Hungarians are already using AI platforms en masse for search

According to the results of the “Search Research 2025”, the nature of accessing information has fundamentally changed with the advent of searches supported by artificial intelligence: “Googling” is no longer the dominant form of search, and the concept of search will slowly come to mean conversation.

More and more people are using AI

The use of AI platforms has become a mainstream habit. While in 2023 AI tools were primarily tried by early adopters, today the most used AI application, ChatGPT, has been tried by almost every second Hungarian internet user. The proportion of users has increased in all demographic groups over the past year – including those considered to be digitally disadvantaged, those over 60, those with a primary education and those living in villages – and the differences between social classes are increasingly blurred.

However, the spread of AI use has not yet peaked: 39% of those who do not currently use ChatGPT or one of its competitors plan to try AI search in the future.

What do people use AI for?

AI platforms are mostly used by average users for search: according to research by Mediator and NRC, Hungarians also use ChatGPT for information search in 98% of cases. It also appears that they turn to AI most often when searching for more complex information (searches summarizing information from multiple sources or searches requiring explanation or interpretation).

So “Googling” is no longer the dominant search form. Only four to five out of ten searches are made on Google’s traditional interface, with AI-based platforms and social search engines taking over a significant part of the field. Moreover, when we examine the search habits of those who also use AI, the proportion of Google searches, social media searches and YouTube searches is also lower. This means that ChatGPT and its competitors are now luring users away from Google, but increasingly from search engines on video and social platforms.

Why do they use AI?

According to the AI ​​users who participated in the survey, AI provides more accurate, thorough, up-to-date, personalized, and faster answers than other search platforms. It is particularly striking that according to these dimensions, the search functions of social and video platforms are judged to perform much worse than AI.

However, Google’s traditional results list outperforms other search platforms in terms of reliability, authenticity, and verifiability. Although there is uncertainty about the answers provided by ChatGTP and its competitors, it seems that overall this is less of a problem, with the aspects of customization and convenience overriding the issue of authenticity.

“We have experienced that trust in AI searches has been built almost reflexively due to the form of search results and the conversational nature. And despite this, users accept the AI’s answers, even if they cannot necessarily verify the correctness of the answers,” says Zoltán Molnár, NRC’s customer relations director. “AI is context-sensitive, able to take into account the user’s previous questions, style and preferences, so the search experience gradually becomes a conversation, a shared interpretation”

– the expert predicts the transformation of the concept of search.