OpenAI announces SearchGPT, its AI-powered search engine

OpenAI is entering the search engine landscape to compete with the likes of Google.

Leveraging its strong user base in the AI ecosystem, OpenAI has announced testing its very own search engine, SearchGPT, to be released at a future date. This move is particularly noteworthy since ChatGPT already powers Bing, Microsoft's search engine, positioning SearchGPT as a direct competitor.

As promised by OpenAI, SearchGPT isn't going to be anything like traditional search engines which are designed to give you a laundry list of links when you need answers. Instead, asking a question generates a well-organized summary.

For instance, if you’re curious about music festivals in Boone, North Carolina, SearchGPT doesn’t just list events. It summarizes the festivals, provides short descriptions, and includes links for more details.

Currently, SearchGPT is in its prototype phase, accessible to only 10,000 test users. Powered by the GPT-4 family, it aims to integrate search features directly into ChatGPT eventually. With real-time access to web information and clear, in-line attribution links, SearchGPT could just be what we need to surf the web.

OpenAI is also collaborating with publishers to ensure that responses have clear source attributions and that publishers can manage how their content appears, addressing concerns about content misuse.

While Google has dominated the search engine market, it is unlikely that it'll still account for 91.0% of shares with SearchGPT being introduced. Reports from Reuters already show a 3% decline following OpenAI's announcement last Thursday.