OpenAI has launched its new search engine feature dubbed SearchGPT, which integrates its popular chatbot ChatGPT. Some experts believe this could be a game-changer for internet searches, but whether it can compete with Google’s decades-long hold on the market is still up for debate.
Google remains the dominant force in online search, despite efforts to reinvent itself and stay ahead of the curve. The introduction of AI-generated answers at the top of search results and Perplexity AI, an AI-enhanced search engine that has received over $400 million in funding, have raised eyebrows. However, ChatGPT’s integration into SearchGPT offers a fresh alternative.
While some praise ChatGPT’s clean interface and conversational responses as “a helpful friend,” others argue it is still too early to crown it the better search engine. Google’s power lies not only in its comprehensive search results but also in its comfort and familiarity for users.
Experts caution that making ChatGPT your primary search engine “doesn’t make sense just yet” due to its limited means to fetch real-time information and lack of related search suggestions like Google. OpenAI’s SearchGPT is a good starting point, but it falls short of replacing Google as the mainstay for critical tasks.
Instead, OpenAI acknowledges that ChatGPT will not be able to dethrone Google search on its own. The nascent product simply cannot compete with Google’s sheer distribution and comfort among users. As ChatGPT continues to evolve, it may carve out a niche for itself in specific areas of online searching, but for now, it remains a secondary source of information rather than a replacement for the behemoth that is Google.
Source: https://theweek.com/tech/chatgpt-search-engine-google-killer