Since Google’s arrival on the internet in 1998, Google Search maintained an exclusive monopoly as the primary gateway for web information queries for over two decades. However, in the face of rapid generative AI development, traditional search engines are undergoing a massive transformation. According to a report published by US-based international news outlet Business Insider, the volume of search-like queries processed by ChatGPT has now reached roughly 20%—or one-fifth—of Google’s total search volume.
Since OpenAI launched ChatGPT on November 30, 2022, user reliance on traditional link-based search results has been steadily declining.
Adam Fry, Consumer Product Lead at OpenAI, confirmed to journalist Alex Kantrowitz of the Big Technology newsletter that search-related queries on ChatGPT are now equivalent to approximately one-fifth of Google’s total search query volume. He also revealed that ChatGPT’s Weekly Active Users (WAU) have reached 1.2 billion
A study conducted by Pew Research Center this year revealed that information retrieval has become the primary use case for AI chatbots. Among surveyed American adults, 42% confirmed using AI primarily to search for information, while 38% reported using it in workplace environments.
Among the surveyed US adults, 44% reported having experience using ChatGPT. In comparison, Google’s proprietary AI chatbot, ‘Gemini,’ had been used by only 24% of respondents. Although Google processes an estimated 5 trillion searches annually, the company declined to offer immediate comment on ChatGPT’s rapid growth in the search landscape.
