Microsoft-backed OpenAI, the developer behind ChatGPT, has announced the prototype of its AI-powered search engine, SearchGPT. The search engine aims to offer quick and timely answers online with clear and relevant sources.

OpenAl enters Google-dominated search market with SearchGPT

“We’re testing SearchGPT, a prototype of new search features designed to combine the strength of our AI models with information from the web to give you fast and timely answers with clear and relevant sources,” OpenAI wrote in an official blog post on Thursday.

“Getting answers on the web can take a lot of effort, often requiring multiple attempts to get relevant results. We believe that by enhancing the conversational capabilities of our models with real-time information from the web, finding what you’re looking for can be faster and easier.”

Powered by OpenAI’s GPT-4 architecture, SearchGPT will use a conversational format to quickly and directly reply to users’ questions by providing summarized, up-to-date information from the web with clear links to relevant sources in response.

As the conversation progresses, users will also be able to ask follow-up questions in SearchGPT, similar to how you would converse with a person, with the shared context building with each query to improve its answers, the blog post explains.

OpenAI further added that it has partnered with publishers and will give them access to tools for managing how their answers appear in SearchGPT results so that they have more choices. Currently, OpenAI is working with several news organizations, including The Atlantic and News Corp., to build its search results database.

“SearchGPT is designed to help users connect with publishers by prominently citing and linking to them in searches. Responses have clear, in-line, named attribution and links so users know where information is coming from and can quickly engage with even more results in a sidebar with source links,” OpenAI added.

The AI company behind ChatGPT also says that its SearchGPT model is separate from how the company trains its OpenAI’s generative AI foundation models and that even if publishers opt out of generative AI training, their sites will still appear in the SearchGPT results.

“AI search is going to become one of the key ways that people navigate the internet, and it’s crucial, in these early days, that the technology is built in a way that values, respects, and protects journalism and publishers. We look forward to partnering with OpenAI in the process, and creating a new way for readers to discover The Atlantic,” Nicholas Thompson, CEO of The Atlantic, said in the OpenAI blog post.

Currently, OpenAI has made the SearchGPT model available to a small group of users and publishers. It plans to get their feedback on the temporary prototype and hopes to integrate the best of SearchGPT features directly into ChatGPT in the near future. Users interested in trying the search engine prototype can sign up for OpenAI’s waitlist here.