OpenAI upgrades ChatGPT search with shopping features

[cpvr]

According to Techcrunch, OpenAI has decided to roll out a new feature to their search engine part of their chat bot. This new feature will enable users find products and have a better shopping experience. It'll be similar to Google's shopping system.



OpenAI is updating ChatGPT search, its web search tool in ChatGPT, to give users an improved online shopping experience, the company announced Monday.

When ChatGPT users search for products, the chatbot will now offer a few recommendations, present images and reviews for those items, and include direct links to web pages where users can buy the products. OpenAI says users can ask super-specific questions in natural language and receive customized results. To start, OpenAI is experimenting with categories such as fashion, beauty, home goods, and electronics.

OpenAI is rolling out the feature in GPT-4o (the default AI model for ChatGPT) on Monday for ChatGPT Pro, Plus, and Free users, as well as for logged-out users around the globe.

The ChatGPT search update is part of OpenAI’s effort to compete with rival Google by creating a better, more personalized experience to find products and information on the internet. Online shopping is one of Google’s most important businesses, but the advertising market to buy priority placements in Google Search has also contributed to the product’s declining quality over the years.

OpenAI claims its search product is growing rapidly. Users made more than a billion web searches in ChatGPT last week, the company told TechCrunch.

OpenAI says it’s determining ChatGPT shopping results independently and notes that ads are not part of this upgrade to ChatGPT search. The shopping results will be based on structured metadata from third parties, such as pricing, product descriptions, and reviews, according to OpenAI. The company won’t receive a kickback from purchases made through ChatGPT search.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has historically been against ads in ChatGPT, but in a recent interview with Stratechery’s Ben Thompson, he changed his tune slightly. Altman said he’d be open to “tasteful” advertising in which OpenAI charges affiliate fees for purchases made through ChatGPT but doesn’t sell priority placement in their results.

Soon, OpenAI says it will integrate its memory feature with shopping for Pro and Plus users, meaning ChatGPT will reference a user’s previous chats to make highly personalized product recommendations. The company previously updated ChatGPT to reference memory when making web searches broadly. However, these memory features won’t be available to users in the EU, the U.K., Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein.

Alongside this update, ChatGPT search will now display trending searches when users start typing a question, much like Google Search’s autocomplete feature. Additionally, ChatGPT search has come to WhatsApp, allowing users to message the company’s chatbot to get up-to-date answers.

OpenAI has previously explored shopping features via its AI “agent” platform, Operator, which takes anywhere from a few seconds to several minutes to browse dozens of web pages and find relevant products for users. ChatGPT search with shopping is a much faster, hands-on experience and still allows users to search for products using natural language queries.



What are your thoughts on OpenAI's new shopping feature? Will you be using it or will you stick to using Google for searching?

 

[Demon_skeith]

Ugh, no thanks. Most will find a way to peddle their junk but I won't be suckered into fake results.

 

[lens]

The idea of OpenAI integrating shopping into its results will bring convenience but we should not expect anything perfect. It might promote junks.

 

[cpvr]

The idea of OpenAI integrating shopping into its results will bring convenience but we should not expect anything perfect. It might promote junks.

It's the same thing that Google does. They both promote junk, however, OpenAI's will at least filter out affiliate links instead.

It's nice that there's another search engine providing shopping aspects though.

 

[Kross]

The shopping features of ChatGPT is not still available to free users. I don't think it is a feature that I would need so much to upgrade to premium to to access. The shopping features of Google is just fine for me. I think ChatGPT should not dilute it's core functionality of being a generative model.

 

[lens]

The shopping features of ChatGPT is not still available to free users. I don't think it is a feature that I would need so much to upgrade to premium to to access. The shopping features of Google is just fine for me. I think ChatGPT should not dilute it's core functionality of being a generative model.

ChatGPT search by OpenAI is looking like that of Google. These tech giants are just modifying each other's creations. They add to the invention to give something entirely new.

 

[uptrendfinancialsignal]

Shopping feature is cool though, but I don't think that is really the main use of ChatGPT. As long as it's just to supplement its use,that is quite good. However, when it begins to detract what it's aimed for, it might be a problem.

 

[lens]

Shopping feature is cool though, but I don't think that is really the main use of ChatGPT. As long as it's just to supplement its use,that is quite good. However, when it begins to detract what it's aimed for, it might be a problem.

The shopping option is an interesting addition, but I believe that it must remain just a side feature due to its primary role in helping to provide information and chat. When it is too commercially inclined, it can lose its magic.