The foundation of the updated search is a fine-tuned and further trained version of the GPT-4 model.
ChatGPT Search will work both on the website and in the applications. Subscribers of the Plus and Team plans are expected to gain access on October 31, 2024. Subscribers of Enterprise and Edu will receive it "in the coming weeks." Those who use the chatbot for free will have to wait a couple of months.
ChatGPT already had the ability to access the internet, but did so at its discretion or in response to an explicit request—for example, if the user asked to find "current" and "latest" data or explicitly indicated "search the internet." In such cases, a corresponding label and a list of websites would appear above the response.
Now, in the query window, there will be a special icon—you can simply click on it for the bot to automatically perform an online search.
Thanks to partnerships with "data and news providers," responses on a number of topics will be accompanied by "widgets." If it's about stocks, a chart will be shown, and if about the weather—a table with weather icons. The same applies to questions about sports matches and geolocations.
The responses that the chatbot generates based on internet searches contain links to online resources. If you click the "Sources" button, their list will appear in a separate sidebar.
If the initial answer the bot provided was based on knowledge from the database, you can ask it to make another attempt, but using online information. Under the original answer, the model the bot used will be indicated, along with an arrow. You need to click the arrow and select "Search the web."
You can also set ChatGPT as the default search engine in Google Chrome by installing the extension. It will allow you to make search queries to the bot via the address bar.