Online search is changing, so must digital skills

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ChatGPT offers a significant advancement on information retrieval through search engines. As a conversational chatbot that understands natural language questions and responds with natural language answers that efficiently summarise large and diverse swathes of knowledge

search engines... largely present search results in the form of hits as brief text extracts from relevant websites, accompanied by hyperlinks.Users must then undertake a laborious DIY process of deciding which hits to click on, peruse the information on different websites, assess the information by determining its relevance, reliability and provenance. We must review reams of information distributed across multiple windows and attempt to reconcile contradictory or doubtful points. This is a cognitively burdensome task that users certainly do not undertake with equal domain knowledge and digital fluency.

how might human skills of processing and assessing information atrophy over time when pre-fab answers to all searches are swiftly generated and neatly delivered?

The hazard of using conversational AI-powered search services is that even though they are error-prone, they exude tremendous confidence.

Qn: To what extent has technology had a negative impact on the skill levels of people? (Cam. 2010)