OpenAI launches ChatGPT search, competing with Google and Microsoft

OpenAI on Thursday launched a search feature in ChatGPT, a viral chatbot, which the artificial intelligence startup has created to compete with the likes of search engines. Google, MicrosoftBing and Confused.

ChatGPT Search offers sports scores, stock quotes, news, weather and more, powered by real-time web search and partnerships with news and data providers, according to the company. It began beta-testing its search engine, called SearchGPT, in July.

The release could have implications for Google as the dominant search engine. Since the launch of ChatGPT in November 2022, Alphabet investors are worried that OpenAI could take market share from Google for search by giving consumers a new way to find information online.

Alphabet shares fell about 1% after the news.

The move also makes OpenAI another contender Microsoft and his business. Microsoft has invested close to $14 billion in OpenAI, but OpenAI products compete directly with Microsoft’s AI and search tools, such as Copilot and Bing.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman wrote Thursday in a post on X that search is his “favorite feature we’ve launched” in ChatGPT since the chatbot’s original debut.

OpenAI says users can “search in a more natural and intuitive way” and ask follow-up questions “just like you would in a conversation.” The search model is the best version of OpenAI’s most powerful AI model, GPT-4o, and is powered in part by third-party search providers and content provided by news industry partners.

“I found a faster/easier way to get the information I was looking for,” Altman said in a Reddit AMA on Thursday. “I’ll see this especially for queries that require more complex research. I also look forward to a future where search queries can dynamically translate custom web pages in response!”

OpenAI wrote in a blog post Thursday that it used feedback from the SearchGPT prototype to build the feature and plans to “continue to improve search, especially in areas like shopping and travel, and use the reasoning capabilities of the OpenAI o1 series to do more in-depth research.”

ChatGPT will “automatically search the web based on what you ask,” according to an OpenAI blog post. Users can manually click on the web search icon in ChatGPT to search if they choose.

Conversations now include links to resources like articles or blog posts, which users can access by clicking the “Resources” button below the response to open a sidebar. OpenAI says it collaborates with news partners, including The Associated Press, Reuters, Axel Springer, Condé Nast, Hearst, Dotdash Meredith, Financial Times, News Corp., Le Monde, The Atlantic, Time and Vox Media.

All ChatGPT Plus and Team users, as well as SearchGPT waiting list members, can access ChatGPT search starting Thursday, according to an OpenAI blog post. ChatGPT Enterprise and Edu users will gain access in the next few weeks, and the product will be rolled out to users of the free version of ChatGPT “over the coming months,” per OpenAI.

OpenAI closed its latest round of funding earlier this month at a valuation of $157 billion, including $6.6 billion the company raised from a list of investment firms and Big Tech companies. It also received a $4 billion revolving credit line, bringing its total liquidity to more than $10 billion. OpenAI expects to lose $5 billion on $3.7 billion in revenue this year, CNBC confirmed in September with people familiar with the situation.

OpenAI has faced some controversy in recent months regarding its upcoming transition to a non-profit structure, as well as a string of executives. Jan Leike, former safety team leader at the company, wrote in X at the time of his resignation that “safety culture and processes have taken a back seat to shiny products” at the company.