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Starting Thursday, ChatGPT’s web search feature will be available to paying subscribers. The new function enables the chatbot to respond to questions by accessing up-to-date internet information and summarising its findings — a shift from relying solely on the vast yet fixed training data on which the chatbot was initially built.
On October 31, San Francisco-based OpenAI said it is releasing a search feature to paid users of ChatGPT but will eventually expand it to all ChatGPT users. OpenAI began beta-testing the search engine, called SearchGPT, in July.
In a blogpost, OpenAI said its new search engine was built with help from news partners, which include The Associated Press and News Corp. It will include links to sources, such as news and blog posts.
The release could have implications for Google as the dominant search engine. Since the launch of ChatGPT in November 2022, Alphabet investors have been concerned that OpenAI could take market share from Google in search by giving consumers new ways to seek information online.
The move also positions OpenAI as more of a competitor to Microsoft and its businesses. Microsoft has invested close to $14 billion in OpenAI, yet OpenAI’s products directly compete with Microsoft’s AI and search tools, such as Copilot and Bing.
