Google finished with ChatGPT Search arrival?

After launching a preview in July to 10,000 testers, OpenAI has now launched ChatGPT Search to paying subscribers, with free, enterprise, and education users gaining access over the next few weeks.

Powered by a fine-tuned GPT-4o, users can access the search feature via the ChatGPT platform, and can either choose to search themselves via a new web search icon or ask ChatGPT to find the answer.

Just like Google’s AI Overviews, it serves results—like sports scores, news, stock updates, etc— in real-time, from around the web, displaying a concise summary to a user search query and allowing for follow-up questions, but it also shows relevant website links in a sidebar, so users can explore further, and publishers don’t miss out on traffic.

For example, if you type in “best Italian restaurants in San Francisco” it will display a map, with pins recommending Italian restaurants in the city. Then, if you follow up with “find cozier, more casual Italian restaurants”, it will refine its search and display alternatives that align with your query.

(For those worrying about the accuracy of its responses around upcoming elections, OpenAI has assured users that all election-related questions will be directed to reputable sources like AP and Reuters).

So, although there are a lot of similarities between ChatGPT Search and Google AI Overviews, there is one major difference, which will go down well with users: OpenAI has “no plans” to introduce ads to the search results pages.

Over the last year or so more and more users have been choosing ChatGPT over Google for their search queries because it gives more direct, straight-to-the-point answers, as opposed to Google, which is cluttered with ads and sponsored content. But who knows how long OpenAI can stave off the revenue that comes with ads, as AI-powered search engines are costly to run, with the amount of computational power needed.