2022 vs October 2026. A description can contain several phrases.
| Phrase | Jul 2022 | Oct 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| AI-powered or powered by AI | 54 | 720 |
| AI-driven | 18 | 74 |
| AI-based | 14 | 17 |
| AI-first or AI-native | 0 | 71 |
| AI agent(s) or agentic | 0 | 282 |
| with AI or using AI | 20 | 552 |
| ChatGPT or GPT-n | 6 | 239 |
| Machine learning | 87 | 61 |
Source: aisearchoptimization.net analysis of Meta descriptions from top-1M homepages, July 2021 to October 2026 · HTTP Archive
AI-powered remains the favorite by a wide margin. Agent language went from none to 282 descriptions, while machine learning keeps fading.
Claiming AI is not the same as being ready for AI search
October 2026. Sites with a readable robots.txt only for the crawler columns.
| Group | Sites | Serve llms.txt | % | Readable robots.txt | Restrict an AI crawler | % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Homepages with an AI claim | 883 | 287 | 32.5 | 812 | 111 | 13.7 |
| Homepages mentioning AI at all | 6,314 | 2,241 | 35.5 | 5,875 | 816 | 13.9 |
| All top-1M homepages | 772,412 | 110,188 | 14.3 | 630,161 | 62,308 | 9.9 |
Source: aisearchoptimization.net analysis of Meta descriptions from top-1M homepages, July 2021 to October 2026 · HTTP Archive
AI-claiming sites adopt llms.txt more than twice as often as average, but two thirds still do not. About 1 in 7 restrict at least one AI crawler, somewhat above the 9.9% average. Saying AI on the homepage and being easy for AI tools to read are separate jobs.
What this means
If your homepage says AI-powered, check that AI assistants can actually read and recommend you. That means AI search crawlers allowed in robots.txt, clear facts about your services on crawlable pages, and consistent information about your business across the web. Those same basics drive Perplexity SEO, which relies on live crawling to build its answers.
The phrase alone no longer differentiates. Specific outcomes do: what the customer gets, how fast, and for whom. Whether ChatGPT and other assistants can find and quote you today is the real test, and our free AI visibility audit runs it as the first step in ChatGPT SEO.
Limits
English phrases only; claims in other languages are missed.
Phrase matching cannot tell a real product feature from marketing language.
The top-1M sample changes between crawls.
robots.txt counts are Disallow lines per user agent and may cover only part of a site.
Meta descriptions only; homepage body text and title tags were not analyzed.
Embed this research
Add the charts from this study to your page. The embed links back here.
<iframe src="https://aisearchoptimization.net/embed/data-studies/ai-powered-claims-homepages" title="'AI-Powered' Claims on Homepages Grew 13x Since 2022" width="100%" height="720" style="border:0" loading="lazy"></iframe>
Cite this study
APA
Grenyo, K. (2026). 'AI-Powered' Claims on Homepages Grew 13x Since 2022. AI Search Optimization. https://aisearchoptimization.net/resources/data-studies/ai-powered-claims-homepages
Plain link
'AI-Powered' Claims on Homepages Grew 13x Since 2022 - AI Search Optimization - https://aisearchoptimization.net/resources/data-studies/ai-powered-claims-homepages
Frequently asked questions
How common is 'AI-powered' on websites?
720 top-1M homepage meta descriptions used AI-powered or powered by AI in October 2026, up from 54 in July 2022.
Is the growth of AI claims slowing?
Possibly. AI capability claims reached 910 descriptions in July 2026 and 883 in October 2026, the first dip in the series.
Do sites that claim AI optimize for AI search?
Some do. 32.5% of AI-claiming homepages publish llms.txt, more than twice the 14.3% average, but most do not.
What AI phrase is growing fastest?
In relative terms, AI agent and agentic: from 0 meta descriptions in July 2022 to 282 in October 2026.
Related studies
See where AI search leaves you out
Run the free AI visibility audit. If you want the fixes done for you, the plan is a flat $299/month.