There are now 3 great reasons to switch from Google Search to ChatGPT Search

(Image credit: OpenAI)

Google Search has become so synonymous with finding information online that to Google something has become a widely recognized verb. Pre-2002, there were several popular search engines to choose from, including Yahoo, AOL, and Ask Jeeves. However, not long after, Google emerged as a clear and dominant winner of "The Search Engine Wars," and to this day is seen as the gold standard for internet searches (sorry Bing).

Or is it?

AI chatbots like ChatGPT or Perplexity are changing the way many search online and make for a compelling change of scenery following twenty-some years of Google Search dominance. Asking LLMs like these what the best Sci-Fi movie of 2024 is replaces Google's wall of blue links and blurbs with something more akin to asking somebody who collects Star Wars figurines what's on their Netflix watchlist.

While completely impersonal, this way of searching the net at least feels impressively so, with answers tailored to whatever additional context you present. Is this the future of online searches? Maybe.

Admittedly, Google has entered the realm of AI searches itself with the new AI overview feature. However, its appearance is currently limited to more simple queries, effectively replacing the "top box" of results with something not always that much more helpful.

So, if you're yet to give these AI-powered alternatives a try, here are a few compelling reasons to give ChatGPT Search a spin, starting off with something timely and topical:

3. ChatGPT Search is free and no longer requires an account to use

One of the luxuries of Google Search is that you can simply load up the Google homepage and get straight to work, if not by launching straight into a search query directly from the address bar.

Well, here's some good news: from today, you can access ChatGPT Search with a similar level of ease by heading to ChatGPT.com, through desktop or mobile apps, for log-in-free access to OpenAI's new way of surfing the information superhighway without cost or subscription. You can even adopt ChatGPT Search as your go-to search engine from the address bar using this handy Chrome extension.

2. You can search for answers, not for options

Certain Google Search results are often little more than SEO (search engine optimization) leaderboards that websites will perpetually refine and tweak to appease the Google bots that crawl them for keywords more than the people that read them for information.

AI search options like ChatGPT Search cut the fat, and the click-bait, returning with an actual answer to whatever it is you find yourself in need of — or quickly highlighting the absence of one, saving you time spent scouring article after article for information that may not yet be available.

1. Diving deeper into topics is made easy

"Googling" something paints the image of simply rapping your fingers along the right keyboard inputs and hitting enter, only to be immediately presented with the exact information you need and being on your way. However, in the real world, we're all well aware that Googling something is actually a process of refinement and elimination as you juggle between comparing product A to product B, or following a slow daisy chain of information down an endless rabbit hole in search of a specific query.

Don't get me wrong, it does the job (eventually). However, AI options like ChatGPT Search just get you there faster. Thanks to the natural language interface of LLMs like ChatGPT and Perplexity, searching is like having a conversation with the internet at large. Comparing two things is as easy as simply asking the question, and more complex queries are often solved on the first prompt, leading to fewer hours spent digging through the comments of long-dead Reddit threads in an attempt to diagnose that weird computer hitch.

It's great, but it's not perfect.

While AI search options clearly have their benefits, Google still reigns supreme when it comes to things like image searches or Google Maps navigation. And if you're on the hunt for your next purchase, then AI searches will often be better suited to supplemental information rather than direct recommendations.

While AI hallucinations are still haunting the wider stretches of LLMs like ChatGPT, newer and more powerful models reduce these risks, and it's not like Google hasn't had hallucinatory issues of its own, with the Search Overview feature originally launching under some controversy after offering (since fixed) recommendations that its users eat glue or turn their washing machines into chlorine gas chambers.

Still, this new frontier of Search is an impressive one, and it's well worth checking out if you haven't already. While we've highlighted ChatGPT Search in particular, Perplexity stands as another fantastic all-around option. For those who want to take things a step further, Arc Search offers AI search built directly into their mobile web browser for a simpler and more natural way to search with AI while browsing the internet.

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Rael Hornby, potentially influenced by far too many LucasArts titles at an early age, once thought he’d grow up to be a mighty pirate. However, after several interventions with close friends and family members, you’re now much more likely to see his name attached to the bylines of tech articles. While not maintaining a double life as an aspiring writer by day and indie game dev by night, you’ll find him sat in a corner somewhere muttering to himself about microtransactions or hunting down promising indie games on Twitter.