Can AI replace Google? An honest answer

The short answer: partly, for some things. Not entirely, for everything.

What Google still does better

Finding specific pages, products, businesses, and current news. If you want to find a specific website, compare prices, read today’s headlines, or find a local business — Google is still faster.

What AI does better than Google

Explaining things. Synthesising information. Helping you think through a problem. Writing, analysing, and preparing.

When you want to understand something rather than find something — AI is usually better.

The middle ground — Perplexity

Perplexity searches the web in real time and synthesises the results into a plain English answer with sources. For many research queries, it’s now my first stop rather than Google.

How my search behaviour has changed

Three tools. Each with a clear lane.

The question isn’t whether AI will replace Google — it’s whether you’re using the right tool for each type of query. For more on this, see ChatGPT vs Google.

— Anna