For decades, traditional search tools have helped people locate web pages to answer their questions. Today, generative AI (‘GenAI’) search tools are changing that model: rather than only directing users to information, these tools now generate the answers themselves — a shift that has led some to describe them as ‘answer engines’.
GenAI search encompasses both AI search chatbots ('AI chatbots’) such as ChatGPT, and AI search summaries (‘AI summaries’) such as Google’s AI Overviews – the latter appearing on the results pages of traditional search interfaces.
In our discussion paper, The Era of Answer Engines, we cover:
- How GenAI search works from a technical and operational perspective, and how this differs from traditional search
- The key players shaping the GenAI search industry, and what this means for competition and online safety
- How people use GenAI search, drawing from a qualitative study of UK adults’ search experiences published by Ofcom in September 2025
- The challenges posed by GenAI search for both consumers and affected sectors, including public service media
- The safeguards that can improve GenAI search experiences, from platform-level interventions to media literacy training
- The future trajectory of GenAI search, including the advent of agentic and multimodal search experiences.
Ofcom is interested in GenAI search as the independent regulator for the UK’s communications industries, including post, telecommunications, network security, broadcasting, on-demand programme services, radio spectrum and online services. As the development and usage of AI evolves across the sectors we regulate, we are deepening our understanding of AI's risks and opportunities to support responsible innovation.
We hope the findings set out in this paper will help stakeholders – including government, civil society, academia, and the broader public – make sense of what could be a major shift in the way people access information online. If you have feedback on this paper, please email Ofcom’s Technology Policy Team at technologypolicy@ofcom.org.uk.
Please be aware that this discussion paper does not constitute formal guidance. It does not require providers of GenAI search tools to take any specific actions. Further, this discussion paper does not take a view on whether a specific provider of a GenAI search tool is a regulated ‘search service’ within the meaning of the Online Safety Act 2023.