Is ChatGPT worth the hype? Of course this technology has some brilliant possibilities and a range of applications. So far I have mainly been trying out the Chat GPT chat function to perform searches.
Case Study: I used the Chat GPT free chat function and it appears to be a lot like Google, better in some ways, not so good in others. I decided to search for folk festivals and their contact information so I started by typing in ‘North American folk festivals contacts’. It provided me with a nice list of these. But when I dug deeper asking for a list of folk festivals here in Manitoba, it provided me with several results where a website no longer existed and likely, no longer did the festival if it ever did at all. I went to Google to cross-reference and most of these festivals did not have any references there on the web, which made me wonder how ChatGPT is even getting this bunk information. On the one hand it was cool to pull information together without having to scour site after site for each of their email addresses, as Chat GPT compiled these for me, but on the other hand it took a bit of time having to fact-check the results only once I had caught on that I was being fed bunk information.
Another thing is that the chat only provides you with a handful of search results with no pagination, so if you’re searching for local businesses, you will only see the handful it gives you. You need to keep asking the chat for more options.
Google on the other hand provides the AI search results but continues to have their system of Google map listings and their organic search listings below, which I appreciate the selection when performing a brand search like this. It’s nice to see their reviews and other references on the web in order to help ascertain the credibility of the organization.
Chat GPT provides some really exciting possibilities for research but I wonder where it stands as far as being a replacement for Google? Maybe it’s best not to view it as such but rather as another option in an incredible box of tools.
Try your own search in a chat with ChatGPT at https://chatgpt.com/
