On the eighth day of ‘12 days of OpenAI,’ the company made the ChatGPT search feature free for all users. Previously, when the feature was launched, it was only available for ChatGPT Plus subscribers.
The feature brings web search capabilities for timely, accurate answers, blending natural language interaction with up-to-date data in sports, news, stock quotes, and more. The experience is also made visual, and it fetches images for the search query/prompt as well.
In the demo, OpenAI also showed that it is possible to make ChatGPT Search the default search engine on a web browser. They also said that based on user feedback, they’ve also improved the latency of the feature.
ChatGPT Search also now shows data for business listings, timings, and other information through visual cards, which is similar to what Google has been doing. On the iPhone, ChatGPT Search works natively in conjunction with Apple Maps. There’s a dedicated ‘map button’ that loads up information about businesses from Apple Maps. OpenAI also revealed that ChatGPT Search works with the coveted Advanced Voice Mode.
Moreover, Google’s moat in the search engine game was a rich database of local directories and information about businesses, restaurants, and other public places. OpenAI has taken a few strides in this direction – will it finally get rid of Google’s long-withstanding advantage?
In a recent podcast episode, Satya Nadella, Microsoft CEO, pointed out that Google ultimately won the search engine battle – thanks to Windows itself. All thanks to Chrome being a dominant web browser. “Which is a real travesty because we had won against Netscape only to lose to Google. And we are getting it back now in an interesting way, both with Edge and with Co-Pilot,” he said.
He also said that Microsoft had been trying to secure a search deal with Apple for quite some time, but eventually, when Apple ended up with OpenAI, he became the ‘most thrilled person’.
“It’s better to have ChatGPT get that deal than anybody else because we have both a commercial and investor relationship with OpenAI,” said Nadella.
Staying relevant: OpenAI has been regularly partnering with leading media publishers to bring high-quality information to ChatGPT. Recently, OpenAI announced that they’re expanding their publisher partnership program with Future and their 200-plus brands. Notable properties include PC Gamer, TechRadar, Tom’s Guide and The Week.
This is in addition to Conde Nest, which includes brands like Vogue, The New Yorker, Wired, etc. Other publishers include Associated Press, Springer, The Atlantic, Vox Media and more.
In the initial announcement, OpenAI also mentioned its partnership with news and data providers, which helps add the latest information and visuals for categories like weather, stocks, sports, news, and maps.
Over the last few days, OpenAI had plenty to show off. Starting with the $200 ChatGPT Pro mode, the official launch of Sora, an updated ChatGPT Canvas, and a new Projects feature.
So what’s next for 12 Days of OpenAI? The ninth day is going to be a treat for developers, with a mini-dev day-like event, confirmed by Kevin Weil, product lead at OpenAI.
Last week, OpenAI said they are planning to include structured outputs, function calling, developer messages, and API image understanding. They also said they’re working on bringing API support to the o1 model. Is tomorrow the day for all?
The post ChatGPT Search Now Free for All Users appeared first on Analytics India Magazine.
