OpenAI has announced the addition of a new feature called Browsing to its premium chatbot, ChatGPT Plus. Subscribers can now utilize the Browsing feature on the ChatGPT app, enabling the chatbot to search Bing for answers to questions.
To activate Browsing, users can navigate to the New Features section in the app settings, select “GPT-4” in the model switcher, and choose “Browse with Bing” from the drop-down menu. The Browsing functionality is available on both the iOS and Android versions of the ChatGPT app.
OpenAI highlights that Browsing is particularly useful for inquiries related to current events and other information that extends beyond ChatGPT’s original training data. By enabling Browsing, users can access more up-to-date information, as ChatGPT’s knowledge base is limited to information available up until 2021 when Browsing is disabled.
While the introduction of Browsing enhances ChatGPT’s capabilities and makes it a more valuable research assistant, there are concerns about the restriction to Bing as the sole search engine. OpenAI’s close partnership with Microsoft, which has invested over $10 billion in the startup, likely plays a role in this choice. However, Bing is not regarded as the definitive search engine, and past analyses have raised questions about its fairness and the presence of disinformation in search results.
Users may find the limitation to Bing as a user-hostile move since they don’t have alternatives to choose from when Bing’s search results fall short. Although Microsoft continues to refine Bing’s algorithms, the lack of diversity in search options raises concerns about access to unbiased and comprehensive information.
In other news related to the ChatGPT app, OpenAI has also implemented a feature that allows users to directly access specific points in the conversation by tapping on search results. This improvement, alongside the introduction of Browsing, will be rolled out this week, according to OpenAI.
