In its early weeks, ChatGPT, the wildly popular artificial intelligence tool from OpenAI, has offered up a potential new model for online search. The chatbot responds to questions about topics such as political science and computer programming with detailed explanations, and its question-and-answer format means users can drill down until they fully understand. Users doing similar research on Google must typically scan search results and peruse various websites until they arrive at their own conclusions. ChatGPT, by contrast, delivers a decisive (or at least decisive-sounding) answer in seconds.
Alphabet Inc.’s Google has been essentially untouchable in search, ...
