How ChatGPT Search compares to Google

ChatGPT’s new search feature, which pulls real-time information from the Internet, positions it as a direct competitor to established search engines such as Googling.

Released on October 31, ChatGPT Search is currently only available to ChatGPT Plus and Teams subscribers (both in the web browser and smartphone app), with plans to roll it out to free and business users in the coming weeks.

Key features of ChatGPT Search

In addition to returning real-time information, the search function also cites the sources, which, when clicked, opens a side menu with a full list of links used to create the answer. There is also a Chrome extension that allows ChatGPT to be used as the default search service in the browser toolbar.

Search currently only works when using ChatGPT 4o and does not work with the older GPT-4 version or the newer o1 preview model.

There’s also a new visual element for certain results; Open AI worked with several news and data providers to provide visual designs alongside real-time information for popular search categories including weather, stocks, sports, news and maps.

Search can also be initiated by clicking the globe or web search icon with the text prompt window. This can be used with previous ChatGPT queries.

In terms of user data, OpenAI says that ChatGPT searches based on your prompts can be shared as “disassociated searches” with third-party search engines like Bing.

CEO of OpenAI Sam Altman seemed confident in ChatGPT’s new functionality by posting to X (formerly Tweet), “search is my favorite feature we’ve launched in chatgpt since the original launch! It’s probably doubled my usage in the last few weeks.”

“I’m cheerfully the first to admit that we ship something that’s not very good, but this time it’s… really good,” he added in a later post.

How ChatGPT Search compares to Google

So how does ChatGPT search, which among other things uses Bing for information retrieval, compare to Google?

One of the main differences between ChatGPT search and Google is the format of search responses. The former returns conversational natural language answers with direct quotes, allowing users to ask follow-up questions within the same context, while the latter presents a list of links to relevant web pages, requiring users to navigate through multiple sources to find information.

In this context, as long as users are confident that there are no hallucinations, ChatGPT can have an edge. Internet users who like to look under the hood and know exactly where their search will lead them may not like the equivalent of an intermediary who explains them and directs them on their way.

Google’s search index includes hundreds of billions of web pages, representing more than 100 million gigabytes of data. During the recent US Ministry of JusticeDuring the antitrust trial against Google, it was revealed that as of 2020, the company maintained an index of approximately 400 billion documents at that time.

By comparison, ChatGPT Search relies on real-time access to third-party search engines, including Bing, and partner content, to provide answers, along with links to relevant web resources, and therefore does not have the same access as Google to the wider internet. In other words, it is less extensive.

When choosing between ChatGPT or Google for search, it will be a trade-off between personalization and scope. ChatGPT allows for follow-up questions and further clarification, while Google’s strength lies in the vast choice of search results it has indexed.

A clear advantage Google has over ChatGPT is its established reliability: it benefits from years of optimization and user trust in delivering accurate search results, while ChatGPT still carries the disclaimer: “ChatGPT can make mistakes. Please check important information.”

In one Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything) session on October 31, Altman said: “For a lot of questions, I find it’s a much faster/easier way to get the information I’m looking for. I think we’ll see this especially for questions that require more complex research is needed.”

He also hinted at the possibility of a future search within ChatGPT that could “dynamically display a customized web page in response.”