Why Browsing with AI Isn't All It's Cracked Up to Be: The Great Google vs. GPT Debate
There is a looming question about whether or not Google search is going to survive the new world of AI, and whether or not building content for the purposes of 'search engines' will remain a viable and significant opportunity.
In this post I am going to dive deep into this subject as the buzz has been growing around the live "browsing" capabilities of ChatGPT and the impacts that may have on people searching.
Let's dig into this here..
The Trouble with AI Browsing – The Snail's Pace Dilemma
If you think that AI browsing sounds like a smooth, futuristic browsing experience, brace yourself for a reality check.
One of the major issues with this new plugin is its speed. Or, to be more accurate, its lack thereof. Browsing with AI is SLOW... we're talking snail-on-a-lazy-Sunday slow. The mechanism behind this is that the AI is essentially "scraping" pages – a process that naturally takes time.
When you perform a search using the ChatGPT Browsing BETA active, it shows the progress as the behavior is taking place. Here is an example of what I am referring to.
As you can see, it will show you actions as they are taking place... "Clicking on a link", "Clicked on a link"....and then it will peform the desired task on that particular page. After close to 30 seconds, it returned a summary for me.
Incredibly, and painfully slow.
A preferred option may be just going to wealthyaffiliate.com, and copying the content from that page...and then pasting that into ChatGPT and asking for a summary.
We live in an age of INSTANT gratification, and I am not so sure in its current state or even an improved state, this will compete directly with a Google search.
Why Google Still Reigns Supreme – The Need for Speed (and Cost)!
So, what's the alternative? Well, it's our old friend – Google search.
Google is like that reliable buddy you can always count on to have the latest scoop, the fastest answers, and the most accurate results. Google's search algorithms have been honed and perfected over the years, making it a lean, mean, information-finding machine.
It's not just about speed though. Google's ability to understand and interpret our search queries is second to none. Its sophisticated AI can figure out what we're looking for even when we're not quite sure ourselves. Try beating THAT, ChatGPT!
To Browse or Not to Browse – That Tis' the Question
While OpenAI's attempt to enhance ChatGPT with a browsing function is commendable, it just doesn't hold up against the speed and efficiency of Google's search engine. It's like comparing a tricycle with a high-speed train.
Sure, the browsing function could be useful for some niche uses, but for day-to-day information hunting, Google is still KING...and I don't think this is going to change anytime soon (or as quick as people are indicating it will).
Let's not forget though, efficient AI usage is a skill WE ALL need to develop. Just as we learned to make the most out of search engines, we need to learn how to best use AI tools for our needs.
In the great Google versus GPT debate, Google still has the upper hand. But who knows what the future holds? It's going to be an exciting few years ahead!
Recent Comments
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To be honest, this whole GPT thing has had me thinking "Skynet" and "The Rise of the Machines", since the debate heated up at the beginning of the year. I am an AI-skeptic. 100%.
Okay, our Rise of the Machines may not be as bad as Sarah Connor's nightmares, but we are definitely setting ourselves up for a battle we can never win. Creating "superhumans" is definitely going to leave us obsolete in the near future. I mean who needs Stephen King, Michelangelo, or even Michael Jackson, when you have a computer who can write, paint and sing better than all the world's artists put together?!
Ya ... use AI as a tool to facilitate our work. Same for Google search, do not rely purely on it, utilize other platforms too like Bing, human interactions, books, observe nature, and use our human instincts.
The world is going to be very different from now. Keep learning and embrace the changes to keep pace with the new world to come.
Well said, these are tools that facilitate us in one way or another. AI has really changed the game in terms of the efficiency it can provide us within our businesses, and the integrations that happen with time between AI and conventional processes that we are used to taking "time", will be met with absolute speed and efficiency.
Interesting and exciting times!
I've been playing with this on both ChatGPT and Bard and you are right, it does take forever. It's also less than helpful sometimes and comes up with a lot of stuff that is not particularly useful to your query. Google does that too, but it gives you everything in a long list, so you just scroll to what you want.
That being said, I'm sure the AI will improve rapidly and that is likely to be something we see working better in the future.
It will improve rapidly, but in it's current state and likely in future states it will still be much slower than a search. The computing power require for AI alone is incredible, and when you start layering more and more tech on top of this these requirements go up (and speed comes down).
