The giant OpenAI announced this Thursday, October 31, the launch of an Internet search engine, ChatGPT Search, an extension of its generative artificial intelligence (AI) interface of the same name – or almost. This new functionality allows the group led by Sam Altman to directly compete with the benchmark in this area: Google.
Unlike ChatGPT, which relies on a finite quantity of data accumulated within a database, the new OpenAI service will also draw elements online to respond to queries. “You can get fast, relevant answers with links to relevant Internet sources, which previously would have required using a search engine,” OpenAI said in a statement. The company also allows the user to search directly on the Internet without relying on the ChatGPT interface.
“We rely on our (AI) model to determine if a source provides a good answer to a user query,” a spokesperson explained to AFP. ChatGPT Search is now available to paid subscribers to the ChatGPT Plus and ChatGPT Team plans. OpenAI says the search engine will become freely available in the coming months.
“No plans” for the arrival of advertising
As part of this evolution, OpenAI has entered into partnerships with publishers and data providers “to add up-to-date information”, and offer a specific presentation for certain categories such as weather or sports results.
With ChatGPT Search, OpenAI is hunting directly on the lands of Google, but also of its partner Microsoft, which controls 49% of the start-up’s capital. OpenAI’s announcement caused Alphabet’s share price, Google’s parent company, to fall into the red.
OpenAI’s model is currently based on subscriptions, while Google’s is almost entirely built on advertising. Asked by AFP, a spokesperson for Open AI indicated that as it stands, there were “no plans” for the arrival of advertising on this new search engine. Google launched a new AI feature in its search engine in the spring, AI Overviews, which, like ChatGPT Search, allows you to obtain a developed answer to a question asked in everyday language. Microsoft has also added AI to its Bing search engine.