OpenAI Challenges Google’s Dominance with ChatGPT-Powered Internet Search

OpenAI has announced the rollout of ChatGPT-powered internet search to all users, marking a substantial challenge to Google’s dominance in the search engine market. This new feature, previously exclusive to paying subscribers, is now available to all logged-in free users of ChatGPT.

The integration of search functionality into ChatGPT enables users to access fast, timely answers with links to relevant web sources, effectively transforming ChatGPT into a real-time search tool. This enhancement is part of OpenAI’s efforts to boost the AI chatbot’s capabilities, providing users with up-to-date information from across the web.

According to OpenAI’s chief product officer, Kevin Weil, the feature will be globally available on all platforms where ChatGPT is used. The new interface resembles traditional search results, similar to Google and Google Maps, but without the clutter of advertisements.

Unlike Google’s search engine, OpenAI’s upgrade to ChatGPT does not require users to visit external sites for their answers. Instead, the AI provides results with citations to the sources it used, positioning ChatGPT as a conversational search engine.

This move marks a strategic push by OpenAI to capture a larger share of the search market, raising questions about its relationship with Microsoft, a major investor in the company. Microsoft has been promoting its Bing search engine and AI offerings in competition with Google, and this new feature will increase the computational resources and costs for OpenAI as it seeks to challenge Google’s search dominance.