I was scrolling through X last year when I saw this tweet from Shopify’s CEO:
It made me stop and think: You can Really replace Google with something else, like AI? I eventually grew up with Google. It never occurred to me that one day I would stop using the search giant.
But it made me curious to try. So I decided to stop using Google for a week. Instead, like Shopify’s CEO, I’d use Perplexity (a chatbot-like search engine.) If there are gaps, I’ll turn to ChatGPT or Gemini for help.
For the “experiment”, I installed the Perplexity plugin and changed it to my default search engine. I also downloaded ChatGPT and Perplexity apps on my phone.
I mostly used Perplexity and found that I could do almost everything I did with Google—except for a few specific things, like making a website: search.
In fact, I liked Perplexity better. I haven’t had to deal with ads (at least for now) or complicated SERP features. And I didn’t have to click multiple links to find what I was looking for.
For example, I saw a tweet about Jay Z and had no idea what happened. So I asked and got the answer:
Didymos gave something similar:
If I had done the same thing with Google, I would have to click on an article, hope it was the right result, and then suffer through layers of banner ads.
As a writer and content marketer, I can’t say how enough useful AI abstracts were for research. I no longer have to click and read every search result. I get the condensed version immediately.
Example: I update my article about top trending topics. I’m not that old, but I’m clearly not up to date with most trends. Previously, each update took time because I had to read several articles to get a sense of what was going on. Now, Perplexity solves this for me:
You can do this with ChatGPT as well, but what I like about Perplexity is that you have access to the source of the information. So, in case you suspect that the answer is a hallucination, you can check it by clicking on any of the listed sources. This is much better than having ChatGPT confidently conjure something out of thin air.
In fact, if Perplexity can’t find anything or doesn’t understand your question, it won’t hesitate to tell you:
ChatGPT doesn’t do that enough. Even if he does not know something, he will try to create an effect, some of which are hallucinations.
That’s not to say that Perplexity isn’t hallucinating at all. It just does less of it. For example, I asked why a street in Singapore had the same name as the wife of the Prime Minister of Singapore.
The answer was wrong — she doesn’t have a name. it was just a coincidence. If someone didn’t click on source #2, they would have gotten carried away.
My example: I was reading a book about a Singapore pioneer. The book mentioned Dr Oxley, the namesake of a street in Singapore. I asked Perplexity and it gave me a modern Dr. Oxley:
The same Google search immediately gave me the right person:
Of course, this is because Google collects location data. He knew I was in Singapore and therefore more likely to seek out Dr. Thomas Oxley than a doctor in the US.
Despite the uproar over Google’s data collection, it’s clear that location data is great. With this data, Google knows where you are and can personalize its search results. After all, if you’re looking for the “best Italian restaurants,” you don’t want recommendations halfway around the world. You want the ones in your area.
Here, in my opinion, Google excels and distinguishes itself from artificial intelligence. The AI does not collect location data or know where you are (unless you tell it to.) Therefore, extra steps are required to get the correct results when you ask the AI for local information.
Another example: I was looking to buy an ergonomic mouse. When I asked the AI, it suggested places that were in the UK (Argos):
Instead, Google gave me a list of local places in Singapore to buy from:
Final thoughts
Personally, I’ve mostly replaced Google with Perplexity and use it 90% of the time. A clean interface, not having to click multiple links and concise answers suit almost all my use cases.
If I use Google, it’s out of habit or because of work (I work in SEO, so as long as people still use Google, I should.)
Perplexity founder Aravind Srinivas writes on Twitter that Perplexity was what Google wanted to be 23 years ago. They just didn’t have the right technology.
Perhaps if we want to predict the future of Google, we should look at where Perplexity is going.
