ChatGPT vs Google Search: In the head-to-head battle, which is smarter?

If it seems like everything you read online is AI this and AI that, you’re not alone – even if your older relatives probably have no idea what it is or why anyone would care. But artificial intelligence — especially the language-learning kind like OpenAI’s ChatGPT — will become increasingly ingrained in everyday life.

This type of AI is now built into Microsoft’s search engines and browsers. And Alphabet has announced that very soon, its own language learning AI will come to Google’s search engine (which already uses a lot of AI for its algorithms).

Why all the hubbub? preply(opens in a new window), an online language learning/tutoring site, has shown exactly why in its new report on whether ChatGPT or Google is smarter. Note that all of this research was done in January 2023. The field is moving fast, with ads flying in daily from the big companies. (We wonder if a legless Zuckerberg trapped in the metaverse is worried he’s backed the wrong horse.) However, the results found by Preply are interesting for anyone following the space – because the clear winner is the technology that has a significant disadvantage.

To test both, fA’s three-person team analyzed results obtained from ChatGPT and Google for each question and evaluated those responses on various characteristics, including whether the answer is clear, the level of detail it contains, and whether the result is actionable. The team even checked responses for fairness and whether the data included is up to date.

On basic questions, Google outperformed ChatGPT, winning seven out of 12 responses:

(Credit: Preply)

For the 21 intermediate questions, Google can’t take the pressure – it only wins six spots, while ChatGPT wins 15:

(Credit: Preply)

In the seven advanced questions posed to the two services, AI dominates again, winning four:

(Credit: Preply)

The research also took into account the risk, objectivity and time sensitivity for each of the 40 questions. ChatGPT won with a majority in almost all cases, except for fluid time issues, where Google fared better.

When it comes to time-sensitive issues, it’s no wonder that ChatGPT lost – the dataset used for training is only dated to 2021. But, as we mentioned above, this drawback didn’t stop it from beating venerable Google search in general. .

Unsurprisingly, Alphabet is now pushing the Bard hard. OpenAI skills are already showing up in previews on Microsoft’s Bing search engine – Microsoft invested early in OpenAI. In addition, OpenAI-assisted Bing is no limited to data tracked before 2022 – is fully up to date. It even cites sources, something ChatGPT doesn’t (but should). Nor will it be hampered by OpenAI’s slow servers. All of these factors have shaken Alphabet.

To learn more, including a deep dive into several of the questions asked and their results on each platform, read the full report on Preply(opens in a new window).