SearchGPT is a prototype of new AI search features

Source: OpenAI Date: 2024-07-25 URL: https://openai.com/index/searchgpt-prototype

Summary

OpenAI’s announcement of SearchGPT, a prototype AI search product that combines real-time web search with conversational synthesis — answering queries with cited, up-to-date information rather than knowledge-cutoff responses. Released as a limited prototype in July 2024, it shipped more broadly as ChatGPT Search later in 2024.

Implications

Platform/search thread. SearchGPT’s announcement was OpenAI’s direct declaration of intent to compete with Google in search. The timing (July 2024) overlapped with Google’s AI Overviews rollout — both companies were simultaneously trying to replace the ten-blue-links search interface with AI synthesis. SearchGPT’s differentiator was the conversational interface already familiar to ChatGPT users, reducing the behavior change required. The prototype-to-product pipeline (July prototype → October launch → Deep Research by February 2025) is rapid.