OpenAI brings a new web search tool to ChatGPT

Until now, ChatGPT was mostly restricted to generating answers from its training data, which is current up to October 2023 for GPT-4o, and had limited web search capabilities. Searches about generalized topics will still draw on this information from the model itself, but now ChatGPT will automatically search the web in response to queries about recent information such as sports, stocks, or news of the day, and can deliver rich multi-media results. Users can also manually trigger a web search, but for the most part, the chatbot will make its own decision about when an answer would benefit from information taken from the web.

While ChatGPT search, as it is known, is initially available to paying customers, OpenAI intends to make it available for free later, even when people are logged out. The company also plans to combine search with its voice features and Canvas, its interactive platform for coding and writing, although these capabilities will not be available in today’s initial launch.  OpenAI is the latest tech company to debut an AI-powered search assistant, challenging similar tools from competitors. 

These new tools could eventually challenge Google’s 90% market share in online search. AI search is a very important way to draw more users. But it is unlikely to chip away at Google’s search dominance. Microsoft’s high-profile attempt with Bing barely made a dent in the market.   Instead, OpenAI is trying to create a new market for more powerful and interactive AI agents, which can take complex actions in the real world.  The new search function in ChatGPT is a step toward these agents. 

It can also deliver highly contextualized responses that take advantage of chat histories, allowing users to go deeper in a search. Currently, ChatGPT search is able to recall conversation histories and continue the conversation with questions on the same topic. 

ChatGPT itself can also remember things about users that it can use later —sometimes it does this automatically, or you can ask it to remember something.  Search doesn’t have this yet—a new web search starts from scratch— but it should get this capability in the next couple of quarters. When it does, OpenAI says it will allow it to deliver far more personalized results based on what it knows.

But despite the enhanced ability to search the web and cross-check sources, the tool is not immune from the persistent tendency of AI language models to make things up or get it wrong. Another risk is that the current push to access the web through AI search will disrupt the internet’s digital economy.  By shielding the web behind an all-knowing chatbot, AI search could deprive creators of the visits and ‘eyeballs’ they need to survive.