OpenAI has announced that logins are no longer required to access ChatGPT’s search engine function. This move makes the tool more accessible to the general public, potentially strengthening its position as a strong competitor to existing search engines such as Google Search and Microsoft’s Bing.
The search engine was initially launched in late October 2024 and allows ChatGPT to answer the user’s query by providing information from the web along with a list of sources it used for its response. According to OpenAI, the search engine is a fine-tuned version of GPT-4o which uses third-party search providers and data provided from the company’s partners.
ChatGPT search is now available to everyone on https://t.co/nYW5KO1aIg — no sign up required. pic.twitter.com/VElT7cxxjZ
— OpenAI (@OpenAI) February 5, 2025
However, ChatGPT search was only available to paid ChatGPT subscribers. OpenAI rolled out the feature to free users later in December, allowing those with an account access to ChatGPT’s search engine.
This move may also be part of OpenAI’s push against the emergence of DeepSeek. Earlier this week, the company had also launched a new Deep Research tool for ChatGPT.
(Source: OpenAI via X, The Verge, BGR)
Nurul Kamil contributed to this article.
