Search habits

For a couple of years now, when you search on Google for some things like "where can I...", "who is..." and other such queries, you get a "summary answer /knowledge box" right at the top that gives direct answers.

I guess that highlights the need for quick summaries and direct answers.

So, I think when it comes to some kinds of information search, chatGPT (and other generative AI tools) and Google Search (and other search tools) have the same idea.

Where generative AI beats search tools (beyond no ads) is the ability to pull specific information from specific texts and summarise specific texts/combinations of texts.

On the issue of ads, I don't think it's always as frustrating as people report. Because they are successful. People are clicking on them, that's why people are still posting ads on Google. That's another thing about reported feelings versus actual behaviours