When to Use AI vs. Google

Why this matters

You'll waste hours if every question is an AI question. AI is a bad source of fresh facts and a great engine for reasoning over text you already have. Search is the reverse. Knowing which tool fits the question is a meta-skill.

Demo

Use search when:

• You need a source / citation.
• The answer might have changed recently (news, prices, API changes).
• You want to compare multiple opinions.
• The exact words matter (library function signature, error message).

Use AI when:

• You have a chunk of text and need it transformed (summarize, translate, rewrite).
• You're brainstorming options.
• You're learning a concept and want a patient tutor.
• You're debugging reasoning, not data.

Use both when:

• Research tasks: search for sources, paste into AI for synthesis.
• Code debugging: search for the error, AI for the fix narrative.

Try it yourself

List three questions you asked your AI this week. For each, decide in hindsight whether search would have been faster or more reliable.

Prompt your AI

Classify each of the questions below as better asked to AI, to a search engine, or both. One line each, format:
- Question → [AI | Search | Both] — short reason.

Questions:
1. [Q1]
2. [Q2]
3. [Q3]

References

• Simon Willison — Things I've learned about LLMs