Is ChatGPT search a game-changer?
For some things, yes.
UPDATE: Literally less than an hour after I uploaded this article for publication, a new version of ChatGPT’s MacOS app was available and (you guessed it) it now has the new search functionality. So, my remarks about the Mac app not having search are now moot. I decided to leave them in to show you how quickly things change in the world of AI.
ChatGPT finally has useful web search capabilities. ChatGPT has been able to search the web to some extent for awhile, but it often didn’t work very well and it was sometimes necessary to explicitly tell ChatGPT to search the web. I had great hopes for ChatGPT’s new search; I wasn’t impressed at first. Then I made a discovery.
Search works better in the web interface than in the ChatGPT app, which is puzzling. The ChatGPT app is usually open on my Mac since I use it frequently. While testing search, I was underwhelmed. It seemed random. Sometimes ChatGPT would search, sometimes it wouldn’t. Sometimes it would search but not cite its sources effectively. Search simply didn’t work well.
Then I decided to try the web interface. Guess what? The web interface has a prominent globe icon in the chat window (see below).
Click on the globe and search is enabled.
When you give a prompt with search enabled, lo and behold, ChatGPT searches the web and cites its sources!
Hovering over an individual source button shows you the source. Clicking on the button opens a browser tab and takes you to the source, which is useful.
There’s a handy sources button at the end of the response. Clicking on it brings up the search sidebar, another useful feature. Clicking on one of the sources takes you to that source.
My initial reaction to ChatGPT search was way off base, but that’s not entirely my fault. There are probably technical reasons to roll out search to the web version first, but I find the situation a bit odd. For now at least, when you want to use search, use ChatGPT on the web or on your phone. The iOS app has the search icon just like the web version.
One hidden feature of search is that it can be enabled and disabled in a single chat session. If you’ve already established the ground facts and context, turning off search will prevent bringing new sources in. This sounds counterintuitive, but there are times when more information just muddies the cognitive waters. Being able to turn search off is helpful in these cases.
ChatGPT search addresses the hallucination (making stuff up) problem to some extent, but only if you use search. Even then, I wouldn’t trust ChatGPT entirely. Remember, if it’s important, verify. Search is a step in the right direction. It’s a fantastic addition for uses in which facts matter. OpenAI has agreements with a number of large content providers, which gives it an edge over some of the competition. I’ll still use Perplexity.ai for many research-oriented GAI tasks, but combination of flexibility and search gives it an edge for more interactive, emergent tasks (in other words, tasks where I’m not quite sure what I’m looking for).
For faculty, ChatGPT search is a huge step forward. Fact-checking AI becomes much, much easier and more efficient, which is great for course preparation and research. Instructors can more quickly verify course content, find current examples for teaching, and cross-reference sources with greater ease and confidence.
Overall, I’ve adjusted my initial perception of ChatGPT search. It’s a great addition to the AI lineup on the web and on mobile apps. Although I’ve been using Anthropic’s Claude (a major ChatGPT competitior) more than ChatGPT lately, search may tip the scales back to ChatGPT, at least until Claude gets search capabilities. We live in interesting times.