OpenAI Officially Announces Their New AI-Powered Search Engine, SearchGPT

OpenAI, the creators of ChatGPT have entered the race to produce an  AI-powered search engine.

On 25 July, OpenAI announced the selective launch of SearchGPT. It promises to combine artificial-intelligence (AI) with real-time access to information from the internet.

You can soon say goodbye to ChatGPT telling you that “information is only correct as of XXX date”.

The Current Search Engine Scene

The search engine industry has long been dominated by global tech giants Google. However, in recent times, Microsoft and Amazon have entered the fray.

The companies have been battling to incorporate AI into their search engines.

Microsoft, who is OpenAI’s biggest backer, currently boasts Bing, while Amazon’s founder and semiconductor giant NVIDIA have backed Perplexity AI.

The latter is a searched-focused AI chatbot.

Google are not too far behind, with their AI search feature, AI Overview, also competing for a slice of the pie.

However, they aren’t perfect, and AI Overview has received plenty of backlash given their less than helpful search results, which have oftentimes been outrageously questionable, or plainly incorrect.

You can watch the following video to find out more about AI Overview’s shortcomings:

SearchGPT

SearchGPT now places OpenAI in direct competition with their largest backer, Microsoft.

Following the announcement by OpenAI, shares of Alphabet (Google’s parent company) fell by 3%.

Google’s influence in the search engine space is profound. According to web analytics firm Statcounter, Google has a market share of 91.1%.

SearchGPT is a prototype of new search features designed to “combine the strength of [their] AI models with information from the web to give [users] fast and timely answers with clear and relevant sources.”

We’re testing SearchGPT, a temporary prototype of new AI search features that give you fast and timely answers with clear and relevant sources.

We’re launching with a small group of users for feedback and plan to integrate the experience into ChatGPT. https://t.co/dRRnxXVlGh pic.twitter.com/iQpADXmllH

— OpenAI (@OpenAI) July 25, 2024

In a blog post, OpenAI has stated that SearchGPT will provide summarised search results with source links. Users will thereafter be able to ask follow-up questions. The context of the overall query will then be compounded with each follow-up.

Imagine talking to a Google-like search engine like how you do with ChatGPT. Now that is something.

OpenAI has also announced that it will provide publishers with the ability to manage how their content would appear on the platform.

Now, it actually works like Perplexity AI, but with the OpenAI brand.

How can you get it?

Currently SearchGPT is a prototype, and users would have to join a waitlist in order to test out its features.

It remains to be seen how the actual user experience will be. However, you can head to OpenAI’s website to check out SearchGPT’s features through this link.

It’s unknown when it will be available for everyone.

Google has not responded to queries about the impact that SearchGPT will have on their business. However, the 3% fall in Alphabet’s share price could be telling of investor sentiments, especially given AI Overview’s current “capabilities”.