For many years, Google has almost dominated the world of online search. However, a new study from Ruhr Bochum University and the Max Planck Institute of Software System has shown that the emergence of AI chatbot, such as Google Gemini 2.5 or GPT-4o, is completely changing the way humans access information.
According to this study, while Google arranges results based on rankings, popularity and visibility, AI chatbots work in a different direction, going deeper into thousands of little-known information sources, even outside the top one million websites list.
This makes it possible for large language models to exploit data that traditional search engines often ignore.
When the research team conducted a series of multiple-choice tests, from political questions, real-life data to product recommendations, they discovered a coincidence of Google's search results with AI chatbot results of just under 50%.
In particular, in the shopping sector, this figure is still lower than 30%.
Gemini 2.5 tends to get data from low-ranking websites, while GPT-4o prioritizes official sources, such as full-time encyclicals, agency websites, or scientific reports.
Although exploiting from a wider scope, these chatbots avoid using unverified data on social networks, while combining the collected information to consolidate internal knowledge instead of creating completely new ones.
In contrast, Google is aiming for a popular experience, where users do not need to have basic knowledge.
Google's ranking algorithm prioritizes pages with optimization SEO, high popularity, and often filters out of reach that users expect.
This raises a big question: which method is really superior? According to scientists, it is impossible to compare directly, because Google focuses on fast and universal access, while AI chatbot focuses on depth, accuracy and the ability to analyze context.
The study also emphasizes that AI not only synthesizes information, but also understands the content, extracts detailed information from scientific reports or specialized documents without simplifying.
This is an important difference that helps AI chatbot bring depth to knowledge, instead of just listing links as traditional search engines.
As AI continues to develop, researchers believe that there needs to be a new evaluation method to better understand how search engines generate data selection and arrangement.
Because the way we search for information is entering a completely different era, where artificial intelligence is gradually becoming a tool to shape human knowledge.
