Mobile users can now surf the web with ChatGPT, but only via Bing. Subscribers to the premium version of OpenAI’s AI-powered chatbot ChatGPT Plus may now use a fresh feature on the ChatGPT app called Browsing to have ChatGPT search Bing for answers to different questions.
You can activate browsing by heading to the New Features section of the app settings, selecting “GPT-4” in the model switcher, and clicking “Browse with Bing” from the drop-down list. Both the iOS and Android ChatGPT apps support browsing.
According to OpenAI, Browsing is especially effective for queries about current events and other information that “extend[s] beyond [ChatGPT’s] original training data.” ChatGPT’s knowledge ends in 2021 when Browsing is disabled.
Browsing, which Microsoft and OpenAI previously stated will debut this year, first on the web, makes ChatGPT a more valuable assistant, especially for research. Previously, asking ChatGPT queries like “Who won the 2023 March Madness women’s tournament?” didn’t produce especially relevant — or correct — results.
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Browsing, which Microsoft and OpenAI previously stated will debut this year, first on the web, makes ChatGPT a more valuable assistant, especially for research. Previously, asking ChatGPT queries like “Who won the 2023 March Madness women’s tournament?” didn’t produce especially relevant — or correct — results.
However, limiting ChatGPT’s search capabilities to Bing appears to be a user-hostile approach. The commercial reasons are clear — OpenAI has a tight relationship with Microsoft, which has invested more than $10 billion in the firm — but Bing is far from the end-all and be-all of search engines.
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An investigation in 2011 discovered that Bing was potentially unjustly providing more Microsoft-related results than Google connections. A Stanford research recently found evidence that Bing’s top search results featured an “alarming” quantity of misinformation.
On the back end, Microsoft surely continues to improve Bing’s algorithms. But the problem with ChatGPT’s new Browsing feature is that when Bing does not work, customers will have no other options.
In other, less contentious ChatGPT app news, tapping on a search result now directs you to the relevant place in the chat. According to OpenAI, this modification, along with Browsing, will be implemented this week.
