Re:How People Use ChatGPT [pdf]
by hawngyeedun on Friday September 19, 2025 @11:19PM
(#45310010)
> People don’t really use ChatGPT as a search engine replacement
Some do, and they think that they are using it as a replacement. I've been doing research on its use among college students and I've heard firsthand that some of them (especially from students in non-STEM fields) think ChatGPT can be as useful as, if not better than, search engines at times for _seeking_ information.
You may be talking to a specific subset of the population, but once you branch out and observe/hear from broader demographics, you'd be surprised to learn about people's mental model of the genAI technologies.
Some do, and they think that they are using it as a replacement. I've been doing research on its use among college students and I've heard firsthand that some of them (especially from students in non-STEM fields) think ChatGPT can be as useful as, if not better than, search engines at times for _seeking_ information.
You may be talking to a specific subset of the population, but once you branch out and observe/hear from broader demographics, you'd be surprised to learn about people's mental model of the genAI technologies.