ChatGPT Search Is About To Take Over Google

ChatGPT has a new feature called Search that combines a powerful AI-powered chatbot with the latest Internet results, OpenAI said in a blog post Thursday. A Chrome extension is also available.

People can use natural language to ask ChatGPT questions and get relevant information and latest links. There is also a manual search button in ChatGPT now. Clicking the “sources” button on web or mobile brings up a list of citations on the right side of the site. Search is currently limited to ChatGPT Plus, Team and SearchGPT waitlist users. Enterprise and EDU users will get access in the next few weeks. OpenAI says ChatGPT Search will roll out to users a free version of its chatbot in the coming months.

OpenAI has partnered with several news organizations to license their reporting to help complement ChatGPT results. It also highlighted that previously, users would need to look at an external search engine to find relevant links, which is no longer necessary.

“ChatGPT search promises to better highlight and include information from trusted news sources, benefiting audiences while expanding the reach of publishers like us who produce great journalism,” said Pam Wasserstein, president of Vox Media, in a blog post.

News partners include Associated Press, Axel Springer, Condé Nast, Dotdash Meredith, Financial Times, GEDI, Hearst, Le Monde, News Corp, Prisa (El País), Reuters, The Atlantic, Time and Vox Media. It’s up to some news publishers if they want to have OpenAI robots crawl their sites for information. Surprisingly, the New York Times is not included in the list, as it is suing OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright infringement.

OpenAI referred to its blog post when asked for further comment.

When ChatGPT launched in late 2022, it quickly gained widespread popularity and gave people an alternative to Google search. The online search landscape has changed a lot since then, with Google and Microsoft soon offering their own AI-powered search engines and chatbots. Google’s AI Overviews, for example, sit at the top of Google searches, answering people’s questions with AI-generated answers. Some players, like Perplexity, have relied on AI-enhanced internet searches from the start. The increased competition has led to a decline in Google’s global search market share, from 90% to 87%.

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With the latest ChatGPT update, almost all major AI chatbots recognize the need to have a strong internet connection.

OpenAI says ChatGPT allows people to engage with information and helps users find publishers and websites.

“As AI reshapes the media landscape, Axel Springer’s collaboration with OpenAI opens up great development opportunities,” said Mathias Sanchez, senior vice president of global strategic partnerships at Axel Springer SE, in a blog post. “Together, we are driving new business models that ensure journalism remains honest and profitable.”