As you said though, through time this will be faster, more efficient, and more useful.
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Google vs ChatGPT is not a fair comparison, I think. Google AND Bing should be. Bing Chat is using ChatGPT, yes, but way above what the abilities pubic offered directly by using ChatGPT or its plugins because Microsoft has an advantage over that.
I have barely used Google for the last few years - I gave up on it when they manipulated search results for their greed. Google is in trouble Part 3 So this assessment might be faulty, but these are my thoughts.
Yes, Google is strong, but it is not holding the field that strong anymore. Their lame attempt to make their own, called Bard, is not even close.
I just ran the same test on Bing Chat you did. Yes, it took about 23 seconds for me to get the result. It's not fast if you only consider the "click&get" aspect.
But finding accurate information is not only "click&get" on a traditional search engine like Google. It can take minutes, or even longer, to find the real stuff, searching different terms and scrolling through different websites: in the case of Wealthy Affiliate - thanks to us - there are zillions of posts that a person might need to comb through. That is more than 23 seconds.
Bing Chat answered my question regarding Wealthy Affiliate, accurately summarising the point and saving me long minutes, or hours, Google, as a traditional search engine, can not.
Yes, Alphabet puts a lot of money in R&D, but I believe Google wouldn't lead the SE competition if it didn't have YouTube, which is - sadly - the #1 and most used search engine today because people can't read anymore.
Everyone uses the internet differently, and one thing I can tell you is that the older generation still uses Google to find everything...not AI. It will take some time for them to adopt AI, in particular if it is slow and requires sophisticated prompts. I don't think this is a bad thing at all, in fact it plays into our hands nicely...and creates opportunity.
You, like me, are a huge proponent of AI. I am just indicating here that ChatGPT browsing is not going to take out Google search any time soon...and Google Bard is already doing a better job of the browsing side features (it is much better, and faster).
With search, people are looking for a variety of answers and I still find myself using Google search for many things, but of course I am totally vested in AI right now and 99% of my thought is going towards that, it's potential applications, and on a broad scale, the implementations of it here within WA. ;)
On an aside, also think GPT plugins are a big flop in it's current state, and has a "microsoft" feel of it, and that is something that I do worry about a bit with GPT is that the great minds within OpenAI may become influenced by a different line of thinking and inferior one that comes from MSFT. Time will tell on that, but it is good to see they are being very progressive with the platform.
There is A LOT to love about AI, there are going to be mistakes and growing pains along the way, but that comes with the territory of any new tech.
Oh yes, absolutely. I understand that Google has been burnt into our minds even with made-up words like "googling", "googled" etc.
If you separate YouTube and Google, I still believe their SE market share would be dramatically reduced. But again, kudos to Alphabet for buying YouTube from Hurley, Chen and Karim in 2006.
I am not a die-hard Microsoft fan, although I greatly respect Bill Gates, but I prefer Bing to other search engines, and I love my Xbox. That's it because my computers run on Linux or ChromeOS (with Bing).
Yes, I am a big AI supporter, and I can't wait to see what you guys will come up with in that area to be implemented in WA.
Youtube is a different entity than Google in terms of natural search, though people that are looking to learn something are often times heading to Youtube now. In hindsight, that was one of the best acquisitions to date...with Instagram being another one by Facebook.
There are lots of practical application to EVERY business when it comes to AI, it is discovering where and how to leverage it...and then how to implement it within an environment that is easy to understand and that has a clean design.
Prompts are great, but the level of sophistication on the training and prompts side of things that most people have to implement, are not ideal to the average end user. That is where I believe a lot of the opportunity lies within the AI world.
As part of the older generation, Google frustrates me to no end. The results you receive are self serving at best and inaccurate at worst. The results are manipulated to cater to its greed, as Magus said. Even as an old dog, I know when I am being manipulated. BTW, what do you make of this news?
"Dr Geoffrey Hinton, who with two of his students at the University of Toronto built a neural net in 2012, quit Google this week, as first reported by the New York Times. Hinton, 75, said he quit to speak freely about the dangers of AI, and in part regrets his contribution to the field.
Hinton and I are the same generation? (smile)