OpenAI Transforms ChatGPT into Search Engine, Targets Google Directly

In a bold move to rival Google, OpenAI has transformed its popular ChatGPT service into a robust search engine. This upgrade allows users to ask questions in everyday language and receive real-time information on news, sports, stocks, and weather — a feature that previously required a separate search engine.

“We envision a world where finding answers is as simple as having a conversation,” said an OpenAI spokesperson to VentureBeat. The company plans to first introduce this feature to its paying subscribers, with an expansion to free users in the pipeline.

ChatGPT Search: Unveiling the Mechanics of OpenAI’s new AI-powered Web Search

Unlike traditional search engines like Google and Bing that return a list of links, ChatGPT now processes questions in natural language and delivers curated answers with clear source attribution. Users can click through to original sources or ask follow-up questions to delve deeper into topics.

This technology is an evolution of OpenAI’s SearchGPT experiment from July, which tested the search features with 10,000 users. This limited release helped the company refine how its AI processes web information and attributes sources.

The system operates on a specialized version of GPT-4o, OpenAI’s most advanced AI model. The company trained it on massive amounts of web data and fine-tuned it to understand context across longer conversations.

Major News Publishers Join Forces with OpenAI to Power Next-Generation Search Results

Major news organizations including the Associated Press, Axel Springer, and Vox Media have partnered with OpenAI to provide content. These partnerships aim to address long-standing concerns about AI systems using publishers’ work without permission or payment.

“ChatGPT search promises to better highlight and attribute information from trustworthy news sources, benefiting audiences while expanding the reach of publishers like ourselves who produce premium journalism,” said Pam Wasserstein, President of Vox Media, in a statement. Publishers have the option to opt out of having their content used for AI training while still appearing in search results.

Inside OpenAI’s $5 Billion Investment in Custom Chips and AI Infrastructure

The launch comes as OpenAI is in a race to build its own technology infrastructure. The company recently announced deals with AMD, Broadcom, and TSMC to develop custom AI chips by 2026 — a move to reduce its reliance on Nvidia’s expensive processors.

These investments are not cheap. Microsoft, OpenAI’s biggest backer with nearly $14 billion invested, said this week the partnership will cut into its quarterly profits by $1.5 billion. OpenAI itself expects to spend $5 billion this year on computing costs.

This massive investment in custom silicon and infrastructure signals a crucial shift in OpenAI’s strategy. While most AI companies remain dependent on Nvidia’s chips and cloud providers’ data centers, OpenAI is making an ambitious play for technological independence. It’s a risky bet that could either drain the company’s resources or give it an insurmountable advantage in the AI arms race.

By controlling its own chip destiny, OpenAI could potentially cut its computing costs in half by 2026. More importantly, custom chips optimized specifically for GPT models could enable capabilities that aren’t possible with general-purpose AI processors. This vertical integration — from chips to models to consumer products— mirrors the playbook that helped Apple dominate smartphones.

The new search features will appear on ChatGPT’s website and mobile apps. Enterprise customers and educational users will get access in the next few weeks, followed by a gradual rollout to OpenAI’s millions of free users.

For now, Google remains the dominant force in search. But as AI technology improves and more users grow comfortable with conversational interfaces, the competition for how we find information online appears poised for its biggest shake-up in decades.