Last week, OpenAI made waves by launching its highly anticipated search product, ChatGPT Search, sparking talk about whether it could finally rival Google. With Google already integrating AI into its search and facing some hiccups along the way, many wondered if ChatGPT Search might be the “Google killer” everyone has been waiting for.
However, after trying ChatGPT Search for a day, I quickly found myself reverting back to Google. While OpenAI’s search product offers some glimpses into what an AI-powered search engine could one day be, it still lacks the practicality for daily use — especially when it comes to handling the short, navigational queries that people rely on Google for.
The Pros: Impressive AI-Generated Answers for In-Depth Questions
In certain situations, ChatGPT Search shines. For longer, research-based questions — such as “What American professional sports league has the most diversity?” — ChatGPT Search performs well, providing comprehensive answers with links to relevant sources. It’s great for tasks where sifting through ads and SEO-laden articles on Google would otherwise be time-consuming.
In fact, OpenAI’s search tool excels at giving you real-time answers in a clean format. For example, links to the original sources of information are neatly displayed, and the AI-generated text is accompanied by helpful headlines and snippets. If you’re doing deeper research, it’s an appealing alternative.
The Cons: Short Queries Are Where ChatGPT Search Fails
Unfortunately, ChatGPT Search struggles with the types of short, keyword-driven queries that make up the bulk of searches on Google. Phrases like “Celtics score,” “cafes near me,” or “library hours” are tasks Google has been perfecting for years. In contrast, ChatGPT often misses the mark on these, giving incorrect or outdated information.
For instance, when I searched “Nuggets score” during a live NBA game, ChatGPT gave me a score that was both wrong and outdated, while Google showed me the accurate, real-time result. Another search for “earnings today” brought up incorrect information, telling me that Apple and Amazon would report their earnings on Friday — when, in fact, they had already reported the previous day.
On top of that, ChatGPT sometimes produced broken links and hallucinated information. A search for a tech executive’s contact details resulted in a made-up link to their LinkedIn profile, which didn’t work. And when I searched for “baggy denim jeans” in the hopes of shopping, ChatGPT instead gave me a lengthy description of what baggy jeans are — a definition I didn’t need.
These shortcomings made ChatGPT Search feel unreliable for the everyday tasks where Google excels.
Can ChatGPT Search Compete with Google?
Despite its shortcomings, OpenAI is positioning ChatGPT Search as a significant challenger to Google. CEO Sam Altman praised the tool, signaling that OpenAI has big plans to improve it. However, it’s important to remember that Google Search has had 25 years of development, while ChatGPT Search is still in its infancy.
OpenAI acknowledges that short, navigational queries are a weak point for ChatGPT Search. As OpenAI spokesperson Niko Felix noted, “With ChatGPT search, we’ve observed that users tend to start asking questions in more natural ways… At the same time — web navigational queries — which tend to be short, are quite common. We plan to improve the experience for these types of queries over time.”
Why Short Queries Are a Challenge for AI Search
There are two main reasons ChatGPT struggles with short queries. First, it relies on Microsoft Bing as its underlying search engine, which is widely regarded as less effective than Google for these types of tasks. Second, large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT work best when presented with detailed questions. Short prompts like “cotton socks” don’t provide enough context for the model to give a useful answer.
In contrast, Google has become indispensable for navigating the web with short keyword searches. This is something AI search engines like ChatGPT and Perplexity will need to master if they want to become real competitors.
A Valuable Tool, But Not a Google Replacement — Yet
For now, ChatGPT Search and other AI-driven search engines like Perplexity are carving out a niche by surfacing deeper, more detailed answers that might get buried in traditional search results. However, they are not yet ready to take on Google in its strongest domain — web navigation.
Until OpenAI can significantly improve the way ChatGPT Search handles short, everyday queries, Google will remain the go-to search engine for most users. While ChatGPT Search shows potential, it still has a long way to go before it can become the new front door to the internet.