AI glossary · Chatbots and assistants
AI search engine
An AI search engine answers your question directly in a written summary built from web pages, instead of only showing a list of links.
Also called answer engine, AI search, generative search
In more detail
AI search tools run a search, read the top results and combine them into an answer, usually with links to their sources. Examples include Perplexity, Google AI Overviews and the search features in ChatGPT and other chatbots.
They save time on simple questions, but summaries can miss nuance or misread a page, so check the sources for anything that matters.
Related terms
PerplexityPerplexity is an AI search engine that answers questions in plain language and lists the web sources it used, so you can check them.AI OverviewsAI Overviews are the AI-written summaries Google shows at the top of some search results, with links to the pages they draw on.GroundingGrounding means tying an AI’s answer to specific, trusted sources, such as search results or your documents, instead of relying only on what it memorised.Deep researchDeep research is a feature in AI assistants where an agent spends several minutes searching many sources and writes a detailed, cited report on your question.Semantic searchSemantic search finds results based on what you mean rather than the exact words you type, using AI to understand the intent behind a query.
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