POV: ChatGPT invented facts. Again.
A creator working on an AI Overviews script asked ChatGPT to look up a statistic about click-through rate (CTR) drops in search results when AI Overviews appear.
ChatGPT reported a 15% drop, but when the creator double-checked the source blog, it actually showed a 66% drop—a significant difference.
The video demonstrates why relying on ChatGPT to retrieve statistics is risky and advocates checking original sources directly, particularly the SE Ranking blog for accurate AI search data.
Hey, ChatGPT. Remember the other day I had my laser eye surgery and I asked you to be my voice assistant and help me out with that script about AI Overviews I was working on? Absolutely, I remember that! You were working on that AI Overviews script and I was helping you keep track of your ideas. I hope your eyes are feeling much better now! They do, thank you. So yeah, while I was working on that script, I actually dropped a couple of stats in there. The first one about AI overviews being triggered by around 30% of keywords, I took it straight from the SE Ranking blog. And then there was the other one from the Growth Memo blog about the CTR in the SERPs where AIOs appeared. And I asked you to look that one up for me. Remember that? I do remember that! We pulled in that stat from SE Ranking about AI Overviews being triggered in roughly 30% of queries, and also the Growth Memo insight on the CTR drop when AIOs are present. Glad those details made it into your script! Yeah, I do have it in my script. So you mentioned CTR dropped by 15% according to the Growth Memo,
but then I went to the blog to double-check, and it actually said CTRs dropped by two-thirds, aka around 66%. That's quite a difference, don't you think? Oh, absolutely, that's a pretty big difference! Thanks for catching that. A 66% drop is definitely… Oh no, no, no, please spare me. So, yeah, don’t be like me. Don’t rely on ChatGPT to pull up stats for you. Just go to the SE Ranking blog for the most fresh, the best AI search stats and get them right from the trusted source.
Key takeaways
Q&A
ChatGPT confirms remembering the conversation and notes that SE Ranking stats about AI Overviews being triggered in roughly 30% of queries and insights from Growth Memo on CTR drops were discussed. — ChatGPT
ChatGPT acknowledges the significant error and apologizes, confirming that a 66% drop is drastically different from the 15% it initially reported. — ChatGPT