I still use google. However, the most annoying thing i find is the AI generated response. I use google as a translator by adding „dict“ to the search.
I also use the search function on old fashioned forums. It works.
Yesterday i tried Chat GPT on math homework of one of my kids. Result was just crazy wrong. Complete garbage.
Ask HN: Do you still use search engines?
141–150 of 609 posts
Re: Ask HN: Do you still use search engines?
#142Search is primarily a portal - you know a particular resource exists, you just don't know its exact URL. You hear about this new programming language called "Frob", and you assume it must have a website. So you google "Frob language". You hear that there was a plane crash in DC, and assume (CNN/AP/your_favorite_news_site) has almost certainly written an article about it. You google "DC plane crash." LLMs aren't ever…
Except when search engines bury the thing you're obviously looking for under an entire page of sponsored ads, then that convenience argument starts to not hold up as well...
If LLMs aren't already doing this, they certainly will soon. And it'll be even more insidious and "invisible" than sponsored search results.
Re: Ask HN: Do you still use search engines?
#143I still use google. However, the most annoying thing i find is the AI generated response. I use google as a translator by adding „dict“ to the search. I also use the search function on old fashioned forums. It works. Yesterday i tried Chat GPT on math homework of one of my kids. Result was just crazy wrong. Complete garbage.
I've always wondered if other do that... I add "def" to the end of mine for definitions.
Re: Ask HN: Do you still use search engines?
#144Search is primarily a portal - you know a particular resource exists, you just don't know its exact URL. You hear about this new programming language called "Frob", and you assume it must have a website. So you google "Frob language". You hear that there was a plane crash in DC, and assume (CNN/AP/your_favorite_news_site) has almost certainly written an article about it. You google "DC plane crash." LLMs aren't ever…
We’re currently in the golden age of LLMs as search engines. Eventually they’ll subtly push products and recommendations in their output to steer you toward specific things.
You mean like the golden age of speech recognition a couple of years ago when they claimed 80% of computer interfacing will be voice only?
Re: Ask HN: Do you still use search engines?
#145I'm very happy with my Kagi subscription. The results get me exactly what I want, and I can easily check the sources and downrank stuff I don't want.
I average around 1400-1600 searches per month.
Re: Ask HN: Do you still use search engines?
#146There is a class of problems I no longer use search for. I find LLM’s give really good results for things like command line usage. Or even things like configuring an application. Basically anything that can summarize lots of disperate sources.
Conversely it’s a huge mistake to rely on LLMs for anything that requires authoritative content. It’s not good at appropriately discounting low quality sources in my experience. Google can have a similar problem, but I find it easier to find good sources there first for many topics.
Where LLMs really replace modern google is for topics you only kind of think should exist. Google used to show some pretty tenuously related links by the time you got to page 5 results and there you might find terms that bring you closer to what you’re looking for. Google simply doesn’t do that anymore. So for me, one of the joys is being able to explore topics in a way I haven’t been able to for over a decade
Re: Ask HN: Do you still use search engines?
#147grok (legal, historical, current events) , perplexity (claude , coding questions), gemini (via fabric / terminal -- coding questions, youtube, URL & book summaries). I only google by accident out of habit. Immediately regret the outcome using google ( spam ads, spammy content marketing, salacious content)
Re: Ask HN: Do you still use search engines?
#148I generally use search.brave.com which has an integrative AI Assistant summary. Sometimes the summary does a nice job and other times I just skip it and go find a link that is from somewhere I recognize. If I want to know how to do something, I skip the summary. If I just want to know if something exists or is possible then the summary is sometimes enough. I have no real desire to replace my search engine usage with an LLM.
Re: Ask HN: Do you still use search engines?
#149No, I find it unwilling to produce factual information. For example Jeep consistently lands at the bottom of the reliability ratings. Try asking GPT if Jeeps are reliable. The response reads like Jeep advertising.
LLMs are like humans. They don't know what you mean, only what you say. They can't tell you what you want to know, they can only answer the question you actually ask! The question you asked is broad and phrased in a way that begs a simplistic answer about the entire brand. Obviously an answer to that question will do a worse job of laying out the relative reliability of current jeep models than would a report which was created to address that specific question.
If you want to know how modern Jeep models stack up against their peers in terms of reliability, try asking GPT that question!
Re: Ask HN: Do you still use search engines?
#150Most of my searches still use traditional search engines for two reasons:
- If I am seeking technical information, I would rather get it from the original source. It is often possible to do that with a search. The output from an LLM is not going to be the original source. Even with dealing with secondary sources, it is typically easier to spot red flags in a secondary source than it is with the output of an LLM.
- I often perform image searches. I have no desire for generated images, though I'm not going to object to one if someone else "curated" the outputs of an AI model.
That said, I will use an LLM for things that aren't strictly factual. i.e. I can judge if it is good enough for my needs by simply reading it over.