From ChatGPT to AI Mode: how AI changed search, 2022 to 2026
The launches that changed how people find things with AI, from ChatGPT in 2022 to ads in AI answers in 2026, each dated and linked to its source.
42 changes.
2022
ChatGPT launches
OpenAI releases ChatGPT as a free research preview. (OpenAI)
Perplexity's answer engine
Perplexity releases Ask, an answer engine that cites its sources with every answer. (Perplexity, 28 March 2023)
2023
Google announces Bard
Google opens Bard, its chat assistant, to a group of testers before a public release. (Google)
Bing answers in a chat
Microsoft adds a chat to Bing that answers in its own words and cites its sources. (Microsoft)
Claude launches
Anthropic releases Claude, in a chat window and to developers. (Anthropic)
AI answers tested in Google Search
Google starts a test of AI answers at the top of its results, then called the Search Generative Experience. (Google)
GPTBot
OpenAI introduces GPTBot, the crawler that collects pages to train its models, and explains how to keep it out with robots.txt. (TechCrunch, 28 September 2023)
Meta AI in WhatsApp and Instagram
Meta introduces Meta AI on WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram, using Bing for current information. (Meta)
Google-Extended
Google adds a robots.txt setting, Google-Extended, that keeps a site's pages out of the training of its AI models. (Google)
Grok
xAI announces Grok, an assistant that draws on posts on X, for a small group of US users. (xAI)
Bing Chat becomes Copilot
Microsoft renames Bing Chat to Copilot and gives it a site of its own. (Microsoft)
2024
Rufus, Amazon's shopping assistant
Amazon starts testing Rufus, a shopping assistant in its app, with some US customers. (TechCrunch)
Bard becomes Gemini
Google renames Bard to Gemini and releases a Gemini app for Android. (Google)
AI Overviews for everyone in the US
AI answers at the top of Google results, now called AI Overviews, reach everyone in the US. (Google)
SearchGPT
OpenAI tests SearchGPT, a search prototype, with a small group of users and publishers. (OpenAI)
llms.txt is proposed
Jeremy Howard of Answer.AI proposes llms.txt, a file that gives AI systems a short guide to a site. (llmstxt.org)
Ads under Copilot's answers
Microsoft announces a new ad format, shown below Copilot's answers. (Microsoft Advertising)
AI Overviews in over 100 countries
Google takes AI Overviews to more than 100 countries and territories. (Google)
ChatGPT search
ChatGPT can search the web and link to its sources, first for paying users. (OpenAI)
Perplexity tests ads
Perplexity starts testing sponsored follow-up questions. (Perplexity)
ChatGPT in Siri
Apple lets Siri pass some questions to ChatGPT, if the user turns it on. (Apple)
2025
AI Mode is tested
Google starts testing AI Mode, a chat-style tab in Search. (Google)
Claude searches the web
Claude can search the web and cite the pages it uses. (Anthropic)
AI Mode for everyone in the US
Google opens AI Mode to everyone in the US, with no sign-up. (Google)
Ads tested in AI Mode
Google starts testing ads in AI Mode, in English in the US. (Google Ads Help)
AI crawlers blocked by default
Cloudflare starts blocking AI crawlers by default on new sites and tests letting sites charge them per visit. (Cloudflare)
Comet, Perplexity's browser
Perplexity releases Comet, a web browser with its assistant built in. (Perplexity)
Content Signals
Cloudflare proposes lines in robots.txt that say whether pages may be used for search, AI answers or AI training. (Cloudflare)
Buying inside ChatGPT
People in the US can buy from some Etsy sellers without leaving ChatGPT. (OpenAI)
ChatGPT Atlas
OpenAI releases Atlas, a web browser with ChatGPT built in, for Mac. (OpenAI)
2026
Claude stays ad-free
Anthropic says Claude will remain ad-free. (Anthropic)
Ads in ChatGPT
OpenAI starts testing ads for Free and Go users in the US. (TechCrunch)
Perplexity drops ads
A Perplexity executive tells the Financial Times it has dropped ads. (The Decoder)
Rufus becomes Alexa for Shopping
Amazon joins Rufus and Alexa+ into one shopping assistant, Alexa for Shopping. (Amazon)
New ads in AI Mode
Google announces two new kinds of ads for AI Mode, labelled "Sponsored". (Google)
Atlas will close
OpenAI says it will retire Atlas and move its browsing features into ChatGPT's own app. Atlas stopped working on 9 August. (TechCrunch)
Google must share search data
The EU tells Google to share anonymised search data with rival search engines, AI chatbots included, from January 2027. Google has appealed. (European Commission)
Siri AI
Apple releases iOS 27 with Siri AI, whose answers can link to their sources. (Engadget)
More links in Google's AI answers
Google puts more links, and higher, in AI Overviews and AI Mode, and tests a place for official websites. (Google)
ChatGPT ads in 89 countries
ChatGPT ads reach 89 countries, still only on the Free and Go plans. (OpenAI)
Company apps in AI Mode and Gemini
Google opens a preview that lets a business build an app for AI Mode, the Gemini app or both. (Google)
AI Mode ads in 10 more countries
Google takes ads in AI Mode to 10 more countries, Australia, Canada and India among them, and shows them on follow-up questions in the US. (Google)
No change matches. Choose another kind or company.
How we chose and checked these
We kept the changes that altered how people find things with AI: new assistants and the apps they live in, AI answers inside search engines, the controls a website has over AI crawlers, and ads and shopping inside AI answers. New models are left out, unless they changed how an assistant finds or credits pages; our monthly roundups in the newsroom follow them.
Each change is dated on the day the company announced it, and linked to that announcement. Where a company's page refused our reader, or the company said it only to a newspaper, we link to a report that names the date. Where only the month is known, we give the month. Checked on 29 Oct 2026.