Google is scrambling to make their search results pages more AI driven, and there is a big reason for that… OpenAI is launching a search engine very soon.
The Rise of ChatGPT
OpenAI’s ChatGPT has taken the world by storm and set off AI-mania with over 200 million monthly users worldwide (1). The have delivered a wake up call to Google and other large tech companies that AI is coming for them and they had better adapt or face a potentially significant loss of visibility. It is no surprise that Google is in the crosshairs of OpenAI, since their largest backer is Microsoft, who could never beat the search behemoth head to head. OpenAI is not hurting for cash as Microsoft invested a reported $10B in them in 2023 (2).
What I have been skeptical about with ChatGPT and other AI platforms such as Claude and Jasper, is that they essentially are doing what Google accused SEO’s of doing, and warned not to, which is to scour the web and aggregate snippets of content from other websites and then repurpose into a separate published post or article. Since no entity can possibly be an expert on everything, that is essentially what they are doing,
In the beginning we saw some annotating of where the content was lifted from, but mostly not anymore. However, I always though that if ChatGPT embraced it and started to deliver search results in their AI summaries they could rival Google. That day is about to come – and it is going to be painful for Google. If suddenly OpenAI is purchased by Google it would be a move that not even the DOJ could ignore any longer.
Google’s Counter Move
To get out in front of the AI craze, Google has been experimenting with inserting AI functionality and features into its search results over the last few months. It began with AI Overviews inserted at the top of the results pages, such as the results in this image.
While this may be helpful to some searchers, to the website’s who have the answer lifted from their content only to be denied the site visit that this search would have led to, it’s not so great. This truth is part of at least one ongoing major class action lawsuit that alleges that Google stole and utilized data from millions of websites to “train” it’s AI platform (3).
Google is now doubling down with new AI features that will roll out soon, including the ability to adjust the AI Overviews, multi-stepping reasoning and planning, Lens search with video, and the one that is going to cause the most furor, AI-organized search results. Basically, Google has dubbed itself information overlord and all website owners are just copywriters and muses for their entertainment. Their advancements would be commendable – if only they were content publishers too. But they are not. Instead of understanding their role as a search engine that drives traffic to OTHER people’s content, they have given themselves the right to steal content and call it technological advancement.
OpenAI For the Win
I have always thought that if ChatGPT just came clean with their propensity for lifting content, and instead embraced it and provided an answer to a question and search results for the content it lifted – no one would have a problem with it. In fact, the ChatGPT model is unique and much different experience than Google’s traditional search results pages. People would flock to it, and Google would finally have a worthy adversary.
It appears that time has come. OpenAI is about to launch its own search engine. Quoting from a Reuter’s Article, CEO Sam Altman posted on X, “not gpt-5, not a search engine, but we’ve been hard at work on some new stuff we think people will love! feels like magic to me” (4). There have been new challengers in the search space, such as DuckDuckGo who have really upped their game, but have posed no real threat to the search giant.
However, this is different. I believe that searchers are really for something new. The fact that ChatGPT and other AI platforms have generated so much interest and acceptance proves that this is may be true. In Google’s attempt to dominate the entire internet, they would do well to getting back to what made them the cream of the crop – simple, clean, and unbiased natural search.
1- https://backlinko.com/chatgpt-stats
2- https://www.fool.com/investing/how-to-invest/stocks/how-to-invest-in-openai-stock
3- https://www.popsci.com/technology/google-ai-lawsuit
4 – https://www.reuters.com/technology/openai-plans-announce-google-search-competitor-monday-sources-say-2024-05-09