OpenAI is stepping into a domain long dominated by Google with the selective launch of SearchGPT, an artificial intelligence-powered search engine that provides real-time access to information from the internet.
Announced on Thursday, this move places OpenAI, the #1 provider in the AI space, in competition with its major backer Microsoft’s Bing search engine and emerging services like Perplexity, a search-focused AI chatbot firm backed by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and semiconductor giant Nvidia.
OpenAI is betting on a big business as global search engine market size is forecast to grow from $203.76 billion in 2023 to $368.93 billion by 2031, growing at a CAGR of 11.05 percent during 2024-2031.
Following OpenAI’s announcement, shares of Google’s parent company Alphabet ended 3 percent lower on Thursday, Reuters news report said.
OpenAI has begun sign-ups for the new tool, which is currently in the prototype stage and being tested with a small group of users and publishers. The company plans to integrate the best features from the search tool into ChatGPT in the future. If you’d like to share feedback, you can email them at publishers-feedback@openai.com.
“AI-powered search tools from OpenAI and Perplexity reaffirm search as a content engagement model but pressure Google to be better at its own game,” said Canaccord Genuity analyst Kingsley Crane.
Google holds a 91.1 percent share of the search engine market as of June, according to web analytics firm Statcounter.
SearchGPT will provide summarized search results with source links in response to user queries, OpenAI said in a blog post. Users will be able to ask follow-up questions and receive contextual responses. The company will give publishers access to tools for managing how their content appears in SearchGPT results. Media giants such as News Corp and The Atlantic are among the publishing partners for SearchGPT.
“OpenAI understands that for AI-powered search to be effective, it must be founded on the highest-quality, most reliable information furnished by trusted sources. The relationship between technology and content must be symbiotic and provenance must be protected,” Robert Thomson, Chief Executive, News Corp, said.
“AI search is going to become one of the key ways that people navigate the internet, and it’s crucial, in these early days, that the technology is built in a way that values, respects, and protects journalism and publishers,” Nicholas Thompson, CEO of The Atlantic, said.
This development signals a closer collaboration between publishers and OpenAI, following content licensing agreements with major organizations like the Associated Press, News Corp, and Axel Springer.
“Newer AI-powered search providers could face challenges of their own, with Perplexity already facing pending legal action from publishers like Wired and Forbes, and Conde Nast,” said Kingsley Crane.
Major search engines have been trying to integrate AI into search since ChatGPT first launched in November 2022. Microsoft, through its early investment, adopted OpenAI technology for its Bing search engine, while Google rolled out AI-powered summaries for the wider public at its developer conference in May.
Baburajan Kizhakedath
