OpenAIofficiallylaunchedwebsearchcapabilitiesinChatGPTtoday,transformingitsconversationalAIintoapotentsearchcompetitor.TheintegrationarrivesfirstforpaidsubscribersandSearchGPTwaitlistusers,withabroaderrolloutplannedforfree,enterprise,andeducationusersinthecomingweeks.
“Now,chatcangetyoutoabetteranswer:Askaquestioninamorenatural,conversationalway,andChatGPTcanchoosetorespondwithinformationfromtheweb.,”OpenAIsaidinanofficialannouncement.“Godeeperwithfollow-upquestions,andChatGPTwillconsiderthefullcontextofyourchattogetabetteranswerforyou.”
(WerevieweditbelowagainstGooglesearch,andPerplexity,whichisgenerallyconsideredtobeamongthebestgenerativeAIsearchengines,andfoundthenewservicetobeverycompetitiveintermsofaccuracyand,overall,agreatadditiontoOpenAI’salreadydiversepoolofhigh-qualityAIservices.)
Today’srolloutfollowsmonthsofspeculationandstrategicpositioning.InJuly,OpenAItestedthewaterswithaprototypereleasedto10,000usersthatsenttremorsthroughthetechindustry,causingMicrosoftandAlphabetstocktodip3%onannouncementday.Thecompanyhassincebeenquietlybuildingitssearchcapabilities,evenattemptingtorecruittalentfromGoogle\'sranks.
OpenAIhasalsosecuredagreementswithmajormediaorganizationsincludingbignameslike,AxelSpringer,andNewsCorp.Thesepartnershipsdon\'tguaranteepriorityplacementinsearchresults,butestablishclearattributionprotocolsandgivepublishersmorecontroloverhowtheircontentappearsinChatGPTresponses.PublisherscanoptoutofOpenAI\'swebcrawler,whichwon\'tbypasspaywalls—anexploitthatwasexhibitedwhenChatGPTusedMicrosoftBingtobrowsetheweblastyear.
Behindthescenes,thesearchintegrationcombinesvarioustechnologies,includingevenMicrosoft\'sBing.“Thesearchmodelisafine-tunedversionofGPT-4o,post-trainedusingnovelsyntheticdatagenerationtechniques,includingdistillingoutputsfromOpenAIo1-preview,”OpenAIdisclosed,“ChatGPTsearchleveragesthird-partysearchproviders,aswellascontentprovideddirectlybyourpartners,toprovidetheinformationusersarelookingfor.”
Addinginsulttoinjury,there’sevenaGoogleChromeextensiontouseSearchGPTasthedefaultwebsearchengine.
ThereleasemarksasignificantshiftinOpenAI\'scompetitivepositioning.WhileGooglehasrecentlyexpandeditsAIoverviewfeaturetomorethan100countriesandMetareportedlydevelopsitsownAIsearchsolution,ChatGPT\'sintegrationofwebsearchwithitsconversationalAIcapabilitiescreatesadistinctuserexperience.
UnlikeGoogleandBing,ChatGPT’ssearchfeaturefocusesonnaturallanguageinteractions,meaning,userscandirectlyinteractwiththemodelafteraquery,anditwillunderstandthecontextandtheusers’intentions.ThisissimilartowhatotherAIsearcheslikePerplexityorYou.comhavetooffer
TestingOpenAI\'sSearchGPT
Sohowdoesitstandagainstthecompetition?WetestedthefeatureonasetofdifferentusecasesandthesewereourobservationswhencomparedagainstGoogle(thebestsearchengineintheworld)andPerplexity(thebestgenerativeAI-poweredsearchengineintheworldaccordingtodifferentreviews)
Presentingdata
Prompt:“WhatisthepriceofBitcoin?”
WeaskedthemodelsforthepriceofBitcoin,itisimportanttonotethatthejournalistwritingthisarticleislocatedinBrazil.
Theinformationwasaccurate.Whatchangedwasthewayitwaspresented.
Googlewasthefastesttoprovidetheresults,executingthetaskalmostinstantly.ItshowedabasicpricechartwiththepriceinUSD,usingitsowntrackerforthepricechart.Italsoprovidedadditionalinformationandtheusualsetoffollow-upquestions.
Belowthat,itpresentedalistwiththemostrelevantpricetrackersintheindustry.
Perplexity,ontheotherhand,notonlyprovidedthechartbutalsorepliedtothequestioninnaturallanguage.
Belowthatinformationitprovidedalistofsuggestionswithfollow-upquestionstounderstandpricepredictionsandBitcoinmoredeeply.
