Do you feel that ChatGPT will be a direct competitor to Google?

YES, I feel it's a worrying competition for Google...I always google my queries/concerns, but now - I just keep my chatGPT tab open and ask AI first before going to Google. The response is pretty apt to me so far without confusing me with multiple answers/responses which is something I like the most about it.

Clearly yes

Unpopular opinion, but I think it's not even close. 1. Google is free. ChatGPT will become paid sooner or later (compute costs are not free!). Sure, tons of people will pay for it, but you can't beat something that offers something similar, without too much of a decrease in quality that's free. 2. ChatGPT sometimes outputs wrong info. Google is not an angel in this department either, but the difference is that google has a wide variety of sources, whereas ChatGPT just outputs one answer. 3. Leading in from 2. The diversity of sources is also a huge boon to google even if ChatGPT is more accurate. If you want to compare a bunch of skincare products with various opinions from various sources, or find obscure posts on fringe websites, ChatGPT can't do that. Google and ChatGPT do entirely different things. Asking if they compete is like asking if Google competes with Micorsoft. Sure, there is Edge vs Chrome, but Microsoft is not in the primary business of being a search engine. Think Google will incorporate AI into their search capabilities for better results, but ChatGPT will never compete against Google (to a large degree) Lastly, going back into diversity of sources, ChatGPT is extremely neutered. This might be a good thing in terms of combating misinfo or hate speech, but it also blocks out political discussion, religion, or adult content (moreover, it might be useful to have access to misinfo or hate speech to track it better). Google allows for all of these. I think there is both space for Google and also other, smaller, AI providers that use less restrictive models or open source ones they host on the cloud and provide via API. If you're curious, I'm developing on myself based on the open source AI model "BLOOM" you can check in my twitter link in bio.

It's an amazing tool, but it's impossible to use it to confirm a fact. It also doesn't allow someone to find communities and people. I believe we'll see a hybridization of chatbots and search engines, but I suspect Google will quickly catch-up and offer that hybrid experience.

ChatGPT will certainly give tough competition to Google if it can build more robust learning models. But Google has been so synonymous with search over the years that breaking the mental model would be tough. Add to that, ChatGPT would have to monetize in the future. This is where competitive advantage of Google lies.

Yes it is. But it can not replace Google.

Ultimately, I feel that if GPT is able to find a sustainable business model, it could challenge Google.