I was scrolling through X last year when I saw this tweet from Shopify’s CEO:
It made me stop and think: you can Truly replace Google with something else, like artificial intelligence? After all, I grew up with Google; it had never crossed my mind that one day I would stop using the search giant.
But I was intrigued to try it. So, I decided to stop using Google for a week. Instead, like the CEO of Shopify, I would use Perplexity (a chatbot-style search engine). If there are gaps, I will 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 both the ChatGPT and Perplexity apps onto my phone.
I mostly used Perplexity and found that I could do almost everything I did with Google, except a few specific things, like create a site: search.
In fact, I liked Perplexity more. I didn’t have to deal with advertisements (at least for now) or convoluted SERP features. And I didn’t have to click on multiple links just 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:
Gemini gave something similar:
If I did the same thing with Google, I would have to click on an article, hope it was the right result, and then suffer under layers of banner ads.
As a content writer and marketer, I can’t say enough how useful AI summaries were used for research. I no longer have to click and read every search result. I will receive the summary version immediately.
Case in point: I was updating my article on trending topics. they are not That old, but clearly not up to date with most trends. Previously, each update took time because I had to read multiple articles to get an idea of what was happening. Now, Perplexity solves this for me:
You can also do this with ChatGPT, 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 mentioned sources. It’s much better than ChatGPT which confidently creates something out of nothing.
In fact, if Perplexity can’t find anything or doesn’t understand your request, it won’t hesitate to tell you:
ChatGPT doesn’t do this enough. Even if he doesn’t know something, he will still try to create outputs, some of which are hallucinations.
This isn’t to say that Perplexity doesn’t hallucinate at all. It just does it less. 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: it doesn’t bear his name; it was simply a coincidence. If someone hadn’t clicked on source no. 2, he would have been run off the road.
My example: I was reading a book about a pioneer from Singapore. The book mentioned Dr Oxley, the namesake of a street in Singapore. I asked Perplexity and he 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 was more likely to look for Dr. Thomas Oxley than a doctor in the United States.
Despite the controversy over Google’s data collection, it is clear that location data AND important. 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 suggestions from the other side of the world. You want the ones that are in your area.
This is where, in my opinion, Google excels and distinguishes itself from artificial intelligence. The AI doesn’t collect location data or know where you are (unless you tell it to). Therefore, additional steps are required to get the correct results when asking the AI for local information.
Another example: I was thinking about buying an ergonomic mouse. When I asked AI, he 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, no having to click on multiple links, and summarized answers fit almost all of my use cases.
If I use Google it’s because it’s out of habit or for work (I do SEO, so as long as people continue to use Google I’ll have to use it).
Perplexity founder Aravind Srinivas tweets that Perplexity is what Google wanted to become 23 years ago. They just didn’t have the right technology.
Perhaps, if we want to predict Google’s future, we should see where Perplexity will go next.