After much speculation for over a year, OpenAI is finally taking on Google and Microsoft Bing with the addition of search functionality in ChatGPT. The new search feature is backed by GPT-4o model and is a more evolved version of the SearchGPT prototype unveiled by the company earlier in the year.
OpenAI says ChatGPT search shares ‘dissociated search queries’ with third-party search providers like Bing in order to provide relevant responses to the user. ChatGPT also shares users’ IP address with third party search providers in order to improve the accuracy of the search result.
In a post on X, Sam Altman termed the new search feature in ChatGPT as ‘really good’, he wrote, “Hey i’m really sorry to keep hyping our own product but you really should get chatgpt plus and install the chrome extension for search. I am cheerfully the first to admit when we ship something that isn’t very good, but this time it’s…really good.”
How to start using ChatGPT search?
OpenAI says ChatGPT Search is rolling out its ChatGPT Plus and Team subscribers to begin with while company’s enterprise and education customers will get access in the ‘coming weeks’. Meanwhile, free ChatGPT users will get access to the new feature over the coming months. The new feature will be available to use across ChatGPT website, mobile and desktop apps.
The Microsoft backed AI company said that it plans to add the new search feature to its Advanced Voice mode and even logged out users in the future. Moreover, there are also plans to improve the search feature further in areas like shopping and travel by taking advantage of the o1 reasoning models.