OpenAI has announced the selective launch of SearchGPT, an artificial intelligence-powered search engine with real-time access to information from the internet.
This move marks OpenAI’s entry into a field long dominated by Google and brings it into competition with Microsoft’s Bing and emerging AI search services like Perplexity.
The announcement, had an immediate impact on the market, with shares of Google’s parent company, Alphabet, dropping 3%. Google currently commands a staggering 91.1% share of the search engine market, according to Statcounter.
OpenAI revealed that SearchGPT is currently in the prototype stage, with sign-ups open for a limited group of users and publishers. The company aims to integrate the most successful features of SearchGPT into its popular ChatGPT tool in the future.
“AI-powered search tools from OpenAI and Perplexity reaffirm search as a content engagement model but pressure Google to be better at its own game,” commented Kingsley Crane, an analyst at Canaccord Genuity.
SearchGPT is designed to provide summarized search results with source links, allowing users to ask follow-up questions and receive contextual responses. This feature aims to enhance the user experience by delivering more accurate and relevant information.
ALSO READ:UK AGREES WITH WTO DIGITAL TRADE PACT
In a move signaling closer collaboration with content creators, OpenAI will offer publishers tools to manage how their content appears in SearchGPT results. Notable publishing partners include News Corp and The Atlantic. This collaboration follows earlier content licensing agreements between OpenAI and major organizations like the Associated Press, News Corp, and Axel Springer.
The launch of SearchGPT comes amid increasing efforts by major tech companies to incorporate AI into search functionalities. Microsoft has integrated OpenAI technology into its Bing search engine, while Google unveiled AI-powered summaries to the public at its developer conference in May.
However, newer AI-powered search providers like Perplexity face their own challenges, including pending legal actions from publishers such as Wired Forbes, and Condé Nast, Crane noted.
As OpenAI continues to test and refine SearchGPT, the competition in the AI search market is set to intensify, with major players vying for dominance in this rapidly evolving space.
