Watch out, Google. After a limited testing period, OpenAI is opening up its ChatGPT web search tool to all users. The rollout starts with those paying $20 a month for ChatGPT Plus, but OpenAI says it’ll show up for everyone, whether they’re subscribers or not, in the coming months.
While it uses the familiar ChatGPT interface, web search works a little differently. Instead of the bot relying on its training data to come up with answers, it scours the web for relevant and timely information, and then sifts through and summarizes what it’s found to generate a coherent response.
It means you can type all the queries you would normally plug into Google into ChatGPT instead—from “what time is the Superbowl?” to “what are the best places to visit in Florence?” Answers appear in a conversation-style interface, complete with source links, so you can jump to the websites referenced.
With Google results now regularly packed full of spam and adverts, ChatGPT’s offering promises to provide a clearer and more streamlined experience. For the first time since Google launched, there’s something arguably superior going up against it. In response, Google has also started adding its own AI to its search engine.
Of course, there’s still the problem of AI hallucinations, where ChatGPT invents fake or inaccurate information. Given that the search tool is proactively checking the web, and using data from third-party partners, this should be less of a problem than normal—though it’s still something to watch out for. There are also other valid concerns about AI power demands and AI bias.
How to use ChatGPT web search
If you’re a ChatGPT Plus subscriber, you can get started with the web search function by opening up a chat as normal. Just ask something that would typically require a web search, like “when’s the next Lakers game?”, and you’ll get a response back from the web—for that particular query, you’ll also get info on the venue, and how to watch the game on TV.
For each prompt, ChatGPT will judge whether or not to check the web or to rely on its Large Language Model (LLM) training data. If you want to force ChatGPT to run a web search whatever the query, click the small globe icon in the input box. Every prompt will then reference the web, until you click the icon again.
Almost anything you would previously have typed into Google works in ChatGPT too. Another example might be “what’s that movie with George Clooney and Brad Pitt in it?”—you’ll then see a list of movies sourced from Wikipedia. The only movie ChatGPT missed in this test was 2002’s Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, though to be fair to the AI, Pitt only had a brief cameo role.
OpenAI has partnered with information providers for weather, sports, stocks, news, and maps, so you can ask about the weather forecast in a particular location, or prompt the AI with something like “where is the Five Guys in New York?” to see a map. You can also just ask for the day’s news headlines, either for a specific part of the world or more generally.
All of the usual ChatGPT conversation features are included when you’re searching the web: You can give feedback on the responses with the thumbs up and thumbs down icons, you can copy the text to your computer clipboard, and you can have the answers read aloud. Web search chats get archived in the usual way, so you can reference them again, unless you specifically delete them.
Checking sources and adding extensions
You may remember Google’s own efforts to add AI to web search results hasn’t been particularly successful so far—with a recommendation to put glue on pizza attracting a lot of headlines. One of the ways ChatGPT is hoping to avoid these kinds of mistakes is by including source links alongside its answers.
At the end of each response you’ll see a small button leading back to the webpage where ChatGPT got its information from. You can also click the Sources button, and a full list of source sites appears on the right—just select any link to visit the page. This lets you see whether or not ChatGPT is referencing sites you deem to be trustworthy.
Based on our testing, ChatGPT web search hasn’t made any ‘glue on pizza’ errors (Google’s mishap was actually down to a rogue Reddit post). It’s not always 100 percent accurate, as with the George Clooney and Brad Pitt example above, but then again articles on the web aren’t always accurate: It’s definitely worth double-checking information directly against trusted sources.
When peppered with questions about music, sports, food, and DIY, ChatGPT did a good job of presenting reliable information and linking back to its sources. It even included a YouTube video or two when relevant, for extra context. When asked whether it was safe to put glue on pizza, it told us it definitely wasn’t—whilst also referencing the problem Google search had with this particular query.
If you find ChatGPT web search superior to whatever you’re already using, you can install a browser extension that will work in Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and any other browser based on the Chromium code. It’ll essentially replace Google in your browser: So web searches run from the browser address bar will launch ChatGPT, for example.
The post Goodbye Google? How to use ChatGPT’s new web search. appeared first on Popular Science.
