OpenAI launches ChatGPT with Search, taking Google head-on

One of the biggest bummers about the modern Internet has been the decline of Google Search. Once an essential part of using the web, it’s now a shadow of its former self, full of SEO-fueled junk and AI-generated spam.

On Thursday, OpenAI announced a new feature of ChatGPT that could potentially replace Google Search for some people: an upgraded web search capability for its AI assistant that provides answers with source attribution during conversations. The feature, officially called “ChatGPT with Search,” makes web search automatic based on user questions, with an option to manually trigger searches through a new web search icon.

OpenAI hopes the new capability will streamline web searching by eliminating the need for multiple searches and link exploration that traditional search engines sometimes require. Users can ask follow-up questions, with ChatGPT considering the context of the entire conversation to provide answers.

A screenshot of ChatGPT with Search showing Ars Technica articles, including a citations bar on the side. Captured October 31, 2024. — A screenshot of ChatGPT with Search showing Ars Technica articles, including a citations bar on the side. Captured on October 31, 2024. Credit: Benj Edwards

Each search result in ChatGPT comes with a citation link, and users can click a “Sources” button beneath responses to view referenced materials in a sidebar that pops up beside the chat history.

The new search system runs on a fine-tuned version of GPT-4o, which OpenAI says it post-trained using synthetic data output from its o1-preview model. ChatGPT could previously search the web, but it often provided old and irrelevant results. This new push into search follows OpenAI’s earlier SearchGPT prototype, launched as a limited test in July, which explored a new way for ChatGPT to bring in fresher content.

In a demo Q&A for Ars Technica hosted by OpenAI, the company’s representatives would not specify exactly if the search info came from Microsoft’s Bing search engine or its own crawled search index, saying it pulls from a “blend” of sources, including partner media organizations.

A demo video of ChatGPT with Search in action provided by OpenAI.

ChatGPT with Search also helps OpenAI take advantage of its new publishing partnerships and reframe those media relationships into something beyond merely scraping web data to train its AI models, which caused legal trouble in the past.

Pulling in authorized content

OpenAI isn’t the only company exploring AI-powered web search. Microsoft Copilot offers similar features, and Perplexity has made waves in the AI community for challenging Google’s search dominance, although it has also met resistance from publishers who claim Perplexity has integrated their content without permission. That makes OpenAI’s partnerships a potential advantage for the company.

As mentioned above, over the past few years, OpenAI has established new partnerships with major news organizations, collaborating with the Associated Press, Axel Springer, Ars Technica parent Condé Nast, Dotdash Meredith, Financial Times, GEDI, Hearst, Le Monde, News Corp, Prisa (El País), Reuters, The Atlantic, Time, and Vox Media.

As part of these collaborations, OpenAI is incorporating custom formatted information into its new Search feature through categories like weather, stocks, sports, and news, along with new visual designs for the content.

A screenshot of ChatGPT with Search showing a map that includes search results. Captured October 31, 2024. Credit: Benj Edwards

In a hands-on test of ChatGPT with Search, the new feature seemed to consistently pull relevant links from the web while answering our questions, but it wasn’t perfect, returning a few errant sources here and there. It also sometimes provided irrelevant images that were shown beside some search results.

Speaking of images, ChatGPT can now display graphical content from the web for the first time (sort of like Google Image Search but more limited). It can also show locations on a map, such as if you ask, “Where’s the best place to buy ice cream in San Francisco?”

All these new avenues for ChatGPT to potentially prefer one website, source of information, company, brand, or shop brings up a big question: Will OpenAI offer preferential content placement for media partners or advertisers in the future? When asked if the new Search feature already preferred results from media partners, an OpenAI spokesperson told Ars Technica that “any website or publisher can appear in ChatGPT search, and they can choose to opt out.”

In the future, OpenAI plans to add to the new search feature with custom answers for shopping and travel-related queries. The company also plans to use OpenAI’s o1 series for deeper search capabilities and expand the search experience to Advanced Voice Mode and Canvas features.

The search function launches today for ChatGPT Plus and Team subscribers through chatgpt.com and mobile apps. Enterprise and education users will gain access in the coming weeks, with a broader rollout to free users planned over several months.

This article was updated on November 4, 2024 at 8:22 AM to reflect a statement from OpenAI about publishers appearing or opting out in ChatGPT with Search.