In Search of Better Search: Try ChatGPT

Explain AI in the voice of Dr Seuss:

Ah, AI, my dear old friend, It’s time for us to talk again.
AI is a clever thing, A computer that can think and sing.
It’s not like us, with hair and skin, AI is just a machine within.
But don’t let that fool you, my dear, AI can do some pretty clever tricks here.
It can learn and adapt and grow, And solve problems that we don’t even know.
AI is here to stay, And it has much to say.
So let’s embrace this clever friend, And see what it can recommend.
For AI is here to help us all, In ways both big and small.

It’s not Shakespeare, or Whitman, or even Dr. Seuss. But this poem about AI was created in less than a second by a recently released large language model called ChatGPT. The organization that created ChatGPT, OpenAI, made this application free to the public during this beta phase. (Go here to sign up for free.)

ChatGPT is that next step beyond Google Search. When you type a question into the Google search bar, you get a choice of many links to click on that may or may not answer your question directly.

When you type a question into ChatGPT, you get a single response, which is almost always clear, concise, and grammatically correct, delivered in seconds. Here is an example of what you see in ChatGPT in response to the somewhat complex question: “What is AI?”

I have gotten reasonable and thought-provoking responses to such questions as, “What are the most significant technological advancements since the beginning of time,” “How do I become the best version of myself,” “What does it mean to love another person,” and “What are the most common scenarios for how AI takes over the world”?

Star Trek fans may think, this is essentially the computer on the Enterprise, where Kirk gets immediate responses to answers and commands, verbally. With ChatGPT, all we need is the Siri or Alexa interface and we’re in the 23rd Century.

As many experts have noted, Chat GPT is not perfect. It makes mistakes or makes up information due to limitations, but it does learn fast.

On December 11, I asked it to write my obituary, and it did. But it placed my place of birth in Brooklyn (not Queens), made me “an avid fan of the New York Yankees and the New York Giants,” which I am most definitely not, and married me to someone named Samantha. To OpenAI’s credit, ChatGPT no longer honors requests to write obits as they “do not have access to personal information.”

When I asked the questions “who is the best athlete to exist in the world,” and “what is the best song ever written,” you can tell that there is still a higher level of thinking and defining that needs to take place.

In response to the best athlete question, ChatGPT does provide a caveat before listing five famous athletes, stating that “it is difficult to say who the best athlete ever to exist in the world is, as this is a highly subjective question and can depend on a number of factors….”

ChatGPT goes on to list a few people who are arguably the GOATs of their sport, like Ali in boxing, Jordan in basketball and Bolt in track. But it does not do the more complex reasoning of trying to figure out what if multi-sport phenoms should be included, like a Jim Thorpe or a Bo Jackson.

In response to the best song question, ChatGPT offered up Bohemian Rhapsody, Imagine, Like a Rolling Stone, Stairway to Heaven and Smooth as its top five. I like all of those songs as it fits my age demographic, so I wonder if a much younger or much older person would get a different list, or if most lists of top songs are in English and have a Western bias.

In response to the question “When will the war in the Ukraine end?” it explained that ChatGPT is “not able to provide information about current or future events,” as the model was trained on data up to 2021. The OpenAI FAQs also states that the “ChatGPT is not connected to the internet…” and thus “has limited knowledge of world and events after 2021.”

Regardless, from my perspective, ChatGPT is a gamechanger, and a threat to Google’s lucrative search business, at least in the mid term. Here is how Albert Lin of investment site, “Seeking Alpha,” puts it:

I see ChatGPT as a superior AI product that can organize and deliver information in a more effective way than Google, but not necessarily a potentially bigger search engine that will cause both publishers and advertisers to leave Google altogether. Google by far has the largest search index in the world and, therefore, the most data to work with. It just needs a better way to help users find information in a more relevant and coherent way, in my view. That said, I believe OpenAI has every reason to keep Google on the edge, considering it has demonstrated how search could and should be in the future. In other words, I see an immediate need for Google Search to offer a similar product that makes the overall search experience more conversational and human-like.

ChatGPT is not going to replace Google any time soon – its current version doesn’t provide real-time information available on the Internet, among other reasons. But I imagine OpenAI will open that door in the near future, and we’ll be conversing naturally at length with ChatGPT, or some other similar system, as if that were ever the only way to get information, gain insight, and buy things.

ARTICLE FAQS

1. What makes ChatGPT different from traditional search engines?
Search engines provide lists of links for the user to sort through, while ChatGPT produces a single, coherent response in natural language. This makes information easier to digest but also raises questions about accuracy and completeness.

2. Is ChatGPT always correct?
No. It can generate errors or even invent details because its knowledge is based on patterns in training data rather than direct fact-checking. While often clear and well-written, its answers still require human judgment.

3. Can ChatGPT handle subjective questions like “Who is the best athlete ever?”
It can give reasonable lists and caveats, but it does not do the deeper reasoning needed to weigh complex criteria. Responses often reflect cultural biases and the training data more than definitive truth.

4. Why does ChatGPT sometimes feel limited on current events?
At the time of the writing of this article, ChatGPT’s training data cut off at 2021, and it was not connected to the internet in real time. This means it could not provide up-to-date answers about ongoing situations such as wars, elections, or live sports.

5. Is ChatGPT a threat to Google?
In the near term, ChatGPT challenges the way people expect to receive information by making it conversational. Google still dominates because of its vast search index, but pressure is growing for it to provide a more human-like interface.

6. What is the larger significance of ChatGPT?
It signals a shift toward interacting with computers as conversational partners. While imperfect today, systems like this are pushing us closer to a future where information retrieval feels natural, interactive, and immediate.