Key information
- OpenAI’s ChatGPT now includes real-time web search capabilities, a significant advancement in its AI chatbot technology.
- The functionality is seamlessly integrated into ChatGPT’s existing interface and intelligently determines when to use web results based on user queries.
- Users can manually trigger the search functionality or let it be triggered automatically by the system.
OpenAI’s ChatGPT now includes real-time web search capabilities, marking a significant advancement in its AI chatbot technology. This feature, initially available to paid subscribers and SearchGPT waitlist users, will soon be available to free users, businesses, and educational institutions.
Instead of being a separate product, the web search functionality is seamlessly integrated into ChatGPT’s existing interface. The system intelligently determines when to use web results based on user queries, while providing the option of manual triggering. This integration fills an important gap compared to competitors such as Microsoft Copilot and Google Gemini, which have long integrated real-time internet access into their AI conversations.
Technical details
In a pre-launch demo, Adam Fry, OpenAI’s ChatGPT Research Lead, demonstrated the feature by searching for information on Apple’s stock and relevant news. The response displayed an interactive chart of the stock, details of upcoming earnings, and news articles with clickable quotes linking to the original sources. A dedicated “sources” sidebar allows users to easily view a list of relevant websites. Fry demonstrated the search functionality by asking a question about Italian restaurants in San Francisco. ChatGPT responded with an interactive map showing recommended establishments. In both examples, Fry asked follow-up questions to refine the search results, emphasizing the conversational nature of this enhanced experience.
This new search feature is available on all ChatGPT platforms: iOS, Android, and desktop apps for macOS and Windows. Fry explained that the search functionality was developed using a combination of search technologies, including Microsoft’s Bing. OpenAI confirmed in a blog post that the underlying search model is a refined version of GPT-4o. This prototype, known as SearchGPT, was initially made available to 10,000 test users in July.
Competitive landscape and partnerships
Prior to this update, ChatGPT’s knowledge base was limited to a cutoff point between 2021 and 2023, depending on the model. Niko Felix, OpenAI spokesperson, assured that even if live search is enabled, the company will continue to update its training data to ensure users have access to the latest advances. However, this is a separate process from training your models.
The launch coincides with a surge in AI-powered research development at major tech companies. Meta is reportedly working on its own AI search solution. Although the launch coincides with Alphabet’s earnings release (which revealed third-quarter search revenue of $49.4 billion), Fry said it was an independent initiative.
One of the potential advantages of ChatGPT over Google Search is the absence of advertising or promoted queries cluttering the results. While Google relies heavily on advertising revenue from search results, Fry said there are currently no plans to advertise in ChatGPT. However, the operational costs of AI-powered research are higher than traditional methods, raising questions about how OpenAI will be able to maintain research for free users. Felix said free users will be limited in how often they use the latest search models.
Challenges and scrutiny
The field of AI research also faces legal challenges. News Corp and The New York Times have filed a lawsuit against computer-assisted search startup Perplexity, accusing it of copyright infringement. The New York Times also sued OpenAI for allegedly using their hardware to train its large language models.
Regarding potential surveillance, Mr. Fry highlighted OpenAI’s partnerships with media organizations. He said the company works closely with these partners to ensure responsible use of content and beneficial outcomes for all parties. He added that any publisher can opt out of OpenAI’s crawler, which will not bypass paywalls.
OpenAI has formed numerous media partnerships over the past year, including high-profile names like Hearst, Condé Nast, Axel Springer and News Corp. Fry says these partners will have more control over how their content appears in ChatGPT, but they won’t automatically be prioritized in search queries.
Accuracy and transparency
ChatGPT’s web search debut coincides with the US presidential election, highlighting the importance of accuracy in information retrieval. Ms. Fry expressed hope that the tool could elevate authoritative election information sources and said OpenAI pays special attention to election-related queries.
Mr Fry believes ChatGPT’s web search will ultimately improve factual accuracy. He attributes some hallucinations (errors) in AI systems to a lack of access to up-to-date information, arguing that the new functionality helps ChatGPT make more informed decisions about which answers are true and factual. While acknowledging that borderline cases and occasional errors are inevitable, he emphasized the company’s commitment to transparency when errors occur.
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