Generative AI isn’t just helping write essays and produce artistic images – it’s also set to change the way people search for information on the internet. When ChatGPT landed late last year, some were quick to forecast that it would eventually replace Google. The chatbot generates human-like explanatory responses to queries, which is more effective than having to scroll through a bunch of web links. Fast forward to now, and a future where ChatGPT would replace Google altogether is starting to look doubtful. Seeing the promise of generative AI, companies are rushing to add it to their search engines – and they’re doing so way quicker than anticipated. Google is already working to bring AI-powered features to Search and it may not be long before we see it. But the upgraded Google will not be the first AI-boosted search engine when it arrives. There are several options on the market already, and in this article, we'll explore the best AI-powered search engines that you can use right now. Brave Privacy-focused search engine and web browser company Brave is the latest to announce AI-powered features. Brave Search has gained Summarizer – a feature that provides “to-the-point answers” at the top of search result pages to user queries. Brave says that Summarizer was solely developed by the Brave Search team and is not powered by ChatGPT or its backend systems. Instead, it employs three different LLMs (large language models) trained on different tasks. It differs from Bing in that it doesn’t provide a chat experience. Brave Search Summarizer is already available across desktop and mobile browsers and can be accessed from search.brave.com. You “You.com is a search engine built on artificial intelligence that provides users with a customised search experience while keeping their data 100% private,” reads the product’s information page. The search engine stands out by offering several services alongside AI-powered search. There is YouCode which helps you code, YouWrite which helps you write, and YouImagine which generates AI art. One downside to You.com is that it doesn’t produce AI search results on its own. You need to navigate to the YouChat section for that. You can be accessed from You.com. You’ll need to sign in to use the AI-powered features. Perplexity Perplexity is perhaps one of the first to provide AI-powered search, launching back in December 2020. It is very unique in that it has a no-frills approach – no list of web links is provided for you to scroll when you search. Instead, an AI-generated summary pulled from across the web (with citations) is all you receive. No sign-in is required for you to search. In fact, there’s no such thing as a Perplexity account – the search engine doesn’t support it. The site has a very slick interface, and you can get started from perplexity.ai. NeevaAI Launched in the US in 2021, Neeva is another privacy-focused, ad-free search engine. Its AI-powered features were rolled out worldwide last month. The AI bit works very similarly to Brave, providing summarised responses from all over the web at the top of the search page when you input your query into its search bar. Like Brave, it also doesn’t offer a chat experience right now. Neeva has a dedicated browser you can download on iOS and Android too. NeevaAI can be accessed from Neeva.com. You’ll need to sign in to it.
