Testing OpenAI's New ChatGPT Search Extension: Features, Limitations, and Real-World Performance
Introducing ChatGPT Search 🚀
The world of search just got a whole lot more interesting. OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, just released a new way to search the internet for their Plus subscribers. Instead of the traditional list of links and AI summaries you get from Google, ChatGPT Search promises to give you conversational, AI-powered answers to your questions. This weekend, I finally had a few hours to test it out. What I discovered might surprise you – from impressive conversational abilities to some unexpected quirks that made me question whether the ChatGPT search chrome extension is ready for prime time.
The Chrome Extension Experience
If you're a ChatGPT Plus subscriber, you can install a Chrome extension that turns every new browser tab into an AI search experience.
My initial excitement was high - imagine having an AI assistant ready to answer your questions right in your browser! Here's what it looks like when you open a new tab and ask a question.
However, I quickly ran into a fundamental usability issue:
🤔 It's an all-or-nothing proposition: Once you install the extension, every new tab becomes ChatGPT Search. Want to do a regular Google search instead? I couldn't figure out a way to switch between the two. Have you found a way to toggle between them?
The Irony of Self-Reference 🎯
To test the system, I started with what should have been a simple task: finding ChatGPT's own Chrome extension in the web store.
The result? Surprisingly, ChatGPT Search couldn't even correctly direct users to its own service! The link at the top led to the wrong Chrome extension. If you're not familiar with OpenAI's official branding, you might accidentally install an unofficial extension.
Quick Comparison:
❌ ChatGPT Search: Led to incorrect extension
✅ Google Search: Immediately returned the correct link
Testing Real-World Scenarios 🧪
I put ChatGPT Search through its paces with three different types of queries:
Brand Search Test - Testing with Lorignite brand search (See video below)
Factual Queries: I asked about the pros and cons of Daylight Saving Time. Both Google and ChatGPT Search gave good answers, but ChatGPT had an advantage: you can easily ask follow-up questions, just like in a natural conversation. (Link to the ChatGPT Conversation)
Sports Analysis: I wanted to know which team performs better in nationally televised games - the Colts or Vikings? Neither ChatGPT Search nor Google gave particularly helpful answers. However, when I tried the same question on another AI search tool called Perplexity.ai, the results were much better and included fun visuals. (Perplexity.ai Answer)
Pro Tip: Test ChatGPT Search with queries about your own name or brand first. It's a quick way to gauge the accuracy of information it provides about topics you know well.
What I Learned
After my weekend of testing ChatGPT Search, here's my honest take: While it shows promise, especially for research where you want to ask lots of follow-up questions, it's not quite ready to replace Google. In fact, after publishing this post, I'm going to disable the ChatGPT Search extension, at least for now. That doesn't mean I won't still use the Search capabilities within ChatGPT.
Pro Tip: Don't feel pressured to choose one search tool. Each has its strengths, and it's okay to use different tools for different tasks.
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Your Turn
Have you tried ChatGPT Search? I'd love to hear about your experience in the comments. Are you finding it useful? Have you discovered any tips or tricks for getting better results?
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