- Two unnamed sources close to OpenAI revealed that the company is working on a new AI search engine to compete with Google.
- However, Sam Altman took to X to refute these rumors first-hand.
- He replied to a tweet by OpenAI confirming that the company is working on some new ChatGPT and GPT-4 updates.
Sam Altman has denied any claims of his company working on an AI-powered search engine.
“Not GPT-5, not a search engine, but we’ve been hard at work on some new stuff we think people will love! feels like magic to me. Monday 10 am PT.” – Sam Altman’s Tweet
Furthermore, OpenAI through a tweet confirmed that the company is planning to launch some ChatGPT and GPT-4 updates.
Thanks to this clarification, Google stocks that took a hit after the rumors went viral and crashed by 2% have now recovered.
How Did the Rumors Start?
The rumor started doing rounds just a day ago (on May 10) when two anonymous sources revealed that OpenAI is planning to launch its own AI-powered search engine and lock horns with Google.
The sources even claimed that the launch will happen as soon as Monday, May 13. Apparently, the two sources I’m talking about are very close to the project–which is why the news seemed credible.
The product was supposed to work in collaboration with ChatGPT, OpenAI’s flagship product. ChatGPT is known for effortlessly pulling out information from the web, along with citations. That exact technology was rumored to be used in the upcoming AI search engine. But as Altman said, that’s not happening.
However, just because the AI search engine is not coming out this Monday doesn’t mean that it’s not in the pipelines.
- According to a report by The Verge, OpenAI has been actively poaching Google employees, who are expected to help the company break into the search industry.
- Another report suggested that the company has already registered a domain name for their search product—search.chatgpt.com. However, if you look up this URL right now, you’ll see the “not found” message.
The rumors also said that OpenAI’s search engine will be heavily supported by Microsoft, Google’s biggest rival.
Now, Microsoft being in the picture made these rumors all the more believable since it has been trying to overtake Google in the search engine business for years without success. Maybe Microsoft is hoping to use the AI angle to get ahead in the race now?
Last but not least, another report suggested that one version of OpenAI’s new search engine would use diagrams and pictures alongside text when answering queries.
However, at the end of the day, it’s important to note that all of these were and still are speculations. Either OpenAI is genuinely not working on an AI-powered search engine or it wants to keep things under wraps for now—it’s hard to know for sure. The company even declined any requests for a comment.
What’s also interesting is that Sam Altman, at least for the time being, has said that the company isn’t working on ChatGPT-5, either. However, despite there not being an official date or timeline for the project, it’s certainly in the works.
More Confirmed OpenAI Projects
Now that we’ve wrapped our heads around fake news, let’s get to the real thing. Talking about something OpenAI is actually working on—giving ChatGPT a memory.
OpenAI confirmed that it’s trying to give ChatGPT a memory so that it can retain information from previous chats with the user and use that information to personalize their upcoming chats. This way, the user won’t have to keep repeating the same thing over and over again.
Read more: OpenAI previews voice cloning tech with no official date of release
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