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note

AI changed how I search and research

With AI search changes. AI becomes the default for a general research and open discussion. But it's not all AI. Other tools can be used depending on your requirements. This is what I do.


Sandro Maglione

Sandro Maglione

Free thinking

If you didn't yet notice, we entered the era of AI search โœจ

More tools are available (for free). More than a race between tools, I consider them all as assistants, mixing and matching as needed.

There is a place for everyone, here is how I use them ๐Ÿ‘‡


ChatGPT as new search default

No more generic search. For every topic I want to explore I first land on ChatGPT.

This is how and why:

  1. I can go as specific as I need to, giving the AI all the context necessary for a detailed answer
  2. I can ask for clarifications or more ideas while keeping the same context

Tip: ChatGPT allows to set a global prompt that specifies context for all chats.

I use this for example to tell ChatGPT to use TypeScript as default programming language for snippets.

Example of my custom ChatGPT "traits" (context) applied for all chats.
Example of my custom ChatGPT "traits" (context) applied for all chats.

ChatGPT is not the best for recent information and providing links to resources. I consider it an exploration tool, just like an open chat with a knowledgeable assistant (but not always accurate).

Keep in mind the possibility of hallucinations.

It's better to ask for general knowledge (research) and be wary of the details (especially if you are not an expert on the topic).

Perplexity for more resources and recent news

For a wider exploration on recent trends I land on Perplexity.

When I am looking for people's experiences and opinions, Perplexity is ideal to link other resources to explore (outside of AI).

Example: "Example of newsletters landing pages that have a high conversion rate"

Example of search that is more suited for Perplexity: examples of landing pages
Example of search that is more suited for Perplexity: examples of landing pages

The goal of this search is specifically to extract links to other websites and resources. That's where Perplexity shines compared to ChatGPT.

Reddit + Hacker News for discussions

Perplexity and ChatGPT are "just" AIs. Not ideal for "real" opinions.

For an open discussion I pick Reddit and Hacker News.

Note that there is no guarantee that those are not just a bunch of AI as well. But that's the best that we get for now.

This is the trick: adding site: to a Google query allows to restrict the results to a specific domain.

Example: "xstate site:https://news.ycombinator.com/"

Add the "site:" query to restrict the search to a specific website.
Add the "site:" query to restrict the search to a specific website.

You can do the same for all websites. On Reddit instead I usually search under specific communities.

Example: I am looking for "writing" opinions, I go searching inside /r/writing/.

Go to a specific community and search there. You will get a long list of results, each full of comments and (real?) people ideas.
Go to a specific community and search there. You will get a long list of results, each full of comments and (real?) people ideas.

Context-specific AIs

All else depends on your specific requirements.

For code, Github Copilot is now free. I find it convenient to write repetitive code and functions. Example: "format this Date to the following format using the standard Web API".

I don't find AI that useful for larger updates. It doesn't work great against abstractions, things like dependency injection, pure functions, composition.

Another example I recently explored is Pixel Art image generation. This is something that "generic" AIs are unable to do.

For those usecases, you should opt for specialized AIs (Retro Diffusion).


Some more local-first exploration on Typeonce: released another repository example using DexieJS.

Also released a new article: Make FormData and input names type-safe in React.

A lot to explore heading into 2025.

See you next ๐Ÿ‘‹

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