OpenAI launches Google competitor – ChatGPT Search

OpenAI’s challenger to Google is finally here.

Company on Thursday launched ChatGPT Search is an evolution of the SearchGPT prototype introduced this summer. Built in OpenAI ChatGPT The ChatGPT Search platform is designed to provide “timely answers” ​​to questions, OpenAI says, using a range of online sources.

Powered by an improved version of OpenAI. GPT-4o The ChatGPT Search model provides information and photos from the Internet (such as sports scores, news, stock quotes, etc.) along with links to relevant sources, after which you can ask additional questions to refine your current search.

ChatGPT will select a web search based on your query, or you can choose to search manually by clicking the new web search icon.

Answers have both inline and side-link links to news publishers and other data sources with which OpenAI has licensing agreements. For example, searching for weekend events in San Francisco might return summaries from local news websites, and a subsequent question about restaurant offerings will reveal a list of local options.

Election-related queries will be directed to sources such as AP and Reuters, OpenAI said.

ChatGPT Plus and Team users will initially have access to ChatGPT search on mobile and web, while OpenAI’s enterprise and education customers will receive ChatGPT search in the coming weeks, followed by free users.

OpenAI says it plans to continue improving search, especially in areas such as shopping and travel, and use its o1 models of “reasoning” for “deeper exploration.” The company also plans to implement ChatGPT search in its Enhanced Voice Mode feature, as well as for logged out ChatGPT users.

Some publishers have protested against AI-powered reviews such as ChatGPT search and Google AI reviews, saying they threaten to eat up traffic to the sites they get their information from. One study found that AI reviews can negatively affect approximately 25% of publishers’ traffic due to decreased attention to article links.

OpenAI says it has taken feedback from publishing partners about how ChatGPT search decides which articles are most relevant to a query, as well as determining the length of abstracts and citations for articles.