OpenAI’s AI Search Engine SearchGPT Changes Everything

Date: December 18, 2024

With the launch of AI-powered SearchGPT, OpenAI is entering into direct rivalry with the age-old search engine leader Google.

OpenAI will soon enter the search engine market, which is currently dominated by Google and closely followed up by Perplexity. It has announced the launch of an AI-powered search engine, or we could say, an intelligent search assistant that makes exploring results easier. Based on text prompts, the SearchGPT platform provides contextual results with their attribution links.

It tries to understand what you are searching for based on the prompt, trained information from reputed websites, and previous search patterns. The interface does not look like a list of titles and short descriptions but more contextual summaries of what might be inside. If the new search format engages well with the audience, it can pose a serious threat to Google's leadership position. 

SearchGPT offers real-time access to information across the internet. The interface opens a huge search box that asks, “What are you looking for?” The results of our query have visual backing to add more context to our search understanding. The product is in prototype mode, and will be launched only for 10,000 test users first.

Here’s a reference of how the experience on SearchGpt will be like.

Source

OpenAI is actively partnering with top media websites that share real-time information to train the AI model or just surface the content. It uses direct content feeds to integrate search features into ChatGPT, that adds a conversational layer to the whole search experience.

According to OpenAI’s blog post, “SearchGPT is designed to help users connect with publishers by prominently citing and linking to them in searches. Responses have clear, in-line, named attribution and links so users know where information is coming from and can quickly engage with even more results in a sidebar with source links.”

OpenAI is taking a cautious approach after the recent backlash of Perplexity’s inaccurate results and Google’s AI Reviews’ incorrect results. The prototype will collect real-world feedback to create a guided development of the product by actual users themselves. The AI search engine is powered by GPT-4o models, which usually come for a premium price. If the combination works, Google will soon have to put big brains into its product strategy.