The biggest advantage of using a AI chatbot it’s being able to enter and receive conversational requests. Combine this with real-time access to the Internet and you get a more efficient search engine. This is exactly what ChatGPT Search is – and now you can make it your default search engine.

With ChatGPT Search, your results look just like the standard ChatGPT chatbot. The main differences are that it includes inline citations to websites, a button saying “sources” which when clicked will display a long list of links on the right, and a few search results links below the answer .

Also: ChatGPT officially replaced Google Search for me – here’s why

ChatGPT Search is accessible through the standard ChatGPT interface as long as you are a ChatGPT Plus or subscribed to Teams or were on the waiting list for SearchGPT. If you have access to ChatGPT Search and are ready to commit to always using ChatGPT instead of Google, you can do so by installing the free Chrome extension.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman calls the feature “really good” and encourages users to subscribe to ChatGPT Plus, which costs $20 per month and has other benefits such as new voice mode, ClothAnd unlimited image generationthen download the Chrome extension.

If you’re ready to make the change, it’s easy. All you have to do is visit this linkwhich will take you to the ChatGPT search page on the Chrome web store. If you are already in ChatGPT, you can also click on your profile in the upper right corner and click on the “Download Chrome Extension” option, which will take you to the same page.

Next, click “Add to Chrome”. Once you do, a ChatGPT search pop-up will appear, informing you that the extension will “read and modify your data across all chatgpt.com sites.” Click “Add Extension” in the pop-up window to complete the process.

Also: The best AI search engines: Google, Perplexity and more

After that, your Chrome interface will look the same; However, when you type something into the search bar, you will see that it is automatically redirected to ChatGPT Search. For example, I entered “ZDNET” and the results below appeared.

Some use cases that SearchGPT excels in are when working on a research paper or project that involves examining many newer topics. It can break down the material in a much simpler way to understand and reduce the number of links you have to go through.

However, for some prompts, like those related to purchases, Google remains the best alternative. For example, when I typed in “Best coats for winter,” the ChatGPT results populated a list of jackets with links to the websites that recommended them – see below.

I prefer to see clickable links to sites so that I can visit the sites myself, see prices, and browse on my own. For this reason, I think the Google Shopping experience is better suited for shopping queries.

A possible workaround is to enable and disable the ChatGPT extension, depending on your current search needs. Yes, it’s an extra step, but it’s simple: just click the extension next to your search bar, click manage extension, and disable it.

Should you keep ChatGPT enabled by default and disable it for specific queries Google is preferred for, or the other way around? It depends on your particular needs. I keep Google as my default search engine because, on a daily basis, I rely on a traditional search engine results page for my work.

However, I don’t uninstall the extension because I find it useful, especially in situations where I want to learn more about a topic, as ChatGPT responds conversationally and saves me time going through multiple articles. I will activate it before these in-depth sessions.

Also: I changed 5 ChatGPT settings and instantly became more productive – here’s how to do it

If you’re already a ChatGPT Plus subscriber, you might as well take advantage of the extension to try it out since it’s free and offers a glimpse into the future of search engines. Although search engines have remained relatively intact for decades, with Google as the undisputed leader, they now find themselves at a crossroads.

All search engines – brand new AI tools like Perplexity or ChatGPT Search and traditional search engines like Google or Bing – are increasingly infused with AI. If you are a ChatGPT user, the extension is a good way to launch yourself into the future.