When to use and when not to use AI web search

If you've interacted with the likes of Claude, ChatGPT, and Gemini, you've noticed that in addition to everything else they do, these AI chatbots can search the web for you. Depending on what you’re looking for, it can be easier to find more relevant results through a chatbot, which may explain why Google is so keen to push AI Mode for its own search engine.

When asked to search the web, the latest versions of these bots are combining elements of traditional web search (they're essentially just googling on your behalf) with knowledge they are able to pull out of their training data. Everything is then packaged and formatted in the now-familiar, polished generative AI style.

It's the added AI elements on top of the traditional googling where the differences come in, and that means AI-powered search may not always be the best option.

If you're looking up something simple and widely known—like the height of the Empire State Building—then AI search is a pretty safe bet. Not only is information like this easy to access online, the “autocorrect” probability patterns favored by large language models mean there's a near-certain chance that the results you see will include the right information.

If you just need a quick look-up, AI is OK. The more obscure the question, though, the closer you need to look at the answer. If you've asked something less well known, like the fifth-billed actor in an obscure television show, there might only be one or two references to it on the web, and an AI might choose the wrong one.

AI searches will usually get basic trivia right.Courtesy of David Nield

One of the takeaways from recent Stanford University research is that when AI finds an accurate source, it's very good at pulling the right information out of it. Where it tends to fall down is in not finding accurate sources (either because there aren't any or because the query has been misinterpreted) and presenting a confident answer anyway.

AI search is also helpful when you have a complex query that a standard Google search wouldn't be able to parse: "I need to know the best restaurants in San Francisco for a family of five who want to spend no more than $200." AI is able to query and collate multiple sources in response to a search like this, and then present a well-synthesized answer. A traditional web search would give you a list of blue links that most probably just rank San Francisco restaurants by more basic criteria.

Again though, sources are crucial. AI bots have never been to San Francisco or eaten there. They are relying on public accounts on the web, written by people who have. Where there are no exact page matches, they'll look for related words (like "affordable" or "family") and generate an answer.

AI searches often work well when multiple sources need to be combined.Courtesy of David Nield

For queries where there's lots of information online, like San Francisco restaurants, AI web search can feel incredibly useful. For less popular destinations and more specific requests ("dining tables shaped like stars"), you need to be more careful with the results, as the way that AI joins the dots then becomes less reliable.

So, with the caveat that you should always do some kind of double-check, AI web search works best for common queries that are likely to lead to a lot of accurate, up-to-date information online. In both the way they process search queries, and package together and synthesize answers, AI chatbots are a significant upgrade on googling.

The way generative AI bots and LLMs are put together means they work best when paraphrasing, synthesizing, and summarizing. But these processes can also introduce mistakes. If your search needs precise details (like a celebrity quotation, a report stat, or a device specification), a traditional Google search may work best.

Heading to Google and searching the old way is also likely to be better if you want full control over the sources used. Offloading web searches to AI is convenient, but you're relying on them to interpret your search correctly, find the right sources, and then extract accurate information from those sources. It saves time, but it's more opaque.

AI search gives you an answer—but is it using sources you trust?Courtesy of David Nield

If you know the websites you trust most for technology news, for example, you can prioritize them in a traditional web search in a way that AI might not be able to. Researchers from UC San Diego have found that AI web searches will sometimes pick sources because they're more relevant to the query, rather than because they're ranked as more authoritative.

That means a personal blog might get chosen above a professional health care site if the AI deems it to be a closer match to what the user is actually searching for. This is a choice that you would be much less likely to make when scanning a traditional list of results, as you'd typically pick the one you trusted the most.

Other areas where traditional searching still wins out are for breaking news (there can sometimes be a lag in the timeliness of the data AI pulls up) and for high-stakes searches where you absolutely cannot make a mistake—searches related to health, the law, or your finances, for instance.

For answers that could land you in jail, you may be best doing more of the research yourself.Courtesy of David Nield

If you do feel like an AI approach is needed, be sure to double- and triple-check the sources the chatbot has used, which should be linked inside the answer. If you're in any doubt, you can ask the AI for clarification on where something was sourced from, to make sure it isn't an LLM invention.

Classic Google searches can still turn up false information on the web, of course, but you're in a much better position to discern what's true and accurate and what isn't without a chatbot in the middle. For queries where that's more important than convenience and speed, there's still a place for the old way of searching the web.

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