OpenAI's ChatGPT Search Engine Is Here To Take On Google And Bing

OpenAI appears to be challenging Google and Bing in the search space, as it adds search functionality to ChatGPT. The company says that “thanks to feedback from the SearchGPT prototype, we brought the best of the SearchGPT experience into ChatGPT.” This new feature will be available across OpenAI’s web, desktop, and mobile ChatGPT offerings for Plus and Team users alongside those on the SearchGPT waitlist. Edu and Enterprise users will get the feature “in the coming weeks,” with Free users having to wait a few months.

This search feature is being powered by a “fine-tuned version of GPT-4o,” which has been trained using synthetic data generated by the OpenAI o1-preview model. This is the same training method the company is using to train its next blockbuster model, codenamed Orion, which is rumored to be released later this year. It seems as if synthetic data use will play an important role moving forward in training or refining models.

OpenAI believes that using search with ChatGPT will lead to a better experience, which will lead to better results when trying to find information. The conversation style that is common while using ChatGPT will allow users to ask follow-up questions to dig deeper into whatever it is they’re interested in learning about. Certain queries, such as stock, weather or sports information will also receive more curated results using data from trusted partners.

Additionally, users will be able to see where ChatGPT is sourcing its information from, as “chats now include links to sources, such as news articles and blog posts, giving you a way to learn more.” To access this information users will need to click on the “Sources” button that appears beneath ChatGPT’s response, which will open a sidebar that displays and provides links to where the information came from. This might help ease concerns about the accuracy of the information provided, as users can see where the information originates from.

This move by OpenAI should be troubling for Google, as the search giant has seen its standing with users drop significantly. So long as ChatGPT isn’t delivering poor results, it could start to eat away at Google’s search market share.