Is AI Simply an Advanced Version of a Search Engine?
Yes.
But not quite.
Asking this question in the first place presents a fundamental misunderstanding of what AI is meant to do versus what it is used for. Most people use it as a researching tool. They ask it a question and it gives them an answer. To get this answer, it searches through extensive databases faster than any human could, assembles information in a proper order, sorts it into a readable format, and delivers it all within seconds. So it searches using a coded engine to deliver results. At face value, it does sound like a search engine. But the reality goes much deeper.
How AI Really Works
If you type a question into Google, and look past the AI summary, you will get a list of links to websites which might be able to answer that question. This is not how search engines are meant to function. You aren’t literally supposed to Ask Jeeves a question, you’re supposed to load a search engine with Keywords. Search engines take every word typed as a separate query and piece them together. By inputting a full sentence, you are searching for every word in that sentence without different contextual weight.
Despite this, you will still get answers. This is more due to the nearly infinite amount of information available on the internet. Everyone has talked about anything that can be talked about on the internet at some point, somewhere. It’s just a matter of finding it. Keywords are used to bring the most important results to the top where they are the easiest to find. Have you ever gone to the 10th page of a search and still did not find your answer? If so, then you may need to update your keywords to find it.
If you ask a question to a Chatbot, such as ChatGPT, it does not do the same thing. Instead of keywords, AI models use Natural Language Processing (NLP). They know the language. They don’t pick each word out and search for instances of them together or apart, they can read what you write and parse it into language the same way we all learned to talk through pre-school and kindergarten. Then, rather than fetching pre-existing results, it uses a vast database of contextual knowledge to create an answer. It knows enough words to respond rather than simply showing the set of words that are the closest match to what was asked.
Form Versus Function
Asking a Chatbot something has more in common with asking a Person who just happens to know a lot about whatever topic you bring up to give you an answer. They’ll use their own words, and if you ask them to answer in a different way, they can. A human acting like a search engine would take your question, go to a library and bring back a few books that are related to your question. Your answer might be in one of them, somewhere. They could give you a chapter or page number at the most. LLMs like ChatGPT have already read those books and can summarize them for you.
So this is how it works, but that’s not entirely what AI is meant to be used for. It can be. People use ChatGPT to answer for them on tests and exams and even job interviews. It’s become an endemic issue because the functionality exists. These are problems that exist due to user input, the model is functioning exactly how it should. In these cases, people would be better off using an actual search engine, or at the very least asking for sources to be cited along with whatever answer is given so they can learn for themselves.
Part of what makes AI so appealing to most users is the straightforwardness which was, fittingly, meant to be solved with optimized search engines. Getting answers from a search engine can be seen as harder because it doesn’t answer questions. You essentially have to learn a new way of talking to communicate with traditional search engines because they can’t understand grammar or sentences or contextual language. AI can, and is improving on its abilities every day. Some models can even detect sarcasm and respond with it if necessary.
Will AI Replace Search Engines?
Search engines still have their uses, if they are used correctly. Keyword searches can deliver results that AI might miss. If you need something specific and describe it to AI it could find examples of that thing, or add to your description, or maybe help you name what that thing is. But if you are just looking for a quick Amazon link, just type the keywords loosely and you can search through the results yourself. It’s not one step back, it’s one to the side. AI is on a different path than search engines.
Combining the two tools together can offer greater benefits in the long run. We already see search result summaries and overviews, collecting the basic data on a given topic in one or two paragraphs for a quick skimming read. Then the top search results offer longer, more complex answers from forums or discussion boards or specialist websites where more details can be gained. You can depend on AI for some broad strokes and search engines for the specifics. Both are vital for research and learning in the modern age.
Can I Still Use AI As A Search Engine?
Yes. But, it’s not better. It’s just different enough to work for most people. Older generations were typing full sentences into Yahoo and AskJeeves and whatever Microsoft had before Bing because that’s how they learned to talk to people. Now AI can simulate a proper response to those words without the need to learn keyword based queries or SEO categorization. It’s two methods for two different kinds of results, but when put together you can still get the best of both.
Home > Blog > Is AI Simply an Advanced Version of a Search Engine?