OpenAI, the innovative AI startup, has unveiled a significant upgrade to its ChatGPT chatbot by integrating search engine capabilities, directly challenging Google’s long-standing dominance in web search.
Announced on Thursday, the new feature allows users to receive “fast, timely answers” complete with links to relevant web sources. This enhancement enables ChatGPT to provide real-time information from across the web, a function that previously required using traditional search engines.
The updated ChatGPT homepage now offers direct tabs to sourced material on a variety of topics, including weather forecasts, stock prices, sports scores, and breaking news. These links connect users to news and data from providers that have established content agreements with OpenAI.
Visual examples displayed on OpenAI’s website showcase an interface resembling Google’s search results and Google Maps but without the distraction of advertisements. This streamlined design mirrors that of Perplexity, another AI-powered search engine offering conversational responses with referenced sources.
Interestingly, both OpenAI and Perplexity are currently facing legal challenges from The New York Times for allegedly scraping or linking to copyrighted content without permission.
Rather than introducing a separate product, OpenAI has seamlessly integrated the search function directly into ChatGPT for paying subscribers. The company plans to extend this feature to users of the free version of the chatbot in the near future.
Reference(s):
cgtn.com
