OpenAI Launches SearchGPT: A New Era of Web Search?

OpenAI has announced its long-awaited foray into the search engine market with SearchGPT, an AI-powered search engine that offers real-time access to information across the web. This new release promises to change the way users interact with search engines by offering more organized and contextualized answers instead of simply presenting a list of links.

The SearchGPT interface starts with a large text box that asks the user, “What are you looking for?” Instead of returning a flat list of links, SearchGPT organizes and analyzes the information it finds. For example, if you search for information about music festivals, the search engine summarizes the results and presents short descriptions of the events, followed by an attribution link.

Similarly, when searching for information on when to plant tomatoes, a detailed explanation of the different varieties of the plant is provided. Additionally, users can ask additional questions or click on a sidebar to open other relevant links. A feature called “visual feedback” is also available, although OpenAI has not provided precise details on how it works.

SearchGPT is currently just a “prototype,” according to OpenAI spokesperson Kayla Wood, and will only be available to 10,000 test users in its initial release. Wood explained that OpenAI is working with third-party partners and using direct content feeds to build search results. The goal is to eventually integrate these search features directly into ChatGPT.

The move marks the beginning of what could be a major threat to Google, which has accelerated the inclusion of AI features in its search engine amid concerns that users will switch to rival products that offer these tools first. It also puts OpenAI in more direct competition with startup Perplexity, which bills itself as an AI-powered “answer” engine. Perplexity has recently come under fire for its AI summary feature, which editors say is a direct rip-off of their work.

OpenAI appears to have taken note of these criticisms, and says it’s taking a very different approach. In a blog post, the company emphasized that SearchGPT was developed in collaboration with several news partners, including organizations like the owners of The Wall Street Journal, the Associated Press, and Vox Media, the parent company of The Verge. “News partners have provided valuable feedback, and we continue to listen to their views,” Wood said.

Publishers will have the ability to “control how they appear in OpenAI search features,” the company writes. They can choose not to have their content used to train OpenAI models and still appear in search results.

“SearchGPT is designed to help users connect with publishers by citing and linking to them prominently in search results,” OpenAI said. “Responses are clearly attributed and referenced so users know where the information comes from and can quickly interact with additional results in a sidebar with source links.”

Releasing its search engine as a prototype helps OpenAI in a couple of ways. First, if SearchGPT’s results are wrong, it’s easier to justify it by saying it’s just a prototype. There’s also the potential for attribution errors or even plagiarism of papers, as Perplexity has been accused of.

This new product has been the subject of rumors for months, with The Information reporting on its development in February and more Bloomberg reports in May. During the same period, it emerged that OpenAI was actively trying to recruit Google employees to its search team. Some X (formerly Twitter) users also spotted a new website that OpenAI was working on, hinting at this move.

OpenAI is gradually bringing ChatGPT closer to the real-time web. When GPT-3.5 was released, the AI ​​model was already several months out of date. Last September, OpenAI launched a way to browse the web with ChatGPT called “Browse with Bing,” though it seems much more basic than SearchGPT.

OpenAI’s rapid progress has attracted millions of ChatGPT users, but the company’s costs are mounting. The Information reported this week that OpenAI’s AI training and inference costs could reach $7 billion this year, with millions of users of the free version of ChatGPT only adding to those costs. SearchGPT will be free during its initial launch, and since the feature currently appears to be ad-free, it’s clear the company will soon have to find a way to monetize it.

With SearchGPT, OpenAI is not only entering a competitive market, but also challenging established giants like Google, which has dominated the search engine sector for years. The rivalry between these companies promises to take search and AI innovation to new heights, ultimately providing users with better and more accurate tools.

Original information in The Verge.