ChatGPT Enters the Search Engine Race
In a groundbreaking move, ChatGPT has evolved beyond being just a conversational AI to becoming a browser-based search engine, directly competing with Google—the world’s most popular search platform.
According to a report published by Skift, ChatGPT’s real-time capabilities like maps, shopping, dining recommendations, news, sports, weather updates, and stock quotes, is setting its sights on revolutionizing how we search online.
This shift marks a significant milestone for ChatGPT, which previously relied on pre-2021 data. The addition of real-time search functionality offers users quick, up-to-date answers complete with links to reliable sources—eliminating the need to rely solely on traditional search engines.
OpenAI announced this blends the benefits of a natural language interface with the value of up-to-date sports scores, news, stock quotes, and more.
Available on ChatGPT.com and the app for Plus, Team users, and SearchGPT waitlist members, the new tool allows users to either enable automatic web searches or manually activate them through a dedicated icon.
Travel, shopping, and dining experiences will be major focus areas for ChatGPT’s search engine development. OpenAI has stated: “We plan to keep improving search, particularly in areas like shopping and travel, and leverage the reasoning capabilities of the OpenAI o1 series to do deeper research.”
This development positions ChatGPT as a formidable rival to Google. While Google continues to innovate with products like Gemini and AI-generated summaries at the top of search results, the introduction of a conversational AI-powered search engine adds a competitive edge to the landscape.
Whether for quick shopping decisions, travel planning, or dining recommendations, ChatGPT’s real-time capabilities could redefine how users interact with search engines.
