OpenAI says the volume of searches run through ChatGPT has reached 20 percent of Google’s search volume. Adam Fry, OpenAI’s consumer product lead for ChatGPT, shared the figure at a press event on Monday, The Verge reports. OpenAI did not say where it got Google’s number.
The comparison is about query volume, not market share. Fry said OpenAI counts a search when a user’s prompt leads ChatGPT to search the web. Prompts that ask for a definition or a simple how-to explanation do not count under that definition. The company did not provide a breakdown of how it measured ChatGPT searches or whether Google’s figure was calculated on the same basis.
One-fifth of Google’s volume still leaves a substantial gap. For comparison, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said during Google’s 2023 antitrust trial that Bing had about 3 percent of the search engine market after more than a decade of trying. That was a market-share figure, though, so it is not directly comparable with OpenAI’s query-volume claim.
Search is becoming more than a list of links
The announcement comes as Google adds AI-generated answers and other features to search, while OpenAI and other AI companies build search experiences into their products. Fry described OpenAI’s approach as “Intelligent UI”: visual, interactive elements inside a chatbot response. “You’re talking to a canvas,” he told reporters.
OpenAI’s search may rely in part on Microsoft’s Bing and on its own search index, The Verge reports. The extent of that reliance is unclear, and the article notes speculation that some queries may also go through Google. That means the 20 percent figure describes searches made through ChatGPT, not necessarily searches served entirely by OpenAI’s own systems.
Ads are part of OpenAI’s plans
OpenAI is also expanding the way ads appear in ChatGPT. Last month, it announced plans to show images of sponsored products and services, in addition to a company name, logo and link. Fry said ads had not caused lasting backlash and that they had not hurt product use, but those are OpenAI’s claims.
The Verge reports that OpenAI may be preparing for an IPO as early as next year, though it is not confirmed. Ads could be one way for the company to make money from search. The latest announcement gives no revenue figures or evidence about how sponsored results affect the answers people receive.
Why it matters
People who use ChatGPT to search the web may see sponsored product images as well as regular search responses. OpenAI says ads have not hurt usage, but it has not shared figures showing how ads affect results or users’ experience.
