The smoke of rumors and speculation that OpenAI might unveil a search engine at an event expected to take place on May 9, 2024 has certainly thickened lately. If these rumors do indeed catch on, the announcement could set the current search engine landscape on fire, and it would be a smart strategic maneuver for Microsoft, a core investor and partner of OpenAI – and a rival to Google.
Open AI CEO Sam Altman has spoken about creating a more comprehensive search experience that is more comprehensive than what current search engines offer, and if it has enough novelty and appeal, it could pose a substantial challenge to Google’s supremacy in search. If the success of OpenAI’s ChatGPT and its GPT-related technologies is anything to go by, this is certainly possible, especially if OpenAI capitalizes on the current AI hype.
Searching the fog of speculation for clues
One of the sources of the speculation that OpenAI is gearing up for such an event is a poster on X, @apples_jimmy, linked to by multiple outlets: claims that OpenAI advertised for internal events staff and marketing positions in January this year, and hired an events manager last month. The user too throws out the following speculation, wrapped in a suspected motive:
“I don’t think they can resist taking Google I/O to the next level.”
Google I/O is an annual developer conference scheduled for May 14, 2024, and it’s where Google usually announces the latest developments in its products. Google is currently experimenting with introducing AI responses ahead of search results in certain regions, and if the above rumors hold up, this in itself could be an attempt to beat OpenAI to offering a search experience that truly stands out.
Google’s desire to use AI to answer users’ searches has not proven too popular, and some people believe it’s time for the company’s massive lead in search engine market share to be challenged. If OpenAI is indeed working on its own Google rival, a May 9 launch could potentially overshadow Google I/O.
The suspicion is that if such a product is in the works at OpenAI, the organization may leverage its partnership with Microsoft and use Microsoft’s knowledge and expertise with its own search engine Bing to provide a unique search experience.
A steadily growing stream of clues
These are all rumors at this point, but there have been other reports that seem to lend credence to it, including one by MSPowerUser in February 2024 claimed that OpenAI was working on something like this. It didn’t provide many details or confirm anything, but the article suggested that the web search feature could either be integrated into the existing ChatGPT chatbot, or even be a standalone product.
There has also been a report of the domain name search.chatgpt.com that is registered, noted by a Reddit user And repeated by X user and host of The Neuron: AI Exploreed podcast @nonmayorpete. The URL address currently only returns a blank page with a “Not Found” message. To me, this isn’t my browser returning a faulty page, but what appears to be an intentionally created page displaying this.
Altman has spoken in fairly vague terms about his overall vision and that of OpenAI, and while he hasn’t said anything confirming these rumors, he hasn’t explicitly contradicted them either. For example, he has expressed ambitions in a recent podcast with Lex Fridman to develop a search experience that goes beyond Google’s ‘basic’ search results and helps people understand the information provided more easily, underscoring that it doesn’t want to build a copy of Google Search – something you could argue other rivals are doing (like Bing) have tried to do that in the past, without success.
We’ll have to wait and see what happens on May 9, but I can say this: If OpenAI makes its own search engine, I’m eager to give it a try. Google’s market leadership position remains formidable, but ChatGPT and OpenAI’s other efforts have already changed many people’s attitudes (and even behaviors) when it comes to interacting with artificial intelligence. Google also has all the Gemini-related cards we haven’t seen yet to play, and even if it manages to hold on to its huge lead, another competitor in the search engine space will certainly make things interesting – and could make sure that Google doesn’t do that. don’t become complacent.