NEW YORK — OpenAI’s ChatGPT handles approximately one-fifth the volume of search-like queries compared to Google, according to a recent statement from the artificial intelligence company, prompting discussions about how such interactions are defined and measured.
This assertion from OpenAI’s consumer product lead highlights a divergence in methodologies used by different analytics firms to quantify search activity across platforms.
Adam Fry, OpenAI’s consumer product lead for ChatGPT, stated that the AI model counts a “search” each time a user’s question necessitates the platform to access the web for information. Fry noted a shift in user behavior, with initial uses for writing and coding now expanding to include frequent queries requiring up-to-date web searches on various topics, including people, places, things, finance and health.
However, external data from analytics firm Ahrefs presented a different picture in February, estimating ChatGPT’s search volume at around 12 percent of Google’s. Ahrefs defined a “search” based on prompts users would have historically looked up on Google, suggesting a broader interpretation of search intent.
Further data from Ahrefs in October, analyzing traffic referrals across 118,671 websites, indicated Google accounted for 24.74 percent of tracked traffic, while ChatGPT represented 0.36 percent.
Meanwhile, Google CEO Sundar Pichai reported that substantial investments in artificial intelligence were driving Google’s overall search query growth rate to its highest point in five years.
Independent reports from Big Technology, a newsletter by Alex Kantrowitz, indicated that ChatGPT’s weekly active users increased by 20 percent over the last two months, growing from 1 billion to 1.2 billion users.
The contrasting figures underscore a broader debate within the technology industry regarding the metrics used to assess the competitive environment between established search engines and emerging AI conversational platforms.
Source: Search Engine Journal
