OpenAI on Thursday, October 31, launched a search feature in its chatbot called ChatGPT.
The mentioned functional solution is likely to enhance the competitiveness of the specified company, which is one of the largest players in the machine intelligence industry, in the market of virtual search engines such as Google, Microsoft’s Bing, and Perplexity AI.
OpenAI announced that its new search feature will offer users up-to-the-miniute sports scores, stock quotes, weather forecasts, news, and more. In this case, the web search functions in real-time. Also, according to the company, partnerships with news and data providers will be used as part of the new feature. In July, OpenAI launched beta testing of a search engine called SearchGPT.
Potentially, the launch of a new feature by one of the largest players in the medium term could have an impact on Google’s dominance in the digital search area. This does not mean a guaranteed weakening of the positions of the mentioned search engine, but the realism of the fact that a certain proportion of users will apply a virtual product from OpenAI is high.
ChatGPT, currently the most popular artificial intelligence-based chatbot, debuted in November 2022. In fact, it is this virtual product that has become what can be described as the starting point of the so-called AI boom. The mentioned chatbot impressed users with its abilities related to information processing and generating original content. In a sense, ChatGPT has become practical evidence of the significant capabilities of artificial intelligence. After that, the world community drew attention to AI, which is the most advanced technology at the current stage of the development of human civilization and has the potential to become an autonomous form of consciousness existing in a virtual environment.
According to media reports, after the debut of ChatGPT, Alphabet investors were concerned about the potential prospect that Google’s share in the digital search market could decrease. They assumed that OpenAI would provide users with new ways to search for information on the Internet. The launch of the search feature has significantly increased the realism of the implementation of the concerns of Alphabet investors.
The assumption that the beginning of the history of OpenAI’s presence in the digital search market will change the hierarchy in this space is rather true. The company has been able to achieve significant success in the information processing area, which is why the mentioned market is not an unfamiliar environment for it. Effective tools based on artificial intelligence from OpenAI are ready to perform tasks in the sphere of digital search. Investors indirectly signal their agreement with the relevant offer, as evidenced by the fact that against the background of the news about the launch of the search feature from the developer ChatGPT value of Alphabet’s shares fell by about 1%.
Also, the new functional solution turns OpenAI into a potential competitor to Microsoft. In the relevant context, it is noteworthy and, in a certain sense, a specific circumstance that the mentioned technology giant has invested about $14 billion in the ChatGPT developer. At the same time, OpenAI’s digital products are direct competitors to Microsoft’s artificial intelligence and search tools, including Copilot and Bing. It is still unknown whether the specifics of this situation will affect the interaction between the technology giant and the developer of the world’s most popular chatbot based on machine intelligence.
It is also worth noting that the artificial intelligence industry as a whole is gradually becoming an environment where competition is increasing. This transformation of the situation is logical. Artificial intelligence is actually the main technology of the current historical moment, so increased attention to AI and its technological evolution is natural. It is also worth mentioning the significant potential of machine intelligence. Artificial intelligence is already an effective working tool in many industries, and its corresponding capabilities will expand. In the medium term, AI can become a new large-scale platform for economic growth. Also, artificial intelligence in the process of its technological evolution can transform into an autonomous form of mind capable of independent development and surpassing human consciousness in terms of cognitive abilities, including in the context of cognition of the world as a universe where the existence of matter of global being is realized. Existing opportunities and even greater potential gain attention to AI development and investment in the relevant process. Financial injections into the artificial intelligence industry can bring significant benefits. At the same time, investors are currently faced with the problem of not understanding exactly when the corresponding moment will come. However, the artificial intelligence market continues to expand due to the emergence of new players and the scaling of the activities of existing companies. The Internet search area in the foreseeable future is likely to become a segment of the mentioned market. The search and analysis of information is currently one of the most common scenarios for the use of artificial intelligence. It is not yet known whether the leading players in the relevant industry will change, but it is obvious that the present leaders will not want to give up their positions, and new competitors will want to gain their share in a market containing many opportunities and prospects, including financial ones.
