OpenAI appears to be working on a search engine. Incorporating the benefits of generative AI into a search engine completely changes how online search works. In addition, Google can gain tough competition if it does not have an equivalent alternative itself soon. Will the way we search online change?
OpenAI is already in the process of building a search engine. That’s what a source told The Information. OpenAI does not mention a word about the tool, so the rumour has little substance yet.
The search engine is a logical extension of several smaller projects the AI developer already offers. ChatGPT Plus, the paid subscription to the AI robot ChatGPT, for example, gives access to ‘Browse with Bing’. That allows the chat robot to search Bing to answer a user’s question. Through Bing, it is, in turn, possible to request help from the generative AI tool Copilot, which is powered by GPT-4.
A new way of searching
A new way of searching could change the current market positions. Google Search has been the market leader for years, and developing a worthy alternative to it is not easy. In fact, several have already tried, but never yielded results.
However, Google’s strong position could come under pressure from a new form of search. After all, a search engine based on generative AI is not so much a reproduction of the existing but significantly reinvents the product.
Based on how Copilot works in Bing, we assume that OpenAI’s search engine searches web pages on behalf of the user to formulate an answer. That will be supplemented with some additional facts and comments about the search term to help the user best. For all generated content, though, there will be a link available to the original web page from which the information was extracted. The idea is that users can always verify for themselves that the answer is correct. AI developers do choose this way of working more often, to give users more confidence in the AI tools.
A first look at a concrete implementation we get with ArcSearch. That’s a recently released iPhone app from The Browser Company, a company also looking for the best way to compete with Google Search. In the app, users have the option to quickly search the internet with the “Browse for Me” feature. That feature writes a short answer summary based on the information it finds in the first few search results.
Also read: Arc browser tries to give multitaskers the best experience on Windows
Action-Reaction
But Google also knows some things about generative AI tools. Then again, that is not very surprising because in the field of AI, all tech players are trying to launch their own tools in the meanwhile. But Google is taking that a step further by explicitly challenging OpenAI by making Gemini available. There, the announcement makes a direct comparison between Gemini Ultra’s capabilities and those of GPT-4.
Also read: Gemini vs. GPT-4: Google shows what a next-gen AI model offers
This direct attack provoked a reaction from OpenAI. The company had the chance to compete in its own field of expertise with the launch of an even newer version of GPT. Instead, it is giving Google a taste of its own medicine, and OpenAI is looking at ways to compete with the search engine. Once OpenAI launches its search engine, it has plenty of reason to openly compete with Google. That it is not yet too eager to respond at this point where it has no end product may be a strategic move not to give the competitor a head start on developing a product that anticipates OpenAI’s search engine.
Microsoft will no doubt be eager to see Google Search’s share drop as well. In the past, the company has even been willing to take significant losses to do so. Then Bing would have been the default search engine on Apple without displaying the Bing logo in the process. OpenAI is also Microsoft’s partner, so there is also a solid Microsoft influence behind this AI tool.
Gartner speaks in favor of OpenAI
Gartner predicts that AI chatbots and virtual agents will take over search, reducing traditional search by 25 percent by 2026. It remains to be seen whether the AI search engine will truly become a major tech disruption. Gartner, as a research and consulting firm, has the most reliable information available, so its predictions are not to be taken lightly. Moreover, the market is already experimenting with the possibilities, and OpenAI, as the most well-known name in the AI world, has the greatest chance of success. Whether that success is desirable for the world is another issue that an Engadget article explores in more detail.
In any case, developers of an AI search engine better keep in mind that a Google killer is not easily created. Microsoft has experience in this with Bing, which, despite continued development of new features and developments in integrating AI into the search engine, is just not gaining market share.
Also read: Bing’s market share remains miniscule in 2023, despite AI hype
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