ChatGPT App can now Surf the Web
Now, ChatGPT on mobile can access the internet. solely through Bing.
Today, OpenAI revealed that users of ChatGPT Plus, the company’s AI-powered chatbot’s premium edition, may use a new function called Browsing to instruct ChatGPT to look up information on Bing.
By selecting “GPT-4” in the model switcher and “Browse with Bing” from the drop-down list in the New Features section of the app settings, browsing can be enabled. The ChatGPT apps for iOS and Android both support browsing.
According to OpenAI, browsing is especially helpful for inquiries on current affairs and other topics that “extend[s] beyond [ChatGPT’s] original training data.” In 2021, ChatGPT’s knowledge ends when browsing is disabled.
ChatGPT becomes a more useful helper with browsing, which Microsoft and OpenAI have previously stated would be available this year, first on the web. Before it, asking ChatGPT queries like “Who won the 2023 March Madness women’s tournament?” wouldn’t produce any helpful or accurate information.
But limiting ChatGPT’s search options to Bing seems to be erring on the side of user hostility. However, Bing is far from the end-all and be-all of search engines. OpenAI has a close relationship with Microsoft, which has invested over $10 billion in the startup. The commercial incentives are clear.
An investigation conducted in 2011 revealed that Bing may have been unjustly favoring Microsoft results over Google links. More recently, Stanford research provided evidence that an “alarming” quantity of misinformation was present in Bing’s top search results.
Without a doubt, Microsoft keeps working to enhance the algorithms behind Bing. However, the drawback of ChatGPT’s new browsing feature is that users won’t have any other options when Bing inevitably makes mistakes.
A less contentious update to the ChatGPT app is that tapping a search result will now transport you directly to that section of the chat. According to OpenAI, this modification will be implemented this week along with Browsing.
