Look Out Google, ChatGPT Search Is Here

ChatGPT's connection to the internet just got more direct with the ability to search the net in a faster and timelier way, providing links to web sources, OpenAI said in a blog post on Thursday. 

People can use natural language to ask ChatGPT queries and get relevant information plus up-to-date links. There's also a manual search button in ChatGPT now. Clicking the "sources" button on web or mobile brings up a list of citations on the right-hand side of the site. Search is currently limited to ChatGPT Plus, Team and SearchGPT waitlist users. Enterprise and EDU users will gain access in the next few weeks. OpenAI says ChatGPT Search will roll out to users of the free version of its chatbot in the coming months. 

OpenAI has partnered with multiple news organizations to license their reporting to help fill ChatGPT's results. It also highlighted that previously, users would need to refer to an external search engine to get relevant links, which now isn't necessary.

"ChatGPT search promises to better highlight and attribute information from trustworthy news sources, benefiting audiences while expanding the reach of publishers like ourselves who produce premium journalism," said Pam Wasserstein, president of Vox Media, in the blog post. 

News collaborators include the Associated Press, Axel Springer, Condé Nast, Dotdash Meredith, Financial Times, GEDI, Hearst, Le Monde, News Corp, Prisa (El País), Reuters, The Atlantic, Time and Vox Media. It's up to other news publishers if they want to have OpenAI's robots crawl their sites for information. Unsurprisingly, The New York Times isn't listed, as it's suing OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright violation.

OpenAI referred to its blog post when asked for additional comment. 

When ChatGPT launched in late 2022, it immediately gained wide popularity and gave people an alternative to Google search. The online search landscape has changed dramatically since, with Google and Microsoft soon offering AI-powered search engines and chatbots of their own. Google's AI Overviews, for instance, sit atop Google search, answering people's questions with AI-built responses. Other players, like Perplexity, have leaned into AI-enhanced online search from the start. The added competition has led to a drop in Google's search market share worldwide, from 90% to 87%. 

With ChatGPT's latest update, nearly all the major AI chatbots see the need to have a strong internet connection. 

OpenAI says that ChatGPT more naturally allows people to engage with information and helps users discover publishers and websites. 

"As AI reshapes the media landscape, Axel Springer's partnership with OpenAI opens up tremendous opportunities for innovative advancements," said Mathias Sanchez, senior vice president of global strategic partnerships at Axel Springer SE, in the blog post. "Together, we're driving new business models that ensure journalism remains both trustworthy and profitable."