Rumor: OpenAI set to launch its own search engine to complement ChatGPT

OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, is reportedly on the cusp of announcing its own search product to rival Google search and AI-powered search startup Perplexity.

Bloomberg reports that OpenAI could go live with its new search as soon as next Monday, May 13, a day before Google's I/O conference kicks off. Google is expected to announce several AI-related products.

OpenAI's search engine will be an extension of ChatGPT, enabling it to pull direct and current information from the web, and include citations. This addresses one of the strongest complaints against ChatGPT - its information isn't current.

OpenAI's search product seems very similar to startup Perplexity's solution - an AI-native search interface with citations, images and text. Perplexity, now valuated at around $1 billion, was founded by a trio of engineers - Aravind Srinivas, who worked at OpenAI, Denis Yarats, who was at Meta, and Johnny Ho, formerly of Quora.