OpenAI makes ChatGPT Search available to everyone without an account

Emmanuel Oyedeji -

For years, Google Search has been the undisputed gateway to the internet. Need an answer? Google it. That’s been the norm for over two decades. But a new wave of AI-powered search tools is starting to challenge Google’s dominance—and OpenAI just made a bold move to shake things up.

ChatGPT Search is making ChatGPT Search available to everyone—no sign-up required. You can go to chatgpt.com, type in a question, and get an AI-generated response complete with links, sources, and images.

According to OpenAI, the ChatGPT Search is powered by a fine-tuned version of GPT-4 and relies on both third-party providers and direct partner content to deliver information. One notable partner? Microsoft Bing.

That wasn’t always the case. When the tool first launched last October, it was locked behind a paywall for premium subscribers. By December, OpenAI expanded access to logged-in users. But now the gates are wide open.

But this isn’t just about being generous, by dropping all barriers, OpenAI is signalling that it’s serious about becoming a real alternative to Google Search.

Not that Google is also sitting idly by. Apart from its AI-powered overview driving dominance in Gen-AI search usage, the tech giant is integrating AI even deeper into search products.

Google Outpaces ChatGPT in U.S. GenAI Search Traffic for December 2024
Google’s long-established dominace in the search market naturally positioned it as the go-to platform for AI-driven search thanks its AI overview feature.
TechloyEmmanuel Oyedeji

With experimental projects like Project Astra, a multimodal AI for processing live video, and Gemini Deep Research, designed to generate long-form reports from web data, Google is cooking! There’s even Project Mariner, an AI agent that is rumoured to one day interact with websites on behalf of users, potentially changing how we search altogether. These are serious moves designed to keep users hooked.

But by making its search tool available to everyone without an account, OpenAI has removed a key friction point. The easier it is to use a service, the more likely people are to adopt it.

This moment feels like the beginning of a major shift. Google is still the giant in the room, but OpenAI’s approach—giving users a simple, AI-driven search experience—could start chipping away at that dominance. If ChatGPT Search gains traction, Google may have to rethink its strategy to keep users from straying too far.

So, will this be the beginning of the end for Google Search as we know it? Maybe not just yet—but for the first time in a long while, there’s a real challenger in the ring.