OpenAI releases ChatGPT search engine: What makes It different from other AI rivals?

ChatGPT now offers real-time search for paid users and SearchGPT waitlist members, with broader access coming soon.

ChatGPT has now become an AI-powered search engine. Starting today, paid subscribers, along with users on the SearchGPT waitlist, can use real-time information within ChatGPT, while free, enterprise, and educational users will gain access in the coming weeks.

Instead of releasing it as a new product, web search is integrated directly into ChatGPT’s current interface. This feature identifies when to use web results based on user queries, but users can also initiate searches manually. With this update, ChatGPT bridges a significant gap with competitors like Microsoft Copilot and Google Gemini, which have already offered live internet access in AI interactions.

During a pre-launch demo, OpenAI’s ChatGPT search lead, Adam Fry, demonstrated the feature by looking up Apple’s stock and related news. The search produced an interactive stock chart, upcoming earnings data, and clickable news articles linked to their original sources. A sidebar displaying sources lets users browse a list of related sites. In another instance, Fry searched for Italian restaurants in San Francisco, resulting in an interactive map with pins marking recommended spots. He also refined the search to find restaurants that are “more casual and neighborhood-y.”

This search function will be available on all ChatGPT platforms, including iOS, Android, and desktop apps for macOS and Windows. According to Fry, the search capability was developed using “a mix of search technologies,” with support from Microsoft’s Bing. OpenAI stated in a Thursday blog that the search model is a specialized version of GPT-4o. Originally tested by 10,000 users as a prototype called SearchGPT in July, OpenAI had been seeking Google employees for its search team as early as May.

Before this, ChatGPT’s knowledge was restricted by data cutoffs between 2021 and 2023, depending on the model. OpenAI spokesperson Niko Felix explained that even with live search, the company will continue updating its training data to “ensure our users always have access to the latest advancements,” but this is “distinct” from the ongoing training of its models.