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What is ChatGPT search?

Also called: SearchGPT, ChatGPT web search

Definition

ChatGPT search is the capability that lets ChatGPT retrieve current information from the web and cite its sources inside an answer. OpenAI launched it in October 2024 after testing a prototype called SearchGPT.

Explained

ChatGPT decides on its own when to search, for example for recent events, prices or product recommendations, and users can also trigger it directly. When it searches, the answer includes source links. OpenAI's crawler for search is OAI-SearchBot, separate from GPTBot, which collects training data.

Because ChatGPT can answer with or without search, brands effectively face two tests: how the model describes them from training data, and how they appear in the pages it retrieves. Allowing OAI-SearchBot in robots.txt is the first step for the second.

Example

Asked "what are the best budgeting apps right now?", ChatGPT searches, reads a few recent reviews and lists five apps with links to the articles it used.