There’s now rising proof to recommend that extra individuals are turning to AI chatbots like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, as an alternative of Google Search, to search out info on-line.
Since its launch in 2022, ChatGPT has dealt with over 365 billion search queries yearly at a development price that’s 5.5 occasions quicker than Google Search, which took 11 years to achieve the identical milestone. These figures had been revealed in a current report on AI traits printed by distinguished investor and analyst Mary Meeker.
Broadly referred to as the ‘Queen of the Web’, Meeker boasts of a powerful observe report in accurately figuring out main disruptions within the tech business such because the rise of social media platforms like Fb, smartphone adoption, and so forth.
ChatGPT is catching up in person retention, although it nonetheless trails Google Search in absolute share. (Picture credit score: Bond VC)
Her first report in six years, the 360-page evaluation explores the state of AI and its influence on international behaviour, industries, and financial methods. “We’ve by no means seen something just like the person development of ChatGPT, notably outdoors the US, and it exhibits how the worldwide dynamics of tech and distribution have modified,” Meeker was quoted as saying by Axios.
These figures level to a possible mass deflection away from conventional engines like google in direction of AI chatbots like ChatGPT. It comes weeks after Eddy Cue, a senior govt at Apple, testified within the Google antitrust cures trial that search quantity to its Safari browser (which runs on Google’s search engine) had declined for the primary time in 22 years. Cue’s testimony managed to spook Google mother or father Alphabet’s buyers, sending shares down 7.5 per cent.
Google can also be battling a significant antitrust problem within the US, with the Division of Justice (DOJ) eyeing a possible breakup of its core search and promoting companies. AI featured prominently within the antitrust cures trial towards Google, the place the DOJ basically argued that AI was simply one other approach for Google to increase its unlawful search monopoly.
However, Google has advised that AI is making the net search market extra aggressive as a way to defend itself from the monopoly claims.
Story continues under this advert
Can ChatGPT substitute Google Search?
Whereas AI instruments have seen speedy development, the Meeker report identified that information and web entry could also be key differentiating components within the journeys of OpenAI and Google. When Google was based in 1998, it sought to ‘organise the world’s info and make it universally accessible and helpful’ at a time when web entry was simply rising and smartphones didn’t exist.
At present, AI corporations are in a position to leverage huge quantities of knowledge which have already been digitised and made accessible to be used. “AI is a compounder – on web infrastructure, which permits for wicked-fast adoption of easy-to-use broad-interest providers,” the report famous.
“Due to the rise in low-cost satellite-driven Web connectivity / entry, the potential for the two.6B (or 32% of the world’s inhabitants) that’s not on-line to return on-line is rising. These new customers will begin from scratch with AI performance,” the report added.
Primarily based on information from Morgan Stanley, the report additionally speculated that whereas it took between 6-12 years for 50 per cent households within the US to have entry to cellular and desktop web, it can take solely 3 years for a similar variety of households to grow to be customers of AI platforms.
Story continues under this advert
However even when it looks as if extra customers are choosing AI chatbots and AI-powered engines like google, conventional engines like google may nonetheless have the higher hand (for now). A examine printed by web optimization consultancy agency OneLittleWeb in Might 2025, discovered that the full variety of visits to the highest 10 AI chatbots in 2024 was solely 2.96 per cent of search engine site visitors.
Regardless, Google shouldn’t be precisely sitting on the sidelines. If something, the tech big has doubled down on utilizing AI to reinforce its search capabilities with AI Mode and AI Overviews in Google Search.
Different findings of the report
The report recognized India as a key user-base marketplace for AI corporations, owing to its giant demography and web penetration. It’s the second largest marketplace for ChatGPT, and contributes the highest share of its cellular app customers (13.5 per cent), forward of nations just like the US (8.9 per cent), and Germany (3 per cent).
It additionally highlighted the unprecedented tempo at which AI adoption is rising. As an illustration, it took the likes of Instagram, WhatsApp, and YouTube between 2-4 years to achieve 100 million customers, however for ChatGPT, it took lower than 3 months.
Story continues under this advert
As well as, the report offered inputs on the battle between open and closed AI fashions. Whereas closed fashions resembling OpenAI’s GPT-4 or Anthropic’s Claude comply with a centralised, capital-intensive arc, startups, teachers, and governments with out billion-dollar budgets have entry to frontier AI fashions resembling Meta’s Llama or Mistral’s Mixtral as they will simply be downloaded from platforms like Hugging Face.
“The cut up has penalties. Open-source is fueling sovereign AI initiatives, native language fashions, and community-led innovation. Closed fashions, in the meantime, are dominating client market share and huge enterprise adoption. We’re watching two philosophies unfold in parallel – freedom vs. management, velocity vs. security, openness vs. optimization – every shaping not simply how AI works, however who will get to wield it,” the report mentioned.
“And China (as of Q2:25) – based mostly on the variety of large-scale AI fashions launched – is main the open-source race, with three large-scale fashions launched in 2025 – DeepSeek-R1, Alibaba Qwen-32B and Baidu Ernie 4.5,” it added.