OpenAI announced on Monday that ChatGPT now assists users in finding products online, intensifying its competition with Google amid regulatory scrutiny of the search giant’s market dominance, AFP reported.
OpenAI announced on Monday that ChatGPT now assists users in finding products online, intensifying its competition with Google amid regulatory scrutiny of the search giant’s market dominance, AFP reported.
The new shopping functionality blurs the line between AI chatbots and search engines, signalling OpenAI’s ambition to challenge Google’s decades-long dominance in the search market.
“Search has become one of our most popular and fastest-growing features, with over 1 billion web searches just in the past week,” the San Francisco-based company stated in a post on X.
The upgrade enables users to search and compare products using natural language before connecting directly to retailers for purchases.
“Instead of scrolling through pages of results, you can simply start a conversation,” OpenAI wrote, noting that users can ask follow-up questions or compare items. ChatGPT’s shopping feature initially focuses on fashion, beauty and home electronics categories. OpenAI stated that product recommendations are personalised, sourced from the web and not driven by marketing.
To address growing competition from AI chatbots, Google has integrated its Gemini assistant into search results, prioritising AI-generated responses over traditional website links.
The competition intensified last week when OpenAI executive Nick Turley testified that the company would consider acquiring Chrome if Google is forced to sell the browser due to the ongoing US antitrust lawsuit against Google.
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has proposed that Google “promptly and fully” divest its Chrome browser as part of a landmark antitrust case aimed at addressing Google’s monopoly in online search, according to a filing reported by WIRED. The DOJ’s proposal, submitted on Friday, stipulates that Google must sell Chrome “along with any assets or services necessary to successfully complete the divestiture, to a buyer approved by the plaintiffs in their sole discretion, subject to terms that the court and plaintiffs approve.”
During Google’s antitrust trial in Washington, OpenAI’s head of product for ChatGPT, Nick Turley, testified on Tuesday that OpenAI would be interested in acquiring Chrome if antitrust enforcers succeed in forcing Alphabet, Google’s parent company, to sell the browser to restore competition in the search market. Turley’s statement was made as the DOJ seeks to impose significant measures to curb Google’s dominance in online search.