Last week, OpenAI launched ChatGPT Search, a highly anticipated AI-powered search feature, leading many to wonder if it could challenge Google’s dominance. The release follows Google's earlier integration of AI-generated answers into its search engine, a move that revealed some accuracy issues and prompted speculation about an upcoming competitor.
Using ChatGPT Search, even for a brief period, reveals its potential but also its current limitations. While the feature offers an appealing format with concise responses and easy-to-access sources, it lacks reliability for the types of short, direct queries that are typical in everyday searches. Google excels in handling these quick searches—like “Celtics score,” “library hours,” or “San Francisco weather”—with accurate and immediate results. ChatGPT, however, occasionally struggled to provide correct answers for simple queries, which made it less effective for frequent web navigation tasks.
ChatGPT Search does well when addressing complex, research-based questions. For instance, questions like “What American professional sports league has the most diversity?” can be answered quickly, thanks to the model’s ability to compile information from various sources. This is an area where ChatGPT shows potential, providing relevant insights for complex inquiries that traditional search engines may not handle as smoothly.
Despite these strengths, ChatGPT Search has limitations when addressing brief, transactional queries. For example, when trying to check an NBA score or the latest earnings reports, the results were inaccurate. This limitation likely stems from the model's reliance on Microsoft Bing as a search engine and from challenges that large language models (LLMs) face with short, non-specific prompts. LLMs often perform better when queries are phrased as complete questions, which helps the model form an accurate response based on established patterns. ChatGPT’s responses to simple keywords, like “cotton socks,” may not immediately align with the user’s intent to shop rather than learn about socks.
OpenAI has acknowledged this gap and plans to improve ChatGPT Search, particularly for brief queries. Currently, Google remains the go-to tool for web navigation and quick answers. However, as OpenAI and similar platforms, such as Perplexity, enhance their search engines, they may occupy a valuable niche by surfacing in-depth information often buried in traditional search results.
For now, while ChatGPT Search demonstrates promise, it cannot fully replace Google for general search needs.
