OpenAI is working on adding new features to its artificial intelligence (AI) bot as it aims to overtake Google as the search engine king.
company Said The company is piloting a search feature in its ChatGPT product that incorporates real-time information, allowing the bot to respond to user questions with the latest information and links.
The tool is currently available to a limited number of users in the United States.
But it's expected to eventually be incorporated into the company's ChatGPT bot, whose arrival in 2022 has sparked a wave of excitement about AI.
The Microsoft-backed OpenAI has since introduced a host of tools for coding, video production, data analysis, image creation and more.
The company said the new search tool will also allow users to ask follow-up questions to their original search query.
“Finding answers on the web can take a lot of effort and often requires multiple tries to get relevant results,” the company said in a statement.
“By using real-time information from the web to enhance our model's conversational capabilities, we think it will make it faster and easier for people to find what they're looking for.”
Analysts have long been claiming that AI chatbots are the future of search.
This is now a very lucrative business for Google, and the company is racing to add more AI-powered tools of its own.
Shares of parent company Alphabet closed down about 3% after the announcement.
Other AI companies are also developing search products. Google continues to dominate, controlling over 90% of the global market.
But the expansion of AI has raised environmental concerns due to the amount of energy the systems consume.
Changes in the way search engines respond to queries — serving up conversational paragraphs rather than directing users to links — have also caused alarm among many news companies that depend on search traffic for viewers and revenue.
OpenAI said it is working with publishers including The Atlantic and News Corp to develop new search features.
“We are committed to enabling a vibrant ecosystem of publishers and creators,” the company said.
“In addition to releasing the SearchGPT prototype, we are also releasing a way for publishers to control how they appear on SearchGPT, giving publishers more choice.”
The company has previously faced lawsuits from outlets including The New York Times, who claim it “stole” content to train its systems.
The company also announced partnerships with several media outlets, including the Associated Press.
OpenAI said media companies could be featured in the results even if they declined to provide material to train the models.
