OpenAI to Launch Google Search Alternative Soon

OpenAI is likely to announce a new search engine soon, revealed Jimmy Apples, stating that the company is looking to host an event this month, tentatively on May 9, 2024, at 10 a.m. 

The insider also revealed that OpenAI has been hiring for an events team since early January to organise in-house events. 

“They were advertising for in house events staff and events marketing back in January, they just hired an events manager last month” said Jimmy Apples, hinting at a big deal event coming in the month of June, where OpenAI might release its next model — “what ever sam decides to call it.”

Further, Jimmy Apples said that the company has been busy since last week. “I count at least 50+ new async subdomains since the 24th of April.”

If the rumours are true, OpenAI’s Google Search alternative release might come ahead of Google I/O, which is scheduled for May 14, 2024. This might also make Perplexity AI redundant. Microsoft recently banned its employees from using Perplexity AI, citing security concerns.

According to a report, OpenAI  has been working on a web search product that will intensify its competition with Google. The search service is set to be partially powered by Bing. In a recent podcast with Lex Fridman, OpenAI chief, Sam Altman said that, “The intersection of LLMs plus search, I don't think anyone has cracked the code on yet. I would love to go do that. I think that would be cool.” 

Moreover he said that OpenAI does not want to build another Google Search. “I find that  (Google Search) boring. I mean, if the question is if we can build a better search engine than Google or whatever, then sure, we should.”

"Google shows you like 10 blue links, like 13 ads, and then 10 blue links, and that's like one way to find information. But the thing that's exciting to me is not that we can go build a better copy of Google Search, but that maybe there's just a much better way to help people find, act on, and synthesise information," said Altman.

OpenAI’s decision to launch a search app follows Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella's statement a year ago, in which he said that he would "make Google dance" by integrating OpenAI's GPT models into Microsoft's Bing search engine.