Google reviews and AI: what Gemini, Ask Maps and ChatGPT do with your reviews

Your reviews are no longer just read: they are summarised

In October 2024, Google started showing review summaries written by Gemini in Maps, to convey at a glance what people like about a place. The rollout started in the United States, and Google announced AI-powered review summaries in Search as well¹.

In March 2026, Google went further with Ask Maps, a conversational mode: you ask a complete question, and Maps answers it. To do so, it analyses information about more than 300 million places, including reviews from its community of more than 500 million contributors². Ask Maps is rolling out first in the United States and India².

Customers are adopting it

In BrightLocal's 2026 survey of American consumers³:

• 45% use ChatGPT or another generative AI tool to find a local business, up from 6% a year earlier: it has become their third source of recommendations;
• 82% read AI-generated review summaries, and 23% would be happy to rely on them alone to decide;
• 40% trust AI platforms to recommend a business.

On the expert side, the Whitespark 2026 survey estimates that reviews account for 16% of visibility in AI search answers⁴. This is an expert estimate, not a figure from Google.

What this changes for you

What your reviews say matters as much as their rating

A summary picks up recurring themes: "quick service", "waits at weekends", "pleasant terrace". A complaint that recurs from review to review is likely to end up in it. Hence the value of fixing the cause, not just replying.

Volume and freshness remain the foundation

An AI can only summarise well what it has to read. And Google writes that more reviews and positive ratings can help your business's local ranking⁵. See how to get more reviews without breaking the rules.

Your information must be accurate

Ask Maps answers precise questions: opening hours, atmosphere, amenities. A complete and accurate profile gives it what it needs to answer correctly; take stock with our 10-point checklist.

And your replies?

Google doesn't say that its summaries take owners' replies into account, and we won't claim it. Your replies are, however, read by your customers: 89% of consumers expect business owners to respond to reviews³. And they affect the reviews that follow: responding to negative reviews improves the ratings of subsequent reviews, according to a study of hotels⁶.

What ReplyTop does

ReplyTop replies to every one of your Google reviews, in the customer's language and picking up what they wrote, so that no review goes without your reply.