OpenAI is getting closer to competing directly with Google Search
OpenAI has rolled out live internet searches to a bunch more paid users.
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OpenAI is getting closer to competing directly with Google Search.
It's rolled out its basic "search the web" feature to most paid users, finally connecting their ChatGPT interface to the internet in real time.
The company has also quietly added an auto-complete feature to ChatGPT web. It now suggests searches based on the terms you're typing.
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Maybe someday, SearchGPT will become the default search engine on most browsers and operating systems. Google also became a monopoly through the power of the default option.
This is a great article! OpenAI's progress in potentially rivaling Google Search is fascinating. As a developer, I'm excited about how these advancements could simplify access to information. Tools like EchoAPI have already transformed my development workflow by providing seamless API mocking. Look forward to further updates.
How should a SaaS service cope with this change?
What should we do to optimize our websites for SearchGPT, similar to how we optimize for Google SEO? I'm kinda worried that my websites will lose traction when SearchGPT is getting more popular.
In my opinion, it still boils down to the user experience. If a user is searching for a query and is returned an incorrect or incomplete result, over time, they'll lose faith in SearchGPT. In short, it'll be easier to go directly to a trusted site.
I think there is still a long way to go in its development.
Brands with a lot of user trust will win the long run.
Good question. I have the same concerns. In the next few months, there might be new guidelines released—something similar to how technical SEO has now become standard.
This development is definitely one to watch, especially for media companies relying on search-driven traffic. Search engine revenue has become a critical income stream for online news organizations, as users often find their way to articles and resources through search results. But with ChatGPT's massive user base (180 million globally) able to get immediate answers within the ChatGPT dashboard itself, there's a clear risk of reduced website traffic. If users get the information they're seeking directly from ChatGPT, they may have less incentive to click through to original sources. This shift could seriously impact search-driven revenue, and I wonder how media companies might adapt to this potential disruption.
If you had told me ten, heck, even five years ago that a transformer-based LLM startup would be the biggest rival of Google Search today, I would've said: "Huh."
Well, here we are now. We all know the speed in which OpenAI operates, and none of their most recent improvements have been a surprise in the sense that nothing seems unattainable for them right now. What I still don't know yet is how fast Google will age. One day you're young and beautiful, the next you're just "that old guy." Everything dies. Is this the beginning of the end for Search or will Google give us one last, glorious, fierce fight?