OpenAI is selectively launching SearchGPT, an artificial intelligence-based search engine with real-time access to information from the internet, moving into territory long dominated by Google.
The move, announced on Thursday, puts the AI giant in competition with its biggest backer Microsoft's Bing search engine, as well as upstart services such as Perplexity, a search-focused AI chatbot company backed by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and semiconductor giant Nvidia. . OpenAI said it has opened registrations for the new tool, which is currently in the prototype phase and being tested with a small number of users and publishers. The company plans to integrate the best features of its search tool into ChatGPT in the future.
"OpenAI and Perplexity's AI-powered search tool reaffirms search as a model for content engagement, but it also pushes Google to be better at it on its own terms," said Canaccord Genuity analyst Kingsley Crane. In a blog post, OpenAI said SearchGPT responds to user queries by providing summarized search results with source links. Users can also ask follow-up questions and receive contextual answers. The company offers publishers access to tools to control how their content appears in SearchGPT results. News Corp and The Atlantic are SearchGPT's publishing partners.