OpenAI says ChatGPT now handles one-fifth as many searches as Google

What OpenAI announced

OpenAI says the number of search queries run through ChatGPT is now equal to 20 percent of the number run through Google. In other words, for every five searches on Google, ChatGPT handles about one. As The Verge reported, Adam Fry, OpenAI's consumer product lead for ChatGPT, shared the figure at a press event on Monday.

The claim comes from OpenAI itself, not from an independent count. Fry also did not say where the Google volume figure used in the comparison came from. Treat it as a signal of direction rather than a precise measurement.

What counts as a search

The definition matters here. OpenAI counts a search as any time a person types a query and ChatGPT responds by looking something up on the web. Requests that do not need a web lookup do not count, such as asking for a word's meaning or a simple explanation of how to do something.

That is a narrower definition than "anything you type into ChatGPT," which makes the 20 percent figure more meaningful. It is counting moments when people use the chatbot the way they would use a search engine.

Where the answers come from is not fully clear. The Verge notes that OpenAI likely relies on Microsoft's Bing for a good part of its searches, along with its own search index. There is some speculation that a few queries are routed through Google, but that is not confirmed.

Far from first place, but not small

One-fifth of Google's volume is still a long way from overtaking it. Still, the comparison with past challengers is striking. During Google's 2023 antitrust trial, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said Bing held about 3 percent of the search market after more than a decade of trying.

That trial also gave a hint of how Google saw the threat. Google described AI as a possible disruptor and argued that ChatGPT was positioned to compete seriously with it. OpenAI's announcement suggests it now agrees.

Google is not standing still. It has been sending fewer visitors to outside websites while pouring money into AI features. These include AI Overview, plus personalized results with visualizations and charts. Other companies are building similar AI-first search tools, even if they use different names for them.

A chatbot that draws the answer

OpenAI's name for its approach is "Intelligent UI." The idea is that a chatbot reply is not just text but a visual, interactive layout built on the spot. Fry described the direction this way: "You're talking to a canvas."

If that works, a search could look less like a list of links and more like a small custom app made for your question. That is also why this shift matters to website owners. The more the answer lives inside the chat, the less reason there is to click through to anywhere else.

Ads and the IPO

Money is the other thread. Like Google, OpenAI sees ads as a likely path to profitability, particularly as it approaches an IPO, the first sale of its shares to the public, which could come early next year.

Fry told reporters that ads have not hurt the product or how much people use it, and that most users do not seem bothered by them. Last month OpenAI said it would start showing images of sponsored products and services in ChatGPT. Before that, ads showed only a company's name, logo and a link. Fry said ads may have shown the company it could be doing more with them.

For readers, the lesson is familiar from the search era: when answers come with ads, it is worth knowing which parts are paid placement and which are not.