3 years of ChatGPT: how AI changed the way we inform ourselves

Three years ago, before the launch of ChatGPT, if someone needed to fix a leaky tap or understand what inflation is, they would usually do one of three things: type the question into Google, look for a step-by-step video on YouTube or scream desperately for help to Alexa.

Today, millions of people start the other way: they open ChatGPT and simply ask what they need to know.

As a professor and director of Research Impact and AI Strategy at Mississippi State University and a researcher in information retrieval, I see this change in the “first tool” people use to search for information is the epitome of how ChatGPT has transformed the everyday use of technology.

3 years ChatGPT and the change in search

The biggest change is not the disappearance of other tools. ChatGPT has become the new gateway to information.

Just a few months after its launch on November 30, 2021, ChatGPT already had 100 million weekly users.

At the end of 2025, this number reached 800 million. This makes it one of the most used consumer technologies on the planet.

Research shows that this use is not just curiosity – it reflects a real change in behavior.

A 2025 Pew Research Center study found that 34% of adults in the US have already used ChatGPT, practically double the share in 2023. Among adults under 30, the majority (58%) have already tested the tool.

An AP-NORC survey shows that about 60% of U.S. adults who use AI say they turn to it to seek information, making it the most common use of AI technology. Among those under 30, the number rises to 74%.

From search engines to ChatGPT

Traditional search engines are still the backbone of the online information ecosystem, but the type of searches people do has changed measurably since the arrival of ChatGPT.

People are switching tools when taking the first step.

For many years, Google was the default for everything from “how to reset my router” to “explain the debt ceiling.”

These basic informational queries accounted for a huge share of search traffic.

But it is precisely these quick, clarifying questions, like “what does this mean” that ChatGPT now answers more quickly and cleanly than a page full of links.

And ChatGPT is displacing Google

And people noticed. A 2025 consumer survey showed that 55% of respondents now use OpenAI’s ChatGPT or Google’s Gemini AI chatbots for tasks they would previously ask Google Search for, with even higher rates in the UK.

Another analysis, based on more than 1 billion search sessions, found that traffic from generative AI platforms is growing 165 times faster than traditional searches, and around 13 million adults in the US have already adopted generative AI as their main tool for discovering things online.

This doesn’t mean that people have stopped “Google it”, but that ChatGPT has brought to its attention the type of questions in which the user prefers a direct explanation to a list of links.

Curious about a policy change? Need a definition? Want a polite way to respond to an uncomfortable email? ChatGPT is faster, sounds more conversational and gives a greater sense of a “definitive” answer.

Google tries not to fall behind ChatGPT

At the same time, Google is not standing still. Search results are no longer the same as three years ago, because the company has now incorporated its Gemini AI system directly at the top of the page.

The “AI Overview” summaries that appear above traditional links now instantly answer many simple questions – sometimes accurately, sometimes less so.

In any case, many people don’t even scroll past this AI-generated summary. This, added to the effect of ChatGPT, helps explain the increase in so-called “zero-click searches” – searches in which the user does not click on anything.

A report based on data from Similarweb showed that Google traffic to news sites fell from more than 2.3 billion visits in mid-2024 to less than 1.7 billion in May 2025, while the share of news-related searches ending in zero clicks rose from 56% to 69% in one year.

Google Search is very good at pointing to a wide variety of sources and points of view, but the results can seem polluted and designed more for clicks than clarity.

ChatGPT, in turn, delivers a more focused and conversational response, which prioritizes explanation over ranking.

On the other hand, ChatGPT’s response may lack the transparency of sources and multiplicity of perspectives that often appear in a Google search.

In terms of accuracy, both can make mistakes. Google’s strength is in allowing the user to compare multiple sources.

ChatGPT’s accuracy depends largely on the quality of the command and the user’s ability to recognize when a response needs to be checked elsewhere.

Smart speakers, YouTube and the ChatGPT effect in 3 years

ChatGPT’s impact has gone beyond search engines. Voice assistants, such as Alexa speakers and Google Home, continue to have high adoption numbers, but this rate has dropped slightly.

A survey of voice search statistics from 2025 estimates that around 34% of people aged 12 and over have a smart speaker, compared to 35% in 2023.

It’s not a dramatic drop, but the lack of growth could indicate that more complex questions are moving to ChatGPT or similar tools.

When someone wants a detailed explanation, a step-by-step plan or help with writing a text, a voice assistant that responds in a short sentence starts to seem limited.

YouTube is still huge. As of 2024, the platform has approximately 2.74 billion users, with steady growth since 2010.

Among teenagers in the US, around 90% say they use YouTube, making it the most used platform in this age group. But the type of videos people look for is changing.

Today, many people tend to start with ChatGPT and only then go to YouTube if they need the additional information that a step-by-step video offers.

For many everyday tasks, like “explain my health benefits” or “help me write a complaint email,” people ask ChatGPT for a summary, script, or checklist.

They only go to YouTube when they need to see a physical process happening.

You can see a similar pattern in more specialized areas. Software engineers, for example, have long turned to sites like Stack Overflow for tips and code snippets.

But the volume of questions began to drop sharply after the launch of ChatGPT, and one analysis suggests that overall traffic fell by about 50% between 2022 and 2024. When a chatbot can generate a snippet of code and an explanation on demand, fewer people waste time typing a question in a public forum.

After 3 years of ChatGPT, where has this taken us?

Three years later, ChatGPT did not replace the rest of the technological “arsenal” – it reorganized that arsenal.

The default search has moved. Search engines remain the go-to tool for deep dives and complex comparisons.

YouTube continues to be the way to see real people doing real things. Smart speakers remain useful for their hands-free convenience.

But when people need to understand something, many now start with a chat conversation, not a search.

That’s the true ChatGPT effect: it didn’t just add another app to our phone – it silently changed the way we start looking for information.

This article was originally published on the academic portal The Conversation and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.