The barrier to ChatGPT’s search is now completely lifted, making it a direct rival to Google Search

Real Hacker StaffFebruary 6, 2025

7 2 minutes read

The barrier to ChatGPT’s search is now completely lifted, making it a direct rival to Google Search

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Back in October of last year, OpenAI, the team behind ChatGPT, introduced its own search engine within the chatbot. Initially, it was exclusive to paying users, but by December, it was made available to everyone. Now, the feature is fully accessible, with no barriers standing in the way of anyone who wants to use it. OpenAI has removed all restrictions on ChatGPT’s search feature, allowing anyone to use it without needing to log in or create an account. In other words, you can now search for information just like you would on Google.

This move makes perfect sense for OpenAI, because by eliminating the need for an account, it’s pushing ChatGPT as a real competitor to traditional search engines like Google Search, which has dominated the space for years, with around 80% of global users relying on it.What sets ChatGPT search apart is its lack of ads, unlike Google Search, which is often filled with them. This makes the experience smoother and more direct. But Google’s own Gemini doesn’t have ads either, and it’s positioning itself as a search engine, too, so OpenAI is definitely facing stiff competition. On top of that, Google is rumored to be turning Search into more of an AI assistant by 2025.

As AI continues to expand the universe of queries that people can ask, 2025 is going to be one of the biggest years for search innovation yet.

So, with Google planning to change how Search works, OpenAI’s decision to make its search engine free for everyone is a smart move. It gives ChatGPT a fighting chance to compete in a market that’s about to get a lot more competitive.

But how does ChatGPT search actually work? Pretty much like any other search engine – you type in a query, and it gives you an answer. But instead of listing links, it provides an AI-generated summary along with citations to the sources it pulled information from.

You can click on those sources to dive deeper or fact-check the response, which is definitely a good idea. After all, AI summaries aren’t always perfect – just think about the issues Google faced with its AI Overviews when they first launched. Like Google and Bing, which also use AI summaries, ChatGPT has room for improvement when it comes to ensuring its answers are spot-on and reliable.

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