To compete with Google, OpenAI launched ChatGPT Search, its eagerly awaited search tool, last week. Google incorporated AI-generated responses into its primary product early this year, causing some embarrassing hallucinations as a result of the industry’s months-long preparation for this moment. Many people thought that OpenAI’s search engine would be a true “Google killer” as a result of that incident.
However, I quickly returned to Google after using ChatGPT Search as my default search engine for about a day (you can do the same with OpenAI’s addon). In several aspects, OpenAI’s search tool was amazing, and it provided a preview of what an AI-search interface might eventually look like. However, it is still too unfeasible for me to utilize as my everyday vehicle at this time.
Sometimes, ChatGPT Search helped me uncover real-time answers to questions that I would have otherwise had to search through a ton of advertisements and SEO-optimized content. It provides succinct responses in an attractive fashion, similar to other sites in this AI search area like Perplexity and You.com: The headlines and brief excerpts provide a fast reality check on the AI-generated material, and on the right side are connections to the information’s original sources.
But frequently, it just felt unfeasible for daily use.
For the brief, navigational searches that people use Google for the most, ChatGPT Search is unreliable in its current state. The majority of Google searches are less than four words long; these are frequently simply a few keywords that lead to the correct page, usually one that the user is familiar with but doesn’t want to waste time typing out. These are the kinds of searches that most people aren’t even aware they’re doing throughout the day, and Google excels at them.
For billions of people, Google serves as their primary gateway to the internet. Examples of these inquiries include “Celtics score,” “cotton socks,” “library hours,” “San Francisco weather,” “cafés near me,” and others.
There were times when my test run with ChatGPT Search was really annoying, but it also made me realize how many keyword searches I do every day. For the first time in years, I genuinely missed Google Search as I was unable to access information with simple searches.
Don’t get me wrong: Google has become less reliable over the past ten or so years, mostly due to an overload of advertisements, SEO, and dubious AI summaries. Nevertheless, during my test, I kept launching Google in a different window as ChatGPT Search was unable to provide me with the right response or webpage.
Which Would Win, Short Queries Or ChatGPT Search?
To find out how a live NBA game between the Denver Nuggets and the Minnesota Timberwolves was progressing, I typed in “Nuggets score.” At the same time, a Google search showed a Timberwolves score that was 10 points lower than it actually was, and ChatGPT told me the Nuggets were winning even though they were losing.
Another time, I looked up “earnings today” to see which companies were releasing quarterly results that would have an impact on Friday’s stock prices. Although both Apple and Amazon had already released their results a day earlier, ChatGPT informed me that they will be releasing their results on Friday. To put it another way, it created knowledge and had hallucinations.
In a different test, I entered the name of a tech executive to retrieve their contact details. I was sent a synopsis of the individual’s Facebook profile by ChatGPT, along with a fictitious link to their LinkedIn page that, when opened, displayed an error notice.
I once searched for “baggy denim jeans” in the hopes of finding something to buy. I didn’t require a definition of baggy denim jeans, so ChatGPT Search explained them to me and suggested that I buy a beautiful pair on Amazon.com.
Perhaps A “Google Killer” In The Future, But Not Right Now
For OpenAI, this was not a minor launch. Despite his reputation for downplaying the AI capabilities of his firm, Sam Altman complimented the functionality as “really good.” The fact that search is one of the largest industries on the internet and that OpenAI’s version may pose a serious threat to Google, its main rival, may be the reason this time is different.
To be fair, ChatGPT Search is a recent addition, but Google Search has been around for 25 years. According to a blog post, OpenAI intends to enhance the function in the upcoming months in response to user feedback, and it appears that this might be a major area of investment for the firm.
Long, written research inquiries can be satisfactorily answered by ChatGPT Search, to its credit. You can’t simply use Google to find the answer to a query like “What American professional sports league has the most diversity?” but ChatGPT Search is rather adept at scraping several pages and providing you with a respectable response in a matter of seconds. (Perplexity’s search tool has been available for well over a year, and it is likewise fairly good at answering these inquiries.)
The search function feels like a better web browsing interface than ChatGPT’s classic edition, which already included web access. There are now more obvious connections between the information sources that ChatGPT uses; for news stories, ChatGPT will be contacting the media outlets with which it has been entering into license agreements.
The issue is that the majority of Google searches are short queries. OpenAI must enhance these shorter, more useful searches individuals already perform throughout the day if it is to truly replace Google.
OpenAI isn’t afraid to admit that ChatGPT Search has trouble answering brief inquiries.
In a statement sent via email, OpenAI spokeswoman Niko Felix stated, “We’ve noticed that users tend to start asking questions in more natural ways than they have in the past with other search tools with ChatGPT search.” At the same time, web navigation queries—which are often brief—are rather prevalent. Over time, we intend to enhance the experience for these kinds of inquiries.
Nevertheless, Google has become indispensable due to these brief keyword inquiries, and it will continue to be the go-to option for many people until OpenAI improves them.
OpenAI may be having trouble answering these brief questions for a few reasons. The first is that ChatGPT uses Microsoft Bing, which is generally thought to be a worse search engine than Google.
The second point is that these brief prompts might not be a good fit for large language models in general. Since it helps establish a strong statistical pattern for them to follow, LLMs usually require fully written-out questions in order to generate effective answers. For example, they are unaware that nearly all individuals searching for “cotton socks” are attempting to purchase them rather than discover the garment’s origin. Before ChatGPT Search can perform such searches effectively, perhaps some re-prompting is required, which involves running brief inquiries through an LLM as a lengthier query.
Perplexity’s AI search tool is now processing 100 million search requests per week, despite OpenAI’s search product only recently been made available. Although Perplexity has been hailed as a “Google killer,” it encounters the same issues with brief searches.
Aravind Srinivas, CEO of Perplexity, talked about how users utilize his platform differently than Google Search: In a Google search, the median word count is between two and three. It is around 10 to 11 words in Perplexity. It is evident that the majority of Perplexity’s utilization involves users coming in and asking questions directly. However, at Google, you may quickly access a certain link by entering a few key terms.
I believe there is a greater issue than OpenAI or Perplexity are revealing because people are not using these solutions for online navigation. This indicates that ChatGPT Search and Perplexity will not take the place of Google Search for its primary function, which is web navigation.
Rather, by bringing to light information that is lost in conventional search, these AI products are occupying a new market niche. Do not misunderstand; that is valuable in and of itself.
Both Perplexity and OpenAI said they will strive to improve on these quick questions. Neither of these products, in my opinion, can completely replace Google until that time. OpenAI must develop a better front entrance to the internet if it hopes to replace it.