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.…