OpenAI has augmented its ChatGPT generative artificial intelligence chatbot with search engine capabilities to combat Google's decades-long dominance in finding answers on the web, AFP reports.
With the enhancement, "you can get quick, timely answers with links to relevant web sources, which previously required logging into a search engine," OpenAI reported.
The significant enhancement to ChatGPT allows the AI-powered chatbot to provide real-time information with direct links to source material on topics ranging from weather forecasts and stock prices to sports scores and breaking news.
The examples shown on the OpenAI website closely resemble Google search results and Google Maps.
It also resembles the interface of Perplexity, another AI-powered search engine. It offers a more conversational version of Google with sources referenced in the response.
The new feature is an update to ChatGPT. Users are given the option to get the default results or manually select the option by clicking the web search icon.
The company claims that any website or publisher can choose to appear in ChatGPT search results. OpenAI is actively seeking feedback from content creators to improve the system.
Since its launch, AI-powered chatbots such as ChatGPT or Anthropic's Claude have been limited by timeouts in which the answers provided are no longer relevant.
This has been widely interpreted as a weakness of chatbots, especially in OpenAI, which does not have a standalone search engine providing more timely data, unlike Google or Microsoft, which combine AI responses with web results.
The launch will raise more questions about the startup's relationship with Microsoft, a major investor in OpenAI, which is also trying to expand the reach of its search engine against Google with its Copilot AI.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has said he wants to turn his company into an Internet giant.
He successfully catapulted the company to a staggering $157 billion valuation in a recent fundraising round that included Microsoft, Tokyo-based conglomerate SoftBank and artificial intelligence chipmaker Nvidia as investors.
Attracting new users with the search engine's capabilities will only add to the company's massive computing needs and costs, which are enormous. | BGNES
