The Impact of LLM Adoption on Online User Behavior – MSI

Working Paper

The Impact of LLM Adoption on Online User Behavior

Nicolas Padilla

London Business School

Tai Lam

University of California, Los Angeles

Anja Lambrecht

London Business School

Brett Hollenbeck

University of California, Los Angeles

Mar 5, 2026

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Analyzes desktop browsing behavior by over one million users during 2022-2023 to determine whether LLMs are a complement or a substitute for conventional search engines.

Topics

advertising Omnichannels & Customer Journey Technology and AI

research recap

Will Publishers Perish? How LLMs Affect Online Search

Early LLMs substituted for traditional search engines, reducing website traffic and ad exposure by 20 percent. Advanced LLMs will accelerate this competition. Publishers must offer high-value, differentiated content to attract traffic. LLMs and search engines need to compensate and incentivize those who create the content that maintains the information ecosystem.

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