Will ChatGPT Become the Default Search Engine for Many?

ChatGPT built an extension for Google Chrome late last year after they released their search product. This extension changes Google Chrome’s default search engine to ChatGPT Search, so that any query you input into the search bar will take you directly to ChatGPT search and search that query.

Although this extension has been around for months, we haven’t seen OpenAI / ChatGPT promote it very heavily. That may be changing. We’ve started to see ChatGPT promoting the extension in a banner above the search box:

There are options to change your default search engine to ChatGPT in other browsers such as Edge and Firefox, but doing this is more manual as there isn’t an official ChatGPT extension available in those browser marketplaces yet.

Currently, browsers are the primary method for people to interact with the open web and Google has a dominant control of both search and browser market share worldwide. Google remains the dominant search engine worldwide, with 89.71% of worldwide market share as of March 2025 according to statcounter. Chrome is a huge component of this driver as it maintains 66.17% of browser market share as of March 2025.

Based on what we know right now, it’s unlikely that ChatGPT will disrupt the browser market, but:

• The antitrust case against Google doesn’t bode well in this situation, as the DOJ recommended that Google divest the Chrome browser
• If ChatGPT could change the dynamic of Google as the default search engine in Chrome and interject itself by becoming a commonly used default search engine, its usage could skyrocket
• ChatGPT pushing the extension could be a new step in attempting to drive awareness and usage of itself as a default search engine

Currently, the extension has over 3 million users but only 1,200 ratings and an average rating of a 3.3, which doesn’t look good. Just look at some of the recent reviews, you can tell people were expecting a lot more:

Between the DOJ antitrust remedies that may cause Google to divest Chrome, and OpenAI’s potential renewed focus on pushing ChatGPT as a default search engine, this will be an interesting dynamic to watch. However, it’s clear that OpenAI will have to make some significant changes to the functionality of the ChatGPT extension if they truly want it to become a popular default search engine to replace Google.

All organizations should be assessing the current and potential future impact of these AI platforms like ChatGPT on their strategy and evolving where needed. Most organizations should be evolving their approaches to ensure they are optimizing for both traditional search (which is still a dominant source of traffic and customers) as well as newer AI platforms. If you are looking to evolve your strategy for the impacts AI will continue to have, please reach out to us at info@morevisibility.com.