OpenAI says ChatGPT is catching up to Google in search

In many circles, "Ask Chat" has taken the place of "Google it," and OpenAI says search queries run through ChatGPT now equal 20 percent of the volume run through Google. Adam Fry, OpenAI's consumer product lead for ChatGPT, gave that figure at a press event on Monday, Hayden Field wrote in The Verge's report published Nov 3, 2026, at 6:30 PM UTC. On those numbers, ChatGPT is processing one-fifth as many search queries as Google.

This piece covers how OpenAI decides a query is a search, how the 20 percent claim compares with Bing's share from Google's 2023 antitrust trial, and which indexes those ChatGPT queries likely use. It is for people who search in ChatGPT, for publishers watching conventional referrals from Google, and for readers following OpenAI's ads, Intelligent UI, and an IPO potentially slated for early next year.

01Twenty percent of Google query volume

Fry said OpenAI counts a search any time a user inputs a query and that query results in a web search. Defining a term does not qualify, and neither does a simple how-to explanation. Only queries that produce a web search enter the count OpenAI puts at 20 percent of Google's volume, the same claim as one-fifth of Google's search queries.

Fry did not specify the source of the Google search volume number, so the denominator behind that 20 percent is not named. The numerator is clearer: web searches inside ChatGPT, as Fry defined them at Monday's press event. OpenAI presents the result as query volume, and one-fifth of Google's searches is the scale it claims.

02Three percent share at the trial

Matching one-fifth of Google's searches still leaves ChatGPT a long way from overtaking Google. For comparison, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said during Google's 2023 antitrust trial that Bing had about 3 percent of the search engine market share after trying for more than a decade. The Verge sets that 3 percent share beside OpenAI's claim of search-query volume equal to 20 percent of Google's.

During the trial, Google described AI as a potential disruptor and argued that ChatGPT was poised to seriously compete with Google. The Verge writes that OpenAI now seems to agree. Fry's Monday announcement, with ChatGPT search volume at one-fifth of Google's, is the development that account treats as agreement.

A significant part of ChatGPT's searches likely runs through Microsoft Bing, alongside OpenAI's in-house search index. Some speculation remains that a share of those queries is routed through Google. The report does not say what share of ChatGPT searches goes to Bing, to the in-house index, or to Google.

03Intelligent UI inside chatbot replies

The volume figures land in an ongoing search engine shake-up. Google is still cutting the conventional referrals it sends to third-party sites, and it is investing heavily in AI tools at the same time. AI Overview is part of that push, and so are further generative AI capabilities, including personalized search results with visualizations and charts.

Search queries are increasingly running through OpenAI and other AI labs' services. Other companies are putting money into the same kind of AI-focused search experience, even when they call it something else. OpenAI's name is "Intelligent UI," which means a visual and interactive interface within a chatbot response.

"That's where the future of this technology goes. You're talking to a canvas," said Adam Fry, OpenAI's consumer product lead for ChatGPT, describing Intelligent UI as a visual and interactive interface within a chatbot response, beside Google's personalized search results with visualizations and charts.

04Ads ahead of a possible IPO

OpenAI sees ads as a potential path to profitability, much as Google does, particularly as the company approaches an IPO potentially slated for early next year. OpenAI has defended its ads in the past. Fry told reporters that the ads had not produced a lasting backlash.

"Ads have not negatively impacted the product or the usage of the product," Fry said. He added that "most people do not seem to mind ads in the product." Those two sentences are his account of impact on ChatGPT itself, impact on usage, and whether people mind seeing ads there.

05Sponsored product images in ChatGPT

OpenAI announced last month that it would begin introducing images of sponsored products and services in ChatGPT. The earlier treatment showed a company's name, a logo, and a link to its product. The newer plan introduces images of those sponsored products and services, rather than using only the company's name, logo, and product link.

"Ads have maybe shown us that we could be doing this more, actually," Fry said. In that sentence the "us" and the "we" are OpenAI, and Fry was speaking as consumer product lead for ChatGPT. He made the remark in the wake of last month's move to show sponsored images inside ChatGPT.