OpenAI announced Thursday the launch of an internet search engine, an extension of its generative artificial intelligence (AI) interface ChatGPT, a functionality which poses as a competitor to Google, a benchmark in the field. ChatGPT search, which will be integrated into ChatGPT, allows the software to no longer be satisfied with a finite quantity of data accumulated within a database, as was the case until now. The interface now has the possibility of drawing elements online to respond to requests.
“You can get fast, relevant answers with links to relevant internet sources, which previously would have required using a search engine,” OpenAI said in a statement. OpenAI also allows the user to directly search the internet without relying on the ChatGPT interface. “We rely on our (AI) model to determine if a source provides a good answer to a user query,” a spokesperson explained to AFP.
ChatGPT search is now available to paying subscribers to the ChatGPT Plus and ChatGPT Team plans. OpenAI says the search engine will become freely available in the coming months. As part of this evolution, OpenAI has entered into partnerships with publishers and data providers “to add up-to-date information”, and offer a specific presentation for certain categories such as weather or sports results.
With ChatGPT search, OpenAI is hunting directly on the lands of Google, but also of its partner Microsoft, which controls 49% of the start-up’s capital. OpenAI’s announcement caused Alphabet’s share price, Google’s parent company, to fall into the red. Around 5:50 p.m. GMT, the stock fell 1.60%.
OpenAI’s model is currently based on subscriptions, while Google’s is almost entirely built on advertising. Asked by AFP, an OpenAI spokesperson indicated that as it stands, there were “no plans” for the arrival of advertising on this new search engine.
Google launched a new AI feature in its search engine in the spring, AI Overviews, which, like ChatGPT search, allows you to obtain a developed answer to a question asked in everyday language. Microsoft has also added AI to its Bing search engine.
