OpenAI launches ChatGPT search, competing with Google and Microsoft

OpenAI on Thursday announced a search feature in ChatGPT, its viral chatbot, which puts the artificial intelligence startup’s powerful enough to compete with search engines like Google, MicrosoftBing’s frustration.

ChatGPT Search provides the latest sports information, quotes, news, weather and more, powered by real-time online research and collaboration with news and data providers, according to the company. It began beta testing the search engine, called SearchGPT, in July.

The release could have ramifications for Google as the dominant search engine. Since ChatGPT launches in November 2022, Alphabet investors are concerned that OpenAI could take market share from Google in search by offering consumers new ways to search for information online.

Alphabet shares were down about 1% after the news.

The move also positions OpenAI as a competitor to Microsoft and its businesses. Microsoft has invested about $14 billion in OpenAI, yet OpenAI products compete with Microsoft’s AI and search tools like Copilot and Bing.

To a Reddit At Thursday’s AMA, OpenAI’s VP of engineering, Srinivas Narayanan, responded to a user’s question about whether ChatGPT search used Bing as the search engine behind the scenes, writing, “We use a service group and Bing it’s important.”

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman wrote Thursday in a post on X that the search is “his favorite thing we’ve introduced” to ChatGPT since the first chat started.

OpenAI says users can “search in a natural, intuitive way” and ask follow-up questions “just like you would in a conversation.” The search engine is an optimized version of OpenAI’s most powerful AI model, GPT-4o, and is powered in part by third-party search providers and content provided by industry partners. news.

“I find it’s the fastest/easiest way to find the information I’m looking for,” Altman said Thursday during a Reddit AMA. “I think we’ll see this especially for queries that require complex searches. I also look forward to a future where a search query can provide a custom web page with a response!”

OpenAI wrote in a Thursday blog post that it used feedback from its SearchGPT model to develop the interface and that it plans to “continue to improve search, particularly in areas such as shopping and travel, and to increase the power of positioning The reasons for the OpenAI series are to conduct in-depth research.”

ChatGPT will “automatically search the web for what you’re asking,” according to an OpenAI blog post. Users can click the web search icon within ChatGPT to search if they choose.

Discussions now include links to resources such as articles or posts, which users can access by clicking the “Resources” button below the response to open a separate area. OpenAI says it is collaborating with its media partners, including The Associated Press, Reuters, Axel Springer, Condé Nast, Hearst, Dotdash Meredith, Financial Times, News Corp., Le Monde, The Atlantic, Time and Vox Media .

All ChatGPT Plus and Group users, as well as SearchGPT waitlist members, can access ChatGPT search starting Thursday, according to an OpenAI blog post. ChatGPT Enterprise and Edu users will get access in the next few weeks, and the product will be rolled out to users of the free version of ChatGPT “in the coming months,” according to OpenAI.

OpenAI closed its latest funding round earlier this month at a valuation of $157 billion, including $6.6 billion that the company raised from a broad list of investment firms and Big Tech companies. It also received a $4 billion loan, bringing its total to more than $10 billion. OpenAI expects to lose $5 billion to $3.7 billion in revenue this year, CNBC confirmed in September with a person familiar with the situation.

OpenAI has faced controversy in recent months over its upcoming for-profit transition, as well as a series of executive announcements. Jan Leike, former head of the company’s security team, wrote in X when he resigned that “culture and security processes took a back seat to shiny products” at the company.