Open AI unveils its long-awaited answer to search: SearchGPT

BY SIMONE J. SMITH

For all my fellow technology geeks, especially those captivated by the rapid evolution of artificial intelligence, this article is for you. Google has long reigned supreme as the search engine of choice, dominating the digital landscape with its unparalleled reach and influence. However, the tech world is buzzing with the emergence of new technologies that could potentially challenge Google’s dominance. These innovations, fueled by advancements in AI, are poised to offer fresh and compelling alternatives, making the search engine space more competitive than ever before.

Last week, OpenAI unveiled its long-awaited answer to Search: SearchGPT.  The prototype will be rolling out slowly, being made available only to 10,000 test users at launch.

It is a cautious approach that comes as scrutiny into AI search startup Perplexity has been steadily rising. OpenAI was careful to say that SearchGPT will provide users with clear, relevant links to the information it provides.

Yes, SearchGPT has been heralded as OpenAI’s big challenge to Google, Jim Yu, the founder of SEO company BrightEdge, thinks Google’s dominance is too established to break.

One of the key metrics BrightEdge has been tracking for the past 15 years involves referral traffic from different search engines. Google’s share of that market has remained above 90%, even with Perplexity experiencing a 30% month-over-month growth in June.

Part of the reason behind Google’s dominance is muscle memory, but another reason, according to Jim Yu, is its breadth. “One of the things that people underestimate is the sheer number of use cases that Google covers,” he said. “The brilliance of keyword-driven search is it works for everything.”

The breadth of Google Search — its real-time integration with location services, maps and points of interest, for example — makes it a hard beast to challenge. Jim shares that the AI Search startups won’t be able to beat Google at its own game; they’ll have to come up with something new, and in doing so, they could definitely eat away at some of Google’s market share. “Google is still the dominant player. That hasn’t changed, but we see some movement in these different areas.”

“What we’re going to see is the growth of new types of use-cases that are conversational and driven from search,” Jim explains.

Trip planning is a perfect example of one of those use cases that could be won by an AI search engine. As it stands right now, planning a trip involves — at a minimum — dozens of Google searches, but in a conversational interface, hotels, airfare, car rentals and local area research could all take place in one search.

The challenge is that Google has its own AI for search — and it could very likely beat out the challengers on some of these new use cases.

The key for these startups, Jim shares, is “Identifying the areas where AI can really create a fundamentally different kind of search experience where it can win in a way that’s going to be very different from Google.”

“The bigger picture here is that the crown jewel of search for Google has a lot of moats protecting it,” Jim explains, “And so no, I don’t think it’s just going to topple, but I think you’re going to see new use cases, new consumer demand and new engines able to capture and innovate in a lot of those areas.”