On December 17, OpenAI officially announced on the eighth day of its 12-day launch event that the ChatGPT search function will be open to all users starting from today. The ChatGPT search function is built based on OpenAI's GPT-4o model, and was officially launched at the end of October this year, allowing users of the chatbot to obtain real-time information just like regular web searches, but at that time the mobile and web-based paid search service was only open to ChatGPT Plus and Team users.
Since December 5 local time, OpenAI has launched an intensive new feature release cycle, planning to roll out new products and functions through 12 live broadcast events in the next 12 days. Prior to this, OpenAI has successively released a number of innovations, including the ChatGPT Pro program, reinforcement fine-tuning technology, Sora, the interactive interface Canvas, advanced voice and vision functions, and the Projects function.
"About two months ago, we launched this feature for our paid users," said Kevin Weil, OpenAI's Chief Product Officer, in Monday's live broadcast. "Now I can't imagine what ChatGPT would be like without the search function. I use it frequently. I am very excited to announce today that we will provide this service for free to everyone."
Users only need to have an OpenAI account to start experiencing the ChatGPT search service. After logging in, if the user's query requires the latest information, ChatGPT will automatically perform a web search to provide the answer. In addition, users can also start the web search function at any time through the new icon on the prompt bar. OpenAI also provides users with the convenient option to set ChatGPT search as the default search engine in their browser.
OpenAI is combining the ChatGPT search function with the advanced voice mode. This means that ChatGPT can now search the web in voice form and respond to user questions in a natural, fluent conversational manner. For example, if a user is about to go on vacation to another city, they can simply ask ChatGPT about the local weather, and the built-in search function will provide the latest weather information.
To enhance this function, OpenAI has established partnerships with multiple top news and data providers. Therefore, users will also be able to directly view stock quotes, sports scores, weather forecasts and other information within ChatGPT. It can be said that the ChatGPT search is gradually developing into a strong competitor to search engines like Google.
Since ChatGPT achieved great success at the end of 2022, technology companies have been integrating generative artificial intelligence into various services, and the online search field is no exception. OpenAI's partner Microsoft and competitor Google have both carried out comprehensive revamps of their respective search products, adding more artificial intelligence dialogue functions. It is reported that the artificial intelligence search startup Perplexity is currently in early financing negotiations, with a valuation as high as $9 billion.
1 What is ChatGPT search?
GPT stands for Generative Pre-Trained Transformer, referring to a type of pre-trained transformer model that can generate text. GPT-3, GPT-4, and GPT-4o are the large language models that form the core of ChatGPT. ChatGPT search is an innovative feature launched by OpenAI, which combines the depth of traditional search engines with the capabilities of OpenAI's GPT language model, allowing real-time extraction of the latest data from the internet, thereby overcoming the limitations of knowledge updates.
On July 25 this year, OpenAI first announced the launch of a search service called SearchGPT, aiming to challenge Google's leadership in web search. Initially, this service was limited to a waitlist to access the prototype version. By October 31, OpenAI expanded the service coverage, integrating the generative AI search function into ChatGPT and renaming it as ChatGPT search.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman highly praised the ChatGPT search function, calling it "my favorite feature we've launched since ChatGPT first appeared." He said, "I personally find using ChatGPT search to be a faster and more convenient way to get the information I need. I'm particularly excited about this trend, especially for queries that require more complex research. I also look forward to future search queries being able to dynamically display customized web content, which will greatly enhance the personalized search experience for users, making it richer and more diverse."
2 Key features of ChatGPT search
ChatGPT search expands the capabilities of the core ChatGPT service. The key features of this function include:
1. Conversational AI: ChatGPT search provides conversational AI, allowing users to ask questions in natural language.
2. Follow-up questions: The service allows users to ask follow-up questions, making the experience more interactive, similar to a conversation between people.
3. Latest information response: Without date restrictions, ChatGPT search captures real-time web data to provide the latest information.
4. Real-time data: The service capabilities allow users to access real-time sports scores, weather conditions, stock quotes, and breaking news, as well as location services and maps.
5. Information summarization: Unlike traditional search engines displaying a series of web page links with more information, ChatGPT search provides concise summaries of the information.
6. Source attribution: OpenAI includes clear attribution and source links, allowing users to verify and further explore the original websites.
7. Visual results: ChatGPT search uses videos and images to answer certain user queries.
3 How ChatGPT search works
ChatGPT search operates by combining multiple technologies. The foundation of the service is a fine-tuned version of the GPT-4o model. According to OpenAI, the fine-tuning process used post-training techniques, with the most important being the process of extracting outputs from the OpenAI o1-preview model. OpenAI stated that this new model focuses on improving reasoning capabilities, creating a more refined and accurate search experience.
ChatGPT search also utilizes third-party search providers, including Microsoft's Bing, as well as content from media partners. In fact, OpenAI has established multiple partnerships in the media industry. Any website or publisher can choose to appear in the ChatGPT search results.
As of the end of November this year, the main media partners of ChatGPT search include Axel Springer, Condé Nast, Dotdash Meredith, Financial Times, Gannett, Hearst, Le Monde, News Corp, Prisa, Reuters, The Associated Press, The Atlantic, Time Magazine, and Vox Media.
4 Four key changes in ChatGPT search
1. ChatGPT search service is now open to all global users, including free users. Users only need to log in to use the service. To enjoy this service, users need to create a free account. After the account is created, users can launch the search function by clicking the small globe icon at the bottom of the "Compose" bar, which will allow them to instantly access the latest information on the web in their responses. This marks a significant change, as this feature was previously only available to ChatGPT Plus and higher-level paid subscribers (including Pro, Edu, Team, Enterprise).
2. OpenAI has optimized the display of ChatGPT's search results, now prioritizing important web page links, such as Netflix or travel booking sites, which will appear before the chatbot-generated text answers.
3. OpenAI has also integrated the ChatGPT mobile app with the map services on iOS and Android devices. This means that if a user searches for nearby restaurants, the app will use the system map app (Apple Maps or Google Maps) on the user's device to display the search results list.
4. Users can now perform searches through voice input by enabling the Advanced Voice Mode. This means users can inquire about the latest travel destination information, the latest weather forecast, or even activity suggestions, and ChatGPT's voice assistant will provide responses in the user's chosen voice style from 10 preset options.
This article is from the WeChat public account "Tencent Technology", translated by Wuji, and published by 36Kr with authorization.
