The Pulse
OpenAI Says ChatGPT Search Is Roughly 20% of Google’s Volume
OpenAI consumer product lead Adam Fry said ChatGPT’s search-like queries are roughly one-fifth the volume of Google’s. He described how the company counts a search, but did not identify the source of Google’s query total.
AI.info Team · Written with AI · fact-checked ·
ChatGPT’s search volume is roughly one-fifth of Google’s, OpenAI consumer product lead Adam Fry said in a conversation with Big Technology. The interview, published Nov. 3, followed a conversation at an OpenAI-hosted dinner in New York City. Fry described the figure as a comparison of search-like queries, rather than a count of every message users send to ChatGPT.
Fry said ChatGPT’s search volume has grown quickly since the product began offering up-to-date information. He told interviewer Alex Kantrowitz:
ChatGPT’s volume of search-like queries is now roughly one-fifth the volume of queries of Google.
The comparison is an estimate reported by Fry in an interview, not a detailed announcement of a measurement method. The Verge also reported the one-fifth figure and said Fry did not specify the source of Google’s search-volume number.
What OpenAI counts as a search
Fry said a search happens “Every time you ask a question and go search the web.” The Verge described the measure as a user query that produces a web search, rather than a request to define a term or answer a simple how-to question. Under that definition, a conversation can include multiple searches if separate questions prompt web searches. The count is therefore about web-search-triggering questions, not every message sent to ChatGPT.
That definition helps explain what OpenAI is comparing, but the interview does not provide the underlying Google data or explain how its query total was assembled. The Verge noted that Fry did not identify the source of Google’s search-volume figure. The comparison should therefore be read as OpenAI’s approximate estimate, without a disclosed baseline that would let readers independently assess the two totals.
The Verge offered a separate point of comparison: Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said during Google’s 2023 antitrust trial that Bing had about 3 percent of the search engine market share. That figure is a market-share measure, not the same measure as the query-volume comparison Fry described, so it does not establish how ChatGPT’s search volume compares with Bing’s.
From writing help to current information
Fry said people initially turned to ChatGPT for help with writing and coding, activities he distinguished from traditional search. Over the past year, he said, users have also asked about people, places and things that require up-to-date information. He cited finance and health questions as areas where users want current, factual answers and ChatGPT may search the web.
Fry described that use as a shift toward questions people might previously have taken to a traditional search engine. He said a key difference in ChatGPT’s appeal is its ability to retain context across a user’s broader needs. As an example, he described someone asking about the Eiffel Tower while planning a trip to Paris: the assistant could respond to the immediate question while also accounting for that trip.
Search sits inside a growing product
Fry said ChatGPT grew from 1 billion to 1.2 billion weekly active users in 60 days, adding 200 million users over that period. He also reported that voice input and voice conversations together reached 250 million weekly active users. Those figures describe product use beyond search, which the interview treated as one part of ChatGPT’s growth.
For the search comparison, the key measure remains the number of questions that lead to a web search. Fry did not specify the source of Google’s query volume, according to The Verge. The published accounts give OpenAI’s approximate one-fifth estimate, but not the Google figure’s origin.