AI Asked — The questions people ask AI. The answers journalism verifies.
For more than two decades, searching the internet usually meant typing a few words into Google and choosing from a list of links. That model is changing. Google now puts AI-generated answers inside Search, while ChatGPT and other AI assistants can search the web and return conversational answers with sources.
So what exactly is AI Search, how is it different from traditional search, and what does it mean for the future of the web?
What is AI Search?
AI Search is a form of search that combines web retrieval with artificial intelligence to understand a question, gather information from multiple sources and present a synthesized answer rather than simply returning a list of links.
Traditional search is largely built around matching a query with relevant webpages. AI Search adds a conversational layer: the system can interpret the intent behind a question, break a complicated request into smaller searches, compare information and produce an answer in natural language.
Google’s AI Mode, for example, is designed for complex questions and can use a technique Google calls “query fan-out”, conducting multiple related searches across subtopics and sources before assembling a response.
Is AI Search replacing Google?
Not exactly. AI Search is becoming part of Google itself.
That distinction matters. The old idea was “Google versus AI”. The reality in 2026 is increasingly “Google with AI” alongside standalone AI assistants such as ChatGPT and Gemini.
Google says AI Overviews now have more than 2.5 billion monthly active users, while AI Mode has surpassed one billion monthly users. Google also says Search queries reached an all-time high in the quarter preceding its May 2026 announcement.
That does not mean every search has become an AI conversation. People still search for websites, products, maps, news, videos and specific services. But the boundary between “search engine” and “AI assistant” is becoming much less distinct.
Why are people changing the way they search?
AI is particularly useful when a question is complicated, comparative or difficult to express as a few keywords.
- “What is an AI agent and how is it different from a chatbot?”
- “Which laptop is better for video editing and why?”
- “Explain India’s GST system to me like I’m 15.”
- “Compare these three universities for computer science.”
- “What are the risks of using AI to diagnose illness?”
These are questions rather than keywords. And that distinction is important for publishers.
The science of the changing search behaviour
Research is beginning to show how dramatically the interface can change information-seeking behaviour. A 2026 field experiment comparing people using ChatGPT with people using Google Search found that conversational AI can shift how users select and explore information. The researchers reported lower agency in information selection among the ChatGPT group and poorer outcomes on higher-order learning tasks in their experiment. The study is a warning that convenience and understanding are not always the same thing.
Another 2026 empirical study comparing Google Search, Google’s AI Overviews and Gemini found substantial differences in the sources retrieved by the different systems. It also reported that AI Overviews appeared for a large share of the representative queries in its benchmark, highlighting how much the answer layer can change which websites users see.
The biggest change may be what happens to websites
For publishers, the rise of AI Search creates a difficult paradox: a website may be used to construct an AI answer without receiving a traditional click.
A Pew Research Center analysis of 68,879 Google searches in March 2025 found that users clicked a traditional search result in 8% of visits when an AI summary appeared, compared with 15% when one did not. Only 1% of visits to pages with an AI summary resulted in a click on a link within the summary itself. The study also found that question-form searches were especially likely to generate AI summaries: 60% of searches beginning with question words such as “who”, “what”, “when” or “why” produced one in its dataset.
This is why the future of publishing is not simply about ranking first for a keyword. Publishers increasingly need to become sources that search and AI systems can understand, verify and cite.
What makes a website useful to AI Search?
- Original reporting: information that exists because the publication actually investigated, interviewed or observed something.
- Clear explanations: direct answers to clearly defined questions.
- Primary sources: links to official documents, research papers, government data and original announcements.
- Expertise: named experts and transparent attribution.
- Freshness: important pages should be updated when facts change.
- Strong structure: useful headings, definitions, comparisons and FAQs make information easier for both people and machines to understand.
- Editorial trust: corrections, sourcing and a clear distinction between fact, analysis and prediction.
Google itself has been adding ways for users to discover original and trusted content inside AI Search, including more direct links and features designed to surface original content and preferred sources.
AI Search vs traditional search
| Traditional Search | AI Search |
|---|---|
| Keywords | Questions and conversational prompts |
| List of results | Synthesized answer plus sources |
| User compares pages | AI can compare information |
| One query at a time | Can perform multiple related searches |
| Discovery is often link-first | Answer-first, with links for verification and deeper reading |
Does AI Search mean websites are becoming irrelevant?
No. It makes high-quality original information more strategically important.
An AI system still needs information to retrieve, evaluate and cite. Google’s own description of AI Search continues to emphasize discovering content from the web, while its newer features are designed to help users reach original articles and sources.
The danger is different: if every website publishes the same rewritten version of information already available elsewhere, AI systems have little reason to treat any one of those pages as especially valuable.
Original reporting, distinctive expertise, firsthand evidence, useful data and genuinely better explanations become more valuable.
What does AI Search mean for students, journalists and ordinary users?
For students, AI can make research faster—but faster is not automatically better learning. The emerging evidence suggests users should actively check sources and preserve some independent exploration rather than accepting the first synthesized answer.
For journalists, the stakes are even higher. AI can accelerate research, transcription, comparison and background work, but verification remains a human responsibility. A fluent answer is not proof that the underlying claim is true.
For everyone else, the simplest rule is this: use AI to get oriented, but go to the sources when the decision matters.
The future of search may not look like a search box
The most important shift is not that AI can write answers. It is that the interface between people and information is becoming conversational.
Instead of thinking in isolated searches, users can ask a question, challenge an answer, add a constraint, request a comparison and continue the conversation. Google is explicitly building Search in this direction, while ChatGPT and other assistants already make web search conversational.
That creates both an opportunity and a responsibility for journalism. The next generation of search will not simply decide which page appears first. It will increasingly decide which information gets incorporated into an answer.
The GAWAH verdict
AI Search is not the end of search. It is the beginning of an answer-driven web.
For readers, that can mean faster and more natural access to information. For publishers, it means the old race for clicks is being joined by a new race for authority: becoming a source that people—and increasingly AI systems—can trust.
That is the question GAWAH’s new AI Asked series will keep examining: what are people asking AI, what does the evidence actually say, and what should you believe?
Frequently asked questions
What is AI Search?
AI Search uses artificial intelligence alongside web search and retrieval systems to understand questions and generate synthesized answers, often with links to sources.
Is AI Search the same as Google?
No. Google is a search platform that now includes AI-powered experiences such as AI Overviews and AI Mode. Other AI assistants, including ChatGPT, can also search the web.
Can AI Search replace websites?
It can reduce clicks to some websites, particularly when users get enough information from an AI-generated summary. But AI systems still depend on underlying sources, and original reporting remains important for trustworthy information.
Should I trust an AI-generated answer?
Not automatically. Check the cited sources, especially for medical, legal, financial, political or other high-stakes information.
Sources and further reading
- Google: Expanding AI Overviews and introducing AI Mode
- Google: New opportunities, control and insights for website owners
- Google: New ways to explore the web with generative AI in Search
- Pew Research Center: Google users are less likely to click on links when an AI summary appears
- Research: Learning by Chatting? Investigating the Impact of Generative AI on Information Seeking and Learning
- Research: How Generative AI Disrupts Search
- OpenAI Help: Searching the web with ChatGPT
AI Asked is GAWAH’s evidence-led series explaining the questions people increasingly ask artificial intelligence. Facts are checked against primary sources and research wherever possible.
