OpenAI just launched its AI search update for ChatGPT. Three months after the company's initial announcement of a SearchGPT prototype, OpenAI's vision for the future of AI search is now available to the public. "We're focused on making ChatGPT the best place to answer any question, including live information from the web," says Adam Fry, the product lead for search on ChatGPT. Referred to by Fry now as "ChatGPT search" rather than "SearchGPT," the feature enters an increasingly crowded and contentious field of AI search options for users--with competition from smaller startups, like Perplexity, as well as tech giants, like Google with its AI Overview search results. So far in 2024, journalists have criticized both Google and Perplexity's implementations of AI search for improperly copying aspects of original work and hallucinating fake information.

Google executives may be fearing the worst once again as Microsoft-backed rival OpenAI launches a new AI-powered search tool. 'SearchGPT', which is being trialed as a prototype before a wider rollout, scours the web for live news and information just like Google Search. OpenAI says the new product is particularly useful for queries about current events, recent developments, or specific information that ChatGPT might not know. Social media users have noted the parallels with the world's biggest search engine, with one saying'Google Search is definitely in trouble'. Another said: 'Anyone who has been paying attention knows there will be a new king of search within 10 years.

Shortly after the launch of ChatGPT, the Atlantic drew up a list of the greatest threats to the 166-year-old publication from generative artificial intelligence. At the top: Google's embrace of the technology. About 40% of the magazine's web traffic comes from Google searches, which turn up links that users click on. A task force at the Atlantic modeled what could happen if Google integrated AI into search. It found that 75% of the time, the AI-powered search would likely provide a full answer to a user's query and the Atlantic's site would miss out on traffic it otherwise would have gotten.