Last Updated on June 22, 2025 by admin
Like most of you, I have fallen down countless rabbit holes in Google searches. “How to make a latte?” turns into “Latte vs. americano?” which turns into “How bad is caffeine for you?” and ends with “Coffee alternatives.”Like most of you, I have fallen down countless rabbit holes in Google searches. “How to make a latte?” turns into “Latte vs. americano?” which turns into “How bad is caffeine for you?” and ends with “Coffee alternatives.” Often, though, I’ve found myself frustrated by how many times I have to reword the same query in traditional search engines to nudge the browser to comprehend what I’m asking. Not to mention how exasperating it is to scroll through unrelated sponsored ads before getting to the meat of my search. Enter AI-generated search engines. Table of Contents What are AI search engines? How I Test AI Search Engines 7 Best AI Search Engines What are AI search engines? AI search engines are search engines that use some combination of web crawlers, innate artificial intelligence, and user data to improve users’ search experiences and provide more pertinent responses. They have become some of the top search engines today due to their intuitiveness. You’ll find less of a need to clarify your query with AI search engines because they are built to better understand human intent. And, your responses will often be summed up in AI-generated copy with cited sources, rather than forcing you to click through several URLs to check their relevance. How I Test AI Search Engines Since all these tools have the same purpose — answering your question by scouring the web for suitable sources and links that can be combined with innate AI knowledge or chat capabilities to provide the most accurate answer — it was easy for me to test them all in the same way. I simply used the same two questions across every AI search engine and measured the success of the search engine by how it answered the questions. One being more of a straightforward, factual question and the other a broader question. Below are the seven best options from my research. 7 Best AI Search Engines 1. Perplexity I kicked off with Perplexity, which has been all the rage lately. There’s a lot to know about this search engine, but most importantly, many are admitting Perplexity has replaced Google in their lives. It’s like a mix of ChatGPT and Google. Meaning that it can answer your questions in a human-like manner, but it pulls its facts from a quick search of all the articles available, rather than having an innate knowledge base. I started with my straightforward question: What’s the biggest city in America? The first thing I noted was that Perplexity has a very similar interface to ChatGPT since it uses OpenAI’s language models. Outside of the sources linked at the top and referred to throughout the answer, Perplexity also shares relevant images on the right-hand side, with an option to search videos or generate images. After this search result, I tested out a more thought-provoking question. I wanted to gauge how AI search engines perform when asked a question that doesn’t have a specific, singular answer. I asked, “How do I become a better blog writer?” What I Like ChatGPT users like myself will appreciate that Perplexity’s interface is familiar, as it eases the transition period. Unlike ChatGPT, though, Perplexity promises answers that are always correct and cited from many sources, including academic research and Reddit threads. Perplexity links to several references at the top and cites sources throughout its response. Decades of English and History teachers drilling into me to cite my sources in papers have helped me develop an appreciation for this kind of verification. The visual sources are helpful for those who prefer Google Image and Video results over Web results. At the bottom of your response, you will find a section called “Keep exploring,” where Perplexity suggests similar questions that you can automatically search and get an AI-generated response. For someone like me, who typically has dozens of tabs open when researching a single topic, this feature would keep all my research in one place. What Needs Improvement Honestly, nothing. I have already started using this in place of my usual relentless Google searching. Pricing Standard plan: Free Professional plan: $20/month 2. Google Gemini Gemini, formerly known as Bard, is Google’s AI chatbot, and it may be attractive to those who have grown accustomed to Google’s many revolutionary products. Some may have noticed that Google has incorporated an “AI Overview” into some of its search results. Still, Gemini is a separate tool that can be used for specifically AI-generated responses. In my first question test, I noted how quickly Gemini pulled up an answer, and how short it was. In comparison, I noticed a huge difference in the results for my second question. It’s clear Gemini answers questions very differently based on how direct or abstract they are. What I Like Gemini’s design is aesthetically pleasing, and I like that the homepage opened up with a message stating, “Hello, Swetha” which showcases its humanity and personalization. Gemini answered my first question, “What’s the biggest city in America?” as short and sweet as I had hoped for. I appreciate that it didn’t try to give me any unnecessary information. It has a “Double-check response” feature, in which you can have Google perform a secondary search of your question to ensure its accuracy. What Needs Improvement Gemini provides text-only responses, which is very dissimilar from Google’s image, video, and news results, so it surprised me. The search engine has a disclaimer at the bottom, stating, “Gemini may display inaccurate info, including about people, so double-check its responses.” While I appreciate the honesty, it doesn’t hold up against Perplexity, which promises complete accuracy. At the bottom of your search results is a “Search related topics” feature, which is helpful if you want to keep your research going. However, these take you out of Gemini