OpenAI, the company behind the viral chatbot ChatGPT, is making a bold move to challenge Google’s longstanding dominance in the search engine market. The company announced the launch of ChatGPT Search, a new feature that allows users to access up-to-date information, news, sports scores, stock quotes, and more directly within the ChatGPT platform.
This new functionality eliminates the need for users to switch to a separate search engine to find specific information. ChatGPT Search can be manually selected by users or automatically triggered based on their queries. This feature effectively integrates search functionality into the ChatGPT experience, providing users with a seamless way to access the information they need.
ChatGPT, which quickly gained popularity after its launch in late 2022, has already surpassed 100 million monthly active users. OpenAI reported an average of 13 million unique visitors per day at the time of its early success and has since announced that over 250 million people are now using ChatGPT daily.
This rapid growth has caught the attention of tech giants like Microsoft and Google, who have been scrambling to incorporate generative AI into their platforms. Microsoft integrated generative search features into its Bing search engine, while Google introduced various AI features for its Search product. Google reported $49.4 billion in revenue from Search in the third quarter of 2023, up from $44 billion in the same period the previous year.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai highlighted the impact of AI on user behavior, stating that AI features are changing the way people search and the kinds of information they seek. However, OpenAI’s move with ChatGPT Search has clearly rattled Google. Following the announcement, Google shares experienced a decline of 1.77% at $171.38.
ChatGPT Search is currently available to ChatGPT Plus and Team users, as well as those on the SearchGPT waitlist. Enterprise and education users will gain access in the coming weeks, while free users will be able to utilize the search capabilities in the months ahead.
The launch of ChatGPT Search marks a significant step for OpenAI in its mission to revolutionize online search. It remains to be seen whether this new feature can gain widespread adoption and truly challenge Google’s dominance. However, one thing is clear: the battle for search supremacy is heating up, and AI is at the heart of it all.