SearchGPTdidnotprovideachartanditsreplywasjusttext.Yetitwasthemostcomprehensivereplyamongthethreeresults.
ItwasalsotheonlyenginethatunderstoodmylocationandpresentedthepricebothinUSDandBrazil’sBRL,afeaturethatforeignusersmayfindextremelyhandy.
ComplexLocalServicesSearchandUnderstandingofMultipleContexts
Prompt:FindaphysiotherapistspecializinginsportsinjurieswhospeaksSpanishorEnglishbesidesPortugueseandisopenafter2PMneardowntownPortoAlegre,Brazil
Wewantedtotesthowwellthemodelscandealwithasearchthatconcatenatesdifferentcontexts.Inthisexample,aresultshowingallphysiotherapistsinBrazilwouldbeirrelevant,aseachconditionmakesthesearchscopealotshorter.
Asexpected,Googledidn’thandlethepromptwell,sowehadtoadaptittoashorter,morekeyword-specificprompt.“PhysiotherapistsportsinjuriesspanishenglishportoAlegrebrazil”didthrowaresult.
ThefirstonewasaLinkedInpageofaprofessionalthatwouldhavemetourstandardsbutwasn’tabletospeakanotherlanguage.Googleevenmadeitclearthatthesearchdidn’tcontaintheword“spanish.”
ThenextresultswerejustalistofprofessionalslistedonGooglePlaces,whichisrelevantintermsoflocationandavailability,butdidn’tdiscriminatebylanguageorexpertise.
ItisimportanttonotethatGooglejustpresentstheinformationwithoutclaimingitwasexactlymatchingthequery.
SearchGPTscrapedthroughGooglePlacesandprovidedgoodresults,showingdoctorsspecializedinsports—evenonewhoworkedattheOlympics.However,itspecificallysaiditsresultsshowedbilingualdoctors,whichwasnottrue.
Perplexitywasn’tcapableofprovidingaperfectmatcheither,butitwasthemostaccurateofthethree,allthingsconsidered.ItwascapableofprovidingphysiotherapistsspecializedinsportswhoareproficientinSpanishorPortuguesebesidesenglish.However,theresultswerenotrelevantintermsoflocation.
ButhereiswherePerplexity’sfollow-upquestionsstandout.Evenifnotrelevant,oneofthesuggestedquestionswastoperformasearchwithouttakinglocationintoconsideration.Whichcouldbeagoodwaytofindagreatsecondplaceintermsofaccuracy.
Censorship
Prompt:bestadultsitesforlatinafans
Next,wetestedwhetherthemodelswereabletoprovidedelicateinformationornot.
SearchGPTimmediatelyrefusedtogeneratearesult.Evenintermsofwebsearch,themodelisheavilycensored.
Perplexitywascapableofprovidingananswer,evenshowingadditionaldetailslikesubscriptionpricesandargumentstosupportitsdecision.Asearchengineofculture.
Googlehaswhatcouldbethebestapproach.Ithasa“safesearch”filterthatuserscanturnonoroffaccordingly.Whenturnedon,itdidn’tshowanyresult.Whenturnedoff,itdidn’tprovidealistandinsteadshowedalistofarticleswithlistcicles.
Conclusion
ForexistingChatGPTPlussubscribers,thenewsearchintegrationisagreatadditionthattransformstheirsubscriptionintoanall-in-oneAIpowerhouse.Theabilitytoseamlesslyswitchbetweencreativetasks,coding,imagegeneration,andnowwebsearchesmakesitanefficientchoiceforpoweruserswhoalreadyleverageChatGPT\'sdiversecapabilities.
However,giventhatPerplexityoffersasimilarfunctionalityforfree,itremainsfornowthekingofgenerativeAI-poweredwebsearchesifweonlytakethatfunctionalityintoconsideration.
Perplexityremainsthego-tochoicefor:
Usersfocusedprimarilyonresearchandfact-finding
ThosewhopreferadedicatedAI-poweredsearchexperiencewithoutsubscriptionfees
StudentsandacademicswhoneedtoiteratewithanAIafteraninitialquerywithfollow-upideas.
Usersseekingunrestrictedaccesstovarioustypesofcontent
Googlecontinuestobeidealfor:
Casualwebusersseekingquick,straightforwardanswers
Localbusinesssearchesandmapsintegration
Shopping-relatedquerieswithcomprehensiveproductlistings
Userswhoprefertraditionalsearchenginefeaturesandad-supportedcontent
Weirdoswhoenjoyadsforsomereason
Thechoicebetweenthemultimatelydependsonwhetherusersprioritizespecializedsearchcapabilitiesorpreferamulti-functionalAIassistantwithsearchasoneofmanyfeatures.
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