A New Rival to Google and Bing Search Emerges

OpenAI might aim to enter the search market, potentially competing with not only newcomers like Perplexity but also established players such as Google and Bing.

The company introduced SearchGPT on Thursday, a search function created to provide “timely answers” to queries using web-based sources.

In terms of interface, SearchGPT resembles OpenAI’s ChatGPT platform. Users input a question, and SearchGPT delivers information and images from the Internet along with links to pertinent sources. Users can then pose follow-up questions or explore additional, related searches in a side panel.

Certain searches consider your location. OpenAI explains in a support document that SearchGPT “collects and shares” general location data with third-party search providers to enhance result accuracy (e.g., displaying nearby restaurants or weather forecasts). SearchGPT also allows users to share more precise location information via a switch in the settings menu.

Utilizing OpenAI models (specifically GPT-3.5, GPT-4, and GPT-4o), SearchGPT — which OpenAI labels as a prototype — is being released today to “a small group” of users and publishers. (A waitlist is available.) OpenAI indicates plans to incorporate some SearchGPT features into ChatGPT in the future.

OpenAI writes in a blog post, “Getting answers on the web can take a lot of effort, often requiring multiple attempts to get relevant results. We believe that by enhancing the conversational capabilities of our models with real-time information from the web, finding what you’re looking for can be faster and easier.”

OpenAI has long been speculated to be interested in creating a Google competitor. In February, information was reported about a potential product or pilot in development. However, the introduction of SearchGPT comes at a challenging time, as AI-powered search tools face legitimate criticism for plagiarism, inaccuracies, and content cannibalism.

Google’s AI-powered search feature, AI Overviews, notoriously suggested applying glue to a pizza. The Browser Company’s Arc Search incorrectly told a reporter that severed toes would regenerate. AI search engine Genspark once readily suggested weapons for lethal purposes. Perplexity was found to have copied news articles from outlets like CNBC, Bloomberg, and Forbes without proper attribution.

AI-generated summaries risk reducing traffic to the source websites from which they draw information. This is already happening, with one study indicating that AI Overviews could negatively impact about 25% of publisher traffic due to the reduced emphasis on article links.

OpenAI, following Perplexity’s ongoing efforts to address concerns, is presenting SearchGPT as a more responsible and cautious implementation.

OpenAI claims that SearchGPT “prominently cites and links” to publishers in searches with “clear, in-line, named attribution.” The company also states it’s collaborating with publishers to design the experience and providing website owners a way to manage how their content appears in search results.

OpenAI clarifies in the blog post, “Importantly, SearchGPT is about search and is separate from training OpenAI’s generative AI foundation models. Sites can be surfaced in search results even if they opt out of generative AI training. We are committed to a thriving ecosystem of publishers and creators.”

Given OpenAI’s history of using millions of YouTube transcripts without authorization to train its models, their current claims are difficult to accept without reservation. However, the true nature of the SearchGPT situation will become apparent as it develops over time.