With Google maintaining a dominant 90.48% of the search market share as of August 2024, many of us are accustomed to relying on it for our everyday searches.
OpenAI, however, aims to shake things up with its latest release: ChatGPT Search. This AI-powered search engine delivers real-time information, from sports scores and stock prices to weather updates, as OpenAI recently announced.
If you’d like to give ChatGPT Search a try, here’s a detailed guide on how to replace Google with ChatGPT Search across some popular browsers.
Getting Started with ChatGPT Search
Before proceeding, note that only ChatGPT Plus subscribers currently have access to web search functionality.
For those eligible, OpenAI has made it convenient to set up ChatGPT Search as a primary search option on many browsers, enhancing search experiences with AI-driven responses and timely information.
How to Set Up ChatGPT Search in Google Chrome
Thanks to OpenAI’s dedicated extension, integrating ChatGPT Search with Google Chrome is straightforward. Simply download and install the ChatGPT search extension for Chrome, and it will handle the setup automatically.
This process makes ChatGPT Search your new default search engine, effectively replacing Google.
Also Read: OpenAI announces GPT-4o and I don’t think you need ChatGPT Plus
For users who prefer to keep Google as their primary search engine but still want easy access to ChatGPT Search, there’s a way to create a site search shortcut.
By doing so, you can initiate searches directly from Chrome’s address bar using a specific keyword. Here’s how:
- Go to Chrome Settings.
- Select Search Engine from the left menu, then click Manage search engines and site search.
- Under Site Search, click Add and enter the following:
- Name: ChatGPT
- Shortcut: Use “@chatgpt” or your preferred shortcut.
- URL: Enter “https://chatgpt.com/?q=%s” and click Add.
Once set up, you can search with ChatGPT by typing “@chatgpt” followed by your query in Chrome’s address bar. For instance, “@chatgpt weather in New York” will automatically engage ChatGPT Search.
Using ChatGPT Search in Microsoft Edge
Since Microsoft Edge also uses the Chromium engine, it can support the ChatGPT search extension. However, Microsoft may initially block attempts to change from Bing to ChatGPT, displaying a warning message.
You can bypass this by clicking the Turn On button to set ChatGPT Search as your default.
Alternatively, like Chrome, Edge allows for non-default search engines. Here’s how to add ChatGPT Search as a shortcut in Edge:
- Open Settings in Edge.
- Go to Privacy, Search, and Services.
- Scroll to Address bar and search, click Manage search engines, and then Add.
- Follow the steps used for Chrome to complete the configuration.
Using ChatGPT Search on Safari, Firefox, and Other Browsers
Unfortunately, setting ChatGPT Search as the default search engine on Safari and Firefox is not yet fully supported.
Safari limits default search options to five pre-set providers, which does not include ChatGPT. Likewise, Firefox requires search providers to develop specific extensions for integration, and currently, no official ChatGPT extension is available for Firefox users.
For browsers based on Chromium, such as Vivaldi, ChatGPT Search can still be added to the list of search engines.
By navigating to Settings > Search > Search Engines in Vivaldi, users can manually add ChatGPT Search as outlined above and even set it as the default search engine.
While the ChatGPT search extension may not directly change the default engine on Vivaldi, this manual approach provides a viable workaround.
Conclusion
Replacing Google with ChatGPT Search offers an exciting, AI-enhanced way to explore the internet. Whether you fully switch to ChatGPT Search or use it as a secondary option, this guide provides the steps to set it up on your browser of choice.
As you experiment with ChatGPT’s capabilities, you might find it becoming your preferred tool for discovering information. The real question is, once you’ve experienced the power of AI-backed searches with ChatGPT, will you ever go back to Google?
