OpenAI transformed his popularity ChatGPT today into a strong search engine, marking the corporate's boldest move yet to compete with Google. The upgrade will allow users to ask questions in plain English and get real-time information on news, sports, stocks and weather – features that previously required a separate search engine.
“We consider that finding answers needs to be as natural as having a conversation,” an OpenAI spokesperson told VentureBeat. The company will initially roll out the feature to paid subscribers and plans to expand it to free users in the approaching months.
ChatGPT Search: How OpenAI's recent AI-powered web search actually works
Unlike traditional search engines like google and yahoo (e.g. Google and Bing) that return a listing of links, ChatGPT now processes questions in natural language and delivers curated answers with clear attribution. Users can click through to the unique sources or ask follow-up inquiries to dive deeper into the topics.
The technology relies on OpenAI SearchGPT July experiment testing search features with 10,000 users. This limited release helped the corporate refine the way in which its AI processes web information and associates sources.
The system runs on a special version of GPT-4oprobably the most advanced AI model from OpenAI. The company trained it on massive amounts of web data and optimized it to grasp context across longer conversations.
Major news publishers are partnering with OpenAI to enable next-generation search results
Major news organizations, including the Associated Press, Axel SpringerAnd Vox Media have collaborated with OpenAI to offer content. The agreements aim to handle long-standing concerns that AI systems use publishers' work without permission or payment.
“ChatGPT Search guarantees to higher highlight and attribute information from trusted news sources, benefiting audiences while expanding the reach of publishers like us who produce premium journalism,” Pam Wasserstein, president of Vox Media, said in an announcement Explanation. Publishers can opt out of getting their content used for AI training while it continues to seem in search results.
Inside OpenAI's $5 billion bet on custom chips and AI infrastructure
The launch comes as OpenAI struggles to construct its own technology infrastructure. The company recently announced contracts with AMD, Broadcom and TSMC for development custom AI chips by 2026 – a step to scale back dependence on Nvidia's expensive processors.
These investments should not low-cost. Microsoft, the largest supporter of OpenAI Almost $14 billion investedsaid this week the partnership would Cut quarterly profits by $1.5 billion. OpenAI itself expects to spend $5 billion on computing costs this yr.
This massive investment in custom silicon and infrastructure signals a critical shift in OpenAI's strategy. While most AI firms remain depending on Nvidia's chips and cloud providers' data centers, OpenAI is making an ambitious try and achieve technological independence. It's a dangerous bet that would either strain the corporate's resources or give it an insurmountable advantage within the AI arms race.
By controlling its own chip fate, OpenAI could potentially do that halve its computing costs by 2026. More importantly, custom chips optimized specifically for GPT models could enable features impossible with general-purpose AI processors. This vertical integration — from chips to models to consumer products — reflects the playbook that helped Apple dominate smartphones.
The recent search functions are displayed ChatGPT's website And mobile apps. Enterprise and academic users will gain access over the subsequent few weeks, followed by a phased rollout to OpenAI's thousands and thousands of free users.
For now, Google stays that dominant force within the search. But as AI technology improves and more users turn into comfortable with conversational interfaces, the competition over how we discover information online appears poised for its biggest shakeup in many years.
