OpenAI officially announced the launch of SearchGPT, an AI-driven search engine capable of accessing real-time internet information. The search engine begins with a large text box, asking users "What are you looking for?", then attempts to organize and explain search results rather than returning a standard list of links.
SearchGPT provides real-time information scraped from the web, including source links. Users can continue asking questions or click on the sidebar to open other relevant links. The product also includes a feature called "Visual Answers," showcasing AI-generated videos created by OpenAI's Sora.
Currently, SearchGPT is only a "prototype" powered by GPT-4 series models and is initially open to 10,000 test users. OpenAI CTO Mira Murati stated that the ultimate goal is to directly integrate search functionality into ChatGPT.
The launch of this new product has attracted market attention, with Google's stock price plummeting immediately after OpenAI demonstrated SearchGPT. However, some users and experts have raised questions about SearchGPT's performance and accuracy, believing it currently cannot compete with Google search.
OpenAI said it will collaborate with several news partners to develop SearchGPT, including The Wall Street Journal and Associated Press. Publishers will have ways to manage how they are presented in OpenAI's search function and can choose not to have their content used for training OpenAI's models while still appearing in search results.
However, OpenAI faces enormous cost pressures. Reports suggest the company could lose up to $5 billion this year, mainly due to high server rental fees, model training costs, and rising employee costs resulting from fierce competition for tech talent with giants like Google.
Despite the challenges, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman remains optimistic about SearchGPT's prospects, believing there is still much room for improvement in current search capabilities. The alpha version will begin rolling out to Plus subscribers next week.