OpenAI stated that as part of the new solution, users can search for the information they need in the virtual space in a more natural and intuitive way. Also, in this case, consumers will be able to ask additional questions to the digital assistant in a communicative format that is identical to the specifics of a standard human conversation.
The search model is a fine-tuned version of the most powerful artificial intelligence model from OpenAI called GPT-4o as of today. The new functional solution is also fueled by third-party search providers and content from partners from the news industry.
In a Reddit AMA Thursday, OpenAI’s engineering VP, Srinivas Narayanan, responding to a question about whether ChatGPT uses Bing search behind the scenes, stated that in this case, a set of services was applied, and the mentioned search engine is an important one.
OpenAI chief executive officer Sam Altman posted a message on the social media platform X on Thursday stating that search is his favorite feature. During the Reddit AMA, the head of the company stated that he found it to be a faster/easier way to get the information. According to him, the new functional solution will be especially useful for queries that require more complex research. Sam Altman also stated that he is looking forward to the future where a search query can dynamically render a custom web page in response.
OpenAI posted a message on its blog on Thursday, which contains information that the company used feedback from its SearchGPT prototype to build out a new feature. The firm also announced its intention to continue improving search, especially in areas such as shopping and travel. Moreover, the company plans to use the reasoning capabilities of the OpenAI o1 series to do deeper research.
The mentioned message also contains information that ChatGPT will automatically search for information in the Internet space based on what the user asks. Also, in this case, consumers have the opportunity to manually click the web search icon within ChatGPT to search, if they need such a solution.
Moreover, the chatbot now includes links to sources such as articles or blog posts, which users can access by clicking the Sources button below the response to open a sidebar.
In a post published on the OpenAI blog, it was noted that all members of SearchGPT’s waitlist, ChatGPT Plus, and Team can access ChatGPT search starting Thursday. ChatGPT Enterprise and Edu users will get appropriate access in the next few weeks. Those who interact with the chatbot for free will be able to apply the search feature in the coming months.
It’s worth mentioning that OpenAI closed its latest funding round this month. Currently, the company’s valuation is $157 billion. As part of the mentioned funding round, OpenAI raised $6.6 billion from an extensive roster of investment firms and technology companies. ChatGPT developer also received a $4 billion revolving line of credit. Against this background, the company’s total liquidity exceeded the $10 billion mark.
In September, the media, citing insiders, reported that this year OpenAI expects losses of about $5 billion and revenue of $3.7 billion.
In recent months, the company has been facing some controversy around its upcoming transition to a for-profit structure. Jan Leike, a former safety team leader at the company, wrote on X while resigning that safety culture and processes have taken a backseat to shiny products at OpenAI. The firm also faces some kind of accusations that commercial indicators have become more important for it than the development of artificial intelligence for the benefit of humanity. For example, Elon Musk claims that the company stopped following the original goals of its existence when its value system came first with financial results. Also, according to the billionaire who participated in investing in OpenAI at an early stage of the brand’s history, close cooperation with Microsoft has become a factor of negative impact on the ChatGPT developer’s priority system.
It is worth noting separately that during the period of active scaling of the practice of using artificial intelligence in various industries and within multiple formats, the relevance of the issue of cybersecurity is growing. AI, like any other technology, can be applied not only in the context of activities aimed at achieving constructive and useful goals but also for committing crimes and other negative operations, including manipulation and deception. Scammers also have access to artificial intelligence tools. The use of appropriate technological capabilities has made their activities more sophisticated. To counteract the corresponding security threat in the digital environment, personal awareness of users is important, among other things. For example, a query in an Internet search system, such as how to know if my camera is hacked, will allow anyone to get information about signs of unauthorized access to the device. Relevant knowledge needs to be updated periodically, as technologies are constantly evolving.
