OpenAI has done something that some people thought would be impossible. The company created an AI-powered search engine called ChatGPT Search, which has been in beta tests for a while now. OpenAI made ChatGPT Search available to all ChatGPT users a few days ago. Until then, only premium users had access to it. ChatGPT Search isn’t quite a Google Search killer, but I’ve started to appreciate it more and more as I use ChatGPT.
As surprising as it might sound, ChatGPT Search is exactly the kind of product a newcomer to the AI online search business can afford to release. Meanwhile, Google, the most likely company to bring AI to online search, doesn’t have the same freedom.
Remember how Bard fumbled its initial demos, causing Google stock to crash? Also, think of the “glue on pizza” AI Overview fumbles that Google had to fix. These are examples that prove Google can’t just add AI to Google Search and hope for the best.
Google Search must provide correct information and be at least as reliable as its hundreds of millions of users expect it to be. AI hallucinations can be a big problem in that regard. At the same time, Google needs to offer users an AI online search tool like ChatGPT Search. Failure to do it wouldn’t look good either.
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That’s probably where Google’s new AI Mode will come in handy.
According to The Information, the AI Mode will be an option in Google Search. That’s a great way to tackle AI for the masses. After all, not everyone out there wants to use ChatGPT or Gemini. Some people will prefer simple searches over chats with an AI bot.
The AI Mode option will reportedly sit at the top of the results page, on the left side of the current menu items like “All,” “Images,” “Videos,” and “Shopping.” That’s a clear indication of how important AI is for Google, but also a hint that it will be an optional way to find information online. No one seemed to appreciate having AI Overviews shoved down their throats, after all.
Tap the AI Mode tab, and you will reportedly get an interface similar to Gemini AI. That also makes sense, considering that ChatGPT Search is actually built into the ChatGPT interface. In fact, ChatGPT Search made OpenAI improve the way ChatGPT works, as the app now displays sources for its searches more prominently than ever.
Press the Sources button in ChatGPT Search, and you get a new menu with links on the right side. Image source: Chris Smith, BGR
When talking to Gemini in AI Mode, you’ll get links to relevant pages, which is to be expected from any Google Search product. The AI Mode will also include conversational answers and a search bar to ask follow-up questions. Put differently, the Google Search experience will feel much more like ChatGPT Search once you start using it.
I will also mention Google’s advantage over this approach. If necessary, you can always switch back to the regular non-AI search results.
It’s unclear how AI Overviews and the AI Mode will work. Hopefully, the latter will replace the former, but that’s just me speculating. Then again, I’m more likely to use ChatGPT Search to search the web than Google Search. Even without ChatGPT Search, I’d still use alternative search engines for my needs.
When is the AI Mode coming? We have no idea, but it has to happen soon, considering that OpenAI just made ChatGPT Search available to the world.
Google has been working on the feature for quite a while. As The Verge reports, 9to5Google found evidence of the AI Mode in a beta version of the Search app on Android.
A few days after that, Android Authority performed its own teardown of the Google Search for Android app, finding the UI for AI Mode. The shortcut worked as described in The Information’s report but was not fully functional. You can check out screenshots at this link.
Since Google is clearly looking to bring AI Mode to Android and iPhone, it’ll be interesting to see how it all works for the mobile Gemini experience. With ChatGPT Search, you get everything inside the larger ChatGPT app, so your other chats with the AI are just one in-app search away. But AI Mode might be separate from your regular Gemini chats.
