OpenAI has unveiled a major upgrade to its ChatGPT chatbot, adding real-time search capabilities that could reshape how users access information online.
With this feature, ChatGPT can now provide “fast, timely answers” with links to relevant sources directly from the web, positioning it as a potential challenger to Google’s long-standing dominance in search.
This new ChatGPT Search feature enables the chatbot to pull data on a range of topics, including weather forecasts, stock prices, sports scores, and breaking news. Partnering with media outlets such as Le Monde, Axel Springer, and the Financial Times, OpenAI offers sourced information displayed in a streamlined, ad-free layout. The upgrade resembles a cleaner, ad-free version of Google search results and integrates elements found in other AI-powered search tools like Perplexity.
Initially, the feature will be available to paying ChatGPT subscribers, with plans to extend it to free users soon. Users can either set search as a default or manually activate it through a web search icon. With this new feature, OpenAI addresses a common limitation of AI chatbots, which typically rely on data cutoffs, thereby allowing ChatGPT to provide real-time information.
In a statement, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman celebrated the feature, calling it his “favorite feature we have launched” since ChatGPT’s debut in 2022. “I find it to be a way faster/easier way to get the information I’m looking for,” Altman added on Reddit.
ChatGPT Search’s release highlights the evolving relationship between OpenAI and its primary investor, Microsoft, which also seeks to expand its Bing search engine in competition with Google. The new feature is expected to drive up OpenAI’s computing demands and costs, an area Altman is keenly focused on expanding, with recent investments from Microsoft, SoftBank, and Nvidia propelling OpenAI to a $157 billion valuation.
The feature launches as OpenAI positions itself as a powerful new player in search, promising users an efficient, ad-free way to access real-time information directly within ChatGPT.
