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What search engine do you use? (beehaw.org)

submitted 2 years ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Data on search engine market share is available, but I wonder what that looks like for Lemmy users in particular, who I would assume lean more technical than the average user, so probably use DuckDuckGo and alternates more than Google.

I use a mix of DuckDuckGo and Kagi. I'll also use ChatGPT, which can be good if you're careful to verify the answers it gives you as a check against hallucinations. It's useful for short, direct answers without ads or SEO bullshit.

This article on Ars (and if you're not a subscriber, you absolutely should be, as they are the best tech journalists out there) inspired the question: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/06/google-admits-reddit-protests-make-it-harder-to-find-helpful-search-results

Fucking Reddit. Enshittification ruins everything.

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 2 years ago (4 children)

I don't understand why lots of you answer with chatGPT. It's not a search engine! And you shouldn't use it like a search engine.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

If you pay there's an option for chatgpt4 that can use Bing to search. There's also various plugins that can let it interact with all sorts of additional data sources. Not that you should use it like a search engine exactly, but it can be useful for search if you configure it correctly and understand that it doesn't "know" anything.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago

Bing has gpt 4 for free, there's a button for it on bing.com. I do pay for GPT Plus but there's no web search option there for me, I have to use bing for that.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago

I can see a usecase for where you don't know where to start or search with, and then verify with actual searches.

I recently used it to explain for a friend what is the difference between wheat and ale beer, and it gave a very good summary. With DDG I might not get a direct explanation and would need to read a few articles and then word them in a comprehensive way.

[+] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

No it's not. To search is a specific task, and generative AI can't do that. It can fulfill some need that we are used to fulfill by searching the web, but this doesn't mean it's a search engine.

If you lost the key of your car and have access to an AI that can (sometimes) start your can without a key, you can be happy about it, but you still can't say the AI searched the key for you. It can't do it.

Edit: btw, we are talking about generative AI here. I'm not saying there isn't and could not be a search engine that use AI to better its result.

[+] [email protected] 0 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (2 children)

[removed by mod]

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 years ago

That's quite the escalation. This is a reminder to be nice on this instance.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Why do you have to answer like that?

You are linking a search engine based on generative AI, which is a different things than using chatgpt per sè and, as I was saying to another user, I did not know existed.

If you don't like my answer you can simply not comment on that. I don't care if you agree with me or not, be polite

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago

Don't worry, you are in the right: a LLM is not a search engine. You might integrate it into a search engine, but that doesn't make it a search engine.

I mean it's so glaringly obvious it is not a search engine: every time you ask ChatGPT for information it will give you a disclaimer it's database is from 2021 and prior...

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Maybe people mainly search for answers to simple daily life questions or something.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago

I guess, but it's still not a search engine and I think it's a bit problematic if that's the usecase.