AI search products answer questions with generated summaries that draw on and link to web sources. The major products launched between 2022 and 2025: Perplexity (founded 2022), Microsoft's AI-powered Bing (2023), Google's AI Overviews (2024) and AI Mode (2025), and ChatGPT search (2024).[1][2][3][4][5]
Timeline
| Date | Product | Event |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Perplexity | Founded by Aravind Srinivas, Denis Yarats, Johnny Ho and Andy Konwinski[1] |
| February 7, 2023 | Microsoft Bing | AI-powered Bing announced, built on an OpenAI model[2] |
| November 15, 2023 | Microsoft Copilot | Bing Chat renamed Copilot[6] |
| May 14, 2024 | Google AI Overviews | Rolled out to all U.S. users[3] |
| October 28, 2024 | Google AI Overviews | Expanded to more than 100 countries[7] |
| October 31, 2024 | ChatGPT search | Launched, growing out of the SearchGPT prototype[5] |
| March 5, 2025 | Google AI Mode | Introduced as a Google Labs experiment[4] |
| May 20, 2025 | Google AI Mode | Rolled out to all U.S. users[8] |
| August 21, 2025 | Google AI Mode | Expanded to more than 180 new countries and territories in English[9] |
| October 7, 2025 | Google AI Mode | Available in more than 200 countries and territories[10] |
Google AI Overviews and AI Mode
AI Overviews appear at the top of some Google results pages with a generated summary and links for further reading; Google said in 2024 that those links received more clicks than a standard listing for the same query.[3] In October 2024 Google moved source links into a side panel on desktop and added links inside the summary text, saying the changes increased traffic to linked sites.[7] AI Mode, launched in 2025, gives fuller conversational answers using query fan-out, which breaks a question into subtopics and runs many searches at once.[4][8]
Microsoft Copilot
Microsoft's AI-powered Bing, announced in February 2023, combined a next-generation OpenAI model with Microsoft's own "Prometheus" model and linked to the sources it cited.[2] About a month later Microsoft said Bing had passed 100 million daily active users.[11] Bing Chat was rebranded as Copilot in late 2023.[6]
ChatGPT search
OpenAI launched ChatGPT search on October 31, 2024, initially for paying subscribers. Sources appear inline and in a sidebar opened from a "Sources" button, and OpenAI worked with news partners including the Associated Press, Reuters and Axel Springer; an OpenAI executive said Bing was one of its search providers.[5][12]
Perplexity
Perplexity answers natural-language questions with citations to web sources.[1] It reported 10 million monthly active users in January 2024,[13] and its chief executive said in October 2024 that it was handling 100 million queries a week.[14]
Usage
Google said in July 2025 that AI Overviews had more than 2 billion monthly users in more than 200 countries and territories,[15] and in May 2026 that AI Mode had passed 1 billion monthly users.[16] OpenAI's chief executive said in October 2025 that more than 800 million people used ChatGPT each week.[17] For news, the Reuters Institute found in 2025 that 7% of people used AI chatbots weekly, rising to 15% of those under 25.[18]
References
- ^ ^ ^ Wiggers, Kyle (April 4, 2023). "AI-powered search engine Perplexity AI lands $26M, launches iOS app". TechCrunch. techcrunch.com
- ^ ^ ^ Mehdi, Yusuf (February 7, 2023). "Reinventing search with a new AI-powered Microsoft Bing and Edge, your copilot for the web". Official Microsoft Blog. blogs.microsoft.com
- ^ ^ ^ Reid, Elizabeth (May 14, 2024). "Generative AI in Search: Let Google do the searching for you". Google. blog.google
- ^ ^ ^ Stein, Robby (March 5, 2025). "Expanding AI Overviews and introducing AI Mode". Google. blog.google
- ^ ^ ^ Field, Hayden (October 31, 2024). "OpenAI launches ChatGPT search, competing with Google and Microsoft". CNBC (via NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth). nbcdfw.com
- ^ ^ Shaw, Frank X. (November 15, 2023). "Microsoft Ignite 2023: AI transformation and the technology driving change". Official Microsoft Blog. blogs.microsoft.com
- ^ ^ Venkatachary, Srinivasan (October 28, 2024). "AI Overviews in Search are coming to more places around the world". Google. blog.google
- ^ ^ Reid, Elizabeth (May 20, 2025). "AI in Search: Going beyond information to intelligence". Google. blog.google
- ^ Stein, Robby (August 21, 2025). "AI Mode in Search gets new agentic features and expands globally". Google. blog.google
- ^ Budaraju, Hema (October 7, 2025). "AI Mode expands to more languages and locations". Google. blog.google
- ^ Mehdi, Yusuf (March 8, 2023). "The New Bing and Edge – Progress from Our First Month". Bing Blogs. blogs.bing.com
- ^ Wiggers, Kyle (October 31, 2024). "OpenAI launches its Google challenger, ChatGPT Search". TechCrunch. techcrunch.com
- ^ "Perplexity raises Series B funding round". Perplexity, January 4, 2024. perplexity.ai
- ^ Wiggers, Kyle (October 25, 2024). "Perplexity says it's now serving 100M search queries a week". TechCrunch. techcrunch.com
- ^ Pichai, Sundar (July 23, 2025). "Q2 earnings call: CEO's remarks". Google. blog.google
- ^ Reid, Elizabeth (May 19, 2026). "A new era for AI Search". Google. blog.google
- ^ Bellan, Rebecca (October 6, 2025). "Sam Altman says ChatGPT has hit 800M weekly active users". TechCrunch. techcrunch.com
- ^ Newman, Nic (June 17, 2025). "Overview and key findings of the 2025 Digital News Report". Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism. reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk