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OpenAI says ChatGPT is catching up to Google in search
OpenAI says ChatGPT search volume now equals 20 percent of Google's, according to its consumer product lead, Adam Fry.
Key points
- Fry defined a search as any user query that results in a web search, not tasks like defining a term.
- Fry did not specify the source of the Google search volume figure.
- Fry said ads have not negatively impacted the product or its usage, and OpenAI has an IPO potentially slated for early next year.
Why it matters. If ChatGPT search keeps gaining ground, it could pressure Google's conventional search business, while OpenAI may use ads to reach profitability ahead of a potential IPO.
OpenAI consumer product lead Adam Fry told a press event on Monday that search queries run through ChatGPT now equal 20 percent of the volume run through Google. Fry defined a search as any query that triggers a web search, and he did not say where the Google volume figure came from. For comparison, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said during Google's 2023 antitrust trial that Bing held about 3 percent of the search engine market share.
Latest updates
OpenAI says ChatGPT is catching up to Google in search
In many circles, “Ask Chat” has replaced “Google it,” and that’s reflected in a new announcement from OpenAI: the volume of search queries run through ChatGPT now equals 20 percent of the volume run through Google. Adam Fry, OpenAI’s consumer product lead for ChatGPT, made the announcement at a press event on Monday. He said the company defines a search as any time a user inputs a query that results in a web search, as opposed to tasks like defining a term or a simple how-to explanation. (Fry did not specify the source of the Google search volume number.) Having one-fifth as many searches as Google is still a long way from overtaking it, but for comparison, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said during Google’s 2023 antitrust trial that Bing had about 3 percent of the search engine market share after trying for more than a decade. During the trial, Google described AI as a potential disruptor, arguing ChatGPT was poised to seriously compete with it — now, OpenAI seems to agree. (OpenAI likely uses Microsoft Bing for a significant part of its searches, along with its in-house search index, although there is still some speculation that it routes some queries through Google.) The news comes amid an ongoing search engine shake-up, as Google continues to reduce conventional referrals to third-party sites and invests heavily in AI tools — not just AI Overview but also additional generative.