OpenAI plans to announce an AI-powered search engine to compete with Google

OpenAI plans to announce its artificial intelligence-powered search product on Monday, according to two sources familiar with the matter, raising the stakes in the competition with search king Google.

Although the announcement date is subject to change, it has not yet been announced. Bloomberg and the Information have reported that Microsoft-backed OpenAI is working on a search product that could potentially compete with Alphabet’s Google and Perplexity, a well-funded AI search startup.

OpenAI declined to comment.

The announcement could come a day before the Tuesday start of Google’s annual I/O conference, where the tech giant is expected to unveil a slew of AI-related products.

OpenAI’s search product is an extension of its flagship ChatGPT and allows ChatGPT to pull information directly from the web and include quotes, according to Bloomberg. ChatGPT is OpenAI’s chatbot product that uses the company’s advanced AI models to generate human-like responses to text prompts.

Industry observers have long touted ChatGPT as an alternative to collecting online information, although it has struggled to provide accurate and real-time information from the Internet.

OpenAI previously gave it an integration with Microsoft’s Bing for paid subscribers. Meanwhile, Google has announced generative AI features for its own eponymous engine.

Startup Perplexity, with a $1 billion valuation, was founded by a former OpenAI researcher and has gained popularity by offering an AI-native search interface that shows quotes in results and images, as well as text in the answers. It has 10 million monthly active users, according to a January blog post from the startup.

At the time, OpenAI’s ChatGPT product was called the fastest application to ever reach 100 million monthly active users after launching in late 2022. However, global traffic to ChatGPT’s website has been on a rollercoaster ride over the past year and is only now returning to its May 2023 peak, according to analytics firm SimilarWeb, and the AI ​​company is under pressure to expand its user base.

A previous attempt to bring updated and realistic information to ChatGPT, called ChatGPT Plugins, was discontinued in April, according to a help center message on OpenAI’s website.

(Only the headline and image of this report may have been reworked by Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is automatically generated from a syndicated feed.)

First print: May 10, 2024 | 10:02 am IST