By Craig Parker

We hear it all the time: ChatGPT is changing search. But what does that actually mean in practice? For me, it’s not just a headline — it’s my reality. And when you zoom out, I believe it’s the beginning of a new distribution network that could reshape discovery and commerce as we know it.

The Pain of Old Search

We’ve all been there: ten open tabs, each claiming to have the “top 10 best” products. Every list looks the same, padded with affiliate links, designed to optimise clicks more than serve the reader.

That was fine at first, but over the years digital discovery has become noisy, transactional, and frankly exhausting.

The Shift in My Everyday Life

Lately I’ve been skipping that grind. Instead of opening a browser, I just start a conversation with ChatGPT.

If I’m looking for running shoes, cycling gear, or even a sleep mask, I don’t ask a vague “What’s the best?” I give ChatGPT clear instructions: don’t trust affiliate-heavy sites, compare materials and durability, show me the trade-offs between budget and premium options.

What I get back feels different: a tailored, unbiased recommendation that cuts through the noise. It’s like moving from reading ads to having a candid conversation with a trusted advisor.

Discovery Becomes a Conversation

This shift is about more than answers — it’s about how discovery happens.

• Curiosity starts with a prompt, not a keyword.
• Comparison happens in one conversation, not across ten tabs.
• Confidence comes from clarity and context, not SEO rankings.

Instead of search → click → scan → doubt, my journey looks like ask → refine → decide.

From Conversation to Commerce

What feels personal today is already being scaled. OpenAI has added shopping features to ChatGPT, providing recommendations, images, prices, and review snippets directly in the chat (TechCrunch, April 2025). They’ve also said neutrality is a design choice: results aren’t influenced by ads or affiliate deals, in order to preserve trust.

And payments are coming. Reports suggest OpenAI is working on in-chat checkout with Shopify, which would allow people to move seamlessly from curiosity to comparison to purchase, all inside the same interface (Reuters, July 2025).

Why This Matters: A New Distribution Network

If you step back, the implications are massive.

• Prompts become the new keywords.
• Context and trust become the new SEO.
• Commerce becomes embedded, not redirected.

The last era of digital distribution was built on attention and clicks — Google’s search dominance, Facebook’s social graph. The next moat will be built on context and memory, which is exactly where AI platforms like ChatGPT excel.

The Search of Tomorrow

Here’s the question I keep coming back to:

• If your brand isn’t being discovered in conversations, what happens when prompts replace keywords?
• If commerce happens in-chat, what happens to traditional ad spend?
• If trust comes from clarity, not clicks, how do you earn your place in the answer?

For users like me, the future already looks different. I don’t just search — I ask. And when I ask, I expect clarity, context, and trust.

For brands, the challenge is existential. The ones who adapt early — by focusing on transparency, product quality, and conversational discoverability — will be the ones who thrive when prompts become the new gateway to discovery.

Final Thought

This isn’t just a tweak to search engines. It’s the foundation of a new distribution era. We’re moving from a world optimised for algorithms and clicks to one optimised for conversations and trust.

And the shift isn’t abstract — it’s already happening in my daily life. The real question is: how ready are we for the search of tomorrow?

About the Author

Craig Parker is a Product Manager at RealityMine, where he leads the development of mobile app and web measurement solutions. With over a decade of experience spanning project delivery, UX optimisation, and data-driven SaaS products, Craig specialises in turning behavioural insights into strategic value. He’s especially interested in how emerging technologies like AI are reshaping user journeys across the app ecosystem.

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