In a move that could potentially disrupt the search engine landscape, OpenAI, the Microsoft-backed artificial intelligence company, has launched a new prototype search engine called SearchGPT.

According to the AI firm, SearchGPT is being positioned as a novel way to search the web, offering a fresh alternative to Google’s longstanding dominance in the search engine market.

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Google dominates the search engine market, holding approximately 90 per cent of the global market share, with around two-thirds of all searches conducted on its platform, according to Statcounter.

The company said in a blog post announcing the search engine, “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.”

OpenAI is launching SearchGPT in a phased manner, starting with a limited user base of select individuals and publishers. This controlled rollout enables the company to fine-tune the platform, gather user insights, and enhance its capabilities, the startup revealed.

According to OpenAI, the ultimate goal is to transform the search experience, making it more user-friendly and efficient. The long-term plans include integrating SearchGPT’s features into ChatGPT, further expanding its reach. Interested users can join OpenAI’s waitlist to access the search engine, it added.

OpenAI assured that its generative AI search results will credit sources and direct users to original content, supporting the publisher community.

“SearchGPT is designed to help users connect with publishers by prominently citing and linking to them in searches,” the company said. “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.”