Will SearchGPT shake up the Search Engine market and out-compete Google?
OpenAI officially launched their new AI-powered ChatGPT Search Engine, called SearchGPT to compete directly with Google. Whilst Google is the global name in Search with well over 90% market share in most countries, ChatGPT has quickly risen to be the household name in AI information.
ChatGPT has seen a massive spike in users, and while it doesn’t have the resources of Google, it has still become the benchmark brand in the AI-powered information space, making it the default ‘Google’ of this new mode of information gathering (and monetisation).
Demandsage reports that as of October 2024, ChatGPT has attracted an estimated 200 million active users, and the ChatGPT app has been downloaded over 110 million times on both Android and iOS, with the best performing months seeing up to 20 million monthly downloads. In September 2024 the ChatGPT website recorded 132 million visits. These numbers sound great until you put them next to Google stats such as the fact that Google has 4.9 billion users worldwide and manages more than 8.5 billion searches daily and about 255 billion each month.
A more accurate comparison for ChatGPT is to look at the user stats for Google Gemini which is Google’s AI answer to ChatGPT, and the vehicle they are using to try and dominate the AI space and beat ChatGPT in the market.
OpenAI launched ChatGPT on November 30, 2022 and Google followed with their Bard AI being open to the public on March 21, 2023. Nearly a year later Google rebranded Bard as Gemini and has been incorporating it into AI Overviews in Google’s Search Results so as to get in front of its massive global audience via integration across Google services like Android apps, Chrome, and the Google Workspace suite. This is a huge competitive advantage over OpenAI and ChatGPT.
Google Gemini currently receives an estimated 330 million monthly visits globally. Monthly visits reached peaks of over 300 million in the first half of 2024, which is a little over double ChatGPT. When you consider the truly massive global advantage Google has in branding, access and delivery of services, the ChatGPT figures do look quite impressive and Google executives should be concerned that even with all their resources, the Gemini offering might still be considered a ‘me-too’ competitor.
Google projects future AI user growth up to 1 billion users worldwide through continued expansion and integration into more of its platforms. These numbers offer an insight into the potential market share that SearchGPT could erode if successful. Even if Google can dominate through its traditional Search channels, there are still many substantial niches such as creative applications, writing, travel planning, and targeted research where ChatGPT and SearchGPT can maintain and grow its position as first-to-market, and cement its dominance as the original and the best. Google will of course use its gargantuan resources to see that this doesn’t happen.
