Google sounded the alarm in 2022, issuing a “code red” as ChatGPT emerged as a potential threat to its search business. Three years later, OpenAI is putting a number on that disruption.

At a Monday press event, ChatGPT consumer product lead Adam Fry said the chatbot now processes search-like queries at roughly one-fifth of Google’s volume. OpenAI counts a search when a user’s prompt triggers a web search, rather than a simple definition or how-to answer; Fry did not disclose the basis for the Google comparison.¹

That is still far from dethroning a company that says it handles 5 trillion searches a year. But it is a striking scale for a product that has become a major alternative for people seeking quick information. For context, Microsoft’s Bing had only about 3% of the search market after more than a decade of effort, according to testimony during Google’s 2023 antitrust trial.¹

The bullish interpretation is that users are actively moving to AI interfaces — and not merely experimenting with them. One account of the shift argues that ChatGPT’s rise reflects a deeper revolt against search pages crowded with SEO-driven links: users were “really, really, fed up with Google search results.”² ChatGPT, despite persistent risks of inaccurate answers, offered a cleaner route to information.

Google’s position is less defensive than dismissive. Alphabet chief executive Sundar Pichai argued last year that the arrival of large chatbots had not stopped Google’s query growth. “It feels very far from a zero-sum game to me,” he said, comparing the moment to TikTok’s rise alongside YouTube’s continued expansion.²

Yet the competitive pressure is already reshaping the web. Google is pushing AI Overviews and more generative search features, while OpenAI describes its own destination as an “Intelligent UI” — a visual, interactive answer layer inside the chatbot. The fight is no longer just over search boxes; it is over who gets to answer first.¹