Competition for Google

OpenAI releases ChatGPT search for all users

The search function was previously only available to paying ChatGPT users.(Bild: chatgpt.com)

The ChatGPT developer OpenAI is challenging Google's dominance in internet searches and is now making the web search function of its AI chatbot available to all users. The function makes it possible to get quick answers with links to relevant sources on the web, the company explained on Monday in San Francisco.

OpenAI had already equipped ChatGPT with search engine functions at the end of October, but had previously only made this available to paying subscribers. However, in order to be able to use ChatGPT's search function, users must register, as Kevin Weil from OpenAI explained in a video published on YouTube. However, the search function will then be "available worldwide on every platform on which you use ChatGPT".

Microsoft also wants to improve the reach of its search engine
When the chatbot was launched at the end of 2022 to much global attention, the answers based on generative artificial intelligence were often still limited in their topicality. In contrast, both Google and Microsoft combine AI-generated answers with web results. Microsoft is a major investor in OpenAI and is also trying to improve the reach of its search engine Bing over Google.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, for his part, has announced his intention to grow his company into an internet heavyweight. In a financing round in October, in which Microsoft also participated, he succeeded in raising the company to a valuation of 157 billion dollars. At the same time, it is to be expected that the search engine functions will enormously increase the company's computing requirements and therefore also its costs.