- OpenAI will enhance ChatGPT with a new search feature for real-time web answers.
- ChatGPT’s search tool challenges Google’s search dominance.
- CEO Sam Altman says search has “probably doubled my usage” of ChatGPT in the last few weeks.
OpenAI just upped ChatGPT’s search abilities.
On Thursday, the GenAI company said that its chatbot will have a new and improved search feature that can provide “links to relevant web sources” when asked a question. OpenAI said ChatGPT can handle requests that users would’ve had to use a search engine for.
As it stands, Google is the dominant search engine, with the DOJ alleging it holds about 88% of the US search market. OpenAI is taking on the tech giant by offering a search tool that can process conversational questions and keep track of context. Google’s stock slipped after the announcement and was trading down less than 2% ahead of the close.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in an X post that using ChatGPT search has “probably doubled my usage over the past few weeks.”
search is my favorite feature we have launched in chatgpt since the original the launch!
it has probably doubled my usage over the past few weeks. https://t.co/alD11AwUUb
— Sam Altman (@sama) October 31, 2024
Before this launch, ChatGPT could accurately answer questions up to a certain period and search the web to provide relevant answers. ChatGPT Plus and Team users can now use the chatbot for real-time answers on subjects like the weather, the stock market, and more. The tool will roll out to fee users “over the coming months.”
Generative AI exploded in popularity with the release of ChatGPT in November 2022. Chatbots can keep up conversations and answer questions based on data from large language models. More than 200 million people used ChatGPT per week as of August, OpenAI said.
Earlier this year, Alphabet launched “AI Overviews” on Google. The feature runs alongside search results with linked sources using AI.
And OpenAI and Alphabet aren’t the only companies exploring ways to incorporate GenAI into search. Perplexity, an AI startup taking on search, is in funding talks that would give it an $8 billion valuation, The Wall Street Journal reported.
In July, Altman confirmed that the company was testing a prototype called SearchGPT. It was an indicator that OpenAI would be coming to challenge Google’s search reign.
Instead of pulling up the nearest restaurants, OpenAI said ChatGPT can make recommendations with its search feature and answer follow-up questions.
While it’ll take some time to show if it’s a true search competitor, given it’s not yet widely available, it’s another step from OpenAI toward taking on the search behemoth.
