SearchGPT, OpenAI’s search engine, is now available to everyone for free. And it intends to compete directly with Google. It remains to be seen who will win this new Internet battle.
The launch of ChatGPT in late 2022 has completely shaken up the tech industry. All companies are banking on it to gain popularity and integrating it into their devices and services. Microsoft was the first to enter the dance with Bing Chat, then with Microsoft Copilot, and is currently in the process of rolling out a generative search function. Google, until now the undisputed master of artificial intelligence, then followed suit by launching Bard, since renamed Gemini. Last May, the company then presented AI Overviews, a generative AI which displays a summary of responses to queries (see our article). In short, the online search sector is booming!
These two giants will, however, have to face a competitor that no one saw coming: SearchGPT, OpenAI’s new search engine powered by artificial intelligence! In its official press releasethe start-up promised “Quick and timely responses with clear and relevant sources”. After being offered to paying subscribers since November 2024, the search engine is now available for everyone, for free, on mobile as well as on computer!
SearchGPT: a minimalist and familiar interface
Capable of answering Internet users’ questions on a conversational interface, ChatGPT can already replace certain uses of Google Search. However, in its current form, OpenAI’s chatbot cannot completely replace traditional search engines, because the data with which the AI was trained is not always up to date and the AI tends to hallucinate. However, the format does not make it easy to verify the information given by ChatGPT.
This is where SearchGPT comes in. Its interface, quite minimalist, is not very far from that of ChatGPT. Simply enter your query in the “What are you looking for?” field. It’s the search results that are very different. The engine will search for information in real time on the Internet, then list the answers in the form of summaries followed by the link to the source, all accompanied by photos. The user can then ask additional questions and access other links related to the subject through a sidebar.
To ensure the reliability of the information provided, SearchGPT systematically cites its sources via a dedicated sidebar. It can now present local restaurants in the form of a list, which it has a built-in mini-map to show their location. It can also embed external content, like YouTube videos, directly into its responses. Finally, it has a very convincing spoken conversation mode for paying users.
SearchGPT: precautions to take to avoid errors
According to OpenAI, SearchGPT combines “the power of our artificial intelligence models with information from the web to provide you with fast and timely answers with clear and relevant sources.” For this, it can count on GPT-4. But the integration of AI into search engines has not been smooth. Google had the bitter experience when Gemini recommended users to eat stones, smoke during pregnancy or even use non-toxic glue to hold ingredients on a pizza.
Also, to avoid any pitfalls, particularly with regard to plagiarism, OpenAI has partnered with several renowned media, such as The Atlantic and News Corp, or even Le Monde in France, in order to ensure quality and legitimacy. content offered. The company assures that they can “manage how they appear in SearchGPT” and may refuse to have their content used to train AI models.
SearchGPT is now available for free for all users. The only condition to access it is to be connected to an OpenAI account. Please note, the deployment seems progressive, so it is possible that you will have to wait a little before being able to benefit from it.