OpenAI To Announce Google Search Competitor Next Week – Report

Google’s decades long domination of the search engine market could soon face a new challenger, with OpenAI reportedly set to throw its hat into the ring.

OpenAI plans to announce its artificial intelligence-powered search product on Monday, two sources familiar with the matter have told Reuters.

It should be noted that Google is not sitting on its hands with AI-powered search. Last month Google began testing AI-powered search summaries for selected, signed-in users in the UK, nearly a year after it began trialling the feature in the US.

OpenAI search

The Reuters report of OpenAI announcing its AI-powered search product next week (the announcement date is subject to change), comes after Bloomberg and the Information had previously reported that OpenAI was working on a search product to potentially compete with Alphabet’s Google and with Perplexity, a well-funded AI search startup.

OpenAI is of course massively backed by Microsoft, which has been competing against Google Search for years with its Bing search engine.

In February 2023 Microsoft bundled AI capabilities from OpenAI into both its Bing search engine and Edge browser for paid subscribers, as well as the Microsoft Office suite.

OpenAI declined to comment on its own AI search product, Reuters noted.

ChatGPT addition

But it seems that OpenAI’s search product would be an extension of its flagship ChatGPT product.

According to the Bloomberg report, the OpenAI search feature would allow users to ask ChatGPT a question and receive answers that use details from the web – with citations to sources such as Wikipedia entries and blog posts.

Bloomberg also noted that one version of the product uses images alongside written responses to questions, when they’re relevant. If a user asked ChatGPT how to change a doorknob, for instance, the results might include a diagram to illustrate the task.

If OpenAI does announce the product on Monday, it would be significant as Google’s annual I/O conference is slated to begin on Tuesday, where it is expected to announce a number of AI-related products.

This time last year at Google’s 2023 I/O conference, Google had confirmed it was bringing generative AI to Google Search.