ChatGPT search is officially here, this is what it can do

3 weeks ago 4

Following a limited test under the name SearchGPT, OpenAI today formally launched its newly branded ChatGPT search feature. The best shot at a Google contender in years is here, and this is what it can do.

Availability of ChatGPT search

ChatGPT search is available today across chatgpt.com, and it can also be used from inside the iOS and Mac apps.

Currently, only paid users and those who were on the SearchGPT waitlist get access, but that’s changing soon. ChatGPT Plus and Team users get search today, Enterprise and Edu in the next few weeks, and all Free users and even logged out users in the months ahead.

How ChatGPT search works

While ChatGPT has always sort of been used as a search engine by some, it was never build for that purpose. Not until now.

With ChatGPT search, OpenAI has made specific upgrades that provide the sort of features we’ve all come to expect from search providers like Google.

Here’s how OpenAI explains it:

ChatGPT can now search the web in a much better way than before. You can get fast, timely answers with links to relevant web sources, which you would have previously needed to go to a search engine for. This blends the benefits of a natural language interface with the value of up-to-date sports scores, news, stock quotes, and more.

ChatGPT will choose to search the web based on what you ask, or you can manually choose to search by clicking the web search icon.

OpenAI has partnered with news and data providers so it can provide real-time information, and package it in new dedicated designs for specific content types.

For example, you’ll see special visuals when search shows you sports scores, news articles, stocks, weather, and maps.

Importantly, your ChatGPT chats now come with links to sources. That way, you can dive deeper yourself into the source material that search is pulling from.

What comes next, including in iOS 18.2

In addition to rolling the feature out to more users, ChatGPT search is also planning to improve in specific key areas moving forward.

OpenAI mentions the following in its launch post:

shopping-focused improvements
travel-specific features
deeper research capabilities
Advanced Voice support
canvas support

Later this year with iOS 18.2, ChatGPT will be integrated into the Siri and writing tool experiences on Apple devices.

That means Apple users should gain access to search capabilities soon too, baked right into the existing iOS, iPadOS, and macOS software.

Ultimately, ChatGPT search is a big launch for OpenAI that could make a major dent in Google’s market dominance. I’m excited to see how this plays out.

What do you think of ChatGPT search? Let us know in the comments.