OpenAI tests SearchGPT, its conversational search engine with citations

OpenAI unveiled SearchGPT on Thursday, an AI-powered search prototype that combines conversational answers with links to the pages where it found the information. The company will initially test it with a small group of users and publishers.

The move matters because web search remains one of the most valuable gateways to the internet. Google has dominated the market for decades, but the popularity of AI assistants has accustomed many users to asking complete questions instead of stringing together keywords.

Direct answers, with sources in plain sight

SearchGPT offers a simple query interface: users ask a question and receive a written answer accompanied by attributions and links to relevant content. It also allows follow-up questions without restarting the search, as in a conversation.

OpenAI has shown examples involving travel planning, tracking events and finding information on specific topics. The difference from a traditional search engine is not just that it summarizes results: the system tries to organize the information and respond to the intent behind the question.

That approach is already part of other products. Microsoft has added AI-generated answers to Bing and Copilot, while Google is rolling out its AI Overviews, AI-generated summaries that appear ahead of conventional links for some searches. The battle is no longer just about who finds a page, but who decides what information users see first.

The challenge of bringing AI to the live web

Language models are good at writing and connecting information, but they are not reliable sources on their own. They can make mistakes, invent facts or rely on outdated knowledge. An AI search engine therefore needs to combine a model's conversational abilities with access to up-to-date information and verifiable references.

Citations are SearchGPT's decisive feature. In theory, they allow readers to check the origin of a claim and visit the news outlet or website that published it. In practice, the challenge will be ensuring that those references are accurate, relevant and visible enough without completely replacing visits to the original source.

The issue directly affects publishers. If an answer resolves a user's question without prompting them to open the link, a media outlet could lose traffic, subscriptions or advertising revenue. But a tool that clearly highlights authorship could also help users discover quality content.

Media partnerships and a limited trial

OpenAI developed SearchGPT with the collaboration of news organizations including The Atlantic, News Corp, Axel Springer, Associated Press, Reuters, Financial Times, Le Monde, Prisa and Dotdash Meredith. The company says publishers will be able to manage how their content appears in results.

That marks an important difference from the more fraught relationship some AI companies have had with content owners. Several publishing groups have challenged the use of news articles to train models without compensation or a clear agreement. By seeking partnerships from the outset, OpenAI is trying to secure access to reliable information and reduce that conflict.

The prototype will be temporary. OpenAI has said it wants to bring the features that work best into ChatGPT, rather than confirming for now a definitive launch of SearchGPT as a standalone product.

Google is no longer competing only with other search engines

The announcement comes as Google is also reshaping its flagship product. Its AI summaries promise to save time, although they have produced notable errors in their first weeks of public availability. The risk is common to everyone: a fluent answer can seem convincing even when it rests on flawed premises.

For users, SearchGPT could make a familiar task more convenient: searching, comparing sources and asking for clarification. For OpenAI, it offers a way to turn ChatGPT into a more useful tool for queries tied to current events and the open web.

The trial will measure something more difficult than conversational quality: whether an AI search engine can deliver speed without undermining the reliability of information or draining traffic from the people who produce it.