Is it common to use Internet search like that??? You're typing in literal questions to a search box rather than keywords, the name of the site you're looking for, or topics you want to read about. Maybe I'm just too old school, from the time where internet searches were essentially keyword searches, but it would have never occurred to me to type an actual english question as a full sentence into a search box.

If that's how most people use search engines these days, then I guess the transition into "type a prompt" will be smoother than I would have thought.

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balder1991 2 days ago | parent | next [-]

I’m quite sure it was common, because Google optimized for that over time, that’s why they switched to a semantic search instead of actual “contains” (remember they had a few questions and answers at the top way before ChatGPT).

Also if you type a few words on Google, it’ll “autocomplete” with the most common searches. Or you can just go to trends.google.com and explore search trends in real time.

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fwipsy 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I think those are examples of AI prompts, not search queries. Searching sometimes requires effort even for simple questions. For example, if you're trying to find the word for an object, you might need to consider what sort of website might talk about that, how to find that website in a sea of SEO spam, and then read through the article manually to find the specific information you are looking for. Using an AI, you can just ask "what is xyz called" and get a quick answer.

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chillfox 2 days ago | parent [-]

Search engines have been good at answering those kinds of questions for the last decade. SEO spam often answers simple questions like that.

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fwipsy 2 days ago | parent [-]

You can find the answer this way if the query is simple enough, but in general, if you are asking for something specific or trying to retrieve a piece of information based on keywords it's not usually indexed by, AI will do better. For example, "how are large concrete piers supporting a roadway constructed on a 45 degree slope?" Claude gave me an answer immediately, most Google results for my first two queries weren't specific enough/didn't include all details. I'm sure Google could find the answer, but asking Claude is just easier.

	▲	chillfox 21 hours ago \| parent [-]
		I would not call that example simple, that's a pretty complex question.

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chillfox 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

It's been common for the last decade. It's been a great way of finding forum/blog posts where the question is answered, even if phrased slightly different.

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unethical_ban 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

The questions above would be changed up for a Google search. The point is that LLMs can answer those questions pretty accurately now. I'm using LLMs to write technical cheat sheets for Linux sysadmin stuff, and to write a hobby website. I'm using search far less than before.

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keiferski 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I have been using computers since the early 2000s, and I honestly don't remember the last time I searched Google for an answer to a specific question. It's incredibly inefficient compared to the even the most basic AI tool.

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rascul 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

Isn't that what Ask Jeeves was for in the 90s?