How OpenAI's AI search engine works

OpenAI has announced its own AI search engine. Is the company in direct competition with Google? We'll explain what SearchGPT is and how the search engine is supposed to work.

OpenAI, the parent company behind the AI ​​system ChatGPT, apparently wants to compete with Google. The AI ​​company has announced its own AI-powered search engine called SearchGPT.

The main differences to the search engine giant Google are likely to be in the way the search results are displayed. We will explain how SearchGPT works and what you can expect from the new search engine.

Was ist SearchGPT?

SearchGPT is currently only available as a prototype, as stated on OpenAI's website. Initially, only 10,000 users will have access to the new service on a trial basis, as OpenAI spokeswoman Kayla Wood told The Verge announced.

SearchGPT is based on the GPT-4 model family. OpenAI plans to later integrate the search engine as a function directly into ChatGPT.

According to the company, SearchGPT combines “the power of our AI models with information from the Internet.” This allows users to quickly get answers to their questions from relevant sources.

How does OpenAI’s new search engine work?

Those interested can put themselves on a waiting list for the test phase on the OpenAI website. OpenAI also provides insights into the functions of SearchGPT using videos.

The search starts with a large text field in which the search intent is queried. If users enter a question there, however, they do not receive the search results as a simple list of links – as with Google and Co.

Instead, SearchGPT tries to organize the search results sensibly so that users can get the desired results faster and easier.

Searching for answers on the Internet can be very tedious and often requires several attempts to get relevant results.

In one example, SearchGPT answers the question about music festivals in a certain area in August. The results then include short descriptions of the events, including links.

SearchGPT aims to encourage conversations

But the search doesn't have to end after these first search results. OpenAI wants to use SearchGPT to encourage interactions so that users can reach their search goal more quickly.

This is because – similar to ChatGPT itself – they should be able to ask follow-up questions and thus receive more in-depth results. “We are convinced that by extending the conversational capabilities of our models with real-time information from the Internet, finding what you are looking for will become faster and easier,” OpenAI writes on its website.

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