Since its launch in November 2023, ChatGPT has not stopped making people talk, and not only for its overwhelming ability to maintain fluid conversations with users.
One of the most frequently asked questions that arose after its arrival was how the OpenAI chatbot – and those that other companies have been perfecting in the following months – was going to change the way we search and ask questions on the internet.
That is, if Google Search, which until now had an almost absolute monopoly on web searches, was going to be replaced.
In Spain, it is the most popular search engine by far: 96% of users use it, 91% globally.
Despite having been the only tool for decades – so much so that in common language it is common to replace the word search with
– in recent times users have begun to question its effectiveness.
One of the reasons is the amount of sponsored content, spam or low-quality websites driven by search engine optimization techniques, which, however, has undermined their credibility, according to a recent study by German researchers.
In this scenario, it is not surprising that several alternatives already present on the market are beginning to be tested, including Gemini, the artificial intelligence (AI) model that has replaced Bard, the chatbot that Google hastily launched to compete with ChatGPT.
Some of the younger users, who belong to generation Z, have started looking for answers even on TikTok.
So what chances does Google actually have of being replaced?
Do AI chatbots work as well as search engines?
Search engines with AI
Those who want to remain loyal to Google will find their natural heir in Gemini, even though the company insists on the idea that the two tools are independent and respond to two different needs.
The model, which has officially replaced Bard since the beginning of February, has a website and an application (although the latter is not yet available in European Union countries).
The chatbot allows all the searches that were normally intended for Search: from the meaning of a word, to the weather in a city, to current events or food recipes.
Microsoft's Bing also allows advanced searches thanks to the implementation of ChatGPT.
The tool, which was first introduced under the name Bing Chat and has since been renamed Copilot, can be accessed from the Microsoft Edge browser by selecting the AI plugin icon in the toolbar.
A probably lesser-known option that is gaining recognition is Preplexity, a one-year-old startup that was created by engineers who worked on artificial intelligence research at OpenAI and Meta.
Specialists in the field speak highly of this tool online, which has even received funding from Jeff Bezos, president and founder of Amazon.
Due to the results it offers, its interface and the ability to cite sources - if you ask a question about a current event, in addition to providing a written response, it allows you to click on news from web newspapers - it is probably the one that most resembles Google Search.
https://t.co/5lHQAVzZhb and its app have definitely replaced my google usage for now.
It's pretty incredible.
— tobi lutke (@tobi) December 28, 2023
Like Search, these services can be used without paying, as they have free versions that work well, although with some limitations: for example, the number of queries that can be made or they stop working if the traffic volume is too high.
To get rid of these restrictions, users can choose to subscribe.
Gemini, Copilot and Perplexity have launched premium programs for $20 per month (the same price as ChatGPT 4, the most advanced version of OpenAI's chatbot).
Perplexity's response to the Velencia fire. Clara Ángela Brascia
How to use them
Instead of typing a series of keywords, as is customary on Google, queries in AI search engines are more useful if they are asked as a question, especially when they begin with the formulas “what is” or “how to do.”
Perplexity advises using natural, everyday language, and allows, through the “Discover” tool, access to popular queries—normally linked to current news—that other users have made.
Like ChatGPT, these search engines allow you to ask again or refine the search if the answer provided is not sufficient.
Copilot also gives the possibility to choose between three different conversation styles: more creative, more balanced or more precise.
The biggest difference with respect to Google Search is that while the results of the latter are a list of links to different web pages - including sponsored content, which is creating so much commotion and confusion lately - AI chatbots provide a single response in the form summary of all the information they have been able to collect.
However, this aspect is probably also the most problematic, as it raises doubts about the veracity of the information.
To work, these artificial intelligence platforms analyze extensive groups of data collected from the Internet, called large linguistic models, and subsequently apply algorithms to produce logical answers, although not all of them explain the process by which they reached these conclusions.
The response of Gemini, Google's generative AI tool, on the 'Koldo case'.Clara Ángela Brascia
Furthermore, even when they provide the source of the information – a tool present only in the paid version – these are usually random.
Asked about the
Koldo case
, in which the former PSOE minister José Luis Ábalos has been implicated, ChatGPT answers with three paragraphs of 250 words that have been written from two articles from two different newspapers, very distant due to their editorial line.
If you try to regenerate the answer, the second result turns out to be broader and with more sources (up to four different newspapers).
On the other hand, Gemini provides a summary with keys to the case and an update on the day of the search.
At the end of the text it proposes a series of links to expand the information, although in some cases they are YouTube videos from content creators.
To view the sources of the answer it is necessary to click on the Google icon: in this way, the sentences that have been generated from some articles appear underlined.
Copilot's response is the most concise of all - it only has 150 words - but at the same time it is the one that has consulted the most sources: each statement has been extrapolated from a different news item, and at the end of the text more content related to The issue.
Perplexity is the search engine that has provided the worst results to the question “what is the Koldo case”.
The first response says that this is a court case, but without more information on the subject, it is not able to provide precise details.
Then he quotes the footballer Koldo Aguirre Bidaurrazaga;
Koldo Larrañaga, a hotelier who was convicted of the murders of the lawyer Begoña Rubio and the businessman Agustín Ruiz;
and finally Koldo García, advisor to former Minister Ábalos.
Unlike Gemini and ChatGPT, Perplexity has not been able to formulate a response regarding the current case that is hogging the pages of the newspapers.
The response of the Bing chatbot, Copilot, on the 'Koldo case'.Clara Ángela Brascia
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