ChatGPT Chrome Extension vs. Google: Why I Switched Back

A new report details a user's experience switching back to Google after trying a ChatGPT Chrome extension for search. The user found that while the extension provided AI answers instead of ten Google search result links, it struggled with certain tasks. For example, when searching for a product image and color options, the ChatGPT extension returned three paragraphs of brand history but no images or comparisons. In contrast, Google Images provided the desired results in two seconds. The extension replaces the Chrome address bar with ChatGPT, opening a new tab for each query. This can lead to many open tabs without a shared history, making it difficult to revisit past searches. The user notes that the extension handles multi-step research and conversational queries well. However, it breaks for image search, local results, shopping comparisons, and queries using operators. This shows that while AI search tools offer new ways to get information, they may not yet fully replace traditional search engines for all types of queries.