I am seeing numerous tests now that seem to prove that OpenAI's ChatGPT search feature is using Google Search's index or search results page to serve its own search results.
First, Abhishek Iyer posted about this early this week on X - he explained how he created a new page with a made up term that was never indexed before. He then indexed that page within Google Search Console so that only Google Search would be aware of it. After Google Search Console indexed it, ChatGPT almost immediately became aware of that page that didn't exist and was not submitted to OpenAI.
Here are his screenshots:
Proof that ChatGPT Plus is secretly Google-powered - “hidden page” experiment
— Abhishek Iyer (@distantgradient) July 19, 2025
1. I coined a nonsense word.
2. I then put it on a page not linked anywhere.
3. Forced Google to index it via Search Console; left all other engines unaware.
4. Asked ChatGPT Plus to define the term →… pic.twitter.com/biJYLHgf3l
Second, Aleyda Solis did a similar thing and published her findings on her blog and shared this on X as well. She said, "Confirmed - ChatGPT uses Google SERP Snippets for its Answers."
She basically created new content, checked to make sure no one indexed it yet, including Bing or ChatGPT. Then when Google indexed it, it showed up in ChatGPT and not Bing yet. She showed that if you see the answer in ChatGPT, it is exactly the same as the Google search result snippet. Plus, ChatGPT says in its explanation that it is grabbing a snippet from a search engine.
🚨 Confirmed - ChatGPT uses Google SERP Snippets for its Answers! Here's a test I've run with proof:
— Aleyda Solis 🕊️ (@aleyda) July 24, 2025
I’ve run a simple but straight-forward to follow test that confirms the reliance of ChatGPT on Google SERPs snippets for its answers, showing that:
1. ChatGPT pretty much was… pic.twitter.com/nTig2jDK2T
As far as we were told, Bing powers ChatGPT - it would be weird for Google to let ChatGPT use its index.
I did ask Sam Altman from OpenAI but I did not hear back:
@sama is it true? Is ChatGPT using Google's index and not Bing? See above...
— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) July 20, 2025
This does remind me of when Microsoft was caught stealing Google's search results in 2011.
🚨 UPDATE [Jul 25]: ChatGPT still provides an answer based on a Google SERP snippet rather than a Bing now, even if the page is now indexed in Bing! 👇
— Aleyda Solis 🕊️ (@aleyda) July 25, 2025
The page is now indexed by Bing but ChatGPT says it still doesn’t have access to the page content and its answer content is now… pic.twitter.com/4gtttDBuzb
