Sam Altman, the CEO of ChatGPT-maker OpenAI, has acknowledged the challenge of competing with Google in a recent post on X (formerly Twitter), replying to the data shared by web analytics company Similarweb.
Similarweb shared the data of “The top 10 websites in the world for January 2025” saying that “ChatGPT reaches its highest ranking yet.” The data showed Google is at the top spot with ChatGPT on the 6th position.
It is to be noted that the data is for “Desktop only” and there is a separate list of mobile apps. In a candid remark, Altman signaled both ambition and realism about OpenAI’s position in the AI race.
“man, still a long way to go to run down google 🥺,” he said.
In terms of mobile (in US and iPhone in January), DeepSeek ranks first followed by ChatGPT. Google takes the 7th spot and Gemini 8th.
ChatGPT Search is available to all
Recently, OpenAI announced that ChatGPT’s search feature is now available to everyone, with the company dropping the login requirement. This makes the AI-powered search engine a direct rival to established players like Google Search and Microsoft’s Bing.
Accessible via chatgpt.com, the search function provides web-sourced answers with cited references. It’s powered by a fine-tuned GPT-4o model and partnerships with search providers like Microsoft Bing.
This public release follows a phased rollout, starting with paid subscribers in October 2024 and extending to free users in December.
Experts suggest this increased accessibility could allow ChatGPT to capture up to 1% of the search market, potentially impacting Google’s dominance.