OpenAI wants to be your next Google — here’s how close it is

ChatGPT and Google Search
(Image credit: Shutterstock)

OpenAI and its ChatGPT platform have been growing by leaps and bounds since launching nearly three years ago. And CEO Sam Altman hasn't been shy about wanting to supplant tech giants like Google.

Altman wants ChatGPT to become as ubiquitous Google, where you use it because it's there and easy to access everywhere.

This is no real surprise as Altman has pitched himself as an AI optimist and leader of movement toward AI adoption. You can see this in a blog post he posted last week called "The Gentle Singularity." It's a fairly vigorous treatise on AI and the coming future.

ChatGPT is already more powerful than any human who has ever lived.

Sam Altman

"In some big sense, ChatGPT is already more powerful than any human who has ever lived," Altman wrote. "Hundreds of millions of people rely on it every day and for increasingly important tasks."

With that in mind, Axios recently obtained information from an internal presentation that appears to show ChatGPT skyrocketing past competitor's like xAI's Grok and Anthropic's Claude.

Sam Altman

(Image credit: Getty Images)

This data shows ChatGPT hitting 5.5 billion monthly views with rapid growth since 2023. Meanwhile, Grok and Claude are closer to 180 million and 100 million visitors, respectively.

To be fair to those companies, Claude is focused more on business uses and Grok only really came to prominence in the last year.

According to Axios, the presentation also featured a similar advantage in mobile users. "ChatGPT's adoption continues to accelerate relative to other AI tools," the presentation allegedly reads.

Where we stand currently

ChatGPT logo on phone

(Image credit: Shutterstock)

In the last few months we've seen more and more information that ChatGPT and other AI tools are chipping away at Google's stronghold. This past February a new study found that people are ditching Google for AI tools because they have better search.

Plus, OpenAI has signed deals with multiple companies including a surprise deal with Google that popped up last week. Right now, ChatGPT underpins Siri's current AI capabilities as Apple struggles to implement better Apple Intelligence features around a stumbling Siri 2.0.

Google Gemini

Google Gemini features

(Image credit: Google)

Like Google did before, we can see that OpenAI wants to lock users into its ecosystem. This means, it wants to make it harder for you to leave; like making ChatGPT your default search engine. It's similar to how most people are unlikely to switch to iOS from Android, or vice versa, once you're deep into the Android ecosystem.

If the numbers are real and people keep flocking to ChatGPT, then it might not be long until Google is on the same level — or just below — OpenAI's tool.

Google isn't going down without a fight. The company's Gemini AI assistant has equally been growing and until Google's ongoing monopoly lawsuits resolve, the company has the advantage in that it can integrate Gemini in products from Android phones to wearables and later this year or next headsets and smart glasses like Samsung's Project Moohan and Xreal's Project Aura.

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Scott Younker
West Coast Reporter

Scott Younker is the West Coast Reporter at Tom’s Guide. He covers all the lastest tech news. He’s been involved in tech since 2011 at various outlets and is on an ongoing hunt to build the easiest to use home media system. When not writing about the latest devices, you are more than welcome to discuss board games or disc golf with him. He also handles all the Connections coverage on Tom's Guide and has been playing the addictive NYT game since it released.

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