New ChatGPT Search Engine, Google's Weakness, Perplexity vs. ChatGPT Search

Science & Technology

Welcome all you cool cats to The Neuron! I'm Pete Hong, and today's topic is the highly anticipated launch of ChatGPT Search and its timely challenge to Google. It's Saturday, May 4th, so let's dive in.

OpenAI’s Leaks and Public Pressure

OpenAI is the leading AI company, which makes it a prime target for leaks. With 700 employees in San Francisco and a tech community that’s incredibly interconnected, it's nearly impossible for OpenAI to keep its upcoming projects entirely secret. OpenAI employs highly restrictive measures internally—only essential personnel are informed about new projects until launch, and they use hand readers and fingerprint scanners at key entrances to add further security.

Despite these efforts, leaks still occur. An anonymous Twitter account, "Jimmy Apples," has accurately called upcoming releases for OpenAI and other tech companies, albeit without citing any sources. One notable tweet from April 30th suggests an OpenAI event on May 9th, speculating a possible search engine announcement meant to shadow Google I/O.

Speculation about OpenAI's search product is backed up by concrete evidence. In April, hobbyists found OpenAI-registered subdomains like search.chatgpt.com. Such evidence aligns with earlier reports that OpenAI is working on search functionalities integrated with their AI, which was openly discussed by CEO Sam Altman on the Lex Friedman podcast.

How ChatGPT Search Aims to Compete

Based on investigations and online sleuths, ChatGPT Search might offer:

  • A chat-driven search experience
  • Image search tools
  • Functionalities for weather, sports news, finance news, and more

Essentially, OpenAI aims to be your new home page, aiming to replicate the comprehensive utility that the old Yahoo homepage offered.

Google at a Crossroad

Google is facing increasing resentment and declining user satisfaction with its search product. Traditional Google searches are often boggled down by official pages, pay-to-play buying guides, and irrelevant information. The man behind this transition is Prakar Ragavan, Google's Senior Vice President, who pushed for a growth-at-all-costs mindset in Google Search, often at the expense of user experience.

Google’s focus on growth resulted in a compromised search experience, triggering users to seek alternatives like Reddit for more trustworthy results. Despite these challenges, Google remains dominant with an estimated 87-90% market share in the U.S.

Perplexity.ai is one notable competitor, offering a chat-driven search experience that pulls real-time data from the internet. If you search for something specific, it provides comprehensive summaries, minimizing the need to click through multiple links.

However, Perplexity has its own challenges:

  • They have significant financial pressure, recently seeking $ 250 million in additional funding.
  • They are contemplating introducing ads, which marks a strategic shift.

What ties this all together is the ambition from OpenAI to challenge Google’s dominance. While Perplexity relies on Google’s data, OpenAI has a more robust financial backbone and extensive user base. ChatGPT boasts over 100 million weekly users and can leverage Bing's data, thanks to their Microsoft partnership, making it less reliant on Google.

Conclusion: The Battle for Search Dominance

ChatGPT Search is set to make a significant launch on May 9th, potentially disrupting the search ecosystem. This comes right before the Google I/O conference, casting a spotlight on Google’s current vulnerabilities. The allure of disrupting Google is too great to ignore, and we may witness the beginning of a substantial shift in the search engine landscape.

Quick Hitters:

  • Online investigators speculate ChatGPT Search is a modified version of GPT-4.
  • Warren Buffett has remarked on AI’s potential to revolutionize scams.
  • X users can now experience new summaries powered by their AI model, Gro.

This is Pete wrapping up The Neuron for May 4th. See you next week!