This isn’t quite a side by side comparison as these are different tools.
Google can lead you to wikipedia or a website like Efficiency Is Everything that is more detailed and can cite their sources. But Google can also lead you to incorrect answers and SEO Spam.
ChatGPT can combine ideas and give you specific solutions to specific problems. However ChatGPT will give you unwavering confidence despite it being often incorrect.
That said, they are often competing over the solution to our questions. In this study, I look at how long it takes to get information, and how valid the information is.
(Also, any reference of ChatGPT should be replaced with the GPT3 playground when you get used to ChatGPT, with the settings Temperature=0, max length=3000, Show Probabilities= Full Spectrum)
Google: Instant, although someone without ublock origin/adblock might need to time how long it takes to scroll past the ads.
ChatGPT: Minimum 18 seconds. Often ChatGPT’s page never loads. I think this is a poor look, but this may be due to the insane demand they are dealing with. I expect this to be improved. However, this can easily make Google faster in almost every case. To load the page for the first time, it took me 18 seconds of full attention so I could get past the captcha. Once you are in, you are in, until your session times out from inactivity.
Google: 41 seconds. They had 8 items on the page, but I had to scroll down through the blog/SEO spam for ~22 seconds only to find they weren’t cheap. Finally found a reddit post that mostly hit what was needed. 20% accuracy.
ChatGPT: 29 seconds, 50% accuracy.
Winner: ChatGPT
Google: 67 seconds, not quite what I was looking for.
ChatGPT: 22 seconds, and a way better, and tailored answer
Winner: ChatGPT
Google: 31 seconds, was harder to understand, but led you to deeper information
ChatGPT: 23 seconds, had the bonus of being easy to understand
Winner: Calling this a tie, it really depends what you need. I suppose if you didn’t understand the meaning, ChatGPT would win. If you needed to write a paper, Google would win.
Google: 29 seconds, and the first two answers in the SEO spam was not what I was looking for. A casual person making a website might get tripped up.
ChatGPT: 13 seconds
Winner: ChatGPT
(By the way, this is a trick question, this makes water and salts, its a terrible cleaning solution)
Google: First two links were bad chemistry
ChatGPT: 3 of the 4 answers it gave were bad chemistry
Winner: Efficiency Is Everything’s Engineer Michael Kirk
Use both. Different tools for different jobs. If anything is important, you must fact check ChatGPT. I suppose you should do the same with Google given the outcome of this study.
For soft skills, ChatGPT.
For quick answers that are not critical, ChatGPT
For in depth answers or things that need to be correct, both, but using Google as the primary source of information.
For Math, Google, but use a calculator, excel, python, or something.
Last thoughts: Use both. After a few weeks of ChatGPT usage, move over to the GPT3 Playground. I typically set Temperature=0, max length=3000, Show Probabilities= Full Spectrum.