OpenAI introduced this extension at the end of October, less than two years after the launch of ChatGPT, but it was initially reserved for paying subscribers.
Now, all you need is an account, even a free one, to ask ChatGPT questions about recent news or upcoming events, for example, and receive a written response with links to websites.
The addition of this feature “gives ChatGPT the ability to access real-time information and, of course, to search for answers on the internet,” explained Kevin Weil, OpenAI’s product director, in a video posted online on Monday.
The application is no longer limited to its vast amount of data accumulated before a past date.
It can also display answers on a map, like Google Maps, the dominant service in the sector. And the voice conversation mode with ChatGPT can also fetch answers from the internet for paying users.
In response to the spectacular rise of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google, Meta (Facebook, Instagram), and other tech giants released similar services in 2023 and 2024, capable of producing text and images on simple request in everyday language.
Google’s assistant, Gemini, already had internet access.
But the world’s number one online advertising company also added generative AI to its search engine, which now often answers questions with “AI Overviews,” that is, written responses, before traditional links, much to the dismay of many website publishers.
Among startups, Perplexity, a neighbor of OpenAI in San Francisco, combines an AI assistant and a search engine.
Since Google became synonymous with online search, a very lucrative activity thanks to associated advertising technologies, its dominance has never really been challenged.
Microsoft, OpenAI’s main investor, was the first to integrate generative AI into an existing search engine, Bing, in February 2023, in an effort to finally make its service emerge.
Google has remained largely in the lead, but the threats are growing.
On the legal front, the California-based group was found guilty of anti-competitive practices in online search, and the U.S. Department of Justice recommended the sale of its Chrome internet browser to limit its competitive advantage.
The federal judge in Washington handling the case is expected to rule next year on Google’s penalty.
