OpenAI Will Soon Live in the Moment

It seems like only yesterday that OpenAI announced the release of SearchGPT, a prototype of a new AI-powered search engine.

That’s because it was yesterday: July 25, 2024.

In this space, things move quickly.

Per the announcement, SearchGPT “aims to provide users with real-time access to online information, delivering fast and concise answers with clear and relevant sources.”

In this post, we’ll take a brief look at this new tool: what it is, how it differs from Google-esque search engines, and how you can use it (when it’s finally open to the general public).

Wait…how Does Regular Ol’ ChatGPT Differ from Search Engines?

This is a question I get a lot from people who haven’t had the chance to experiment much with GPT.

But ChatGPT and search engines like Google serve different purposes.

Search engines help you find existing information from across the web by providing a list of links based on your keywords, whereas ChatGPT generates new text and answers through conversation, drawing from its pre-existing knowledge rather than real-time internet data (well, until now).

While search engines offer up-to-date information from various sources, ChatGPT provides a single, synthesized answer that can include creative content or problem-solving. However, ChatGPT's information may be outdated and it can occasionally make mistakes.

Essentially: The difference comes down to retrieval versus generation of information.

OK, So What is SearchGPT?

Currently open to beta testing for 10,000 users, SearchGPT is a prototype designed to enhance the search experience by leveraging OpenAI's advanced AI models.

Unlike traditional search engines that return a list of links, SearchGPT offers direct answers to questions, supplemented by links to the sources of information.

This approach aims to make finding information faster and more intuitive, especially for users who prefer a conversational style of interaction.

While ChatGPT i can provide information based on its training data, it does not have real-time access to the web.

SearchGPT, on the other hand, pulls information directly from the internet, ensuring that the answers are up-to-date. This real-time capability is a significant enhancement, making SearchGPT more suitable for queries that require the latest information.

Example: Here’s a search for [music festivals in Boone, NC in August 2024]:

To reiterate, the big impact here is integrating real-time web data with conversational AI; SearchGPT can transform how people interact with search engines. Users can ask follow-up questions and receive more detailed and contextually relevant answers, making the search process more efficient and user-friendly.

This Sounds Like Perplexity AI…

If this sounds a lot like Perplexity AI, it’s because, well…it is. Or at least I think so. Perplexity is one of my favorite tools, one of the few I pay for consistently, and it will be interesting to see how these two AI-focused search engines compete with one another.

There’s free access to Perplexity too. Check it out here.

See you next week!