OpenAI to announce a search engine to rival Google: report
Google is the king among search engines, but OpenAI is reportedly looking to launch an AI-powered search engine to rival the platform where "google" became a verb. The announcement, first reported by Bloomberg, says OpenAI plans to announce its artificial intelligence-powered search product Monday, according to two sources familiar with the matter. The announcement could be timed a day before Tuesday's start of Google's annual I/O conference, where the tech giant is expected to unveil a slew of AI-related products.
OpenAI's Search Product
OpenAI's search product is an extension of its flagship ChatGPT product and enables ChatGPT to pull in direct information from the web and include citations, according to Bloomberg. ChatGPT is OpenAI's chatbot product that uses the company's cutting-edge AI models to generate human-like responses to text prompts.
Industry observers have long called ChatGPT an alternative for gathering online information, though it has struggled with providing accurate and real-time information from the web. OpenAI earlier gave it an integration with Microsoft's Bing for paid subscribers. Meanwhile, Google has announced generative AI features for its own namesake engine.
OpenAI's Challenges
OpenAI has seen its share of ups and downs over the last year, including the odd dismissal of CEO Sam Altman by the board in November 2023 before his hiring by OpenAI investor Microsoft and his rehiring as OpenAI CEO five days after his dismissal. OpenAI reinstated Altman to the board in March this year.
Musicians, newspapers, and performers have all sued OpenAI for what they say are copyright violations. Elon Musk also sued the company over its original premise, and Musk has reportedly upped the salaries of his engineers to keep them from being poached by OpenAI. ELON MUSK SUING OPEN AI, SAM ALTMAN, FOR BREAKING NOT FOR PROFIT MISSION
ChatGPT's Popularity
At the time, OpenAI's ChatGPT product was called the fastest application to ever reach 100 million monthly active users after it launched in late 2022. However, worldwide traffic to ChatGPT's website has been on a roller coaster ride in the past year and is only now returning to its May 2023 peak, according to analytics firm Similarweb, and the AI company is under pressure to expand its user base.
Reuters contributed to this report.
