ChatGPT relies on Google search for real-time answers, reveals report
The revelation not only exposes a surprising reliance but also underscores the growing complexity of the competition between major players in artificial intelligence and search technology.
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A new report has revealed that OpenAI’s ChatGPT is relying on Google Search to provide real-time answers, despite the chatbot being positioned as a potential rival to the tech giant’s dominance in search.
According to reporting by The Information, ChatGPT does not possess its own dedicated platform to scrape web data in real time, unlike competitors such as Google’s Gemini or Elon Musk’s Grok. Instead, it makes use of a customised tool that draws data directly from Google Search through SerpApi, a paid web-scraping service.
This arrangement allows ChatGPT to deliver up-to-date responses on fast-moving subjects such as news, financial markets and sports—areas where its underlying models are not designed to offer live information. The report notes that Google had earlier denied OpenAI’s request for direct access to its search index, which is widely regarded as one of the most valuable resources for any internet-based service.
The dependency was further highlighted by a demonstration from former Google engineer Abhishek Iyer, who showed that ChatGPT was able to retrieve information from dummy web pages that were exclusively indexed by Google.
During Google’s ongoing antitrust trial, Nick Turley, head of ChatGPT, confirmed that OpenAI had approached Google for access to its index but was turned down. Turley also testified that results sourced from Microsoft’s Bing—another provider tapped by ChatGPT—suffered from “significant quality issues,” underscoring the superior reliability of Google’s search data.
The reliance is especially notable given OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman’s public remarks that he no longer uses Google Search himself. Despite this, OpenAI’s dependence on Google’s infrastructure for ChatGPT highlights the practical challenges of competing with the company in the search business.
Earlier versions of ChatGPT were criticised for being limited by static training data, leaving them unable to answer queries about current events. By comparison, Google’s Gemini benefits directly from its parent company’s search engine, while xAI’s Grok draws information from X (formerly Twitter). This arrangement gives rival platforms a built-in advantage in offering fresh, real-time content.
The revelation not only exposes a surprising reliance but also underscores the growing complexity of the competition between major players in artificial intelligence and search technology.
