OpenAI set to launch AI-powered search product to rival Google

OpenAI is venturing into the realm of search engines with a dedicated project tailored for ChatGPT, aimed to empower users by enabling them to explore the vast expanse of the web. (Photo/Reuters)

OpenAI plans to announce its artificial intelligence-powered search product next week, according to two sources familiar with the matter, raising the stakes in its competition with search king Google.

The announcement date, possibly on Monday but subject to change, has not been previously reported.

Bloomberg and the Information have reported that Microsoft-backed OpenAI is working on a search product to potentially compete with Alphabet's Google and with Perplexity, a well-funded AI search startup.

OpenAI declined to comment.

The announcement could be timed a day before the Tuesday start of Google's annual I/O conference, where the tech giant is expected to unveil a slew of AI-related products.

OpenAI's search product is an extension of its flagship ChatGPT product, and enables ChatGPT to pull in direct information from the Web and include citations, according to Bloomberg.

ChatGPT is OpenAI's chatbot product that uses the company's cutting-edge AI models to generate human-like responses to text prompts.

Industry observers have long called Chat GPT an alternative for gathering online information, though it has struggled with providing accurate and real-time information from the Web.

OpenAI earlier gave it an integration with Microsoft's Bing for paid subscribers. Meanwhile, Google has announced generative AI features for its own namesake engine.

Startup Perplexity, which has a valuation of $1 billion, was founded by a former OpenAI researcher. It has gained traction by providing an AI-native search interface that shows citations in results and images and text in its responses.

It has 10 million monthly active users, according to a January blog post from the startup.

At the time, OpenAI's ChatGPT product was called the fastest application to ever reach 100 million monthly active users after it launched in late 2022.

However, worldwide traffic to ChatGPT's website has been on a roller-coaster ride in the past year, according to analytics firm Similarweb, and the AI company is under pressure to expand its user base.

An earlier attempt to bring updated and real-world information in to ChatGPT, called ChatGPT plugins, was retired in April, according to a help center posting on OpenAI's website.

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Source: TRT