ChatGPT was launched three years ago – and has been delivering one product innovation after another ever since. And that’s despite the fact that Google is actually on the same level technologically.
That is our impression. We have been continuously analyzing the developments since the launch of ChatGPT. We are looking at both the technological change – from the classic search engine to AI systems. But also what the two major players in the market – Google and OpenAI – are doing.
In the podcast episode, we review the developments and look ahead. From our point of view, it will be really difficult for Google to assert itself – precisely because of its great market dominance.
Google SGE could do everything – and was never rolled out
In the conversation, we go back two and a half years to Google’s SGE – the Search Generative Experience – and remember how mature this AI system already was in mid-2023. The SGE combined AI answers with products, prices, reviews and chat functions. All in one integrated search experience. Here is our analysis from back then.
For us, it was clear at the time: This is what AI search will look like. And we were convinced that Google would put OpenAI under massive pressure with it. Especially since OpenAI was a pure language model at the time. The grounding, i.e. the recourse to search and websites, did not yet exist in ChatGPT at that time.
But the SGE was never rolled out publicly. Instead, its strongest elements disappeared – without any comprehensible explanation. Instead, the AI Overviews were rolled out. But the AI Overviews are still only an AI summary of existing websites. Much less than what an AI system does for users. The only thing that the AI summaries have definitely achieved: Traffic has collapsed dramatically for countless websites.
If we test today’s AI Mode, the contrast is also extreme: purely text-based answers, hardly any product integrations, no prices, no images, no depth of interaction. Although Google would demonstrably be able to deliver significantly more technologically, the current form seems like a step backwards.
The only logical reason why Google is so restrained is: The new AI system does not deliver the same returns as the previous search engine. Google Ads have been massively expanded, to the point of being unrecognizably hidden. Today, the old search is, to put it casually, a pure advertising space. But “googling” is not in the dictionary because of the many advertisements – but because you got good answers.
Google is lagging behind – as of now – and at the same time destroying its existing search.
Or is the comeback coming after all? Gemini 3 is technologically celebrated as extremely powerful and already has 650 million users. Open AI has therefore declared “Code Red” (report at t3n).
However: The Gemini Pricing seems like a fire sale. They advertise with discounts and, from our point of view, incomprehensible packages in the form of AI credit points. This is intended to strengthen the entire product cosmos. But will users understand and use it that way?
OpenAI is consistently expanding ChatGPT
From our point of view, it has been clear since the launch of ChatGPT: The ten blue links with websites behind them will be replaced by AI answer systems. They save users a lot of time, are convenient and clearly superior due to their ability to engage in dialogue.
Even in the first few weeks, ChatGPT seemed more mature than Google’s AI Mode is today. There were clear recommendations, an easy-to-read text structure, comparison tables – and that’s despite the fact that no grounding existed at that time. Over the years, this basic principle has been consistently developed. Every day, ChatGPT collects user data, refines conversation, follow-ups and UX – and thus builds a product that is optimized close to real usage patterns.
The grounding last year and the integration of product feeds this year are the next big steps. What is crucial for us is that OpenAI learns in depth: How people research, how they iterate, when they need context, how they make purchasing decisions. Today, you can now buy a product in the ChatGPT app in the USA (
With 800 million weekly active users, it also shows how quickly ChatGPT is catching on. It is still 10% of the world’s population. But numerous functions such as grounding and product integration are only a year or a few months old.
For us, it is clear: ChatGPT shapes the dynamics – and thus also the work on GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) and AI visibility.
At the same time, we always analyze in our workshops and consultations on a model basis. So AI visibility in ChatGPT, Perplexity and AI Mode. The systems ground differently and weight sources differently.
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