The final speaker on this first day of the SEASON 2025 conference is Kristofer Söderström, exploring differences between conventional search and the use of ChatGPT as an alternative. For users, practical distinctions between these tools may increasingly blur, considering the embedding of these technologies into each other; users may prefer LLMs because of their turn-based interrogability, though, and trust them more readily because of the convincing way in which results are presented.
How might we research and understand these practices, then? Kristofer’s study examined how Reddit users compare and contrast ChatGPT and Google Search, collecting some 271 threads from r/ChatGPT and r/google that thematised comparisons of the two platforms. Using the post and comment texts, Kristofer engaged in multi-level topic modelling and traced the prominence of these topics in the threaded conversations over time.
This is non-trivial, given the complexities of these methodological approaches; Kristofer conducted topic modelling at macro-, meso-, and micro-levels, and was able to trace various themes across these levels. Broader discussions about LLMs contain more specific discussions about LLM hallucinations and factuality, for instance. LLM sources and source verification also emerged as key issues. there’s included energy use and emissions, and political polarisation.
Key contexts for LLM uses – at least within these Reddit communities – included academic work, translation from and to other languages, help with programming tasks, and assistance with job applications.
