The company announced a prototype of SearchGPT on July 25, with eventual plans to integrate it into ChatGPT. The search engine, which is currently being tested with a small group of users, aims to give "fast and timely answers with clear and relevant sources."

According to CNBC, OpenAI is "testing the waters" with the SearchGPT prototype. It promises users the chance to "search in a more natural, intuitive way" and ask follow-up questions "just like [humans] would in a conversation." OpenAI CEO Sam Altman wrote on X: "We think there is room to make search much better than it is today."

SearchGPT is designed to help users connect with publishers by prominently citing and linking to them in searches. Responses have clear, in-line, named attribution and links so users know where information is coming from and can quickly engage with even more results in a sidebar with source links.

OpenAI started as a nonprofit in 2015 with big-name backers such as Altman, Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, Amazon Web Services, Infosys, and YC Research pledging more than $1 billion to the venture. Microsoft entered in 2019 with a $1 billion investment, following this up in 2023 with another substantial investment. According to some reports, this second investment by Microsoft appears to be $10 billion at most.

Today, OpenAI is reportedly valued at $29 billion, though the company has not shared total funding or valuation data. Microsoft's stepped-up involvement is not only financial, it has also opened the doors to distribution. The tech giant of Microsoft Windows fame has been integrating the technology into its search engine Bing, as well as its Microsoft 365 bundle and Dynamics 365 sales and marketing tools.

SearchGPT could give Google a run for its money

Since launching ChatGPT in November, OpenAI has quickly become a household name. Over a million people were testing out the chatbot enthusiastically to write emails and come up with recipes, articles, school book reports, stories and everything in between. (Related: OpenAI disbands team dedicated to addressing AI DANGERS.)

However, investors expressed concern that OpenAI could take market share from rival Google in search by giving consumers new ways to seek information online.

Soon after ChatGPT's release, Google's parent Alphabet released the competing chatbot Bard to early testers. In May, Google launched AI Overview – a function allowing users to see a summary of answers to queries at the very top of Google Search – to a limited audience. Google CEO Sundar Pichai has described AI Overview as the biggest change in search in 25 years.

Though Google had been working on AI Overview for more than a year, public criticism mounted after users quickly noticed that queries returned nonsensical or inaccurate results within the AI feature – without any way to opt out.

"Google has been kind of shaking in their boots a little bit since this stuff first popped off," said Daniel Faggella, founder and head of research at Emerj Artificial Intelligence Research, referring to generative AI. "We haven’t seen their company crumble in the interim, but we have seen them kind of fumble."

Other tech giants have also entered the AI race. Amazon announced its first language models for developers, while Meta Platforms' LLaMa language model leaked online in March. Musk, who left OpenAI's board in 2018, has said he wants to start a competitor to ChatGPT, called TruthGPT.

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This video is from the Natural Intelligence channel on Brighteon.com.

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Sources include:

CNBC.com

Brighteon.com