AI isn’t quite transforming standard Google searches just yet

Generative AI like ChatGPT and Google’s own Bard have taken the world by storm since their introduction a mere 7 months ago, and the reach of AI has touched everything from art to music to customer service and search engine tech. Forced to react to what a force like ChatGPT could mean to its search business helped kickstart Google to quickly launch their Search Generative Experience in search results; an attempt to infuse standard search with AI-driven results right from the search page.

However, the popularity of this admittedly-powerful tool seems to be a bit less than what we all expected. An ongoing Twitter poll conducted by Greg Sterling (via Search Engine Roundtable) shows that approximately half of the respondents (48.8%) are using Google SGE less frequently now than when it first debuted.

The Poll

As of the current results, only 9.1% of participants stated they are using Google’s SGE more often now, with another 9.1% reporting their usage has remained unchanged. Notably, almost half of the respondents reported that they’ve decreased their usage, and the remainder haven’t had access to it yet. These results are part of a week-long survey that has about 9,000 views, so this isn’t the largest data set in the world. But it does feel telling.

https://twitter.com/gsterling/status/1677398252575158272

This info also aligns with reports showing a decrease in the download rate of the ChatGPT app and an overall drop in traffic for OpenAI’s service. Could it be that the allure of generative AI in the consumer space is waning? Was this all just a fad? Or is there more to this story?

Generative AI and Search

Despite the initial enthusiasm, the decrease in usage of AI-driven search tools like Google SGE and ChatGPT may suggest a bit of resistance by consumers to adapt to new ways of doing things. After all, it isn’t that odd for new tech to explode upon release, only to settle into more steady use once the novelty wears off a bit.

I think we can all agree that there’s no denying the potential of generative AI technology, especially in search. It offers the possibility of making search more intuitive, conversational, and efficient; and it is a massive step forward from the traditional keyword-based approach that often requires a bit of guesswork and even a little luck from the user.

But people tend not to like change. Even the most useful of innovations can take time to be fully integrated and accepted by consumers. And that’s what I’d read into these poll results; the decreased usage of generative AI search might reflect the normal cycle of early excitement, testing, and a more-gradual adoption of a new technology.

As consumers become more accustomed to interacting with these new AI systems, their usage is likely to stabilize and maybe even grow. The flexibility, nuance, and depth that generative AI brings to search simply can’t be denied, and as it all continues to improve, the value proposition will only strengthen.

Maybe the real takeaway here is that while generative AI has massive potential to transform the search experience, it may not fully replace traditional search methods in one fell swoop. Instead, they may coexist for a long time, offering users a more diverse array of tools to find the information they seek.

In the end, it’s all about delivering people a toolkit to navigate the massive amounts of information available to them on the web. Generative AI is a new-but-potent part of that toolkit and, despite current usage trends, its future in search is happening one way or the other. What it all ends up actually looking like in the end is the real question.