OpenAI launches its own search engine to compete with Google

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OpenAI launches Internet search engine powered by ChatGPT.

The artificial intelligence (AI) company has been offering a search function to paid ChatGPT users since Thursday. The function will subsequently be accessible to all ChatGPT users.

A first version was launched in July for a small, restricted group of users.

The original version of ChatGPT, launched in 2022, could not answer questions about recent events that were not included in the data recorded on its base.

This new feature places OpenAI in direct competition with Google.

The subsidiary of the American company Alphabet modified its search engine last May. Google now offers AI-generated answers that frequently appear at the top of search results.

These summaries are intended to respond quickly to a user’s query, so that the user does not necessarily need to click on a link and visit another website to get more information.

Google’s transformation came after a year of testing with a small group of users. However, errors continue to illustrate the risks inherent in entrusting information searches to AI chatbots.

The fact that companies specializing in AI have decided to entrust their chatbots with the dissemination of information collected by professional journalists worries some press outlets.

The New York Times is among the news outlets that have sued OpenAI and its business partner Microsoft for copyright infringement. Wall Street Journal and New York Post publisher News Corp sued another AI search engine, Perplexity, in early October.

OpenAI said in a blog post Thursday that its new search engine was built with help from news partners including The Associated Press and News Corp.

It will include links to sources, such as news and blog posts, the company said. It was not immediately clear whether the links would correspond to the original source of the information presented by the chatbot.